16. Caught

            We were all anticipating an attack, some sort of ambush. We did get an ambush, just not one that we were thinking of. One minute we were on solid cave ground, and the next thing we all knew, the ground dropped out from under our feet. The fifteen of us fell.

            Our fall led us to be tumbling and sliding down a series of tunnels. While some of the others were screaming, I wasn’t. I probably would have if I wasn’t so frozen with fear. I wheezed, trying to keep myself from rolling around in the tunnels and colliding with the others. How come we didn’t see this coming? We should have expected to walk right into a trap!

            Though, thinking about having us lose the ground from under our feet was the last thing we would ever think of in terms of a trap.

            The company finally stopped its nauseating sliding trip through the tunnels, only to be dropped into some sort of cage, only it wasn’t a cage—it had no top. It was as if we were laundry that had just come down from a dizzying maze of laundry shoots. We all piled on top of one another, squishing those towards the bottom. I immediately gagged, nearly vomiting at the new smells that invaded my nostrils.

            We didn’t have time to take a good look at our surroundings nor untangle ourselves, because before we knew it, we had company. I managed to get a good look at the grotesque creatures. They were short, stubby, with lanky arms and legs. They were hardly Orcs due to their height and skin color. They’re Goblins.

            The Goblin herd came to us, diving into the pile, pulling us apart from each other and forcing us to follow them. I hit away any grimy-looking Goblin hand that dared to touch me. If I didn’t want Orcs to touch me, I sure as hell didn’t want any Goblins to.

            The Dwarves, Bilbo, and I all struggled as we were nudged onward. I was towards the back of the pack, hitting any Goblin that was within my reach. I couldn’t see where the Goblins were taking us; there was too much commotion up ahead to look past. I could see Fili and Kili try to force their way back to reach me, to lend me a hand. There was too big of a Goblin blockade that separated us.

            Suddenly, I was ripped down to the ground. I fell stomach first, lying low. I looked over my shoulder only to see Bilbo, who put a finger to his lips. This plan isn’t going to work. Surely they’ll notice we’re missing, and then they’ll come back for us!

Yet, Bilbo’s escape plan from the crowd worked. The commotion proceeded onwards without so much as backtracking to search for us Hobbits. I held my breath; there was still room for error with this plan.

But the plan went on, and the Dwarves were hauled away over rickety wood bridges, down a path to who-knew-where. I let out the breath I had been holding. With all the racket fading ahead of us, the area was really quiet. Carefully, I got to my feet. Bilbo was brushing himself off.

“Clever,” I commended him, “but very risky.”

“It worked, and that’s all that matters.”

“We better go after them and see if we can help them.”

“Ladies first, then.”

I snorted. “Always the gentleman, aren’t you?”

Very cautious, I pulled out my curved knife, leading our party of two. Our feet were silent against the shiny cave floor. I felt like our breathing was magnified, echoing. My heart pounded fiercely.

“Have any plan as to how we’ll help them?” I asked quietly.

“No. I was hoping you would think of one.”

“I can’t do everything, Bilbo. We’re a team, we need to coordinate.”

We needed to think of a plan to get the Dwarves free. But what could two Hobbits possibly do against a massive number of Goblins? Sure, they all looked easy to take on, but I was pretty sure they were more favorable to win should we have to fight them. Maybe we’ll think of something on the fly, like Bilbo did when we were with the Trolls.

I was so into plan-making that I nearly screamed when a rogue Goblin jumped into our path. Bilbo and I were both armed, the Goblin charged. He went straight for my best friend, leaping onto him. Putting my knife aside, I yanked on the Goblin’s disgusting body until I ripped him off, tossing him to the floor. He rolled onto his feet quickly, gnashing his teeth together.

By the time I got my hand onto my knife hilt, I was on the ground, the Goblin pounding its grubby fists onto my body. With a grunt, I shoved him off me. My body throbbed slightly as I got to my feet. With heavy breathing, I went in to aid Bilbo, who was facing the task of throwing the Goblin off his back. I joined the fight, grabbing a hold of the Goblin once more.

This bastard didn’t want to let go of Bilbo, like he had some iron grip on my best friend. We wrestled, little blows being dealt here and there.

The game changed when we took a few missteps over the edge. I cried out as I saw the Goblin fall into darkness below. I held onto a random strand of rope that was nearby. That lasted less than a minute. Bilbo didn’t regain his balance on the platform. He fell, lunging for the rope I clung to. He collided with me, making us bounce off of each other.

We yelled as we followed the Goblin into the darkness. Was there an end, or would we fall forever? The question terrified me. If we were still alive after this fall, it would be a miracle.

My hands fumbled for anything to slow my descent. Bilbo knocked into me once, making me knock head-first into something cold and solid. I lost consciousness after that.

*     *     *

“Don’t be dead, don’t be dead,” a voice panicked lowly. “God, this is all my fault! Please don’t be dead.”

The first thing I realized when I opened my eyes was that it was dark and that my vision was doubled. I almost believed that I was in the cave, and that everyone was sleeping in the shelter from the weather. But I remembered what had really happened: we had been victims of a Goblin-made trap, and Bilbo and I were separated from the Dwarves.

My eyes focused on a figure before me, who I soon recognized to be Bilbo. He let out a relieved breath.

“Don’t scare me like that,” he scolded me. “I thought you were…”

“Why would you think that?” I slowly sat myself up, rubbing my forehead. I cringed as I felt sticky stuff on my fingers. “Forget I asked.”

“Are you dizzy?”

“A little,” I admitted. “How long did we fall for?”

“Like I counted?”

“Where are we?”

“Like I would know.”

“You don’t have to get smart with me, I’m only asking. Give me a break, I’ve hit my head, and I’m bleeding.”

“Let me see.”

I flinched as Bilbo prodded my forehead. “Be honest, it’s not life-threatening, is it?”

“It could be worse.”

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’, then.”

“Shh! Get down.” Bilbo shoved me back down on the ground. I realized we were in some sort of mushy cover.

As I looked where Bilbo did, a few things came to light. Our Goblin friend was barely breathing, his body was still, but I saw his chest move slightly. But that wasn’t what had me frightened—it was the figure that was stalking towards the Goblin that made me panic.

I couldn’t figure out what creature it was, because I’d never seen something like him before. At first I thought it was a skeleton, with how unnaturally thin the figure was. Light reflected off its eyes, revealing sickly blue irises. I swallowed, wondering where the hell we had landed.

I watched with a tense body as the creature crept towards the Goblin’s body.

“Yes!” the creature purred. Bile rose in my throat hearing the creature’s unnatural voice. “Yes!” He was circling the unconscious Goblin, probably eyeing it up as dinner. “Yes!”  I kept a hand to my mouth as I saw the creature’s back. He was only skin and bones; I could see his spine through his skin.

What was this creature? I couldn’t consider him harmless, nothing was in this world. Was he as deadly as a Warg or Orcs, or Goblins?

“Gollum, gollum!” the creature hacked. I made a face. It must be ill. The creature grabbed the Goblin by its feet, beginning to drag it the way it came.

However, this creature wasn’t going to get his next meal so easily.

The Goblin sprang alive, as if it had been playing dead this entire time. Its captor roared in outrage, battling its prey until successfully knocking it out with a rock. My body shook. Though this creature had barely any meat on him, he was still dangerous.

“Nasty Goblinses!” he snarled as he dragged his prey away. “Better than old bones, precious. Better than nothing.”

Once the creature was gone, Bilbo and I decided to come out from cover. Bilbo led me out as I was still a bit wobbly on my feet. With my curiosity getting the better of me, I loaded an arrow onto the bow and snuck down the creature’s path. I didn’t hear Bilbo follow me, so I stopped and looked back at him.

He had apparently found something on the floor; he held it in his hand. I cleared my throat lowly, cueing him to get a move on. He stuffed his discovery in one of his front pockets and came in tow behind me, with his sword still glowing blue. The Goblin can’t be dead yet if it’s still blue.

A chill ran up my spine as the creature made an unusual noise.

“Too many boneses, precious!” he snarled. “Not enough flesh! Shut up!” Bilbo and I crept through the pathway only to come across an open area full of rocks. “Cut its skin off. Start with its head.” There was a body of water, and in the middle of it, a small rock island that was lit up by a single beam of moonlight. On the island was the creature with its still-alive prey. I would hate to live down here.

The only thing that kept me down here was the fact that Bilbo and I had no idea how to get out of this place. Add on the fact that I was curious about this creature despite what threat he posed to us as well.

And of all the things he did, he started singing next. What was worse: as he sung, he was beating something in tune with his song—probably the Goblin with a rock.

“The cold hard lands

They bites our hands

They gnaws our feet

The rocks and stones

They’re like old bones

All bare of meat”

While the creature was singing his creepy song, Bilbo and I slunk towards cover—a big rock to hide ourselves behind. Goosebumps plagued my skin. The singing didn’t stop.

“Cold as death

Without no breath

It’s good to eat”

The singing was interrupted by the goblin, who decided to try and fight back once more. You didn’t have to look towards the island to know that, you could hear everything in the place. Noises echoed.

My eyes widened as Bilbo’s sword stopped glowing blue. I gulped. It looked like the creature got its meal after all. Let’s hope we don’t stick around for the feast, or become a part of it.

Bilbo peeked from our cover, only to pull himself back.

“What is it?” I dared to ask.

“He’s not there.” The grip on his sword tightened.

My skin prickled uneasily. Bilbo and I looked at each other. We were thinking the same thing: the creature knew we were here. He knew he had company. He probably assumed more food had been delivered to him. Well, we’re not being a part of his dinner.

Wheezy breathing alerted me to his presence. He sounded close, as if he was right above us. Slowly, my eyes looked upwards.

The dark, bony figure was perched at the top of our cover.

The creature leapt from his perch, Bilbo and I instantly put our weapons out in defense.

“Bless us and splash us, precious,” the creature said. “That’s a meaty mouthful.” He advanced towards us, Bilbo and I kept our weapons at the ready. The creature stopped. “Gollum, gollum! Aah.”

“Back,” Bilbo ordered. “Stay back. I’m warning you, don’t come any closer.”

The creature’s eyes widened in fear, he cowered away.

“It’s got an Elvish blade,” he murmured to himself. “But it’s not an Elfs. Not an Elfs, no. What is it, precious? What is it?” Its beady blue eyes fixed on the two of us. I had to wonder: who was this ‘precious’ this creature kept addressing?

“My name is Bilbo Baggins, and this is Lily Petrova.” I looked to my best friend, wide-eyed. Introductions were hardly necessary in our circumstance!

“Bagginses? Petrovases? What are they, precious?”

“We’re Hobbits from the Shire.” I nudged Bilbo harshly in the ribs. He threw me a dirty look; I gave him his own look back. He had to know I wasn’t okay with this.

“Oh,” said the creature. “We like Goblinses, batses and fishes. But we hasn’t tried Hobbitses before. Is it soft? Is it juicy?” The creature’s pale blue eyes widened in anticipation.

“Now, now,” I snarled, keeping the arrow trained on the creature, “keep your distance. I’ll use this if I have to. We don’t want any trouble, do you understand? Just show us the way to get out of here and we’ll be on our way.”

“Why?” the creature purred. “Are they lost?”

“Yes,” Bilbo piped. “Yes, and we want to get un-lost as soon as possible.”

“Ooh, we knows! We knows safe path for Hobbitses.” The creature pointed a bony finger in a direction. “Safe paths in the dark.” He suddenly took a one-eighty, going from helpful to flustered. “Shut up!”

Bilbo and I looked at each other.

“We didn’t say anything,” I said carefully.

“We wasn’t talking to you.” The creature’s voice lowered. “Oh, yes, we was, precious. We was.”

This creature was really starting to creep me out. I was sure Bilbo was on the same page. We didn’t have time to fool around with this…animal; we needed to find a way out of here. Every moment we stayed down here, the more I thought that the fate of the Dwarves wasn’t looking good.

“Look, we don’t know what you’re game is—” Bilbo started, slightly agitated.

“Games?!” This sparked the creature’s interest. “We love games, doesn’t we, precious? Does it like games? Does it, does it? Does it like to play?”

I looked to my best friend. I was more of an adventurer, not a game player. That was Bilbo’s field of expertise.

“Maybe,” my best friend muttered.

Immediately we knew this creature’s strongpoint: riddles. That’s exactly what he gave us.

“What has roots as nobody sees?

Is taller than trees?

Up, up, up it goes

And yet, never grows”

Bilbo got it instantly: “The mountain.”

The creature laughed, delighted. “Yes, yes. Oh, let’s have another one, eh? Yes! Do it again, do it again. Ask us!” He once again did another one-eighty. “No! No more riddles.” He began pacing on all fours, reminding me of the Wargs that had chased us once. “Finish them off. Finish them off now! Gollum, gollum!” The creature I now deemed Gollum—because not giving him a name pestered me—crept towards us again.

“No!” Bilbo said immediately. “No. No. No. I want to play. I do. I want to play. I can see you are very…good at this.” Gollum’s face brightened. Bilbo knelt down to be eye level with him. “So why don’t we have a game of riddles? Yes? Just you and me.”

Gollum hobbled forward, intrigued by the offer. “Yes. Yes, just us.”

“Yes. And if I win you show us the way out. Yes?”

Gollum nodded his big head. “Yes. Yes. And if it loses? What then?” I swallowed, knowing exactly what he was about to say next. “Well, if it loses, precious, then we eats it! If Baggins loses, we eats it whole.”

Though Gollum acted as though I didn’t exist, I knew that would be my fate as well should Bilbo lose this game of riddles. He can’t seriously agree to it, with such high stakes. Then again…what other choice do we have? Who knows how ridiculous these tunnels are?

Bilbo’s eyes shot to mine briefly. We didn’t need to talk to know what the other was thinking. It’s the only way.

Bilbo looked back at Gollum, putting his sword away. “Fair enough.”

Though Bilbo put his weapon away, I kept mine out and ready should something go wrong. This game he was about to play was dangerous.

I hoped he knew what he was doing.