Bilbo was sitting in his room in Erebor. His mind was troubled for he couldn't say how long he would stay in this place. He knew that a mountain was not a place for him. He missed his home; he missed the rolling hills, the Green Dragon Inn, Bag End with his books and his garden. Slowly he reached into his pocket and revealed the golden ring. A smile showed up on his face and he thought back to the day he had found it in the depth of the Misty Mountains.
It was the day they had been captured by these creepy goblins in the Misty Mountain. He managed to crawl into the darkness, away from the Company. He waited until he was certain they were gone and finally decided to follow them, always trying not to be seen by any goblin.
Suddenly that filthy creature jumped at him and Bilbo tried to defend himself with his sword but the worst happened. He fell into the chasm below. He was relieved that he landed between some soft, big mushrooms. He wanted to get up but stopped in motion as he could hear the painful moan of a creature. Bilbo cast a glance at the goblin that was lying on the ground and it seemed to be badly injured. He looked back down to his sword and saw that it was still glowing blue.
That was when another breathing sound could be heard. This one was different than anything Bilbo had ever heard before in his life. He stopped moving and was waiting for what there was to come. Finally he could see the creature. He had no idea what it was; maybe some strange kind of orc.
The creature crawled closer towards the injured goblin and hissed, "Yesss! Yeeeesss!" and tried to pull the goblin into a tunnel. Suddenly the goblin sat up and tried to defend himself. The other creature grabbed a stone and let it sink down on the goblin's head until it passed out again.
Bilbo was waiting a couple of moments until he was certain that the creature was gone with its prey.
He got up on his feet and stepped out of his hiding place. His sword was still glowing brightly. With horror he realized that the tunnel was the only possible way he could take and so he took a deep breath, braced himself to follow the creature. That was until a golden shimmer caught his eye. He looked down to his feet and saw a golden ring lying on the ground. Without much thinking he pushed it into his pocket and entered the tunnel.
After a couple of miles he could hear the hissing voice again. He stopped dead in his tracks and listened. The creature was singing,
"The rocks and pool
is nice and cool
so juicy sweet.
Our only wish
to catch a fish
so juicy sweeeeet."
Bilbo cast a glance around a boulder and saw the creature sitting on a single rock in the middle of the pool; the goblin was lying to its feet. Suddenly the goblin moved again but the creature reacted quickly and hit it with a heavy stone directly on the head again. The goblin dropped motionless to the ground and Bilbo recognized that his sword had stopped glowing.
'Oh my—," he thought. The only reason why his sword stopped glowing was that there was no orc and no goblin nearby anymore. His heart nearly bursted out of his chest. What kind of creature was that one then?
He cast another glance around and with horror he saw that the creature was gone. Bilbo turned around, pressed his back against the cold stone as he could hear a hissing breathing sound above him. He slowly turned his gaze upwards and saw the creature looking down at him. It hissed and jumped down in front of him.
"What is it—preciousss?" the creature hissed and Bilbo was holding his sword defensively in front of him.
"It is no elf but it has an elvish blade. Tell us, precious, what is it?"
"M—my name is Bilbo Baggins. I'm a Hobbit from the Shire," Bilbo stammered and desperately tried to hide his fear.
"We tried orcs and goblins but never hobbitses. Are they juicy? Are they sweet?" the creature asked.
"I'm lost! I lost my Company and have no idea where I am and just want to get out of here," Bilbo added.
"Sss—Bagginses is lost. Bagginses wants us to show the way out?"
"Yes, that would be very friendly!"
"We like to play riddleses," the creature said with a twinkle in its eyes.
"Well, let's do a competition. If I win you will show me the way out of here," Bilbo said and the creature added with a dark grin, "And if we wins, precious—we will eat Bagginses."
Bilbo froze for a second, aware that he had no other choice. "Fine," he mumbled.
"We starts, precious," the creature hissed and Bilbo simply nodded; his sword still in hand, just in case.
The creature hissed, "What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees, up up it goes, and yet never grows?"
"That's easy! It's the Mountains, I suppose," Bilbo said triumphantly.
"Ssss—Bagginses must ask us now," the creature hissed a little disappointed.
Bilbo thought about a good riddle and finally said, "Thirty white horses on a red hill. First they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still."
That was a bit too easy as the creature called, "Teeth! Teeth! But we only has six!" It revealed an ugly mouth with six dark teeth which made Bilbo shudder in disgust.
It continued, "Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters."
"Half a moment!" Bilbo said and turned around to look at the pool. He knew he had heard that riddle sometime before and as he saw the surface of the water move he called, "Wind! Wind, of course!"
He was quite pleased with himself and immediately came up with another riddle,
"A box without hinges, key or lid. Yet golden treasure inside it hid."
The creature hissed but seemed to have no idea. It whispered and spluttered. After a while Bilbo grew impatient, "Well, your answer?"
"Give us a chance; let it give a chance, my precioussss."
Bilbo fell silent for a while until he asked once again, "Do you know the answer or not?"
Suddenly the creature seemed to remember something, turned around and cried with a happy smile on its face, "Eggses! Eggses it is!"
Its eyes turned dark as it said, "Now it's our turn, precious. This thing all things devours; birds, beasts, trees, flowers; gnaws iron, bites steel; grinds hard stones to meal; slays kings, ruins town, and beats high mountain down."
Bilbo blinked confused, cleared his throat but had absolutely no idea. After a while the creature began to hiss triumphantly. "Is it nice, precious?" It began to peer Bilbo out of the darkness.
"Half a moment!" Bilbo said and shivered. "I gave you a good long chance before."
The creature grinned, "Time's up," but that was a mistake as Bilbo suddenly called loudly,
"Time! It's time!"
The creature grew angry. "Last question, precious," it hissed and Bilbo tried to come up with something clever.
"Ask us!"
"Yes, I'm thinking!"
His hand slipped into the pocket of his vest and suddenly he felt something cold. He was curious, didn't remember the ring and he asked more to himself, "What do I have in my pocket?"
"That's not fair!" the creature called and Bilbo realized that it thought this was his riddle. He didn't hesitate as he added, "No, you wanted me to ask and that is my question. What do I have in my pocket?"
"Sssss—three guesses. It has to give us three guesses, precious!"
"Well, alright," Bilbo gestured him to answer the question.
"Hands!"
Much to his relieve Bilbo was quick enough to pull his hands out of his pockets in time. "Wrong," he called.
"Sss—a knife!"
"Wrong again. Last guess," he said in triumph.
The creature was hissing and seemed to think hard.
"Come on, I'm waiting," Bilbo teased it a bit though he also feared he would provoke too much and risk that the creature attacked him. Luckily it did not. After a while of hissing and grumbling Bilbo finally said, "Time's up!"
"Cord! Or nothing!" the creature cried out.
"Both wrong," Bilbo said in relief.
The creature slumped to the ground and was clearly upset.
"Now, what about your promise? I want to leave now and you promised to help," Bilbo said.
"Did we promise, precious? Show Bagginses the way out? Indeed, indeed—but what has it got in its pocketses?"
"That is not your business anymore. Now show me the way out. Promise is promise!"
The creature reached behind its back and fumbled in a pocket as it cried out in shock, "Where is it? Precious? Where is it?" Its eyes searched frantically around, almost terrified.
"What are you looking for?" Bilbo asked carefully.
"Not your business, don't ask!" it hissed and turned around to look at him with a dark expression on its face. Its gaze drifted around the ground until it suddenly stopped in motion. It hissed, "What—has it got—in its pocketses?"
It turned to look at Bilbo and he was aware that this would end very badly for him. The creature crawled towards him and repeated, "What has it got—in its pocketses?"
Bilbo swung his sword in front of him but the creature seemed to be too angry to care about it and Bilbo had no other chance than run away. He ran, ran into the tunnel and desperately trying to find a way out of the mountain.
He could hear the heavy breathing of the creature behind him. He turned into another tunnel and saw a hole in the wall. He tried to push through but the buttons of his jacket hindered him. With all his power he pushed and pushed and in the very last moment the buttons fell from his jacket. Bilbo fell through the hole and landed hard on his back. He could see the golden ring flying through the air. He reached for it when suddenly the ring landed on his finger.
He had no idea what exactly happened but everything around him turned grey and blurry. In the next moment the creature appeared through the hole as well and ran past him. That surprised him a lot and he watched how the creature was desperately searching for him. Bilbo frowned until he could hear voices at the end of that small tunnel. Another tunnel was crossing it and finally he saw them. Gandalf passed by with Thorin, Mona, Barbas and the whole Company behind him. He wanted to call and join them but there was still that creature now hiding behind a rock. As soon as the Company was gone the creature slumped to the ground. Bilbo approached it silently and placed his sword against its throat, wanted to kill it but in the last moment he saw tears running down its face.
Suddenly Bilbo felt pity for that creature. He put his sword away, made some steps back and jumped over the creature. He hit it on the head and it fell to the ground. Without looking back, Bilbo ran into the direction of the Company and finally he saw daylight in front of him.
Before he left the mountain he heard the creature cry loudly," Thiiiief! Bagginses! We will hate it forever!"
Bilbo snapped out of his thoughts as he heard a soft knock at the door. He got up and opened just to find Mona in front of him.
"Bilbo, we will have dinner in a couple of minutes. Will you join us?"
He sighed and she sensed something wasn't quite right. "What's the matter?" she asked and Bilbo gestured her to enter the room. She stepped inside and they lowered down on the edge of his bed.
"I was thinking about my home and about the day I found that golden ring," he showed it to her and she took it in the palm of her hand. Suddenly she felt something strange and it was as if she had a vision. She could see the woman she had first met on the day of her arrival in Middle Earth. The pregnant woman in the Shire. "Bilbo, please take it back," she handed him the ring again.
"Mona, what happened?" he asked concerned and watched while she rubbed her forehead.
"Nothing—I just saw something."
"What did you see?"
"I saw that woman in the Shire. I don't know her name but she was the first I met in Middle Earth. She was pregnant and her husband was a gardener."
Bilbo looked at her in surprise. "The Gamgees? Hamfast is my gardener. His wife is pregnant, yes."
"Well, her child is already born. She told me that her child would arrive in two months and it must be nearly one year old now."
"Maybe you saw her because you will have a baby as well?"
"That makes no sense. I haven't thought about her before, but that ring—whatever it is that is a very strange kind of magic. You should show it to someone."
"But whom?"
They both fell silent until he asked quietly, "Do you think Gandalf will come back?"
"I don't know, Bilbo."
"But he said he would come back before this is over. He didn't come. Maybe something happened to him?"
"I'm certain he's fine. Remember what Bofur once said? He's a wizard and does what he wants."
They smiled at each other as they remembered that day before they had met the trolls.
"Now come on, we'll have dinner. I'm certain they are already waiting for us," she got up and Bilbo pushed the ring back into his pocket. Together they left the room and headed down the hallway.
