Disclaimer: I don't own anything - Tolkien gets all the credit.
A/N: It's been a while but here's the next chapter! I definitely would love some more reviews so keep 'em coming :)
Chapter 6
Hilde stood off to side of the troll encampment as the dwarves gathered their clothing and prepared to move on. The ponies were nowhere to be seen and Hilde wasn't overly optimistic at the group's chances of tracking down the beasts. Gandalf stood with her, amusement clear on his face. "You enjoyed that, didn't you? Crazy old man."
"Now, now, my dear, an old man should find joy in the small things, shouldn't he? I've never had the pleasure of listening to a hobbit and trolls argue over the merits of cooking dwarf." The laugh in her father's voice brought a smile to Hilde's face and she shook her head.
The soft crunch of footsteps drew her attention away – Thorin, now dressed in his fine armor and fur coat, approached. "Where did the two of you go, may I ask?"
"To look ahead," was Gandalf's simple reply. Thorin smiled and glanced to Hilde, "What brought you back?"
"Looking behind," seemed the natural response and Thorin gifted Hilde with a smile, a rare thing, bringing softness to the dwarf king's features. Gandalf cleared his throat and knocked the side of one of the stone trolls with his staff.
"A nasty business, but still, we're all in one piece." Hilde glanced away from Thorin and looked to the dwarves in the clearing – joking and laughter could be heard and Hilde's relief to see Fili and Kili talking quietly on the far side of the group, throwing stone back and forth to each other, reminded her of the fear she'd experienced knowing the young ones were in trouble. This quest continued to get more complicated for her everyday it seemed. She did her best to not think on the worry she'd felt for Thorin, or how that worry had eclipsed all other concerns.
Thorin and Gandalf were talking quietly behind her about Bilbo's genius move during the "troll incident" and Hilde hoped silently that Thorin would eventually see past his original opinion of Mr. Baggins and give the poor Hobbit a chance. Hilde felt that, all things considered, Bilbo was performing admirably as a member of the company.
"…Not for an age. Not since a darker power ruled these lands." Talk such as this drew Hilde's attention back to her father. It was rather troubling to see trolls so far south, and the implications of this were far reaching. Thorin appeared concerned as well, "There must be a cave nearby."
After a short time, the dwarves had collected the majority of their gear from the campsite by the farmer's homestead and the brief search for the troll horde began. The smell was the easiest indication that they were near, though Hilde choose to remain outside, not wishing to see what nasty things the trolls had gathered in their time here. Standing back against a large tree, Hilde flattened her palms along the bark and closed her eyes, concentrating on the forest around her. The warning she'd felt, disappointedly, had not gone away since the encounter with the trolls – if anything, she felt the danger even more acutely. "We should not linger," she whispered, knowing that several of the company could hear her.
"There's no need to worry, my Lady!" Fili said with a smile as he walked up to her and leaned against the same tree, "Mountain trolls can't move in the daylight, so even if more are near, we're safe for now."
"It's not trolls that worry me." Fili eyed her with apprehension, glancing into the trees and placing his hands on the pommels of his fighting knives. "Stay on your guard. Something is coming." Fili motioned for Kili to stand with them, the younger of the two brothers clearly oblivious to the tension.
Thorin, Dwalin, Gandalf and the others emerged from the troll horde soon after. Hilde watched as her father spoke with Bilbo, giving the hobbit a small sword he'd found in the cave. He clearly did not sense anything amiss, which relaxed her – if only just a little. Thorin walked to her then – perhaps drawn by the worried look on her face, or maybe the fact that Fili and Kili were near – "What's the matter?"
"The forest. Something's coming, I can feel it." Hilde watched as Thorin glanced into the trees, much as Fili had done. He drew a fine elven blade out of a dusty scabbard before yelling "Something's coming! Prepare!" A flurry of activity erupted around her as her dwarven companions drew their weapons and ran to gather near to Thorin.
Hilde could hear the sound of branches snapping as something came towards them through the trees. Whatever it was, it was coming fast and directly toward them. Holding tight to her staff, Hilde cleared her mind, ready to launch into the battle. The trees gave one final lurch as a team of rabbits – huge rabbits – came into the clearing, drawing behind them an aging man on a wooden sleigh, "Thieves! Fire! Murder!" he shouted. The man wore a filthy robe, a wilted hat, and could easily be smelt from several feet away. The initial shock of his sudden appearance was brought to clear focus when Gandalf called out the man's name. "Radagast!"
An Istari. A Maiar. One of her father's order. Since she was very young, Hilde had been taught to fear meeting with one of her father's kind. Secrecy was of the utmost importance and Gandalf had warned her on many occasions that another Istari might be able to sense what she was, should they meet. Tensing with a gasp, Hilde glanced quickly to either side of her. Fili and Thorin were close to her right, Kili a little ways further off on her left. Moving silently, Hilde shifted behind Thorin and Fili, making certain that Radagast would not have a clear look at her. Thorin looked to her with questioning eyes, motioning toward the odd and unkempt wizard. "Who is this?"
"He is one of Gandalf's kind. An ancient wizard of the Istari. Radagast the Brown." Without needing to say more, Hilde watched as Thorin shifted to cover her from Radagast's sight even more. Seeing this, Fili also neared her, forming an almost wall of fur and dwarf between her and Radagast. The two old men were talking quietly, appearing ignorant to the rest of the company. The dwarves looked to Thorin, not sure what to make of the strange man and his odd gathering of rabbits. Thorin lowered his blade, but made no motion to the group to lower arms.
Whatever the wizards were discussing, Hilde could tell it wasn't pleasant. Gandalf's back was tense and an ominous wave of dread washed over her. Something was happening. Something bad. From her position behind two rather broad dwarves, Hilde couldn't clearly make out what was happening between the wizards, but it mattered little when the sound of a howl broke through from the trees. "Was that a wolf?" Bilbo said in shock, "Are there wolves out there?"
"Wolf? No. That's no wolf." Bofur said dejectedly, weapon at the ready, turning slowly to look out into the forest.
Hilde backed quietly away from the warriors and lifted her staff in front of her. Wargs. A dark shadow appeared behind Gloin and jumped directly into the midst of the group, landing on top of Dori. Thorin slashed down on the beast with his blade, quickly ending the creature. Before Dori could even stand, another beast launched into the clearing from the other side, approaching Thorin from behind. Kili raised his bow and shot an enchanted ice arrow into the creature's head. The front half of the beast turned blue and stopped in its tracks as Dwalin attacked the still creature with his axe, knocking it down with a swift strike to the neck.
Kili, even the midst of a battle, couldn't help but look to Fili with a huge smile, "Did you see that? It froze! Like ice!" Fili shook his head and laughed lightly, knives still ready to catch any other wargs that might attack.
Hilde glanced worriedly to Radagast, seeing his eyes trained on the frozen warg corpse. Possible discovery was interrupted, however, by Thorin's words – "Warg scouts! An orc pack can't be far behind!"
"Orc pack?!" Bilbo's voice was raised in alarm as he lifted his little sword into the air, glancing from side to side.
"Who, other than your kin, did you tell of this quest, Thorin Oakenshield?" Gandalf asked with a yell, nearing the dwarf king quickly.
"No one!"
"Who did you tell?!" Gandalf repeated again.
"No one, I swear! What in Durin's name is going on?" Thorin looked increasingly agitated. Hilde stepped up then, standing next to Thorin.
"You're being hunted," She said quietly, though loud enough for the entire group to hear. "We must move. Now."
Dwalin growled from his place on Thorin's other side, "The lassie's right. We have to get out of here."
"How can we escape? The ponies are still missing!" Ori yelled, "They bolted when we fought the trolls!"
"I'll draw them off, Gandalf." Radagast said, walking quickly to his sleigh.
"These are Gundabad wargs, they will out run you," was Gandalf's dismissive reply. Hilde looked to Radagast then, seeing a look in his eye that spoke of confidence in his ridiculous rabbit-led sleigh.
"And these are Rhosgobel rabbits – I'd like to see them try."
Things happened quickly after that. While relieved that they were no longer in the company of the odd Radagast, Hilde couldn't find a reason to calm down. The implications of being around another wizard – even for just a short while – worried her… though, if they didn't get away from these orcs, it wouldn't really matter anyway.
Running was a specialty of dwarves – once started, it was hard to stop them. The company thundered along, Gandalf leading the way. Bilbo was keeping up, and if Hilde was correct, it appeared that he had to slow down for the rest of the group. Far away sounds of snapping jaws and orc cries kept even their slowest comrades moving quickly. Worried that Bombur and Bifur – the company's larger members – might slow everyone down, Hilde remained behind them, yelling to keep moving.
The trees cleared after a short time, making away for low rolling, grassy hills. Rocks jutted out of the ground every now and again, giant boulders that made for a tricky path across the plain. The group had to shift direction several times as Radagast raced away from a large group of warg riders. By this point, Hilde could hear many members of the company puffing with short breathe. "We can't keep this up for much longer, Gandalf." Hilde said to her father as stood behind a larger outcropping of rock, waiting for the right time to move on.
"Where are you leading us?" Thorin asked, coming up to the father and daughter. Hilde shook her head, looking to Gandalf, "I'm not sure."
Thorin looked to Gandalf with suspicion before grabbing Hilde by the hand, "Come, we have to keep moving." For what seemed like forever, the group ran and dodged the wargs, hoping to stay hidden until Radagast could draw them away. Luck didn't appear on their side, however, as a lone warg and its rider approached them over the back of a large boulder. The group waited, pressed up against the rock in a vain effort to hide. Hilde, tired of the chase, looked to Thorin and Kili. Motioning to his bow and whispering a quiet incantation, Hilde produced two arrows of stone. Worried that the dwarf might question the intelligence of a heavy arrow, she smiled at Kili and nodded. Thorin looked toward the boulder and with the briefest of nods, Kili moved to strike.
Upon releasing the arrow, Kili was shocked as the stone turned blue and flew with such force that the warg was thrown back as the arrow found its target, just below the beast's neck. The orc rider as thrown from his seat, but still was able to reach for his horn to call for aide. Just as the horn rang clear, Kili drew another arrow and watched with morbid fascination as the orc's head separated from its shoulders with the force of the arrow.
"We must move. They will have heard that." Gandalf said as he spurred the group further on. The surrounding hills were covered with at least a dozen wargs, some with riders, others without. They circled the dwarven company ominously, closing in at a steady pace.
"Kili! Shoot them!" Thorin shouted as he readied for battle. Even without enchanted arrows, Kili was able to take down several of the enemy with deadly accuracy. A few wargs broke off from the main group and attacked – Thorin took down one with what appeared to be no effort at all. Hilde stood close to Ori as another warg charged them. Lifting her staff above her head, Hilde brought it down with a sound similar to thunder, bludgeoning the beast as Ori lifted his hammer against its orc rider.
"Where is Gandalf?" Hilde heard one of the dwarves say in a panic. "He's abandoned us!" Turning around to the rest of the company Hilde felt a tingle in the air – they were at the Hidden Pass. Of course – frustrated that she hadn't thought of this herself, Hilde ran toward the rocks just behind the group. "Come, you fools! This way!" Gandalf had suddenly appeared at the rocks as Hilde had predicted.
Seeing the wizard and what appeared to be a cave, the dwarves retreated. Hilde glanced around, counting the hobbit and dwarves as they careened down into the rock. "Thorin!" Hilde yelled, seeing the king standing tall, watching as Kili continued to fire arrows at their enemy, "Kili! Come on!" Fili was at her side, pushing her toward the entrance to the Hidden Pass. The wargs were closing in – they'd never make it to Imladris at this rate. The wargs would continue to give chase through the pass.
"Down, now!" Fili said with frustration as Hilde didn't move. Thorin and Kili were at the mouth of the pass now as well. Without a word, Thorin grabbed Hilde by the waist, took her staff in his hand, and jumped into the cave - Kili and Fili just behind him.
"They'll follow! Someone must stay behind to stop them!" Hilde said with a huff as she stood up, grabbing her staff away from Thorin.
"That someone will not be you." Thorin replied, drawing his sword again and looking up to the entrance of the cave. It seemed odd that the enemy had yet to pursue – but the reason was soon discovered. An elven horn called out from above, the sound of battle running down into the darkness. After the briefest of moments, an orc corpse fell into the cave, landing at the company's feet. Thorin reached down to the arrow protruding from the orc's neck, "Elves," he said with distain as he threw the arrow down to the ground.
"I can't see where the path leads!" Dwalin called out from further into the pass, "do we follow it?"
"Follow it, of course!" came Bofur's reply. The group quickly walked away from the orc corpse, Hilde and Gandalf bringing up the rear.
"Yes, I think that would be wise." Hilde glanced to her father, hesitant to say anything with their companions so close. "Trust me, my dear," Gandalf said with a wink.