Author's Note: Yay a new chapter! I humbly apologize for taking so stinking long to get this thing done, but Real Life interfered and then I realized that the original plan I had for this chapter was really cliched, so I threw that out and had to come up with a new idea, which proved difficult. But enough of my excuses! On to the story, and as always, if you recognize it, it isn't mine.

Magnolia and the others spent what felt like an eternity tumbling down, down, down, before they finally landed in a heap on a rickety wooden platform. They barely had a chance to stand up before they were set upon by more goblins than any of them could possibly count. The goblins were screeching and snarling at each other and the Company and jabbing at the Company with sharp spears, urging them down a rickety wooden bridge. Magnolia looked around for Fili, terrified and seeking reassurance. She couldn't see him in the throng of dwarves and goblins, but comfort came in the form of Dwalin's hulking mass at her back and his large hand on her shoulder. When Magnolia stumbled, she felt the sharp prick of a goblin spear in her side and she heard Dwalin growl a warning at the offending goblin, before she was hustled further along the path.

Before long, the Company had been herded into a large cavern, ringed on all sides by platforms and paths teeming with more goblins than Magnolia could count, all screeching and shattering at their captives. Sitting on a crude throne was the largest, most grotesque goblin of them all, and he had a bone crown on his head. The Goblin King was singing tunelessly about torturing anyone who entered his realm. The Company was halted in front of the massive goblin, who stopped his song and demanded to know who they were of his minions and ordered the dwarves searched for valuables.

"Dwarves, your malevolence! Found them on the Front Porch!" the smaller goblin answered.

"Oh ho ho! Thorin Oakenshield, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King under the Mountain," the Goblin King sneered, recognizing Thorin, "except, you haven't got a Mountain, so that really makes you nobody, doesn't it?" Thorin was prevented from responding by the goblins tightening their holds on the dwarf king, and shrieking with hideous laughter at their King's taunts. "No matter who you are, I know someone who is very interested in your head. Not the rest of you, mind. Just your head." The Great Goblin smirked as he ordered a goblin scribe to send a message to a pale orc.

"Why have you entered my kingdom so armed? And I have ways of making you talk, should you prove reluctant," the Great Goblin threatened, before calling to his minions, "bring up the Mangler! Bring up the Bone Breaker! If they won't talk, we'll make them squawk!" and a great din rose up from the depths of the cavern as the goblins hurried to obey their sovereign's commands. The dwarves were relieved of their weapons, which were thrown into a pile at the Great Goblin's feet. When one of the goblins drew Thorin's sword, Orcrist, from its scabbard the Great Goblin screamed in fear, and ordered the other goblins to kill the Company, starting with the youngest. Due to her much smaller size, Magnolia was easily shielded by the larger dwarves, but she froze when the goblins grabbed Ori. The shy dwarf struggled in the goblins' hold as they pulled him away from the group, and Magnolia could hear the goblins having difficulty restraining Dori, who was the strongest of all the dwarves, for all his fussiness.

When Magnolia saw the torture devices that Ori was being led to, she felt a sudden burst of courage, fueled in equal parts by fear for her friend, and anger at the goblins' treatment of the Company. She quickly ducked around the dwarves and out of the goblins' hands that were holding her, the latter being to startled by her quick movements to react and the former too restrained by the other goblins to stop her.

"Stop!" Magnolia cried out. "Leave him alone! He's not the youngest, I am!" she called out.

All of the dwarves started shouting at her, even Ori, whom she was trying to save, but Fili's voice cut above them all.

"Magnolia, what are you doing?! They'll kill you!" he shouted. Magnolia turned back to face him, a determined look on her face, but before she could respond, there was a blinding flash of light that stunned the goblins. Gandalf's voice rang through the air.

"Take up your arms and fight! Fight!" he commanded, and the dwarves were quick to comply. The goblins, however, recovered quickly and hampered the Company's progress out of the mountain caverns. In their mad dash out of the caverns, Fili grabbed one of Magnolia's hands, while his other hand held one of his falchions, which he used to help clear the path of pesky goblins. After what seemed like an Age, the Company was surrounded on a rickety bridge, and each member was looking for a way out of their predicament. Before they could enact any of their tentatively formed plans for escape, the Great Goblin dropped down onto the bridge directly in front of the Company.

"Well, well, thought you could escape, did you?" he taunted. Before the Great Goblin could incite any of his minions to attack the Company, Gandalf sliced his blade across the hideous goblin's stomach, entrails spilling out as the creature grasped his belly.

"That'll do it," he muttered, before Gandalf finished him off with a blow to the throat, which severed his jugular. The weight of the Great Goblin falling limp was too much for the rickety bridge to withstand, so with a splintering of wood, the bridge began to collapse, taking the Company with it as it plunged towards the bottom of the caverns. When it finally hit the ground, the Company were buried in rubble.

"Well, that could've been worse," Bofur said cheerfully. Just as he finished speaking, the corpse of the Great Goblin fell on top of them, further squishing the Company.

"You've got to be joking!" Dwalin growled. The others were muttering various things, in Common and in Khuzdul, but Magnolia didn't have breath enough for any utterance above a small squeaking whine, buried as she was beneath dwarves and rubble. Fili had managed to free himself fairly easily, and he looked around for her. However, all he could see were Magnolia's small hands trying to shift the weight above her. Fili rushed over and hurriedly dug through the debris, until he was able to grab Magnolia and pull her loose. As Magnolia clung to Fili, trying to quell her lurching stomach from the fall and gain her breath back from the hard landing, Kili raised the alarm that the goblins were quickly swarming down the walls of the caverns toward the Company. Gandalf quickly evaluated the situation, and concluded that the only available option was to run, hoping the daylight would stop the goblins' pursuit.

As the Company ran for their lives, Fili never once let go of Magnolia's hand, helping her up when she stumbled over the uneven cavern floor. Before too long, the Company could see the literal light at the end of the tunnel, and they all put on an extra burst of speed toward it. They burst into the sunlight, and kept running to put some distance between them and the Goblin Caves.

Finally, the Company slowed to a halt in a clearing ringed with pine trees. Magnolia's ribs ached with every panting breath, likely from the bridge collapse, and her knees burned from scraping them several times during the Company's escape. As everyone caught their breath, Gandalf conducted a headcount, frowning when he only came to fifteen people, including himself. He counted a second time, before he realized who was missing.

"Where is Bilbo?" he asked.

"He disappeared when the goblins collared us," Nori answered.

Before Gandalf could reply, Thorin cut in, "there is no time to search for him, we must away while the sun is still on our side. Besides, he'll be long gone by now, back to his cozy home with his books and his armchair."

"Mister Bilbo wouldn't do that! He gave his word that he would help you when he signed your contract. I don't know how it is with dwarves, but when a respectable hobbit like Mister Bilbo gives his word, you can count on them1 A respectable hobbit's word is as good as gold," Magnolia declared.

"Quite right, Magnolia, thank you," Bilbo said, appearing suddenly at the back of the group. "Although Thorin is right, I do miss my home and my books and my armchair, but that is precisely why I am going to help you reclaim Erebor. To help you all go home." Several of the dwarves approached Bilbo to question how he made it out of the goblin tunnels, but before they got a chance the howls of wargs rent the air.

"Out of the frying pan," Thorin said.

"And into the fire. Run!" Gandalf finished.

Fili grabbed Magnolia's hand as the Company started running again. The Company could hear the wargs getting closer behind them, and the rough shouts of the orcs astride the four-legged monsters. Soon, however, the Company reached a dead-end. A cliff dropped sharply before them, with pine trees scattered around.

"Up! Into the trees!" Gandalf shouted, and the dwarves were quick to obey, nimbly climbing as high as they could, and helping each other as they went. Fili grabbed Magnolia around the waist, and hoisted her up to Kili, before jumping onto a low-hanging branch himself to begin his ascent. Together, the two brothers managed to help Magnolia reach a hiding spot among the branches. From her vantage point, Magnolia was able to see the hunting party of orcs racing through the trees, and their leader made Magnolia's blood freeze in her veins. A huge, pale arc riding a white warg was barking orders in the rough language of the orcs. His body was covered in scars that seemed to form an intentional pattern, and his left arm ended in a rough metal claw that extended from where his elbow would have been. Looking around, Magnolia saw expressions of fear and disbelief on the faces of many of the dwarves.

"Azog," Thorin growled. Magnolia couldn't hear the orc goading Thorin over the pounding of her heart in her ears. Before her was the Azog the Defiler, not dead as Thorin and the others had said in their stories of great battles, but very much alive, and looking like the would gladly gut all of the Company, just for the joy killing them would bring. Magnolia was forcibly snapped out of her fearful daze when something burning hot rushed past her ear. Fili passed her a flaming pinecone and instructed her to throw it as hard as she could down at the orcs, which she quickly did to avoid burning her hand. Her aim was lucky and she hit Azog's white warg squarely in the face, sparks flying all around the beast upon the collision. After a barked order from Azog, a couple of wargs began throwing their weights at the trees the Company were perched in, shaking them alarmingly. Magnolia tightened her grip as the tree she was in was uprooted and began to topple. When her tree collided with the other tree that the Company took refuge in, she and the others in the fallen tree jumped and were caught by their companions. Bofur was holding Magnolia steady, and he could feel her trembling. The Pale Orc made a few more sneering remarks aimed at Thorin, and finally provoked the dwarf into charging down the fallen tree, which was lined with flames from the pinecones the Company had thrown.

Azog was prepared for Thorin's charge, however, and urged his burnt and snarling mount forward, the warg pouncing on Thorin and knocking him to the ground. There were shouts from all around her as the dwarves saw their leader, their king, pinned beneath the great white beast. The creature bore down on Thorin when he tried to stand up and the Company could hear the grinding crunch of the warg's teeth against Thorin's armor. Finally, after biting down on the now limp body of the dwarf, the white warg tossed Thorin aside, and Azog commanded one of his cronies to part the dwarf's head from his shoulders. Surprisingly, it was Bilbo who ran to Thorin's defense first, barreling into the executioner, and stabbing him repeatedly with his elvish short sword. When the orc no longer moved, Bilbo backed up to guard the dwarf king's prone body. Before Azog could bear down on the hobbit though, Dwalin and several other dwarves rushed into the melee.

Magnolia, however, stayed in the tree, having been passed from Bofur to Gandalf when the hatted dwarf ran to aid the others. Gandalf was a bit distracted himself though, since Dori and Ori were hanging onto his staff for their lives, their feet dangling over open air. Just as Dori lost his grip on the staff, rather than falling hundreds of feet to their deaths, the two dwarves fell a short distance, and landed on the feathery back of an Eagle of Manwë. Magnolia was stunned at the birds' timely appearances, and their size, as several of them swooped in and began picking off orcs and wargs, while others helped collect the Company to take them away.

When one of the giant eagles was about to grab Magnolia, she squeaked in fear, and clung to Gandalf.

"It is quite alright, my dear. The Eagles are friends of mine, and are taking us somewhere safe, so that we may rest," Gandalf reassured her, gently pushing Magnolia towards the waiting Eagle. Then, the Eagle carrying Fili and Kili swooped by, and Fili leapt from his Eagle to the one waiting for Magnolia.

"Come along, Lass. If anything happens, I'll be right here to protect you," he said, reaching a hand out to Magnolia. Somewhat reassured, Magnolia tentatively made her way closer to the Eagle, until she could more easily jump onto its back. Once the Eagle felt the extra weight on its back, it flapped its powerful wings a few times, and veered away from the burning cliff to rejoin its fellows. Ahead, Magnolia could see the limp body of Thorin clutched in the claws of an eagle, and she prayed to the Valar that he was alright. With Fili's warmth against her back, his arm around her middle keeping her secure, and an overwhelming sense of exhaustion and loss of adrenaline, combined with the steady almost rocking motion of the Eagle, soon lulled Magnolia into a sort of daze.

Magnolia was startled back to alertness, when the Eagles touched down on a high rock, deposited their passengers, and took off again. Quickly, the members of the Company clustered around Gandalf, where he was muttering incantations over Thorin's still body. Everyone held their breath until Thorin's eyes fluttered open and a small groan escaped him when he tried to move. While several of the dwarves, including Fili, Kili, and Oin rushed forward to help Thorin, Bilbo and Magnolia hung back.

"It was very brave of you to rush to his defense the way you did," Magnolia said quietly.

"Well someone had to," Bilbo answered, "I have no doubt the others would have eventually roused themselves to Thorin's defense, but by that time it may very well have been too late, and what use is a quest to regain a kingdom without a king to lead it?" Magnolia shrugged, not knowing what else to say.

"I thank you, Master Baggins," Thorin said, approaching the hobbits, "I know I have said that you were naught but a burden, but I will freely admit that I have never been so wrong in all my life. Were it not for your quick actions, my sister-son Fili would be forced to take up the leadership of this Company, on a quest to reclaim a homeland he has never known outside of stories," he finished before pulling the hobbit man into a huge embrace. The Company cheered at Thorin's final acceptance of Bilbo. While everyone was distracted with Thorin and Bilbo, Fili walked over to Magnolia and drew her to him, before kissing her soundly, although they were quickly interrupted by the loud, forceful clearing of many throats, and the two broke apart, although Fili kept his arms around Magnolia's waist. The hobbit-lass was flushed a brilliant scarlet in embarrassment, but when she looked around many of the dwarves were looking at the couple with a mixture of indulgence and fond exasperation.

"It has been a long few days, so we will take our rest here," Thorin said, before beginning to assign chores, "Gloin, see to the distribution of the remaining supplies. Bombur, see if you can find anything for us to eat, Dwalin, I want you to draw up a watch roster," and this continued until everyone had some task or another to do. Luckily, most of their packs had survived to be reclaimed, even if their provisions had been lost to the goblins.

Once everyone had eaten something, they settled down to rest, with Gandalf taking the first watch. Magnolia laid next to Fili and listened to the usual storytelling the dwarves partook in after dinner. With Fili's arm around her middle, and his warmth at her back, she finally felt safe enough to succumb to her exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep.