Happy 2014 All!
I won nothing! Please Enjoy!
Three- At the Stroke of Midnight
"Nori, Nori my lad it is time to get up."
Nori rubbed his eyes and looked about, he found himself lying in a bright meadow surrounded by deep forest. Next to him, much to his surprise, sat Gandalf. Even more surprisingly the older man was dressed in light armor and a dark grey cape was draped over his shoulders. He had a serious expression upon his face and a helmet resting in his lap.
Nori stared.
"Gandalf? Wha-"
"I'm sorry my boy but there is no time. The hunt is about to begin and I must take my place, and you must get ready as well."
"W-what? Why?"
"Because it is about to begin."
Nori heard distance sounds then, of horses and shouts and the sounds of dogs barking, like a hunting party was in the distance. Suddenly the vision faded…
Nori opened his eyes once more and sat up, this time he was in Bofur's living room lying on an array of blankets and pillows that the three had set up earlier. He turned to his side and saw Bofur and Bard doing the same as he. All three of them wore expressions of worried surprise.
Bard was the first to break the silence.
"D-did Gandalf tell you to get up?"
"Aye, did you see him in a forest with armor on?" Nori answered nervously.
Bofur and Bard nodded their heads.
"Gandalf woke me from lying next to a wide dirt road, he was dressed in these flowing grey clothes with a tall pointy hat." Answered Bard.
Bofur stared and said "Well I sat up in this fancy lookin' courtyard, Gandalf was sitting on a bench wearing white and smoking his pipe like he always does. He said "it was about to begin" and told me to get up."
The other children confirmed they had been told the same thing, with Nori adding his bit about Gandalf saying he was getting ready for a "hunt."
"What hunt?" Asked Bard, her brows furrowed.
Bofur opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by the hoot of a great owl from outside, its call was loud and ominous to the children. Bard reached for her doll for some comfort but was further distressed with finding he was no longer with her. She let out a cry and began shifting through her blankets, soon all the children were looking.
It was quickly found that not only was Bard's doll gone but also Bofur's, though Nori retained his pan flute. The children didn't know what to make of their situation, and sat looking at one another in silence for a moment.
It was then a sound was heard, this time the chiming of the clock. It was midnight, the clock boomed the new hour in the silent room. When it ended other sounds began to be heard, shouts and the clashing of swords.
It came from outside the house!
The three ran forward to the front end of the home and looked out the large windows of the front sitting room that was across the hall from the kitchen. To their utter amazement a battle was occurring outside on the snow covered lawn.
An imposing figure astride a great brown stallion galloped about the yard, his opponent was a great monster of a man riding what looked like a large white wolf. They circled and charged one another, the horse and canine biting and snapping at one another at every opportunity. The man on the horse wore gleaming armor and furs as black as his long flowing hair. In stark contrast his opponent wore nothing but pelts of white fur, making it uncertain where he ended and his mount began.
The three children watched the battle with opened mouth awe for a few minutes, it was then that something caught Bofur's eye. On the side of the battle was another figure, a short thing who seemed to be having his own troubles fending off two other opponents. It was obvious from their size and dress that they were comrades of the wolf-rider.
The three stared, while the horse-rider seemed somewhat dressed for the weather the lone fighter on the ground did not, from what they could see he wore nothing but a shirt and shorts. No shoes could be seen upon the lad.
A light bulb went off in Bard's head.
"Hey Bofur…doesn't he look like-"
"My little lad? Yes. And the rider looks like yours…"
The children stared as the fight continued outside while the house-and the neighborhood in fact- remained dark and quiet. As if the commotion was not disturbing anyone but them. It was impossibly, how could their dolls come to life and be fighting these large opponents? What was going on?
Suddenly a yell was heard from the rider as his horse reared up.
"Charge Minty!"
Their eyes widened…that had been the name they gave little Bombur's toy. The horse was even the same color…
"I vote we go outside and help."
"Agreed."
Bofur stared at Nori and Bard in disbelief.
"What are you two talking about?! Guys this isn't like our games o' pretend! We don't know anything about fighting! Or survival or-or-"
He was cut off from his argument when a cry was heard, it was the fighter on the ground. He had received a hit on the arm, he clutched it and when his hand came away his blood was visible even at a distance. Bofur sucked in a breath and gave out a hiss.
"Let's go."
The three geared up in their winter coats and boots, as Bofur secured his hat upon his head Bard made sure Nori's scarf was tucked around his neck. He didn't fight her. It was then the children went to the kitchen, there Bard and Bofur outfitted themselves with pots and pans and instruments to hit them with.
The children had no ideas of actually entering the combat- they had some common sense- but decided upon being a distraction. Nori would use his gift from Gandalf to make noise. Hopefully this would not only give the fighters the opportunity they needed but also alert anyone else to the problem, they were amazed no one had even turned on their lights at the commotion.
They then made their back to the sitting room and to the window on the farthest side, the fighting had moved close to the front door and it would be too dangerous to go out that way. With quick ease the three slipped out of the house unnoticed and positioned themselves on the side of the lawn, near the fence that separated the Urson property from one of their neighbor's.
A cacophony of sound backed by the simply yet lovely music of a flute then burst into the air, drawing the attention of the fighters. Both the rider and the fighter on the ground let out gasps as their opponents let out growls, the wolf rider made a motion and one of the little lad's enemies started making his way to the children.
The little lad tried to follow but was blocked by his remaining opponent, in desperation he called out a name.
"Thorin! Stop him!"
The horse rider- apparently named Thorin- made to gallop ahead but he was blocked by the wolf rider, moving quickly Thorin raised and threw his sword with all of his might.
Bofur, Nori and Bard stood frozen in fear as the great man came toward them menacingly, their feet chilled from more than simply cold. Their eyes widened even more as a sword suddenly popped out of his chest, the man himself looked surprised before falling over face first in the snow just a few feet from them. Bard recognized the sword and looked over to the horse rider- Thorin, he was now strictly on the defensive with his main weapon gone.
He now went to relying on a tree branch he had been using as a shield for the entity of the fight and a short dagger to try and take small cuts out of his opponent. Bofur bit his lip as he observed everything, they didn't seem to have helped at all.
"What do we do now?" Bard asked desperately.
Nori furrowed his brow and then he turned to his friends, "We make a different kind of distraction."
From out of his pocket he drew the rock he and Bofur had been playing with earlier in the day, it was flat and smooth with a good weight and a high shine from the minerals in it. He handed it to Bard, she had the best aim. With a solemn nod she took it and looked to the fight, the little lad was now guarding blow for blow with his one opponent. He was too far away.
She looked to the man named Thorin and saw that though he and the wolf rider were moving quite a bit they were none the less close and since the white pelted man had no helmet- or hair for that matter- she could get a clear shot of his head.
Taking a deep breath she lifted her hand and took aim, Bofur and Nori were anxiously silent beside. With fluidity and speed Bard put all of her strength into a full body throw and released the rock. It flashed and shined in the air a moment before hitting the wolf rider in the head with a deafening crack, whether it was from his skull or the breaking rock was not at first apparent.
The wolf rider's head had snapped to the side in the face of the blow and he was motionless for a moment. He then promptly slid of his mount and fell to the ground with a thud. Everything stopped in that moment, everyone looked at the fallen man.
The children let out gasps at what happened next; the man, his mount and his two comrades promptly began to disappear. Their edges became fuzzy and they began to wisp away, as if they were nothing but smoke. Soon enough they vanished, Thorin's sword clattered to the floor when it was free. Automatically Bard moved forward and picked it up, she grunted at the great weight.
All three children looked up as the two remaining fighters walked toward them, they had smiles on their faces. When they neared the rider got off his horse and stood next to the little lad, this showed how small and young he was compared to the other. He couldn't be any older than Bifur or Dori; with a small blush Bofur noticed that he looked rather cute. His musings were stopped short when he saw that the lad's arm was still bleeding.
Bofur eyed him worriedly, "Are you alright?!"
The young lad smiled ruefully, "I should be asking you three that. Going out in the middle of the night to help some strangers! Getting right into the middle of the fighting with nothing but noise makers and a rock to defend you!" He started to take on a tone similar to Dori, though he wasn't really scolding them.
It was here that Thorin chuckled, his voice was deep and musical. As the other had spoken he had gone ahead and taken his sword back from Bard with a small thank you and was now looking at the three with a warm look.
"Lucky for us they proved to be as such though. You did very well, all of you."
All three couldn't help but blush a bit at the praise, Thorin looked and sounded like one of the King's from their stories.
"Who are you? What's going on? Who were those men you were fighting?"
Bofur and Bard nodded their heads with each of his questions. At this Thorin and the little lad gave tired smiles.
The little lad then spoke "Your other questions will have to wait for another time for the hour is late, but for starters I am Bilbo Baggins."
"And I am Thorin Oakenshield."
Both of them took a bow as they introduced themselves. The children only blinked, that only answered half of that first question…
Nori opened his mouth to say so but was interrupted by a great booming sound. It was the great clock in Bofur's house, the chimes somehow being loud enough to be heard outside when they never had been before.
It tolled the hour as being three in the morning.
Thorin and Bilbo smiled.
"Time's up, let's meet up tomorrow. Then all will be answered."
With that and a flash of light both of the men and the horse disappeared, in their place Bofur's lad, Bard's doll and Bombur's toy horse lay in the snow. Bofur, Nori and Bard stood together in the snow, just huddled together and breathing the frigid early morning air.
Without a word they slowly and quietly picked up the toys and walked back into house, after undressing and putting the kitchen supplies away they slowly lad back down in their bedding and stared at the ceiling. It was then Bofur broke the silence.
"Did that really just happen?"
"I suppose it did." Said Bard, her voice a tired whisper.
"Gandalf's coming over tomorrow, I say we interrogate him." Came Nori's input.
"Agreed?"
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
With that the three snuggled down and fell into a tired sleep. An owl hooted quietly in the night, it sounded satisfied.
Um..side note here, though I call them "Children" I envision Bofur, Bard and Nori as about somewhere from 11 to 14. And for reference Dori and Bifur are like 17 to 19 or so. Specific ages are up to you dear reader. :)
