"So, what did you want to ask me?" questioned Calla as she wriggled uncomfortably in the saddle.
The blonde prince looked down at her upturned face, trying his hardest to maintain his serious façade. In the few short days they had been travelling out of the Shire, the young hobbit's confidence had grown considerably, her petite frame barely even flinching when he removed a hand from the bridle to tug thoughtfully at his braided moustache.
"Do you have any witches in your family, Miss Took?" He asked quietly, his voice barely above a whisper, desperate to keep the conversation between solely between the pair of them. Calla looked at him indignantly, her thin brows knitting together at the strange question.
"No, why? Have I given you any reason to believe that I do?" she enquired, truly puzzled.
"Yes." he answered shortly, his eyes firmly fixed on the road before them.
Calla clicked her tongue, sick of listening to Fili's inane accusations. "And what is that then? I have turned no one into frogs or poisoned anyone's drinking water, and definitely not had any effect on the weather." she snapped, her lips set into a hard line, as she turned away from her riding companion, her eyes burning holes in the gravelly road beneath their pony's hooves.
"You appear to have bewitched my brother. I have never seen him do something so foolish as to try and attack those trolls alone. You must weave some kind of spell over him." he smirked, knowingly teasing the young girl.
Calla looked back up at the older brother at this comment, her eyes as wide as saucers and her mouth gaping open, as she searched her brain for a reply, but coming up with nothing. Fili chuckled loudly, pleased that he had stumped her.
"Thorin! Up ahead! There's a cave!" Shouted Dwalin who had ridden ahead as a scout, to keep an eye on their path.
"That must be where those bloody Trolls came from!" Shouted Gloin as he brandished his axe in the air
Thorin turned to look at the angry red haired dwarf, an eyebrow raised haughtily. "I doubt there will be any more in wait for us." he called, his deep baritone calming the suddenly riled up company. "But let us advance. There may be supplies we can take."
The company plodded slowly on towards the cave, a comfortable silence surrounding them all, apart from Fili and Calla, who were pointedly ignoring each other.
They soon came across the mouth of the troll's cave, the vast entry way cut into the mountain's face. Gingerly Gandalf and Thorin lead the way in to the rock.
"Oh my!" Calla groaned as she stepped over the threshold, the vile smell hit the back of her throat and she fought to control her gag reflex, not wanting to vomit in front of Kili and Fili who were following up behind her. She quickly slammed a hand over her mouth and nose to block out the sickening smell.
"Ye alright lassie?" called Balin from a few paces ahead of her, his elderly face lined with concern.
"Yeah." her words came out muffled from behind the material she had clamped over her face. "That smell! It's nothing like I've ever smelt."
"Well no, I doubt there are many caves full of rotting half eaten flesh in your cosy little Shire." joked Bofur, as he used a heavy booted foot to move a pile of bones from his path.
"Quiet!" reprimanded Thorin, his voice low but authoritative, instantly commanding the attention of the entire company "We know not what we may disturb being here." He tilted his head when he spotted a pair of beautifully made elvish blades stuck into a body leaning against the wall.
Calla watched as Gandalf approached the would be king, offering his knowledge of the abandoned weapons.
"Are you feeling any better now?" asked Kili, as he gently touched the crook of her arm. The simple gesture was meant to only get her attention, but it sent small,unexpected sparks through her body as she looked up into his handsome face.
"Better than I was at least." She reassured him softly, her lips tilting up into a small smile.
"See brother, I told you she'd be fine once she adjusted." smirked Fili as he appeared behind the pair, clamping a hand down hard on his unsuspecting brother's shoulder.
"Adjust? I just want to get out of this putrid smell. I just wish I was back in my garden sniffing my prize roses." grumbled Bilbo as he joined the three of them, his brow drawn together in a harsh frown. Calla smiled kindly at her cousin, wrapping her arm around his shoulder in a comforting hug.
"After a while, you get used to it, it's like Grandpa Took's cabbage soup." she grinned, trying her hardest to lift Bilbo's spirits, even though hers were far from elevated. Bilbo shook his head and started to walk away, muttering to himself
"I never got used to that soup … I used to feed it to the cat." Calla told the brothers, making them burst out in a chorus of chortles at her guilty grin. "and even then I don't think the cat liked it."
"We need to leave this wretched place, there is nothing more for us here." Commanded Thorin as he lead the way out of the cave and back into the fresh air, one of the elvish swords tucked into his belt.
Calla heaved a deep breath as she re-emerged into the open air, glad to be able to inhale the clean air. She was about to follow Kili and Fili further down the hill when she heard Gandalf calling her name.
"Bilbo, Calla" She approached the elderly wizard, his eyes watching the half-lings with a father like smile. "I thought, the pair of you may benefit from a weapon. These lands are vicious and cruel, and you never know when you may be separated from the company." he told them as he handed Bilbo a dagger, big enough to be a sword in Bilbo's tiny grasp, but nothing more than a small knife to a man of Gandalf's size.
"A sword, thank you Gandalf!" Bilbo said excitedly as he drew it from its leather holster, "It is an elvish blade, which means it shall glow blue when Orcs or Goblins are near. I pray you many never need to use it. And if you do, to do so with heart."
"How do you mean?" he asked as he traced the blade's intricate patterning.
"Sometimes, my dear Bilbo, the key to bravery in battle is knowing when to save a life, at to not just take them." Bilbo nodded and scurried off to show the sword to Bofur and Bombur.
"And this"Gandalf said as he smiled down at Calla, a caring twinkle in his blue eyes, "Is for you" he handed her a small ebony bow, with gold tips and emeralds laid into the arrow rest. Her big brown eyes rested on the weapon in awe, her fingers itching to reach out and take it from the old wizard's hand. It was small, as if made for a child, or a young elf warrior. "Well go on, take it, its yours." Gandalf encouraged as he watched her hesitantly struggle with herself.
"But I have no clue how to use it, I would do a weapon like this no justice." she shook her head defiantly, a few stray cherry coloured curls whipping her in the face.
"Well then, it's a good job you have one of the finest archers I know in your company." Gandalf chuckled gesturing towards Kili,who was tightening the string of his own bow a while away from them. "I'm sure young Kili would have no problem teaching you a few basics."
Calla blushed almost as red as her hair, and took the bow from Gandalf's hand quickly to save herself from any further humiliation, hastily turning on her heel, but stopped when she heard the rumble of Gandalf's voice once again. "Just a minute Miss Took, I pass the same advice on to you as I did with Bilbo, when it comes to using it, use it with heart."
Calla nodded soundlessly, placing the bow over her shoulder, and wandering over to the two princes who were admiring her new weapon from afar.
"Now that's beautiful" cooed Fili as he circled Calla, reaching a finger out and running it down the polished wood of the bow.
"Thank you, I thought the travelling was making me look rather worn" She joked as Fili barked out a laugh and backed away to slouch against the tree beside them, waiting for their uncle's next orders.
"It really is a beautiful bow." Complimented Kili as he secured the buckle that held his own bow and quiver around his chest.
"Thank you. Will you teach me how to use it? I really have no clue." She asked, nervously shuffling a bare foot in the fallen leaves that covered the ground, 'Why am I nervous? I shouldn't be nervous! It's just Kili! He's helped me plenty of times' she scolded herself.
"Of course, the next stop we reach, I will teach you to shoot as well as any dwarf archer." The dark haired prince said to her with a big grin.
"Something's coming!" Shouted Thorin as a rustling of bushes beside them started, the pack of dwarves banded together, shoving the two hobbits behind them, their axes, hammers and swords pointed towards the new sound, waiting for their unnamed foe to burst through the trees.
Bilbo grabbed hold of his cousin's hand, keeping her close to him behind the solid wall of Dwarf backs. He brandished his sword bravely in his free hand.
A whirl of grey and brown and a loud series of shouting announced the arrival of Radaghast the brown as he burst through into the clearing holding on tightly to a sled being pulled by a pack of large brown hares.
"Oh Radaghast" Cried Gandalf in relief, striding forward to speak with his old friend. "This is Radaghast the brown!" his voice dropped a few octaves as he spoke only with the brown wizard.
"What on earth are you doing here?"
"I was looking for you Gandalf. Something is terribly wrong!" Radaghast squealed, barely giving himself time to breath. He faltered a few times, unsure what to say under Gandalf's stony gaze. "give me, give me just a second … I had a thought and then I lost it! It was right there! … It was on the tip of my tongue you see!" he crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out,making Calla dissolve into giggles, until Bilbo nudged her gently. "Oh no! Looks its not a thought! It was a silly stick insect!" The brown wizard pulled the stick like creature from his tongue and grinned at Gandalf, his eyes scrunched up in mirth.
"A darkness has fallen over the green wood Gandalf, it is sick. Nothing of any good or worth grows there in any more. The worst are the webs."
"Webs?" enquired Gandalf as he sucked on the stem of his pipe.
"Spiders, giant ones. I followed them … they came from Dol Guldor."
"Dol Guldor? But the old fortress is abandoned?"
A dark look crossed the face of the brown wizard, making a shiver run down Calla's spine, "A power dwells inside, dark, darker than any I have felt. It is the shadow of an ancient horror, one that can summon the spirits of evils dead … I saw him Gandalf. From out of the darkness … A necromancer has come."
a low murmur passed through the dwarves at the dark word, and Calla felt herself gripping tighter onto Bilbo's hand, her long fingernails nearly drawing blood.
"I came straight to you Gandalf." The brown wizard tilted his head and peered passed Nori's shoulder at the two hobbits, his face softened as he apologised to Calla, "I'm sorry dear, I did not intend to frighten the lady."
Calla opened her mouth to reply, but was cut of by an agitated Bilbo "No? Well you should use softer words." Calla raised her eyebrows at him, and kicked him lightly in the shin, unhappy that he had spoken for her, when she was perfectly capable of answering for herself.
"A necromancer? Are you sure?" asked Gandalf regaining Radagast's attention, who pulled a cloth covered object from the folds of his robes, handing it to Gandalf, "This" he whispered "Is not from this world of the living."
A loud howl sounded through the air.
"Was that a wolf?" Asked Bilbo as he backed up against a tree, pulling Calla along with him, fear evident in his now wide eyes.
"Wolves? No. That is not a wolf!" Said Bofur as he scanned the clearing through the trees, his normally jovial voice breaking in fear.
Calla's eyes grew round as dinner plates as she watched the huge Warg appear over the edge of the hill behind her, its eyes a bloody red and its jaws dripping with feculant saliva. She swallowed hard and backed away from the creature as calmly as she could as it jumped down from rock to rock, drawing ever closer to her and the dwarves. The beast snarled and lunged towards the female hobbit, making her cry out and stumble backward, nearly losing her balance. Just as it was about to pounce on her tiny frame Thorin jumped onto its back, driving the blade of his axe through its skull.
"Thank you!" she whispered to him as the creature fell dead onto the leaf covered ground. The would be king just nodded, and ripped his axe from the warg's head with a sickening crack.
"Another one!" someone yelled as a second warg appeared through the trees, but was quickly taken care of by a speedy arrow from Kili's bow.
"They are Warg scouts … which means an orc pack is not far behind." Shouted Thorin, as he angrily tossed his axe between his hands.
"Who else did you tell about this quest?" questioned Gandalf an angry tone lacing his deep voice.
"No one, I swear! What in Durin's name is going on?"
Gandalf cast an uneasy look towards the two hobbits, before glaring back at Thorin. "You are being hunted."
"We have to get out of here!" yelled Dwalin, as he cut a few branches to clear the groups path onto the plain below.
"What about the ponies?" cried Ori who had appeared beside Calla, nervously fiddling with his sling shot.
"We will need to leave them." said Fili, as he grabbed his daggers from the tops of his boots.
"Go! I will draw them off!" Cheered Radaghast, eager to help the party escape.
"You will be torn to pieces, you fool!" Gandalf said sternly, turning back to look at his fellow wizard.
"These are Roscobel Rabbits, I would like to see them try and catch me!"
As the shouts and loud thuds of warg paws rang through the air, the group nodded and took off through the clearing as fast as their little legs could carry them.
Calla had never been a strong runner, but her distaste for the activity soon disappeared as she looked over her shoulder seeing the warg mounted orcs hot on their tail. The orcs had been following them for the last ten minutes as the ran across the open land.
A pain shot through Calla's ankle as it twisted painfully, causing her to wail in agony and drop to her knees. Tears started to prick at the corners of her eyes as she watched the orcs coming closer, their eyes full of blood lust. She had been so sure she had wanted an adventure, she really didn't want it to end so soon. Just as the first warg came in biting rage of Calla, she closed her eyes, willing her death to be fast, but the painful bite never came. There was a scuffle and a wet thud as the warg's body hit the ground and a strong arm wrapped around her waist, lifting her from the ground.
Hello! I know this was long awaited for! and I hope you all like it. I know nothing huge happens but its a bit of a build up to the next two chapters which are going to be huge and really important! I hope this is better for those who were less keen on the last chapter. I will get the next one out over the next few days! I hope you like it and please continue to review! it makes me happy to know people actually like my writing.
So yeah ... happy reading! :)
P.S - Ren: its good that you think of the lillies, because that is why she's called Calla, they're my favourite flower.