~Rosie and I took up rooms at 'The Prancing Pony' that night, they even had hobbit sized rooms! In the morning, after second breakfast, however we had to leave, and by dinner she and I were in the middle of what seemed like nowhere.

Until we saw a bridge.

"Wait!" I cried, ripping a map out of my pack, I had taken the map from a frame in my home; "that's the last bridge...we're leaving the Shire!" I cried, jumping up and down and hugging Rosie, we probably looked manic, jumping up and down and cheering. We both ran forwards as the sun began to give his throne to the moon, the became colder now, but, we didn't care, we were making progress! We hugged each other tightly and smiled as we both stepped off of the last bridge and onto Midgewater.

Rosie now had the map and I watched her face fall "what's the matter?" I asked, coming down from my high of excitement.

"We're entering troll territory, Myrtle. We didn't bring weapons, we'll surely be killed!" Rosie cried, I rushed to her side and smiled. I grasped her shoulders and turned her to me.

"Hey, listen, my great-great-uncle Bilbo fought against trolls, he distracted them until the sun rose and saved a company of thirteen dwarves! He didn't do it with weapons, and if he can do it without weapons, we can do it without weapons. We're hobbits for goodness sakes! We can sneak around them if we want, trolls are clumsy and stupid, we could easily slip away." I assured, Rosie smiled and nodded.

"Alright...wait, how do you know all of that?"

"My great-grandfather Frodo told me some stories before he passed on to paradise" I said as we began to walk again.

~Two hours later and Rosie and I had been engulfed by trees, we walked slower, so as to not make as much noise. I held the map and smiled "look, Rosie, there's Rivendell! That's where all the elves live! My great-great-uncle Bilbo and my great-grandfather Frodo both had encounters in Rivendell, Elrond is the elf who established it, he's still the highest elf there today" I said, staring at the map.

Rosie nodded absent mindedly, she didn't care.

Soon, Rosie and I heard loud trees snapping, we both gasped and we ran deeper into the forest, away from the path. I shoved her to the ground behind a bush, where we both hid in silent wait for a troll.

We didn't have to wait long.

Four of them, big, horrible, ugly, stinking trolls. Their skin was a greenish grey and they wore dirty, greasy rags for clothes. Warts and scars covered their bodies and two of the trolls carried at least ten deer whilst the other two carried herbs and pots. Rosie and I barely breathed. One of them stopped on the road "Oy, what's the hold up?" Another one asked, turning to see his comrade stationary.

"I...smell...somethin'. I've never smelt it before, but it smells good" The stationary one said, Rosie grasped my hand and squeezed. The other three began smelling the air as well.

"Hey! I smell it too! It smells sweet, almost like a strawberry...I like strawberries." One holding the deer said, the one that held the pots smacked the one holding the deer in the head.

"Shut up! You're going to scare it away!" The troll with the pots said. They stayed for a few more moments before hearing something else move and hurriedly following it, Rosie and I hid for around twenty more moments before hesitantly stepping on the road again, all of a sudden I heard a deep voice yell.

"Now!" And I was picked off of the ground. Rosie screamed as she too was lifted from the road, I was too much in shock to scream. The troll holding me smelt me and smiled.

"It's this one! This one smells like strawberries!" I balled my right hand into a fist and punched the troll in the nose, the troll laughed and sniffed me again.

"Myrtle! Help!" Rosie screamed, her voice was horse with fear.

"Leave her alone!" I yelled, biting the troll's thumb that held me. He cried and dropped me, thankfully, I landed on my feet, when I did I ran into the woods and gathered some of the biggest rocks I could find, holding them close to me and running back to the road, all of the trolls were turned to Rosie, and tears streamed down my best friend's face.

She thought I abandoned her.

I put the rocks on the road and lifted the biggest one, taking aim, and chucking it at my friend's captor's head. He cried out and Rosie went sailing to the ground. She landed and I soon found all four trolls running after me! I climbed into the trees and remembered something my great-great-uncle Bilbo did when he saved all thirteen dwarves from the spiders of Mirkwood.

He sang.

"Old, fat spider spinning in the trees, old, fat spider can't see me! Attacop, attacop, won't you stop? Stop your spinning and look at me! Old, dumb, naughty, old, big, body, old, dumb, naughty can't spy me! Attacop, attacop, down you drop, you'll never catch me up your tree!"

That is the song my great-great-uncle Bilbo sang, however, I sang a different tune.

"Big, fat trolls wallowing away, big, fat trolls won't you come and play? Attacop, attacop, follow me! Follow me, if you can! Big, stupid, clumsy, big, old, nutty, big, stupid, clumsy can't find me! Haha! Attacop, attacop, you big fop, you'll never catch me anyway!"

I sang, laughing and jumping from branch to branch, causing the trolls to run after me, their big, sweaty feet torturing the ground with ever step. The rhyme wasn't the best in the world, but, it served its purpose, the trolls roared in anger and began pushing down trees as my feet left their branches, they were getting close.

Too close.

I gasped as the final branch came into view, I sighed and changed tactics. I jumped to my left, barely making it onto a large, fat branch. I knew I wouldn't make it long, the forest was only so big! But, I wanted Rosie to get away, she couldn't handle the pressure or the anxiety of being captured. All of a sudden the tree I was on...broke.

I screamed and fell to the ground, landing on my back, I coughed and hacked as I tried to get my breath back; all four of the trolls stood over me, grins on their faces. "Attacop, attacop...we got you!" The lead troll yelled, pausing between 'attacop' and 'we', obviously searching for a rhyme. I breathed slowly and then the lead troll lifted me from the ground with his pointer finger and thumb. "I've never smelt a being like you before!

...What are you?" He asked. I felt the fingers of fear enclosing me as I was held upside down and forced to hold my shirt down.

"I'm a...a...hobbit! I'm a lady hobbit!" I yelled, the trolls grinned, something that resembled and smelt like horse dung covered their teeth.

"Ah, hear that, lads? We got ourselves a lady" the lead troll said, all three of the others snickered.

"Yeah, I'm probably the only one you'll ever get...or ever have gotten!" I yelled, the three trolls laughed, but the lead troll scowled at them, hurriedly ending their laughter.

"Well, Miss. Hobbit, you're in time for a lovely feast." The troll said, throwing me up into the air and catching me right side up.

"What is it?" I asked groggily, my vision blurred for a moment and my brain muddled.

"You!" All of the trolls cried, laughing.

~I was stuck in a cage made of iron and wood, oak, to be precise. I was just glad it wasn't Rosie. I was yanking at the iron bars, hoping at least one would give way.

None did.

I retorted to banging my feet and head on the bars, hoping to either break free or kill myself. By the moon, it was around midnight when one of the trolls approached me, he carried a large, wooden spoon with something in it; he poured the liquid into a small cup (my size cup) and pushed it through the bars. "Try it" he said, his voice was higher compared to the other trolls "go on, I think I may need more salt, but, my taste buds have gone lame" his eyes gleamed in the fire light the other three trolls had built, this troll didn't look like a troll at all; he didn't look stupid or clumsy, he was different. I smiled and gently lifted the golden cup off of the ground. As I held it to my lips, I tasted ginger, parsley, saffron, cinnamon, rabbit, corn, and pepper; it did, indeed, need salt.

When I lowered the cup again, I coughed. "It does need.." I trailed off, all of the trolls were gone and the lid of my cage was open! "Salt" I finished in a whisper, glancing around, I saw no sign of them, then again, I didn't see them when Rosie and I were getting back on the road; this could be a trick.

But, what reason would they have to trick me now? I was caged up. Well, not anymore.

My curiosity got the best of me and I climbed out of the cage to find the words 'attacop, attacop' written in the dirt before my cage, above the words 'attacop, attacop' were the words 'come this way', above those words were 'attacop, attacop' and above these were 'don't you stray' again there were more words! The rhyme in it's entirety went like so:

"Attacop, attacop come this way. Attacop, attacop, don't you stray. Attacop, attacop, don't be afraid, attacop, attacop, I am only here to aid."

The words led back to the road where my fallen pack waited for me, I smiled and threw it on my back, only ending we me falling to the ground. There was something heavy inside, very heavy! I turned it around and opened it to find weapons!

Swords, knives, slingshots, arrows, a bow, and rocks were packed into my bag! But, who was the kind soul who gifted me these weapons and saved me from the trolls? Who could take on four trolls at a time without virtually making a sound? I smiled again and lifted on my pack, almost falling over, but catching myself on a tree.

I removed a few rocks and stood at the road in indecision. Should I go look for Rosie or continue my trek to Dale alone?