I woke up slowly, my body laced in pain. I couldn't move my leg. I then realized it was stuck and I went to pull it out, but stopped when I heard a growling, high-pitched squeal close by.

"What's this? What's this? Goblinses!" It screeched and grabbed the creature that had fallen with me and began to drag it off. I froze in place and didn't move as the creature began to struggle with the Goblin as it woke up, but it hit it in the head, then dragged off the dead body to do things I didn't want to know.

I then struggled to pull my leg free and stood up.

I had hit my head most definitely, and when I pulled my hand away, it was bloody. Damnit. I scanned my surroundings. It was pitch black. I stepped forward and that's when my foot hit something. I stooped down and was surprised to find it was a small, golden ring.

I raised an eyebrow. Perhaps it was part of the Goblin King's trove and had just fallen down here. I looked up and squinted, trying to see or hear anything, but I couldn't. How far had I fallen, and how was I still alive?

Not that I wasn't grateful, but I would have liked to know how simple mushrooms could have stopped my fall from that height.

I slowly began to creep forward, limping slightly, and following the sounds of the screeches from that creature.

I stopped and hid behind a rock, my hand inching towards the gun in my belt which had remained there even when I fell.

Then, a growl sounded right above my head and I whirled around and aimed the gun at the creature's face. It had bulbous eyes, a large head and ears, and a set of pointed teeth in its mouth.

"What is it, precious?" The creature and made a grab at me but I aimed the gun at him again.

"I will shoot if you so much as touch me." I growled.

He backed away and snarled, "Is it tasty? Is it yummy? Is it scrumptious?"

I kicked it in the head and sent it sprawling away from me, but it got up and charged at me. I fired the gun at the rock in front of him, then aimed it back at the creature. "I said, stay away." I growled. "I need to find my way out. You're going to show me."

"It wants to leave the darkness, precious." The creature said and waddled around, then said, "We will play a game. If it wins, we take it out of the mountain! If it looses we eats it whole."

I paused, my jaw clenched. "Fair enough." I slipped the gun into my belt but kept the safety off so I could shoot if necessary.

"What's it's name?" The creature asked.

"Abigail Baggs."

"What's a Baggses, precious?" The creature asked, then coughed, making a sound like, "Gollum, Gollum."

"Gollum? Is that your name?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows and wondering where I had heard that name before. The book. It was still slipped into the pocket inside my jacket, thankfully. Along with that ring from the corridor.

It looked at me. "We don't haves a name, precious." It snarled, bearing it's teeth.

"Well, it looks like you do now." I said. It began to approach me and I reached for the gun. Gollum stopped and hissed.

"Alright, alright. We plays a games with it. What is it anyways?"

"I'm Abby." I say, wondering why he asked me again.

"Abby? What's an Abby, precious?"

"It's my name. Now. What is this game?"

"Game of riddles, yes! We loved riddles. Abby first, Abby first!" Gollum said and waved for me to speak.

"Very well." I say and thought, running through the riddles I liked to use with my mother and sister before they... I bit my lip, then decided. "Thirty white horses on a red hill. First them champ, then they stamp, then they stand still."

I waited for his response, then flinched when he began to jump about.

"Teeth! Teeth!" Gollum chants, prancing around. "But we only has nine." He said and hissed. "Our turn. Voiceless cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters."

"Just a moment." I say and step away a little.

"Oh! We lose, we lose! Shut up!" Gollum muttered behind me, but I ignored him.

I began to pace and think through the riddle. What could it be, what could it be? I looked at the water, and that's when it hit me.

"Wind. The answer is wind."

"Very clever, Abby. Very clever." Gollum snarled and began to stalk towards me and I drew my gun and aimed it at him and he stopped.

"Ah, Ah. A box without hinges, key, or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid."

He began to waddle away and think long and hard, and I was beginning to think he was going to give up when he screeched, "Eggses! Eggses! Wet crunchy little eggses! Grandma used to teach us how to sucks them."

Gollum then went behind a rock and I heard his laughter all around me as he said, "We have one for you. All things it devours; birds, beasts, trees; gnaws iron, bites steel; grinds hard stones to meal."

I paused and began to think, my grip on the gun tightening even more.

"Answer us." Gollum hissed.

"Just give me a second. I gave you a long time." I say impatiently.

Gollum growled somewhere nearby, and I continued to think and look for him. Where did he go?

"Time! The answer is time!" I say as he appeared above me. He growled angrily.

I kept the gun firmly in my hand and aimed at him, then began to think. I felt that small ring in my pocket again and I began to think about it. Almost immediately, I asked,

"What have I got in my pocket?" He began to retort, but I stuck with it and said again, "What have I got in my pocket?"

"Ohhhhh you give us three chances." Gollum said and held up two fingers and I nodded.

"Three guesses. Guess away."

"Handses!" I held up my hands to show they were not in my pockets. He began to mutter several things under his breath, then shouted, "Knife!"

"Wrong. Guess again. Last one."

"String! Or nothing." He says points at me.

"Two guesses at once and wrong both times." I say proudly, knowing I had won.

He began to moan and fell back onto the ground.

"Alright. You said you'd lead me out of here, so go on now." I say and hold the gun in front of me.

My back was towards the passageway I had come down.

He then began to panic, searching the cloth he wore for his only clothes and threw leaves around, screeching "Where is it? Where is it?" Then, he stopped and slowly looked up at me, a look of rage written clearly across his face. "What has it got in its nasty little pocketses?"

I held the gun out and said, "That doesn't matter." I slowly began to back up, then turned and bolted down the tunnel. Gollum chases after me, screeching and snarling all the way.

Then, I tripped suddenly and the ring fell out of my pocket. As I grabbed it, it slipped onto my finger just as Gollum ran into the little alcove I had fallen in but...he didn't see me.

I spun around, searching for me and panicking about his "precious".

I slowly walked backwards, gun held out in front of me, but I stopped, and didn't shoot. As I looked at him, a knot formed in my chest and the hopelessness on his face. I couldn't do it. He couldn't defend himself. Sure, he had debated on eating me, but I just couldn't shoot him.

So, I turned and ran down the tunnel. Soon enough, I saw light head and I ran outside and squinted as the bright light blinded me for a moment, then began to work my way down the slope, marveling at the ring I had found that turned me invisible.