CHAPTER 6

Early next morning, we were awoken by our new teachers. Hannah was taken aside by Gandalf to learn secret witchy magic stuff, and I was dragged into a field with Dwalin. Apparently, I first needed to learn how to stand and fall, and how to hold my daggers. Then, we would spare in a mock battle, and I would be taught how to dodge. Standing was pretty easy, holding the daggers the proper way was also not a hard task. The falling left me with quite a few bruises though, since Dwalin seemed way too eager to swing his axes at me.

After an hour of cursing, tumbling and falling on my ass, it was time to learn how to dodge. Unfortunately, Dwalin was the kind of teacher that believed in "learning on the job".

"Holly SHIT!" I leaped back, avoiding the huge twin axes, swinging by my head non-stop. I barely had time to sidestep, leap or plainly flail away from harm. All Dwalin did, was laugh.

"All right, all right, breathe, lass! You're quite good at this!" With those words, I flew to the left from the light hit I got to the side (thankfully, Dwalin was smart enough to use the sides of the blade, or else I'd be screwed).

"Ouuuuchhh...thanks..." Maybe if I stop moving, the torture will stop?

It didn't stop. We kept at it for the next two hours, by which time Fili came by with breakfast for the both of us. The extra exercise was a real torture, but apparently I was a natural, and made amazing improvement in these few hours (maybe because I got increasingly angry and cold blooded, so it was easier to predict the movements of my teacher). With the last clap on my shoulder from both Fili and Dwalin for the good work, and the last slurp of the breakfast stew thing, we walked back to the camp, which was already half packed up and strung on the backs of ponies.

I flopped down on a log next to Hannah.

"You look like shit." I blinked at her.

"So do you." I wasn't lying, she really did. I doubt she did anything physically, but harnessing energy to use as magic probably took a lot out of a person. Her skin was pale and sweaty, her eyes drooping down onto the dark skin under them. She was practically shaking with exhaustion.

"We'll have to sleep on the ponies if we want rest. I'll ask Thorin if we could stop for a bit the next time we pass a stream to wash all of this sweat off." Nodding dumbly, she rose up from the log with me and began gathering her things. Soon enough we left the camp place, our tracks and the still smoking ash in the fire pit the only give away of us being there in the first place.


And this was how we traveled for the next few weeks. Every morning Hannah and I and our teachers would rise early and train. I was so happy when I noticed I lost a ton of weight, hooray to my new flat stomach! I became so much more physically fit then I ever was before! I was also becoming a master at fighting, so far I became a pro with a dagger and a bow and arrow, also- hand to hand (which earned me quite a few bruises and aching bones). We were now moving on to sword fighting, but as I had no sword that fit my strength and build, we only stuck to the basics of that. Dwalin was very proud of how far I've come. Gandalf, of course, was immensely proud of Hannah, who, after some long and tiring lessons, was becoming great with basic healing and fighting spells. Of course, no one really knew what he was teaching her, as they always preferred to be private during their lessons, much to the annoyance of Kili, who quite fancied Hannah, if I do say so. The two were almost always together, leaving me to socialize with the rest of the company.

The dwarves accepted us like their own easily, unlike Bilbo, who I have taken under my "wing". I guess they figured we would be a lot more useful now. Thorin told me a lot about blacksmithing when he found out my brother wanted to be one, Bofur taught me how to carve designs into wood, the others told old battle stories and Ori drew with me. Bilbo taught me about the Middle Earth, well, as much as he knew himself. I was grateful to all of them; they all became such good friends to me. Hannah got along with everyone well too, but since she spent most of her time with Kili or Gandalf, she didn't share the deep connection I had with everyone. I was glad she was happy; Kili was good to and for her.

Appearance wise, this time also changed us quite a bit. I doubt many people from our world would recognize us now. Since our long hair got knotted and dirty soon, we borrowed some clasps from the dwarves and braided our hair in an almost dwarven fashion. We still wore the clothing we bought in Bree, when those got too dirty, we wore the clothes from home until we got a chance to wash those. Since my glasses got dirty very easily and were annoying when sparring, I stopped wearing them. Surprisingly, my vision seemed clearer and clearer by the day, and by this time I could clearly see everything. I blame that on magic.

Because of our diet and exercise, we were a lot more fit than before, looking a lot more mature, our features sharper, yet our skin seemed a lot healthier, having tanned in the sun. Balin told us once that we were becoming more beautiful each day, but we just blushed and giggled at that, not believing it much. The last time we passed a small village to stock up on supplies, though, I noticed quite a few lingering eyes on us, but I just wrote it off as people just wondering what two girls were doing in a company of dwarves, a hobbit and an old man.

That was about a week ago. Since then we have not seen any more people, but I heard there were supposed to be some farms scattered around this land.

Currently, it was raining. Well, more like pouring cats and dogs. My cloak and hair were soaked through, skin shivering. Up ahead, Hannah was shaking also, her cloak, like mine, was cloth, and did little to nothing to stop the water from chilling us. Oh and here comes Prince Charming to save the day, draping his leather overcoat on Hannah, who, yet again, blushed. God. Looking to my left I saw Bofur, who was beginning to unbutton his own overcoat, having noticed Kili's work also.

"Don't even try it; you need it more than I do. If you really want to give it away, give it to Bilbo, he doesn't have a coat at all." I said grumpily, nudging Squiggles to gallop further along the path, water splashing around us.

"Here, Mr. Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge?" Dori, bless you for asking that, some dryness would be godsend right now.

"It is raining, Master Dwarf, and it will continue to rain until the rain is done. If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard." Smartass. He's so sassy.

"Are there any?" I was wondering that myself, good question, my little Bilbo!

"What?"

"Other wizards?"

"There are five of us. The greatest of our order is Saruman, The White." He sounds racist. And evil. I don't know why, but his name just doesn't sound good. "The there are the two Blue Wizards; you know, I've quite forgotten their names." Seriously? There are five of you wizards! How hard is it to remember? Well. Unless their names are really long and outlandish, then I guess I get you.

"And who is the fifth?"

"Well, that would be Radagast, the Brown."

"We know Radagast! He's the one that first helped us when we came to Middle Earth!" Hannah shouted from her place next to Kili.

"He's really nice and kind." I smiled, looking down at Bilbo, who turned to Gandalf once again.

"Is he a great wizard or is he... more like you?"

"Hahahaha!" I almost fell off my pony while laughing."This is why I like you, Bilbo!" I patted him on the back, almost falling off Squiggles again, still giggling.

Gandalf scowled slightly in my direction.

"I think he is a very great wizard, in his own way. He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others." No kidding. "He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forest lands to the East, and a good thing too, for always Evil will look to find a foothold in this world."

"I doubt he has much to worry about though, what with all the rabbits and birds he has..." I whispered under my breath, remembering the army of bunnies that pulled his sledge.

After the short conversation, the rain soon stopped, and we continued to ride for the rest of the day, until we reached what looked to be the ruins of a farmhouse.

"We'll camp here for the night." With that we started what has by now become a routine. "Fili, Kili, look after the ponies; make sure you stay with them. Girls, gather wood for the fire." Nodding to Thorin and grabbing lovesick Hannah's hand I handed our ponies reigns to Fili and started going around the old houses shambles, collecting dry pieces of wood. It hadn't rained here, which was very good for us.

"Oin, Gloin, get the fire going after they get the wood"

"Aye"

I wondered into the ruins, arms full of sticks already, where Gandalf was, as usual, talking to himself. He suddenly turned around and loudly announced:

"I think it would be wiser to move on." Here comes Thorin. "We could make for the Hidden Valley." Thorin seemed a bit exasperated by this.

"I have told you already, I will not go near that place." What the Hell is in that valley? Oh well, it's not my problem. I gathered all the wood I found and left the two to squabble like a married couple. Soon enough the fire was going and Bombur was fixing us up some stew. Just in time, since the sun was already setting. Hannah sat down next to me, probably to get some warmth from the fire - the nights were pretty cool around these parts. I looked around, counting heads. Fili and Kili were with the ponies, so that leaves...

"Hey, where's Gandalf?" Hannah rolled her eyes.

"He left like an hour ago waving his staff like a prima donna."

"Mommy and Daddy had a fight again?"

"Yup." This was not very surprising. Thorin and Gandalf often argued on which roads to take, but Gandalf has never left before. I have no doubt he will come back though, he wouldn't leave his student behind.

The stew was finally done, and I grabbed a bowl in hunger. We have not eaten anything today since breakfast, and Bombur's stews were some of the best I've ever eaten. I have got to ask him to teach me to cook like this. By the time the others got a bowl each, I was already finished with mine and had cleaned the bowl in the sand. Bilbo got pretty worried about Gandalf not returning, so Bofur gave him two bowls of the stew to carry to "the lads" - Fili and Kili. Seeing an opportunity to do something nice to her crush, Hannah quickly offered to help. Sighing, I stood up; I had to take care of her after all.

I followed them downhill and through the trees, where the brothers stood. They were a bit... frozen?

"What's the matter?" Bilbo noticed it too. Kili was a bit panicked, since he quickly shot off.

"We're supposed to be looking out for the ponies."

"Only we've encountered a slight problem."

"We had eighteen."

"Now there's sixteen."

Ooooh crap, Thorin's gonna kill them.

After quickly running around and counting all the ponies three more times, we jumped into panic mode.

"Daisy and Bungo are missing." Hannah stated, walking up to Kili. Making sure Squiggles was securely tied to a tree; I walked back to the group.

"Well that's... not good. That is not good at all."

"Yup... we need to find them, quickly. Bilbo, put those bowls down somewhere, there's no need to carry them around." Bilbo hastily put the bowls down on a log, nervously smiling my way.

"Shouldn't we tell Thorin?" Fili and I grimaced at Hannah.

"Uhh, no. Let's not worry him." He would have our heads on spikes! Fili looked at Bilbo in a suspicious way. "As our official burglar, we thought you might like to look into it."

"Well, uhh.." Bilbo didn't loose his bearings under pressure, a good quality. "Look- something big uprooted these trees."

"That was our thinking."

"Something very big and possibly quite dangerous." He held a nervous note in his voice, and Hannah and I glanced at each other with worry. The guys stood around the uprooted tree, looking for clues.

"Hey!" A quieter voice made me look up from the tree. Fili saw something! "There's a light. Over here!" We all quickly and silently jumped over the fallen trees and followed Fili. "Stay down." Kili grabbed Hannah and forced her down next to him before she was noticed; I made sure Bilbo was down too. We heard odd deep laughter- what kind of creature was this? Hannah and I furrowed our brows in thought.

"What is it?" Bilbo joined us in our confusion.

"Trolls." Kili practically spit out, jumping from his place next to me after his brother. Reckless idiots. I cursed and ran after them, keeping low to the ground. I heard shuffling behind me- Bilbo and Hannah followed us, feet kicking the underbrush. We got closer to the fire and hid behind some trees, just in time too, because a huge, stinky, dirty mountain troll passed right by us at that moment, carrying a pony under each arm. Hannah and I gasped and Kili quickly pulled her closer to himself.

"He's got Myrtle and Minty!" Bilbo exclaimed, both furious (well, as much as Bilbo could ever be) and horrified. He sighed, moving quickly to crouch next to us, saying: "I think they're going to eat them, we have to do something."

The dwarf brothers lifted their heads like they suddenly had a great idea. I hope it's not what I think it is!

"Yes; you should." Kili voiced, Fili nodding next to him, and jumped up. "Mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small. Alice can look over you from the trees in case of trouble."

"Oh no, do not drag me into this, why can't Hannah do it?" I protested over Bilbo's struggle to say something. Hannah turned to me:

"Because I wouldn't be able to do crap against three mountain trolls, and you could at least distract them."

"But you've been learning spells!"

"Nothing that could help here, though!"

"You suck."

"Stop it; we have bigger problems to deal with! Bilbo, it's perfectly safe, we'll be right behind you." Kili kept at it. I groaned and lifted up slightly from my crouch. I'm gonna have to do this whether I want to or not.

"Hannah, go back to camp, stay out of the fighting, if need be, go find Gandalf. Got it?" I whispered to her, so the others couldn't hear.

"Fine." She didn't look pleased with the arrangement, but she'll get over it.

"If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a brown owl, once like a barn owl." Fili pushed Bilbo in the direction of the trolls while I followed, shaking my head. Bilbo was really stressed.

"Twice like a barn owl, twice like a brown-once like a brown? Are you sure this is a good idea?" He turned back to look at the others, but they were already gone. I patted him on the shoulder and turned left, to hide in some trees before they noticed me.

"Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it doesn't look like mutton again tomorrow!" Oh God, these trolls reeked! And Kili told us the truth when he said they were slow. From where I was behind a big tree I could clearly see their whole camp and the ponies behind them, hopefully, they couldn't see me. While the trolls argued, Bilbo sneaked around them towards the ponies. From what I could see, they were bound with strong but old rope- Bilbo was going to need a knife, and sawing those through with my less than average daggers would take too long. Damn it, what are we going to do?

"Well, I hope you're gonna gut these nags. I don't like the stinky parts." I held my breath as Bilbo just barely escaped being noticed. I kept a watch on Bilbo, waiting for the others to show, while he attempted to get the blade one of the trolls carried around on his waist. This is so intense, I can't take it!

"Oh crap, gross..." I whispered under my breath, muscles tense, when Bilbo was confused with a napkin by the very stupid troll.

"Look what's come out of me hooter!" Seriously? Where are the dwarves?!"It's got arms and legs and everything!" Jeez, if this wasn't so serious I would be rolling on the ground in stitches.

"What is it?"

"I dunno, but I don't like the way it wriggles around!" The troll sounded pretty grossed out and even scared. He threw Bilbo onto the ground and I prepared myself to run and get him. The trolls surrounded him.

"What are you then? An over sized squirrel?" Crap, that one has a knife.

"I'm a burglar- uhh, Hobbit." Ha-ha, he's getting used to his role! Now let's hope he lives long enough to fulfill it.

"A BurglaHobbit?"

"Can we cook 'im?"

"We can try!" Oh crap. The next troll words went unheard by me; I was too worried, looking around for our back up. I wish I could jump out and save the day, but right now not interfering with Bilbo's swift running around the legs seems like a better idea.

"Are there any more of you little fellas hiding where you shouldn't?" Shit, they caught him. Something rustled behind me, making me jump and turn around to see the dwarves. Finally!

Kili's roar turned my attention back to the trolls. He just sprang up from the cover of bushes and started slicing one of the trolls' legs. Hold on, Bilbo!

"Drop him!"

"You what?"

"I said, drop him." Aww, he's trying to act all macho. Unfortunately, that backfired quickly, because the fugly troll threw Bilbo right on Kili. That, apparently, was also the call to attack.

"Aaaahhh!" Everyone ran at the trolls brandishing their weapons of choice. I had my daggers and arrows, but I doubt my marksmanship could help right now with everyone jumping around like crazy, so I threw my bow and quiver behind a tree and charged the nearest troll with my daggers, dealing pretty minimal damage, even if I did slice the skin through.

The next minute was chaos. I slashed and hacked and stabbed, trying to avoid flailing weapons, arms and legs. I ducked under a leg, but was too late to dodge an arm, and got flung into the big boulder nearby. Groaning, I jumped up, helping Ori to attack, since he only had his slingshot.

As soon as it started, it was over. While we were fighting, Bilbo released the ponies, but got grabbed by the stinky trolls.

"Bilbo!"My voice joined some of the others.

"No!" Thorin held back Kili, who tried once again to rush to help the hobbit. I wanted to do the same, but I gritted my teeth and held my ground.

"Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off!"

That did not give us much of a choice.