Hello darlings,

Thank you for all the lovely reviews :) i do love reading them all

Pandora~ x

It was some time before we finally found the trolls cave, during which it took most of the night and I could already see the colour change in the sky; even though it took so long to get there it gave me plenty of time to introduce myself to the dwarves and learn their names. I ran my fingers through my hair, forgetting that it was mattered with blood, and ended up getting my fingers caught in the knots and accidentally ripping some of my hair out. I sigh realising that I am in desperate need of a bath, being covered in two day old blood was starting to smell foul. So now we stood in front of the entrance to the very large cave.

"What is that stench?!" Nori exclaimed in disgust.

"Its a troll horde. Be careful what you touch" Gandalf replied as he stepped into the mouth of the cave.

The dwarfs and I follow Ganalf into the cave, and once fully inside most of the dwarfs and myself included, gagged and coughed at the dreadful smell, but that was all soon gone once everyone set there eyes on the gold and precious gems scattered on the floor almost like a carpet.

"Seems a shame just to leave it lying around. Anyone could take it" Bofur mumbled out loud.

"Agreed. Nori, get a shovel" Gloin exclaimed.

I just smiled and shook my head as I went in further, I was so busy looking around that I nearly bumped into Thorin, who's name I had to learn from Bifur. Thorin looked up at me, with a scowl on his face not saying a word. I roll my eyes and continue to look around, when I notice two swords covered in cobwebs; I bend down and brush the cobwebs away when Thorin pears over my shoulder.

"These swords were not made by any troll" He states, as Gandalf appears by my side as well.

I pick up a sword and hand it to Thorin who in turn hands it to Gandalf to inspect.

"Nor were they made by any smith among men" Gandalf interjects.

"Then who?" I ask as I stand back up and watch the sword in his hand. Gandalf lifts the sword out by a few inches from its sheath and turns it around. Thorin's interests picked up and so he too went and picked up the other sword and started in inspect it, trying to solve the mystery.

"These were forged in Gondolin by the high elves of the first age" he says slightly shocked to have found something so rare in a trolls cave.

Throin starts to put the sword down in disgust once he realise that they are elven.

"You could not wish for a finer blade." Gandalf tells Thorin indicating for him to keep it.

Unwillingly, Thorin hold onto the sword, sheathing it by his side. I again look around the cave and pocket a few coins, seeing as I didn't have any currency of this new land.

"Lets get out of this foul place. Come on, lets go. Bofur! Gloin! Nori!' he shouts as he heads towards the exit, I silently follow behind him.

I suddenly stop, something was heading straight towards us.

"Something is heading our way" I mumble.

The dwarves gave me a funny look but that was soon replaced when their leader, Thorin, shouted "Some thing's coming!"

Heartbeats quickened and breathing became more frequent as everyone armed themselves bracing for an attack, even I pull out my sword unsure of what to expect.

"Stay together! Hurry now. Arm yourselves" Gandalf instructed as he got closer to the group.

A man on a rabbit-drawn sled burst out of the forest and pulls up missing us by mere inches. He jumps off this ride and approaches the group.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" He shouts.

"Radagast! Radagast the brown. What on earth are you doing here?" Gandalf exclaims as he approaches his dear old friend.

Seeing how Gandalf was acting towards the man I lowered my weapon and regained my composure, and soon the dwarfs followed suit.

"I was looking for you, Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong." Radagast panted out of breath.

"Yes?" Gandalf replies.

Radagast opens his mouth to speak, but shuts it. He opens his mouth again, but closes it again. He has forgotten what he was going to say. My patience was starting to wear thin with this man, he came here to tell us something important an here is if faffing around, if a general in my army did that, said person would be discharged effective immediately,.

"Just give me a minute. Oh, I had a thought, and now I've lost it. It was right there, on the tip of my tongue."

I roll my eyes, so unprofessional I think to myself.

He curls up his tongue, and looks surprised. "Oh, it's not the thought at all; it's just a little-" he stops as Gandalf pulls a stick insect out of Radagast's mouth. I raise an eyebrow out of surprise as I was not expecting that to be the outcome.

"-stick insect!" Radagast finishes.

The dwarves and Bilbo look flustered at the scene that just unfolded, Radagast and Gandalf go off a few paces and speak privately. I look back to the group and take a seat on a nearby rock, wiping my forehead with the back of my hand, Bofur approaches, he seems to be my new best friend. Seeing as he is always conversing with me and trying to make me laugh, the other dwarfs don't seem to trust me yet , I couldn't blame them.

"What do you think they are talking about?" he asks indicating with his head towards Radagast an Gandalf.

"Secret wizards business" I smile.

Bofur laughs and slaps me on the shoulder as a sign of friendship, I smile back at him.

"You're probably right, say where on earth did you get this armour? I've never seen anything like it before?" He asks, all of the dwarves hear his question and silence befalls the group as they all wait for my answer.

Bearing in mind Gandalf's words on keeping where I am to myself I slightly spin the truth. "From my farther" I say not giving to much away. I heard a few tuts at how short and not very interesting my answer was, so I decide to elaborate on it some more. "This armour has been in my family for generations, though I'm the first girl to ever wear it, as I am the only child my parents had. It had to be slightly altered to fit my frame but apart from that its mostly all original"

I heard a few 'ahhh' and 'ohhh' as I finished my explanation, which wasn't to far from the truth.

"Who taught you to fight?" someone asked, I looked around and was slightly surprised to see Thorin had asked the question.

"Again my farther, he saw fit that I should carry on the legacy of our bloodline, even though I was born a woman he trained me like a son"

I reminisce of the times I would wake up just as the sun was setting to start training, at the time it felt more like a punishment but I wouldn't change a thing-we formed a farther and daughter bond so tight, that when he passed away I took over his duties.

"Didn't your mother disapprove?" Nori piped up.

I smiled "No she didn't. My mother, once she found out she could no longer bear children, was very upset as my farther wanted a male heir to take his place in the army and his estate. She was worried that he wouldn't care for me and ignore my presence, what he did shocked her more than me. He took so much interest in what I was doing at first it was unbearable" I let a chuckle escape as I saw all the dwarfs ,and the hobbit, focused on my storytelling.

"But it soon became very normal, we would do almost everything together. It upset my mother slightly at first, as she couldn't dress me up in pretty clothing or teach me the piano or to sing, but she saw I was having too much fun and she didn't want to ruin it; even though most of the women disapproved at how I was being raised." I say with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Are there other women like you?" Fili asks, I raise an eyebrow not quite understanding what he meant.

"I think he meant, is there any other women who can fight" Balin corrects.

I chuckle as Fili looks sheepishly at me for being to blunt.

"Yes there are, but still very few, as my people are only just starting to except women who can fight as well as men..." I trail off, something was wrong I could sense it in the air.

I slowly stand looking into the forest, my senses on high alert. That's when we all heard it, a slow howl off in the distance.

"Was that a wolf? Are there wolves out there?" Bilbo worriedly asked.

"Wolves? No, that is not a wolf." Bofur stated as he and the rest of the dwarfs jumped to their feet, armed and ready for a fight.

From the cliff top, the wolf like creature appears; it leaps into the middle of our group, knocking down Ori in the process. I turn towards the creature and bring out my sword ready to sink its shinning blade into the flesh of this wolf, but Thorin beat me to it, he strikes it ,with his new found blade, then whilst its down on the ground he drives his sword through its flesh, killing it instantly.

Another creature attacks from the other side; I see Kili shooting an arrow, it hits the target but its not as fatal as we hoped, it only wounded the thing, It gets back up, angrier than ever but before it could attack again Dwalin comes up from behind and thrusts his sword through the creature killing it dead.

"Warg-Scouts! Which means an Orc pack is not far behind." Thorin shouts.

"Orc pack?" Bilbo and I say at the same time, having no idea what an Orc was.

"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" Gandalf urged at Thorin and his men.

"No one." He states.

"Who did you tell?" Gandalf again persisted.

"No one, I swear. What in Durin's name is going on?" Thorin asked confused and angry.
]"You are being hunted." he replies whilst looking around the camp.
"We have to get out of here." Dawlin states as he starts packing his items.

"Why are you being hunted?" I ask not understanding why someone would hunt these people, they don't look like killers or the type to start feuds.

"We can't! We have no ponies; they bolted." Ori asked at the same time, and both of our questions got ignored, that or they didn't hear us.

"I'll draw them off." Radagast declared, not waiting any time he hopped onto his sleigh and go himself ready for the run of his life.

"These are Gundobad Wargs; they will outrun you." Gandalf cried out not wanting to see his friend and kin become dog food.

"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits; I'd like to see them try." He said proudly and before anyone else could argue he whipped the harnesses and the rabbits speed off pulling him along.

I look back at the group, fear was in the air, dwarfs where running around packing things and arming themselves, I step towards Gandalf.

"Why would someone want to harm them?" I ask, as I look at the little men in front of me, such innocent creatures compared to what I was and had seen in my world.

"My speculation-someone does not want them to finish their quest"

I nod my head in acknowledgement and walk towards Throin, he was busy trying to organise everyone. I tap him on the shoulder when he turns around he blue eyes strong and determined starred right back into my honey coloured ones.

"You have my services, to help you finish you quest " I say with a small smile.

"Why?" He grumbled.

I was slightly take aback that someone wouldn't not take my offer, that has never happened before.

"You and your kin showed me kindness and welcomed me into your group, when you didn't have too." I explained.

Thorin just stared into my eyes not saying a word, the silence was turning awkward until we heard Gandalf yelling to get a move on. We broke eye contact to look at Gandalf and the others

"I accept you offer" I hear him mumble, I turn to look at Throin.

"Thank you" I say with a smile.