Chapter 6
Lexi stood up after being freed from the others and felt her head again.
That's gonna leave a mark and a throbbing headache Lexi thought as she stood next to Kili who looked concerned at her. She smiled at him.
"Where did you go to, if I may ask?" Thorin asked Gandalf.
"To look ahead." Gandalf simply replied.
"What brought you back?" Thorin asked him.
"Looking behind. Nasty business. Still they all are in one piece." Gandalf said looking at the stone trolls.
"No thanks to your burglar. And that Woman of yours." Thorin said.
"HEY!" Lexi shouted but Thorin pretended not to hear.
"He had the nous to play for time. None of the rest of you thought of that." Gandalf said.
"They must have come down from the Ettenmoors." He also said as Lexi examined the trolls.
"Since when the mountain trolls venture this far south?" Thorin asked as he looked at them as well.
"Oh, not for an age. Not since a darker power ruled these lands." Gandalf said deep in thought.
"They could not have moved in daylight." Lexi said as she joined them.
"There must be a cave nearby." Thorin said as he walks off to search for it.
Lexi walks in the forest as the boys search for the cave. Lexi stumbled over a rock, and fell over. She lifted her head up to see the cave.
"Over here!" Lexi yelled.
"Oh, what's that stench?!" She heard Bofur say as the company come closer.
"It's a troll hoard. Be careful what you touch." Gandalf warned them. Lexi coughs from the foul fragrance that surrounds the cave. She goes inside to be followed by the others and she looks around spotting a bow. She headed staright to it and picked it up.
Just like mine! Lexi thought.
"Seems a shame just to leave it lying around. Anyone could take it." Bofur said as he found the gold.
"Agreed. Nori, get a shovel." Gloin said as Nori did. Lexi turned to Thorin and Gandalf who were looking at some swords. Lexi put the bow over her shoulder and did the same with the matching shealth.
"These swords were not made by any troll." Thorin said examining one. He gave a sword to Gandalf so he could do the same.
"Nor were they made by any smith among men." Gandalf said taking a closer look.
"These were forged in Gondolin, by the High Elves, of the First Age. You could not wish for a finer blade." Gandalf said. Thorin looked closer at the blade when he heard those words. Dwalin watches the group of dwarves as they bury some of the gold.
"We're making a long-term deposit." Gloin said with a mischievous grin on his face.
"Let's get out of this foul place. Come on, let's go. Bofur, Gloin, Nori." Thorin said leaving. Lexi followed and paused as she saw Gandalf pick up an elf made dagger.
Gandalf walks near Bilbo while Lexi stood beside him.
"Bilbo," Gandalf said.
"Hm?" Bilbo asked as he turned towards them.
"Here. This is about your size." Gandalf said giving the dagger to Bilbo.
"I can't take this." Bilbo said.
"The blade is of Elvish make, which means it will glow blue when orcs or goblins are nearby." Gandalf said as Lexi sat on a rock.
"I have...I have never used a sword in my life." Bilbo said.
"And I hope you never have to. But if you do, remember this: true courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one." Gandalf said.
"You sure your okay Lexi?" Kili asked her as he sat next to her.
"Perfectly fine, why?" Lexi said him.
"You had quite a fall with the trolls. I just need to know if your positive your okay," Kili said to her looking in her eyes.
"I'm fine Kili. Really" She said with a smile. She gazed into his eyes and smiled more. He then returned her smile and walked off to join his brother. Lexi noticed that Fili nudged Kili and whispered something but she discarded it.
As they were standing in a group outside of the cave, Lexi heard a noise.
"Something's coming!" Thorin yelled. Lexi saw Bilbo say something to Gandalf and he responded saying, "Stay together! Hurry, now! Arm yourselves!"
As the dwarves, Gandalf and Bilbo wait to see who is approaching, suddenly Radagast bursts through the bushes on his sled led by rabbits. Lexi sighed in relief.
"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" Radagast bellowed.
"Radagast. It's Radagast the Brown!" Gandalf said putting his sword down and approaches him.
"What on earth are you doing here?" Gandalf asked.
"I was looking for you, Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong." He answered.
"Yes?" Gandalf asked. Radagast went to say something but didn't. He thinks for a bit bit.
"Just give me a minute. Um...Oh! I had a thought and now I've lost it. It was...it was was right there, on the tip of my tongue! Oh! It's not a thought at all! It's a silly old... stick insect." He said sticking his tounge out. When Gandalf took it off and examined it before giving it to Radagast, Lexi shivered in disgust and saw some dwarves had a face of disgust as their facial expression.
Gandalf leads them away to talk. Lexi sat on the rock and she checked out her new bow.
"What's that?" Kili and Bilbo asked joining her.
"A bow," She replied running her fingers along the carvings. She remembered how she carved similar markings onto her bow with her dads pocket knife.
"You do archery?" Dwalin asked watching them.
"Yes I do. I have been ever since 10 years ago" Lexi said remembering her first time.
"Do you enjoy it?" Kili asked.
"I actually do. I do it when I get board and I am not sure whether I am good at it or not," Lexi answered.
"You could show us," Bilbo suggested. Lexi sighed standing up. She pulled an arrow out of the sheath, and aimed at a nearby tree. She pulled the string back to her lips and fired.. Instead of hitting the tree, It hits a warg.
"Was that a wolf? Are there...are there wolves out there?" Bilbo asked. Lexi walked backwards and she was shocked at first.
"Wolves? No, that is not a wolf." Bofur said.
"Warg scouts! Which means an orc pack is not far behind!" Thorin yelled. Everyone picked up a weapon and Gandalf and radagast jpined them.
"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" Gandalf questioned Thorin.
"No one." Thorin answered.
"Who did you tell?!" Gandalf yelled.
"No one, I swear! What in Dorin's name is going on?" Thorin questioned.
"You are being hunted." Gandalf said. When he did, Kili was straight beside Lexi, arrow ready in case it was needed to.
"We have to get out of here." Dwalin said.
"We can't! We have no ponies. They bolted." Ori replied.
"I'll draw them off." Radagast said.
"These are Gundabad wargs. They will outrun you!" Gandalf said to his friend.
"These are Rhosgobel rabbits. I'd like to see them try." Radagast replied.
As Radagast left, Lexi was pulled along with the others and we saw him.
"Come and get me!" He yells.
Radagast laughs, then Gandalf comes out from behind a large rock and looks at Radagast drawing the orcs off their trail.
"Come on!" Gandalf yells. Gandalf and the dwarves hurry off in a different direction from the orcs, then they comes across the orcs again. Kili holds Lexi's arm as she nearly went infront of the orcs.
"You okay?" He asked. Lexi nodded.
"Stay together." Gandalf said.
"Move!" Thorin yelled. They hurry along trying hide and keep away from the orcs, when they suddenly come across them again
"Ori, no! Come back." Thorin yelled pulling him back.
"All of you, come on, come on! Quick!" Gandalf says.
"Where are you leading us?" Thorin questioned. Gandalf looks at Thorin with no reply and moves on ahead, but one of the orcs chasing after Radagast feels something is amiss so he comes over to investigate where the dwarves are hiding under a he gets close, Thorin indicates to Kili who uses his bow to take the orc and his warg down after which the dwarves kill him uses their swords. Lexi moved next to them.
The other orcs chasing after Radagast hear the squealing of the orc the dwarves have just killed.
Gandalf and the dwarves hear the wargs howling and see the orcs racing towards them.
"Move! Run!" Gandalf said. The dwarves all make a run for it and Lexi and Bilbo are being dragged along.
"There they are!" Gloin said
"This way! Quickly!" Gandalf said.
"There's more coming!" Kili said beside Lexi.
"Kíli! Shoot them!" Thorin said. Kili did as he was told and Lexi helped him.
"We're surrounded!" Fili yells as Kili and Lexi kill some more.
"Where's Gandalf?" Fili asked.
"He's abandoned us!" Dwalin said. The orcs came closer and closer.
"Hold your ground!" Thorin yelled. As the orcs get closer suddenly Gandalf appears from behind the large rock..
"This way, you fools!" He yells.
"Come on, move! Quickly! All of you!" Thorin said. They follow Gandalf and find that beneath the rock is an underground tunnel.
"Go, go, go!" Thorin yelled as the dwarves started jumping down and Gandalf counts them off.
Thorin shouts to Kili as he kills another orc with his bow
"Kíli! Run!" Thorin yells. Kili turns and makes a run as they got closer and closer. After he slid down, Thorin followed.
"Where is Lexi?" Bilbo asked. Then all the dwarves went into panic mode searching for Lexi slid down.
"Right here Bilbo," She said with a smile. She received a hug from him.
Inside the underground tunnel the dwarves hear a hunting horn and the noise of arrows being shot, we see the elves have arrived and as the elves start killing the orcs, one of them topples down into the underground tunnel, Thorin removes the bow from the orc.
"Elves." Thorin said after he looked at the arrow.
"I cannot see where the pathway leads. Do we follow it or not?" Dwalin asked.
"We follow it, of course!" Bofur said. Then they all follow the lond and narrow path.