++++++ I do not own the Hobbit or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Tolkien ++++++

Six

There were three things that I hated in this realm.

One-intolerance for other races.

Two-being told what I can do.

Three-being tied to a damn, forsaken tree.

I pulled on the ropes that held me to the tree and groaned inwardly as I watched the trolls start roasting the Dwarves on a spit. I tried pulling on the ropes again, ignoring the pain as they cut into my skin.

"It won't work," Kili hissed.

"Shut up!" I snapped back. "I almost got it!"

Over by the fire we could all hear the trolls bickering about how to cook the Dwarves and what to do with me. I had heard the word delicacy mentioned several times to which I followed with a few improvised swear words uttered in Elvish. As one of the trolls tied me to the tree, away from the Dwarves, Spirit took off into the forest, the troll gave chase but came back empty handed. Spirit was smart enough to go and find Gandalf and hopefully bring him back before any of us died.

"Never mind the seasoning!" their leader argued. "We ain't got all night! Dawn ain't fair away, so let's get a move on. I don't fancy being turned to stone."

I continued to pull against the ropes but stopped when Bilbo spoke up. His shouting, seemed to get their attention. Bilbo got himself to his feet and stared the trolls down-there was courage there in that little Hobbit even if he didn't know it.

"What about the seasoning?"

"Well have you smelt them?" Bilbo asked them. "You're going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up."

I laughed in my head. They did smell, but then again, so did I.

"What do you know about cooking Dwarf?"

"Shut up, and let the, uh, flurgaburburrahobbit talk!" snapped the leader.

I was interested to see what Bilbo was going to come up with.

"Uh-the secret to cooking Dwarf is to-um-ah-skin them first!" Bilbo grinned.

What? Skin them? In the trees I could hear something that wasn't Spirit or Durion or any of the other ponies. I scanned the trees and stopped when I saw a hooded and cloaked figure rush through the trees with a white flash behind him. It was Gandalf and Spirit.

Good wolf.

I followed Gandalf and Spirit as they dashed through the trees. When I glanced over Thorin, the Dwarf's eyes were flicking over me or Bilbo. I wriggled my arm a little and curled my hand tightly enough before I gripped the rope in my free and then pulled.

The idea was the more blood I had on my hand, the slipperier it would be. Or so I hoped. Suddenly the slack on the rope lessened and I looked around to see Spirit knowing through the ropes. Once my hands were free, I untied the ropes and instantly took to the trees. As a child I always used to climb trees and hide in them all day much to the chagrin of my parents.

"The Elf's missing!" I heard as I climbed through the trees. "The flurgaburburrahobbit distracted us so the Elf could escape."

I hooked my legs around a tree branch and swung down to grab a weapon-any weapon. When I pulled it up, I found that I had grabbed Thorin's sword. I shrugged and waited it in my hands, it was heavy but not the heaviest I had ever used. I'm sure Thorin would love me using his sword and getting my Elvin blood all over it.

"This little ferret is taking us for fools!"

"Ferret?" Bilbo frowned just as Bilbo appeared on the rock that overlooked the clearing.

"The dawn will take you all!" Gandalf shouted.

"Who's that?"

"No idea."

"Can we eat 'im too?"

Gandalf lifted his staff into the air and struck the rock beneath hi, splitting it in half. The rock fell sideways, allowing the sunlight to pour into the clearing. When the sunlight touched the trolls' skin, they started to turn into stone. Within moments, where there had once been three trolls there were know three stone statues.

I dropped down from the tree to untie Bilbo then assist the others' in freeing themselves as well as putting out the fire that the rest of the Dwarves were roasting on. When Thorin was freed from his sack, I handed him back his sword with a quick apology.

"You should get them looked at," Thorin advised me. "They look like they hurt."

I frowned. "Nothing I ain't dealt with before."

"Bilbo," Gandalf called out, "would you see to Falathiel's wounds?" he asked, a slight smile on his wizened face.

"Where did you go?" Thorin questioned Gandalf calmly as he put his armour on. "If I may ask."

"To look ahead," Gandalf answered truthfully and as cryptically as ever.

"What brought you back?" Thorin asked.

"Looking behind," Gandalf replied. I sat there on a rock as Bilbo did his best to clean the blood away. "Nasty business. Still, they are all in one piece."

"No thanks to your burglar," Thorin frowned.

"He had the nous to play for time," Gandalf replied. "None of the rest of you thought of that. Falathiel, you should know better than to take on three trolls, you need to think before you act. You could have killed Bilbo."

I glared at him and turned my gaze back to Bilbo. "Sorry, friend," I whispered. "If I had acted brashly, please accept my apologise."

Bilbo smiled. "I think you're the only friend I have here," he told me. "Apart from Gandalf, I suppose." He started to bandage my wrists. "Not too tight?"

I shook my head. "No. Thank you, Bilbo. You've been most kind to me, most kind. Which is more than I can say for anyone." With my free hand I scratched Spirit behind the ear. I leant forward and kissed Bilbo gently on the head than excused myself to go and saddle Durion, after I had collected my weapons.

The stallion was still by the creek I had left him near and as the sun started to rise, I saddled him and changed my underclothes for clean clothes. As I pulled the last strap, Spirit started to growl and snap again. All I could think of was what now?

I drew my knives and head back towards the company. The first think both Spirit and I noticed was not the extra member in our company but the eight giant rabbits attached to a sled. I turned to Gandalf and a grin broke out on my face when I saw who our company was. "Radagast!" I grinned. "Radagast the Brown!"