The dwarves on the split had been safely rescued and the fire put out. Maura and Bilbo had been freed from the sacks that imprisoned them. The dwarves gathered up their weapons that the trolls had pilled off to the side. Thorin had his sword in hand and wandered over to the wizard, but not before he glanced at the woman who was looking over the hobbit to make sure he wasn't hurt.

"Where did you go to, if I may ask?" Thorin asked as he approached the wizard, curious to what had brought him back after their disagreement from earlier.

"To look ahead." The wizard simply stated, not divulging anything to his whereabouts.

" What brought you back?" The dwarf tried this time, wondering if he would get more of an answer this time.

"Looking behind." Thorin didn't press the matter further, but nodded in thanks for coming back when he did. If he hadn't shown they would have mostly likely been in the bellies of the three trolls by now. "Nasty business. Still, they're all in one piece."

"No thanks to your burglar." Thorin stated in an unimpressive manner.

"He had the nous to play for time. Even his aunt Maura. If it weren't for her quick thinking to knock the trolls out with her sleeping enchantment for the time she had; you'd all be in the trolls bellies right now. None of the rest of you thought of that." The wizard added. Thorin gave the old man a slight glare but was not admitting to anything of the woman's involvement in trying to help them out of their predicament. He had ordered her to stay at camp and she failed to obey it. Dwarves were known to be very protective of woman, due to their low population of females; most of them had been lost when the fire-drake from the north came and wreak havoc on them years ago. " They must have come down from the Eteenmoors." The wizard continued when the dwarf continued to remain quiet. But one question still remained. Why were these trolls so far from home?

"Since when do mountain trolls venture this far south?" Thorin pressed.

"Not for an age. Not since a darker power ruled these lands." Gandalf uttered as the wind started to pick up. The two of them shared a look and the king knew he could risk wasting anymore time. "They could not have moved in daylight."

"There must be a cave nearby." Thorin pointed out. The leader headed over to the rest of the company and order them to search the area for anything dark that would be perfect for trolls to hid in during the day. The dwarves got to work right away, searching the woods. Maura and Bilbo paired up and looked around. It didn't take long before everyone heard Dwalin call out that he had found something.

"Over here!" The warrior dwarf shouted. Thorin nodded for the others to follow. Maura and Bilbo were close behind until they caught wind of the stench that was coming from a dark cave and the woman stopped, not able to go any further. She wasn't the only one. Bilbo wasn't about to go into the scary dark hole. The only ones to go in their were the Wizard, Thorin, Dwalin, Bofur, Gloin and Nori. The healer walked over to the young halfling and saw the scrap on his arm.

"Bilbo, your hurt." Maura stated, with concern as she took his arm gently in hers to examine his cut.

"I'm alright, Aunt Maura; really it's just a scratch." Bilbo assured the woman.

"I still should put some stuff on it. I don't want it to get infected." Maura explained as she removed her satchel from her back and managed to find some of her supplies still dry, despite the fact that Oin had rummaged threw her things and left it open for the rain to damage it. The healer began to put some sort of ointment on the open wound. The hobbit slightly flinched at the burning sensation but he soon relaxed and the stinging was no more. Once the woman was finished, she began bandaging the wound to keep it from getting any further infection. " There." She finally said.

"Thank you, Aunt Maura. The stinging has gone away. I feel so much better." Bilbo sighed with relief, feeling grateful for his aunt's help. Maura smiled at the young hobbit and gently patted him on the side of the face.

"Bilbo." The wizard called out, coming from out of the cave behind the others.

"Hmm?" Bilbo responded, turning away from the woman to look at the wizard who was carrying a small sword. Maura gathered her things and went over to where Balin stood, speaking with his brother wondering what all they found in the troll cave.

"Here. This is about your size." Gandalf stated, holding out the weapon for the hobbit; who was hesitant to take it and looked at the old man almost with a hint of fear on his face. The wizard still held out the cased sword and Bilbo reluctantly took it; seeing he had no choice.

"I can't take this." Bilbo sighed as he looked over the weapon. He was not a warrior he didn't want to fight like these dwarves.

"The blade is of Elvish make, which means it will glow blue when orcs or goblins are nearby." Gandalf explained as he crouched down looking the hobbit at eye level.

The hobbit glanced around him. He was surrounded by men who had been in battle, that weren't afraid to see a little blood or kill something. Bilbo had come from a shielded world of never having to experience such terrible things. And as he thought about it, he may have been a little more rowdy then the other hobbit children his age but he never thought he would ever have to possible kill something. " I have never used a sword in my life."

" And I hope you never have to." Gandalf said with such sincerity in his voice and returned to his full height, making the hobbit look up at him. " But if you do, remember this: true courage is about knowing not when to take a life...but when to spare one." Bilbo took a moment to let the old mans words sink in, not sure what he meant by that but their moment of silence was quickly interrupted.

"Something's coming!" Thorin shouted. The company all looked up, as they started to hear what their leader had heard. Their was thrashing, and crashing coming from up over the hill.

"Gandalf." Bilbo muttered quietly. He had no idea what was going on and from his expression he didn't want to find out.

"Stay together!" Gandalf instructed, pulling out his own sword to prepare himself for whatever was over the hill. " Hurry now! Arm yourselves!" The dwarves made haste up the hill with their swords and axes drawn. Bilbo looked back down at his sword he now had and slowly pulled it out of the case and couldn't believe how incredible light it was as he examined the variety markings engraved in the blade.

"Lass, stay behind me." Dwalin ordered Maura as he now stood in front of the young healer holding his battle axe in front of him to protect them both. The dwarves had formed a circle so what ever was coming would have to charge through them if it wanted any chance of escaping.

"Thieves! Fire Murder!" The voice shouted in hysterics. Causing a few of the dwarves to slightly jump when they heard the noise. Maura raised an eyebrow as she stood behind Dwalin. It was an old man dressed in ragged robs, on his head was a frayed hat and he carried in his right hand a staff similar to the one Gandalf had on his person. He had to be a wizard? A odd wizard at that. He was holding onto reigns that were strapped to a sled that were being pulled by the biggest rabbit's the woman had ever seen.

"Radagast." Gandalf sighed in relief, lowering his sword to see it was someone familiar. The dwarves however were still a little hesitant to put down their weapons. " It's Radagast the Brown!" The wizard exclaimed, looking at each of the dwarves to lower their swords. " Well...what on earth are you doing here?" Gandalf finally asked, getting straight to the point as he approached the other wizard.

"I was looking for you, Gandalf." Radagast pressed, not wanting to waste time. "Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong."

"Yes?" Gandalf encouraged in a calm voice, waiting for Radagast to spit out whatever he was trying to say. The other wizard inhales sharply about to speak but nothing comes out. He attempts again only for the same thing to happen.

"Just give me a minute." Radagst said getting flustered. " Oh. I had a thought and now I've lost it. It was right there on the tip of my tongue." He assured as Gandalf continued to give him a weary look trying to figure out what he was trying to say. " Oh, it's not a thought at all. It's a silly old..." Gandalf reached with his hand and pulled out what appeared to be a stick insect out from Radagast's mouth. Maura had a hard time believing this was the wizard that Gandalf had mentioned to the hobbit. " Stick insect." The wizard seemed fascinated with this new bug and Gandalf placed the insect in the wizards hand for him to examine it.

A few of the dwarves let out the occasional grunt at this bizarre character. Most of them were grateful that the two wizards had wandered off to speak about matters in private and the dwarves remained on guard if anything else were to show up.

"That wizard is a lunatic if ya ask me." Dwalin bickered as he stood near his brother and Thorin.

"Hmm. I kinda like him." Maura stated to no one in particular. Thorin turned to his side and shot her a confused look as if she had just something completely ridiculous. " He's different." she added.

"You don't say." Thorin grumbled. Time was being wasted. They should be heading on their way. It was bad enough they already lost one night, having to deal with trolls that nearly made them all into a meal.

The entire company suddenly went quiet when they heard the sound of a howl not far from where they were. " Was that a wolf? Are there wolves out there?" Bilbo asked nervously.

"Wolves? No, that is not a wolf," Bofur answered.

Maura glanced around, her eyes frantically searching when she suddenly heard a snarl from behind her and she turned to see an enormous beast emerge from behind the trees. The woman slowly backed away she was a few feet from one of the dwarves, she hoped it hadn't spotted her when she snapped a stick under her boot and the creature looked directly at her. The healer had no weapon to defend herself with. Thorin looked to his side to see the warg leap at the woman and a shriek escaped passed her lips as she fell to the ground and closed her eyes, but nothing happened. She slowly opened her eyes back up to see not only the beast dead but Thorin yanking out his sword. " Get up." He ordered sternly. Normally she would have protested against his lack of ability to speak to a human being normally but this didn't appear to be the best time for that. If one had found them, more were sure to find them as well.

The healers suspicions were correct as another growl came from the other side of the company. A second beast began to descend towards the dwarves. Kili shot the animal with an arrow, bringing it down. It struggled to get back up, Dwalin killed it by plunging his axe into its neck.

"Warg-scouts!" Thorin informed them. "Which means an orc pack is not far behind."

" Orc pack?" Bilbo questioned.

The wizard marched straight for Thorin, looking very un-pleased about this sudden turn of events. "Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?"

"No one," Thorin replied.

"Who did you tell?" Gandalf asked again, his voice raising in annoyance.

"No one, I swear," Thorin promised. "What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You are being hunted?" The wizard explained. Maura was now standing by Bilbo, with the two brothers. They were all in serious trouble now.

"We have to get out of her," Dwalin declared.

"We can't!" Ori cried out. "We have no ponies; they bolted."

"I'll draw them off," Radagast suggested from behind the company. Gandalf immediately shook his head at this plan; it was too risky.

"Those are Gundabad Wargs; they will outrun you."

"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits," Radagast stated, gloriously. " I'd like to see them try." he challenged.

More howls ascended in the air. The company began moving once again, with Radagast leading them with his rabbits. Once they got to the edge of the forest the Dwarves went their separate ways. "Come and get me!" the wizard called as he proceeded into the plain. The dwarves hid behind a large rock as the orc pack raced out of the forest after the old man.

"Come on," Gandalf commanded, and the dwarves, Maura and Bilbo began to make their way across the rocky plains. "Stay together!"

"Move!" Thorin ordered

Maura stayed close to Bilbo as the two of tried to keep up with the dwarves and wizard. The woman could feel her heart beat faster and faster, fearing the beast's would pop out of anywhere at her.

The entire company suddenly came to an immediate stop as the pack passed by on the other side of the land. " Ori, No! Come back," Thorin shouted, yanking the youngest dwarf, who had failed to come to a halt behind the huge boulder. Gandalf peered around and watched the orcs disappear over the hill.

"Come on! Quick!" Gandalf ushered them. They all one by one began to move, leaving Thorin and the wizard the last to leave but not before Thorin glared at the old man.

"Where are you leading us?" Thorin questioned. Gandalf looked at the dwarf, and remained silent, and the two of them ran to catch up to the others. The saw the orc pack yet again and quickly hid behind another rock. A warg with an orc jumped onto the boulder, sniffed the air, trying to catch a scent of the dwarves. Maura was next to Dwalin who could hear the continuous heavy breathing coming from the woman and when they heard the growl, the dwarf quickly placed a hand over her mouth, so she wouldn't be heard.

Thorin looked over at his youngest nephew, who was standing on the other side of Maura and nodded, giving him the signal to attack. The young dwarf readied an arrow and then stepped away from the others. The warg spotted him and was about to leap at him when Kili released the arrow. The warg and its orc fell and landed in the midst of the company, where a fight took place.

Dwalin, released his hand off the woman and joined the others to eliminate the threat. A loud howl was sounded, notifying the rest of the pack where they were. Maura and Bilbo panicked when they heard they all of a sudden heard numerous howls, just over the hills. " Move! Run!" Gandalf yelled. "This way! Quickly!"

The dwarves continued to follow Gandalf through the fields. The wizard had stopped, searching frantically for a particular rock. Once he found it, the wizard disappeared, just as the company began to come to a halt. "There's more coming!" Kili shouted.

It didn't take long before the company realized they were being surrounded by every which way they looked. Kili began to shoot some as the others readied their weapons. "Where is Gandalf?" Kili asked.

"He has abandon us!" Dwalin answered bitterly.

"Hold your ground!" Thorin shouted in encouragement. Bofur and Dwalin had shoved both the young healer and hobbit behind them as the wargs began to close in on their prey. The dwarves bunching up closer, ready to fight, when Gandalf reappeared from the crack in the rock behind them.

"This way, you fools!" The wizard called out to them.

Thorin made haste onto a rock that was at the mouth of the cave and turned around to his company. " Come on, move! Quickly, all of you! Go, go, go!"

Maura grabbed the hobbit by the arm and the two of them were the first to slid down, into the crack. They were soon followed in by the rest of the dwarves. Fili, Kili and Thorin were the last to enter. Numerous growls came from the opening and before any of the dwarves could prepare themselves to fight, a horn blew from outside. Battle cries and howls of pain erupted from the plains, causing the company to become both anxious and curious. An orc rolled down into the cave and it took everyone only a second to realize the vile creature was dead. Thorin pulled the arrow out of the orc and studied it and Maura saw how increasingly angry the dwarf's face had become. " Elves."

It had become increasing quiet outside the cave. The dwarves were not impressed that the wizard had led them to the elves, especially not Thorin, he had to be the most infuriated out of them all. Maura quickly checked on the hobbit, making sure he was not hurt and that was when she caught sight of Thorin's torn clothing on the upper arm, that was soaked with blood. She had no idea if it had been from the attack from the trolls or was it just from this chase of death that they barely just escaped from. The woman's healing instincts kicked in right away and she stepped over to Thorin.

"You've been hurt. I should take a look at that." She informed, reaching her hand to look at his arm when Thorin yanked his arm out of her reach.

"It's fine." Thorin growled lowly at her.

"Thorin. I'm a healer; it's what I do. It will just take a moment for me to bandage it;-"

"I said. I'm fine!" Thorin shouted at her. Maura backed up in shock. " I do not need you to look at my wound! We already have a healer for this company! I don't trust you! And I certainly do not need your pity!" Thorin yelled at her angrily. The rest of the company were a little taken by their leaders sudden outburst at the woman and they were all feeling completely awkward as they tried not look at them. Thorin shot every one of the dwarves a look and all their heads looked to the ground.

"Fine. Let your wound become infected. See if I care if you lose an arm. I forgot that your too proud, to accept the help from others!" Maura shot back, just as arrogantly. Bilbo had never witness his aunt this infuriated in his life. He was under the impression, that anger like this was impossible to come from her. But this dwarf seemed to know how to bring it out of her.

"I can't see where the pathway leads. Do we follow it or no?" Dwalin interrupted as he stood at the other end of the cave.

"Follow it of course!" Bofur replied, thinking this would be the best option before their King had another outburst at the young woman. Maura stomped passed Thorin and he glared at her. Most of the dwarves had vacated; except for a few.

"Well, their laddie your more of a fool then I would have guest. " Oin chuckled, causing Thorin to furrow his brows at the healer.

"What are you getting at Oin?" Thorin questioned, slightly annoyed.

" Most of these lads would never deny when a young, beautiful woman offers to take a look at their wound, rather then come to me. I myself wouldn't mind having her patch me up once in awhile; would be nice. I am sure that the lads will soon enough, injure themselves on purpose, just so she will tend to them. " Dwalin rolled his eyes at this. Balin was not impressed as usual at the way their leader handled things in regards to the young woman. Thorin grunted at this assumption. Was his medic losing his mind. Like his men would be this foolish to get all blindsided by a woman; like any of them had the time for a woman's touch, they had more pressing matters right now.

Oin was now binding Thorin's arm and he was his usual non-gentle self and placed a little extra pressure on Thorin's wound causing him to flinch slightly and look at him. " Maybe next time you'll let her do her job, that's if she's feeling incline to offer it to you." Oin stated as he patted the dwarf on the shoulder and smirked and Thorin muttered under his breath as the went to catch up with the others down the path.