I wanted to avoid the trolls altogether but I knew that we couldn't do that. Without the trolls, they wouldn't know about the troll hoard. And without the troll hoard, they would never find Glamdring, Sting or Orcrist. I dreaded to think what would happen if they weren't found. Not just for this journey but for future ones as well.

It took Kili shaking my leg to realise that I was the only one still on my horse. Everyone else was setting up camp while I had been lost in my thoughts. Crap. I needed to tell Thorin before everyone settled down for the night.

I climbed down from my horse, nearly getting my foot caught in the stirrup in my hurry before I threw the reins to Kili and hurried off to Thorin.

Thorin and Gandalf had been talking in the ruins of the farmhouse when I climbed off the horse. However, once I worked my way around the camp, there was only Thorin standing alone. His teeth gritted in a grimace.

"Shit," I said, searching the horizon for the errant wizard.

He was nowhere to be found. There goes Gandalf's help.

Thorin looked at me with a hard stare, arms folded across his chest. "What seems to be the problem, Leah?"

"Where's Gandalf?" I asked, already knowing the answer. My voice was a little high-pitched.

Thorin scoffed "Oh he's wandered into the woods somewhere," he pointed towards the trees "Pay him no heed," Thorin waved his hand dismissively.

"We need him."

Thorin uncrossed his arms, demeanour changing from unbothered to wary. "Why would we need him? What do you know?"

I took a deep breath, debating how I would word this. "Our ponies are going to get stolen and we're going to be attacked by trolls."

Thorin blinked, absorbing my ludicrous statement. "Are you certain of this?"

I nodded "This is how it happened in the story. With the burned out house and Gandalf storming off."

Thorin let out a string of Khuzdul curses.

"That damnable wizard spoke the truth," Thorin spat "We should not make camp here."

Thorin turned as if to make his way back to camp. I put my hands out to stop him. "No, no we can't leave."

Thorin's eyebrows drew together. "You have just informed me that Trolls are going to attack our company in the night and yet you wish for us to remain?" Thorin's tone was harsh. "You would put the company in danger?"

"No, Thorin it's not like that," I said, holding my hands up placatingly "Let me explain."

Thorin crossed his arms once more and looked at me expectantly. His presence was intimidating even though he was shorter than me. The glare he gave me made my mouth go dry.

"There are things in the troll's hoard that we desperately need if you want this quest to be successful," I said.

Thorin's hard gaze didn't let up "Things? What manner of things would be worth risking ourselves against these creatures."

"Weapons," I said very quickly "For you, Gandalf and Bilbo. They are some of the best weapons ever forged and will save your life many times over. We have to get them."

If Thorin didn't have Orcrist then he couldn't slay Azog. If Bilbo didn't have Sting then he couldn't save them from the spiders or warn them about the goblins. Then it would never be passed down to Frodo to help him destroy the ring. Everything was inexplicably connected.

We needed those weapons, plain and simple. I looked right into Thorin's eyes, Imploring him to listen.

Thorin gazed at me for another beat before sighing. "If what you speak is true then how do you suggest we obtain these weapons without harming any members of this company?"

I had been putting some thought into it over the past few days. With each night spent unmolested my trolls I knew we must have been drawing closer. Most of my half baked plans included a wizard that didn't wander off, however, which greatly reduced my options.

"Right, so, trolls can only come out at night because the sun turns them to stone. That means that they won't leave their cave until it's fully nightfall. If someone slipped in while they were out they could find the weapons and leave before the trolls even noticed. That way we could hopefully avoid them altogether."

Thorin's lips pursed as he considered the plan. "While that sounds good we do not actually know where this hoard is."

I bit the inside of my cheek, that was a snag in the plan. "We'll have to look for it I guess."

Thorin nodded, still looking deep in thought. "How did this altercation play out in your stories?"

"The ponies were tied up in the forest," I pointed in the general direction of the trees. "The trolls stole some and you tried to get them back. But the trolls managed to grab one of you and threatened to kill them if you didn't drop your weapons. Then they spent too long arguing how to cook you that they don't realise that the sun has come up and they turn to stone."

"That is something I would rather avoid," his lip curled in disgust.

Thorin straightened himself up to his full height. "A small group will come with me to scope out this cave," he said "The rest will remain here, and keep a lookout. The ponies will need to be taken out of the forest if we want to protect them."

My shoulders sagged in relief. There was no way I was willingly getting shoved into a sack today.

"I'm risking my company for this Leah. You had better be right," there was a dark tone to his voice and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

There was a reason he was the leader. He was someone you did not want to wrong or disappoint and I was desperate to stay in his good graces.

Thorin strolled out of the ruins with purpose. He walked straight up to Bilbo and clasped a hand around his shoulder. Bilbo looked up, very shocked by the sudden contact. He looked up at Thorin questioningly, a red hue spreading across his cheeks.

"Come Master Baggin's it seems your burglary skills need to be put to the test," said Thorin.

Bilbo visibly gulped

The small scouting party ended up consisting of Thorin, Bilbo and Dwalin. The other dwarves protested at being left out but Thorin told them that this mission required stealth so the less who went the better. He placated them by telling them that they too had an important job to do. Everyone who stayed must remain watchful and protect the ponies. If they found the trolls they were not to engage unless absolutely necessary.

The horses were brought out of the forest and hitched up a little way away from the trees. That way we would be able to tell if a random huge troll hand nabbed one.

Everyone was on edge. Hands inching towards their weapons at the slightest provocation, the slightest sound. Some didn't really believe me about the presence of trolls but they trusted their leader.

Kili refused to leave my side when he found out about the trolls. I could tell he was torn between wanting to follow his uncle and making sure I was safe. Seeing as he couldn't do the former, he took to sticking to my side like glue.

"You should have told me that there would be trolls," Kili said, looking a little hurt.

"You're right, I'm sorry. "

Kili's eyes softened at my words "It's okay. Just please warn me next time something dangerous is going to happen."

"If I did that I'd never stop talking," I said with a small smile.

"That isn't very comforting at all" Kili let out a small laugh all the same.

I was full of nervous energy just thinking about the troll situation. It made me not want to stay still for very long. So I took to pacing around the camp, just looking for things to do to take my mind off of it. Kili could see the struggle my mind was in and offered himself up as a distraction for me. He said that sparring might help me to keep my thoughts from drifting.

We started off with some gentle sparring. Occasionally Kili would stop me to correct a move, which happened more than I liked. I was trying but it was hard to remember where your elbows or knees were supposed to go while you were mid-fight.

I landed a few hits and I started to gain in confidence. I noticed his left side was exposed and attempted to land a kick. My right leg swung out towards Kili's left side. But he clocked my move in an instant. He stepped away from the direction of my kick and looped an arm around my leg.

He held it close, refusing to let go, even when I tried to pull it free. It left me hopping on my only remaining leg. The biggest smirk stretched across Kili's face like he had won something. Clearly, he found this amusing.

"What did Dwalin say about kicks?" he asked, the mirth clear in his voice.

"I don't know," I said, still hopping. "Give me my leg back."

Instead of giving my leg back he simply smiled wider, showing his teeth. Then, with my leg still in his hand, he pushed forward. The momentum knocked me off balance and I ended up sprawled on my back.

"Dwalin told you that you need to bring your leg back faster after you kick. Or you will be left exposed and someone could grab your leg. Like this" He wiggled my leg.

"Oh yes I remember," I said in a flat voice "Can I have my leg back now?"

"Not yet, I quite like you where you are," he leaned closer, I could feel the warmth of his body against my leg.

A deep blush formed across my face. "What if I kick you with the other one?" I asked while lifting my other leg up. I couldn't exactly get much momentum from where I was so it was a very sorry excuse for a kick. He easily caught the leg in his other arm and I let out a groan of frustration.

"You're not very good at this are you" Kili raised an eyebrow.

"I'm throwing you off your rhythm," I said, still trying to get my legs back.

"Ah yes, you have shaken me to my core." sarcasm leaked from his voice.

I felt very exposed in this position, intimately aware of the way Kili stood between my legs. My thoughts felt like they were running at a hundred miles per hour.

"Shut up," was all I said, a little breathless.

"Did I ever tell you how good you looked in my clothes?" said Kili, his gaze heated.

I felt my breath catch under his gaze, looking down, I could see the blue of Kili's shirt. It had been washed in a river a few days ago and I was wearing it again. "No you were too busy blushing I think," I said, trying not to let my voice betray me.

Kili's smirk dropped slightly, then he shook his head "I don't know what you mean. I've never blushed in my life" he finally relinquished my legs.

Finally able to move properly, I sat up, laughing at Kili's expression. "So the bright red cheeks were something completely different I'm sure."

"Of course. It was just very warm in the pub."

"I see."

The sound of footsteps approached us from behind and I turned to find Fili walking over to us.

"Do I even want to know what all that was?" he said, gesturing with his hand.

"We were sparring," I said, dragging myself up off the floor

"Is that what you're calling it?" he smirked "It looked more like fraternizing to me."

Fraternizing? What an odd word choice. The way he said it also seemed to be very deliberate. There was probably an inside joke I was missing. Kili didn't seem to miss it though. A slight red glow now adorned his cheeks.

"I don't know what you mean brother," said Kili, very dismissively.

Fili merely clapped him on the back and laughed. "Anyway, Balin told me we should check the ponies."

The ponies were a little ways behind us, munching on the grass and shuffling around the trees they were attached to. At a glance, everything seemed to be in order but I still clambered to my feet and went to check them with Fili and Kili

Mithiel gave a little hair flick as I made my way over and I gave her a little pat on the nose. She was a good horse. If all went well I wouldn't lose her. Next to Mithiel, Dwalin's horse, Fallulah, seemed a little agitated, shaking her head and pulling against her reins. I calmed her with gentle shushing sounds until she settled.

"Er, how many ponies are we supposed to have?" said Kili.

Alarmed, I spun around towards him. "16 plus Gandalf's horse, why?"

"There's only 15," said Kili, a hand rubbing his chin.

"What? How?"

I backed up so that I could see all the ponies. Counting them yielded the same number as Kili.

"Shit, where has it gone?" I exclaimed.

We had been here the whole time. How could one have gone missing? There hadn't been any odd sounds. No big pounding footsteps or a large grubby hand stealing one of the ponies.

We searched around us for any clues to indicate the ponies whereabouts. That's when we came across a broken branch, too thin and freshly splintered. Someone had chosen a poor branch to hitch the pony to and the little miscreant had run off.

"We need to look for it" Fili said

"But...Trolls!" I whispered forcefully.

"Exactly, if they find it they might go looking for more. We need to find it before they do."

Why was he making sense?. "Fine, you make a good point," I groaned. "Doesn't mean I like it though."

Kili grabbed my shoulder before I could move anywhere. "You should stay here."

"I'm not staying here while you potentially get taken by trolls," I said, removing his hand from my shoulder. "Even if you go without me, I will just follow you."

Kili looked at me, weighing the truth of my words "Fine," he surrendered "But only if you promise to stay hidden and not try to fight the damn things."

"Do I look like someone who would start a fight with a 10ft tall monster? I have some self-preservation skills you know."

My confidence waned as soon as I entered the forest. Under the canopy, everything suddenly seemed 10x scarier. I would hear scuttling or think I saw a shadow move and my heart would jump in my chest. Thankfully, my kinetic-powered torch had survived the journey to Middle Earth so that we could see where we were going.

Fili was very impressed with my ability to conjure light.

"Is that magic?" he asked in wonder "Like from Gandalf's staff."

"I'm not that cool I'm afraid. It's a kinetic torch from my world. You wind it up and it emits a light. No magical light conjuring here."

"It's still fantastic," he muttered.

Fili and Kili used tracking skills that I did not possess to track down the infernal creature. They spotted things that I would have simply dismissed. Like why did they assume that a hoof broke that twig? Perhaps it was from a particularly fat badger having a nap. Anything was possible.

Though the further in we went, the more obvious the signs became. Several trees had been torn apart, splintered and crushed as if a bulldozer had bowled through. The tracks for the horse ended just where the destruction began, meaning that the trolls already had the pony.

Great. I quickly shut off the torch, hoping that we hadn't been seen.

We silently agreed to follow the path of destruction, making a concentrated effort to make as little sound as possible. The path zigzagged in an unintelligent pattern, it looked like the troll had stumbled blindly through the trees until it found its campsite.

We heard their voices before anything else, booming and bassy, it felt like they were right in front of us only we couldn't see them. I nearly dropped to the floor before I realised they weren't that close. So we used their voices as a guide and eventually detected the flickering orange of a campfire.

We shuffled closer and crouched behind a felled tree until we could see the beasts themselves. The trolls were even worse than I imagined. They were Huge with mottled leathery skin. Boils, warts and pustules lined their body like a sad constellation. Their bodies all seemed malformed and misshapen as if they were created by a child out of playdough. The smell was the worst part. It took everything in me not to gag.

One of the trolls threw down the pony with no caution into a makeshift pen. It whinnied and stumbled on thin legs but managed to stay standing. The poor thing looked terrified. A troll in the middle was stirring some noxious concoction in a cauldron.

"Is tha' all ya can find, we're starvin over 'ere," said the one on the far left of the fire. Its voice was very nasally.

"Am sure there's more out there somewhere," said the one by the cauldron. A deep baritone voice that would shake the ground if it yelled.

The one who carried the pony in, clipped the middle troll around the ear"Shut ya hole, this is all a got so stop complaining.'"

We needed to figure out a way to get the pony back. However, I knew how well that went last time for Bilbo.

"We need to go around the back," whispered Fili "Maybe we can cut it loose."

We all nodded and shuffled forwards on tiptoes. I'm not sure who did it but as we went to move a loud *Crack* rang through the air. Startled, we all fell into a crouch and prayed the trolls hadn't heard.

We weren't so lucky. The noise spooked the nasally troll and made him stumble backwards, right into a pot of some kind. It teetered precariously before spilling everywhere, leaking noxious liquid across the ground. The fumes clung to the back of my throat, burning. I covered my nose, eyes stinging. It took everything in me not to cough.

"Tom ya big oaf tha's all our grog," the middle troll grabbed the troll with the nasally voice by the ear.

"I didn't mean it Bert, said Tom, trying to pull Bert's hand away.

"Go back to tha cave an' ge' some more," he kicked Tom and pushed him towards the trees. "Am not spendin' all night wiv no grog," Tom grumbled but started to slink off all the same.

Back towards the cave that Thorin, Bilbo and Dwalin were occupying.

Fuck.