Concerning Hobbits and Dwarves
Of a sudden run, musings of a old hobbit, a cursing Dwarrowdam and a budding friendship.
Part eleven ; The calm before the storm
'thoughts,' * Iglishmêk*
A few days later, Gerontius Took left his rooms quietly, slipping out into the cold winter air with a small sack of essential items. He needed to put his plan into motion and it would be better if no one noticed he was missing for a bit. Luckily, he was already at Farmer Maggot's fields by the time anyone noticed that he was gone… along with Fang.
Ghost immediately headed out after her wayward cub, barely pausing to toss both Kili and Bilbo onto her back when they attempted to get in her way. Fili had had a bit more sense and jumped on Menace's back, determined to follow his brother, but that left Hildifons standing the yard staring after them in shock. At least until he jumped into action, gathering some supplies and having one of the youngsters saddle the fastest pony in the small stable.
Bifur had joined him, helping him pack and armed with his now infamous boar spear, for which Hildifons was grateful. He was not a pleased to see Lady Dis join them, armed to the teeth and cursing both her sons and Bilbo under her breath.
"What was he thinking?" She glared at Hildifons, who gave her a strained smile in return. "I'm not sure milady – all the elders tend to be close mouthed until they want something done! Then you'd better hop to it immediately."
The small group set up as the shadows of twilight lengthened over the land, Hildifons in the lead, since he was the one that knew the land best and could also clear a path for the two Dwarves, who were not used to riding in snow.
None of them noticed the Dryad following them. The old spirit had always sensed a great evil hidden in the old hobbit's hands, but he had done well hiding it from her sight and she had often wondered at the true nature of whatever he had hidden. Perhaps he was now planning to get rid of it. She drifted to the northwest until she had caught up with the old being. She watched him until she was satisfied before returning to the rest of them. She thought she had the measure of him and his plans now.
Three days later, they were far to the north, Gerontius and Fang making a game of sneaking past the groups of Orcs that swarmed the land. Gerontius' pony was an older mare that was too calm to allow the oddities of her rider and his companion to bother her and Fang was too young to truly be wary. He did miss his mother and Bilbo, but the old hobbit had promised that they would catch up with them soon.
Gerontius took care to make sure the pup was safe and warm. He had a clear plan in his mind and did his best to force his old bones to comply with his wishes; he had to destroy the ring, even if the method he'd chosen wasn't completely foolproof. But the idea – formed years ago when he had stumbled across it in his research.
As they rode, his mind drifted back to the last time he had rode this trail, nearly twenty seasons ago. At least he thought that – his mind was growing old and the memories became faded and would often desert him.
As he admired the stars that glowed in the crisp night air, he took another of the many pills that he been taking since he left the Shire, but the need to destroy the ring was greater than the effects the pills would have and the further he travelled, the less likely it was that he would turn back or that the others would even catch up with him.
He could already feel the gaze of the ones the ones that he sought to avoid, searching for the ring, but the box – made of six layers of iron and Dwarven steel – hid it from their sight, concealed also by the runes carved inside and out. For twenty years they had done their job, but Gerontius was taking no more chances; not with the increasing darkness.
He steered the mare towards a trail in the mountain that not even the elves knew of. Only Durin and his hobbit wife had known of the trail – Gerontius wondered if the Dwarves even remembered the wife of their first king – and had passed that secret on to her descendants.
He himself only knew from his search through ancient records as he searched for the identity of the one known as Gollum. The scroll had been old, rotting on a shelf in the deepest tunnels of the Great Smial. The shelf in a room behind a door that could only be opened with blood – he assumed Hobbit blood, but had never tested his theory; too many secrets were concealed in that room to risk it.
His wife, Adamanta, had helped him to organize and it had been she that had suggested he look to the Dwarves – after all, had not his own ancestor been a Dwarf? Their son Hildifons was living proof of that, with a thick beard that was one of a kind among the smooth faced Hobbits.
Gerontius chuckled softly at the memory of his lively son coming crying to him because some of the other lads had teased him for his wispy beard.
Those times were long gone now.
Hildifons was grown now, secure in his position as a Bounder and as a Took, the teasing of the other Hobbits fading as he grew into himself, amassing more muscle than was usual with Hobbits and, like Bilbo, inheriting night sight, not to mention a love of bow and arrows. Gerontius was extremely proud of his son and who he had grown into – and if he didn't miss his guess, the Lady Dis had noticed his son as well.
Unbeknownst to him, the ball of metal in his pocket shone softly with malice.
Azog turned unruly in his sleep. Troubled from strange dreams of prophetic nature.
A ring. A Hobbit, travelling alone in the shadow of the mountains looming behind him. The Ring.
Azog was yelling for an escort before his eyes were even open and they were saddled up and ready to ride within a half hour, leaving his captains with instructions to invade the Shire the moment that the ice was thick enough to carry them. He himself turned towards the mountains, convinced that the dream was from their Lord.
In his hurry to make it to the old Hobbit and the power that he carried, Azog failed to plan and failed to send messages to his son and his allies for the first time in his life….
"There! I can see the lads. Mahal be praised! They seem to be in one piece and healthy."
Hildifons refrained from mentioning that he had spotted the lads earlier, not wanting Dis to take her attention off of the spot in the distance and turn it on him. Bifur chuckled darkly at the wary glance he'd seen the Hobbit send the Dwarrowdam and got a glare in return, not that it bothered him. The last three days of watching the two temperamental beings circle each other like angry wargs had given him a bit of an immunity, so long as he stayed out of their way he was safe.
After the first clash, the two had settled into an uneasy truce that had morphed into a grudging mutual appreciation of each other.
Hildifons had even taken it upon himself to teach her how to read the stars and a map, something not even Balin had been able to accomplish. Surprisingly, he had managed it and she now was at least able to give basic navigation. Bifur couldn't wait to see the look on Thorin's face when her brother found out!
Dis ignored the both of them and urged her pony on to catch up with her sons and their mate to be. She was going to tan their sorry hides when she got ahold of them! No provisions, no supplies, no money! What had they been thinking, coming into the mountains like that?
Kili called the group to a halt when he spotted his mother in the distance; it was nearly night and it would be better to stop now since not even Ghost was familiar with this path, something that made her uneasy. That and the fact that the only smells on the path were that of the old Hobbit and his companions. Not even game used this trail. Fili dismounted and helped Bilbo start a fire.
Bilbo recognized the signs of his ancestors; an unusual tree growing in an odd way, a stone that told nothing to Fili or Kili, but a story to Bilbo. Hildifons had also noticed the signs, making note of them as well.
Hobbits seem to use the very landscape in their navigation of the wilds.
Fili had noticed that the trail had not been used for years; the pathway was often overgrown or blocked entirely by rockslides that they had had to navigate around. At times the path had seemed to flow in the pattern of a stream and Bilbo had suggested that the spring runoff also followed the trail. But spring was a long way off and the nights were cold, something that he and Kili could endure much better than Bilbo, who they worried would grow ill. But Bilbo had refused to turn back until they had caught up with his grandfather and pup.
The last nights, they had slept in a heap with the wargs around them to keep them warm.
As Fili unloaded what little supplies they had managed to grab, he thought about the moment that his mother and her companions would catch up with them, something he was not looking forward to. A glance at the sky had him grimacing – snow was coming, too early and, judging by the clouds, too much of it.
Unbeknownst to him, Hildifons had come to the same conclusion.
"We have to hurry! There is another blizzard coming! Dis! Get closer to Bifur and me or you will lose sight of us." He managed to scream out to the others over the wind and all three tried to get their tired ponies to move quicker. Hildifons could see that the boys had managed to find shelter further up the mountain and were choosing to wait out the storm, something that cheered him up, if only a little.
Behind him he could hear the Dwarrowdam curse in her beard.
But she did what he told her and that was what counted. She had a lovely temper, that one. He sniggered in his own beard and sure enough, her fist made soon contact with his head. "OW!" Hildifons rubbed the sore spot her fist had left as he glared at Dis who was scowling at him unrepentantly.
"Don't laugh at me, you slimy fox!" The rueful grin of the hobbit melted her scowl a little. "Couldn't help it, my lovely, you look too beautiful when you are enraged!" He chirped impudently back at her. Her curses when she followed him closely were music to Hildifons' ears.
He had always adored spirited woman and that Dis was rather beautiful was an added bonus in his eyes. He loved to rill up the Dwarrowdam and to rub her the wrong way. She was so endearingly entertaining when she was mad!
She wasn't simply angry, she was livid!
The nerve of that three times damned and to Mahal cursed hobbit. Secretly she enjoyed the merry chase though the snowy path. The bounder hobbit was one of a kind for sure! Not even her long gone mate had been this reckless! She had missed this. Missed to have someone to nag on and to tease her when she needed an outlet.
Hildifons provided her easily with both in the infuriating manner of his since she had gotten to know the sly hobbit.
He was an absolute madcap, a hopeless cause and worst of all, he seemed to not only know it but revel in it! He made no secret out of it either. Like her former mate he was one of those who would flirt with Mandos's wife to rill him up, given the chance. Shaking her head she tossed the thought aside in favor of hitting him over the head.
His red blond curls were longer than an average hobbit's and they tumbled down his broad back in a river of molten fire in the right light. She could admire the beauty of the hair another time she chastised herself when the accursed Hobbit managed to duck out from under her fist with a broad grin that had her spitting out curses once again. His green eyes clearly laughed at her and Dis couldn't help it to grin back when she pursued his fleeing form again.
Bifur reined their pack ponies in and followed the mad duo in a more sedate pace while filling his pipe and lighting it. Still chuckling from time to time. Signing lazily away all the while he rode.
*Those two are nuts!*
Besides Bifur and his pony, the figure of the old Dryad melted out of the thicker growing snowfall soundlessly. She just nodded calmly. Her hands made quick gestures of their own that caused Bifur to nearly fall off his pony.
*For each other!*
He had gotten to know the wood spirit over the course of the journey, gaining enjoyment from her pointed remarks and somewhat macabre sense of humor. She seemed to understand him easily enough, something that was a rare thing since his injury and a pleasure that he intended to enjoy as long as possible. She had explained to him that she had seen his ancestors use Iglishmêk and the forms had stuck with her.
He was humbled by the thought that she had chosen him to strike up a friendship with, out of all of the beings that she had to have seen over the course of her life and he wondered at the tales that she could probably spin were she ever so inclined.
*If they keep that pace up, aye. It is a possibility. They certainly reek of hidden want *
His comment had her shaking her head and giving him and even look before she winked.
*She already has two troublesome seedlings to call her own. I am loathe to imagine offspring between those two. It would only be another troublemaker and Arda would never be the same! Even Mandos would fear the day he would have to take such a child born to them into his halls.*
He barely refrained from falling off his pony from his laugh attack.
Hildifons and Dis didn't seem to notice the older Dwarf's unusual companion, but Bilbo did, frowning as he saw the two signing together.
Fili had noticed as well, but what he saw of the conversation had him sputtering and giving his mother a wide eyed look. He was still out of sorts when Dis and Hildifons reached the group, so the two looked at him in concern rather as anger. At least until he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"Amad, are you really pregnant and planning to marry that crazy Hobbit?!"
The following ruckus drowned out any other sound for hours.
