Firstly, I would just like to APOLOGIZE PROFUSELY for not updating in so long. I am really bad about promising I will, and then not doing it; I am so sorry! I wish I could update every few days like I see other fics do, but I just have so much on my plate right now, its difficult. I would rather give you bigger chapters less often than shorter chapters more often, if that makes sense. Unless you would prefer it the other way? Let me know if you do. I will tell you it is NOT from lack of inspiration; I am in no way going to leave you hanging like I did with An Unexpected Love. While sometimes this story, especially this chapter, gives me a hard time, I fully intend on finishing it! With that said, I am no longer going to say when the next update is, so as to not get your hopes up and then possibly not being able to meet the deadline.
I realize that these chapters have been very dramatic; I don't want this to be considered a drama, but we have to take in their situation and account for how they would handle it. It requires some extra drama. I do not plan on every chapter being this way; it's difficult to try to balance it. This is why some characters, especially Bilbo, are OOC. I hate that, because I really try to write them as they would in the canon world, but I don't seem to be doing a very good job with that. Hopefully you guys aren't tired of it!
Thank you to all who have followed/favorite/reviewed, on this story and AUL, it means so much!
I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter; I don't think I like it, like I said it gave me a really hard time (which is part of the reason it took me a lifetime to update!). Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy!
Roast Mutton:
"Bilbo! Bilbo, where are you?!"
Belladonna Baggins rushed towards the sounds of her screaming son, praying to whatever higher beings there were above that he was alright. Hobbits were not religious folk per say, but she'd be damned if she didn't plead to anything or anyone that might be listening to keep her baby boy safe while he was lost in the worst snowstorm she had ever seen. The cold air nipped and poked at her face like a needle used for sewing, sending shivers down her spine as she ran blindly through the snow. It fell in an uncharacteristic torrent around her, preventing her from seeing no more than a few feet ahead; her lantern was not helping in the slightest.
Bell could easily discern the roar of the Brandywine river coming from somewhere to her left, though the howling wind fought fiercely for attention, and she made sure to distance herself from it; she wouldn't be of any help to her son drowned in the river. A gust of wind whipped around her, and the feeble light of her lantern abruptly went out. Cursing under her breath as her eyes strained to accustom to the sudden darkness, Bell struggled to keep moving forward, towards the place she could hear her son's cries coming from.
"Mama, help me! Please, Mama, help!"
"Bilbo, it's alright, I'm coming! I'm coming, Bilbo, just hold on!" Bilbo's shouts silenced, and Bell felt a coldness sweep through her that wasn't from the weather. "I need you to keep talking, sweetheart, so I can know where you are. Can you do that for Mama? Bilbo!" When there were no answers to her calls, Bell felt the panic she had been so stubbornly holding back for almost an hour begin to take over, clouding her mind and threatening to consume her. She fought against it with the obstinate trait of her Took family, pushing it down and away to the back of her mind. It wouldn't do her son any good if she panicked.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' Bell chided herself; she should have been more careful. She shouldn't have brought Bilbo along in the first place. It had already been unusually cold when they set out that morning to visit her brother Hildigrim in Tuckborough, and that should have been her first sign to stay in the comforts of their home. Bilbo had begged to come, to see his cousin Adalgrim; Bell could not deny her son when he employed his best puppy-dog eyes and thrust forward lip. 'I really ought to learn to never look at him when he does that,' Bell thought to herself bitterly. By the time their visit was done and they began to make their way back, the weather had become absolutely dreadful. It started to snow, heavily, and Bell lost sight of Bilbo when his hand slipped from hers to play with the white stuff, and they became separated. She knew he would not last much longer in this deathly cold.
"Bilbo, sweetheart, answer Mama! Where are you?"
Stepping out between two of the sparse trees that dotted the surrounding country, her eyes answered her before her son could. The panic won its battle and settled itself in the pit of her stomach as she took in the sight in front of her. Bilbo stood on a frozen outlet of the river, his eyes wide and locked onto a small, white wolf. Bell's heart constricted painfully in her chest as her mind raced to think of a solution.
"Bilbo," she called as loud as she dared, temporarily relieved when terrified blue eyes flickered to hers before darting back to stare at the growling animal. At least he could hear her. "Do. Not. Move. I am coming for you, alright?"
Bilbo whimpered, and Bell scanned the ground around her, desperate to find anything that could be used as a means of defense against the wolf intending to hurt her child. Silently growling in frustration when she came up with nothing, she turned back to Bilbo, gasping when she saw that during her search the wolf had inched it's way closer to her child, and was now crouched, as though it were ready to lunge. Bell opened her mouth, to say what exactly she wasn't sure; anything to distract the beast, but before she could, the horrid animal leapt forward, a snarl on it's lips as it landed on the space in front of Bilbo. Before it could do more, the ice beneath their feet cracked under the added weight, and suddenly gave way, plunging hobbit and wolf into the icy water beneath.
Bell felt her heart stop and her blood run cold.
"NO!"
"NO!"
It took Bilbo a moment to realize that the scream was his own. It took him just one more moment, and then he was crashing through the brush, his heart pounding in his chest, before he realized it was happening. Fili and Kili were less than a step behind him, fear and panic battling out on their faces. Cursing Thorin's decision to shelter the ponies so far away, Bilbo was momentarily relieved when the light of the company's fire finally appeared through the trees, and he fell out into the open, startling the dwarves eating their supper. More than a few hands found the hilts of weapons as the hobbit sucked in a deep breath.
"Lenorah! In trouble...something..."
Bilbo cursed again as he struggled for air. Not able to wait for his father's breathing to return, Kili cut in impatiently.
"Lenorah's been taken by something, something big, in the trees!" He grabbed Thorin's arm, much to his uncle's surprise, and attempted to pull him towards the forest. "It took her, and we have to find her. We have to go, we have to help her!"
"Kili, calm down. Calm down I said!"
Kili huffed, but clamped his mouth shut at Thorin's demand.
"I need you to be calm; you will be of no help to your sister if you aren't calm, do you understand? Where was she taken?"
Pointing back the way they came, the young dwarf resumed pulling on the elder's arm; much to his contempt, Thorin did not budge.
"Thorin, we're wasting time!" Bilbo cried when Thorin wouldn't move, desperate for him to understand. "We have to help her right now; if something happens to her..."
The dwarf nodded his head sharply, knowing what Bilbo could dare not say. He gathered up his sword and ordered the Company to move out. They moved silently but quickly through the trees, weapons raised and ready for anything that might come. Thorin couldn't help but silently curse the young hobbit girl for being so reckless; he knew it was a horrible idea to bring her in the first place, and not even a month into their journey, he was being proven right by this mess. When they got her out of this mess, he should send her home; she had no place on this journey. A light up ahead diverted his attention from his thoughts, and he motioned for the company to slow down. Creeping ahead, he inwardly groaned again at the sight before him.
Trapped inside a large burlap sack sat Lenorah, only her head and the tears sliding down her face visible. It looked as if she had been thrown, not entirely ceremoniously, onto the ground at the base of a tree, which she was now huddled against. A few of their ponies were nickering in a corner, tossing their heads in fear as they paced the makeshift pen they were also trapped in. Thorin felt his stomach roil when his eyes were greeted with three hideous trolls around a fire. A huge pot sat between them, cooking only Mahal knew what. The trolls were muttering to themselves, complaining about everything tasting like chicken, or something or other; they paid no attention to Lenorah's attempts to reason with them.
"Please, just let me go! I-I wouldn't make more than a mouthful, and I don't...I don't want to die."
Lenorah's sobs cut her off before she could say more. She knew she should be trying to think of a way to escape, but her mind was too clouded with fear. She wasn't brave like the dwarves, she wasn't a warrior; she was only a little hobbit. A little hobbit that desperately wanted her papa and brothers to save her. Lenorah closed her eyes, biting her lip to hold back another whimper.
Pull yourself together! Try and think, what would Fee and Kee do?
They wouldn't know what to do, they've never been captured by trolls before, she argued bitterly with herself. But they had played prisoner hundreds of times when they were younger, and this was sort of the same thing, right? What did she always do when her brothers wouldn't let her out of their makeshift jail?
Feeling slightly better now that she had a plan, Lenorah sat up, glancing at the trolls to make sure they wouldn't see what she was about to do. She opened her mouth, sucking in as much air as she could, when suddenly a hand was there, effectively muffling her scream. She turned, wide eyed, to see Thorin with a finger to his lips, crouching behind the tree she was up against. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him - maybe she wasn't going to die after all.
When he was certain she wouldn't make any noise, Thorin removed his hand and began cutting at the bag with his knife; within moments, Lenorah was free. He grabbed her arm and hurriedly but quietly led her towards the brush so that they would be hidden from sight as they escaped.
"OI! Just where do you think you're goin'?"
Before he could comprehend what was happening, Thorin felt Lenorah's hand being ripped from his and then a crushing weight around his middle. He looked up to find the shortest troll holding him tight, sneering at him; Lenorah cried out for him, dangling upside down in the grip of another troll as she tried unsuccessfully to get free.
"Lit'le buggers thought they could escape from us! But where did this one come from?" The cook troll leaned over and poked Thorin, and the dwarf swore as he felt his shoulder pop from its socket. "Are there any more o' ya out where ya shouldn' be?"
Thorin glared at the beast, his mouth a thin line.
"A silent one, eh? Or maybe 'e's just too stupid to understand us, whaddaya reckon, Bill?"
"You are the very definition of the word 'stupid', imbecile," Thorin growled, "and I will not be reckoned with by fiendish miscreants that couldn't discern a squirrel from a spoon if they were labeled!"
The trolls exchanged a confused look. "You what?"
"Hey! Down here!"
Hobbit, dwarf, and troll head alike whipped around to the source of the shout, and Lenorah gasped when she saw who it was, hope filling her chest.
"Kili!"
The dark-haired dwarf shot her a quick smile before turning his attention back to her captors.
Bill grinned as he made a swipe at Kili, only narrowly missing the dwarf. "Guess there was more of 'em sneakin' around, Bert. D'you think there's enough to make a pie?"
"Over here, you ugly brutes!"
Fili leapt out of the shadows behind the group, a snarl on his face. Then, one by one, dwarf after dwarf jumped into the tiny clearing on all sides, brandishing their weapons and yelling obscenities in a tongue Lenorah didn't understand. That was probably for the best, because if what they were saying was anything like Lenorah guessed, her father would have a heart attack.
The trolls attempted to follow all that was happening, but the quick and random movements of the dwarves only sent them shouting and stumbling into each other. Which meant that Thorin and Lenorah were thrown around, swinging through the air with nothing to hold onto but the hands holding them. While weapons hacked and poked and sliced, Fili and Kili weaved between the legs of the giants, disorienting the beasts and ducking away from the paws trying to nab them.
Thorin's mind was racing, trying to find a way to get himself and Lenorah out of the trolls' grasp. He considered biting, but their teeth would do nothing against the thick hide, and he couldn't reach the dagger hidden in his boot. He saw Ori out of the corner of his eye, fumbling with his slingshot as he cast rock after rock at the beasts without causing so much as a dent. Then an idea occurred to him. It was going to hurt like hell, and he wasn't sure Lenorah could even withstand such a fall, but anything was better than death by troll at this point.
"Ori! Their eyes, shoot their eyes!"
The young dwarf nodded sharply, only wasting a moment to gather his ammunition before vaulting a stone at the eye of the troll holding Thorin. The rock hit it's mark, and the giant squealed in pain, dropping the dwarf king to grab at his eye. Thorin rolled when he hit the ground, grunting when he felt his shoulder pop back into place painfully. Jumping up and deftly catching the sword Balin threw at him with ease, he rushed forward just in time to catch a screaming Lenorah as she too was dropped by her captor, who was now making a lunge for Ori.
"WAIT!"
There was a fraction of a second of silence, the entire clearing still, before a resounding crack brought eveyone's attention to a large boulder that was breaking apart. The beginning rays of early dawn lit up the clearing as the rock crumbled and fell away, and the trolls roared in pain as they suddenly began to change, their own bodies becoming stiff and grey.
The trolls had turned to stone.
"Well, I didn't see that coming," Kili quipped, staring at the still hand less than a foot away from him that had been making a grab for him not five seconds ago.
"You can say that again!" Bofur laughed, dusting off his hat and clapping the young dwarf on the shoulder. "But who was it that yelled?"
"That, my dear Bofur, was your burglar."
Gandalf smirked as the company whirled to face him, ignoring the scathing glares some of them sent his way. Bilbo rushed past him, forgetting any and all manners as he plucked Lenorah from Thorin's grasp and hugged her tightly.
"Lenorah, are you alright? Are you hurt, what happened?"
"I'm alright, Papa, just a little shaken," Lenorah smiled softly, though there was a hint of a grimace behind it. She didn't want to appear weak in front of the company, but she was struggling to keep it together. "I was going back to get Balin when one of them grabbed me. Nothing's broken, but I think I'll be a little sore for the next few days; that was worse than one of Great Aunt Donna's bear hugs."
Bilbo chuckled weakly, shaking his head and hugging her tighter. He allowed his racing heart to slow with the feel of his daughter safe in his arms. As soon as he released her, Fili and Kili were there to take his place, enclosing her in an embrace that had her squished between the two. The other dwarves turned away to give them their privacy, and Thorin pulled Gandalf aside, his face dark.
"Where did you go, might I ask? This little debacle could have ended much sooner if you had been where you were supposed to be," Thorin growled.
Gandalf raised an eyebrow, his mouth tugged down in a frown. "I am always where I am supposed to be, Thorin Oakenshield, and that is very well not at your beck and call! You handled the situation just fine without me."
Thorin shook his head. "What brought you back?"
"While your company was distracting the beasts and playing for time, our Bilbo came to find me."
"The girl shouldn't have come. She cannot protect herself and she serves no point on our quest."
It was Gandalf's turn to shake his head. "It is a little late to send her back now, and that is beside the point that if you were to return her home, you would lose your nephews and quite possibly your burglar in the process."
"Thorin!" Dwalin called, glancing between his friend and the wizard. "We've found a cave, we think it was their hovel."
Thorin nodded, sending Gandalf one last withering glare before ordering everyone to gather their things and move out. They walked for a few minutes before coming up on the cavern. A putrid stench wafted out of the entrance, making Kili gag.
"By Eru, what is that smell?!"
"It is a troll hoard, Master Kili," Gandalf chuckled. "They are not the cleanest creatures on this earth."
Kili suppressed another gag, pinching his nose to block out the odor. "I think I'll stay out here, if that's alright."
"Gloin, Dwalin, Nori, with me. Everyone else, rest up. We move out in two hours."
As Thorin led the way into the cave, Lenorah dropped her pack and fell against it, stretching her already sore body. Fili and Kili flopped down on either side of her, with Bilbo on the other side of Fili.
"Sleep, Lee," Fili murmured to his sister, handing her his cloak to cover up with. "You've had a rough night, it's alright. We'll wake you when it's time to go."
Lenorah smiled gratefully and closed her eyes, snuggling against his side. He watched as her breathing slowed, sighing when she finally dozed off. Maybe this had been a bad idea. They weren't even to the Misty Mountains yet and already his sister's life had been put in danger. It was too late to turn back now, and he would not leave his father, but he couldn't stand the thought of Lenorah or Kili getting hurt.
This is going to be a long journey...
