Early chapter, I didn't want to leave you all waiting.

Chapter Fifteen

Bofur was still trying to keep Bombur out of the rest of the stew when Fili came running into their camp, stopping for a second to place his hand son his knees and huff in a few breaths. As soon as he had enough breath to speak he gasped out, "Trolls!" Then sucked in another breath, "Took the ponies... went to check... both... told me to come." He was gathering his swords and Kili's weapons as quickly as he could as the camp exploded around him.

"What do ya mean trolls?" Bofur was hefting his mattock on his shoulder.

"Three, took Daisy and Bungo before we knew what was going on, then Myrtle and Mindy just after Baggins arrived." He was heading back as quickly as he could, "She made me come get you."

The entire camp was mobilized within minutes and following the young prince, but there was something within Bofur that was on fire. There was something inside of him that screamed that she just had to be okay. And if he stopped to think of it, it wouldn't make any sense. She may look at whole lot like his Bella did, but the spark still wasn't there (though something smoldered). However since that first night he felt that he had to protect her. And by the Maker he was going to do just that.

One thing about dwarves, when charging into battle, they were not the quietest of creatures. With twelve stampeding, it was unlikely that the trolls wouldn't hear them unless they were otherwise engaged. So when they were almost in the clearing, and Fili was tossing Kili his weapons, it was almost strange that they didn't have the abominations on top of them. Which squeezed Bofur's heart all the tighter.

So much so that he missed the signal to stop and continued to charge right into the glen, "Where is she?" thankfully the others followed him in his folly.

What happened afterwards was completely and utter bedlam. A flurry of axes, swords, knives and a singular sling shot. He would never be able to get the sequence right in his mind, just that he didn't see her anywhere.

It was official, stupidity was contagious and all of her dwarves were infected. Of course it warmed her heart a little bit more to Bofur's that he was the first to charge in, apparently to protect her, but couldn't they have at least taken in the situation before making things so much worse.

She'd never witnessed a fight quite like this. It was so much more violent than a brawl between faunts. She could appreciate Oakenshield's concern that she'd never truly been in a fight now. She would be useless out there against creatures so large. Perhaps if she had her crossbows, she would be able to at least be able to hurt something from the sidelines, however nothing was still long enough to aim.

The initial fear that she first had for her guests, if only for a split second. After that, she was in awe of the shear strength that they all seemed to have. The trust that they had to have each other's back. Dwalin and Thorin's acrobatic feat to save Ori. Bombur's liberal usage of his ladle as a weapon and doing quite a bit of damage with it. Ori's quick save of his brother by using his slingshot to hit a troll in the eye. Though, that is what caused him to need to be saved. There were some very lucky shots to very unlucky places. But, her favorite was watching both her father and Dwalin taking to using their weapons to break bones. They were the ones seemly doing the most damage.

She considered grabbing the knife that the trolls lost at some point and letting the horses go, but she realized if she did that they would bolt and they'd never get them back. Making this whole fiasco a waist of time.

Between one blink and the next, everything was over and her idiots were captured. Somehow two of the trolls had gotten there hands on Ori, again, and were threatening to pull his arms and legs off. Oakenshield tossed down his weapons as soon as the threat was uttered, and the rest followed.

What she truly couldn't believe was that they then started to strip down and got into sacks. They were certifiable. At least they took there good ol' time about it, but she didn't see any way that she would be able to get them out of the predicament they were now in. Thirteen dwarves captured and four ponies. With Gandalf no where in site. She didn't think she could get them out on her own.

And as if things couldn't get worse, they started tying several of them up on a spit. Her father, Bifur and Dwalin were some of the first. Followed by Dori, Nori and Ori. The ones that had done the most damage or annoyed them the worst during the earlier battle. The rest were piled up in sacs on the edge of the glen, and at least they were trying to struggle to get out.

As the trolls were discussing how to cook her dwarves, she was fighting to figure out a way to save them. When the one of them said something that gave her an idea, "Never mind the seasoning; we ain't got all night! Dawn ain't far away, so let's get a move on. I don't fancy being turned to stone."

Well, that may just work, along with the way her dwarves ran in looking for battle, with Bofur yelling for where she was, she may have a plan in mind. If she could stall them long enough that is.

Taking a deep breath, and straitening her jacket, she confidently walked in from the other side of the clearing and cleaned her throat, "Oh, you captured them for me did you? You have my thanks. This lot has been quite the problem as of late." Holding up a hand as one of them started to stand, "Though, if you're cooking them for dinner, you may want to consider some more spices, or even a good lemon rinse before eating them. Have you smelled the lot. Been tracking them by scent alone for the past few nights."

She fought not to roll her eyes a the cries of traitor and several slurs that came her way. Having already long decided that none of them had two brain cells to rub together.

"What do you know about cooking dwarf?" One of three growled at her.

She gave them a smirk, one that if Dwalin could see it for more than a moment on his turn he would have recognized, "Have you not heard of the Burglahobbits?" Grinning even more at their confusion, "Why we are the greatest cooks west of the Misty Mountains. Even the goblins have a fear of us, why my great-great-great-great-uncle, Bullroarer took down the Goblin King when he thought he could take our land. He was delicious I was told. Roasted with a bit of bit of mint and rosemary. Not as good as dwarf though. When they're not infected of course."

"What do yah mean infected?" The one that was doing the cooking picked up Bombur's sack by the bottom and held him upside down in the air. "Looks fine to me."

She was keeping an eye on the lightening skyline behind the three trolls and felt a bit of relief, "Figured this bunch was heading towards the Elves after I captured one a few weeks back. They must have figured it was to sick and left them because no one came looking. Barely made a meal it did. They must be desperate to be taking this road, leads right to the elves, thought I'd follow, elves make a wonderful meal. Best meat you know. Nice light bit of fat, where dwarves are all muscle." She gestured towards Bombur, "take that one, look at his size. He's probably the most infected of them all, and it's so very contagious if you don't cook them right. Though at this point it would be a lost cause, not enough there between the lot of them to even feed me for one meal."

Bombur is quickly dropped back into the pile of dwarves, which had gone quiet after Oakenshield had kicked the others. Maybe he could learn.

"Now those nags on the other hand, they look positively lovely and would go great with the sage you were talking about." But the distraction wasn't working as well any longer.

"What would you have us do, then, let 'em all go?" It stomped over to her and grabbed her before she had a chance to dodge, "You think I don't' know what you're up to? This little ferret is taking us for fools!"

"Ferret?" Well, that was insulting, she'd shaved that very morning, thank you very much.

Thankfully, Gandalf appeared on top of a large rock above the clearing. "The dawn will take you all!" Then struck the rock with his staff, somehow breaking it in two. The sunlight it was blocking spilled through and hit all three trolls at once. They immediately started to turn to stone, the one holding Iris, tightening it's hold on her, so that she was being held in it's frozen fist once everything stopped moving.

There were cheers from all the dwarves, though several complaints as well from those still on the spit.

Next chapter: Wizards, Wargs and Running