Mountains Daughter

Title: Mountains Daughter
Author: Genna Gray
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Pairing: Nothing as of yet
Warning: Gen
Summary: It has been fifty years since the Battle of the Five Armies and peace hasn't settled as it ought have had. Orcs and Goblins are attacking, the Elves of Mirkwood have closed their boarders to all, in the Shire there has been a rash of kidnappings, and in Gondor Civil War is brewing. It will take a determined Hobbit, a teenage Elf, a lost Man, and a rather curious Dwarf to uncover the dark secret running it all.

     When Sarnwen had been given a mission to preform on her own, tasked to her by her King, she had thought it would have been more grand that what it actually was. Sarnwen had thought it would have involved patrols along the Dol Gor or perhaps one of the spider hunting parties; perhaps joining one of the southern scouting parties towards the Rhuin.
     What she wasn't expecting was to be running herbs to Lord Elrond.
     But, Sarnwen told herself sternly, they all had to start somewhere. Her Adar was a captain but had spent years out on patrol - he was good enough and valued enough amongst her King's soldiers that he had been allowed to take Sarnwen with him as well.
     Her pack was carefully secured to her saddle, the large packets and bottles of herbs, both dry and fresh, were secured and she led her mare through one of her favorite trails out of Mirkwood. Her Adar had warned her of the forest, of its trickery, but Sarnwen had never such problems with it - the forest was very gentle with her and more often then not it showed Sarnwen quicker paths through it.
     And how to avoid the spiders that some times traveled in groups.
     Sarnwen, even though she kept her guard, was very relaxed in the forest as she calmly walked through thick brush until she reached the flood plains between Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains. It had been an easy trip, only a day or so on foot even with her mare walking, and it gave Sarnwen time to decide on which path through the mountains she could take.
     The more obvious one was over the mountain, it was safe for all it could be but it would take much longer then what it needed to be. However, Sarnwen was aware that there was a goblin tunnel that led straight through the mountain - with a possible detour or two through Goblin town - but it would shave at least a week or two worth of her journey to Elrond off.
     And it seemed better for Sarnwen to preform her duty quickly and with post-haste.
     [And a part of Sarnwen was very curious about Goblin-Town and wanted to explore since the last few times Sarwen and her father had passed by the Misty Mountains they had taken the over-path or had gone around the southern tip near Isengard. So, while Sarnwen was well aware that her Adar would have her ears, she mounted her mare and headed towards the Goblin-tunnel.
     What her Adar wouldn't know wouldn't hurt him after all.]
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     Narrowing her eyes Sarnwen perched on her tree as she watched the Goblins swarm around several of their bon-fires that they had set up. She hadn't been exactly sure of what the Goblins had planned but it couldn't be anything good when it involved the Shire and "Halflings". Anything involving the Shire was of some importance to Sarnwen, it had been where she had been born after all, and Adar had patrolled that area with some regularity whenever they could.
     He said that it took the bravery of a Halfling that had stopped the Arm from completely seizing control over Erebor and most likely Mirkwood; and that if to repay that bravery and kindness meant more patrols along their boarders during the harsh winter months it was the least he could do.
     So, yes, when a few of the goblins she had overheard in Goblin Town mentioned moving past the boarders of Bree and more fully into the Shire Sarnwen had followed as that was more important then some herbs to be delivered to Lord Elrond. Which was fine and good but Sarnwen was slightly confused as to the matter of the Goblins.
     To invade the Shire, and Hobbits were no pushovers when it came to defending their own, there would need to be a good number of Goblins, at least five or seven hundred, but there were...there were barely fifty, if that much. Sarnwen wasn't sure what game the Goblins were playing out but she was confident that she could take on all fifty Goblins - even in the dead of the night.
     Creeping down the tree Sarnwen carefully made her way through the Goblin camp, slipping from shadows to shadows, her bone-knives easily slipping through leather armor and killing her prey instantly as she slowly circled the camps. It was only until Sarnwen couldn't get any closer without waking up the remaining Goblins did she tuck her knives away and slink close enough to reach the fire-pits.
     Carefully opening a pouch on her belt Sarnwen tossed in a good handful of brightly colored flowers before moving onto the next fire-pit. By the time she was done Sarnwen was dizzy and sick to her stomach from the clear gas the Ambarlothe produced when heated - the Goblins would surely be dead as a result.
    Stumbling to a halt Sarnwen braced a hand on a tree and dry-heaved the contents of her stomach out onto the roots and grass below. The Ambarlothe wasn't deadly in Elves like it was for the other races but it made them incredibly sick and the symptoms got steadily worse with the higher of the intake of the gas.
    Stopping to make sure that her stomach was level, the urge to heave was there but Sarnwen could keep it under control, she pushed away from the tree and made her way back to her mare. She would bed down for the night and check on the Goblin camp in the morning, ensuring they were all dead, before making her way to Rivendale where Lord Elrond was waiting for the herbs.
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     The forest shrieked a warning but it was seconds too late as something hard and heavy struck Sarnwen in the back of the head, knocking her from her horse to tumble to the ground heavily. The pain was blinding, her whole skull felt like a mountain had dropped on it, and the forest around her didn't help matters as it shrieked and raged.
    Rolling onto her side Sarnwen tried to push herself up, hot liquid pouring down the side of her face, but something wide and heavy struck her side and Sarnwen was thrown clear across the footpath she had been using to slam into the tree as her ribs cracked from the force of it. Darkness crawled along her vision and she vagually heard her mare taking off - Sarnwen hoped it would head to Rivendale so the herbs could be delivered - as she shuddered in pain, hands grasping for her bone-knives.
     Thick, wide, hands gripped her long braid of hair and ripped her head up. The sun glittered brightly in Sarnwen's face and her eyes slide shut from the piercing light but not before taking in a heavily armored masked face. One of the hands moved from her gripping her braid to wrap around her throat and squeeze down tightly, the other hand slowly winding the braid around its' hand like a chain of rope.
     Sarnwen knew, suddenly and terribly, that she was going to die right then and there if she didn't do something.
     Her hands, slick was blood, trembled as they slid as they tried to grasp her knives. It took a moment, a precious air-filled moment, to get one of her hands secured, before she pulled the knife free and she shoved the knife blindly up-wards towards the armored face she barely got a glimpse of. There was a rasping inhale as the hand wrapped around her throat tightened until she felt bruises form and the air-way to seal shut on her; her lungs used the last of the air in them and Sarnwen began to panic.
     But then, thank Eru and the Stars, the hand let go and a heavy form landed on her.
    Sarnwen gasped and panted in the effort to take in more air, body shuddering in the attempts, and she allowed her attack to stay where he was as he slowly bled out as she recovered. She quickly found that both her attacker and his armor were too heavy for her to bare and painstakingly wiggled her way out from underneath the weight.
     Freed enough, even though her legs were trapped, Sarnwen laid under the canopy of forest around Rivendale as she tried to make sense of what the trees were telling her. All they did was shriek warning after warning at her, in ways that Sarnwen could understand but she was still fighting off the darkness wanting to drag her under.
     A flash of metal out of the corner of her eye made Sarnwen turned but- it was too late. An armored boot kicked her in the head and the darkness attacked from down deep and dragged Sarnwen down with it into the abyss.
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     Bilbo was frantic.
     There had been as rash of sightings of Orcs in the hills, not quite in the Shire boundery's but close enough that it made most Hobbits nervous. But it wasn't the Orcs' that had Bilbo worried and frantic - it was the glimpse's that both Man and Hobbit's saw of armored figures skulking in the wilde's. It hadn't been cause for concern, not at the start of it, but then the disappearances began to happen whenever there was a sighting.
     A sighting near Bree? A few of the residents would be gone the next day. And, at first it was only one or two of the more elderly ones, but then it was the youngers ones in a few more numbers. But now? Now it was children being taken, from their beds even in some cases, and it wasn't just one or two - it was close to a dozen each time.
    And anyone who interfered? Well, they were swiftly identified from the pulp of flesh and blood that was left of them.
     All help they had didn't seem to work; the Rangers stepped up patrol both in and around the Shire and Gandalf tried his best to track down the armored figures to no luck, even the Elves from Rivendale tried their hand at trying to stem this tide but nothing seemed to work - at least not for long.
     It had gotten to the point where Bilbo was tempted to pack up his belongings, his nephew as well, before making his way to Dale or even Erebor at this point - anything, anyplace, would be safer then the Shire and Bilbo did not have it in him to endure another Fell Winter. Bilbo couldn't and he wasn't about to try - he would risk the roads if it meant safety in Dale and Erebor.
     Which Bilbo had been planning on purposing to his neighbors, not like they would listen but Bilbo had to try, but then he realized he had not seen Frodo since early that morning. Even though Bilbo told himself he was being silly, that Frodo was safe and sound with his friends, the part of Bilbo that had stepped aside after Erebor's battle knew that something terrible had happened.
     When Bell Gamgee had burst into tears when Bilbo had knocked on her door it had only confirmed his worst fears.
     "My Samwise," Hamfast said softly as he rubbed Bell's back. "We felt him...the terror he felt..."
     "I am so sorry," Bilbo Signed himself. "Is there any preparations...?"
     "No, no." Hamfast bit his lip. "We saw what happened when the Brockle's girl was taken...we couldn't...I..."
     "Samwise might not be dead?" Bilbo asked shocked and the couple looked away from him. "You...you Cast him and he's not even dead!"
     "Don't you go telling me how to treat my children Bilbo Baggins!" Hamfast said as he glared at Bilbo. "None of the children have been found yet so they are probably dead! I won't have this family suffering as a result of it!"
     Bilbo huffed and glared back at Hamfast before he turned on his heel and walked off. To think, that they Cast Samwise out, removed him from his family so that they wouldn't have to deal with Samwise's possible death hurting the family Garden. That was no excuse and it clearly showed that Bilbo hadn't known the Gamgee's as well as he thought.
     Slamming his door Bilbo stomped his way back to his study and threw himself into his armchair. He stayed there, stewing, until he reached for his pipe and Pipe-weed, then tasked himself in cleaning off his desk. He had maps to look at and Bilbo was going to need the space - there had to be a pattern of the kidnappers on why they were taking children now.
     Because Bilbo wasn't going to standby any longer and do nothing - he was going to find those children then take Frodo and Samwise away from the Shire and to Dale. [He would prefer Erebor but he worried that Thorin's banishment would still be upheld even after his death so Dale would probably be his safest bet - if Erebor wouldn't take him he would go south, into Rohan or Gondor if he had to.]
     Bilbo had allowed himself to be a Baggins since he had returned from his little adventure but now it was time to dig the Took out again.