'Do you think our young hobbit will be joining us?' Bofur asked curiously.

I gave a small smile to Gandalf and looked back over my shoulder to the dwarf in question.

'I have no doubt' I replied.

My confident answer caused a small stir among the dwarves, there was a lot of tittering amongst them and eventually they started to level wagers at one another. I gave a small grin at their antics, sharing another glance with Gandalf until the dwarves decided to turn it on me.

'So, Red Lady. Care to place a wager on the hobbit?' Gloin asked.

Before I could answer, Gandalf cut across me.

'She doesn't have gold to wager, I however, will place ten silver coins on him showing up' Gandalf replied.

This caused a few hoots and jeers and I leaned slightly closer to Gandalf.

'You don't have gold or silver to wager either' I whispered.

'I am as confident as you are in our young hobbit' Gandalf replied 'What words of wisdom did you impart on Bilbo?'

I gave a small scoff 'More of a challenge'

'Oh?' Gandalf raised his eyebrows but he had a twinkle in his eye.

It only took a mere twenty minutes more and my ears pricked at the noise coming up behind us.

'Wait! Wait!'

The dwarves brought their ponies to a stop and I turned back as far as I could on my horse to see Bilbo running over, his hair was messy and he was out of breath. He headed straight for Balin and handed him the contract I'd left out on his table this morning.

'I signed it' Bilbo said, still panting and trying to catch his breath.

Balin took the contract and brought out his pocket glass, inspecting the signature before looking up with a grin.

'Everything appears to be in order. Welcome, Master Baggins, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield' Balin said.

The dwarves cheered but Thorin looked on darkly, his gaze passed over Gandalf and I before he gave a stiff nod.

'Give him a pony' Thorin said.

Bilbo's eyes widened slightly in panic 'No, no, no, that won't be necessary. I'm sure I can keep up on foot. I- I- I've done my fair share of walking holidays, you know. I even got as far as Frogmorton once - WAGH!'

Bilbo's speech was cut off as two of the dwarves rode alongside him and picked him up from behind by his arms and placed him on the spare pony. I moved my horse back to ride alongside him.

'As he said, welcome' I smiled 'What made you change your mind?'

Bilbo looked around at me as he tried to sort his reins out. I tucked a loose lock of hair back as I watched him.

'Well I uh….I guess I wanted to….uhm…..find out' He said with a nervous crook of his mouth.

I gave him a smile 'I'm sure you won't be disappointed'

I rode alongside him, Gandalf just ahead of us and Thorin and Dwalin bringing up the front with Kili and Fili. The rest of the dwarves hung back in single file or side by side. Bilbo looked so nervous and the pony tossed her head, jerking the riens in his hands and making him look so uncomfortable.

'You don't need to hold them so tightly Bilbo' I said gently 'Myrtle won't bolt'

'Myrtle?' Bilbo asked

'That's her name' I replied simply.

'It's a rather….undwarvish name' Bilbo said 'But I suppose I like it'

'Loosen your grip, you'll find she won't throw her head as much'

Bilbo did as I asked and gradually Myrtle calmed and that seemed to make the hobbit less uncomfortable.

'Come on, Nori, pay up' Oin called

Nori tossed a bundle of coins towards Oin, who caught it and then bags of soins began to be exchanged between the dwarves.

'What's that about?' Bilbo asked with a frown.

'Oh, they took wagers on whether or not you'd turn up. Most of them bet that you wouldn't' Gandalf replied casually.

'What did you think?' Bilbo asked with a slight frown.

'Wait for it' I muttered

Gandalf caught a sack of money tossed to him and puts it in his bag 'My dear fellow, I never doubted you for a second' He replied with a twinkle in his eye.

Bilbo's face however, screwed up suddenly and I frowned at him until he sneezed loudly.

'All this horse hair' He said, glancing at me 'I'm having a reaction'

Bilbo searched in his pockets, almost frantically before looking up, horrified.

'No, wait, wait, stop! Stop! We have to turn around'

Everyone halted, looking at the hobbit in shock. Gandalf was looking at Bilbo like he'd grown an extra head.

'What on earth is the matter?' He asked.

'I forgot my handkerchief' Bilbo said, as if that was the answer to everything.

I couldn't help but roll my eyes, I was fond of Bilbo, but he had a lot to learn about the journey on the road. Bofur pulled a nasty looking rag out of his sleeve and handed it to Bilbo.

'Here! Use this'

Bilbo caught it and held it, an expression of disgust on his face. I took the rag from him and tucked it into his saddle-bag before pulling one of my gauze bandages out.

'Here, it's not a handkerchief but I'd ager it's cleaner than that!'

'Move out' Dwalin called from the front.

'You'll have to manage without pocket-handkerchiefs and a good many other things, Bilbo Baggins, before we reach our journey's end. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you; the world is ahead'

XxXxX

We stopped to camp for the night near the edge of a cliff. As Gloin slept, tiny flying insects were getting sucked into his mouth every time he inhaled, and they were expelled when he exhaled. I was trying not to giggle at the sight but Bilbo watched with an expression of incredulity, before finally getting up and walking off. Most of the dwarves were asleep; myself, Gandalf, Fili, and Kili were awake.

I sat up when I heard the strange shrieking noise in the night and Bilbo came scuttling back over from wherever he'd been.

'What was that?' He asked

'Orcs' Kili replied, his expression dark.

Thorin, who was dozing, jerked awake once he heard the word 'Orcs'.

'Orcs?' Bilbo asked

'Throat-cutters. There'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them' Fili replied, his voice equally as serious as his brother's.

There was cause to be serious, I glanced at Gandalf who looked back at me, his expression grave.

'They strike in the wee small hours, when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet; no screams, just lots of blood' Kili explained.

Bilbo looked at me, fright in his eyes and I opened my mouth to give him some reassurance that there weren't any Orcs close enough to strike our camp at night. Fili and Kili started laughing then and I looked around at them incredulously for scare mongering Bilbo with what was really no laughing matter even though they obviously meant no real harm. Thorin cut in first though.

'You think that's funny? You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?' Thorin snapped.

The dwarf brothers looked away from him, submissively.

'We didn't mean anything by it' Fili said quietly.

'No, you didn't' Thorin snapped 'You know nothing of the world'

The dwarf King stalked off to the edge of the cliff to look out over the valley and through all his stern and possibly quite harsh attitude, I did feel sorry for him.

Fili and Kili looked at one another, looking a bit ashamed and Balin, who had obviously been disturbed by the exchange walked over to them and sat down with them. Bilbo sat down by me and glanced up at Gandalf who was perched upon a rock.

'Don't mind him, laddie' Balin said quietly 'Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got there first'

'The Battle of Azanulbizar' I told Bilbo 'Thousands of dwarves and orcs fought in front of the gates of Moria'

Balin nodded at me 'Moria had been taken by legions of Orcs lead by the most vile of all their race: Azog, the Defiler. The giant Gundobad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began by beheading the King

Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed, we did not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death were upon us'

I shivered, it was a rare occurance but someone who was feeling extreme emotion would sometimes throw out images in their mind and I would accidentally pick them up. The image of Azog raising Thror's severed head high passed before my vision briefly, coming straight from Balin as he relived the experience in his own mind. The emotion I felt from the old dwarf was heavy and I scrabbled to block it out but I wasn't quite successful.

'That is when I saw him: a young dwarf prince facing down the Pale Orc' Balin continued.

The memory passed through, as if I was there.

Thorin faces Azog; Azog swings his mace and knocks away first Thorin's shield, then his sword. Thorin falls down an embankment and lands on the ground, his face contorted in pain.

'He stood alone against this terrible foe, his armor rent, wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield'

Azog leaps to smash Thorin, but Thorin, grabbing an oaken branch lying on the ground, manages to roll away in time. Azog continues wielding his mace against Thorin, who is still on the ground, but Thorin blocks his mace with the oaken branch, which he uses as a shield. As Azog swings one last time, Thorin, grabbing a sword lying nearby, cuts off Azog's left arm, his mace arm, from below the elbow. Azog clutches the stump of his arm as he howls in pain.

'Azog, the Defiler, learned that day that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken'

Azog is rushed into Moria by other orcs; Thorin, yelling, rallies the dwarves to battle. They stop fleeing and return to battle, fighting ferociously. The dwarves now seem to have the advantage.

'Our forces rallied and drove the orcs back. Our enemy had been defeated. But there was no feast, nor song, that night, for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived'

The battlefield is covered in the corpses of dwarves and orcs; the surviving dwarves weep with one another over their loss. A younger Balin and Dwalin hug and put their foreheads together as they weep. Balin, still weeping, looks up and sees Thorin framed in the sunlight, holding his oaken branch.

'And I thought to myself then, there is one who I could follow. There is one I could call King' Balin concluded.

I shuddered as I finally blocked the horrific memory out and Gandalf reached down and clasped my shoulder. I had heard tales of the battle before but I'd never picked up a memory that was quite as graphic. I felt sick and shivery and I reached up to clasp Gandalf's hand.

Thorin turned away from the cliff face and towards the fire. The entire company had been roused by now, they all watched him with an expression of awe. Many of them there hadn't fought in that battle or had been too young to be there. I glanced at little Ori, how would his sweet nature remain if he had been in a battle like that, or Fii and Kili's mischievous ways or Bofur's optimism? They likely wouldn't be the same dwarves they were now.

Bilbo, bless him, broke the silence first 'But the pale orc? What happened to him?'

'He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago' Thorin spat.

I looked around at Gandalf, if the orcs carried him back into Moria, then there was no definitive proof that was true. The dark expression on his face told me that he felt the same and I felt a twitch of nerves.

XxXxX

Get ready for the next chapter! I want to get it out quicker than this one. I have no excuse other than the fact that I was heavily distracted by YouTube!

Setting a new rule now; No YouTube before Fanfiction!

But I will set a question. Do any of you watch YouTube and if so, who is your favourite.

Any questions from you would be most welcome, about the story, about me or anything! I'll pick my favourite to answer in the next chapter although I will try to reply personally to every review!