"Don't bother cooking 'em! Let's just sit on 'em and squash 'em into jelly!" one of the trolls bellowed as he turned the stake over the fire over once. Some of the dwarves were tied to the stake, their bodies in burlap sacks.
"They should be sauttéed properly, with a pinch of sage," another troll responded.
"Is this really necessary?" Dori asked as his sack-tied body hovered over the flaming bonfire beneath the stake.
"Ooh, that does sound quite nice," the first troll said dreamily.
"Oi!" Oin shouted from his position on the stake. "Untie us you monsters!"
"Take on someone your own size!" Gloin added.
They're only going to make it worse by yelling at them, Elle thought, biting her lip. Her own body was constrained by a sack, and she was lying on top of the pile of dwarves off to the side of the camp. Those (thankfully) not being slowly burned alive on the stake had been bound and tossed into a pile in the corner… for later consumption?
Elle didn't want to find out.
"Blimey!" the second troll shouted. "The sky's growin' lighter!"
"I don't fancy being turned to stone," the other troll replied, a hint of fear in his voice.
Turned to stone, Elle thought, recalling the legends she had heard about how trolls, when confronted with sunlight, turned instantly into solid rock. Perhaps…
"Let's jus' eat 'em raw, then!" the other troll shouted gleefully, plucking an unsuspecting Bombur from next to Elle. Elle flinched at the sudden movement, watching in horror as Bombur was held aloft, his braided beard dangling dangerously close to the troll's open jaws.
Several of the dwarves cried out in protest, but the troll didn't listen, his beady eyes fixed on the fat, trembling dwarf hovering tantalizingly close to his mouth.
I should just let him die, Elle told herself. It would make my job a lot easier anyways, if there were one less dwarf to… deal with later on. But…
She couldn't bring herself to do that.
"Wait!" she shouted, mustering all of her strength to pull herself up into a standing position. "You're making a terrible mistake!"
A silence fell over the camp, and the two trolls turned to look at Elle, Bombur resting just above the troll's now closed mouth.
"What?" one of the trolls asked, stepping closer to Elle. "What did you say?"
"I-I-I," Elle stammered, the shadow of the incoming troll darkening the ground in front of her. "I meant with the seasoning," she finally forced out.
"The seasoning?" the other troll, the one holding Bombur, barked. "That's rubbish, that is!"
"Shut up!" the other said. "I want to see what the lady has to say about the seasoning."
"Well," Elle began, racking her brain for the best way to delay the trolls. If she kept them occupied for long enough, morning would arrive, and they would be saved by the rising of the Sun. If she couldn't…
"Hurry up, then!" the troll shouted, raising her from her calculations.
"You see," Elle started, putting on her most innocent face and plastering a grin on her reluctant jaws. "I've trained with the highest of chefs in Bree. Have you heard of Sir Leopold? He is a renowned chef in that town, and he taught me many things in my time spent training with him," she babbled, making up the story as she went along. One of these trolls was obviously interested in cooking, and would, hopefully, take some interest in her senseless story about whatever famous chef she had just conjured up.
Or, at least she hoped he would. Which of course, he didn't.
"Quit yer' babbling!" the troll screeched, advancing on her. "Get to the point!"
"Right," Elle squeaked, her mind recalibrating. "You see, what I was trying to say…" she looked back at the dwarves trying to find a plausible reason not to eat them. To the trolls, they must have looked like bite-size, scrumptious nuggets rather than filthy, rude dwarves.
That was it. Filthy.
"You don't want to eat these dwarves," she said, scrunching up her nose a little bit. Reluctantly, she leaned closer to the troll and held a hand to one side of her mouth, as if they were sharing a secret. "They're infested with worms," she whispered.
"Worms?" the troll shrieked, stumbling backwards in horror.
"Yes, they're all infected with huge, nasty parasites," Elle continued, laying on her acting thick. "I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't," she added, shaking her head vigorously.
"Parasites?" she heard Oin yell. "Did she say parasites?"
"I don't have parasites!" Kili added indignantly. "You have parasites!"
Rolling her eyes, Elle gave the dwarves a significant look, hoping they would catch onto her plan. But they continued yelling and protesting, causing her to inwardly cringe as she watched the trolls look between her and the dwarves, a look of utter confusion on their faces.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Thorin kick Kili and Oin in the shoulders from where he lay in his own burlap sack. The two looked back at their leader, all at once understanding the plan.
"I've got parasites as big as my arms!" Kili said suddenly, forcing Elle to suppress a snort.
"Mine are the biggest! I've got huge parasites!" Oin added.
"We're riddled," Fili chimed in.
"Yes, we're riddled," Dori echoed from his spot on the ever-turning stake.
The trolls looked at the dwarves with an expression of new disdain. Then, one of the trolls (who seemed to be the smarter of the two) gave Elle a suspicious look. "What would you have us do then?" he asked, stepping closer. "Let 'em all go?"
"Well…" Elle trailed off. "It would be for your own health-"
"This ferret is taking us for fools!" the troll barked to the other.
"Ferret?" Elle repeated indignantly, bristling.
"Fools?" the other troll asked.
"The dawn will take you all!" a deep, commanding voice echoed from the boulders above them.
Looking up, Elle saw the familiar grey-clad figure of Gandalf the Grey, his staff having just cloven a large rock in two. Through the newly made crack in the boulder, the morning sun was shining, causing the trolls to stumble backwards in shock.
"The light!" one of the trolls shrieked, clutching his head in pain.
Both beasts moaned and staggered around the camp for a few seconds before promptly solidifying into rock-solid stone.
The camp fell silent for a good while, everyone staring at the bodies of the trolls in wonderment.
Once the last dwarf had been safely pulled from his sack, the company gathered together around Gandalf, who was performing a head count.
"Bombur, Bofur, Bifur…" the wizard counted. "Alright, we have everyone."
"It's a good thing you came when you did, Gandalf," Oin gushed, looking ready to hug the wizard in joy. "We were about to get eaten by those horrid trolls!"
"It's a good thing your burglars are quick thinkers," Gandalf countered, shooting Jasmine and Elle significant looks.
"But did it have to be parasites, Elle?" Kili asked, a look of mock hurt crossing his face. "I have a reputation to maintain, and pretending to be infested with worms doesn't help my image."
"Seriously," Fili interjected. "That was disgusting, Elle."
At the roaring agreement of the other dwarves (and the chuckling of Gandalf), Elle rolled her eyes. "You're just lucky I was able to think of anything in time," she argued. "I saved your lives, you know. You could be a bit more grateful," she said, unable to hide her grin. "Besides," she added in somewhat of an undertone. "It might still be true."
More roars of protest.
"You insult us, lass," Bofur laughed.
After the laughing had died down, Thorin strode over to Elle, his sharp, kingly features softened slightly. He clapped her on the shoulder, a forceful act that nearly made her knees buckle. "I think Elle has proven herself to be a valuable member of our company," he said, his ice-blue eyes meeting hers. Elle smiled back, her heart fluttering from the excitement of finally being trusted by the company.
What am I? Chopped liver? Jasmine narrowed her eyes as she watched Elle and Thorin gaze at each other, her stomach churning. Who freed your stupid ponies, you ungrateful dwarves? Sure, she had been the one to technically start the whole troll-dwarf encounter, but it was only in an attempt to save Fili and Kili from getting yelled at by their uncle for losing Daisy and Bungo.
And now Elle had the leg up on her. Instead of both of them being viewed by the company as strange, untrustworthy outsiders, Elle had now gained their support. And Jasmine was still stuck at the bottom, fighting to control her impulses and silence her instincts.
Elle was viewed as the smart, useful burglar, and Jasmine was still just the useless liability.
Normally Jasmine wouldn't have given a horse's head over whether a bunch of vile, probably-parasite-infested dwarves liked her or not, but for her plan to work, she needed them to trust her, or, at least for the time being.
Her plan? Kill the whole lot of them and stop their race from ever assuming control of the throne again. It was revenge, really, for what their kind had done to her parents all those years ago.
Elle's plan, she knew, was quite similar. As a dwarf herself, Elle truly did want to retake Erebor and slay the dragon. But she also wanted to be Queen, a title she could only earn by marrying into the throne. Thorin, Jasmine had deduced, was the most inviting candidate, and, she could see, Elle was doing quite well in seducing him. Once Elle had married Thorin, however, Jasmine knew that Elle planned to assassinate her newly earned husband and his nephews, meaning that she would be the only one left to assume the role of ruler of Erebor.
Elle had more work to do, and, as an inexperienced assassin, would have difficulty with the last stage of her plan, but as she had spent her entire life talking her way in and out of situations, Jasmine didn't doubt that the woman would have any difficulty with achieving her goal.
Jasmine only had one, very unplanned stage to her own endeavour, but wondered if she would be able to keep her cover for long enough so that she could wait for the right time to assassinate the royal line. It would be easy, with her skill, to kill off the Durin's, but it would be harder to find the right time to do so.
And there was something else that might complicate her plan-her relations with a certain dark-haired prince whom, according to the goal she had spent her whole life training for, she was supposed to kill within a few months time.
So we finally get a more in-depth view of why the two thieves are here, and what their plans are. I know Jasmine is a bit headstrong and slightly immature, but I write her that way to portray the social differences between her and "The Sage" (Elle). Each of them have their own strengths, and Jasmine's strength is definitely not talking to people is a very smooth way. ;)
Please favorite, follow and review so I know whether or not to continue! :)