It's been a good break, but it felt too short. I have been excited to write this chapter. This was always one of my favorite parts in AUJ. I fact, I thought it was so well done that the movie did it better than the book with Bilbo captured in the process. 'Nuff said!
Oh, and have you ever listened to Celtic Garden "Misty Mountains/Song of the Lonely Mountain"? It played on Pandora and I just bought it! It's beautiful stuff!:)
Chapter 15
When Bombur announced that the stew was ready, Bilbo felt the hairs on his feet rise unexpectedly. He shuffled uncomfortably as he looked out in Trollshaw Forest and the open form of darkness embedded around the trees. He didn't know what this feeling was, other than recognizing it as a type of fear that always set off a cold signal into his hobbit brain, but this one was different and even more unsettling. Every part of him screamed with warning, even though nothing seemed out of place aside the ruins of this particular farmland.
The night seemed still and quiet. The dwarves had lit their fire in the shattered farmhouse, the light and warmth bouncing off the woods surrounding them, blocking them from the exposures of the wild. He heard an owl somewhere, crickets, and even the faint sounds of the ponies somewhere in the forest. Where was Gandalf?
Was it the Dainsons? Not likely. Maia was serving bowls of rabbit stew with Bofur and Bombur right behind him, her hair loosely tied up and her sleeves rolled back. Kyle was out with Fili and Kili at the edge of the forest, watching the ponies; lately, it was like those two Durin brothers had taken the boy under their wing, grooming him as a hunter and turning him into a dwarf (Kyle might as well be with that attitude of his, Bilbo thought). Lori was having a timeout, being sent at the far side of the camp outside of the farmhouse after acting naughty around everyone, especially toward Thorin Oakenshield, who had upset her in return.
The child's tantrum and the dwarf leader's temper had not been a comfortable sight, one that Bilbo had trouble following along, which probably had been for the best, but he couldn't help but marvel how defiant and stubborn that little girl had been. Weeks ago, she had been too shy to meet Thorin's eyes, let alone speak to him. She had started warming up to him the night Thorin had let the Dainsons in with the dwarves back in the wilderland, but then after nearly drowning in that river with Kili and Fili, she had gotten bolder. She had probably thought to herself that if she could survive the deadly river rapids, she could probably handle the intimidating dwarf leader even more.
Clearly, the results of that thinking had ended badly. Thorin proved to be worse than a deadly river, like a rock unmoved from its mountain.
For the remainder of the night, neither had spoken ever since. Thorin currently hadn't moved from his seating position with the other dwarves as they collected their bowls, looking in an even darker mood than Bilbo thought possible. Lori must have really booted a touchy subject. Bilbo was really glad Maia sent Lori away before the dwarf leader would start banishing the siblings from stepping anywhere near the dwarf company, especially with Gandalf still gone and with this part of the lone-lands looking even more eery.
Bilbo was reminded again of the terrible feeling that coiled in his stomach, growing so heavy that it made him swallow involuntarily. It's probably nothing, he told himself, though instinct screamed otherwise, chilling him to the bone.
"He's been a long time," Bilbo muttered aloud.
"Who?" Bofur spoke behind him, sounding slightly distracted as he filled the bowls.
"Gandalf."
"He's a wizard," replied Bofur, not sounding worried at all. "He does what he chooses."
"Any idea when he'll be back?" said Maia, who kept passing the bowls to others.
"You can never tell with wizards. Sometimes they're gone an hour, sometimes a day, sometimes a week..."
"A week?" Bilbo turned around to face him, matching Maia's panicked expression
"Or even longer," Bofur shrugged, filling up yet another bowl. "It's hard to say, but I wouldn't worry. Whatever happened between Thorin and him couldn't have severed his ties with us lot. He'd have to leave a notice first. Here, Bilbo," he said, holding up two bowls, "do us a favor and take this to the lads?"
"Can you also bring Kyle back with you?" asked Maia. "He can come get this himself if he's hungry. Those woods give me the creeps."
Bilbo nodded, taking the bowls. "Well, you're not alone there. What about Lori? Do you think she's been disciplined long enough?"
"Dori already went to get Nori and Lori three minutes ago," explained Maia, a smirk appearing on her face when she was reminded again that all their names rhymed coincidentally. "If there're not back yet, I'll go get them myself in another minute. It's already dark out and I think Lori'll cheer up when she gets some food in her belly."
"Very good," Bilbo commented with approval, before turning around and heading out.
He treaded lightly through the grass, trying to calm his beating heart as he neared the outskirts of Trollshaw Forest. After seeing the first sign of ponies, he suspected Fili, Kili, and Kyle were nearby.
"Stop it!" Bofur slapped his younger brother's arm before he would sip from the ladle. "You had plenty!"
"I was just testing the spice!" Bombur said defensively.
"Oh, like the last two times you snuck second helpings?" Bofur raised an eyebrow. "Give it up, brother! Yer supposed to be on a diet!"
Bombur then clonked Bofur with his ladle where the hat sat, causing the toymaker to yelp and rub his head in protest. "That was uncalled for," Bofur grumbled. "Somebody ought to remind ya to cut back!"
CLUNK! Bofur yelped again and lunged for the ladle. "Give me that!" Despite being big, Bombur was quick and danced out of reach from his older brother, his loop of a braid bouncing on his stomach as the middle-aged brothers started getting acting up. The dwarves in the background started cheering them on, laughing.
She rolled her eyes. "Okay, wow!" she exclaimed, but laughed along with them anyway, in spite of that two grown dwarves were acting like Fili and Kili on a sunny day when they get riled up. It had been really funny. Dwarf or human, guys were all the same. She glanced toward the forest where Bilbo walked off.
As much fun she had with these dwarves, she was secretly looking forward to sneaking another night watch with Fili. With Kili, most likely. She loved them both together, one smooth and the other wild, both bright with a strong sense of humor and fun. Not to mention attractive, the little voice in her head whispered.
But for reasons she could not figure out or explain, she selfishly hoped to be alone with Fili. She enjoyed his company, and it was hard enough for her to have a little fun talk with him without everyone staring at them (and by everyone, she meant Thorin). She had never felt frustrated with Thorin when the dwarf leader pulled his nephew away when they sat too close, even after all the other times the dwarf leader's coldness did to make her shrink back. It made her feel even more mad at herself for not trying harder to stick up for herself and her beliefs against Thorin Oakenshield. Even Lori was a better fighter than she was! It made her feel like an epic loser! She hated it.
When it came to racial conflict, as it happened so often in Texas, her whole life she had tried her best to avoid getting involved with those crappy affairs, not wanting to seem antagonistic and prove that whites, blacks, Hispanics, Asian, and so forth were all equal in her and her family's eyes. She had hoped that she had gotten long past that problem...and now she was dealing with racial prejudices between humans, dwarves, and elves! Just her luck! Even some of the hobbits in Hobbiton looked like racists, and she and her siblings hadn't even heard of hobbits until they came here.
After hearing the story, she understood why he had a grudge against these elves, but these elves Gandalf mentioned could have helped them. She honestly trusted Gandalf's wisdom more than she trusted Thorin's suspicions.
Tomorrow, she promised herself, blowing the hair strands out of her face. At the corner of her eye, she could still see Thorin sitting at the side of the crumbled remains, exchanging an eye roll with Dwalin as they watched Bofur and Bombur hassle. She gripped her hands at her sides. Tomorrow, with or without Gandalf, I'm gonna try again...and this time, I'll show him that I can be persuasive. She was done being intimidated by a man almost a foot shorter than her.
She was better than this. She can be scary when she wanted to be.
Satisfied with her own decision, Maia remembered she had to go get Lori. It's already been a while since Dori went to get her and his brother. Walking out the farmhouse and away from the rambunctious male dwarves, she treaded through the grass in the right direction, hoping her sister wasn't still pouting. It wasn't like the little girl gave her a choice; Lori had been acting unfair around everyone, despite her defense for the elves. It was either a timeout for the kid or risk getting kicked out the Company's presence by Thorin, which they couldn't afford now that Gandalf was absent at the moment.
She didn't get far when, to her surprise, she found Dori and Nori searching around a huge boulder with a tree and grass embedded over its surface, blocking part of the forest.
"...years of keeping an open eye in stealth," Dori hissed at Nori as he peered across the forest, while Nori climbed on the boulder to search its top, their backs turned to her. "Years of spying, thieving, and sneaking! Of all your clandestine expertise, you couldn't even keep an eye on a little bairn if your life depended on it! This is why I never trusted you with Ori!"
"She said she had to go!" Nori hissed back, his pride clearly wounded enough already. "What was I supposed to do….?"
"Hey, guys!" called Maia.
Both dwarves jumped around. Nori jumped off the boulder. Both looked pale and wide-eyed. "Miss Maia!" greeted Dori, stiffly nodding.
Maia stopped walking, glancing at both of them, before trying to seek out the little form of her sister. "Everybody's eating without y'all, and Bombur's hogging seconds if you don't hurry," she told them, currently peering over their heads. When there was no sign of Lori at all, a nervous shudder went through her. "Where's Lori?"
"Erm..." Nori shuffled, his usual slyness totally wiped away, and Dori chuckled nervously, before shooting a glare at his younger brother. "Yes, brother mine, where is little Miss Lori, pray tell?"
Nori eyed him sideways murderously, before clearing his throat and straightening up, fingering his three-tailed beard when facing Maia, trying to stay cool and collected. Facing his own older brother's wrath was one thing, but better his brother than the wrath of a dame, dwarf or not. "Right. See, the thing is, lass...now don't get too excited, but I believe a certain little missus took it upon herself to have a little fun on her own..."
"You lost Lori?!" said Maia, incredulously.
Nori smiled sheepishly. "In my defense, I think the little 'un got herself lost," he said weakly. Dori groaned and slapped a hand over his face.
Maia eyed at either of them, and then chuckled a little, expecting it to be a joke. When their expressions didn't change, her face slowly fell.
Cold panic seized her frame. "Are you freaking kidding me?" she exclaimed in disbelief. She pointed at Nori. "How can you lose her?! She was sitting two feet away from you! Were you even watching her?"
"She had to go," protested Nori, repeating the same excuse he told Dori. "Just got behind this boulder here, and was in my view, I swear, but she said she needed privacy and-"
"Why didn't you call me over? I could've taken her!" Maia groaned so loudly it sounded like a growl and stomped around the Ri brothers to try calling out for her sister out in the darkness, "LORI! Come on, Lor, if you can hear me, you can quit the rebel act and get your itty-bitty butt back here NOW, or you can kiss your dinner goodbye! No joke!"
When there was no reply, Maia shouted her name again, but was rewarded with silence.
"Shit!" Maia cursed, turning around and digging her hands in her hair anxiously. "Oh, hell!"
She has done this before, when they were back in Texas. She had only been a baby, a year and a half old and newly walking on her own two feet. She had disappeared into the night, up to the point when her whole family had been panicking, screaming her name, and her mother was crying, thinking something happened to her baby girl. Even her father had on the verge of breaking, normally stoic and cool, and while he was a good tracker when out hunting, finding a little wandering baby inside and outside their house late at night had been challenging. Two hours later, when Dad, Mom, Maia, and Kyle regathered in the house after splitting up, baby Lori showed all on her own, standing in the middle of the kitchen with a wet puddle around her feet, in her diaper and holding her teddy bear, staring at them with wide innocent brown eyes. Then the baby waved at them and pointed at the floor, saying her first real sentence at only a year old, "I go pee-pee!"
It had been one of scariest nights of everyone's life. Mom had broken down crying and held Lori fiercely, kissing her continuously, while Dad had wrapped his arms around them both, his eyes wet and laying a kiss on Lori's tiny head. It was a while before they moved, and seeing that her parents were too preoccupied with the baby in the living room, trying to recover from their scare, Maia and Kyle ended up cleaning their baby sister's puddle.
But this wasn't the Texan wilderness. This was a totally foreign wildlife in a world that didn't exist until weeks ago. Remembering the mention of orcs and possible other foul things that could be out here, Maia knew in her mind that this place was a whole lot worse. What she didn't understand was what possessed her little sister to go wandering around in the dark! She was afraid of the dark...unless this was one of those times when Lori decided to be brave.
"This is really typical!" groaned Maia in frustration, as she started heading back to the camp. She shot a look at Nori. It was his fault, after all, and hers for thinking that he was good with kids, after seeing him with his little brother Ori. "We're not done!" she said, pointing at him.
Once that was said, she ran back to camp to call for reinforcements.
"Dammit!" Kyle hissed, as he walked through the group of ponies, all tied to the shrubs of the forest and more small house ruins. Fili and Kili were right...or at least their counting was right. They were missing two ponies.
They had only been distracted for a few minutes. Kyle had gone to take a piss, but when he came back, he found Fili and Kili wrestling on the ground, Fili having his younger but taller brother in an armlock. Apparently, last Kyle remembered them all talking about was girls. Or dwarrow dams, dwarf women, to be more specific. It turned out that their women grew beards, much to Kyle's shock, shuddering at the thought of meeting a woman who grew an actual beard on her face and not imagining them looking attractive all at the same time. He couldn't even imagine how a male dwarf found that attractive, either, much less Fili and Kili. He also learned there were very few women in the race, much less children.
The whole conversation had been about women. Fili and Kili did not know enough dwarf women in their life to be excited about the idea of marriage, but they did tell Kyle about their mother. Dis, sister of Thorin. By their description, she had all of Thorin's colors, including his stubborn behavior and strength, but she was more open, feisty, and beautiful, of course. Most beautiful of the dwarrow dams. Even though her beard was barely more than a black wisp along her jaw, it was always overlooked.
I could dig that, thought Kyle.
Then they started talking about human women. Maia was one, of course, but she didn't count. Kyle described his own mother looking just like her, except she had Lori's eyes. Women were not rare in the human world like the dwarves, nor were the children. Apparently humans had better luck reproducing than the longer-lived dwarf race.
It was when they reached the non-beard topic and when Fili at some point started teasing Kili about his stubble that Kyle went to do his thing. During that time, when he had been near a tree, Kyle had heard rustling noise and brief whinnying of ponies. After that, he went back and found the brothers wrestling and had to break them up. Kyle told them about the noise he heard, sending the Durin brothers on alert, and the boys instantly went to check the ponies.
Fili was the one who counted and announced there were two ponies missing. Kyle went on ahead to take a closer look.
Not far behind the small herd he circled, he noticed something different about the scenery around him. The forest was still dark and creepy, the roots twisted like gripping claws, the rocks jagged, and the trees enveloping most of the space like moping phantoms clustered together, but it did not escape his attention that a couple of the trees had fallen, the long thick trunks completely tipped over.
"What the F!" Kyle gaped, trotting over in dismay to observe the wide set of roots torn completely from the harden soil. This all explained the crashing sound he heard while he had been occupied around twenty feet away. Considering the circumstances, if he didn't feel so spooked, he would laughed at the fact that something big and heavy and tromped its way through here, snatched up the ponies, and walked away while Kyle had his back turned, hearing the noises but ignored it. Hilarious. And now they were missing two ponies.
Were there giants out here? Monsters? Trolls? The forest was called Trollshaw, despite the dwarves saying that it was a name with no real meaning. But here, they existed. Kyle knew that much.
Meanwhile Bilbo had arrived behind Fili and Kili with two bowls of hot stew in his hands. Pausing to look at either one, standing still and stiff with worried faces, he asked hesitantly, "What's the matter?"
"We're supposed to be looking after the ponies," said Kili.
"Only we've encountered a slight problem," said Fili uncomfortably.
"We had sixteen."
"Now there's fourteen."
"Where's Kyle?" demanded Bilbo, the cold feeling in his gut returning with full force.
"Back here!" Kyle pushed his way through the crowd of ponies, his jet black hair a ruffled mess in the dark and his gray-blue eyes wide. "You guys better come check this out!"
Following Kyle, Kili stomped ahead of Fili and Bilbo, observing the number of ponies left and recognizing which ones instantly. His own and Fili's. "Daisy and Bungo are missing!" he confirmed.
Investigating the messy scene Kyle showed them, the large hole in the ground evident, the dwarf brothers started walking around the root tangles in silent astonishment, while Bilbo exclaimed, "Well, that's not good! That is not good at all! Shouldn't we tell Thorin?"
Fili's head shot up instantly, looking slightly panicked. "Er...no," he said quickly, clearly not ready to receive another one of his uncle's long lectures for his irresponsibility. "Let's not worry him. As our official burglar, we thought you might want to look into it," he offered the hobbit, remembering why he was here to begin with.
"Oh! Uh..." Bilbo seemed to think the same thing. An opportunity to be of some use to the Company, laid out at his feet, though he was no tracker like these three young rascals looking at him for his opinion. He gestured at the roots with the bowls. "Well, uh…Look, something big uprooted these trees..."
"That was our thinking," agreed Kili, and Kyle rolled his eyes. Duh.
"Something very big and..." His face paled when coming up to the midsection of the tree, which was completely snapped in half, wood shards sticking in every direction, "...and possibly quite dangerous," he finished nervously.
"No kidding!" exclaimed Kyle, staring at the destruction that hadn't been there less than ten minutes ago. "It looks like it was rammed down worse than a bulldozer!"
"Just out of curiosity," said Bilbo, looking confused, "how did this go by unnoticed?"
Fili shuffled back and forth on his feet, while Kili scratched the back of his head awkwardly. Kyle finally answered defensively, "Wasn't my fault! I was just taking a piss, and then I came back to find these knuckleheads puling each others' beards on the ground...well, beard."
Kili gave him a black glare. "Thank you, Master Kyle," he said acidly, while Fili sniggered, "for your unconditional honesty! Remind me when your beard comes, and I'll shave it off for you!"
Kyle crossed his arms, scoffing. "Is that supposed to be a threat? Lame. We shave all the time back in my world, and I am looking forward to it!"
Kili opened his mouth for a sharp comeback, but Fili tensed, looking deeper into the forest with alert. "Quiet!" he hissed. "Look, there's a light!" He beckoned to them, while kneeling by a log. "Over here!"
They crept after him, Kili pulling Kyle and Bilbo to their knees. "Stay down!" he whispered, and all four looked ahead with caution, crouched low.
As Fili said, there was a reddish-gold glow of light flickering through the tree trunks not very far ahead, barely shown through the mass of trees. From the light, they could hear an uproar of laughter and growling, sounding like the snort of an elephant or the cackling of a lowly scoundrel. Kyle was surprised he didn't notice it before. It looked like the Company of Dwarves weren't the only happy campers in Trollshaw.
"What is it?" whispered Bilbo.
Kili narrowed his eyes, a familiar spark that marked trouble lighting his eye. "Trolls," he growled, before he and Fili jumped over the log and charged forward without warning.
"Ha, I knew it!" said Kyle, nudging Bilbo excitedly before leaping after them. "Come on!" As he ran ahead, Bilbo started follow them, but paused to pick up the stew bowls before jogging after them.
As they went deeper into the forest, the light started to grow brighter. With Fili and Kili ahead of him, Kyle nearly tripped over a hidden bush in the dark. His heart paced as they came closer. Trolls! He had been right. But what did they look like? Were they really big enough to topple an entire tree?
When the two dwarves crouched near the side of a tree, a loud crashing noise of rustling trees sounded over Kyle's head. A large, gray form had started ramming through the tree, its heavy footsteps shaking the ground.
Kyle cursed, "Shit!" and lunged face-first onto the forest ground, out of the monster's sight, while Bilbo scurried forward and pressed back to the tree, shoulders quaking with fear as he kept hold of the stew bowls. Apparently not noticing them, the creature trudged on, knocking branches and bushes out of the way. When Kyle looked up, his breathing increased with tension, he caught a glimpse of the troll: large, over twenty feet tall, thick-skinned, lumpy-limbed, and completely ungraceful. In both of its arms, the shaggy shapes of two more ponies kicked their legs in a worthless struggle as the troll carried them towards the light like they were luggage.
After Kyle gawked after the troll, his adrenaline still pumping, a breathless laugh escaped him. "Ho, my God! Did you see that?" he whispered exotically like a pumped-up jockey. "Did you see that? That was a troll, right? A real, live, sick-looking, big-assed troll!"
Bilbo, however, didn't share the boy's enthusiasm. "And it's got Myrtle and Minty!" he hissed frantically. "I think they're going to eat them! We have to do something!"
"Ditto," agreed Kyle, getting back to his feet. When he looked at Fili and Kili, however, they were staring at Bilbo as he were their only solution.
"Yes!" Kili finally said. "You should!"
"Say what?" said Kyle, aghast. Did he mean Bilbo was going alone?
"Aye, it's perfect! Think about it!" Kili nodded excitedly and leapt to his feet to take a bowl of stew from Bilbo, before pushing him forward. "Mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small, they'll never see you!" he told Bilbo, who kept wagging his finger and shaking his head in denial, "M-Me? No! No, no, no..."
"It's perfectly safe!" insisted Kili. "We'll be right behind you!"
"Wait, wait, wait," protested Kyle. "What about me? Bilbo doesn't have to go alone! Why don't I go?"
"No!" said Fili, while Bilbo exclaimed, "Absolutely not!"
"Why not?" he argued. "I can be quiet if I wanted to! And you just said it was 'perfectly safe!'" Kyle quoted with his fingers.
Kili nudged Kyle. "Trust me, it would be a whole lot safer if only one of us goes," he said, "and we all know that Master Boggins here has the quietest feet!"
"Baggins," Bilbo and Kyle corrected.
"I said that! So, are we in agreement, or do should we must keep on delaying?"
"But-but..." stuttered Bilbo, as Fili took the other bowl and pushed the hobbit forward, causing him to stumble.
"If you run into trouble," whispered the blond dwarf to the hobbit, "hoot twice like a barn owl, and once like a brown owl!"
"And what are we supposed to do, sit back and eat bark?" challenged Kyle, feeling left out of the fun.
"We run to get the others, of course. You do not think just the four of us could take down a group of trolls, do you?" Fili whispered, reasonably. He added, "Besides, I reckon Maia would skin us alive if anything happened to you."
Kyle's eyes narrowed at Fili and opened his mouth. I really don't care what my sister thinks, OR the fact that you're trying to impress her with your so-called protective act, 'cause it's not working, pal! You're not even her type! he wanted to retort spitefully, but then shut his mouth. He had a better idea. Instead, Kyle shrugged his shoulders and looked in another direction, trying to look disgruntled. "Fine," he muttered, and then stood up. "I'll just go back to camp and be utterly useless, then."
"We'll catch up," called Kili, sounding slightly guilty as Kyle started to run ahead out of the forest, "and don't forget to warn the Company about the trolls."
"Yeah, yeah," Kyle answered, not looking back, and then disappeared beyond the outskirts of the trees. But when he reached the edge of the forest, the campsite showing in view on top of the hill, Kyle turned around swiftly and circled around a group of trees further to the left, keeping his head down. He pressed his back against the nearby tree, keeping still until he heard Fili and Kili pass by him to run to the camp.
Suckers. Kyle smirked deviously and then took off back into the forest, hoping to catch up with Bilbo, before Fili and Kili would figure out what he had done.
Making sure the boy went, Fili had nodded in satisfaction and then turned to Bilbo, who still looked unsure of whether or not to go, "Alright, remember: twice like a brown owl. Once like a brown owl."
"Good luck," added Kili. "Don't let them see you."
Bilbo gulped and nodded, determination crossing his features as he turned toward the red-golden light, whispering to himself, "Twice like a barn owl. Twice like a-brown? Once like a barn-Are you sure this is a good idea?" He turned to ask, to tell them that he could not hoot like any kind of owl anymore than fly like a bat, but found the Fili and Kili had already gone, following Kyle no doubt.
Taking a deep breath, trying to ignore the nerves trembled down to his legs, he crept as silently as a mouse to the camp. As a hobbit of Hobbiton, like many of his kind, he prided in be light-footed, practically soundless as he walked. Often, when he traveled with the dwarves, he usually grumbled under his breath, "All this dwarvish racket..." Even taller folk had walked more soundless than a dwarf's stomping. They are as loud as one can come.
When creeping closer to the camp, he heard the gravelly growl of a troll speak out, "Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrow!"
"Quite your griping! These ain't sheep! These is fresh nags!" the fat one announced proudly.
"Oh! I don't like horse!" groaned the one with the voice of a pipsqueak. "I never had! Not enough fat on them."
When Bilbo crouched in the nearby bushes, he got a better view of the camp. There were three very large persons sitting around a very large fire of beech-logs. They were boiling a very large pot of stew that bubbled soundly like mud and gravy, but smelled far less than toothsome. Also there was a barrel of good drink at hand, and they were drinking out of jugs...no, whole barrels attached with wooden handle that all looked to have belonged the legs of a chair. The utensils scattered on the ground were the same: the spoon bearing the head of a garden shovel, the forks made of pitchforks, and the knives made of scythe blades. They all looked suspiciously like...oh, mercy! They were farming tools. Scavenged from the ruined farmhouse, without doubt, that the trolls might have raided.
Behind them, Bilbo spotted the ponies, trapped in a rotted pen, whinnying helplessly. Alright, I'm coming. Keeping his head down, Bilbo crept through the bushes.
"Well, it's better than leathery old farmer! All skin and bone, he was. I'm still picking bits of him out of me teeth."
"Eh...ACHOO!" Mucus splashed into the cooking pot, and Bilbo's stomach turned. The trolls, however, looked less than disgusted.
"Well, that's lovely, that it," the one with the cooking spoon said. "A floater!"
"Might improve the flavor!" the Fat One pointed out.
"Ah, there's more where that came from!" the Pipsqueak said bright, and then made a phlegm sound, but was stopped by the Cook when grabbed forcefully by the nose.
"Oh no, you don't!" growled the cook, as the pipsqueak yowled in pain and protest. "Sit down!" He threw him back. The pipsqueak let out another sneeze in a dirty pocket rag.
Bilbo had already tiptoed near the pen where four of the ponies were being held hostage and started fumbling with the thick knots over the wooden logs without success. When the Pipsqueak troll turned, Bilbo twisted out of sight, hiding from view and standing still.
When he had turned, however, his eyes widened with shock when he spotted Kyle peering out from between a bush and a tree. He appeared to be alone, somehow escaping Fili and Kili's surveillance.
Oh, no! thought Bilbo with dread, helpless to not be able to do anything about it from where he stood. This was a sticky situation, indeed. He mouthed, What are you doing?!
Helping, Kyle mouthed back, eyes sparking indignantly. I've got your back.
Go back! Bilbo even waved at him violently and pointed at him sternly. Go back RIGHT NOW!
No!
Bilbo was forced to hold back a loud groan of frustration and just glared darkly at Kyle. He knew that boy's stubborn nature was going to drive him mad one day! He just wished it didn't happen when standing in the middle of a camp with three enormous mountain trolls.
"I hope you're going to gut these nags," said the troll with the nasally voice, Bilbo keeping low and out of his sight. He tensed as the troll reached for a pony greedily. "I don't like the stinky parts!" He yelped when hit with the cooking spoon, reminding Bilbo of Bombur being overprotective of his meals.
"I said sit down!"
With one finally gesture at Kyle to stay where he was and be quiet, Bilbo returned to hastily pulling and fumbling at the ropes without success. A flash of silver caught the corner of his eyes, and when Bilbo looked in the nearby troll's direction, he spotted a scythe tied at the creature's belt like a pocket knife. Perfect! Now, all he had to do was crawl over, be extra quiet-A wriggling movement caught his eye next the troll's rear end, followed by small muffled sounds. It was a burlap sack, tied securely in a knot, though by the frantic kicking within and attempted rolling, something-or someone-was trapped in there.
"I'm starving!" the fat troll complained, growing impatient. "Now, are we having horse tonight or what?"
"Shut your cakehole!" snarled the cook. "You'll eat what I'll give ya!"
A muffled scream came from the sack and a lump of what looked like to be a small foot kicked at the troll's left cheek with no effect. It was the squeaky voice of a small child. Bilbo's felt the blood in his face drain completely.
Was it-no! It couldn't be. She was back at camp. She was being watched. How could she be here?
The cold, heavy feeling returned with a full force, shocking him through the roots of his hair on his head and toes. Now he knew where this feeling came from. He prayed he was wrong, though.
The child voice in the sack started to scream again, sounding like a muffled, "Help!"
Trying hard not to panic, to jump and just start sprinting at the crying voice, Bilbo took a deep breath and braced himself to find the opportunity to crawl forward.
Fili and Kili had reached the camp at full speed, assuming Kyle warned the dwarves about the troll and expecting to find the company preparing to follow them to the troll camp. Instead, to their surprise, all the dwarves were scattered about the field, along with Maia, calling out into the darkness.
"LORI!" bellowed Dwalin. "LASS!"
"Miss Lori! Come on out now, little one!" called Dori, with Nori and Ori.
"Lori, lass!" called Bofur, with Bifur and Bombur in tow, his brother holding a bowl of stew. "We have a nice, hot stew waiting for you, lass! And my brother here's made the best yet!" It was a fib; the stews have been all the same lately, but they knew it made no difference to Lori. She must be starving.
"LITTLE ONE!" yelled Gloin, who searching with Oin. "This is far from humorous!" Then to Oin with a grumble, "If it were my child, I'd tan her hide for this type of behavior!"
Even Thorin was searching with Balin and Maia, who was the one who kept screaming out her sister's name. Maia was just on the verge of breaking down in panic mode when they spotted Fili and Kili running up the hill to them.
"What's going on?" asked Kili, looking concerned.
"Miss Lori is missing," said Balin, causing the Durin brothers' faces to pale. "We looked all over these parts, but we're beginning to suspect she ran into the forest. You wouldn't have happened to have spotted the little one anywhere, did you, lads?"
"No!" Fili shook his head, and then looked at Maia, his expression urgent. "Did Kyle come to you yet?"
Maia pressed her lips together, her hands gripped in her hair anxiously. "No, we thought he was with you. He is, right?"
Kili cursed in Khuzdul and Fili groaned, glancing back at the forest with exasperation, before at Maia. "He was supposed to meet up here with you," he explained, causing Maia's eyes to widen. Inwardly, Fili cursed himself for not seeing Kyle's strategy. He would have known because he had done many times before since he was a small dwarfing. Just act like you've given them what they wanted.
"Goddammit!" Maia threw her hands in the air and paced in circles angrily. "I don't believe this! First Lori, now Kyle! Those two are so dead!"
"You two will go search the forest," ordered Thorin, his voice rough. Only few like Fili, Kili, and Balin could recognize it as worry. "See if you find any of her tracks. And find Master Dainson, if he was not foolish enough to get himself lost as well."
"I'm afraid we are faced with more than one problem," informed Fili, hastily. "There's trolls camped not far from here! They have stolen four of our ponies. Master Baggins is pursuing them as we speak."
"Hang on! Trolls?" said Maia, her face draining.
Thorin watched them with narrowed eyes. "How many?" he demanded.
"Two or three," explained Kili gravely. "Could be more. We're not sure."
"Oh, my God!" exclaimed Maia, looking more freaked out than ever. "Lori and Kyle! They're still out there and there's trolls!" It explained the ruins of the farmhouse and the trampled grass. She didn't know what these trolls would look like or how big they were, but she knew enough about them in mythology that they were man-eaters. Above all, bad news.
Thorin growled, pressing a comforting hand on Maia's arm, surprising her, before marching forth to call the other dwarves in loud Khuzdul. Immediately, the dwarves were alerted and all hurried back to grab their weapons. Maia started to follow them toward the forest, when Fili's hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "What do you think you're doing?" he exclaimed.
Maia stared at him, surprised and annoyed by his reaction. "What's it look like I'm doing? I'm coming with!"
Fili growled unexpectedly, blue eyes blazing. "No, you are not! You are staying right here in the camp where it is safe! It's too dangerous! Let us handle this!"
Maia pulled her arm out of his firm grasp, her skin hot. "You're out of your mind if you think I'm not going to find my own brother and sister out there!" she snapped. "And right now, I'm done trusting y'all with my siblings!"
Her accusation didn't sway him. "Thorin won't allow it!" argued Fili, his voice rough. "I won't allow it!"
"What, because I'm a girl? I don't give a shit what Thorin thinks!" Maia replied angrily. Why was Fili holding her back like this? "He can't order me back. Not on this, and neither can you! I thought you understood!"
She turned around to start running after them, but Fili grabbed her wrist, his grip hot and desperate, while also too sturdy for her to shake off. "Maia!" he pleaded, his voice making her heart skip a beat despite her anger. "Wait! You are not even armed."
She watched as he dug into his coat and easily pulled out one of his throwing knives. He pressed the hilt into her palm and closed her fingers with both hands, which covered her much smaller one. Their eyes met, and Maia's pulse quickened when seeing the firmness in his blue that looked very much like Thorin's.
"You remember our practices?"
She nodded. During their nights hanging out together, they had also involved knife-throwing.
"Use this when necessary," said Fili sternly, "but you are to stay hidden with the Company at all times. You leave the trolls to us. Your first priority is Kyle and Lori, and then you three run back to camp as fast as you can!" His hands tightened. "Do you understand me?"
Maia tried to ignore the protectiveness in his tone and face, which was both sweet and annoying, given the circumstances. The most annoying part was that there was a small part of her that tempted to obey the Dwarf Prince's earlier demand. Him and his damn honey voice! But she steeled herself. She wanted to find Lori and Kyle even more.
"Fine," she said tightly, holding the knife. "Let's go, then."
As he knelt in the bushes, Kyle watched from the bushes as Bilbo went forward. Then he went back. Then he forward. And back again. "Come on, Bilbo," he whispered in irritation. "What are you doing?" This was one of the reasons why he went back. Bilbo was too safety cautious. Somebody had to help speed things up.
Finally, the hobbit slowly got down to his knees and started crawling timidly forward. "There you go," Kyle whispered. He could see the scythe on the troll's belt and figured Bilbo was going to use that to cut the ponies loose. Once that happened, Kyle planned to jump out and distract the trolls while Bilbo and the ponies ran.
Crap, why didn't I bring my firecrackers? They were in his bag back at camp. They have been stuffed in there for weeks and nobody, not even his sister, knew he still had them. They would have been the perfect distraction. He smiled when imagined the trolls dancing on their toes as sparks flew out under their big feet...though he wondered if it could affect that thick-plated rhino skin of theirs.
These trolls were like dinosaurs, only with the shape of giant people with pudgy faces, beady eyes, fat limbs, and pure lack of hygiene. It had been even more surprising that these trolls could speak normal. Well, almost normal. They actually spoke like slowwitted hobos with improper language and manners.
Kyle just hoped they looked what they seemed, because if he was going to distract them...
A large hand clapped over his mouth and yanked him back. While he was pulled back into the forest, Kyle's noise was muffled when he found that he was held by Dwalin, and that he was facing a group of bearded faces, not looking very happy at all, Thorin in front of them with his sword ready. Maia was with them, looking extremely pissed, looking scarier with a knife in her hand.
Everyone had their weapons ready. Is this part when I should start begging for my life? he thought uneasily.
"How come he's the cook?" growled the fat troll. "Everything tastes the same! Everything tastes like chicken!"
"Except the chicken," the nasally troll added.
"What tastes like fish!"
"I'm just saying," the cooking troll said loudly, "a little appreciation would be nice."
The horses neighed, the bag screamed, and Bilbo froze. The troll had paused for a moment...and then continued stirring the stew. "'Thank you very much, Bert,'" he mimicked. "'Lovely stew, Bert!' How hard is that, eh?"
Bilbo kept shushing the ponies as he crawled forward. His hand had impulsively picked up something rough, he realized it was the bone of a sheep carcass. He fought the urge to cry out as he tossed it back...and then froze when the hand of the nearby trolls reached in his direction. His heart beat faster when the hand hovered over his curly head, nearly brushing over it, only to move to his left and pick up the nearby jug next to the cook, who called himself Bert.
"Hm, just needs a sprinkle of squirrel dung! HERE, that's MY grog!" snapped Bert, menacingly.
Nasally Pipsqueak troll whimpered sheepishly and put the jug down. "Sorry. OW!" The spoon hit him right in the nose with enough force for him to roll back heavily. The ground trembled under the mound of lump. Bilbo's arm went to his mouth to cover his horrified gasp when the sack disappeared under the weight of the beast. Images of a crushed bloody bag filled Bilbo's mind like a living night terror, barely giving him asthma...until the troll sat up and the occupied burlap sack remained untouched. Bilbo let out a breath in relief. The bag whimpered, shifting slightly.
I'm coming, I'm coming, he thought, clenching his jaw. No time for more hesitation. He had to move quickly. As the trolls focused on Bert sipping the stew, Bilbo launched to his feet and hastily tiptoed to the other side, reaching the sack.
"Ooh," Bert sighed in satisfaction, after taking his taste. "That is beautifully balanced, that is." He then tipped a spoonful to other troll's lips, who slurped up the meal soundly. "Laugh your laughing gear around that, eh? Good, e'nt it? Heh heh heh. That's why I'm the cook!"
Bilbo knelt next to the bag. The occupant inside froze, the breathing within quickening with fear. Chest stirring with pity, his heart screaming about who could possibly be trapped in the bag, he started untying the knot and finally got it open. Just as he expected to his horror, a little dark head burst out of the back, almost hitting his face, and would have shrieked if Bilbo didn't clap his hand over the open mouth and pulled the little person back down at kneeling height. "Sh, sh, sh," he shushed her, and then gave a start in shock when wide terrified, puppy-brown eyes stared back at him. "Lori?" he whispered with a squeak.
Her black hair messed up and her little face streaked with tears, Lori gave out a whimper under his hand.
Not helping himself, Bilbo pulled her to him and wrapped her arms around her tightly, while she burrowed into his chest with breathless sobs. "Shh, shh," he shushed in her ear, stroking her hair and rocking her back and forth, hoping to Eru the trolls wouldn't notice. While she trembled in his arms, Bilbo couldn't help quaking himself.
How in all of Middle Earth did Lori get captured by trolls? How did she end up in a sack? Oh, Yavanna, what if the child had gotten eaten and nobody would have known what had happened to her? The thought was unimaginable and it almost made him sick right there. If Bilbo ever started having these hair-raising instincts again, the first thing he would do was make sure Lori was nearby in the future.
When he pulled back, he cupped her face with both hands so that he would look at him. "Lori, listen," he whispered very silently, trying not to show his nerves. "I need you be extremely quiet. If you see behind me, four of our ponies are trapped, and I need to cut them loose. I'm going to reach for this blade here, and I need you exactly what I tell you. When I get the knife, we creep back and you run into the forest, back to camp to the others. Can you do that?" She nodded. He smiled and patted her face. "Good girl. Now sit still and stay quiet."
While she obeyed him, Bilbo slowly stood up at the height of the scythe. First, he measured the size with his hands, finding a way to pull it out without cutting himself, before touching it...before the troll stood up suddenly with a grunt and Bilbo quickly dropped down to a crouch. Lori froze, hugging her bear, but was silent.
As the troll started to scratch his ass right above Bilbo's head, who looked away with disgust in his features, Lori smiled and covered her giggles with her teddy bear. At least she's recovering from her shock, he noted. For a moment, seeing her reminded him of himself at her age. Scared for such a short time, before recovering quickly and becoming curious of everything, especially when it was innocent.
When the troll sat down, Bilbo slowly stood up to try again. He began to reach out for the scythe when the fat troll grumbled, "Oh, me guts are grumbling I got to snaffle something. Flesh! I need flesh!"
Suddenly Bilbo was snatched into the air by a very large hand-larger than his own body-and then found himself facing a sneezing waterfall of troll snot.
His senses just went blank after that.
Lori watched with horror as Bilbo Baggins was snatched up by the troll, the hobbit let out a grunt of shock, and then gagged at the sight of the troll sneezing a huge mess of wet boogers all over him instead of the cloth. And she thought Scottie Gray (also nicknamed Boogie Gray) from preschool had the biggest, greenest, grossest boogers in all of the world. Ugh, troll boogies!
"WHAH!" A tendril of booger continued to trail from the nasally troll's nose, when he stared down at the halfing in astonishment. "BLIMEY! Bert! Bert! Look what's come out of me hooter! It's got arms and legs and everything!"
Bilbo lay there, unmoving and limp while covered in mucus, too stunned to react. His whole face was completely white and his eyes wide with utter terror. Finally, Bilbo seemed to come back to his senses and started to faintly move, trying desperately to roll away from the three trolls' curious ugly faces.
"What is it?" said Bert, peering at Bilbo blearily.
"I don't know," said the nasally troll nervously, "but I don't like the way it wriggles around!" He then threw Bilbo to the ground.
"Bilbo!" squealed Lori, running around the troll's legs and reaching the hobbit's side. She stared at the mucus and recoiled. "Ew!"
Bilbo instantly leapt to his feet and pulled Lori towards him, just when the big-sized troll loomed over them, pointing his knife at them threateningly. Lori squeaked and shrunk back to Bilbo's side, no longer minding the mucus. "Trying to steal our squeaky mouse, eh?"
"I found it first!" the nasally one complained, looking like he wanted to snatch her back up like before if she even moved from Bilbo's side.
"I'm not a mouse!" squeaked Lori loudly, pretending that her tone didn't prove a point.
Bilbo looked like he wanted to faint, but he said to the troll, shaking his head, "N-No, no! Not stealing! She-She didn't belong to you to begin with!" A lot of other things scattered around them looked like they didn't belong to the trolls, but he didn't dare point that out.
The knife didn't move away. "What are you, then? An oversized squirrel?"
"I'm a burglar-uh, hobbit!" Bilbo quickly corrected himself, his mouth dry while trying to swallow his terror.
"A burglarhobbit?" echoed Nasally, sounding fascinated. Lori would have thought that was funny, would have even thought of the book 'Where the Wild Things Are,' even all three enormous trolls didn't look down on them so hungrily.
"Can we cook him?" the fat troll said, licking his lips as his attention focused only on Bilbo. The hobbit, after all, looked like he had more meat on him than skinny little Lori.
The nasal troll grinned wickedly. "We can try!" He reached out to grab them, Lori screamed, but Bilbo ducked, grabbed Lori's hand, and both started running in the opposite direction-only to be blocked by Bert, who waved his cooking spoon in their faces and caused them both to back up.
"They wouldn't make more than a mouthful," he growled, eyeing them from head to toe, "not when they're skinned and boned!" He batted his spoon in Bilbo's stomach, causing him to stumble. When both turned around, they were faced with the more deadly utensil, stopping an inch from Bilbo's chest.
"Perhaps there's more burglarhobbits around these parts!" said the fat troll, nudging at Bilbo's body forcibly. "Might be enough for a pie!"
"Leave him alone, you big bully!" screamed Lori, who stumbled back with Bilbo. "Let us go!" The trolls only laughed at her squeaky voice, sounding more like scratchy cackles.
"Ye hear that, fellahs?" sneered the fat troll. "The little mouse thinks its all big and feisty! They get tastier like that! Grab them!"
As all trolls came down upon them, Bilbo grabbed Lori, keeping their heads low as they ducked under the grabbing hands that only met thin air. As they kept dodging hands, Bert yelled, "Grab them!"
"They're too quick!" cried Nasally, who just blocked their path.
Out of sheer impulse, Bilbo practically lifted Lori when they ducked under the troll's legs. It was then that he shoved Lori forward as the fat troll managed to grab his feet.
"RUN, LORI, RUN!" screamed Bilbo, as he was yanked back until he was dangling high in the air, upside down by his toes.
Afraid for her friend's life, Lori was about to charge forward and scream at them when a hand wrapped around her mouth and pulled her back into the bushes. The trolls had paid no more heed of their "little mouse."
Lori turned in fear, but nearly cried with relief when seeing Kili's smiling face, while putting a finger to his lips for silence. He was armed with his sword, gleaming and ready in the campfire's light.
"Kili!" she whispered, smiling back.
He ruffled her curls and then pressed her further back in the shadows. "Stay down," he whispered, before crouching in position. His smile faded into darkened determination, but the light in his eyes never left. Lori can already tell he was planning to do something.
They watched with tension as Bilbo was hung upside down, his arms dangling and his panicked face turning red from the blood rush. The fat troll jabbed his knife at Bilbo with narrowed eyes. "Are there any more of you little fellahs hiding where you shouldn't?"
"No..." said Bilbo weakly, as his breathing quickened with fear.
Nasally troll stepped forward, jabbing at their "burglarhobbit." He's lying!" he sneered.
"No, I'm not!" cried Bilbo, his voice high-pitched.
"Nah, I'm not buying it!" The nasal troll then smiled evilly. "Hold his toes over the fire!"
Bilbo let out a whimper. Kili's jaw clenched and both his hands clutched the sword as the troll's legs blocked their view.
"Make him squeal!"
Kili had enough. With a growl, the young dwarf jumped out and swiped his sword across the back of the troll's ankle. The troll let out a high-pitched squeal, hopping on one foot to clutch his injury, but Kili only made another angry swipe at the foot, causing the troll to roll over on the ground.
"DROP HIM!" bellowed Kili, standing before the two other huge trolls, his small form blazing with dark energy in the campsite.
"You what?" demanded the troll, who held an astonished Bilbo Baggins.
"I said..." Kili twirled his sword gracefully with one hand before gripping it threateningly at them, breathing heavily with adrenaline, "...drop him!"
Surprisingly, the troll obeyed, tossing the helpless Bilbo Baggins unceremoniously at the young dwarf, who moved his sword out of the way in time to catch the hobbit. The burglar crashed on top of him, sending them both tumbling to the ground.
It was then Thorin Oakenshield charged with a yell from the trees, followed by the whole company of dwarves, their weapons wielded for battle. Though she had heard the stories and watched them train, this was the first time Lori had ever seen them in a real fight….and it was both scary and epic.
To Be Continued
Yeah, I'm mean:)
Believe me, I hate stopping here….in fact, I was going to add the action sequence here and stop when they're put in sacks…..but even I was just as impatient to get this updated, so don't hate me. After break, I've been a little slow minded lately and it doesn't really help with the writing. I've actually wanted to make this chapter look good, since I like the troll scene, but it's really the next part that's my favorite. I'll try to be fast this time.
So here's the basics I've focused on: Maia's getting bolder as protective older sister, Kyle craves for his action moment because he's just too damn impulsive, and Lori's moment of bravery leads her to being a damsel in distress, rescued by her heroic hobbit and dwarf.
On dwarves' side: twice two pairs of dwarf brothers have failed in babysitting the younger Dainson siblings, Thorin really cares for Lori's wellbeing despite before, and Fili get really protective of Maia but is forced to have some faith in her ability to protect herself and her family. Kili just got reckless there in the end, doing exactly what Kyle had been planning to do.
Bilbo's instincts from the beginning had been something a parent would feel when their child is danger, and I hear it's one of the scariest feelings in the world.
Review soon!