Thorin looked up when he heard hurried footsteps coming toward him. Kili and Fili emerged from the trees with concerned expressions etched on their faces. They stopped in front of him and gasped for breath.
"You are supposed to be watching the ponies," Thorin growled at them.
"Trolls," Fili began. "They took some of the ponies. Mister Baggins went after them to get the ponies and we came to warn you."
"Fools!" Thorin hissed, "What is Master Baggins going to do against trolls? How many are there?"
Kili piped up, "I saw three. We should probably go."
Thorin called for all the dwarves to come and they snuck through the forest until they saw the trolls. One troll with a lazy eye was holding poor Bilbo in his hand. Thorin grimaced slightly when he saw that Bilbo was cover in a green, slimy substance. The trolls were trying to gain information from him if there were any others hiding close by. Bilbo refused adamantly but the trolls did not believe him.
Fearing what the trolls would do to Bilbo, Kili rushed into the clearing and, as menacingly as possible, yelled, "Drop him!"
"You what?" asked one of the trolls stupidly.
"I said, 'Drop him!'"
Kili raised his sword in a challenge but had to drop it when the troll holding Bilbo threw the hobbit at him. The rest of the company rushed out of the woods and into the clearing with their weapons drawn. With a battle cry, they attacked the trolls with a vengeance. They fought well and got in a few good hits, but stopped when two of the trolls were once again holding Bilbo. They had him spread out by their four hands.
"Drop your arms or we'll tear his off!" one of the trolls said.
Reluctantly, each of the dwarves gave up their weapons with Kili being the last to do so. The trolls then proceeded to secure each of the company in separate sacks. Bilbo was the first to be put in a sack and when they had secured him, one of the trolls said, "Put 'em with the other one."
Bilbo realized what the troll had said just as he was tossed through the air and came down on something soft. A soft groan emitted from under him and Bilbo watched in surprise as a figure rolled away from him. The figure sat up and its face was completely hidden behind a curtain of fiery red hair.
One by one the dwarves were dropped into a pile beside him. Bilbo ignored their cries of protest and inched his way closer to the unknown person.
"Are you alright?" he asked quietly while the trolls argued on how to cook the dwarves. Gently the curly hair fell away to reveal sparkling green eyes. Bilbo stared in awe at the beautiful face that gazed back at him. The green eyes were framed by thick lashes. Concern filled those eyes when the trolls reached for a few of the dwarves and tied them to a spit that had been set up over the fire. The dwarves howled as the fire licked up at them. Bilbo turned away from the stranger and jumped to his feet as best he could in his sack. He began to argue with the trolls about the best way to cook a dwarf. The hobbit stood in front of the trolls and tried to buy some time.
"The secret to cooking dwarf is to – uh – skin them first!"
"What a load of rubbish!" one troll said. "I've eaten plenty with their skins on." Just then, he reached to pick up Bombur and held him over his open mouth.
"Not that one," Bilbo shouted, "he's infected. He's got worms in his tubes!"
The troll dropped the dwarf in his hand with an exclamation. Checking to make sure the dwarf had not infected him.
"In fact, they're all infected. A nasty business, I really wouldn't risk it."
The dwarves shouted in annoyance before a few realized what Bilbo was trying to do. They began shouting about their parasites. One of the trolls, however, saw past what Bilbo was trying to do and would have none of it. Unexpectedly, a figure emerged from a rock above them and with a booming voice yelled, "The dawn will take you all!"
"Who's that?" one troll asked.
"Can we eat him too?"
Gandalf then brought his staff down hard on the rock which split in two. Sunlight rushed into the clearing and the three trolls yelled in pain as they were turned to stone. Gandalf made his way down to the dwarves and began to help them escape from their sacks. Bilbo, finally released from his sack, walked back over to the person he had fallen on earlier.
"Miss, are you alright?" he asked as he helped loosen the sack for her to climb out. The stranger stood up and Bilbo noticed her height. She was just at five feet tall which meant a few of the dwarves were as tall as she. She wore a white blouse, forest green skirt that reached mid-shin, a brown leather jerkin over her blouse, and brown boots.