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MARISTELA LAID BACK AGAINST THE CORNER OF THE CAVE THEY HAD FOUND WITHIN THE MISTY MOUNTAIN, she wasn't sure how she felt about the possibly vacant mountain or the risk of coming face-to-face with Goblins. The Dwarves were asleep beside Bofur who was taking watch first, Maristela heard the slight movement come from where Bilbo was previously resting; she turned her head to him and sent him an encouraging nod when they made eye contact.

"Where do you think you're going?" Bofur asked the Hobbit when he moved toward the entrance of the cave. "Back to Rivendell," Bilbo answered him. "No, no, you can't turn back now, you're part of the Company. You're one of us," Bofur expressed to Bilbo making Maristela smile. "I'm not though, am I? Thorin said I should never have come and he was right. I'm not a Took, I'm a Baggins, I don't know what I was thinking. I should never have run out my door," Bilbo explained to Bofur.

Thorin, who is awake, stares thoughtfully at the wall as he listens. "You're homesick; I understand," Bofur assured him. "No, you don't, you don't understand!" Bilbo snapped back, even Maristela felt the hurt as he continued, "None of you do - you're Dwarves. You used to--to this life, to living on the road, never settling in one place, not belonging anywhere. Even Maristela knows that life." Maristela bowed her head as she took in the Hobbit's words, he was right but the Elf hadn't found home yet.

"I am sorry. I didn't..." Bilbo immediately felt terrible for the way he snapped at Bofur, his frustration hit its boiling point. "No, you're right. We don't belong anywhere. I wish you all the luck in the world. I really do," Bofur expressed to Bilbo who sent him a small smile before walking away. "What's that?" Bofur asked noticing Bilbo's sword glowing blue, the sound of machinery caught Maristela's attention. "Wake up!" Maristela ordered.

Before the Company could react further, the floor of the cave collapses downwards; the floor is really a giant trap door. The entire Company falls down a chute, slides through a tunnel, and lands in a giant wooden cage. As they struggle to get up, a horde of Goblins attack them, take away their weapons, and drag them all away. As the Dwarves and Maristela are led away kicking and yelling, Bilbo somehow gets missed by the Goblins; not seeing him they leave him behind.

The Goblin horde brings the Dwarves and Maristela through a vast network of tunnels and wooden bridges to the throne room and platform of the Great Goblin King. The Great Goblin sat upon his throne holding a mace topped with a skill, larger than any Goblin that Maristela had seen, with warts all over his swinging chin. The Dwarves' weapons are piled together at the feet of the Great Goblin, he jumps off his throne trampling several Goblins as he approaches the Company.

"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?" The Great Goblin asked with a sneer. "Dwarves, Your Malevolence," Grinnah the Goblin informed his King. "Dwarves?" The Great Goblin inquired further. "We found them on the front porch," Grinnah replied. "Well, don't just stand there; search them! Every crack, every crevice!" The Great Goblin ordered. The Goblins search the Dwarves and Maristela thoroughly, throwing away whatever they find including Oin's hearing trumpet.

"Master, there's an Elf!" Grinnah exclaimed as the Goblins pushed her forward, Maristela sneered at them and kicked one away when its hands began to wander. "Watch your hands," Fíli snapped out at the Goblins who shoved him back when he tried to grab the Goblin. "My, oh, my, if it isn't the Elf Ranger," The Great Goblin spoke with a smug smirk, "To be in your presence is such an honour!" The Great Goblin bowed his head before laughing, "I know of a certain Orc who would love to see you in chains." Maristela froze upon hearing those words and refused to believe that he was talking about Mauldra but she knew better than to convince herself otherwise.

"What business does an Elf have with a Company of Dwarves? Hmm?" The Great Goblin asked with a toothy smile that made Maristela cringe but she refused to speak, she couldn't reveal Thorin who had been hiding behind her due to Dwalin and Balin forcing him out of the Great Goblins' sight. "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," The Great Goblin ordered making the Dwarves shout back in anger while Maristela fought off the Goblins holding her in an attempt to shelter Ori. Maristela pulled her mother's dagger from her hidden sheath, slicing it across the closest Goblin's throat.

"Back off!" Maristela snapped as Thorin moved forward, he placed his hand on Maristela's to lower the dagger. "Wait," Thorin spoke pulling the attention to him. "Well, well, well, look who it is. Thorin son of Thrain, son of Thror; King under the Mountain," The Great Goblin greeted before bowing in an exaggerated manner. "Oh, but I'm forgetting, you don't have a mountain. And you're not a king. Which makes you nobody, really," The Great Goblin taunted with a smug expression that made Maristela grip the handle of her blade tighter, her glare blazing towards the Great Goblin.

"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," The Great Goblin taunted, Thorin looks up in surprise and disbelief. "Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago," Thorin snapped back at the Great Goblin. "So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" The Great Goblin laughs, then turns to a tiny goblin sitting in a basket and holding a slate.

"Send word to the Pale Orc; tell him I have found his prize," The Great Goblin orders the tiny Goblin who chuckles before moving along the zipline to pass on his master's message. Thorin and Maristela shared a glance before focusing back on the Great Goblin who stood above them, a taunting smug expression upon his wretched pudgy face. "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," The Great Goblin sang as his people stripped the Company of their weapons.

Grinnah is examining the weapons the Dwarves had on them, he picks up Thorin's sword and slides it a few inches from its sheath. Recognizing the sword, he gasps in horror and throws down the sword knocking Maristela's to reveal its full design; both swords land in view of all Goblins. The Goblins howl in fear and rage as they retreat from the two famous swords; the Great Goblin runs rapidly to his throne, trampling many Goblins on his way. "I know those swords! It is the Goblin-Cleavers, the biters, the blades that sliced a thousand necks," The Great Goblin speaks loudly to his people.

The Goblins begin whipping the Dwarves with ropes and leaping upon them, biting and slashing. "Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all! Cut off their heads!" The Goblin King ordered his people. Goblins manage to overpower Maristela in her attempt to protect Thorin and Grinnah prepares to behead the Elleth when a sudden explosion of bright light consumes them; the sound is muted as a shockwave rips through the area, flinging Goblins in the air and destroying the torturing machines. Everyone is knocked down including the Great Goblin as Maristela opens her eyes, the light having no effect on her.

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When the force of the explosion has passed, most of the lights in the area have been snuffed out; in the background, Maristela notices the shadow of a person with a tall pointy hat. The Elleth smirks seeing her father walk towards them, his staff and sword in hand. "Take up arms. Fight. Fight!" Gandalf ordered the Dwarves, Maristela reached for her blade and unsheathed it, swinging it instantly into the closest Goblins. As Goblins run at Gandalf, he kills them with his sword and staff. The Great Goblin, still lying on the ground sees Gandalf's sword and points at it, crying aloud to his Goblins, "He wields the Foe-Hammer, the Beater, bright as daylight!"

Some of the Dwarves reach their pile of weapons and begin tossing the weapons to each other; they use their weapons to defeat the Goblins around them. Oin smiles at Maristela as she tosses his ear trumpet to him, although it had been quite flattened out. Nori, while fighting, lands on the floor; the Great Goblin runs at him and swings his mace. "Nori!" Dori exclaimed gaining Maristela's attention, she pushed away from the Goblins and used her Elvish agility to raise her blade to block the Great Goblins mace. "You will fall to him, Lady of Starlight!" The Great Goblin taunted with a smug grin.

Maristela smirked to herself before pushing against his mace, she raised her leg and kicked the Great Goblin with enough force to send him stumbling; he lost his balance and fell off the edge of his platform, falling to the depths below. "Follow me. Quick! Run!" Gandalf instructed the Company as Thorin grabbed Maristela's arm and pulled her to follow them. Cutting down the Goblins around them, the Dwarves, Maristela, and Gandalf run along a pathway leading away from the throne room. Goblins scurried around the walls surrounding them with determination to kill them, Maristela worked alongside Bofur to cut as many down as possible.

Gandalf and the Dwarves are running through the suspended passageways of Goblin Town, with hundreds of Goblins running after them. "Quickly!" Gandalf encouraged as he glanced back to check on his daughter, she met his gaze and nodded before focusing on the task of escaping the Goblin cavern. Dwalin sees several Goblins running at them from in front, "Post!" He and some of the Dwarves cut a guardrail post from the side of the path and they hold it out in front of them like a massive spear. "Charge!" Dwalin commanded the Dwarves, they charged at the oncoming Goblins and swept them away with the long rail.

"Careful!" Maristela shouted, barely managing to catch Ori when he almost stumbled over the edge of the wooden pathway. Dropping the rail, Dwalin pulls out his axes and begins knocking aside Goblins; the rest of the Company do the same. Gloin hits one Goblin who falls and lands on another suspended path, breaking the path and dropping all the Goblins on it into the darkness below. The rest of the Company also fight the Goblins around them with their various weapons and fighting styles; several Goblins snarl as they swing on ropes towards the Company, Maristela cutting them down the moment they come too close.

"Cut the ropes!" Thorin instructed the Company, he and some of the Dwarves cut the ropes holding a raised platform in place; the platform fell outward, entangling the Goblins swinging on the ropes. As Kili fights, several Goblins start shooting arrows at him, he deflects some arrows with his sword; he then grabs a nearby ladder and drops it on the oncoming Goblins. Maristela moves to Fili's side, the two working together to take out the Goblins closing in on them in the back, both enjoying the battle underneath their blank expressions; although, Maristela was just eager to get the hell out of Goblin Town.

Kili and some of the other Dwarves run forward, pushing the ladder and the Goblins it has trapped in front of them. As they approach a missing area of the path, the Goblins fall down into the darkness; the ladder, however, acts as a bridge for the Dwarves to cross the rest of the path. As soon as they cross it, Dwalin breaks the ladder, preventing the Goblins chasing them from crossing it. "Quickly!" Gandalf ordered the Company, and they all rushed their way through the maze-like paths; they got on a section of the path suspended by ropes from above, slicing some ropes causing the pathway to swing away from the rest of the path approaching a different path.

"Jump!" Thorin commanded the Company and several of the Dwarves managed to jump to the other path; however, before the rest could including Maristela, the suspended path swung back like a pendulum to where it started, and several Goblins leapt on. As the path swings back again, the rest of the Dwarves and Gandalf manage to jump to the new path as well; they cut the ropes, causing the swinging path and the Goblins on it to fall. The Dwarves and Gandalf continue running through the tunnels, killing all the Goblins in their way; Maristela winced when a sword sliced through her side.

Gandalf strikes a rock above them with his staff, causing the rock to fall down and begin rolling in front of the Company, squashing all the Goblins in their way. Soon, they approach a bridge between two walls of the cavern; as they try to cross it, the Great Goblin suddenly breaks through from underneath the bridge and pulls himself up onto the bridge, in front of the Company. As the Company pauses as hundreds of Goblins surround them blocking any chance of them escaping. "You thought you could escape me?" The Great Goblin exclaimed as he swung his mace at Gandalf causing him to stumble back and almost fall, the Dwarves catching him.

"What are you going to do now, Wizard?" The Great Goblin asked. Gandalf leaps forward and strikes the Great Goblin in the belly; the Great Goblin falls to his knees, clutching his belly. Maristela smirked as she moved forward and sliced the Great Goblin across his neck causing him to fall down dead; another soul taken by the Sword of Eridanus. His weight causes the bridge to start shaking; suddenly, the section of the bridge on which the Company is standing breaks away from the rest of the bridge and starts sliding down the side of the cavern.

The bridge slides at a terrific speed down the cavern's wall, demolishing everything in its way; the Dwarves cling on, screaming in terror. The bridge slows down and lands at the base of the cavern, breaking apart and burying the Dwarves in the timber and wood. Gandalf and Maristela get up from the pile of wreckage and inspect the rest of the Dwarves, who are still stuck in the wreckage. "Well, that could have been worse," Bofur spoke up before the corpse of the Great Goblin landed on the wreckage crushing the Dwarves beneath it.

"You've got to be joking!" Dwalin exclaimed, Maristela noticed the large amount of Goblins rushing toward them. "Gandalf!" Kili and Maristela shouted as the Dwarves freed themselves from the wreckage. "There's too many! We can't fight them!" Dwalin expressed with rage, The Dwarves ensured they had their weapons at the ready should they need to fight. "Only one thing will save us: Daylight! Come on! Here, on your feet!" Gandalf exclaimed to them before leading them away from the rubble and towards the exit out of the Misty Mountains.

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Rosemary Speaks

That was a lot of action in one chapter. Between the script and watching the actual scene bit by bit, I put a lot of effort into this one and hopefully, it was worth it!

Thoughts on the Great Goblins' statement about Mauldra?
Do you think he'll show up?

Thoughts on Thorin's protective nature over an Elf?

Thoughts on this chapter?
Theories? Predictions? Suggestions? Headcanons?

See you in the next chapter!