The Eyes of Emerald

Chapter 17

"I'll wager the sun is on the rise!" said Bofur, breaking the long-held silence. "Must be near dawn." Dawn couldn't help but begin to sob quietly. Only she and Fili knew of Thranduil's plan, and Dawn knew that in a short while, she will never see him again. Never feel his arms around her. Never hear his sweet words. Never see the man she loved again.

"We're never going to reach the mountain, are we?" said Ori. Dawn thought to herself. No, they were not. Fili now was against the wall of his cell. It was official. There was no way out of this: he was going to die in a short while. Before he could even see the Lonely Mountain. Before he could ever have a chance at becoming king. Before he could ever have a chance to admit to Dawn that she might be his one.

"Not stuck in here you're not," spoke a familiar voice. Everyone jumped out of their positions to see if it was true what they heard. Outside of Thorin's cell was Bilbo, dangling a set of keys in his hand.

"Bilbo!" Balin shouted. All began to cheer but then were quickly shushed.

"There are guards nearby!" he scolded.

One by one, each dwarf was let out of his cell, and they began to form a line as they re-grouped. At first, they seemed to go up but then changed direction.

"Not that way! Down here! Follow me!" The company followed him in a line and they quietly made their way down into the entrails of Mirkwood until they arrived in what looked like a wine cellar. There snoring loudly were two drunken elves.

"I don't believe it! We're in the cellars!" Kili said.

"You're supposed to be leading us out, not further in!" added Bofur.

"I know what I'm doing," Bilbo replied before being shushed by Bofur. The company now stood before a large stack of barrels.

"Everyone, climb into the barrels. Quickly."

"Are you mad?" said Dwalin. "They'll find us!"

"No, they won't. I promise you. Please, you must trust me." The dwarves began to silently argue on whether or not to follow Bilbo's instructions.

"Do as he says!" Thorin scolded. With that, the entire company got into the barrels in a matter of seconds.

"What do we do now?" asked Bofur as he piped out his head, as did everyone else.

"Hold your breath."

"Hold my breath? What do you..." Bofur began before he and everyone else began screaming as they were tumbling town into the river. Dawn finally got her head out and took a large breath, as she saw Bilbo fall. As he came up, he clung on to Nori's barrel, gasping for air.

"Well done, Master Baggins." stated Thorin.

The dwarves had hurried after him, paddling towards the entrance of the cave they had fallen in and soon, they found themselves into the open air and even fell down a little waterfall into a wider, more tumultuous river where the current was strong enough to carry them away without them having to paddle.

It wasn't going to be that easy though and Dawn snapped her head back when they heard the sound of a horn signalling their flight. Looking in front of her, she saw an open gateway, only a few meters from them. She saw Thorin trying to hurry towards it before it was too late. Unfortunately the guards standing on it pulled a lever down and the metallic gates closed just as the dwarf was reaching them.

"No!" he shouted as the other barrels started to collide against his and they found their way suddenly cut down by the gates.

But just as things could not get worse, they did. And that was revealed when an elf soldier fell into the water with an Orc arrow in his neck. Quickly the orcs emerged, and the company was found first fighting them with bare hands, but then fighting the next ones with weapons they stole from their victims.