"Wake up. Wake up!" I hear Thorin call and before anyone can react, the floor of the cave collapses downwards. I reach out to grab hold to anything as I fall and suddenly feel Fili's arms wrap around me. I cling to him as we all fall down a chute, slide through a tunnel, and land in a giant wooden cage.

When we reach the bottom I feel Fili release me and say, "Are you alright?" Before I am able to reply, a horde of goblins attacks us, and takes our weapons away. As they grab Ithildin I find myself in the midst of a panic attack. "No! Give him back!" I scream out as I reach unsuccessfully for him. I suddenly feel hands grab and pull me back making me start to claw for Ithildin like a wild animal as the goblins drag us all away kicking and screaming.

The goblin horde leads us through its halls, a vast network of tunnels and wooden bridges until we reach the throne room and platform of the Great Goblin King. The Great Goblin King is a massive Goblin sitting on a throne, holding a mace topped with a skull. He is far larger than any other goblin, and he is incredibly ugly, with warts all over his swinging chin. The dwarves' and my weapons are piled together. The Great Goblin jumps off his throne, trampling several goblins, and approaches us. "Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?" The Great Goblin King says as he eyes each of us.

"Dwarves, Your Malevolence." Another Goblin says as he presents us to his king. I kneel slightly beside Bombur to make myself look more dwarflike.

"Dwarves?" The Goblin King cries out as he turns toward us.

"We found them on the front porch."

"Well, don't just stand there; search them! Every crack, every crevice." The goblins search us thoroughly, throwing away whatever they find. Suddenly one grabs me and I feel it jerk me to my feet. "An Elf, Your Malevolence." The Goblin clutching to my arm says as he tosses me to the ground before the King. "NO!" I hear Fili yell and I quickly climb to my feet and stare daggers at the Goblin King. "What are you doing in these parts? Speak!" He says and I clench my jaw closed not responding.

"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 points at Ori. I am about to argue when Thorin steps forward and says, "Wait."

"Well, well, well, look who it is. Thorin son of Thrain, son of Thror; King under the Mountain." The Great Goblin bows exaggeratedly to Thorin. "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."

Thorin looks up in surprise and disbelief I mimic his expression as he says, "Azog the Defiler was destroyed. He was slain in battle long ago."

"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 tiny goblin writes down the message on his slate; cackling, he then pulls a lever, causing his basket to start sliding down a system of ropes and pulleys into the darkness. I turn to see dozens of goblins carry massive instruments of torture on their shoulders, bringing them to the Great Goblin. Meanwhile, the Great Goblin is dancing and singing lustily. "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."

One of the goblins, is examining the weapons the dwarves brought with them. He picks up Thorin's sword, Orcrist, and slides it a few inches out of its sheath. Recognizing the sword, he gasps in horror and throws down the sword. It lands in view of all the goblins. Recognizing it, the goblins howl in fear and rage as they retreat from it. The Great Goblin runs rapidly to his throne, trampling many goblins on his way. He speaks loudly, pointing at the sword.

"I know that sword! It is the Goblin-Cleaver, the Biter, the blade that sliced a thousand necks." As he speaks, The Goblins begin whipping the dwarves and I with ropes before leaping upon us, biting and slashing. I bite my lip as the pain from the lashes passes through my body like a wave making memories of the days I was tortured flood my mind.

"Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all! Cut off his head!" I turn to see Goblins hold Thorin down, and one of them pulls out his knife and prepares to behead Thorin. "Thorin!" I yell as I throw goblins off me in an attempt to reach him. Suddenly, there is a massive explosion of bright light; sending a shockwave that rips through the area, flinging goblins in the air and destroying the torturing machines. Everyone is knocked down, including the Great Goblin. When the force of the explosion has passed, most of the lights in the area have been snuffed out; in the background, a shadow with a tall pointy hat walks up.

It is Gandalf, holding his staff and his sword, Glamdring. Light slowly returns to the area as the goblins, the dwarves, and I slowly look up, recovering from the shock. We all stare at Gandalf as he says, "Take up arms. Fight. Fight!" We quickly jump up and begin fighting the 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 our pile of weapons and begin tossing the weapons to each other; they use their weapons to defeat the goblins around them. "Randír!" I hear Bofur call as he tosses Ithildin back to me. I pull him from his sheathe and start slicing away at Goblins. Nori, while fighting, lands on the floor; the Great Goblin runs at him and swings his mace. "Nori!" Thorin jumps forward and deflects the Great Goblin's blow, causing the Great Goblin to stumble backward and fall off the edge of his platform, falling to the depths below.

The rest of the dwarves, Gandalf, and I continue to fight. "Follow me. Quick! Run!" Gandalf says as we cut down the goblins around us. The dwarves, Gandalf, and I run along a pathway leading away from the throne room. We run through the suspended passageways of Goblin Town, with hundreds of goblins running after us. "Quickly!" Gandalf cries out as we run forward.

Dwalin sees several goblins running at them from in front and look over says, "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!" He cries as he and the other dwarves charge at the oncoming goblins and sweep them away with the long rail. Dropping the rail, Dwalin pulls out his axes and begins knocking aside goblins. The rest of the company does the same.

Gloin hits one goblin that 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 fights the goblins around them with their various weapons and fighting styles. Several goblins snarl as they swing on ropes toward us. "Cut the ropes!" Thorin says and I turn toward them pulling Ithildin up and cutting one of the ropes as Thorin and some of the dwarves cut the rest, causing the platform to fall 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. 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 to the rest of the path. As soon as they cross it, Dwalin breaks the ladder, preventing the goblins chasing them from crossing it.

The dwarves, Gandalf, and I continue running through the mazelike paths; we get on a section of the path suspended by ropes from above. They slice some ropes, and the pathway swings away from the rest of the path, approaching a different path. "Jump!" Thorin cries and several of the dwarves including myself manage to jump to the other path; however, before the rest can, the suspended path swings back like a pendulum to where it started, and several goblins leap 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. We continue running through the tunnels, killing all the goblins in our way. Gandalf strikes a rock above us with his staff, causing the rock to fall down and begin rolling in front of the Company, squashing all the goblins in our way. Soon, we approach a bridge between two walls of the cavern. As we try to cross it, the Great Goblin suddenly breaks through from underneath the bridge and pulls himself up onto the bridge, in front of us. As we pause, hundreds of goblins approach us from all sides.

"You thought you could escape me?" The Great Goblin says as he swings his mace twice at Gandalf, causing him to stumble back and almost fall. "What are you going to do now, wizard?" Gandalf leaps forward and strikes the Great Goblin in the eye with his staff. The Great Goblin drops his mace and clutches his face in pain. Gandalf steps forward and slices the Great Goblin in the belly; the Great Goblin falls to his knees, clutching his belly as he says, "That'll do it." Gandalf again swings his sword and slices the Great Goblin's neck, causing him to fall down dead.

His weight causes the bridge to start shaking; suddenly, the section of the bridge on which we are 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. I close my eyes to keep from joining in their screaming. The bridge slows down and lands at the base of the cavern, breaking apart and burying the dwarves and myself in the timber and wood.

Gandalf and myself 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 says when suddenly, the heavy corpse of the Great Goblin lands on the wreckage, squishing the dwarves further. They cry out in pain. "You've got to be joking!" Dwalin says and I stifle a laugh that is trying to escape my lips. As the dwarves extricate themselves from the rubble, Kili looks up and sees thousands of goblins running at us. "Gandalf!" He cries as Dwalin replies, "There's too many! We can't fight them."

"Only one thing will save us: daylight! Come on! Here, on your feet!" Gandalf says and I rush over and quickly help the dwarves get up, pulling each of them out of the rubble, and then we run away, following Gandalf. Gandalf quickly leads us to the exit where we run down the side of the steep, tree covered mountain. As we race down the mountainside Gandalf pauses to count how many dwarves are with him. The dwarves pause to collect their breath. "Five, six, seven, eight...Bifur, Bofur...that's ten...Fili, Kili...that's twelve...and Bombur and Randír that makes Fourteen. Where's Bilbo? Where is our Hobbit? Where is our hobbit?!"

We all look around us for any trace of Bilbo finding none. "Curse the halfling! Now he's lost?!" Dwalin says and my stomach drops at the thought of him still inside the mountain. "I thought he was with Dori!" Gloin says causing Dori to instantly reply, "Don't blame me!"

"Well, where did you last see him?" Gandalf asks causing Nori to say, "I think I saw him slip away, when they first collared us."

"What happened exactly? Tell me!" Gandalf says but instead of Nori replying Thorin speaks, "I'll tell you what happened. 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."

I clench tightly to Ithildin as I fight the urge to jump down his throat. "No, he isn't." Bilbo says as he steps out from behind the tree. The dwarves and I look up in shock and relief. Gandalf laughs as he speaks, "Bilbo Baggins! I've never been so glad to see anyone in my life!" Bilbo strides forward into the group; he pats Balin affectionately on the shoulder. "Bilbo, we'd given you up!" Kili says right before Fili asks, "How on earth did you get past the Goblins?!"

"How, indeed." Dwalin asks and suddenly there is an awkward silence. He gives a nervous laugh and puts his hands on his hips. "Well, what does it matter? He's back!" Gandalf says as he turns to the rest of our group. "It matters! I want to know: why did you come back?" Thorin says not removing his eyes from Bilbo.

"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. 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." After Bilbo speaks, there is silence as the dwarves think about what Bilbo said. Gandalf and I smile slightly at each other, happy that Bilbo has changed so much for the better.