I am posting this chapter earlier than usual because I am not sure when I will be able to post next. As I said in my last chapter, I am really busy with school Please review!

I also want to thank Horserida for the review! And to everyone who are following this story!

Chapter 6

The next day, after have breakfast (cooked rabbit), going hunting (for rabbit), making new lining for my boots (from rabbit fur), and burying our rubbish (rabbit bones) we packed up our stuff and got ready to set off. As the dwarves shouldered their bags, I whistled loudly, three times, and Shadowhawk galloped into view only minutes later, his silver mane flowing behind him. The dwarves stopped what they were doing and stared, and I burst out laughing. When they glared at me, I realised this was the first proper time they had seen him; you can't really count the fight with the trolls, as they were probably scared out of their wits.

"Oh," I started, "Guys, this is Shadowhawk, my horse," Shadowhawk reared up and tossed his mane, whinnying and snorting. Then he pawed the ground. "He says we should hurry, that there are goblins on Wolves travelling by night behind us. They are about two nights' behind us."

"Wait," Dwalin asked, "You can speak horse?" he snorted and rolled his eyes and I glared at him.

"No I can't speak horse. That is exactly why I just told you what the horse just said! Are you stupid? Or just really dumb?"

From the back of the cluster of dwarves, Fili and Kili burst out laughing simultaneously. Thorin nudged them and they soon shut up.

"Stop gawking and start walking!" Thorin shouted in his low, gruff voice. I leapt up onto Shadowhawk, and slung my satchel into the saddlebag, along with my food and water supplies. Then we started on our journey out of trollshaw forest.

After hours upon hours of walking (or in my case: riding) with only a few stops for food and drinks, we finally made it to the border, separating hundreds of miles of forest from hundreds of miles of wasteland. I dismounted Shadowhawk, and we stared at the wilderness ahead of us. Every now and then, there were clumps of boulders and hills, but only a few. Thorin walked over to one with Bofur and Dwalin, and started examining around it, to see if there was a suitable place where we could camp. Fili and Kili scouted a couple of metres ahead, up the side of a small hill to see if there was any safer place, while Bombur ate the last of his travel food and Bifur started singing.

"Rhoewia!" Thorin motioned to go over to him. I patted Shadowhawk's neck, and he nudged my hand before cantering back into the forest. I walked over to Thorin and he pointed down below him, to where there was a hill, and then a small ditch, just big enough for a few dwarves.

"Go and check that out for me," he asked. "It might be suitable for us to stay in tonight, but it will only be a quick stop, as Gandalf tells me the Goblins are gaining on us."

I glanced at Gandalf, who had a grim look on his face, and kept glancing back at the forest. "By the looks of things, they will be here tomorrow night, so we must move on quickly. We cannot delay."

"I'll go, but don't get your hopes up. By the looks of things, you couldn't get thirteen – actually, I suppose I must count myself as a dwarf – fourteen dwarves, one gigantic wizard, and a hobbit in that ditch, but I'll try." I turned around and ran splat-bang into Bilbo.

"Errr… sorry, I… er…" he stuttered, and I laughed kindly.

"You were sent to help me?" I asked, "By whom? Wow, I'm amazed. I didn't know I was so much trouble I would need to be watched like a hawk by a little child." Bilbo went bright red and started muttering excuses and shuffling away, but I stopped him.

"Hey," I said, "I'm joking! You are not really a child, though I must say you are quite small. Come on then! I will race you to the ditch! Ha, see? I'm a child still!" I punched him lightly and then raced off. I closed my eyes and imagined I was flying as I ran, and as I got to the where I thought the ditch was, I turned around and opened my eyes. I expected to see him slowly jogging, with cheeks red with oxygen. Instead, he wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Gandalf! Thorin!" I shouted at the two figures in the distance. "Where is Bilbo? I cannot find him!" From where I stood Gandalf and Thorin's shoulders were shaking, and I panicked, thinking something was wrong. Then I realised what they were doing.

They were laughing.

Laughing. Laughing! I glanced at Fili and Kili, and they were bent over double, clutching their sides and roaring with laughter. I frowned, wondering what was wrong. Then I heard a small cough behind me.

I turned around, surprised, and found Bilbo looking very awkward and uncomfortable. I raised my eyebrows in astonishment.

"Wow," I started, "I take it your fast? With them feet?" Bilbo chuckled nervously so I let out a laugh to make him feel more comfortable. "Well, then, we best get started."

About an hour later, ten dwarves were nestled comfortably on the ground. It had turned out that the 'ditch' wasn't a ditch at all; it was a cave. Amongst them somewhere, was Bilbo, and the packs where to the back of the cave, with everyone's weapons. Fili and Kili were on guard tonight, and I decided to stay up with them. Gandalf and Thorin were talking quietly around the other side of the ashes that marked where the fire had been lit.

I got out my sword, and started sharpening the blade with a stone that I picked up from the ground. After a minute of silence, Fili started whistling a song under his breath.

"What is that song?" I asked Fili. It was eerie, but also strangely comforting.

"It is a song that everyone from Erebor knows. Or knew." He told me. "It is a song of old, sung by everyone. Until He came." I knew that He meant Smaug.

"I am sorry about what happened to your home," I told them, addressing both Fili and Kili. Fili smiled kindly at me, and Kili gave me a solemn nod. "I am sorry about my brother," Fili whispered to me, "He is upset to talk about this subject. It brings back painful memories. For both of us."

I stood up and walked over to Kili, sitting next to him. "I am sorry I brought this up," I said to him, "I should have kept quiet."

"It is okay," he told me. "I need to learn not to dwell on the past."

From across the campfire, Thorin and Gandalf hurried towards us. "There is something out there," Thorin said. "Get your weapons and hurry!"

I grabbed my quiver and slung it on my back, and strapped my sword belt around my waist. I picked up my bow, and hurried to where Thorin was standing, looking out.

"What is it?" he asked. I squinted into the darkness, and my heart stopped beating. There were lots of them. Too many.

"GOBLINS!" I shouted at the top of my voice. And the fight began.

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