Chapter 13:

Rena's POV

'You're gonna need something a lot stronger than sage before you plate this lot up' Oh, oh dayum. I think this burglar could win a burn competition. 'What do you know about cooking, dwarf?' One of trolls exclaimed, but the other stopped him. 'Shut up and let the, ahh, flurglerberber hobbit talk.' He said, and Bilbo nodded his head. 'Yes, thank you. The secret to cooking dwarf is um…' he stopped and the troll urged him on with a 'yes? Come on, tell us the secret.' Bilbo looked a little annoyed. 'Yes yes I'm telling you. The secret is… toooo skin them first!' I slapped my forehead. You have got to be kidding me.

The dwarves were livid. They started throwing insults at Bilbo every which way and that. He just rolled his eyes. 'Tom, get me filleting knife.' The troll who was listening to Bilbo ordered, but the one that was spinning the pole that had the dwarves on it scoffed. 'What a load of rubbish!' he protested. 'I've eaten plenty with their skins on! Scoff 'em, I say, boots and all!' Oh no. To make matters worse, the one that was holding me, Thali and Adra was agreeing, 'He's right. Nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf!' And he put me in the other hand next to Thali and Adra. That's when I noticed Thali had hidden something in her hand. I was about to ask her what it was, but I was distracted by the troll lifting Bombur up in the air, saying 'Nice and crunchy.' Oh great. He was going to eat him!

But before he could however, Bilbo interjected 'No not that one he's infected!' All the trolls stopped again. Bilbo, seizing this chance, continued. 'He – he's got worms. In his…tubes.' I scoffed. That was one of the worst excuses I've ever heard. But apparently it worked. The troll, clearly grossed out, dropped Bombur on top of everyone else. That's when Bilbo added, 'In fact they all have. They're infected with parasites, it's a terrible business. I wouldn't risk it I really wouldn't.' He finished.

The dwarves had processed what he had said. 'We don't have parasites, you have parasites!' Kili yelled at Bilbo, and I rolled my eyes. But Thorin understood. He kicked his nephew the best he could while he was in the sack, and he stopped, looked at Bilbo and then back at Thorin. All was silent until Oin shouted, 'I've got parasites as big as my arm!' but Kili over-shouted him. 'Mine are the biggest parasites, I've got huge parasites!' He looked up at me with big eyes, as if saying that he doesn't really. It took all my willpower to not laugh. I smiled at him, and he looked relieved. 'What would you have us do, then?' The one spinning the pole asked. 'Let 'em all go?' Bilbo shrugged his shoulders, and the troll poked him, 'You think I don't know what you're doing! This little ferret is taking us for fools!' He exclaimed. Bilbo opened his mouth to protest, but before he could, the troll holding us screamed. I felt his fingers go slack, and my stomach dropped as he let us go. We fell on the floor, and I landed on my butt. Oh, how graceful.

I heard Thali scream a little with pain, and I looked over at her. She was lying on the ground. Not moving. Fear engulfed me. But before I could go over to her to see if she was okay, the troll screamed again. 'She stabbed me! The little worm stabbed me!' He held out his massive wrist, which was dripping with blood. One of the trolls growled, and moved toward Thali. Fili and Kili were struggling against their sack more than ever now, and the other dwarves were shouting. That's when I heard the voice.

'THE DAWN SHALL TAKE YOU ALL!' it shouted. Then the owner of the voice appeared on a rock, looking all Lion King Style. Gandalf. The trolls looked up, confused. But before they could do anything, he brought his staff down on the rock, splitting it in two. Sunlight spilled into the clearing, making the trolls howl with pain as they slowly turned to stone.

As soon as I got up, I ran over to Thali. She was sitting up, and she looked fine. Oh no, no she didn't. Her shoulder was dislocated and there was a long cut on her forearm. Blood dribbled down her arm and dripped off the end of her fingers. She looked at me and nodded, saying 'I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Here.' She handed me a knife. 'Help the others get out of their sacks.' She told me, and I nodded. Now everything was explained. She stabbed the troll, causing us to fall, so that we wouldn't get trapped when they turned to stone. So she must've fell and landed on her knife, causing her to dislocate her shoulder and making her bleed.

I went over to the others, who were still struggling with their sacks, and I cut them free. I decided to let Fili loose first, because he looked the most desperate to get out. As soon as he was free, he rushed to Thali's side. I smiled. They would be so cute together. But I will think about that later.

I continued to free everyone, until at last it was Kili's turn. As soon as he was free, he kissed me on the cheek. 'You know, I don't really have parasites; that was an act.' He said casually, as he walked off to check on Thali. I smiled a little, feeling my cheeks burning. But my thoughts were soon interrupted by a loud yell sounding from a few metres behind me. Thali.