company had set off in the hours after the map had been read, the winding and narrow path that led out of the valley. When the sun had risen they all trekked single file, Arethusa and Bilbo trailed behind the dwarves, Gandalf would soon come to meet them in the mountains. "Be on your guard; we're about to step over the edge of the Wild. Balin, you know these paths; lead on." The white haired dwarf took the place of leader, Bilbo turned back and looked down into the valley as the sun illuminated Rivendell. Without ponies, the day seemed to drag on endlessly. Bilbo struggled to keep up and Arethusa was being tormented by Fili and Kili.

At one point she had walked beside Thorin but his face was in a grim line and he said little. Soon she and Ori came to speak again. He had asked many questions about fairies and Arethusa was happy to answer them all, several of the dwarves remained near her while she spoke. Bilbo had moved ahead and walked beside Balin. "I can wiggle my ears, though." The fairy lifted her ashen brown hair away from her pointed ears and surely enough she could wiggle her ears. Afterward, she had caught Kili and Ori several times each trying to wiggle their own ears.

For traveling on foot, they had covered a great deal of distance and when the sun began to set the company stopped to make camp for the night. Bedrolls had been laid out on the forest floor surrounding a fire. The first watch belonged to Dwalin, the second to Bifur, and the third to Thorin. Arethusa could not sleep, dark thoughts entered her mind and kept her awake though she feigned to be aside until it was Thorin's watch.

The fairy rose from her bedroll and stepped forward on a sore ankle until she could sit next to him. "I saw the limp in your step, your ankle still troubles you." She frowned at his observation and pulled off her boot, rolling the leg of her breeches up further and unwrapped the white cloth to reveal the swollen joint, the top of her foot was a mixture of purples and blues. "Have you no medicine to ease the pain?" His voice was low while the rest of the company slept but they did not see that the hobbit was awake and listening.

"I do, but I dare not use my remedies on myself. There may come a time when someone else needs them more than I." The dwarf sighed and accepted her answer but when she began wrapping her ankle once more he took the bandage from her and pulled her foot so that it rested on his thigh. With an expression of deep concentration, Thorin began to wrap her ankle. She shivered at the feel of his hands, hot and rough, as they glided along her skin. "Thank you." Arethusa did not meet his gaze and for some reason he could not comprehend, it bothered him that he could not look into her violet eyes.

"There are still a few more hours until dawn, sleep." To his surprise she did not return to her bedroll, instead, the fairy leaned against him but there was an ample amount of hesitancy in her action. With her head upon his shoulder, she was able to slip into a light sleep. The rustling of bags and clinging of cookware startled Arethusa from her rest, what was most surprising was that she and Thorin had both been asleep, leaned against each other while the others packed for the day.

The others seemed not to take notice that she was awake yet. Her hand brushed over the fur trim on his outer coat. "Thorin, it is time to wake." He grumbled in a language she had never heard before, his ice blue eyes were transfixed on the fairy. They both stood, stretching stiff joints before falling in with helping the company.

The Misty Mountains were growing closer, they would reach them before sundown and then would come the time to take the High Pass. Arethusa only hoped the Goblins remained hidden in their caves. Bilbo stayed with Arethusa as they crossed the plain, barely falling a step behind until they reached the narrow mountain path. She had traveled on the High Pass several times, each time was more treacherous than the last.

A storm raged on, lightning lit the sky in bright flashes of white light and thunder followed, her ears perked up at a certain clash. It sounded less like thunder and more like stone striking stone. The rain had soaked her to the bone, the wind caused her hair to become plastered to her face. The path was slick, to one side was a cliff, on the other there was a sheer drop off. Arethusa had barely heard Thorin's voice shout, "Hold on!" over the howling wind.

They needed to find shelter. In truth, they should have been waiting for Gandalf. Arethusa helped steady Bilbo but when the stone beneath his feet began crumbling she pushed him forward, Dwalin gripped the hobbit's collar and hauled him forward. The fairy looked at the broken path between them, "Come on, lass. I'll catch you." Thorin had turned, peering back at the company. She breathed in, took a step back and then lurched forward. There was nothing to stop her from plummeting below into the dark void of the valley. Dwalin had leaned forward and as soon as she was in his reach he pulled the fairy into his chest and spun away as the path crumbled even more.

"We must find shelter!" Arethusa pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders and pushed ahead, knowing that the words Thorin has spoken were true. If the company went on like this for the night it was likely most would be dead by morning.

Bilbo had been pulled up between Bofur and Dori, Arethusa stepped light in front of Dwalin. "Watch out!" The fairy looked up at the exclamation, a great piece of stone was hurtling through the air, hitting the mountain above where they were standing on the small ledge. She crouched low and made herself fit in a small divot, pieces of rock pelted her back. Stone giants.

"This is no thunderstorm, it's a thunder battle! Look!" Out of the haze and clouds, there was a stone giant, standing tall as the mountain. The giant cleaved off another chunk of rock from the mountain and threw it through the air.

"Well bless me, the legends are true. Giants; Stone Giants!" It was Bofur speaking and Arethusa wished to knock him in the back of the head. Of course they're true, it was fairies that had created them. A second giant appeared behind the group. The dwarves were all yelling at each other to brace and hold on. The rocks beneath their feet began to give way from the fallen rock. All Arethusa could hear was Fili and Kili yelling for one another as the ground split and the company was separated.

They were standing on the knees of a third giant. Three giants for the three lands of Arda. All the fairy could do hold tightly to the stone while it jolted and moved. She had been parted from Bilbo. Dwalin kept his hand on her back, ensuring that she would not fall. Thorin and Fili's group had been able to jump to a safer ledge, but they were still stranded. One of the giants had lurched forward, splitting the head of the one she was clinging to. The fairy could not hear her own screams over the sound of grinding rock, the cliff face came towards them. Is this how I am to finally die?

At the impact they were all thrown forward onto a wider ledge in a heaping pile. Fili had broken her fall. "We're all right! We're alive!" She looked over at Balin and then to the dwarves that had rushed to them. Arethusa let out a long breath when she saw Thorin's relieved smile.

She looked around but felt panic strike when her friend was nowhere to be seen. "Where's Bilbo? Where's the Hobbit?" At first, she thought she had been the one to speak but it was Bofur. Ori was already dashing towards where Bilbo was hanging onto the ledge. The two dwarves reach down, extending their hands but he slipped and began to fall, catching another handhold. Ori had hold of his hand though could not pull up the hobbit. Fear of losing her dear friend struck her and she seemed rooted to the spot, watching.

Thorin had swung down and pushed the hobbit back up to where Dwalin could haul him to safety. Bilbo instantly went over to Arethusa, now it was Thorin dangling over the void, his shocked groan caused her eyes to widen as Dwalin and Bofur could barely pull the dwarf back up. "I thought we'd lost our burglar." Bilbo looked around at the company with uncertainty, the fairy draped her cloak around him.

"He's been lost ever since he left home. He should never have come. He has no place amongst us. Dwalin!" Arethusa felt her heart clench and eyes narrow at the dwarf, despite how cold the rain and wind had made her, her ears burning and as the company tread ahead the fairy and Bilbo walked side by side. The rest of the company had slipped into a cave.

The hobbit turned back to look in the direction they had traveled since leaving Imladris. "I shouldn't have left Rivendell." A small hand came to rest on his shoulder and he turned to Arethusa.

"Bilbo, don't. Don't leave, if you do you'll only prove Thorin right. Wouldn't seeing that stubborn dwarf's face when you prove him wrong be a sight to see?" She smiled and it was hard not to smile as well, her tone was light, teasing and persuasive in its own right.

"Arthie. I –I'm not brave like you. Thorin has accepted you as one of them already, you should be the burglar." Thorin had only accepted her as a member of the company after her display of swordsmanship, he did not see her as a member when he played the harp, or when the danced, she had only just proved her place among them.

"Without fear, there can be no bravery or courage. I have faith you, Bilbo." Her cloak fell away from his shoulders thought before she entered the cave she turned back and pulled her friends head down to the level where she could place a sweet kiss on his forehead. The dwarves had already sprawled out across the floor, Bofur sat by the entrance for the first watch. Arethusa found a spot large enough for her close to the wall where Thorin lay. She was upset in regards to his words about Bilbo but relieved that he had managed to keep everyone safe.

Her dark grey cloak matched the cave walls but the silver brooch at her neck shone even in the darkness. Arethusa said nothing to the dwarf before she closed her eyes though a warmth enveloped her, her fingers brushed over fur and then the smell reached her nose. Thorin had laid his outer coat over her. At one point the hushed whispers of Bofur and Bilbo filled the cave and woke Thorin, he listened almost thoughtfully when the fairy stirred in her sleep. "Wake up! Wake up!"

The creaking of machinery echoed in the cave as the floor began to part, no one had time to reach before the floor fell out from under them. They fell in a wooden cage, Arethusa was only spared from being crushed when Bifur shoved her aside to the edge of the platform, but that only meant she was the first the goblins attacked. As fast as she had pulled out her short blade it was stripped from her hands and the bow from her back. The company had been swarmed and had little choice but to follow in the direction they were being pushed and shoved.

A cacophony of noise grew louder and the firelight grew brighter. The walls echoed to the clap, snap! and the crush, smash! The general meaning of the song was only too plain, they would die down here and never be found. The company as a whole were pushed forward onto the platform where the Great Goblin had claimed his throne.

Clap snap, the black crack

Grip, grab, pinch, and nab

Batter and beat

Make 'em stammer and squeak!

Pound pound, far underground

Down, down, down in Goblin Town

The first verse caused Arethusa to shudder. She was able to see only a handful of dwarves at her side. Kili and Fili fought to shrug off the goblins from their back, Thorin pulled away until they were placed before the throne.

With a swish and smack

And a whip and a crack

Everybody talks when they're on my rack.

Pound pound, far underground

Down, down, down in Goblin Town

Hammer and tongs, get out your knockers and gongs

You wont last long on the end of my prongs

Clash, crash, crush and smish

Bang, break, shiver and shake

The fairy pulled from the goblin that had her arm within its grip and rushed to stand near Balin and Dwalin, just behind Thorin. A mace topped with a skull swung through the air and the creaking wooden platform shook with every step.

You can yammer and yelp

But there aint no help.

Pound pound, far underground

Down, down, down in Goblin Town

He turned to his throne, just taking notice of the company. "Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?" He squawked. A single goblin pushed through the dwarves.

"Dwarves and a fairy, Your Malevolence." When Arethusa was pushed forward the company broke into an uproar. Ori was the only one able to break the line of goblins and pull the fairy back into the safety of the company. "We found them on the front porch."

"Well, don't just stand there; search them! Every crack, every crevice." Their weapons had already been seized and dumped into a pile and now their slimy hands were pinching and groping to find anything else. The brooch of Arethusa cloak was ripped away and she lurched forward, trying to fight to get it back as the goblin tossed it in the pile with the rest of their belongings. "What are you doing in these parts? Speak!" No one had spoken a word. "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 and the fairy."

Ori and Arethusa huddled closer together as the goblins came towards them. "Wait!" She turned at Thorin's shout and saw the entire company, everyone was present except for Bilbo. Arethusa wondered how he had managed to escape or if a worse fate had befallen him.

"Well, well, well, look who it is. Thorin son of Thrain, son of Thror; King under the Mountain." The Great Goblin stated his titles in exaggeration and bowed mockingly. "Oh, but I'm forgetting, you don't have a mountain. And you're not a king. Which makes you nobody, really." Arethusa knew a nerve had been struck, Thorin's eyes were ice. "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."

A goblin pulled at Arethusa again, Thorin took another step forward. "Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago." It sounded as if he was trying to sell a poor lie. Even if Thorin had defeated the Orc, unless he had seen the corpse then there were dark types of magic that Orcs had that would have allowed Azog to live.

"So you think his defiling days are done, do you?" the Great Goblin laughed, the screeching noise echoed from the cavern walls. He turned to a goblin scribe that sat in a small basket with levers and pulleys, the small goblin held a piece of slate, ready for the message. "Send word to the Pale Orc; tell him I have found his prize." The scribe pulled a level and went sliding away on a system of ropes, cackling. Larger goblins marched up the incline to the platform with devices of torture sitting upon their shoulders. The Great Goblin had begun to sing lustily of their demise. "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 Goblin­town."

A goblin was pillaging the pile of swords while a grotesque machine was placed at the corner. Arethusa was pulled by the hair away from the group. Fili and Bombur lurched forward, tackling the two goblins and bring the fairy back to the company. More had approached but scampered away when a sword had been thrown to the splintering wood. It was Orcrist. Even the Great Goblin had fled up the dais to his throne. "I know that sword! It is the Goblin-­Cleaver, the Biter, the blade that sliced a thousand necks."

The words were spoken and the whipping began, goblins clambered over them, slashing with long nails and biting. "Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all! Cut off his head!" The goblin that had Arethusa in his grasp had scratched her neck thrice, two times hard enough to break her skin. With a pained groan, she was able to toss the creature away and stumble to where Thorin was being held down, one of the goblins was preparing to behead him.

"Thorin!" A surge of renewed vigor coursed through them and when the goblin with the knife had been thrown off another took his place. Arethusa could feel something akin to magic in the air but she was not focused on the goblin that had jumped out and slashed his pointy nails across her face, her eyes were set on Thorin and his nephews. The explosion of light was blinding, the torture racks were torn to shreds and goblins descended into the depths. She knew it was Gandalf before the figure emerged.

"Take up arms. Fight. Fight!"

A/N: This is what I envision Arethusa to look like, lots of freckles, violet eyes (I would like to apologize for my terrible editing skills), and ashen brown hair that is near blond. She is very in touch with nature and only looks delicate on the outside. Credit for this amazing photo goes to David Olkarny.