Days had passed since Sherlock had set out with Gandalf and Bilbo to catch up with the dwarves. They had hoped to find them by now, but sadly the dwarves had left to fast, and the elves had made such a big deal about him, Gandalf and Bilbo leaving. Bothersome elves, what was wrong with them? At least he had escaped the elves for now. Every day the mountains had grown closer, and now He and Bilbo stood at the foot of the mountains, waiting for Gandalf to decide which path through the mountains to take.
"He's going to choose the one on the left." Sherlock whispered to Bilbo. "That's the one the dwarves took."
"How do you know?" Asked Bilbo.
Before Sherlock could answer, Gandalf started talking.
"Almost all of the paths lead out of the mountains, but some are less safe than others." Explained Gandalf, in deep thought. "The more frequently traveled paths are infested with goblins hiding out. I suppose we must go the way the dwarves went, and they chose another path, thankfully. Come on, lets get going, there isn't much time to lose, and we should leave ourselves enough time to find someplace to stay in for the night. Believe me, you wouldn't want to wander these mountains in darkness."
"Okay." Was Bilbo's reply, and Sherlock simply followed Gandalf up the mountain route. He was bored by the monotonous routine of the past few days, and was quite ready for a change .
Bilbo and Sherlock followed Gandalf and neither of them spoke a word. Both knew what the other was thinking. Sherlock could tell that Bilbo was thinking of his home, and wishing he would have stayed instead of coming with him and Gandalf on this adventure. Sherlock was thinking of how his whole world right now wasn't logical! It made no sense! He was so angry! Just to make things worse, the sun was going down and it looked like it was going to storm. Gandalf hurried on, muttering something about getting closer to the dwarves.
Suddenly Sherlock heard shouts in the distance. Not elves, thank goodness, and not like the ones the orcs had made. It was the dwarves!
"We've finally found them!" Exclaimed Bilbo. He was walking faster, and seemed happy to see the dwarves.
"Pity we couldn't have avoided them for a bit longer." Complained Sherlock. Bilbo gave Sherlock a strange look, and both of them stopped walking for a second. Then it started raining, and the two of them ran to catch up with Gandalf. When they did they found the dwarves all huddled in a group.
"Gandalf!" Cried one of the dwarves.
"They found us! We thought for sure we were lost and would never see anyone again." Said Kili. Sherlock watched as Gandalf and Bilbo were happily reunited with the dwarves. Thorin gave Kili a glare.
"No, we weren't lost, we knew exactly where we were going!" Said Thorin. By now the rain had started coming down heavier.
"Is that so? Why did you decide to leave without us!" Demanded Gandalf.
"Because we couldn't stand staying with those thieving elves one more minute!" Yelled Thorin. He was next to Gandalf now, shouting up at him. Sherlock raised his eyebrows and watched. He was pretty sure he knew how this was going to end.
"So that, Thorin son of Thrain, son of Thror, is your excuse for leaving us behind?" Asked an angry Gandalf.
"We got along just fine without you and our Burglar, and our, our extra!" Thorin answered, putting special emphasis on the word "extra" referring to Sherlock.
"Well I suppose you can get along fine for the rest of you journey!" Said Gandalf, walking away, and stopping by Sherlock.
"I'm putting you in charge, try to keep them alive till I come back." Gandalf whispered to him. With that Gandalf left the group for the second time for the adventure.
Thunder clapped, and Sherlock saw what seemed like to giants fighting in the distance. Bilbo came over to him, and tugged at his sleeve.
"We're going to leave now, to go find a cave or something to stay in."
The group searched on for a while before they found anything. At last they found a cave, and they sent Fili and Kili inside to make sure it was safe. After a few minutes, Kili came out saying it was fine, and the group crawled into the cave. Sherlock was glad to be out of the rain and the noise. The dwarves were soon all asleep, and Sherlock sat by the entrance to the cave, thinking. The cave itself was rather large, no one knew how far back it went. Sherlock could see Bilbo preparing to leave.
"They don't need me." Bilbo explained as he walked to the entrance of the cave. "I'm going home."
"This little adventure is too hard for you?" Asked Sherlock.
"No, you don't understand, I have a home where I should be with people I care about. You don't have anyone who cares about you." Bilbo stopped when he realized what he had said. "I'm sorry, I, I didn't mean it like that, I just meant to say that you, you don't really-"
"Caring is not an advantage." Sherlock replied, "And you're right, I don't have friends anymore." All the people he had ever known were gone. All the people he had jumped off the St Bart's for; John, Lestrade, and Mrs Hudson, they were all gone. Then Sherlock stood up and looked down at Bilbo.
"I just have one."