Where She Went

If Things Could Get Worse...

They were dragged down multiple wooden bridges which revealed an entire community of tunnels. The young woman had no idea what to expect. Were these Goblins torturers? Would they eat them just as the Trolls had planned to do?

The company was eventually gathered to what Talia guessed was supposed to be a throne room when they came face to face with it. A Goblin that was bigger than all the rest...and uglier. Talia could see the dirt and slime that coated his body, along with the huge warts all over his face.

"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?" the Goblin bellowed.

"Dwarves, Your Malevolence." a lesser Goblin answered.

"Dwarves?"

"We found them on the front porch!" Porch? You call that empty cave a porch? Talia thought.

"Well, don't just stand there! Search them! Every crack, every crevice!" the Goblin king declared. The Goblins surrounded Talia and the Dwarves, and the young woman could feel her backpack being ripped off of her, and the weight of her weapons leaving her waist. "What are you doing in these parts? Speak!"

As Thorin was about to step forward, Oin held him back. "Don't worry, lads. I'll handle this!"

"No tricks." the Goblin warned. "I want the truth, warts and all!"

"You're going to have to speak up. Your boys flattened my trumpet." Oin told him.

"I'll flatten more than your trumpet!" the Goblin roared.

"If it's more information you're wanting, I'm the one you should speak to!" Bofur stepped up. The Goblin king paused, waiting for the Dwarf's answer. "We were on the road...well it's not so much a road as a path...actually, it's not even that, come to think of it, it's more like a track. Anyway, the point is we were on this road, like a path, like a track, and then we weren't. Which is a problem, because we were supposed to be in Dunland last Tuesday." Even then, Talia snickered a little, until the Goblin king stomped his foot down.

"SHUT UP!" Clearly, he wasn't very happy that the Dwarves were stalling. "Well, then. If they will not talk, we'll make them squawk! Bring out the Mangler! Bring out the Bone Breaker! Start with the female!" the Goblin shouted, pointing his finger to Talia. She froze in her place, her heart racing. The Goblin king did a double take just then, and grabbed the young woman by the waist, causing her to scream.

She could hear Bofur, Fili, and Kili cry out for her as the Goblin carried her closer to his face. "Hmm, pretty. Too pretty to be a Dwarf! May even prove to be more useful." The hideous creature turned his eyes to scrutinize the young woman.

"How much do these men value you, little beauty? Surely they wouldn't mind if I took a little piece of you for myself." he sneered, and began to run his giant, slimy fingers across her breasts. The young woman squirmed and began to whimper, never feeling more violated in her life. "They're big boys, I'm sure they'll understand." the Goblin continued.

Talia couldn't stop shaking and whimpering. She didn't want to die like this, slowly and ruthlessly. She closed her eyes and prayed to God that the Dwarves couldn't hear her, because she could definitely hear them.

"Wait!" The young woman opened her eyes. No. It wasn't. Seriously? Thorin pretty much just got done telling her that she was trash, and now he's coming to her rescue? That did not add up! Talia was confused. Did he hate her or not? Nevertheless, she was grateful, because the Goblin took his fingers off her, and eyed the Dwarf.

"Well, well, well, look who it is! Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror; King Under the Mountain!" the Goblin took an exaggerated bow, mocking him. "Oh wait, but I'm forgetting you don't have a mountain. Oh, and you're not a king, which makes you...nobody, really." Thorin glared at the Goblin, appearing unfazed by what he said.

The Goblin king narrowed his eyes, seeming to want to get some kind of reaction out of him. He looked at the young woman. "Is she yours? She must be quite the whore to catch the attention of Thorin Oakenshield!" The Goblins all laughed at their king's remark, and Talia refused to look at the Dwarves.

If she hadn't been so traumatized by the earlier events, she would have told him off. She could feel a few tears escaping her eyes, she was beyond humiliated. The Dwarves said nothing, and Talia didn't know if that was worse than if they were to say something.

They just witnessed her being touched as if she were some sort of pet, and that accusation of being Thorin's whore just made it so much worse. That had made her wish that the Goblin had just killed her right then and there. She had completely missed the brief glance of worry in Thorin's eyes.

The Goblin king smirked, obviously having something else up his sleeve. "I know someone who would pay a pretty price for your head. Just the head, nothing attached. Perhaps, you know of whom I speak; an old enemy of yours. A Pale Orc astride a White Warg."

Talia's eyes widened, along with Thorin's. "Azog, the Defiler was destroyed! He was slain in battle long ago!" he spat.

"So, you think his defiling days are done, do you?" the Goblin laughed and turned to a much tinier Goblin, who appeared to be a messenger of some kind. "Send word to the Pale Orc. Tell him I have found his prize." With that, the tiny Goblin was off, and the rest of the population broke out into song.

Bones will be shattered, necks will be wrung
You'll be beaten and battered, from racks you'll be hung
You'll die down here and never be found
Down in the deep of Goblin Town

Still in the grasp of the Goblin king, Talia could see a minion checking out some of the weapons. He was unsheathing Thorin's sword. Orcrist. The moment the sword made its way out of the sheath, the Goblin dropped it and screeched.

The Goblin king looked over and backed away onto his throne. "I know that sword! It is the Goblin Cleaver! The Biter! The blade that sliced a thousand necks!" he bellowed. The young woman turned to see the Goblins surrounding the Dwarves, whipping and beating them.

Talia began thrashing around in the giant Goblin's hold, trying to get back down to the Dwarves. She would rather be beaten alongside them than be made into whatever the Goblin king had in mind for her.

"Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all! Cut off his head!" the king commanded.

Talia actually found herself screaming. "No!" As much as she hated Thorin, she didn't want this. She didn't want to actually kill him!

The young woman stared with wide eyes as the Goblins held Thorin down and put a knife to his throat. Before the creature could bring the knife down, however, everyone was blinded by a flash of light, which caused the Goblin king to drop Talia to the ground.

Once the light faded, Talia looked up to see none other than the Grey Wizard. Gandalf walked forward, staff and sword at the ready. "Take up arms. Fight. Fight!" he commanded. The Dwarves immediately got up and fought the Goblins off. Talia crawled over to the stack of weapons and managed to retrieve her backpack and her Silver Sisters. "Follow me!" Gandalf shouted.

The young woman got up, and felt someone picking her up. She turned around to see Dori putting her on his back. "Come on, lassie!" he shouted. Talia held on to his shoulders as tight as she could. They ran for quite a few yards down the wooden bridges, fighting off Goblins along the way.

"Watch out!" Talia screamed. They both looked to the side to see a Goblin jumping on top of them.

The young woman fell off the Dwarf's back, and got up quickly to see Dori kill the Goblin. What she didn't see was another Goblin running right towards her. She looked just in time to dodge its blade and tackle him in the stomach. The Goblin fell to the ground with the woman on top of him, and he began to roll in order to gain the upper hand.

The creature must have forgotten how narrow the bridge was, because he put so much force on the young woman, that he sent both of them over the edge and falling deep into the Goblin tunnels. Talia screamed as the light of the tunnels faded as she fell further down, and then she remembered no more.