"Bones will be shattered,

necks will be wrung,

You'll be beaten and battered,

from racks you'll be hung."

The great goblin king sang at the top of his lungs. That is, if you could call it a song. His voice sounded like feral cats being dragged down an iron post, and the banging of crude instruments only made it worse.

"You will die down here,

and never be found,

down in the deep of

Goblin-Town!"

The goblin king sang as his subjects began toying with us. They found immense pleasure in aggravating me and my companions. It seemed as though, for the first time, I was content with being mistaken for a boy. I shuddered to think of what could be done if I were to reveal myself. I stayed mostly in front of Ori, forming a protective barrier around him.

I could have used my magic any time I wished, but I didn't have enough energy replenished to fight them all at once. If I acted now – killing as many goblins as I could – I'd put my companions in danger and expose myself. Witches were not well known throughout Middle-Earth, and if one was exposed, they were killed or enslaved. I didn't want to die down here, and I most certainly didn't want to stay down here either. The thought made me sick.

There was a screech, coming from the small goblin who threw a sword away from him as if he were afraid of it. The sword clattered to the ground and I recognized it to be Thorin's. The curved handle shone in the torchlight, and everyone turned to see what had terrified the goblin so.

"I know that sword!" The goblin king howled; leaping back up onto his chair and cowered; gaping at the sword. "It is the Goblin-Cleaver! The Biter! The blade that sliced a thousand necks!" As soon as these words were spoken the goblins rallied around us, taking chains, and swinging them about, beating my companions.

"Watch it!" I exclaimed as I dodged a slash from a chain myself, but a second wrapped itself around my arm and pulled me to the side. I fell to the ground and rolled. I tried to get up, but goblins were on me like flies on a mule. I could do nothing against their razor nails or whips of chains. I was forced to lay there as my body was struck repeatedly. I could no longer feel anything but the buzz of anger and heat inside me. It roared up in my body.

"Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all!" the goblin king shrieked as loud as he possibly could, "Cut off his head!" that is what scared me most. Not the fact that I was being beat to death by goblins, but the fact that one of my companions – one of my friends – was about to be hewn into pieces.

I opened my mouth to scream, but a wave of energy shot through the air. I rolled across the ground with a dozen goblins, shocked and dazed at the sudden impact. I hit my temple against the wood and my vision swam with stars. If I didn't have severe head trauma after this journey, I would be surprised.

I opened my eyes to see a pale light washing over the platform and illuminating the scene of dazed dwarves and goblins around me. I looked towards the source of the soft light and made out a familiar figure. I traced the lines of the pointed hat, the curved staff and glimmering sword. As the light faded, I saw our rescuer.

"Gandalf." I breathed.

"Take up arms." Gandalf spoke, "Fight." I felt my head clear and I turned my head to the pile of weapons, seeing the hilts of mine at the bottom of the pile. "Fight!"

I opened my mouth as the dwarves began to roar battle cries and my voice bled into the mix. My throat burned with the exertion, but I pushed myself up none the less and made for the pile of weapons. The goblins and dwarves were on their feet now, fighting the swarm of goblins that converged on us.

A large goblin leapt in my path and snarled at me. I shouted in pain as I stopped, balancing on my right foot as I extended my left and kicked the goblin squarely in the chest. I was knocked back a few inches, but the goblin staggered back too far and fell over the crude railing and into the abyss with a scream.

"He wields the Foehammer! The beater! Bright as daylight!" The goblin king yowled and cowered on the floor.

With the goblin out of my way, I reached into the pile and grabbed the first weapon I could find; an axe. I recognized the axe and I turned to face the crowd. "Gloin!" I called out. I found my red haired fried in the midst of the battle and I held up the axe, reeled back and threw it.

The blade soared through the air and Gloin's hand shot up out of the chaos and grabbed ahold of it. I breathed a sigh of relief as a few of the others rushed over to the pile of weapons and drew their own. I bent and picked up my own blades, drawing them against an oncoming assailant. I dragged my swords across the neck of a goblin, and it staggered back; blood splattering across my face as I moved into the thick of the battle, swinging my weapons around and felling goblins everyway I turned.

"Valerie!" A back pressed against mine and I recognized the voice of Gandalf.

"Gandalf!" I called over my shoulder – greeting him over the noise – and stuck a goblin in the gut, "What took you so long?" I asked playfully.

"Navigating these tunnels." Gandalf grunted as he decapitated several goblins. "I found this." Gandalf spun around me and tossed me my canvas jacket. I grabbed it with my bloodied hands and tied it around my waist while the goblins were momentarily distracted when Thorin sent their king tumbling into the abyss.

"Thank you." I said earnestly as I spun away, killing three more goblins.

"Follow me. Quick!" Gandalf called. I ran beside the dwarves as we turned from the advancing goblins and followed Gandalf down a wooden bridge. "Run!" Gandalf hollered.

"What else would we do?" I shouted back sarcastically. I was tried, hungry, sore, and bleeding from small cuts and the gash in my chest; I reserve the right to be cranky.

We ran as fast as we could, going deeper into the goblin caves. We ran along bridges and platforms, swinging swords against a single goblin every once and a while as the rest pursued us from behind.

"Faster!" Dwalin shouted. The shrieking goblins were at our backs, howling and squealing with anger. There were the sounds of weapons clashing ahead and I looked up to see Dwalin dispatching a pair of goblins, more and more of them crawling up from the ground and running at us from ahead as well as behind.

"Post!" with Dwalin's command, several of the dwarves cut the ropes that lashed the wooden railing together and hoisted it up. I grabbed the end of the post and followed their lead. "Die!" Dwalin howled as a dozen of goblins approached us and we swept the post from one side of the walkway to the other: sending goblins tumbling into the abyss below.

Abandoning the post, we continued down the wooden paths; dispatching goblins and running as fast as our legs could carry us. The shrieks never stopped as the goblins streamed out of every tunnel imaginable. I stopped for a moment, making sure every member of the company ran past me before I face the hundreds of goblins chasing us from behind.

"Valerie, what are you doing?" Dori called as I extended my hands out in front of me, focusing on the bridge before me. If this bridge were gone, it would shave hundreds of assailants off our tails and improve our chances of escape.

"Go, Bofur!" I shouted and a ball of scarlet energy built up in my hands and I threw it forward. Once the ball of energy hit the ground a dozen yards from me, it erupted. The sound was like a clap of thunder, and the display fizzed like a firecracker. Pieces of bridge... and a couple unfortunate goblins flew through the air and I turned, following the company, and catching up seconds later.

"Cut the ropes!" Thorin was yelling as I reached them, and I arrived just in time to witness one of the overhead bridges falling and bringing a dozen goblins that had attempted to swig across the cavern on ropes with it. I whooped joyously at the genius of it all and we ran on.

We boarded a pathway that broke off in the middle; suspended in the air by ropes and I looked back in shock. Dead end? Here now? I was ready to charge the goblins when Fili and Kili cut two of the ropes and sent the platform swinging to the other side. I grabbed Ori's hand and jumped onto the next platform, landing beside the others as the bridge swung back, carrying goblins as well as dwarves. I tensed as the platform swung back to us and the rest of our company leapt off and Fili cut the remaining ropes. I reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him onto the platform just in the nick of time.

It seemed as though the running and screeching would never stop. I forced myself onwards as we continued running and fighting throughout the tunnels. Bombur fell from the ceiling two platforms ahead of us, and hit the ground running, passing a couple of us in his sprint.

Gandalf knocked a boulder from the ceiling and sent it rolling down the stone passage that stretched out before us, crushing every goblin in its wake. We ran for what seemed like hours before we reached a solitary platform. This was it, the last stretch. I wanted to be out so bad, to lay down and sleep for days. A stupid grin grew on my face at the thought of a good long rest.

As we began to run across the last wooden bridge, it shuddered violently before breaking open in the middle. I jerked back to a stop as all my hopes were dashed at once, stuck, staring into the eyes of the goblin king as he rose from the hole he had made in the bridge with a growl and he hideous grin.

Everyone came to a stop as goblins flooded onto the platforms on either side of the bridge. I turned to face the goblins that snarled at us from behind and whipped back to face the ones that blocked our escape behind their king.

"You thought you could escape me?" the goblin king sneered and swung his pronged staff towards us and Thorin managed to pull Gandalf back; helping him escape the horrible fate of becoming a wizard shish kebab.

I produced my swords and angled my body so that I could just barely see the goblins gathered behind us, while my attention remained on the ones in front.

"What are you going to do now, wizard?" the great goblin king leered.

In one swift movement, Gandalf leaned forward and poked the goblin's left eye with the end of his staff, and while he reeled back, screeching; Gandalf swung his sword across the goblin's bulbus stomach. I clenched my jaw and winced as I saw the cut widen and ooze fat sludge before the goblin clapped his hand over the cut, falling to his knees with a screech.

The goblin nodded as Gandalf righted himself and spoke, "That'll do it." With that, Gandalf swung his sword once more across the Goblin's throat. The goblin king gurgled and fell forward with a crash.

The bridge shuddered and began to splinter with ear splitting cracks. I leaned forward, then back – desperate to keep my balance and avoid tumbling into the ravine below. The bridge slid forward, leaving the goblins behind in a rush of movement as we fell with the bridge. I landed on the ground and lay flat on my stomach, gripping the sides and Bifur's hand, so neither of us would go flying off and closed my eyes as we fell.

I felt every little shift of my companions as the wooden platform began to be sawed away against the rock as we fell between the narrow walls of the ravine. I was screaming my lungs out; but let's be fair, all of us were. The wooden bridge tilted forward then back as we caught on something that slowed our fall and I slipped. My eyes flew opened and I screamed as I fell from the platform.

Being prepared to fall down to the bottom of the abyss, one could see why I was shocked when I hit the ground and was sent rolling across the stone ground along with a few planks of wood and a shower of splinters. When I stopped rolling, I turned up in a ball and wrapped my hands around the back of my neck; prepared to be skewered by a rogue sword or pole... but I wasn't.

I heard the groans of my companions and I shot up, looking up to see everyone was fine – granted, they were in a pile of broken bridge pieces – but no one was dead, so I count that as a win.

"Well, that could have been worse." Bofur breathed, leaning out of the wreckage. I jumped back as something large fell from above and landed atop my companions. I scrambled to my feet; realizing it was the body of the goblin king. There was a chorus of exasperated groans and grunts.

"You've got to be joking!" Dwalin groaned loudly. I limped over and stood beside Gandalf, holding out a hand to Balin and helped pull him from the debris. The planks were shifted about as the company emerged from the chaos and dusted themselves off and checked one another for injuries.

"Gandalf!" Kili shouted. I looked up and immediately fought the urge to pass out. The path of destruction we had carved became a clear path towards us for the goblins. There had to be at least two thousand goblins scuttling rapidly towards us. I found my swords on the ground and picked them up, gripping the handles tightly.

"There's too many. We can't fight them." Dwalin growled.

"I don't think I could muster anything big enough to save us." I said, panting as fresh blood began to soak my shirt. Pain was shooting up my stomach and I doubled over, gasping for breath.

"Only one thing will save us: daylight! Come on." Gandalf urged and I pushed myself after him and the company, running beside Bombur and Oin...