Chapter 11: Arguments Over Dinner
Something strange happened to this chapter in the Document Manager when I was attempting to edit out some spelling mistakes, spaces appeared in random places. I hope I have managed to get most of them out, but I expect some will have also escaped my notice. If you see any please tell me, they have become my mortal enemies in the last hour o_o
Bella met Thorin's gaze and gulped. If glares could kill the one he gave her then would have fell her and everyone else within a ten meter radius. She had disobeyed his orders to stay hidden and had ended up with this situation. If the trolls didn't kill her, he would.
"Alright, drop your weapons! Drop your weapons or the dwarf gets it!"
Oh, she would pay for this humiliation...It was very un-kingly, being dangled up side-down several meters in the air by a troll.
Before anyone knew it they were tied up in sacks and thrown onto the forest floor in a great pile, all except poor Dwalin, Bifur, Gloin, Dori and Nori, who had been stripped of their armour and outer clothes and roped to a log hung over the fire.
There had been no question of a fight after Thorin had been captured. Even if the dwarf had given some protest that they should not abandon arms, no one would risk losing their leader by continuing their onslaught. Without Thorin their quest would be somewhat lacking in purpose. Whether Bella liked it or not, they needed him.
"That's hot! That's much too hot!" Dori was unfortunate enough to be tied nearest to the flames.
His brother was also unlucky. "If we get out of here alive, you must promise me, Master Gloin: never remove your boots again!"
"I will not say anything, laddie!" Gloin growled, wriggling his feet closer to Nori's face, who promptly started coughing. "Only that you should learn to hold your breath!"
It seemed that the graveness of the situation and the promise of a sticky end had brought no small amount of madness to the company. Bombur was wailing something about lost supper and Balin was muttering under his breath. Dwalin and Bifur seemed to be holding a contest over who could swear loudest, and though it could not be told for sure what Bifur said, the tone of voice conveyed a lot. Fili appeared to be trying to throttle his younger sibling, who had apparently admitted to having broken something of his brother's in the face of his coming death. Bella decided not to intervene. Afterall, there was only so much harm that Fili could do when stuck in a sack. "Ow Ow Ow! Uncle Thorin! He bit me!" Or not...
There was very little any of them could do in the way of movement, bound as they were. Bella was smaller than the others and she thought she may be able to stand if she tried. At the moment though, the company's best hope seemed to be in the place of little Ori, who had managed to roll onto his stomach and was now inching his way across the ground, doing a marvelous impression of a giant brown misshaped caterpillar.
Thorin had been almost shockingly quiet since being put back down on the floor. Bella thought that maybe he had been held the wrong way up a tad too long and shaken about a bit too much, for he had for a while looked rather dazed and had forgotten to be angry at anyone. Soon, however, his glare was back, boring holes into her skull. It seemed he had decided that if he was going to be eaten by trolls (and at this point in time, indeed, it appeared he would be, no matter how unfitting a death it would be for royalty), he would at least go out leaving her with no doubt that he blamed her for it all.
Bella scowled and attempted to take no notice of him. There simply must be a way out of this! She would not just sit there and wait to be roasted. Think, what can be done...Oh, if only we still had our wizard with us! Bella thought and thought, and then suddenly it came to her.
Sunlight - it turned trolls to stone.
"Put some more wood on that fire! They'll never cook like that!"
Bella looked to the sky. It was still dark, but the night was not young. They could make it. They had to.
"You can't eat them!"
The trolls paused to look at Bella as she struggled to her feet. The closest narrowed it's eyes at her. "Why not?"
"I- They-" Bella frantically tried to come up with something -anything- to stall for time. " They're infected! With- With parasites !"
Yes, that'd do. Bella ignored the noises of outrage from behind her. "Yes, yes, nasty business! Don't imagine you'd be able to hold them down - you'd have to have mighty strong stomachs, they would taste so foul. And then there's always the chance they'd pass the things on to you-"
"-Parasites! I don't have parasites! You have parasites!"
...Kili, I will murder you.
Various objections and insults were thrown and Bella got the sudden urge to hit something...or someone. Stupid dwarves, couldn't they see she was trying to help? She wanted to glare at each and every one of them, but feared if she turned her back on the trolls for any length of time they would lose what little belief they had in her words.
Thump!
The dwarves fell silent and Bella could not help but take a glance over her shoulder. Everyone was focused on Thorin, but Thorin was focused on her. The dwarf was no longer glaring at her, but had her pinned with an emotionless gaze, almost as if he were egging her on. One by one the company's attentions turned back to her and the trolls.
"I- I've got parasites...as thick as my mother's thighs!" Oin was the one to start them off.
"My parasites are the biggest parasites, the biggest parasites you've ever seen!" Kili cried, the others adding things similar.
"They are!" Fili nodded furiously. "He's riddled with 'em, it's rather disgusting. I've seen them, and I can tell you there's no one more infected-"
"-well! I say they're the biggest parasites you've ever seen, but they're nothing compared to my brother's! He's the one who gave them to everyone in the first place-!"
"-Alas! I remember well the day they reached his brain!"
Bella rolled her eyes. Trust the brothers to turn this into a fight.
"Then what about you?"
"What!?" Bella squeaked as she found herself hoisted up into the air by one of the monsters.
"Do you have parasites too? We could always eat you!"
Bella attempted to struggle and protest, but the large hand held her tightly and though she opened her mouth no words came out. "That pathetic creature? Can you not see it's diseased? So small and weak..."
Reasonably, perhaps Bella should have thanked Thorin for providing her a distraction, but instead she felt her rage take hold: he said those words with all the smugness of a well placed insult.
"Him down there," She found herself saying. "You don't even want to touch him. He hasn't washed in I don't know how long, smells terrible! Quite frankly I'm surprised you didn't notice when you had him at arms length!"
"-confused too, plainly-" Thorin glared.
Bella could not find care enough to stop. "-Have you smelt him? You would need some awfully strong herbs to cover that stench!"
"-Can't even understand the simplest of commands-"
"-I could recommend some plants myself but none would be of much-"
"Shut it! Shut it!" Bella was thrown into the pile of dwarves, landing on top of Ori and poor old Balin with an 'oof!'. The troll went back to turning the spit on which Dwalin, Bifur, Gloin, Dori and Nori still hung, all looking rather red. "You! You think I don't know what you two are doing! Well, I don't particularly feel like turnin' to stone!"
"I say we eat them right now! Raw!" One made to snatch up Bombur. "The fattest is mine!"
Bombur squealed and tried to wriggle away from reaching fingers. Bifur cursed loudly. Bella's mind was in over-drive, she turned frantically towards the slowly lightening sky. "Can I suggest-"
"-I would taste better!" Bofur was trying to put himself between the trolls and his brother.
The dwarf's words set Nori off. "But not as good as me!"
"Him! As if! Eat me first!"
"No, me!" They were all getting desperate now they were so close to the end of the night, so close to escape. Oh, how cruel fate would be to have her plan fail at this time: day could only be minutes away. She would never see Bag-End again, never see the rolling hills of the Shire, walk the woodland paths. What of her cousins, uncles, aunts and relatives? What would they say? Would her friends raise their drinks in memory of her down at the Green Dragon one night? Or would no one care, only see what they could take of her belongings when years had passed and they realised she would not be returning home? Oh, and the company! They too would not see-
"Stop bickering about who will first meet their end!" A booming voice cut through the clearing. Gandalf! Just in the nick of time!
There was a mighty crack as the wizard brought his staff down on the rock, splitting it in two. Beams of sunlight streamed over the horizon, dancing through the trees and softening dark shadows into grey haze.
"Let the dawn decide!"
Gandalf was quick to release them all from their sacks, though it took a little longer to get Dwalin, Bifur, Gloin, Dori and Nori down from over the fire. In the end though all five dwarves were back on their feet and only slightly cooked - cheeks burnt red from the heat and dry eyed, but otherwise unharmed.
Most of the company looked ready to drop asleep now that the danger had passed and the excitement was finished. None of them had slept of course, and only some had eaten since lunch the day before: their energy was now quite drained. A few of the more curious and awake of the company gathered around the grey stone statues to inspect the creatures that had almost eaten them. (Hey, Mr Bilbo, look! I can fit my whole head in its mouth!")
Bella sat shakily on a tree stump and buried her face in her hands. Once this adventure was over she would need to take a long holiday.
On the other end of the clearing Gandalf and their leader were in discussion.
"They could not have traveled by day." Bella heard the wizard muse.
"Then there must be a cave nearby."
Thorin let his gaze pass over the company, many of whom were sprawled on the ground. "We will search for it later. Let us return to camp. We will rest 'til noon, then we head off on foot: the ponies have all bolted, I fear."
Bella did not know how she managed to stand and drag her feet back to where the old farm house stood, but somehow she must have done. She found herself sitting on her pack, staring into the dead fire. Gloin was already snoring, but many of the others were still settling down. Thorin had said nothing to her, he had not even spared more than a glance in her direction. She had not thought the silent treatment was his style, but it probably had something more to do with Gandalf's presence than the dwarf's choice. For this Bella was thankful: she was not in mind to deal with the leader now. She was exhausted, not even her hunger would keep her from sleep right now.
Bella did not notice Bifur standing in front of her for quite some time as she struggled to arrange her bed-mat. The first she knew of him was the sight of his boots. He was staring again. Bella stared tiredly back, wondering what he could want. Eventually he spoke up. Bella, of course, could not answer.
He spoke again, the same words with more emphasis, before turning to speak to a camp of sleepy dwarves. He spoke loud and agitated, louder still when he was ignored, but in the end attracted very little attention from the rest of the group, which along with her blank look seemed to make him all the more flustered. If the others could understand him they may well have paid him more mind, but they couldn't and so they didn't. Bella only watched in silence as Gandalf made his way over and placed a hand on Bifur's shoulder, whispering words of ancient language into his ear.
The dwarf stopped raving and stood quiet for many moments. He then seemed to come to a decision. He muttered a reply to the wizard before stepping forward and bending down so he was on Bella's level. Bifur's eyes searched her face one last time, then he smiled, took her hand in his and gave the lowest bow he could being already so close to the ground.
Standing up he spoke yet more words Bella could not understand, before walking off and leaving her very confused. She looked to Gandalf, who laughed. "He says you are much too pretty to be a burglar, Mr Baggins."
Bella blinked. She could not find it in herself to be surprised Bifur had found her out, but immediately counted herself exceedingly lucky that he was the only one in the entire company who could not so easily tell, and that he did not appear to be planning on exposing her after hearing Gandalf's words. As it was the scene had only attracted a few strange looks, and would soon be forgotten.
Bella lay back and closed her eyes, blocking out the sounds around her as best as possible. Later she would ask the old wizard what it was he had said to the dwarf and what it had been that gave her away to Bifur. Her voice, her face, the way she walked or sat? For now though, she found it could wait.
Sorry if the first dwarf finding Bella out was rather boring, its just the way it ended up working out when I wrote this.