Here is chapter four! Everybody's favorite troll scene :) Reviews would be nice, lovelies :3
Enjoy!
~:Elven Kat:~
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Durin, help us. We were indeed missing two ponies.
"Should we tell Thorin?" Bilbo asked.
"No!" I said almost too hastily.
"It's best not to worry him," Fili continued. "As our official burglar, we thought you could look into it."
Bilbo looked around, his eyes sweeping over the trees that had been knocked over.
"Well, it looks like something big uprooted these trees," the Hobbit said.
"Yes, that was our thinking," Fili agreed.
"Something big...and possibly quite dangerous."
I gulped. Bilbo was probably right. If whatever it was had strength enough to uproot several trees, it could most definitely kill us. Kili, sensing my distress, grabbed my hand and brought it up to his lips, brushing them against my knuckles.
"Look! There's a light!" Fili exclaimed quietly. "Over there!"
Kili dropped my hand and we snuck through the woods towards the light of a campfire. We heard laughter and I stiffened.
"What is it?" Bilbo asked.
"Trolls," Kili answered.
Sure enough, we saw two of the ugly beasts sitting around a fire. A third came crashing through the trees, carrying a pony under each arm.
"They've got Myrtle and Minty," Bilbo gasped. "I think they're going to eat them. We've got to do something."
"Yes, you should!" Kili said, taking a bowl from Bilbo. "Mountain trolls are slow and stupid and you're so small. They'll never see you!"
I gaped at him. This was absurd. They may be slow and stupid but still dangerous. Bilbo could be seriously injured...or worse.
"We'll be right behind you!" Kili urged.
I rolled my eyes. As if that gave the Hobbit any comfort.
"If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl and once like a brown owl!" Fili added, pushing the Hobbit towards the trolls.
As Bilbo repeated Fili's words, the two brothers pulled me back into the forest, leaving the poor Hobbit by himself.
"What are you doing?" I hissed angrily. "Do you really want to kill Thorin's burglar?"
"Calm yourself, Ali," Fili replied, grabbing my hand that reached out to strike them.
"C-calm myself?" I sputtered.
I had grown attached to Bilbo and the last thing I wanted to see was my good friend become troll food. I seethed for a while, my eyes blazing.
"Aye, he is perfectly safe," Kili said.
Of course, as soon as he spoke those words, we heard the trolls move about.
"What are you?" one of them growled.
"A burgla-uh, Hobbit!" I heard Bilbo say.
"A burglahobbit?" asked one of the trolls.
"Can we cook him?"
"We can try!"
I wrenched my hand out of Fili's grasp.
"See? Now he's been caught," I said. "Fili, go get Thorin and the others. Kili, come with me."
The two brothers nodded in compliance. They knew better than to argue with me when I had my mind set on something. Kili followed me to the edge of the clearing. We watched as one of the trolls held Bilbo upside down and another pointed his crude knife at the frightened Hobbit.
"Are there any more of you little fellas hiding where you shouldn't?" he asked.
"No," Bilbo answered, shaking his head.
"He's lying!" another troll accused as Bilbo continued to shake his head. "Hold his toes over the fire! Make him squeal!"
Kili nodded to me and in unison we jumped forward, Kili slicing at one of their legs while I shot an arrow at another's arm. Both trolls shrieked in pain.
"Drop him!" Kili yelled.
"You what?" the uninjured troll asked.
"I said...drop him!" Kili repeated, twirling his sword.
I rolled my eyes. This was not a time to show off if that was what Kili was trying to do. The troll heaved Bilbo towards us and I was knocked over as the Hobbit collided with me. Pandemonium ensued as the rest of our company came barreling out of the woods, weapons raised and ready to fight.
"Sorry," Bilbo mumbled guiltily, holding his hand out to me.
I grabbed it and sprang to my feet.
"The ponies," I whispered to Bilbo.
He nodded and we carefully made our way to the makeshift pen where the ponies were. Bilbo began to saw through the ropes with one of the troll's knives as I tried to keep the ponies calm. Unfortunately, one of the trolls noticed us as Bilbo finally cut through the ropes. In an instant, I was lifted up into the air by one of them. Bilbo was in a similar position.
"Ali!" Kili cried as Fili held him back.
"Lay down your arms! Or we'll rip theirs off!" demanded the troll that held me.
No one moved. Fili shot his uncle a look that said 'uncle, it's Ali!' Thorin glared at the trolls before finally throwing his sword to the ground. The others followed his lead, even Ori who flung his slingshot down with a scowl.
~:✿:~
"It's hot!"
The cries of the poor Dwarves tied to a spit and roasting over the fire made me struggle against my bonds. And, not only were we tied up, we had also been put in large burlap sacks. I lay with my head unceremoniously placed on Thorin's lap, my feet squashed under Fili.
"Ali! Stop wriggling!" I heard Thorin hiss.
I felt embarrassment creep up into my face. I couldn't be doing that to him. He was Thorin Oakenshield for crying out loud! Right?
"Your shoulder is digging into my thigh," he said as if reading my thoughts.
I relaxed a bit at that tidbit of news.
"Dawn ain't far away. I don't fancy being turned to stone," I heard one of the trolls say.
"Wait!" Bilbo yelled suddenly. "You are making a terrible mistake!"
"You can't reason with them! They're half wits!" Dori called from his place on the spit.
"Half wits? What does that makes us?" Bofur asked.
"I meant with the seasoning," Bilbo continued, somehow managing to get to his feet.
"What about the seasoning?" one of the trolls asked him.
"Have you smelled them? You're going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up," Bilbo replied, nodding his head towards us.
"Traitor!" someone yelled.
I began to struggle again. That wretched little hobbit! How dare he!
"Let the flurguraburburhobbit talk," the troll said, leaning towards Bilbo.
"The secret to cooking dwarf is um..." Bilbo began.
"Yes, come on. Tell us the secret," the troll pestered.
"I'm telling you the secret is...to...skin them first!" Bilbo finished.
At this, we all began to struggle furiously. Even Thorin was moving about in his sack.
"I won't forget that!" I heard Dwalin yell from over the fire.
"What a load of rubbish!" the troll turning the spit said. "I've eaten plenty with their skins on!"
"He's right! Nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf!" the third troll agreed, pulling Bombur up and dangling him upside down. "Nice and crunchy!"
"Not that one! He's infected!" Bilbo cried, stopping the troll in its tracks.
"You what?" asked the troll tending to the spit.
"He's got worms...in his tubes," Bilbo told them.
The troll holding Bombur threw him back on top of us. I winced as I felt the weight on my leg. Bombur was very heavy.
"In fact they all are. They're infested with parasites. It's a terrible business. I wouldn't risk it," Bilbo continued.
Suddenly, I realized what Bilbo was trying to do. He was trying to give us time!
"Parasites? Did he say parasites?" Oin asked, turning to Kili.
"We don't have parasites! You have parasites!" Kili yelled.
Thorin, finally catching on to the hobbit's plan, sent a swift kick in Kili's direction. They quieted for a moment before Oin spoke up again.
"I've got parasites as big as my arm!"
"Mine are the biggest parasites! I've got huge parasites!" Kili shouted as the rest chimed in.
"We're riddled!"
"Yes we are!"
"What would you have us do? Let them all go?" one of the trolls sneered.
"Well," Bilbo said, nodding.
"You think I don't know what you're up to? This little ferret is taking us for fools!" the troll stated angrily.
"Ferret?" Bilbo asked indignantly.
"The dawn will take you all!"
We all turned to see Gandalf emerge from the trees. I breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the wizard.
"Who's that?" one troll asked.
"No idea," replied another.
"Can we eat him too?" inquired the third.
Gandalf slammed his staff into the rock he was standing on, splitting it in two. As soon as the light of the rising sun hit the trolls, they began to shriek and shielded their eyes from the light. Their skin began to turn to stone and they were soon nothing more than grotesque statues. We cheered as our rescuer came to help us. Fili and Kili were both hugging me fiercely as soon as we were freed from our burlap confines.
"Oh Ali, you were so brave!" Fili mocked.
"Yes, especially with your head in Thorin's lap!" Kili added.
"Though I like it better when your head is in my lap," Fili whispered into my ear.
"You two are the worst," I said, feigning anger and disgust.
"But Ali, you like us!" Kili whined.
"No, I don't," I said quietly, running my hands down their torsos before cupping their members. "I love you."
I squeezed roughly before turning on my heel. The two brothers were on me instantly, their eyes mimicking those of a predator watching its prey.
"Ali, it is not nice to tease us," Fili warned.
"It really isn't," Kili agreed, his breath hot on my neck.
I felt his tongue dart out from behind his lips, drawing circles on my skin. Fili's hand dropped between my legs, his expert fingers finding my sensitive nub even through the cloth of my breeches. This caused me to moan slightly. A slight cough interrupted us. We looked up to find Balin standing before us, his eyes averted.
"We're moving on to find their cave," he said, nodding towards the stone trolls.
I pushed my way out of the brothers' grasp and walked over to the elderly dwarf.
"Lead the way Balin," I said, bowing to him. "And if you have a moment, I would like to inquire about something."