The Darkling(Legolas/The Hobbit) Book 1 ✔️

III

To BBarygirl for taking the time to ask (or exclaim) how ridiculously many words it takes to ask 'why not' in Sindarin.

"We're never going to reach the mountain, are we?" Ori said sadly as he leaned his head against the cell door. Opening her mouth to reassure him in any way she could, Arya became distracted as she heard a soft shuffling of feet outside her cell. Narrowing her eyes she slowly moved towards the cell door, peeking out just in time to see Bilbo emerging out of thin air. Not saying anything she watched as he slipped something golden into his pocket and stepped out in front of Thorin's door: "Not stuck in here you're not."

The dwarfs, not known for they subtlety, naturally started to shout his name and alert each other of his presence. Bilbo was smart enough to ask them to be silent, telling them there were guards close by. As he reached her door, he tried all the keys, but none seemed to fit.

All the other dwarfs were waiting impatiently right outside her cell, each looking more nervous than the next. Thorin pushed Bilbo out of the way, grabbing the keys and meticulously went through each and every one of them.

"You should leave," Arya said as he tried the last one. "We are not leaving you behind," Thorin grit out between his teeth. Trying, for the tenth time a random key on the large key ring.

"There is no more time, Thorin. Bilbo got you out of the cells, now you need to get out of here, and reach Erebor before Durin's day."

"It's that blonde haired elf, I tell you!" Glóin spat, glaring towards the stairs that led up to the higher levels of the keep. "He's the one that got the key!"

"Well you can do nothing about it now," Arya urged, her head leaning towards the bars of her cell door. "Leave before the guards arrive, Bilbo will have done his work for nothing."

"Arya..." Thorin said quietly, leaning his head against the outside of her door. Leaning down she smiled reassuringly at him: "Either I will get out on my own, or you can come back rescuing me when you are done with the dragon. You have to go on." His head bowed downwards and she leaned forwards, managing to press a kiss to his forehead through the bars, before she bent down so that she was at his eyelevel. "Do not let the archenstone take over your mind, or the treasure. I will catch up with you, just don't do anything stupid, like waking up the dragon." With that she gently pushed him away from the door. Each of the dwarfs passed by her door, getting either a pat on the shoulder or a kiss on the head. Bilbo came last, and she bent down, whispering softly so that none of the others could hear: "I advise that the object you have hidden in your pocket should stay there as much as possible. Do not use it Bilbo, for I fear that it is more powerful than you might think. Powerful objects rarely stay true to their masters, and I would not like to see you deceived by its magic."

Bilbo looked up at her with wide eyes, unsure of how she knew of the ring, but decided to nod his head, before he swiftly led the dwarfs down the long stairs of the elven keep. Thorin cast a long last look at his last companion, unsure if this was the right decision or not. Reluctantly though, he followed the group down the stairs, leaving the only female he had ever traveled with behind.

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"To the dungeons! They have escaped! Our prisoners have escaped!" Feeling a slight change in his heartbeat Legolas sprang to his feet. Quickly moving in front of one of the guards he stopped him on his path to the dungeons. "Man (who)?"The guard looked at him in surprise, almost on the brink of arguing with him to hurry up until he saw who he was. "The dwarf company, my lord. They have escaped through the wine cellars."

"All of them?" Legolas heard the urgency of his own voice and forced his face into a calm mask. "No, hir vuin (Yes, my lord)." Bowing his head slightly the guard quickly scurried after the others after the small incline of Legolas' head. Taking another rout, he found himself sprinting down to the dungeons, almost whizzing past her cell as he rushed to get to the vine cellars, the only possible escape rout he could think of.