Disclaimer: Sadly, still not mine. :(

Chapter 5: Troll-Hoard

Kili glared at the Troll as it tightened the sack's cord around his throat. The group had been split into two groups, half of the Dwarves, Bilbo and the still unconscious Marie were tied into sacks, piled on a heap off to the side of the campsite. The others were tied up onto a spit, that one of the Trolls was spinning slowly over the raging fire, complaining loudly at the prospect of being roasted alive and then eaten.

He heard Marie moan softly off somewhere to his left, the noise came from near where he could see the golden crown of his brother's hair. She gasped lightly in what he hoped was surprise and not in pain as he suspected, he heard Fili consoling her quietly, telling her not to struggle against her bonds.

"Marie?" He called out softly, trying not to draw the Trolls' attentions to them.

"Kili!" She called out, her voice strained by panic. "Is that you? Where are you, what's going on?"

"Try not to move around too much, you've been out for a while."

He sighed as she immediately ignored him and struggled to sit up, still tied into her sack. She looked almost hilarious, all dirty and disheveled, dirt and mud smeared across her face and matting her hair into clumps. She took a moment to look around her, taking in their current situation. He noticed that her eyes seemed clear and alert and he was happy to see that she seemed unhurt from what he could see. She glanced his way, relief flitting across her face before she turned to the others being roasted over the fire.

Things were looking very bad for them indeed. Judging by the conversation the Trolls were having about the need to hurry before the sun rose Gandalf had limited time to help them.

"Wait!" Bilbo shouted suddenly from where he was squirming on the ground. "You are making a terrible mistake!"

"You can't reason with them." Dori called out to them as he spun into view on the spit. "They're halfwits!"

"Halfwits?" Bofur asked. "What does that make us?!"

'Complete idiots.' Kili thought to himself, angry all over again for having given up so easily, and frustrated at not being able to do anything now. Bilbo struggled up onto his feet and bunny hopped over to stand in front of the Trolls, successfully gaining their attention.

"I meant with the seasoning."

"What about the seasoning?" One of them asked as he stopped turning the Dwarf-kebab, face twisting into a sneer that did nothing for his looks.

"Well, have you smelt them? You're gonna need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up!"

Kili could hardly believe his own ears, Bilbo had turned on them! Cries of outrage rose up among the company. The Trolls had to almost shout to be heard over them.

"What do you know about cooking Dwarves?" The one manning the spit sneered down at him.

"Shut up." The one in the apron snapped at his companion before turning back to Bilbo. "Let this little ferret talk."

Bilbo gave the Troll a thankful nod of his head before he continued. "The secret to cooking Dwarf is... to... skin them first!"

"What?!" Kili shouted out, as he joined the others in their renewed efforts to thrash their ways out of their bindings. Shouts of curses, both in Common Speak and Khuzdul, and threats rose into the air around them.

"What a load of rubbish!" The Troll shouted over the din, as he resumed the turning of the spit. "I've eaten plenty with their skins on."

One of the Trolls jolted foreword, suddenly, grabbing Marie by the bottom of her sack and pulling her from the pile. "We may have to skin the Dwarves, but I'm sure we can eat this little human with the skin on!"

"No!" Kili screamed, thrashing about wildly as the sickly monster held her over his giant open mouth. He didn't want to see her being eaten alive, but he couldn't force himself to look away. Marie's eyes were screwed closed as tightly as she could, as she swayed slightly over the yawning cavern.

"Not that one!" Bilbo cried out. The Troll pulled her away from his mouth slightly, eyebrow raised in question to Bilbo. "She's infected! She's got worms... in her tubes!"

'What?!' Kili felt angry on Marie's behalf. Infected?! How dare that little Halfling! First he turned traitor and betrayed them all, and now he's accusing Marie of being infected with parasitic worms! The Troll gasped out in shock and sent his treat sailing through the air. She released a small grunt at the same time as Kili did as she landed on his lap.

"In fact, they all have them!" Bilbo continued. "They're infested with parasites. It's a terrible business, I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't."

This was ridiculous! Now the Hobbit was insulting the entire company, the royal line of Durin! "We don't have parasites!" He shouted at the small man, pleased when he saw him jump a little at his raised voice. "YOU have parasites!"

"Kili..." Marie's soft voice called to him at the same time his uncle decided to kick him in the back of the head, catching his attention before he could shout more. He chose to give Marie his attention over his uncle, at least she was gentle. "Think for a moment. It's not what it seems."

As soon as she said it all of the pieces fit together perfectly. Bilbo hadn't turned on them at all! He had done what no one else had been able to, he was buying them time. In a strange, non-violent, way he had found a way to fight back!

He turned his attention up to the Trolls, who were looking down at them in confusion. "We've got parasites, all of us! We're riddled with them!" His cries were joined by the rest as they loudly called out the size and multitude of their worms.

"What would you have us do," asked one of their captors, taking a threatening step towards Bilbo. Their small burglar flinched away from the intimidating form. "let them all go?"

"This little ferret is taking us for fools." The one who must be the cook, told his companions as he returned to the spit.

"The dawn will take you all!" Gandalf's voice bellowed out around them, just before he came into view on top of a boulder near the fire. The Trolls turned to see him, asking who he was and if they could eat him too. Gandalf ignored them as he brought his staff down onto the rock, splitting it under his with a resonating crack. Light blinded Kili as it flooded the campsite, it took a few moments before he attempted to open them again. When he managed to blink his eyes open he was met by the sight of giant stone figures where the Trolls had once been.

Cheers rose out among them as they realized that they had been saved from being dinner. Gandalf made his way down to them, cutting Bilbo free from his sack before handing him a dagger and turning to the ones still dangling over the flames. Kili let his head fall back onto whoever was tied up behind him, relief flooding through his veins. Exhaustion caught up with him immediately, making his limbs feel heavy.

Fili's face came into his line of vision as he hovered over him. It seemed that he was the first Bilbo decided to free from his bindings. "Are you alright?" He asked, his face clouded in brotherly concern as he searched what he could of Kili's body for any signs of injury.

"Yes, I'm fine. Help Marie first, brother, but be careful. That Troll hit her pretty hard, not to mention being thrown from such a height."

"I'm fine." She said as Fili cut the ropes and helped ease her out of her bag. She disappeared quickly as his brother began working on letting his out.

The moment Marie was free she flung herself at Bilbo, wrapping her arms around his neck and squeezing him tightly. "Thank you!" She told him enthusiastically. "You incredibly brave man! You saved us all!"

Bilbo awkwardly patted her on one of her shoulders. "No need to thank me Miss Marie. It was no trouble really. We should help the others..."

Marie nodded as she slowly pulled away from him, still reeling from the experience of nearly being eaten. Bilbo's face was quite red as she let go of him, clearly embarrassed at having been held onto so tightly. The sight brought a giggle up from her chest that she couldn't stop from escaping, causing Bilbo to blush even harder.

"What's so funny?" Kili asked, walking up to them.

"Nothing." Both of them answered at the same time. Bilbo excused himself politely before almost running from them.

"It seems that I embarrassed him when I thanked him for what he did for us." She told Kili as she watched the nervous man go off to help the others.

Kili looked at her in confusion for a moment, shrugging when he caught on that he wouldn't get any more details from her. He turned to look at her fully and she felt slightly uncomfortable under the intense scrutiny. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked softly.

She took a moment to take silent inventory of her body. She noticed a few sore spots as she rolled her shoulders and moved various body parts, but there seemed to be nothing seriously wrong. Everything moved as it should and there were no sharp, shooting pains, or blood spraying from anywhere. "I'm fine." She told him when she finished. "Are you okay?"

Kili looked down for a moment, moving things as Marie had done, giving her the distinct feeling that he was mocking her. She was about to say something and feign offense when a bright line of red on his right hand caught her attention.

"You're hurt!" She cried, reaching out and grabbing his hand into hers. He automatically attempted to pull it away from her.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it, it's nothing more than a scratch."

"Let me look at it at least, please?" She asked gently, tugging on his hand once more.

He stopped pulling away, allowing her to pull his hand toward her, while giving her a charming smirk that made her heart jump slightly in her chest. "Are you worried for me, My Lady?"

"Of course! I would hope someone would be concerned if I was injured. Which I'm not." She added when he rose one of his eyebrows.

He sat on a nearby rock, looking up at her while he held his injured hand out for inspection, the smirk still plastered onto his handsome face. She huffed at him playfully as she took his large hand in both of hers. She took her time pushing on each of his fingers to ensure that he hadn't lost any movement, pleased when each finger could be moved both with her help and on their own. She moved her attention to the actual cut, happy to notice that neither bone nor tendon could be seen shining through. "It doesn't look like a deep cut." She informed him happily. "I'm going to go ask Oin for something to use as a bandage. Stay here!"

Kili threw her a mock salute to match the hearty laugh at her order as she left him to go find the elderly Dwarf. She made it about halfway to her destination when a gruff voice called out to her, bringing her up short. She turned toward the noise to find Dwalin and Fili waving her over to them by the mouth of a dark looking cave.

"We've found some things for you lass." Dwalin told her as he thrust a small sheathed sword at her. "Gandalf told me it's Elvish, and I can tell that it's strongly forged. It's light and looks to be a good size for you. You need to be able to defend yourself, this world is a dangerous place."

"Thank you, but I don't know how to use it. The Troll was the first person I can remember holding a weapon against, and it didn't work too well."

"Don't worry about that, I'll give you some lessons."

Fili then pushed his way past Dwalin, handing her a small sleeve of slender throwing knives as he grinned proudly at his find. "I found these for you too. They're a little dainty for my taste, but I thought they'd fit a lady well. I'll show you how to throw them." He told her, excitement making his voice sound younger than it usually did. "That way you'll have some long range weapons, as well as a close range one!"

"Thank you both." She told them. "It's very kind of you to look out for me the way you have been." Fili grinned at her widely and she was surprised when she spotted a blush rising up under Dwalin's giant beard. "Have you seen Oin?" She asked, suddenly eager to change the subject and ease the poor warrior's embarrassment.

The grin slipped off of Fili's face as his eyes skimmed over her body, quickly looking for some sign of injury. "Are you hurt?" He asked her gently.

"No, Kili-"

"Kili?!" Fili burst out loudly, interrupting her while he swung his head around, looking for his brother. "What's wrong with him? Is he hurt? He didn't seem injured earlier, and he told me he was fine. I didn't even bother to check to make sure... Where is he?"

"Fili!" Marie tried to get his attention as he mumbled in panic. "Calm down, please! He's fine, he just cut his hand and I needed something to bandage it. I looked at it and it's not deep, it doesn't look serious. I just wanted to cover it to protect it from infection."

Fili sagged with relief at the news, and Dwalin patted him gently on his shoulder, and small smile on his lips. 'He's such a good brother.' Marie thought fondly as she walked in the direction they had given her. The sight of such strong familial love was both encouraging and depressing, as it left her feeling oddly lonely. Did she have siblings, let alone any family at all? The idea of being completely alone in the world was nearly staggering, and it left her with tears in her eyes and a heavy heart. She had been alone when she had woken up in the forest, perhaps she was alone before that.

She pushed the depressing thoughts from her mind as she retrieved the clean cloth from their healer, quietly returning to where Kili sat. He had obediently remained on the rock, seemingly appreciating the opportunity to rest for a moment. He looked up at her as she made her way toward him, smiling as he lifted his hand back up into the air for her. She took his hand again, sitting next to him on the boulder. She cleaned the wound out with some water from a canteen before taking a closer look at the wound. Now that it was clean she could see it looked a little more ragged than she had initially thought, but still not serious. She let a soft sigh of relief escape her as she went to work binding the wound as gently as she could.

Kili's fingers twitched under her touch and her gaze flew to his face, expecting to see pain on his features. "Did I hurt you?! I'm sorry, I-"

"No, no." He interrupted quickly. "No, you're being very gentle, too gentle really. Your touch was tickling me a bit. I'm more used to having Oin, or Thorin tend to any scraps and scratches I get. Their hands are neither soft nor gentle."

Marie laughed softly as she finished wrapping his hand, noticing the difference between their hands. "The fact that my hands are soft is not the only difference there is. Your hands make mine look like a child's! Are all Dwarf hands so large?"

"Yes." He informed her, looking down at their hands as she tied off the binding. "We all have rather stocky builds. Our large hands hold enough strength in them to make us excellent smiths."

Marie looked up at him before letting her gaze drift to the other Dwarves in the company, her question falling from her lips before she thought it may be offensive. "If all Dwarves have such large hands, how do you all create such beautiful and delicate braids?"

Kili burst into sharp laughter, drawing Bifur's attention who was close by. "Sometime, dear, sweet Marie, I'll braid your hair for you to show you."

Marie opened her mouth to respond when Thorin came crashing past them, yelling to the company.

"Something's coming!"

A/N: Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Next one should be out next Sunday!