An unexpected journey

Chapter 7

  "Mister Baggins. Wake up." My eyes fluttered open and I saw KIli standing over me. I yawned and sat up. I looked around. All the dwarves were packing up and Thorin was keeping watch...For what? I don't know.

"Where are we going?" I asked while packing my stuff quickly.

"We're getting out before the elves see us" Bofur said while passing by us. I nodded. Once we were all packed up, we followed Thorin towards the gates.

"Quietly" He said. Luckily, no elves we're out. Not even guards! Unless it was the end of their shift and they were switching...Or maybe they got annoyed with the snoring and went inside...Whatever the reason was, we were lucky. We walked in total silence for a while until Thorin got us to stop. We were probably out of elf earshot.

"Be on your guard. We enter the wild beyond this mountain. Dwalin, you know this path. Lead us" Thorin ordered. Dwalin grunted and pushed his way to the front. He was the first to walk in the tunnel. I took one last glimpse at the beautiful city of Rivendelle.

"Master Baggins, I suggest you keep up" I heard. I tore my eyes away from the elven city and followed the others through the tunnel.

"What of Gandalf" Dori asked. Yeah, where was our wizard. I suddenly felt nervous.

"He will find us later" Balin replied.

"So, what do we talk about?" I asked after a moment of silence.

.-.-.

I shook as thunder clapped in the sky. We've been walking up this mountain for hours and it's been pouring rain for two. To say we were miserable is an understatement. I screamed as the section of rock I was standing on crumbled. I dropped down until somebody caught my hand. I looked up and saw Thorin.

"Don't let me fall" I said. He shook his head and pulled me up. I quickly gripped myself on a rock and continued walking. My legs were aching, my adrenaline was pumping and I was soaked from head to toe.

"Watch out!" Dwalin yelled suddenly. We looked around and saw a boulder flying towards us from nowhere!

"Oh bless me! This is no thunderstorm! It's a thunder battle!" Bofur yelled over the sound of the rocks being thrown and the heavy rain. Suddenly, the rock we were standing on split right in the middle of Kili and Fili. The older brother stretched his hand toward his younger brother.

"Kili! Grab my hand!" He yelled. Kili grabbed it but his hands were slippery because of the rain. That's when I realized... We were on the Stone Giant's knees and it was about to stand up. Suddenly, a rock was thrown at our stone giant's face and it started falling. It started swaying and doing whatever it could to try and stay upright. It turned and we were now facing the mountain and not a very deep gorge that we would from if we fell. The giant's knee was going towards the mountain full speed. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact but it never came. I looked around me to see that we were in a cave and I was in Kili's arms. I quickly got out of his grip and moved away.

"Bella? Of course! How did I not notice it before?" He asked. I looked at him.

"Please don't say anything" I said. He nodded and crossed his heart.

"Promise" He said. I sighed in relief.

"Oh thank Durin you're alright!" We heard Thorin say. I turned around and immediately wish I hadn't. He looked vey and I mean VERY good. He had this look in his eyes that made them look baby blue and his hair was wet. In my opinion, he was very good looking at this moment. I quickly turned my back towards him and blushed bright red. Kili looked at me with one raised eyebrow. I glared at him and turned my back to him also. I was now staring at the cavern wall.

"I thought we lost our burglar" Dwalin said running into the cave. I turned towards him.

"He's been lost since he left home" Thorin sneered while glaring at me. I looked down in sadness. I sighed and went to sit alone in a corner.

"Check if the place is empty" Thorin ordered some dwarves. After a few minutes, they came back and told Thorin that it was completely empty. The dwarves started setting up their beds while I stayed in my corner. I took out the contract and started reading it.

"He didn't mean that you know" Balin said sitting beside me. I looked up at him.

"Do you really think so?" I asked. He nodded.

"He's been under a lot of stress lately and losing nearly half his company plus his nephew really shook him. He cares about you. He's just scared" I looked at Thorin. Maybe fear was the look in his eye that I saw.

"He's really good at hiding it" I said. Balin nodded.

"He thinks he has no choice. He thinks that because he's the leader, he can't show any fear. That's how he was raised" He explained. I nodded.

"Get some sleep. You're going to need it. Goodnight Miss Baggins" He said and stood up. He walked towards his makeshift bed. I quickly unpacked mine and lied down on it. I tried to fall asleep but a thought kept running circles in my mind. Did I really belong in this quest? I thought of Bilbo, home, my books and my chair. I really miss it. Maybe Thorin was right. Maybe I don't belong here. I sighed and quietly started packing my things. When that was done, I started walking towards the entrance to the cave.

"Where do you think you're going?" I jumped at Bofur's voice. I looked at him.

"Back to Rivendell" I said.

"You can't turn back now. You're part of the company. You're one of us" He said. I shook my head.

"But I'm not really am I?" I asked. Bofur stayed silent.

"Thorin was right. I don't belong. I shouldn't have run out that door" I said.

"You're homesick, I get it" He started.

"No! None of you understand! You're dwarves. You're used to this lifestyle. Not staying in one place, not belonging anywhe- I'm sorry. I didn't mean that" I apologized.

"No. You're right, we don't belong anywhere" He said sadly.

"Bofur, I didn't mean that" I said. He just gave me a small smile.

"Well, it was nice meeting you. Master Baggins. Have a safe journey back and tell your sister I say hello will you?" I sighed nodding.

"Sure. Tell the others that I'm sorry?" I asked. He nodded.

"I wish you all the luck in the world. I really do" He said putting a hand on my shoulder. I gave him a small smile before stepping away. His brows furrowed.

"What's that?" He asked pointing to my sword. The hilt of the sword was glowing blue

"The blade was made by the fire nymphs but the rest was made from elves" Elrond's words replayed in my head

"This looks of elvish make, it should glow blue when goblins or orcs are near" Gandalf's words also replayed in my head.

"Oh no..." I said. I looked around and met Thorin's eyes.

"Get up!" He exclaimed while shaking his nephews awake

"Get up!" I yelled also shaking some dwarves, but we were too late. The ground beneath us crumbled and goblins surrounded us. Their greasy hands grabbed us roughly and dragged us deeper into the cave. Right before we made it to a bridge, I managed to escape the goblins. To evade getting caught, I ran in the opposite direction. I looked back to see if anybody saw my but I probably should have been watching where I was running because I fell straight down into a hole. After a few moments, I hit the ground with a thump. I groaned and looked at my surroundings. I was in what I'm guessing, are big underground mushrooms. I looked to my left and saw a creature. It was a goblin but it was still alive so I tried not to draw attention to myself and hid deeper in the mushrooms. Good thing to because a creature with bright blue eyes came out of the shadows and dragged the goblin away with it squirming and trying to get away. As soon as it was out of sight, the goblin's cries stopped. I slowly got up and grabbed my sword. I was glowing blue. I started walking towards where the creature dragged the goblin when something caught my eye. There was a golden ring on the ground. I picked it up and looked at it in confusion. I heard a cry and quickly put it in my pocket. I slowly walked towards the sound and came across a very large opening. There on a ledge in the moonlight was the creature beating the goblin's head in with a rock. I hid the glowing tip of my sword and ran towards a rock that I could hide behind

"Shut up" It said as it hit the goblin once more. I took a step closer and accidently kicked a rock and it fell into the water. Its head snapped in my direction and I quickly hid. I calmed my heart before looking out again hoping it went back to whatever it was doing. It wasn't there. I quickly looked around before sitting back. I just happen to look up and I wish I hadn't. The creature was there. It jumped down from the rock and landed in front of me. I started mumbling stuff I couldn't understand. I came closer and I pointed my sword at its neck.

"Stay back" I hissed. The thing started hyperventilating and backed up. I stood up and walked forward, making it back up into a rock

"I'm warning you" I said.

"It has-is an elvish blade but it's not an elf-ses. What is it precious? What is it?" It asked... Himself?
"My name is Bella Baggins" I said still holding the sword up.

"Bagginses? What is a Bagginses precious?" It asked looking genuinely confused.

"I'm a hobbit... From the shire" I replied.

"Oh! We like goblinses, batses and fishes but we hasn't tried hobbitses before. Is it soft?" Is it juicy?" It asked getting closer to me.

"No! Keep your distance! I will use this if I have to. I don't want any trouble do you understand? Just show me the way out of here and I'll be on my way" I exclaimed swinging my sword defensively.

"Why? Is it lost?" It asked.

"Yes and I want to get unlost as soon as possible" I said.

"Oh we knows! We knows safe path for hobbitses. Safe path for hobbitses in the dark...Shut up" It said in a deeper voice.

"I didn't say anything" I said in confusion. It looked up from the rock.

"Wasn't talking to you" It said. Guess it has multiple personality disorder...

"Oh yes we was precious. We was" It said from behind the rock.

"Look, I don't know what your game is b-" I was cut off.

"Games!? We loves games, don't we precious?" It exclaimed as he jumped on the rock it was hiding behind.

"Does it like games? Does it? Does it like to play?" It asked.

"Maybe" I said. It smiled.

"What has roots but nobody sees? It's taller than trees, up, up, up it goes, but never grows?" It asked. It was a riddle I used to ask Bilbo all the time but he never got it so I kept teasing him about it.

"The mountain" I said. It clapped.

"Oh yes! Let have another one yeah? Ask us" It said all excited. His other side snapped.

"No! No more riddles finish him off. Finish him now!" It said glaring at me. It lunged for me.

"No. No. No I want to play. I do. I want to play. I can see, you are very good at this" He looked up at me and smiled.

"Why don't we have a game of riddles? J-Just you and me" I said kneeling down.

"Yes. Just us" It said crawling closer.

"Yes and I win, you show me the way out" I suggested.

"Yes and if you lose, what then?" It asked.

"Well precious, if it loses, we eats it" The other he said. I looked at it shocked. It popped in front of me.

"If bagginess loses, we eats it whole" It said. It took me a moment to regain myself.

"Fair enough" I said standing up and putting my sword away.

"Baggins first" It said looking at me. I thought about it for a moment.

"Thirty white horses on a red hill. First they chap then they stamp than they stand still" I said. It's- know what let's just call it a he. His eyebrows furrowed as he thought about it.

"Teeth? TEETH!! Yes my precious. We, we don't have none" He said...he does though. Maybe I misheard him...oh well.
"Our turn" He said.

"Voiceless, it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters" It asked. I froze. I didn't know.

"Give me a minute" I said. And walked towards the water.

"We knows. We knows!" His nice side said.

"Shut up" Bad side said. I looked out of the water and a breeze flew in, making the water move.

"Wind" I whispered. I turned around and told him it was wind. He scowled at me.

"Very clever hobbits is Very clever" It growled coming closer to me. I brought out my sword and pointed it at him He stopped.

"A box without hinges, key or lid yet olden treasure inside is hid" I asked. After a while I asked him if he gave up.

"Give us a chance precious, give us a chance" It said. I shrugged.

"EGGSES!!" It yelled after a few more moments. I sighed. He got it right...again.

"Wet crunchy eggses" It said.

"Now...This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins towns and beats high mountains down" He asked. I thought about it.

"Do you give up?" It asked.

"Give me a moment. I gave you a long while" I snapped. I continued thinking but my mind came up blank.

"I don't know this one" I said.

"Is it tasty, is it scrumptious?" He sang.

"Is it crunchy?" It said grabbing my shoulders from behind. I grabbed my sword and aimed it at him.

"Let me think" I snapped. I walked away to think.

"It's stuck. Baggins is stuck... Time's up" He said. Wait...time...

"Time. The answer is time. Actually wasn't that hard..." I said. He growled.

"Last question. Last chance" He said. I saw him picking up a rock so I backed up a bit. I needed to think of one last question.

"Ask us. ASK US!" It yelled.

"Alright" I said. I looked out into the water and put my hand on my pocket...my pocket that had the ring I found.

"What do I got in my pocket" I asked.

"That's no fair. It's against the rules ask us another one" He stated. I shook my head.

"No. You said ask me a question. Well, that is my question. What do I have in my pocket?" I asked.

"Precious must give us three guesses" He said holding up two fingers.

"Three guesses, very well, guess away" I said.

"Handses!" He yelled. I lifted up my hand.
"Wrong. Guess again" I told him.

"Life! Oh shut up" He said.

"Wrong" I told him.

"String. Or nothing" He said.

"That's two guesses. Both wrong" I said. He fell to the ground crying.

"Come on. I won the game, you promised to show me the way out" I said. He got up

"Did we say so precious? Did we say so?" He asked.

"What has it got in its pocketses?" He asked.

"If you must know, it's a pencil. You lost" I took out the pencil that I actually did have in my pocket.

"Lost? Lost?" It said and reached into his pocket. His face morphed into worry. And he turned his body to look into his pocket.

"Where is it? Where is it?" He yelled. He started looking around on the ground and in the water. Then, he stopped and stared at the water. I took the ring out of my pocket and held it behind my back.

"What have you lost?" I asked. He snapped his head towards me.

"Must not ask us. Not your business." He said. He looked down at the water and stopped.

"He stoles it" He yelled as he turned around to face me completely. He threw rocks at me and I tried to dodge them all but some hit my arms, chest, and legs. I ran down the tunnel and heard him coming close by so I pressed myself against the wall and put the ring on. A gush of wind hit me and everything looked gray. He ran right past me and didn't seem to notice me so I followed him. Maybe he would lead me to the exit.
He jumped out of the small tunnel that led to another tunnel, but at the end of this tunnel, was a light.

'For once someone actually has to go towards the light at the end of the tunnel' I thought to myself. I heard footsteps and the creature...I still don't know his name... hid in the tunnel. It was Gandalf and the dwarves. I watched them pass by and debated on whether or not, I jump over the creature. I finally decided that's what I was going to do. I backed up and got a running start. I stepped on his head and he fell. I ran towards the light and made it to the outside world without him catching me. I sighed in relief and took off the ring. The world went back to its normal colors and I breathed in the fresh air.


A/N: Long chapter...I know