[IC] Hobbit-LOTR: Quests, Curses, And Guardians { Angel & Polarize }

[kiiblade]

"Of course." Kili felt horrible. If Saeril hadn't had to protect him, she would not have gotten hurt. Heart heavy with guilt, Kili moved himself so that she could lean on him if need be. "Should I get Oin?" Oin knew more about injuries than he would have.

Thorin had found a cavern, and one by one the company entered in order to reach shelter from the storm. All except two.
Turning back, Thorin found his nephew and Saeril. Up until now, Thorin had been cold towards the she-elf, but he'd seen what she'd done by protecting his youngest nephew. Saeril had ensured his safety. Without a word, he moved to help his nephew support her towards the cave. It would not do either of them well to stay out in a downpour like this.

[AngelBites15]

"Of course", the she-elf understood her godson's concern, and even Fili felt guilty on letting go of him when the rock split. If only he would have held onto his brother in time, their godmother wouldn't have gotten hurt. He was just as guilty as Kili was.

Saeril wasn't afraid of herself being in danger; she was afraid of herself not being to help those in danger. Especially for the company. Surprisingly, he didn't expect his uncle to go help. At the beginning of the journey, his uncle had become distant, along with a cold shoulder towards the she-elf. But maybe he felt a change of heart, when he finally realized why his sister had trusted Saeril with his own nephews. She risked her life to save his youngest heir, nothing more. She grew rather fond of them, and that was when she realized that she had family. Managing to get into the cave, she winced as she was carefully placed back down onto the ground. She didn't have anything that would treat her injury, and she doubted that the company had anything to help her. All she could do now, was rest.

[kiiblade]

Kili was surprised that Thorin had helped. While he did not believe his uncle to be heartless by any means, Kili knew how Thorin felt towards elves. This was progress, and it was his hope that the two could become friends.
As they helped Saeril inside, Kili sat next to her, his expression troubled. "Is there a gash?" If there was, he wanted to at least tie a makeshift bandage around it. "Oin! Can you come help us?"
Bilbo looked on in concern. Their journey had taken a dangerous turn, and he started to miss Rivendell even more than he had.
For once, Oin heard. The older dwarf's hearing was not the best, but the cave helped amplify sound. "What seems to be the problem?"

Gloin dropped down a pile of kindling he'd gathered. “Right then! Let’s get a fire started.”
Thorin shook his head, then tossed aside his sword. “No. No fires, not in this place. Get some sleep. We start at first light.”
Balin looked to his king, troubled by this news. “We were to wait in the mountains until Gandalf joined us. That was the plan.”
Thorin sat himself down, jaw set. “Plans change. Bofur, take the first watch."

[AngelBites15]

Saeril rubbed around the spot where she felt the pain, and when she did on her ankle, she hissed. Rolling up the slim pant-leg, there was indeed a gash, although not too big nor too small. She has never gotten this kind of injury before, since as an elf, she had a higher scale of awareness. It's not like she was completely immortal, albeit not physically. Elves have rarely ever got minor injuries. Those who lack grace, would most definitely receive them. "Just a gash", she confirmed to Kili. Nearby, Fili was laying down a few rolls for the three of them to sleep on. He put them close together, so they could look out and guard each other.

[kiiblade]

"Ah, I see." Oin crouched down to get a better look at the wound, then nodded. "We'll patch this right up...I believe I have--" before he could go through his bag of supplies, Kili had already tore a strip of fabric from his own tunic. "You can use this, Oin." As always, he wanted to help.
"Indeed it would, if it were dry." Oin retrieved some proper bandaging, then wrapped the gash with care. Once done, he studied his work. "Try to get some rest. If it continues to bother you, let me know."

[AngelBites15]

Saeril wasn't at all surprised when Kili tore off his tunic. She knew that he cared for her wellbeing at the bottom of his heart. She placed a hand on his shoulder to reassure him that everything was under control, and that she was being well-taken care of. "It's okay, young Durin. I'll be okay", she softly reassured him with words, if her body language wasn't enough. She turned to the healer. "Thank you, master Oin", the she-elf respectfully thanked him.

[kiiblade]

"Are you sure?" Kili wasn't easily convinced, but he was relieved that Oin had lent a hand to help patch the gash.
The youngest brushed some wet strands of hair from his eyes so that he might better see, and then he looked towards the bedrolls his brother had been good enough to set up. "You shouldn't put any weight on it...here, you can lean on me," he offered, as he wanted to help her be comfortable if at all possible.

[AngelBites15]

"I'll be fine", Saeril gently placed both of her hands at each side of Kili's face, stroking a piece of his wet hair away from his eyes. "Nothing can stop me", she recited the same words from the night before, convincing him that she will be fine. The she-elf carefully allowed herself to lean against the youngest, in order to try and stand. She didn't put too much weight on the wound, when she stood up, but she didn't let herself succumb to the pain. Elves heal quickly, so her chances to heal would be hopeful.

Her wings transforming back into her cloak, Saeril carefully set herself onto the bedroll in the middle between the brothers, and let them stick close with her through the night.

[kiiblade]

Kili did indeed stay close; he kept one arm over his godmother in a protective hug of sorts and his head rested against her shoulder. For a while, he could not sleep. The guilt wouldn't fade until the gash did.

Later that night, Kili was startled awake by Thorin's voice. "Wake up! Wake up!"
The youngest started to push himself up as ordered, and he took notice of Bilbo's sword glowing blue. What was that? Before Kili made it to his feet, the floor broke in and he, among others, fell right through.

The floor lead down a chute, one that everyone tumbled down, only to land roughly in a wooden box-like cage. The Company was met by a hoard of horrible creatures; Kili believed them small orcs, but Thorin cursed their name. "Trolls!"

The trolls were vicious, and they were quick. Already they were stripping them of their weapons and forcefully dragging them along despite the fight the dwarves had put up. Kili had kicked one off of himself, only to be dragged by two in its place. There were so many, too many to have dealt with.
Only Bilbo had hidden back unnoticed.

[AngelBites15]

It was too late for everyone to get prepared, and the last thing Saeril saw, was that she and everyone else were falling into a cavern. Stopping, she was glad that she wasn't in the pile of them, but what she didn't want to see was small figures of goblins before her. "Incoming!", she called to the others as she moved out of the way, but she soon felt regret while the dwarves did not move, only to be attacked.

It was goblin town, the she-elf thought as she watched from behind a rock, seeing the dwarves being taken to huge cavern that was swarming with goblins. Taking flight, she made sure to not be seen by anyone by flying above the pack in the shadows, where her outfit made camouflaging easier.

[kiiblade]

The dwarves were lead down a makeshift bridge of sorts, one that Kili was certain would break if one more ounce was added to it. When they came to the throne room, he looked to the Goblin King in disgust. This was unlike any creature he had ever seen, and the smell of the place rivaled even the troll cave.

The Goblin King rose from his seat, his skin sagging to the very floor in which he stood.
“Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?”
“Dwarves, Your Malevolence.” A goblin spoke up, and Kili shot him a dirty look.
The Goblin King scoffed in surprise. “Dwarves?”
Ignoring the death glares, the goblin nodded. “We found them on the front porch.”
“Well, don’t just stand there; search them!"

Kili stayed stubbornly still, only because Thorin and his brother had. Jaw set, he remained in place as the goblins removed any objects they could from them. Oin's ear trumpet was crushed, and their weaponry was cast aside. Without a word, Kili looked up in hopes of spotting Saeril, but he could not see her. Bilbo was missing as well.

Now that the search was over, The Goblin King spoke once more. “What are you doing in these parts? Speak!”
A response was not given, only glares of disdain, but that was no matter to him.
“Well then, if they will not talk, we’ll make them squawk! Bring out the Mangler! Bring
out the Bone Breaker! Start with the youngest.”

[AngelBites15]

"Enough!", a stern female voice yelled over the commotion as a dark figure with luminous yellow-green eyes flew down with great speed, and landed with her arms folded. "Disappointing, isn't it, oh goblin king?", she was really acting, pretending to still side with the pale orc, as she used to command the goblin king in the past.

[kiiblade]

Startled, the Goblin King looked up to Saeril. "Who allowed her to enter?!" There was no way he could forget her power, and that was the one thing that could strike fear into his being. "Shoot her down and tie her up with the rest of them!"

At this, Thorin finally intervened. "Wait!"
As he'd hoped, this drew the Goblin King's attention. If only for a moment.
“Well, well, well, look who it is. Thorin son of Thrain, son of Thror; King under the Mountain.” The Goblin King was taunting, but he kept a wary eye on Saeril too. “Oh, but I’m forgetting, you don’t have a mountain. And you’re not a king. Which makes you nobody, really. 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.”

Now it was Thorin's turn to be shocked, but he refused to believe it. He couldn't. “Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago.”

The Goblin King scoffed a harsh laugh. “So you think his defiling days are done, do you?” At that, he turned to the smallest goblin there. “Send word to the Pale Orc; tell him I have found his prize...and someone else that may be of interest to him." By 'someone else', he meant Saeril.

[AngelBites15]

Saeril did not expect Thorin to go that far into caring about her well-being, if that is how she sees it. She didn't expect Azog the Defiler to be brought up, and unfortunately, she had that guilt again. However, she masked it quick. Like, really quick. She cursed out in Black Speech fluently, knowing it was the language of the dark forces, and the forbidden tongue of Middle Earth; rarely anyone has deciphered this tongue, and none wished to learn it.

Stomping a heeled foot loudly, her luminous eyes seemingly glowed. "Foolish creature, he's nothing to you!", Saeril spat in venom, merely defending Thorin; this was the temperament of a creature who committed chaos and destruction. Crossing her was most definitely not wise.

[kiiblade]

The Great Goblin jumped a little (as much as his massive form would allow) when Saeril stompped a foot and spoke her piece. "A friend of Thorin's now, are you? Odd...considering your past." At that, he smirked crulley, then looked to the group of dwarves before him. Now that Azog was being sent for, he felt braver than he may have normally. “Bones will be shattered, necks will be wrung! You’ll be beaten and battered, from racks you’ll be hung. You will lie down here and never be found, down in the deep of Goblin Town.” Again, he was trying to taunt them, he was daring them to make a move.

One of the goblins examined the weapons that they'd taken from the dwarves. Upon inspecting Thorin’s sword, Orcrist, the goblin gasped in horror and threw it away. Recognizing it, the goblins howled in fear and rage as they retreated from it; even the Goblin King staggered back to his throne, trampling many goblins on his way. “I know that sword! It is the Goblin­ Cleaver, the Biter, the blade that sliced a thousand necks!”

At that, the Goblins begin whipping the dwarves with ropes and leaping upon them, biting and slashing with their mangled nails and crooked fangs.
The Great Goblin kept his distance, a wary eye upon the sword. “Slash them! Beat them! Shoot her down! Kill them! Kill them all! Cut off his head!”
To Kili's horror, the surrounding goblins drug Thorin down, and one of them pulled a knife in order to behead the king. "THORIN!"

[AngelBites15]

Saeril was trying to dodge every leaping goblin off of her being, and she was about to at least throw one of her curved daggers at the Goblin King. But at that very moment, a bright white light burst forth from behind the group and engulfed them all, making the goblins scream and drop to the floor, stunned. As the dwarves blinked and looked about them, dazed, and the light cleared, they saw Gandalf standing there. "Take up arms!", the wizard instructed, raising his voice to shout loudly. "Fight! FIGHT!"

Scrambling for their weapons, the dwarves fought their way through the caves of goblin town. One by one, a goblin jumped at them here and there as the winged elf took flight ahead of them, clearing the bridges by violently colliding into the small goblins off to the side. Flexibility in her flying, Saeril sliced, kicked, punched, scratched, screeched, and feats of agility was powerful, being able to have the capability to knock away the foul creatures.

[kiiblade]

The dwarves fought hard and they fought well. As soon as Gandalf gave them an opening, Kili retrieved his weaponry and fought alongside of his brother and uncle. Some goblins were kicked, some were shoved, others were beheaded and stabbed. Kili narrowly missed being shot, but he thought quickly and used a ladder in order to push off many at once. "There's too many of them!"
The bridges swayed dangerously, but they made it to the final platform. This was the only path that lead outside.

As they attempted to cross, the Goblin King suddenly broke through from underneath and pulled himself up onto the bridge in front of the Company. At the same moment, hundreds of goblins approached them from all sides.
"You thought you could escape me?" The Gobin King stepped towards Gandalf, mace in hand, then brought it back to swing. "What are you going to do now, wizard?"

Kili and the rest were witness as Gandalf hit the king in the eye, and then he sliced his middle clean open. After a brief pause, the Goblin King looked to his wound, then back to the group. "That'll do it."
His weight caused the bridge to start shaking, and the section of the bridge on which the company stood broke away from the rest of the bridge and started to slide down the side of the cavern at an alarming pace. Everything was demolished on the way, and there were plenty of yells and screams from varying members.
The bridge slowed just in time, breaking apart and burying the dwarves in the timber and wood.

Bofur blinked in surprise, his heart rate never slowing. “Well, that could have been worse.”
Suddenly, the heavy corpse of the Great Goblin lands on the wreckage, squishing the dwarves further. A few cried out and groaned in pain. Dwalin attempted to push some timber off of himself, Kili close by. “You’ve got to be joking!”
Still a bit dazed, Kili started to push himself up, but he was covered with rubble. The sight he was met with was alarming; hundreds of goblins were crawling their way.

[AngelBites15]

As the bridge was falling, Saeril lost her wind current, and fell alongside everyone else, but landed non-gracefully a few feet away from the wreckage. Seeing the corpse drop, she gave a wince at the sight of them being crushed. Helping each of them out, the she-elf lifted some parts of the bridge, in order to let their squirming become easier. As she was about to move the piece that was above Kili, she couldn't but look up at the thousands of goblins running after them. "Time to go", she quickly said in a small voice as she managed to get the young dwarf and his brother out. "Come on!"

"There's only one thing that can save us now," the wizard clarified with an explanation, ushering the other dwarves towards the exit. "Daylight! Run, all of you!". Going through the caves, the winged-elf immediately felt relieved once the sun shined upon her. Running down the mountainside, she was still by the brothers' side, relieved that they both managed to stay through the predicament. "Five, six, seven, eight. Bifur, Bofur, that’s ten. Fili, Ki­li, Saeril, that’s thirteen. And Bombur, that makes fourteen. Where’s Bilbo? Where is our hobbit? Where is our hobbit?!", Gandalf shouted over them as they finally came to a stop.

[kiiblade]

The company barely made it, but thanks to everyone working together, everyone survived. All but Bilbo.
“Curse the halfling! Now he’s lost?!” Dwalin looked for him in vain, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"I thought he was with Dori!” Gloin was quick to foist off any blame.
Dori was still panting from the run. “Don’t blame me!”
"I’ll tell you what happened!" Thorin sheathed his sword then faced them all. "Master Baggins saw his chance and he took it! He’s thought of
nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since first he stepped out of his door! We will not be seeing our Hobbit again. He is long gone.”

Kili looked the clearing over in hopes of spotting Bilbo, but he did not. What if he'd been wounded? For a brief moment in time, he nearly voiced his concerns, but a familiar voice broke through.

“No, he isn’t.” Bilbo clasped a hand to Balin's shoulder as he passed him by, and then he stopped. To explain his whereabouts would take too long, and he was not certain that he wanted to. For reasons even he did not yet know, he wished to keep the ring a secret.

“Bilbo, we’d given you up!” Kili smiled to see him; he was fond of their burglar, and he'd long considered him part of their group even if Thorin did not.
For once, his uncle was proved wrong, but he was not sold quite yet. Skeptical, Thorin looked him over for evidence that Bilbo had gone through the same battle they had. "I want to know: why did you come back?”

There was a brief, awkward pause. Bilbo looked to the ground, readjusted his collar, then found it within himself to resume eye contact. “Look, I know you doubt me, I know you always have. And you’re right, I often think of Bag End. I miss my books. And my armchair. And my garden." To speak of such things made him miss them all the more, but Bilbo continued on, never losing his voice. "See, that’s where I belong. That’s home. And that’s why I came back, cause you don’t have one. A home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can.”

Bilbo had finally found his courage, but he would need much more of it. The hobbit had finished speaking right in time, for in that moment, a howl broke through the clearing. This was the howl of a warg, one belonging to the Pale Orc.

[AngelBites15]

The she-elf couldn't help but give a curl of a smile upon her lips, as the Hobbit explained himself. It was pity, she noticed. Saeril put her hands upon the brother's shoulders as this proudness fueled itself within her. "It's good to have you back, mister Baggins", she spoke up in determination, and encouragement.

"Run them down! Tear them to pieces!", he yelled in Black Speech to which Saeril understood perfectly. A couple of wargs come running down the mountain, howling.

Hearing the vocals of Black Speech, Saeril's smile faded into an expression of fear. Fear for everyone's safety, including the last of the remaining. "I've led them here", she realized to herself quietly, so no one would hear. She had to act quickly. "Run. Run!", she started small until she raised her voice for them to hear. She looked to Kili. "Run with them, I'll catch up", she told him.