── true courage is knowing not how to take a life, but when to spare one
IN WHICH THE LAST
OF THE DRAGONKIN
JOINS THE COMPANY
OF THORIN OAKENSHIELD
TO RETAKE EREBOR
A FIRE AND GOLD SERIES BOOK
THORIN OAKENSHIELD × OC
AN UNEX...
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Aninth slept fitfully. She couldn't seem to get her mind to calm long enough to allow her to drift off. And when she did manage to drift off for a little while, the pains and aches in her body would wake her back up not that long later. She wasn't used to pushing herself this way. If she did manage to injure herself on the road, she would usually suck it up and pay for the extra time at an inn or tavern so that she could give herself time to heal.
When she did manage to drift off again to more sound slumber, she was awoken abruptly by Thorin's shouting voice. At first, she wanted to ignore it, not really hearing his words. But then they finally pushed through the tired fog in her mind and her eyes snapped open.
"Wake up!"
She had one moment for a rumbling coming from somewhere down below her to reach her ears before the floor suddenly disappeared and she was falling. Before they were all falling.
The dwarves, hobbit and human around her all cried out as they well and hit some solid rock, sliding off it before going into an open freefall again. This repeated several times and Aninth's rapidly awakening mind realized that this was obviously a trap and they were obviously falling through some sort of tunnel that was designed to lead them somewhere.
When they finally stopped, they all had fallen into a large basket of sorts in a pile. Aninth groaned and tried to turn, pain shooting up from her side.
"Ryv?" she called out. "Ygritte?"
She managed to catch sight of the blonde woman a little ways away from her just as she felt Ryvniss scramble around from her back. Then a swarm of goblins rushed them, grabbing at all of them and pulling them forward. No matter how she resisted, how they all tried to resist, there were just too many and they were pulled forward down the path.
Before long they came around a final bend and the cave opened up around them. More goblins than Aninth had ever seen in her life clung to the walls on wooden bridges and ledges, small constructed huts and the like. It gave her enough pause that the goblins were able to push her forwards much easier.
Soon, they came to the end of the path and were in front of who had to be the Goblin King. He was... well, kinda gross looking. He was much, much larger than the other goblins around and much, much fatter. He was filthy, covered in not only dirt and who knows what else but also warts, and his ratty, tattered clothes were just as gross as the rest of him.
They were forced to stand still as their weapons were gathered and thrown into a pile in front of them on the ground. The Goblin King jumped off his throne and approached them, trampling several of the smaller goblins in the process.
