The night started off clear and bright with stars. But as the hours passed the sky got as cloudy and muddled as my mind. By the time everyone woke up and we were on the move it was raining. And it wasn't a rain that was going to let up anytime soon. The weather was an exact copy of how I felt and yet it also felt cleansing at the same time.
Our company traveled in earnest for most of the morning. Several of them, including Bofur tried lighting their pipes for a smoke in order to warm themselves up. However the rain kept them from succeeding. Not everyone in our company had a cloak to use as protection and poor Bilbo was drenched to the bone. Luckily I had been able to pack my old scout cloak and it served as decent enough protection to keep me mostly dry.
Eventually, Dori spoke up. "Mr. Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge?"
"It is raining master dwarf. And it will continue to rain until the rain is done," Gandalf replied ever the wizard. "If you wish to change the weather of the world you should find yourself another wizard."
Rejected, Dori did not respond.
But Bilbo, always full of questions did. "Are there any," he asked.
"What," responded Gandalf.
"Other wizards."
Gandalf seemed to be enjoying this chat as he quickly responded. "There are five of us. The greatest of our order is Saruman the White. Then there are the two blue wizards." He paused. "You know, I've quite forgotten their names."
Bilbo nodded in acknowledgement. "And who is the fifth," he asked.
"Well that would be Radagast the Brown."
"Is he a great wizard, or is he more like you," Bilbo asked.
Gandalf seemed puzzled at the question. Most likely because in a very diplomatic and polite way Bilbo had insulted him. It took him a moment but Gandalf did have an answer.
"I think he is a very great wizard, in his own way. He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forest lands to the east. And a good thing too for always evil will look to find a foothold in this world."
It was quiet for awhile after that. Fili and Kili had made it a habit of theirs to ride with me, intent on making me feel welcome. And soon enough they had struck up a conversation with me yet again.
"What's that smile for," Fili asked.
"And why aren't you using the hood of your cloak to stay dry," asked Kili.
If it hadn't been for their looks I would have thought they were twins with as often as they communicated like this. I giggled. "Where I come from the trees are so dense the rain never makes it to the forest floor. For training we had to go to the very outskirts of the forest in order to know what rain was and how to fight in it. It's like the earth feels dirty and wants to be clean. It's a cleansing of the soul."
The young dwarves looked at each other before Fili asked, "Is it a fairy thing that you love nature so much or is it just you?"
I smiled even wider at his question. "Fairies are a part of the earth Fili. Just like everyone else is. We come from the earth and we must respect it in order to understand our place in it."
"If you say so," responded Kili and the boys began a different conversation of their own.
Once again things were silent, until eventually, sunlight started to peak through the clouds and the rain started to dissipate. It was then that everyone cheered in excitement. It wasn't until late afternoon that all of the clouds had returned to cheery white and sunshine was everywhere. That was when Thorin decided to stop for the day so that everyone could dry out their wet belongings.
The area that Thorin decided to use for the campground that night was an abandoned farmstead surrounded by giant boulders. As Thorin and Gandalf got down of their ponies and walked around the rest of us started to unpack the saddlebags and get a fire started. In the midst of all that though I overheard Thorin and Gandlaf arguing about something and then suddenly Gandalf decided to storm off away from everyone else.
Bilbo noticed as well it seemed because he yelled after Gandalf. "Everything all right? Gandalf where are you going?"
"To seek the company of the only around here who's got any sense," Gandalf replied walking away.
"And who's that," Bilbo asked.
"Myself, Mister Baggins," exclaimed Gandalf only getting more frustrated. "I've had enough of dwarves for one day."
As Gandalf walked away from the group I glanced back to where he and Thorin had stood talking. Thorin was watching him leave with a look on his face that suggested that he wasn't happy either. Whatever their conversation had been about, it wasn't good.
"Come on Bombur we're hungry," Thorin stated after a moment. He then glanced in my direction before walking away.
I quickly returned to unsaddling my pony with what little knowledge I had of them lest he turn his frustrations on me. It was then I overheard Bilbo start talking to Balin.
"Is he coming back," Bilbo asked.
Balin could only give him a look of bewilderment before both of them stared off into the direction that Gandalf had gone.
By the time that camp was completely set up for the night Bombur was just about finished making dinner for everyone. Fili and Kili had been sent to take care of the ponies for the night. I was given a bowl of stew at the beginning of dinner because Bofur knew that I wouldn't eat as much as everyone else. Truth be told, I was simply ready to sleep. It had been a long, and emotionally exhausting two days for me. As the others were receiving their bowls from Bofur I ate my dinner and watched an exchange between Bilbo and Bofur.
"He's been a long time," said Bilbo pacing back and forth in the frame of the farmhouse.
"Who," asked Bofur continuing to serve out bowls of stew for everyone.
"Gandalf," came Bilbo's reply.
"He's a wizard. He does as he chooses," Bofur stated as I walked up to wash my empty bowl. He took mine and handed Bilbo and I each a full bowl. "Here, do us a favor take these to the lads." As he turned back around he caught Bombur taking anouther bite of stew out of the pot hanging over the fire. He hit Bombur's arm lightly saying, "Stop it, you've had plenty."
Bilbo and I then headed off to take dinner to Fili and Kili, both of us smiling slightly at the exchange between the two dwarves. We headed into the small forest that was nearby, which was where Fili and Kili had decided to take most of the ponies. However when we arrived both of them were staring off into the forest. And when we tried to hand them their meal neither one of them would take a bowl.
"What's the matter," Bilbo asked.
Kili was the first to respond. "We're supposed to be looking after the ponies."
Fili continued. "Only we've encountered a slight problem."
Again Kili spoke up. "We had sixteen ponies."
And again, Fili finished for him. "Now there's fourteen.
Bilbo and I decided to help the brothers look for the ponies. After a few short minutes I came to a conclusion.
"Daisy and Bongo are missing," I said trying to catch up to Kili as he walked by me. Even though dwarves are typically short, and so are hobbits, I was still only a few inches taller than Bilbo, which made me shorter than all of the dwarves in the company.
"Well, that's not good," Bilbo responded walking with Fili. "That is not good at all. Shouldn't we tell Thorin?"
"Uh, no. Let's not worry him," Fili answered. "As our official burglar and resident fairy we thought you two might like to look into it."
My head told me to say no because of how exhausted I was but my heart knew that this would give me an opportunity to prove myself to everyone in the company. I nodded my agreement
Bilbo wasn't as thrilled with the idea. But he did step up and start deducing what had happened. "It looks like something big uprooted these trees," he said walking to a nearby overturned tree.
"That was our thinking," Kili responded.
"Something very big, and possibly quite dangerous," Bilbo stated. I could see that he was starting to get cold feet about the whole idea. That was when I noticed something a few yards away from where we stood.
"Hey, there's a light," I said waving the boys over to the log I was crouching behind.
Within moments Fili and Kili were heading that way and Bilbo and I had no choice but to follow. About halfway to the source of the light we all stopped behind another fallen log to hide. It was then we heard a noise like someone clearing their throat, followed by laughter.
"What is it," Bilbo asked.
"Trolls," answered Kili quickly getting up and heading even closer to the light source.
Fili, Bilbo and I quickly followed, although Bilbo almost turned back to grab the bowls he had left behind but I grabbed his sleeve and wouldn't let him. This was more important than dinner. Just as we were about to see what it was we really were dealing with, Fili suddenly grabbed me and held onto me as we hid behind a tree. Good thing he did because a moment later a giant troll walked by carrying two more of our ponies.
As he walked by Bilbo peered out from his hiding spot and quickly became frustrated. "He's got Myrtle and Mindy!" Bilbo sighed realizing that the problem was getting worse.
"I think they're going to eat them. We have to do something," Bilbo said looking at Fili, Kili and I in earnest.
Fili and Kili both nodded in agreement. "Yes, you should," Kili said grabbing Bilbo and moving behind him to see which direction the troll was going.
"Mountain trolls are slow and stupid. And the two of you are so small they'll never see you," Kili continued.
Bilbo however, was not agreeing to this plan in the slightest. As Kili had been talking he has started to mutter no, no, no over and over again.
"It's perfectly safe," Kili stated. "We'll be right behind the both of you."
That was when Fili spoke up again. "If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl and once like a brown owl."
I looked back at the brothers. "Is it really because we're the smallest or is it because you're afraid," I asked.
They looked at each other, smiled then pushed Bilbo and I forward. I led the way towards the campfire that the trolls were using.
"Step only where I do," I whispered to Bilbo. I didn't know how good of hearing the trolls had and I didn't want them to know that we were sneaking up on them.
Slowly and carefully Bilbo and I made our way closer and closer to the trolls campfire.
As we approached we heard one of them say, "Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey if it don't look like mutton again tomorrow."
Another troll spoke up in response. "Quit your griping. These ain't sheep. These is west nags."
At this point Bilbo and I were standing in the shadows on the very edge of their camp site. The troll that had taken the ponies placed them in a pen behind where two other trolls were sitting, which made three in all. As if one wasn't bad enough.
That was when the third troll spoke up. "I don't like horses. I never have. Not enough fat on them."
Bilbo and I crouched down low behind some bushes and ignored the chatter the trolls were having while fixing their meal. Instead we looked to where the ponies were going crazy locked up in a pen so close to the trolls. Slowly Bilbo and I made our way around to the back of the campsite where the ponies were located.
Meanwhile, Fili and Kili had decided to run back to camp to get the others, bringing with them their empty dinner bowls.
"Where's Bilbo and the lass," Bofur asked taking the empty bowls. "I sent them to take you your dinner around a half hour ago."
"Well, we have a bit of a problem," Fili answered starting to get nervous. Even though he and Kili had said not to get their uncle, they knew that they couldn't get the ponies back without everyone working together.
"What kind of a problem," asked Thorin walking over to where the two young dwarves stood.
"A few of the ponies were taken by some mountain trolls," Kili answered. Immediately the group of dwarves started to gather their weapons to go reclaim their mounts. "Fili and I sent Bilbo and Nissa after them."
Now Thorin is a wise dwarf for his age, but he didn't take into account just how observant his nephews could be. When Kili had mentioned that Nissa might be in danger, Thorin didn't hesitate to gather everyone together and form a plan.
Once Bilbo and I had reached the back of the campsite we noticed that the pen holding the ponies was only latched shut with a thick rope. Silently and yet quickly Bilbo and I hurried our way to the pen where together we tried to lift it off. It was useless. The rope was way too heavy for us to remove. Luckily I still had my dagger with me. I bent down to my boot, where I kept it hidden, to grab it and when I stood back up Bilbo was gone.
I anxiously glanced around me. It was then I saw him slowly creeping his way towards a troll that had a knife of some sort stuck in his belt. I began to worry. At one point the troll closest to the pen was knocked backwards and I was afraid he would see Bilbo. Luckily he didn't. It was when Bilbo began attempting to take the knife from the troll that things started to go wrong.
Just as Bilbo was figuring out how to grab the knife the troll stood up and poor Bilbo got a front row seat to whatever was hidden beneath the loin cloth. The troll then sat back down. Again, Bilbo remained safe. But I knew it wouldn't last for long. As Bilbo began his second attempt at trying to steal the knife, the troll reached back and grabbed him.
And then proceeded to blow his nose all over Bilbo. I was about to run forward and attempt to rescue Bilbo on my own when a pair of arms grabbed me around my waist. Just as I was about to scream a hand covered my mouth. I started to struggle but then my captor whispered in my ear.
"Stop your struggling. We're here to help." It was Thorin.
As he let me go I turned around and saw everyone else there ready to fight for the ponies.
I then turned to Fili and Kili who were standing nearby. "If you ever bail on us like that again I'll slap you so hard you won't be able to eat much else than broth for a week. It's because of you Bilbo's in the mess he's in now."
Both of them looked slightly ashamed at what they had done but then Thorin spoke up again. "What's going on?"
"Bilbo's been..captured…so to speak by the trolls. He didn't realize that I had a dagger to cut the rope with and he tried to take one off a troll. It's hard to explain what happened. We have to get him out of there," I answered turning back to Thorin.
He looked at me with this weird expression. He didn't answer but nodded his head in agreement before turning to Kili and telling him to get Bilbo out of the troll's hands. The rest of us were to wait in the bushes. I knew that I wouldn't be any help on the ground so I turned to a nearby tree and started climb my way up. I could attack the trolls from up here better than anywhere else. Plus, I didn't really want the others to see me using my gifts.
As I was climbing the tree I watched Kili. He jumped out of the bushes and attacked the back of a leg on one of the trolls with his sword. "Drop him," he yelled at the trolls.
I climbed faster and started to whisper to the trees to help us. But as usual the earth was stubborn and didn't want to listen to me.
"You what," asked the troll holding Bilbo upside down.
"I said," Kili answered. "Drop him."
The troll then threw Bilbo at Kili who had to drop his sword to catch the hobbit. That was when the rest of our group jumped out of the trees and started attacking the trolls, Thorin leading the way. I was almost to the place I needed to be to make my attack but I paused to watch Thorin for a moment. He had been a fierce looking warrior when I saw him fighting in my vision the other night but he looked even more fierce in person.
I continued my climb. I wouldn't be of any help if I didn't. I watched as the dwarves attacked the trolls together. I looked for an opening and found one in the fight that Dwalin was having with one of the trolls. By now I had reached the perfect level for me to attack. I held my dagger in my right hand, took a running start and leapt onto the head of the troll. He felt me land and tried to knock me off but I was too quick for him. Before he knew it I had plunged my dagger into his left eye and pulled it back out again. However when he brought his arms up to cover his face I got knocked off of him and was flying through the air. I was bracing myself for an impact that didn't come. Instead Thorin had caught me and had taken most of the impact from the fall himself.
"Thanks," I said quickly getting up.
He didn't respond but simply rejoined in on the fighting. I looked around for Bilbo worried that he might get hurt and noticed him cutting the rope away from the pen so that the ponies could escape. As they did one of the trolls took note and began to make his way towards Bilbo. I wasn't about to let Bilbo get hurt so I made my way over there as quickly as I could. I thought I wasn't going to make it but just as the troll was about to grab him I knocked Bilbo out of the way and I was grabbed instead. I stabbed the troll's hand with my dagger. When I went to try and pull it out he moved me into his other hand. I was now weaponless and defenseless as he and another troll each grabbed an arm and a leg and held me suspended in the air.
I kept struggling but the lack of movement from two of the trolls is what eventually caught Thorin's eye. As he turned to look at my predicament so did the other dwarves and Bilbo. Bilbo looked apologetic knowing I was prisoner because of him.
'Nissa," yelled Kili trying to come to my aid. Luckily Thorin held him back fromding something stupid.
The troll on my right side, the one I had stabbed in the hand gave orders to the group. "Lay down your arms. Or we'll rip hers off."
I looked at Thorin straight in the eye. If I was to die here then so be it. The look on his face told me that he was actually considering not doing as they said. But then something changed in him. He took his sword, pointed it down to the ground and stuck it into the earth. I groaned inwardly knowing that this wasn't going to work out the way we wanted it too. Kili looked at his uncle incredulously, not believing that he was giving up. At the same time. I couldn't believe it either. One by one the dwarves all dropped their weapons, albeit reluctantly.
Soon enough most of us were tied up in burlap sacks while others, including Dwalin were being cooked over the now roaring fire the trolls had built. I wasn't sure if I was lucky or not but I had been tied up into a sack was stuck in the pile of dwarves my legs trapped beneath Bombur and Gloin and my head conveniently in Thorin's lap. I could tell he was uncomfortable with the fact that he was sitting as still as he could.
I looked up at him. "Trust me. I'm just as uncomfortable as you are."
He did not respond but turned his head away.
At that point we heard the trolls arguing.
"Don't bother cooking 'em. Let's just sit on them and squash them into jelly," said the one that had blown his nose on Bilbo.
"They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage," responded the one with a now useless eye.
"That does sound quite nice," agreed the first troll.
"Nevermind the seasoning, we ain't got all night," reminded the third troll. "Dawn ain't far away. Let's get a move on. I don't fancy being turned to stone."
That was when Bilbo spoke up. "Wait! You are making a terrible mistake."
It quickly grabbed the attention of all three trolls.
"You can't reason with them! They're half-wits," yelled Dori from his place over the fire.
"Half-wits? And what does that make us," asked Bofur, also roasting over the fire.
"I meant with the seasoning," said Bilbo, who had somehow managed to get on his feet and was hopping closer towards the fire.
"What about the seasoning," asked the half blind troll bending down to Bilbo's level.
"Have you smelled them," asked Bilbo. "You're going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot."
Immediately the dwarves started to argue with Bilbo. But I could see what he was doing. I just wasn't sure how to relay it to the others without telling the trolls as well.
"What do you know about cooking dwarves," asked the meanest of the three trolls.
"Shut up," said the half blind troll. "Let the flurgaburglurhobbit talk."
"The uh, secret to cooking dwarf is, um….The secret is to skin them first," Bilbo stammered out.
The dwarves started to yell even louder. Now I definitely knew what Bilbo was trying to do. He was stalling the trolls for as much time as possible until dawn arrived. I caught Thorin's eye and he seemed to have come to the same conclusion as I had. Only the others still didn't quite understand.
"Hey Tom," said the half blind troll. "Get me filleting knife."
"What a load of rubbish," said the mean dwarf who was also turning the spit the others were tied to over the fire. "I've eaten plenty with their skins on."
"He'e right," said the third troll. "Nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf."
He walked over to the pile of us on the ground and grabbed Bombur. While I was glad for the relief of some of the weight on my legs, I was still worried about what would happen next.
"Nice and crunchy," he said threatening to eat Bombur.
"Not..not that one. He's infected," Biilbo said reacting quickly. "He's got worms in his tubes."
It scared the troll enough that he threw Bombur back onto the pile, again adding more weight to my legs. They were starting to fall asleep.
"In fact, they all have it. They're infested with parasites. It's a terrible business. I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't," continued Bilbo trying to buy us more time.
Only Thorin and I knew that Bilbo was bluffing. The others were still too dense to what Bilbo was doing as they immediately started to protest what Bilbo had said. I looked Thorin in the eye with the hopes that my expression would convey that he needed to tell the others to just agree with what Bilbo was saying. He seemed to have gotten the message because he kicked Kili in the back. That was all it took for the everyone else to see what Bilbo was doing and they started to agree with him.
"What would you have us do then," asked the mean troll. "Let 'em all go? You think I don't know what you're up to. This little ferret is taking us for fools."
That was when Gandalf showed up. "The dawn will take you all," he yelled appearing at the top of a nearby boulder.
The trolls looked up at him and wondered if they could eat him to when all of a sudden Galdalf took his staff and split the boulder in half letting the sunlight hit the trolls and effectively turning them to stone. Leave it to a wizard to show up at the last possible second to save the day.
After Gandalf had defeated the trolls everyone started to laugh. I peeked a glance at Thorin and even he had a small smile on his face. But next came the arduous task of getting everyone out of the burlap sacks and down from over the fire. Gandalf quickly cut those of us in the sacks loose and the dwarves put out the fire before helping the others down. I wasn't of much help as both of my legs had gone numb so while everyone else was busy I rubbed the feeling back into them.
I was happy we were all safe and sound. But all I could think about was how tired I was from two sleepless nights. This next day was going to be even worse than yesterday. I could feel it.
