Not too long afterwards, Gandalf and Thorin led the rest of the company to a cavern in the forest, presumably where the trolls had been hiding during the day. Barely a few feet away from the entrance, a horrible stench hit Bilbo's nose, making him reel with nausea. Holding his nose, he peered down into the cavern's mouth as Gandalf, Thorin, Dwalin, Nori, Bofur, and Glóin made the descent, hacking and coughing as they attempted to repel the reek from their lungs. Inside, flies buzzed wildly around a cavern littered with cobwebs, bones, and other rotting things, the picture of death itself as far as he could tell.
He decided, for the sake of his health, to stay outside with the others, who busied themselves by investigating the artifacts lying around the mouth of the cavern; after all, hobbits like himself didn't dwell in nasty, dirty wet holes full of the smell of ooze, and he could hardly imagine himself going in a cave like that.
After a short time, Dwalin and Thorin emerged back from the cave; Thorin, he noticed, carried a new sword, this one possessing long, flowing curves as opposed to the broad, angular dwarvish swords. Bilbo had an inkling of a thought that perhaps it was Elvish in origin—a bit odd for Thorin to be carrying one like it around, he thought. They were followed closely by Nori, Bofur, and Glóin, but a few moments passed before Gandalf reemerged from the cavern. Calling for Bilbo, he bestowed upon him a small blade, shaped somewhat like a narrow leaf; in anyone else's hand it would have been little more than a knife, but it functioned as well as a sword in his hand.
That, however, made him all the more reluctant to carry it, even as he held it in his palms.
"I can't take this," he said.
"The blade is of Elvish make," Gandalf informed him, "which means it will glow blue when orcs or goblins are nearby."
"I have never used a sword in my life!" he protested.
"And I hope you never have to," Gandalf said, "And if you do, remember this: true courage is about knowing when not to take a life, but when to spare one."
Those words hung in Bilbo's mind as he distanced himself from the others and sat down on a flat stone. Only then did he realize how exhausted he was after all that had happened the night before. If adventures were always like this, he thought, he hoped there would at least be SOME opportunity to get in some shuteye.
At that moment, he realized that the air had become increasingly cold. He turned, and found that Elsa herself had also chosen the exact same stone to sit on. He jumped in surprise, fear and joy simultaneously clashing together.
"Oh, I am so sorry," he stammered, "I didn't—well you see I…"
"No, no, it's okay," she said, "I don't mind."
Calmed by the reassurance of her soft voice, he sat back down, somewhat awkwardly this time. Silence fluttered around in the air between them, and soon Bilbo couldn't stand it any longer. He felt that, at the very least, he should welcome the stranger and get to know her, but he struggled to think of what to say. His mind flashed through several opening lines, and yet each one seemed inadequate for the purposes. Should he say anything? What if he did say something and it offended her? Why did any of this matter to begin with?
Fortunately, Elsa spoke before he could blunder over his words. "Forgive me, but I'm kind of curious," she said, "Why are you here? How did you get involved in this?"
Though she had caught him somewhat off guard, Bilbo gathered himself to recollect as much as he could. "As you might imagine, it was mostly Gandalf's fault," he replied, and told her of how Gandalf had come to his doorstep offering adventure, his initial refusal, and of how twelve dwarves managed to invade his home, pillage his pantry, and came very close (in his opinion) to destroying his mother's valued cutlery and china porcelain dishes. "And yet, after all that," he went on, "here I am. And the thing is that I'm not entirely sure why I'm here to begin with. Of course they need a burglar and all that, but I was so dead set on not going at all."
"What changed your mind?" she asked.
"Well, the next day they were just gone," he explained, "and for some reason they had left the contract on the table. Maybe it was my mother's side of the family talking then, but I thought to myself, 'When am I going to get another chance like this, to explore the world for once instead of reading about it?' Next thing I know, I'm running out the front door, and here I am."
"You're very brave for doing so," she remarked.
"Tell you the truth, I'm not sure 'brave' is the proper word," he joked.
Suddenly, everyone became alert to the sound of foliage being crushed beneath beating hooves, startling and causing birds to flee. At Gandalf's word, everyone leaped to their feet and moved out, weapons bared and ready to greet the intruder. Rushing to stay with the rest of the group, Bilbo cautiously drew his sword out, staring in awe at the elegance of the blade in his hands.
They stood at the ready in a rough semi-circle, prepared for anything…save for the mid-sized chestnut horse with a long tangled mane and shaggy fur that burst into the clearing, carrying on its back a small wild-looking man dressed in brown robes and wearing a hat that gave him the appearance of having large animal ears. Bits of dirt and white streaks covered his clothes and even the side of his face, giving Bilbo the impression that this was not someone he'd invite to come into his smial.
"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" he shouted as his steed galloped and halted a short distance away from some of the dwarves. As soon as the horse stopped, the rider looked around, apparently as confused as much as everyone else. Gandalf, on the other hand, sighed in relief, "Radagast! What are you doing here?"
Dismounting the horse, Radagast came up to Gandalf, whispering, "I came looking for you! You have no idea how far I've been riding!"
"What on earth is the matter?"
"I will tell you," Radagast replied, "Something's terribly wrong! We must discuss this immediately!" The two of them walked off a short distance, speaking in hushed voices so that the others wouldn't hear.
Elsa leaned over to Bilbo. "Who was that?" she asked.
It took Bilbo a moment, but then he remembered the last time he had heard the name before. "Oh, erm, Radagast the Brown, I think he's called. Apparently he's a wizard like Gandalf."
"Is he a great wizard, or is he…?"
"Apparently Gandalf thinks so, but I'm not too sure myself," Bilbo mused. "Whatever he's here for, it must be important."
Bofur, leaning against a large moss covered stone, then spoke up, "Whatever it is, I hope it's not to add another member to the company—no offense, miss."
Before they knew it, the two wizards had returned, with Gandalf putting something away into the fold of his robes. "I'm telling you Gandalf," Radagast was saying, "We can't let this go unnoticed for long. I cannot stand and watch the creatures of Greenwood suffer like this."
But before Gandalf could respond, a noise like a deep, guttural howl moaned through the forest, setting everyone's hair on end.
Bilbo looked around, frightened and confused. "Was that a wolf? Are there wolves out there?" he asked.
"Wolf?" Bofur said, "No, that is not a wolf!"
He then saw Elsa, whose eyes had grown wide with fear.
"I know that sound," she whispered.
At the sound of a snapping twig and a harsh growl, the two of them twisted around to see a massive dog-like beast clothed in dark grey fur, bearing a massive head filled with dagger-like teeth, and glaring at them with blazing orange eyes. It roared as it leapt into the air towards them with malicious intent, only to find itself impaled on a massive icicle that for all intents and purposes had come out of nowhere. The animal shrieked and whined as its hot blood dripped onto the crystal ice, melting and mixing with it. Bilbo turned to see a side of Elsa that he did not expect; her arm stretched out and an icy glare emanating from her narrowed blue eyes. It both intimidated him and fascinated him at the same time.
Another wolf-beast came from behind; it charged at Thorin, but an arrow from Kili felled it, and a swing of Dwalin's axe put it out of its misery.
"Warg scouts," Thorin concluded, "which means an orc pack is not far behind."
"Orc pack?" Bilbo said in disbelief. Given what he had heard about orcs previously, he had no eagerness to run into a whole group of them.
"Who did you tell about your quest," Gandalf demanded of Thorin, "beyond your kin?"
"No one," Thorin said.
"WHO DID YOU TELL?" Gandalf demanded again.
"No one, I swear! What is going on?"
"You are being hunted," Gandalf declared solemnly. At the sound of this, the dwarves clutched their respective weapons tighter than Bilbo had seen them do before. More roars echoed in the distance as Ori and Bifur returned to the group. "The ponies!" Ori gasped, "They've bolted!" Bilbo couldn't help but roll his eyes. After all the hard work he did to save them…
"I'll draw them off," Radagast offered as he calmed his fearful horse.
"These are Gundabad wargs," Gandalf protested, "They will outrun you!"
"Wimbledon is no ordinary horse, and he has plenty of strength in him," Radagast replied, "I'd like to see them try."
Elsa then stepped forward. "We're going to need more than that," she said, her voice taking on a tone of seriousness all its own, "if you want to survive."
The wargs and orcs outside and within the forest felt their blackened hearts freeze in terror at the sight of a huge icy fog rushing through the forest and blocking out the sun above. It washed over them like a wave of the sea, bathing them in freezing, unnatural cold. "What sorcery is this?" their leader growled in Orkish.
Just then, a wild-looking brown horse and its rider burst out of the foliage, distracting the wargs and orcs. "Come and get me!" he shouted, and the whole pack went bounding after them, following the silhouette of his horse as he galloped away.
Meanwhile another group slid silently into the fog, unnoticed by the pack.
Elsa made it so that a good twenty or thirty feet around them was visible, allowing them to follow Gandalf with ease as he led them all past huge stones and boulders that stood like silent witnesses to their plight and over the rugged hills of this part of the country. The wizard seemed to know all too well where they were going. While Bilbo had to admit the fog idea was clever, he also had to admit that he was slightly more afraid than before; the howling of the wargs and the battle cries of the orcs seemed to come from everywhere, and yet the owners were nowhere to be seen; their enemies were as invisible to them as they were to their enemies.
Turning a corner, the company halted as the visible silhouettes of Radagast and his horse galloped by in the distance, followed closely by a large number of wargs, both mounted and bare-backed. Seeing they were in no danger of exposure, Gandalf urged them on to another rock, where they caught their breath as the howling slowly died away…only to be replaced by deep panting and the clacking of claws on rock up above them.
Thorin motioned to Kili, who nodded and drew an arrow from his quiver—but then Elsa placed her hand on the young dwarf's shoulder, shaking her head. Bilbo watched as she placed her hand on the stone. A line of frost erupted, and trailed upwards towards the unseen enemy, slowly growing in size as it climbed over the stone. Bilbo peered upward to see the orc and his ride peering around from their perch, only to be taken by surprise as razor sharp icicles burst towards them. However, they missed their mark, and the hunters leapt off the rock, only to be set upon by the dwarves and their weaponry. Try as they might to kill them off quickly and silently, though, the two creatures howled to their dying breath.
It was only after the job was finished, though, that the company noticed that the air around them had become silent. Then, an orc voice shouted a command, and the howling started again.
"Move!" Gandalf shouted, "Run!" And with that, they all took off, as the howling came closer and closer.
The wizard led them to a part of the land where trees grew in sparse numbers. Now the howling seemed to come from all around; were they surrounded? Just then, Elsa tripped and fell, falling behind. Bilbo rushed back to help her. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she said as he helped her back on to her feet. It was then that Bilbo noticed that the fog around them had started to thin; now the shapes of the wargs and their orc riders became more visible and clear to them.
"Elsa, your fog!" he shouted.
"There's no time," she said, "We have to keep moving!"
They rejoined the group near an outcropping of rocks. Kili did his best to shoot down as many as he could, but the number of orcs and wargs only seemed to increase from all sides. Bilbo looked around, but Gandalf could not be found. Had he abandoned them?
"Hold your ground!" Thorin shouted, and they all gathered into a ring, ready to take on the approaching enemy. As the orcs drew closer, Bilbo could see the features of their faces, all of them horribly distorted and twisted in some way or the other. He began to fear for his life, and wondered what morbid purposes they had in store for them…
…But then Gandalf popped up from the rock behind them, shouting, "This way, you fools!" Bilbo turned to see the curl of his blue hat actually sink into the ground below—but then he realized the truth of the matter.
Seeing where he had gone, the company followed, discovering a cavern in the ground and Gandalf at the bottom of it. They started to slide down, Bilbo coming in at second, as Thorin and Elsa stood at the entrance, fending off wargs that got too close. When everyone else was in, Thorin himself jumped in. Elsa was the last to come down, and as soon as she did, she sealed off the entrance with a thick layer of ice.
A horn sounded off above them, muffled by the ice. The sounds of battle closely followed; they could hear the sound of hoof beats drumming the ground, followed by shrieks and yelps of both warg and orc.
The body of an orc fell through and landed on the ice, turning the light that flowed through a deep red with its blood. The broken shaft of an arrow could be seen sticking out of the neck.
Just as quickly as it had come, the sound of the victors seemed to die away.
"What was that?" Bilbo asked.
"More importantly," Dori spoke, "are we going to be able to get out of this hole?" They all looked to Elsa, but she shook her head. "I can only make ice," she said sadly, "I don't know how to thaw it."
Just then, Dwalin, who was further down in the cave, shouted out, "There's a pathway, but I cannot see where it leads! Do we follow it or no?"
"Follow it, of course!" Bofur said, and soon the company followed close behind.
"I think that would be wise," Gandalf said quietly, and with what Bilbo could only assume was a sense of accomplishment.
The path led them through narrow, winding passages in the rock, while sunlight streamed down from a narrow crack up above, illuminating their way. To Bilbo's relief, escape arrived sooner than expected; they exited into a place where a small stream trickled down the rocks in a waterfall. Coming out into the open, his jaw dropped at the most beautiful thing he had seen thus far; beautiful white buildings of elegant architecture wreathed in thick trees and perched upon waterfall-spouting rocks against the side of a massive alabaster gorge, with a river flowing gently into the east.
"The Valley of Imladris," Gandalf declared, "In the common tongue, it is known by another name."
The word came to Bilbo instantly. "Rivendell," he whispered, overtaken by its beauty, as was Elsa, who marveled at the sight of it.
"Here lies the last homely house east of the sea," Gandalf continued.
Thorin, on the other hand, was not so entranced. "This was your plan all along," he accused Gandalf, "to seek refuge with our enemies." Elsa heard this and looked with confusion. Bilbo did as well.
"You have no enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield," the wizard declared, "The only ill will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself."
"Do you think the elves will give our quest their blessing? They will try to stop us."
Elsa looked up in surprise. "Elves?" she asked, "there are elves here?" It was truly strange to Bilbo that she would ask this; most everyone knew of the elves of Rivendell.
"Yes, of course," Gandalf said, seemingly to both her and Thorin. "And we have questions that only they can answer. If we are to be successful, we must approach them with tact, and respect, and no small degree of charm—which is why you will leave the talking to me."
As the group started their way down, Bilbo whispered to Elsa, "You don't know about elves?"
"I don't think I've ever met one," she defended, "Have you?"
"No," he replied, "but I'm definitely looking forward to meeting them."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, I'm aware that in the film adaptation (on which this is based) Radagast used a sled pulled by 'Rhosgobel Rabbits'; however, I replaced them with a horse, as it gave the character a bit more dignity. Also, I am perfectly aware that Radagast does not appear in the books; for those who haven't figured it out, this is based primarily on the film adaptation.