The ponies were still nervous and snorting, and their hooves were clattering on the bare rocks. Their noise masked the sound of the thing rapidly approaching them.
The riderless horse plunged into the valley at a gallop, startling them all. The poor animal screamed and reared up at the sight of the Warg.
Dwalin was closest to the horse, and caught the dragging reins, bringing the beast into the circle of the camp. Raven told Warg to sit, slung Smudge over her shoulder, and approached the Dwarf campfire.
"He's wounded." Dwalin noticed.
"I know this horse." Raven told them. "It belongs to a bounty hunter, Pern the Younger."
"No telling how far out he was when he lost the horse. It may have been hurt by wild animals only recently." Dwalin speculated.
"We should be on guard." Dori warned
The Dwarves unsaddle the wounded horse and Gandalf quickly tended the wounds. Bilbo looked at the saddle on the ground. Upon close inspection, he realized the dark leather masked that the item was soaked in blood.
"I thought there were no wild Wargs here," Raven said, examining the scratched on the horse, "but my territory was never this close to the mere. Mister Dwalin, what do you think?"
"I do not know either. I have only been hunting north of Lonely Mountain, away from Dale."
"Pern always traveled with his Uncle, Pern the Elder, and two other ill-mannered men like them. I did not care for their kind but still, I wished them no harm. Should we look for them?" Rhavaniel asked.
"We cannot look for them, not tonight." Gandalf noted regrettably. "We will see what we can see in the morning."
Balin nodded in agreement with Gandalf.
"Should we keep him with us?" Ori asked, "We need another mount."
"But he may slow us down." Dori replied. "Let him go, and he will return to Dale on his own."
Warg began to growl. The sound seemed to echo, until they all realized it was the growling of many Wargs, surrounding them.
The ponies begin to panic once more. Rhavaniel quickly called her own Warg to her side. They circled together, with Warg in front and Rhavaniel beside him.
Dwalin angrily reproached her, "Get back with the others, or give the baby to Bilbo!"
Rhavaniel hesitated, then quickly stepped back to the campfire and handed Smudge to Bilbo, the first time she had willingly given him over to one of the Company.
Gandalf asked, "Raven, can your Warg talk them out of this?"
"He is as popular with his kind as I am with mine. Those Wargs are hungry, and winter draws near. They won't give up the horse they were chasing, certainly, and they may not settle for just the horse now that they've seen the ponies."
Gandalf reluctantly led the wounded horse out and slapped it. It ran in the direction of Dale. The Warg pack hesitated, then two split off to pursue the horse while the others remained.
It was clear from the exchange, at least to the experienced hunters Rhavaniel and Dwalin, which Warg led the pack.
"Can your Warg take out that striped one up front, or has he grown too soft?" Dwalin asked.
"I will not be risking him foolishly when an arrow will suffice." Rhavaniel was ready with her bow.
"Someone else is about to try talking them out of it." Gandalf informed the rest.
Thorin's ghost approached the largest Warg. The beast could not see him, but it could sense him, after a fashion, just like Rhavaniel's Warg knew Kili's fresh trail. Thorin had been reluctant to touch any living thing, until he had been invited to do so by Bilbo. It was time to see what effect Thorin could have with more than a small touch.
"I think you and your company will be leaving me and mine alone now." Thorin said, as he laid a hand upon the striped Warg's nose. The beast drew back, snorting and sneezing. He growled furiously and began snapping at Thorin, merely grasping freezing air.
"I don't think that was such a good idea." Bilbo stammered, adjusting Smudge on his sling. Bilbo needed both hands free, now. He needed to hold Sting, and he needed to have another hand free to reach into his waistcoat pocket. Bilbo had packed light for this trip to Erebor, but he had not forgotten to pack his most precious belonging.
Thorin no longer gently touched, but ran through the Warg, causing a chest-tightening chill and a panic. Thorin did the same to the nearest Warg, and then the next. The lead Warg bit wildly into another Warg, and the two fought, barely visible beneath the fog. Another pair began to snap and snarl at each other, while the others began creeping up on the ponies.
'This is too much.' Dwalin thought. 'Discourage the leader and they will all follow as he runs away, but enrage the leader and each Warg is out for himself. Thorin isn't seeing that - he's swept up in finally being able to do something to protect us.'
"Thorin, stop!" Dwalin shouted.
Raven began to let loose with her arrows, taking out a crouching Warg.
"Stay behind me!" she commanded her Warg, afraid he would be confused with the others in the fog and fury of fighting animals. The other Wargs, leaderless and undisciplined, turned their attention on the screaming ponies. Those not fighting each other charged the camp.
Bilbo looked at the Ring in his hand, and looked down at Smudge crying for his mother. The Wargs would come straight for them with a noise like that. He had not wanted to use the Ring with a baby in his arms, but saw no other choice, here in the fog and the growing dark and the chaos of Dwarves and Wargs and stampeding ponies. Bilbo slipped on the Ring, and disappeared from sight.