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[Same ol' disclaimer]

Gwen couldn't do much.

She couldn't move her arms or legs, and her body wasn't able to squirm more than a few centimeters at a time with rope tied mercilessly around her body.

She felt helpless as a troll brought in two ponies that Gwen recognized as two of the companies.

He set them down and turned to the others.

"There's more o'er there." He said, and pointed a lazy finger in the direction of the camp. Gwen's eyes widened and she hoped that the others were safe.

"Then what are you standing here for, you Nit-wit?" Bert yelled and the other troll, Tom, flinched. "Go and get 'em!" Tom nodded and walked back out of the camp in the direction he had entered.

Gwen took every opportunity that they weren't keeping a watchful eye of her, to try and get out of her bindings.

The rope they had used was frayed and grimy, but it had been tied around her body and a tree five times, making it near impossible to get free. They didn't stop tying her up until they all agreed that it was tight enough that she wouldn't be able to wiggle her way free.

She ground her teeth as she moved her arm up and felt a surge of hope when it seemed she had loosened the rope enough to move her hands. She pushed them out of the openings and smiled as she began to work her fingers quickly across the tough knot that was tied in front of her.

"Hurry up with that." Bert growled, and Gwen's hands froze against the knot. She slowly looked up and let out a sigh to see him looking at Tom and not at her. William was making sure their pony prisoners were not able to escape from the makeshift corral that they had put at the back of their camp.

"Can't we just eat that one first?" William whined and pointed to where Gwen stilled her escape efforts. She peered at the large grubby finger pointed her way and glared.

"No!" Bert took his stirring stick out of the boiling pot, whacking the head of the other trolls with a sickening smack. William winced and yelped. "We're saving that one for dessert." Bert growled and turned back to the boiling water.

Gwen struggled once again, frantically against the rope. A panic began to rise in her stomach and soon made its way into her throat causing a feel of bile rising. She quickly pushed it down and kept working on the nasty rope.

It had taken her a good deal of time just to free her hands. There was no way she would be able to loosen the large knot that was holding her back before they decided it was her turn to go into the pot.

She was tempted to call out once again for help, but that had proven pointless when she had first arrived, and she just focused on the task before her.

She peered up while her hands continued to work and saw Tom Troll entering back into the camp and she felt a pinch of sadness to see that one of the ponies that he held, squirming, under his arms, was Myrtle; The pony that she and Bilbo had ridden for the large part of their journey.

She had grown quite fond of the horse.

"Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrow." Bert grumbled, seemingly upset by their meal.

Maybe they had forgotten about her.

"Quit yer' griping." Tom scowled. "These ain't sheep. These is West Nags! And yer' forgetting…" He paused and looked her way. The other two followed his gaze and Gwen shivered at the wicked smiles that they held on their ugly faces. So they hadn't forgotten her. "We will be havin' a very sweet after-meal."

There was a sudden gasp from the other side of the camp, and Gwen quickly looked that way. She felt a smile lift her lips at the very familiar face of Bilbo Baggins.

"What was that?" William whispered and looked at the other two. The turned to look in the direction of the gasp, and Gwen breathed a sigh of relief when Bilbo ducked quickly behind a bush.

She quickly coughed to get their attention back to her, and made sure to exaggerate the harsh air, before clearing her throat.

They had all turned to look back at her and she hid the satisfied smile on her face.

"Excuse me." She whimpered out, coughing again slightly. "Just had something in my throat."

They widened their eyes and gave suspicious looks to each other. Soon, they seemed to be convinced that her coughing had been the mysterious sound. The horses neighed slightly and William looked at them, giving a groan when he noticed them.

"Oh, I don't like 'orse." He whined. "I never 'ave. Not enough fat on them."

"Well, its better than the leathery old farmer." Bert responded, looking into the pot. He began complaining about the way the farmer had been way to skinny.

Gwen found herself wondering how she could be any better.

She once again used her fingers to pick at the knot as the Trolls began mumbling and arguing about one thing or another.

She looked up for a moment and saw Bilbo inching his way towards the corral.

She let out a silent gasp and Bilbo turned to look at her. Luckily the trolls hadn't heard and kept on conversing.

He held up a silent finger to his lips and motioned towards the ponies. Gwen nodded along in her understanding and watched him carefully.

"Gwen?" If she had not been so tied up, she would have jumped at the sudden whisper behind her. She turned her head as much as she could to peer towards the owner of the voice.

"Kili!" she cried out, and he stepped forward clamping a hand around her mouth, giving her a glare.

"Quiet." He hissed and turned to see if the trolls had caught them.

Luck seemed to be on their side that night.

"Sorry." She whispered when he removed his hand. "Where's Fili?"

"He went back to the camp to gather the others." He didn't seem to be paying much attention to what he was saying as his hands worked against the knot.

"It's not going to work." She started, and looked over his shoulder to make sure that the trolls hadn't seen them yet. She widened her eyes when she saw Bilbo walking behind the trolls. She had no idea what he was doing, but he gave her a smile of reassurance, then she saw his attention turn back to a knife on the troll's hip.

Her own attention that had been on Bilbo was taken by Kili as he moved behind the tree away from the knot.

"Kili." She hissed. "What are you-" Her words were cut off when the ropes that had been so tight moments before were now loose and falling off her and the tree.

She looked down to her arms and rubbed them, attempting to get feeling and blood running back into them.

"Hurry!" He lightly called, and appeared from behind the tree with a dagger in his left hand. He grasped her hand with his other and pulled her quickly behind the tree with him.

"Thank you." She said, still rubbing her arms, and he gave her a wide smile.

"My pleasure." She returned his smile, and his face turned serious. "Now you need to get out of here."

"What?" She asked, surprised by him suddenly grabbing her shoulder and pushing her away from the troll camp. "No. I need to stay and help."

"No, you don't." he stopped when they were a fairly good distance away and turned her to face him. "Go that way. To the camp." He pointed to his right. "Stay there until we return." Gwen nodded her head, hesitantly at first and them determinately.

"Kili, I can't. I need to help."

"No. Go." He pushed her into the direction of the camp and she stumbled but caught her footing.

"Kili-"

"Now." She heard the finality in his voice, and glowered stubbornly at him.

"Kili, what about-" She was stopped by a sudden cry of alarm from behind them back by the trolls.

Kili shoved her forward.

"Go now!" He called, and didn't wait for her respond before turning and running back to the trolls.

She knew she had no choice, and turned running to the camp.

She crashed through the bushes and winced as trees and thorns scratched against her arms and face.

When the light of their own campfire came into view, she stumbled into the clearing.

"Hello?" She called frantically but received no answer. "Crap."

Everyone had already gone to the troll camp.

She gave a frustrated growl, remembering Kili's instructions to stay behind and wait in the camp.

But she couldn't just sit there while they were all being stuffed into sacks by trolls.

She looked around the camp for any weapon but couldn't find a sword anywhere.

She noticed the edge of a bow and a few arrows lying on the ground.

Kili's bow.

She groaned as she picked it up.

She had only used a bow once in her life. It had been at summer camp, but that was years ago.

She slung it over her shoulder as she had seen Kili do, and began to run in the direction of the rolls.

It would have to do.

Thorin leaned against a tree and watched from a short distance as the members of his company eagerly ate the stew Bombur had cooked up.

It had been a good hour since the wizard had stormed away from camp after Thorin refused to move on to the hidden valley.

He scowled to himself as he remembered the suggestion. If the wizard thought that he would allow his company into the accursed valley that was home to many pointy-eared pixies, then he was wishing on something hopeless.

He scanned the area and watched as the hobbit left to take two bowls of the makeshift stew to his nephews and disappeared behind the low canopy the trees provided. He saw his dwarves laughing and throwing rocks at each other, he saw Ori drawing in his silly little book, he saw Balin talking to a frowning Dwalin, and he saw a very enthusiastic Bofur announcing the near complete song he had been working on.

What Thorin didn't see was that distraction of a girl.

"Dwalin." He called, and the rough dwarf turned to peer up at his friend. "Where is the girl?"

"She is training over in the clearing not a hundred yards away." He ruffed back, nodding his head in the direction of the area that he had taken Miss Maize to begin her sword training.

"Alone?"

"I told her I would come and collect her when she had trained enough for one day." Dwalin seemed to notice at just that moment how many flaws that plan had, for he looked away and furrowed his brow in realization. "That was probably not the wisest choice." He grumbled.

Thorin glared at the gruff dwarf who was now standing up so that he had become the same eye level.

"No. It was indeed not a wise choice." Thorin agreed with his friend. He silently cursed his friend's choice to leave the girl alone in the dark with nothing but an hour of training and a dwarven sword. The girl was reckless and could quite possibly get herself killed.

He had realized that his friend had not been fond of the girl, but he did think he would have been better than to leave her alone. No matter unintentional he had done it.

Balin seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Best you go get her then." The wise dwarf spoke for the two of them. "It would seem that she is missing supper." Dwalin nodded and grunted in agreement before walking away from the other two, avoiding eye contact with Thorin.

Thorin watched him has he walked away, but the look on his face was not one of disappointment or anger, it was one of confusion.

Why had he been so upset by one simple mistake?

He felt a calming hand on his shoulder and looked over to see Balin giving him a warning smile.

"Go easy on him, lad." Balin said, defending his brother, which he had good reason to. "He only meant well." Thorin sighed.

"Of course. I meant no offense, I am just-" He stopped, and thought about what his next words would have been.

I am just worried for Gwendoline's safety.

There were many faults in what he had been about to say; the first being that he was not completely sure why he was about to say those words at all.

Second, it would have been the first time that he had said, or even thought, that he was worried for the girl.

Third, he was about to call her by her given name. He had never said her given name aloud.

He realized his view was of the dirt that was sitting next to his boots, and he looked up to see the elder dwarves eyebrows planted on his forehead with an unspoken question.

"You what, laddie?" Balin asked, but somehow Thorin felt that the dwarf was already very well aware of what he was going to say.

He paused for several more seconds, wondering if he should say it. It would be an unnecessary risk if he did, and he wasn't sure he was willing to take such a risk but He had trusted the dwarf for years; it was time to trust him again. Trust him enough to explain his confusion about the girl.

"I was just-"

"Trolls!" A sudden yell interrupted his on coming words, and Thorin turned his head immediately towards the yell, and saw Fili storming into the camp, sword in hand, and eyes blazing.

"Fili!" He yelled, and ran over to his winded nephew. He looked around, but saw no sign of Kili or the hobbit. "Where's your brother? The Halfling?"

"The trolls took four of the ponies. We followed them to the camp, and now Bilbo is trying to get back the ponies." He winded out.

"Kili?" Thorin asked, suddenly very worried what his reckless nephew had gotten himself into.

"He's still there, but he is hiding in the woods waiting for us." Thorin immediately drew his sword and stepped past his nephew.

"Come on!" he called, and all the dwarves who had been eating were already behind him with their weapons drawn and faces ready for battle. Thorin felt his heart surge at the bravery and obedience of the dwarves that had joined him on this journey.

Feeling a new surge of power he stepped forward, and was stop suddenly by another yell.

"Thorin!" He turned when he heard Dwalin's yell, but did not see the burly dwarf. The others looked at him, awaiting instructions.

"Go!" He yelled, and they all turned and began sprinting, following behind Fili who was guiding them to the trolls' camp.

He turned and ran the opposite direction towards where he had heard Dwalin's yell.

He pushed quickly through the bushes and emerged into the new clearing, sword out and ready to attack.

He saw Dwalin standing next to a sword that had been thrown into the ground and was sticking out, but nothing else.

He felt his heart drop.

"She's not here." Dwalin said, frantically, looking around the area with a wild, and if Thorin saw correctly, a slightly worried expression.

Thorin took no more time standing there and walked to the sword that was sticking sadly out of the ground. He grabbed the hilt and yanked it out; it made a sliding sound and he brought up closer to his face so that he was able to see the blade clearer.

He stopped breathing when he saw the sight of a dark liquid on the blade.

Blood.

Thorin felt his body slipping slowly into shock, and dropped the sword quickly to prevent it from happening.

"There's no blood on the ground anywhere." Dwalin said quickly, and Thorin was only half listening. "It's too dark to see if there was any struggle." He breathed quietly, and Thorin looked his direction. "But I don't think it's hers." He said, and pointed to the blade where the liquid was clear even in the dark of the night, darker then any human's blood.

Thorin wanted to be mad at Dwalin, though he knew that he had meant no harm, but the blame was thick on his tongue as he struggled to hold it back.

The hope that it wasn't hers was enough to get Thorin moving again. He picked the sword off the ground quickly and rubbed the blood off onto his pants.

"Trolls." He said quickly and hurriedly scanned the area around him.

"What?" Dwalin asked.

"Trolls!" Thorin was now running back the way he came, and Dwalin was right on his heels.

Thorin kept repeating Dwalin's words in his head.

"I don't think it's hers."

That single line gave him enough hope for the girl to be alive.

He kept whispering it under his breath, and he began to believe it.

Suddenly that hope turned into anger the more he believed it.

That foolish girl! That stupid foolish girl!

She was always getting herself into trouble, always making this journey harder than it already was.

She was in danger again, and Thorin-breathing fast, heart racing, and feet pounding against the forest floor-would have to save her.

He would have to get her out of this trouble, yet once again.

Okay, I am very well aware that this update is late, and like always, I want to apologize!

Yes, I am going to use the same "I have been so busy and I had no time" excuse, because it is true, but on the upside, my play is almost over and I will have so much more time coming up pretty soon.

I have found out that having a day picked out to say I am going to update every week on that day (in my case, saying I will update on Wednesdays) can be really hard when your plans change a lot, so from here on out, I am going to update when I have the time.

But still, I want to thank you all for reading even when I have been so atrociously lacking in my time management.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! (I know I did!)

-Natalia