Ahoy! I'm so sorry for updating a day late! Our wi-fi connection went down yesterday and it didn't come back until this hour (worthless piece of...) well well, r&r as soon as you've read and enjoy.
Chapter 12
I woke up. I had no idea where I am, all I knew at this point was that I had been captured by one of those massive creatures. I was lying on the ground face flat, my hands and ankles were bound tightly and I could not move around. All I could do was to roll around and sit up, which I did.
I was in a pen together with the two ponies that had been stolen; Daisy and Bungo. The monsters were near us, they had set up a fire and a kettle above it. They were cooking something.
"Tom!" one of them sneered, "Go back and get some mo'e of those nags, these a'e too skinny and shaggy and that squirrel won't cut it."
They had an incredible heavy accent, I could barely make out what they were saying.
"F'oine I'll be back soon. But it betta' be worth it, Bert. I ain't made to walk back and forth all n'oight." the other one grumped sourly.
"Get some with mo'e fat and flesh on 'em!" the third monster called out to him.
"Shut up, William. I know wha' I'm getting." Tom growled.
The first monster, Bert, growled something back at Tom, but I didn't hear what. I didn't really care though, all I cared about was how I was supposed to escape and alarm the others. I noticed that my sword still hung by my belt in its sheath, I could use it to cut the bonds that was nearly stopping the blood flow in my veins. But I had to be quiet, the sword could also reflect light from the fire and that could alert the other two creatures.
I rolled to the shadows of the ponies and moved my hands to the hilt of my sword. I slowly pulled it out, without making a chingy sound with it. I sat up on my knees and put the handle between them to start slide the bonds against the edge of the sword. My weapon wasn't that quite sharp, so it took me some time to finally cut the whole bond.
In mean time, the other monster had come back with two more ponies. He was walking towards the pen, so I swiftly cast myself onto the ground and acted unconscious. He put the ponies down right beside me, Myrtle and Minty, and then went back to his other companions. They started to bicker again, which gave me an advantage to escape without them noticing me.
All I had to do was to cut the bonds on my ankles and then I could walk out safely. But it was then I realized that someone was by the pen, staring at me. I turned to the person, whom in fact were my cousin Bilbo. He stared at me in shock.
My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. What on Earth was he doing here?
The creatures were still bickering loudly with eachother, so I could speak silently with him.
"What are you doing here?! Get out of here now!" I hissed at him.
"I was wondering where you might've wandered off after that exit back at the camp…" he mused thoughtfully.
"Oi, don't lose focus. Are you here to free the ponies?" I inquired. He snapped out of his thoughts.
"Y-y-yes, but now that you're here…" he tried to untie the ropes in vain.
"You need to take my sword and try to cut it. Here." I handed him it.
He began to saw with it, sliding back and forth. But it did no good at all, the sword was too slap and the rope too thick. The creatures must have some kind of knife that they cut their foods with.
"Perhaps they might have a knife." Bilbo mused and glanced at the monsters, "I will go and look."
"My thoughts exactly." I agreed, "If you run into trouble, call for me." I gave him a small push.
He sneaked up behind William and he caught his eyes on something.
"Me guts are grumbling, I've got to snaffle something. Flesh I need, flesh!" Tom grumped and then gazed around their camp. Then he caught his eyes on me. "You!" Tom snapped and gazed at me.
Oh no, I had forgotten to hide behind the ponies. I stumbled backwards, with the bonds of my ankles still trapping me. Bert turned around to see what Tom was staring at. He saw me and then began reaching his hand into the pen for me.
"Perhaps the squirrel will make a good seasoning." Bert mused as his hand closed up on me.
I stumbled backwards even more with fright and horror chilling my spine. But before Bert had reached me, William had sneezed into his handkerchief.
"Ahhh! Blimey! Bert! Bert! Look what's come out of me 'ooter! It's got arms and legs and everything." he shrieked dramatically. I looked at his hand as Bert turned around.
Oh sweet Mother… Bilbo was lying in the monsters hand, covered with snot and boogers. I had to act quickly.
I swiftly grabbed my sword and began to cut the bonds on my ankles. When I was free of them I turned around, to meet the sight of Bilbo standing on the ground, surrounded and had no way to escape the three creatures.
"What are you then? An oversized squirrel like the other?" Tom questioned.
"I'm a burglar-uhh, Hobbit!" Bilbo squeaked and stumbled on his feet. I had to help him now.
I swiftly climbed over the pen with my sword at the ready. When I had come over, the monsters had cornered him.
"Can we cook `im?" Tom asked his mates, licking his tongue.
"We can try!" William said darkly and tried to grab Bilbo, but he managed to dodge out of the way.
"He and the other squirrel wouldn't make more than a mouthful." Bert then turned around to see that I had escaped, "Not when they're skinned and boned!" he charged for me.
I didn't even have the chance of fleeing before he snitched me off ground.
"Bilbo run!" I cried out. Bert shook me in his grip, but I managed to give him a deep cut into his thumb with my sword. He squealed and dropped me. I fell onto the ground and my forehead was hit by a stone embedded in the grass. I groaned and rubbed my brow, when somebody got a hold of me and pulled me back into the bushes.
"Welcome back miss Baggins." Thorin's voice droned. I sat up and I realized that the company had been hiding in the bushes, watching the scene outplay. Rue was the one who had pulled me back, he stared frantically at me.
"Are you alright?" he asked and touched my bruise on my brow. I hissed in pain.
"I'm fine, don't worry about it." I brushed away his hand. Kíli came to my side and helped me up.
"What happened?" he asked and held me steady so I wouldn't trip.
"They ambushed me while I watched the ponies. I had no chance calling for help before they got me." I whispered. His face fell immediately; guilt shaped his face and features. I was just about to protest when Thorin spoke.
"Be ready." he said and drew his sword. The others growled silently and drew their weapons as well. I straightened up and let go of Kíli. I just had to talk with him later.
I gazed back at the monsters camp. Bilbo had been caught again, Tom held him by his legs and he was hanging upside down. My eyes widened and my heart sank to my stomach. Bilbo could be killed at this moment. My cousin could be killed. My stepbrother could be killed! Why were we just standing here?!
I drew my sword and was just to walk out of the bushes, when Kíli took my arm. I gave him a warning glance.
"Offer me." he said and then leapt out of the bushes.
He cut into William's heel and the monster squeaked in pain as he shouted.
"Drop him!"
"You wha'?" Tom said.
"I said," Kíli taunted and brandished with his sword, "drop him."
A satisfied and evil smile spread across my face. I drew my sword slowly, waiting for the cue. And it came swift. Tom hurtled Bilbo across the camp and he collided with Kíli. Then the rest of the dwarves burst out from the bushes, roaring as they attacked the monsters with their arms. Rue and I remained for a short second. We gazed eachother first and then we raised our swords and followed the others into fight.
Although I had absolute no experience of fighting and the others often had to save me from being crushed by the monsters, I did well. I managed to cause harm to the three monsters; cutting, hacking and stabbing at their legs.
I saw Bilbo being chased by William, ducking from his attacks with a knife. I didn't have enough courage to attack the monster by myself, but I found a rock nearby and used it to throw at William's face. It hit him straight in the eye, he shrieked out in pain and slapped his hand over it, dropping his knife. Bilbo managed to grab the knife and then fled from the monster. I saw that he headed over to the pen with it, he was going to free the ponies.
I ran across the battle scene, dodging the swinging fists of the monsters. I reached Bilbo, he had just released the ponies and they stormed quickly off.
"Well done Bilbo!" I exclaimed, "Are you doing alright?"
"I'm doing perfect!" he blurted out and then his gaze froze on something right over my shoulder. My stomach turned of unease.
I glanced over my shoulder and I saw that Tom had seen Bilbo freeing their dinner. His ugly face was filled with anger and he charged for us.
"Duck!" I shrieked as Tom swung his fist at us. I tackled Bilbo to the ground to avoid being hit.
Tom then was just about to let his balled fist drop on us to the ground, but I put my sword in the way and it buried into his hand. Tom roared in pain and pulled his hand back, with my sword still in it.
"ARGH! You little sluggish worm!" Tom cried out. He pulled out the sword slowly and then with ease, he broke it with his thick fingers. He sneered at me at me as he threw away the pieces of my broken sword.
My eyes widened and panic shuddered my insides. I was armless, I had nothing to defend us with. He once again charged at us and I closed my eyes, waiting for the impact to kill me. But instead, someone shoved me out of the way. I opened my eyes again to find that Bilbo had saved me, he had taken my spot and let himself being grabbed by Tom.
I ran back to the others and I ran into Fíli along the way. He saw that I was defenseless and shoved me behind him to take cover.
"Looks like my relentless teaching has payed you off so far!" he said as he stabbed William's calf.
"Indeed it has!" I shouted over the noise of the battle. "Where's the nymph?"
"He's doing fine!" he shouted back and nodded to the northwest.
"Bilbo's been caught we must-"
Then suddenly the battle ended abruptly. The monsters had fallen back and Tom and Bert were holding Bilbo by his arms and legs.
"Bilbo!" Rue and Kíli exclaimed. Fíli and Thorin had to restrain the two from bolting towards them. I myself felt my breathing getting thin and faint.
"Lay down your arms." Tom growled, "Or we'll rip his off."
The others hesitated, not sure if they should do so. Had they gone mad? I gave all of them harsh stares, waiting for them to obey. Thorin stared at Bilbo, becoming incredibly frustrated. Then he thrusted his sword into the ground and the others followed his example, one by one throwing their weapons on the ground in anger and defeat.
Swiftly the monsters had thrown the half of our company in sacks and bound our hands, making us incapable of escaping. The others had been tied to a spit and they were being slowly roasted over the fire. The monsters were bickering about how they were going to cook us, William wanted to squash us into jelly and Bert wanted us to be grilled with sage as seasoning.
The rest of us who were lying in the sacs, were becoming very uncomfortable with the idea of being roasted or squashed. Rue were lying beside me and Bombur was to my right. Both of them were nearly shaking with fright.
Then suddenly, Bilbo spoke to the monsters.
"Wait! You are making a terrible mistake." he said.
"You can't reason with them!" Dori cried out from the spit, "They're halfwits!" Bilbo clumsily rose to his feet, ignoring Dori.
"Halfwits? What does that make us then?!" Bofur questioned. I couldn't help but snicker a small bit, even when he was being slowly burned over a fire he could still joke.
"Uh, I meant with the, uh, with, uh, with the seasoning." Bilbo continued, drawing the attention of the monsters.
"What about the seasoning?" Bert asked, looking down to the hobbit.
"Have you smelt them? You're going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up." the dwarves became offended by this and protested, some even calling him traitor.
The monsters continued to jabber and then Bert wanted to know his secret to cooking dwarf. They stressed him as he didn't find the words. "Ye-yes, I'm telling you, the secret is … to skin them first!" he then said. The dwarves protested violently and those who lay near to him tried to kick his legs. Why would he say such thing?!
Wait, the monsters had previously mentioned that dawn wasn't far away and they didn't fancy being turned to stone… These were trolls! I know I've read somewhere that when trolls are caught in sunbeams, they will turn into stone.
Bilbo's a genius! He was distracting them long enough for the sun to rise!
"What a load of rubbish! I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scuff them, I say, boots and all." Tom suggested, not falling for Bilbo's trick.
"`E's right! Nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf! Nice and crunchy." William snarled and then walked towards us in sacs.
He reached for the fattest of us; Bombur. He held the poor dwarf above his mouth, preparing to swallow him whole. Then Rue stood up on his knees.
"Stop!" he yelled, "Bombur's nothing but fat and gristle. Eat me instead." he closed his eyes. My jaw dropped and my eyes widened.
"Rue! Are you bloody mental?" I gasped, completely shocked.
"Sit your arse down!" Fíli hissed, but it was hard to hear him due to his face digging into dirt in the ground. Tom smiled viciously and then stepped towards the nymph.
"Don't eat either of them!" Bilbo exclaimed, "They've got worms and parasites all of them… in their tubes!"
William grimaced and then threw Bombur back. I had to roll to my right to avoid being crushed by him.
"All of them are infested with rashes and leeches, I wouldn't risk it." Bilbo said.
The dwarves burst out in anger and made a fuss over this. They called him a traitor, accusing him of having parasites and some who were lying close to him tried to kick at him again. He rolled his eyes when they didn't take notice of his try to save them. But a kick from Thorin shut them up, making them realize what was going on. Then they all began to play along in the act.
"I've got parasites as big as my arm!" Oín began.
"I have the biggest parasites! I've got huge parasites!" Kíli followed.
"We're riddled." Nori proclaimed.
"Yes, I'm riddled." Ori stated.
"Yes we are. Badly!" Dori agreed.
"What will you have us do then? Let 'em all go?" Tom growled. "You think I don't know what you're up to?" he pointed his finger accusingly at Bilbo.
Blast. They've seen through his plan.
"This bloody ferret is taking us for fools!" Tom claimed angrily.
"The dawn will take you all!" came the powerful, deep voice of Gandalf from the great stone above the clearing. My gaze snapped towards him and my eyes lit up in hope. He had returned.
Behind him I could see the sun was rising. Gandalf suddenly bashed his staff into the rock and it split into two pieces, revealing the sunbeams to the naked skin of the trolls. They began to howl and scream in pain as their skinned dimmed into grey. In only few seconds, they turned into complete stone and they froze in their current positions, becoming statues.
At first there was complete silence among us, but then, joyful and jubilant cheers breezed through the air.
We had survived.
So that was the chapter for this week! Just so you know, I will be editing some of the first few chapters, because when I read them myself, I found some parts being a little odd and I need to improve the flow a little. I don't think I will be able to update until next year though, I will be busy with the holidays stuff and so on. So perhaps in two weeks.
Am I the only one who thinks this semester has gone by terribly fast? It's already winterbreak and Christmas Eve is around the corner! Next thing you know it will be spring! I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
