Chapter 14: Parasites

"I'm sorry."

Edyth is tied up in a burlap sack along with half of the company; the others stripped and tied to a thick skewer which is being rotated over the fire. She's been thrown face down, alongside Fili and in front of Bombur and Gloin by the base of Dwarves.

"Not entirely your fault," Fili grunts, shifting around but the sacks are tight and thick, holding their arms and legs well in place. Edyth huffs, rolling her eyes in a sulky temperament. Feeling blood pool up in her mouth again, she spits it out to the side to which Fili frowns at. "You alright?"

"Just bit my tongue," she growls, wriggling around in a hopeless attempt. What else is there to do besides waiting for their friends to be roasted then themselves. The Dwarves on the skewer are also trying to free themselves but it is the most useless of the lot. Their shoulders and legs are tied tightly to the skewer, each Dwarf's hands bound together. And not to mention if they do manage to worm their way out, right below them is the blazing campfire and even she can feel the heat from her spot.

Fili nods, going back to his wriggling, managing to turn onto his side. How long does cooking Dwarf take? Maybe she could roll away from them and find a way out of the sack then figure out something from there.

"Where's Gandalf?" she realises. She hasn't seen him since Thorin annoyed him enough to storm off.

"He didn't return," Fili answers her.

"Don't bother cooking 'em!" Tom growls. "Let's just sit on 'em and squash 'em into jelly!"

"They should be sauteed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage," Bert counters, smiling at the delightful idea of eating sauteed Dwarf.

Tom raises his brow. "Oh, that does sound quite nice."

"Never mind the seasoning," William crows, pushing past them. "We ain't got all night! Dawn ain't far away, let's get a move on! I don't fancy been turned to stone."

Edyth cocks her head to the side. "To stone?" she repeats, trying to think of anything she has read about Mountain Trolls. "They turn to stone in the sunlight, don't they?"

"If we can last that long," Fili sighs.

"Wait!" All heads turn to Bilbo who is on his feet, hoping towards to Trolls, still tied in his sack. "You are making a terrible mistake."

Dori, who is on the spit, cries out. "You can't reason with them, they're half-wits!"

"Half-wits?" Bofur cries back, also turning around over the fire. "What does that make us?"

"I meant with the…uh, with the…with the seasoning," Bilbo chokes out. Edyth frowns, pinching her brows together along with everybody else. What on earth is he doing?

"What about the seasoning?" Bert questions, turning the spit.

Bilbo raises his eyebrows, shuffling his feet. "Well, have you smelt them?" He leans forward as though on a mutual understanding with the Trolls. "You're gonna need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up!"

Edyth just doesn't know what to think. Every bone in her body knows that Bilbo is trying to help them but she fails to see how giving them cooking advice is going to do just that. The Dwarves become vocal is their anger, yelling profanity at Bilbo who ignores it.

"What do you know about cooking Dwarf?" William snarls.

"Shut up," Bert snaps, "and let the…uh, flugerburbur-Hobbit talk."

"Uh…the-the secret to cooking Dwarf, is um…" Bilbo trails off on his stammering and Edyth waits with little patience to hear what he says next. Maybe she could catch on to his plan and help; since she has been the opposite of help for the most part.

"Yes? Come on."

Bilbo pulls his neck back, thinking hard yet his mind is almost blank. "It's, uh…"

"Tell us the secret!" Bert demands, becoming more impatient than Edyth herself.

"Ye-yes, I'm telling you," Bilbo assures. "The secret is…to..." His head flops around as he thinks. "Skin them first!"

The Dwarves rile up again and even Edyth becomes confused at the proposition. "Skin us?" Fili exclaims beside her. "What's he playing at?"

"I don't know," Edyth confesses. She kicks him in the leg. "Just let him talk."

"Tom, get me the filleting knife."

"What a load of rubbish!" William argues. "I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scoff 'em I say, boots and all!"

It is at that exact moment that Edyth catches onto Bilbo's track of mind. The Trolls have been arguing all night, mostly about the cooking. Squash them, sauté them, skin them? It is no secret that the three Trolls have been quarrelling all night, but her brother has been the first to realise they could use that to their advantage.

"He's right! Nothing wrong with a bit o' raw Dwarf." Tom bends down to their pile, plucking Bombur up by his feet. "Nice and crunchy." The company cries out in objection, but their words are nothing to the Trolls. Tom holds Bombur high in the air over his head, licking his lips as Bombur's fire-beard hangs down.

"Are you sure you want to start with him?!" Edyth cries out, finally finding the confidence. Tom pauses, holding Bombur away from his mouth slightly.

"Say what?"

"Are you sure you want to start with him?" Edyth restates, adding an intone to her words that suggests she knows better. "I mean, his hair will just get caught in your teeth from what I've experienced."

"From what you've what?" Bofur cries. Edyth grunts as someone kicks her back hard, no doubt going to leave a bruise.

"Ruins the taste of the rest," she continues, ignoring their cries of protest which are now aimed at her. "You're probably best off to start with another."

Tom pulls his neck back, holding Bombur in front of him. "She's right, you know," he says to the other two. "Last time I had Dwarf, I had to use a stick to get it all out of me teeth."

"What are you talking about," William growls, snatching poor Bombur from Tom's grip. "Swallow them whole, don't worry 'bout chewing."

Tom growls, snatching Bombur back. "Fine then," he sulks. Edyth's panic rises again as Bombur is lifted higher and closer to the Troll's mouth, her ploy failing miserably.

Bilbo also panics, jumping forward. "He-he's infected!"

"What?"

"He's got worms in his…tubes," Bilbo says through a wince at his own words.

Tom's eyes widen as he throws Bombur back onto the pile of Dwarves, barely missing Edyth. "Ooh!"

"In-in fact, they all have," Bilbo continues, seeing that he might have found something to work. "They're infested with parasites, it's a terrible business, I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't."

"Contracted orally as well!" Edyth adds, earning another boot in her back.

"Parasites!" Oin cries from the spit. "Did he say parasites?"

"Yeah, we don't have parasites!" Kili exclaims. "You have parasites."

Edyth glares at Fili, giving him a hard nudge as the Dwarves continue their protesting. "Fili," she hisses. Fili doesn't seem to know what to say, but Edyth tips her head with beady eyes piercing his own.

Fili's mouth blubbers for a moment before he finds the words. "O-oh no! He's right Kili. We're all riddled with parasites!" He frowns slightly at Edyth, looking for confirmation. She smiles slightly, nodding.

"What?!" Kili screeches. However, less than a second later, their cries are silenced by something Edyth cannot see.

"I've got parasites as big as my arm!" Oin declares. Bilbo nods towards them, relief flooding his veins.

"Mine are the biggest parasites, I've got huge parasites!" Kili calls out next. Edyth laughs in relief, her head dropping to the ground.

"You can seem them poking out of his nose sometimes," she adds, lifting her head up just enough to catch Kili's eye over Bombur's stout body.

"We're riddled!"

"Yes, I'm riddled!"

"Yes, we are, badly!"

William scowls at the new information. "What would you have us do then? Let 'em all go?"

Bilbo tips his head in contemplation. "Well…"

"You think I don't know what you're up to," William growls, letting the spit go. He leans down close, threateningly. "This little ferret is taking us for fools!"

"Ferret?" Bilbo repeats.

"Fools?"

Gandalf, who Edyth has not seen since before sunset, emerges from the foliage and onto a rock. "The dawn will take you all!" The dawn, she thinks. They will turn to stone. The sky behind him is a medium blue hue, a signal that dawn is near, the sun already peeking over the horizon.

"Who's that?"

"No idea."

"Can we eat him too?"

Gandalf slams his staff down into the large rock, quickly stepping to the side. The rock cracks, almost a direct split down the middle. The golden light breaks through the newly broken barrier, landing on the Dwarves and Trolls. Though to the Dwarves the only pain it brings is a shock to their eyes which are forced into squints, the Trolls begin to squeal and squirm. From the points where the light touches their skin, it begins to turn grey, cracking and spreading out. Their skin seems to sizzle, dry stone flaking off them as their movements become more and more grinded.

Their shrieks die out along with their movement as the entirety of each Troll turns to stone.

There is a moment of silence; disbelief and shock coursing through all of their bloodstreams before they break out into laughter, amused by their own near deaths. "He-hey!" Oin cries.

Edyth lets out her own, taking in the sound of their happiness. They get to live another day.

Their release begins shortly afterwards as Gandalf frees first Bilbo, then the other Dwarves on the ground. Kili, who was released from his sack before her, tugs on the rim near her neck, pulling her up to a sitting position before working on the drawstring as Fili is also being released beside her.

Edyth groans as her back flares in pain. Kili raises a brow, dipping his head forward. "You hurt?"

"Just landed on my back," she lies. Kili nods, softening his movements. As soon as he pushes the sack off her shoulders, she raises her arms into the air, crying in relief at the stretch. "I thought I'd be seeing Troll guts."

"Not a sight I'd think we would want to see," Fili grins, also becoming free. Edyth laughs, nodding in agreement as she pushes to a stand, stepping completely out of the sack.

"How are your parasites going?" she asks Kili teasingly.

"I think I like having them," he decides. "Though I don't fancy them coming out of my nose."

Edyth pouts, reaching up and cups his jaw. Squinting, she moves his head around as though inspecting him. "Don't worry, I think they're coming out of your eyes now." Even though she is clearly teasing, Kili scrunches his face, reaching up to rub the corners of his eyes. Laughing, she glances at Fili who is only eyeing her with an odd look. Her smile drops at his expression, almost about to ask him what is wrong, but Bilbo catches her eye over his shoulder.

Dropping her hands and brushing past the brothers, she skips over to her own brother, engulfing him in a large hug. "Oh, you're so smart," she gushes, tightening her grip. "We wouldn't have made it without you."

Bilbo laughs a little, hugging her back just as tightly. "I don't think it was just me," he swallows. He releases her partially, holding tightly onto her shoulders. "I cannot believe I'm even allowing you to continue this quest."

"Please," she scoffs through a smile. "We survived. Trolls are nothing." Bilbo tips his head in un-amusement, but chuckles, nevertheless. Smiling, she watches Thorin trail off after Gandalf just behind one of the Trolls. "I should speak to him," she murmurs. Bilbo frowns, following her line of sight but nods, letting her shoulders go.

Edyth slowly marches up to the Wizard and Dwarf King, arms folded over her stomach.

"They must have come down from the Ettenmoors," Gandalf observes.

"Since when did the Mountain Trolls venture this far south?" Thorin enquires as Edyth makes her way to his side. He spares her a glance that doesn't give away any emotion.

"Oh, not for an age," Gandalf mutters. "Not since a darker power ruled these lands." He pauses, eyes scanning the environment around them. "They could not have moved in daylight."

"A cave," Edyth speaks up.

"Indeed Miss Baggins," Gandalf agrees. With nothing left to say, Gandalf stalks off back to the centre of the company. Edyth exhales slowly, turning slightly to face Thorin.

Swallowing, she braves eye contact. "I think I owe you and your company an apology. I may have distracted your nephews from their duties and hence the lost ponies."

Thorin doesn't say anything for a moment, only folding his arms over his chest, leaning back slightly. "Well I see my first assumption was right," he declares simply.

Edyth frowns, tilting her head. "And which assumption was that?"

"My prediction that you would annoy me," he quips.

"It comes naturally," she quips right back. Sighing, she knows this isn't the right time to fight him. "But I am sorry."

Thorin eyes her over with a slight glare. After a minute of looking her over, he only huffs slightly then turns around and marches back to the company as Gandalf did. Edyth pushes her lips forward, clicking her tongue against her teeth and slowly follows after him.