/To avoid confusion, I'll say it now. This story is going to be based on the book The Hobbit rather than the films. The book is much better, and avoids going into silly details. Galadriel and Saruman weren't even in the book, yet they appear in the film. I don't mind it much, but I'm more familiar with the book. A few small elements from the films may appear, but nothing major. Also, Idria doesn't really mean Starlight in any language, and the story about a woman named Idria betraying the king of Gondor is false. I made them both up to give some meaning to her name. I hope that doesn't cause any confusion./
Trolls
The group was nicer than she thought they'd be, despite their meeting. The fat dwarf Bombur was always making pleasant conversation, the two young dwarves Fili and Kili were happy and curious, Balin seemed wise, and Thorin was a good leader of the group. She found out what the other person was, his name was Bilbo, and he was a hobbit. She'd never heard of them before, but she soon grew to like him. He wished to go home, and would often talk about his hobbit hole, large meals, parties and never going on adventures or doing anything unexpected. He would talk to her a lot whilst they travelled, always about himself, as she had nothing to tell him.
She rode one of the ponies, with her hands tied in front of her, and the rope leading to the back of someone else's saddle. It wasn't needed, she wouldn't have tried to run away even if she was on a horse and they were unarmed. Travelling with the dwarves meant food and protection. Idria also met Gandalf, he had been travelling ahead of them for a while, but when he came back she was surprised. He was a wizard, clothed in long grey robes and carrying a tall staff. He argued with Thorin the first day he arrived about her captivity. He insisted that if he feared an unarmed girl, then it would be a long time before he completed his quest. Thorin cursed him afterward, but after a couple of hours he gave up. And the next day, the bonds around Idria's wrists were gone, though the unspoken threat of death was still there.
By night, the guard on her relaxed slightly. The dwarves no longer kept an eye on her, simply watched for real threats, orcs and wargs. She slept right by the fire, and stared into the orange flames when she couldn't sleep. She wondered what the dwarves were doing, she had heard them speak about some sort of mission, but they wouldn't tell her what it was. She sensed it must have been important, though couldn't begin to guess at how.
The days grew miserable, it began to rain constantly. She couldn't get dry no matter how close to the fire she got, and some nights a fire was impossible to make. But there were good things to it as well. The heavy smell of rain and earth was a refreshing one; it masked the smells of the ponies. But it grew cold, way too cold. So one night when they rode down the path, when she looked up to see an orange light, she mentioned it to the dwarf beside her,
"Hey, I think there's a fire over there." He looked up and stared at it for a second, and then announced it.
"Thorin! A fire." Thorin had barely spoken that day, instead leading them along the path as it twisted and turned. He was about to say something, but the other dwarves had begun to cut in, with their opinions. They wanted to get closer, but one or two of them were cautious about it, Thorin included.
"There's no one out here you need to worry about." One assured him. Idria disagreed, It's thinking like that that gets you into trouble. But she kept her opinion to herself, doubting they'd appreciate it. And eventually they decided to send the hobbit Bilbo first, to see who was at the fire, and whether they would likely share the warmth. So the hobbit went creeping off, and the rest of them waited. After a while, he still wasn't back. Idria got down from her pony and began to pace, glad to take a break and stretch her legs, but growing restless all the same. And noises were coming from the fire. Muffled shouts, faded voices, and she began to worry about Bilbo. But she wasn't the one to say anything about the lengthy absence of the hobbit. It was Balin who broke the silence,
"Do you think he's gotten into trouble?" The others looked over at him, and then at the glow of the fire,
"Someone should go and check."
"And split us up even more?" Another called out. And once again, they began to argue amongst themselves. Idria didn't join in, other than to catch herself nodding when Fili said they should go and help the hobbit out.
"Quiet, all of you!" Thorin's voice shouted, and their voices all died faster than a fire in the middle of a rainstorm. She noted that even though they may bicker, the dwarves were all respectful of their commander. They did as he told them, and never questioned him. It's his voice. He leaves no space to be challenged. He's the leader and they all know it.
And they all waited for him to speak, herself included.
"This bickering gets us nowhere. You should know better… Balin! Go and see what's happened to our burglar." Balin nodded and stepped away, not moving as quietly as the Hobbit, but he should have been okay. The rest of them stayed where they were, speaking to each other in whispers, or sheltering underneath the branches of a tree. So they heard everything, more exclamations from the unknown camp, and a muffled shout. And then it was quieter, and Balin didn't come back. So Thorin began to send the others to see what was happening. Fili and Kili went together, they were younger than the others and had better eyesight. They didn't come back. Thorin sent Dori and Nori and Ori next, saying that the three of them together would make it back. There was a long wait, and Idria went over to Thorin. He was staring off at the fire, as if trying to see through the trees to what lay beyond. She stood next to him and said softly, it was the first time she'd addressed him directly since the night he found her,
"We should all go together, before we get split up even more." He looked at her and shook his head,
"No."
He sent Oin, Gloin and Bifur next. And they didn't come back.
"Thorin. We all have to go."
"I told you, no."
So he sent Bofur and Bombur, and the only people left with the ponies were her and Thorin.
"You're a fool." She'd meant to sound calm, but her voice sounded of contempt.
"Be quiet."
"You're a leader, right?" Silence…
"Yes."
"Then lead!" She had been sat down, but Idria rose then. She walked to the side of one of the ponies, and opened one of the saddlebags. Her hand passed over a number of things, before she found what she was looking for. A knife, used for cutting their meat and such, but there were no other weapons other than what the dwarves already had. Her hand curled round it.
"Put that down, get away from there." She turned to him, and smirked. Then she turned and began to walk towards the light of the fire.
"I'm going over there. You better come too, just to make sure I don't conspire with those already there." She heard the sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath, and heard him follow her. She wasn't sure what drove her to it, maybe it was that she cared more for the Dwarves and the Hobbit than she knew. Or maybe she was looking for a fight. She stopped by the edge of the fire, and his hand came down heavy on her shoulder and pulled her back a step. But he said nothing, he saw the same as her. A large fire, more like a bonfire, spilled jugs which she guessed were filled with mead or ale, based on the smell. There were big haunches of mutton on the fire, and all around there were sacks. Sacks big enough to hold a dwarf.
"What's all this trouble? Who has been knocking my people about?" Thorin said loudly, and they waited for an answer.
"It's trolls! They're hiding in the bushes with sacks!" A voice cried out, Idria thought it was Bilbo's. The grip on her shoulder tightened and Thorin ran forward towards the fire, dragging her with him. At the same moment, the bushes lurched aside as the trolls burst from them, sacks in hand. They were tall, much taller than her. The knife she held felt rather pitiful now, but she stood her ground, and then quickly lost it as the three trolls charged.
"Move!" Thorin yelled at her, and she did. It wasn't much of a fight for her, she worked on dodging the blows of the trolls. Thankfully they were slower than she expected, but it was still difficult. Thorin had dropped his sword, and was by the fire. He had managed to pull free a branch that was burning at one end. One of the trolls kicked embers up into the dwarfs face, and he was rewarded with a smack in his own face with it.
Crunch!
The nose of the troll went sideways and one of his teeth went spiralling to the ground. He howled in pain, and Idria couldn't help herself. She laughed, the sound alien in the situation. It gave her a rush of confidence, and she ducked under another trolls arm and managed to stick him in the leg with her little knife. His yelp brought a grin to her face. For a moment she was cocky, and for a moment she was unprepared. Her legs were knocked out from underneath her and she landed hard. Then a rough hand grabbed her and the world went a little darker as the sack was shoved down over her head and tied at her feet. Then Idria was thrown down and left winded whilst the trolls began to argue.
They were trying to decide how to cook the dwarves, apparently they'd forgotten that she wasn't one of them. That didn't matter to her though, she was focused on trying to get out of the sack. Her legs and arms were unbound, but she had no weapon to cut through, not even the little knife. The sack was tied too tightly at the bottom for her to slip out, and she couldn't turn round to try and untie it somehow. She stretched out her limbs, hoping the seams would be weak and tear, but it didn't work.
Around her, the voices of the trolls rose as the argument escalated. Boiling them would take too much time, they had no water… There were enough of them to make a pie… They should sit on them and feast on the jelly left… Her stomach clenched and turned over, as the beginnings of fear began to take hold. The trolls had decided now, but there was another argument as they decided to kill Thorin first, but weren't sure which sack he was in. Desperately, she chose a part of the sack that looked a little threadbare, and pulled at it with both hands, hoping it would tear. It wasn't working, yet she didn't give up. And then she yelped as a hand closed around her legs and she was lifted up. She writhed in the grasp of the troll and kicked out. Her feet connected with something and she had the sensation of falling, before hitting the ground again. The troll shouted, but his voice was cut off by another, louder and more insistent.
"Dawn take you all! And be stone to you!"
It sounded like… Gandalf. She smiled despite everything, he was a wizard, he would surely be able to handle a few trolls and save them. She heard the voices of dwarves calling out for help, and then thanks. She felt a scrabbling at the strings of her sack and a moment later it was being pulled up over her head. She pulled it off and took a step back, to see that the one who freed her had been Thorin.
"Thank you." She said, trying not to sound shaken. But she didn't hear his response, as she looked up and saw the three stone trolls. Captured in their argument forever, or at least until time weathered away the stone and reduced the images to a pile of rubble. Idria smiled.
An hour later, they stood in the troll's cave, and looked around. A small fortune in gold and gems which the trolls had taken from their victims. There was also food, which the dwarves were taking, along with the ale that the trolls had stolen. There were even a few weapons, two swords stood out, they were of elvish make, and both Thorin and Gandalf claimed them. Idria walked over to the weapons and reached out a tentative hand towards them. Her hand closed around one large sword against the wall, and she began to lift it.
Suddenly, a grip like iron encircled her wrist and thrust the sword back against the wall with a clatter. She gasped and her head whipped round to see who it was, and the sharp blue eyes of Thorin looked into hers. There was a silence broken only by a sigh from someone. And then the dwarf in front of her released his grip.
"I only meant… That's a greatsword. It might be too heavy for you. You'd be better off with something like…" He turned and began to look at the other weapons, before his hand closed around a thinner sword and a swordbelt already attached. He pulled it from the sheath to expose a few inches of the blade, then sheathed it again and held it out to her. "Here." She took it, and met his gaze.
"Thank you." And then she tied it around her waist, the sword resting on her left hip. There was also a smaller sheath on the right side of the belt, which was empty. But after a few minutes she was able to find a dagger that fit into it. Now armed and content with what she had, she stood by the entrance to the cave and waited for the dwarves to finish.
And once they had, Gandalf told them of the next step in their journey. They were to visit Rivendell, the home of the elves.
