Here is chapter 8 to all of my readers. I posted this chapter a day early as I will be very busy tomorrow and won't have the time. Thank you again for all of the follows, favs, and reviews. I really love reading on what you guys think.
"Why would you want to be in a battle?" asked Bilbo the next day. Eliza decided to ride with him on his pony Myrtle. The hobbit was smaller than Kili which made riding much more comfortable. The two of them were riding at the back of the company, furthest away from Thorin.
"Well, why not?" she replied. She could have went onto explaining the fact that he Durins die, but that would have led to Bilbo believing that she was some sort of Seer.
"You could die, also it would be rather loud," Bilbo replied, "And all the blood…"
Eliza turned around to see the hobbit staring at the ground thoughtfully. She sometimes forgot the fact that Bilbo was brought up in the peace of the Shire. No wars, no dragons, and certainly no orcs.
"I wouldn't be content unless I did see all of that. To be part of a victory or a defeat, to die fighting." She said. "Besides being able to fight with a sword would be awesome."
Bilbo gave her a small smile. "I'm glad that at least one of us sees it that way," he said. The both of them then fell into a comfortable silence. Eliza glanced up at the sky only to notice that rainclouds were forming. "I bet that it's going to rain soon," she sighed.
"I always knew that here was a reason why I hate the rain," Eliza muttered under her green hood. Bilbo who unfortunately didn't have a cloak sat shivering beside her.
"Here," she said wrapping the cloak around Bilbo's shaking shoulders, "You need it more than I do,"
"Thank you," he said. It had been raining for most of the day, and it had put most, if not all, of the dwarves in a bad mood. Bofur still hadn't quite accepted the fact that he couldn't smoke his pipe while it was raining.
"Mister Gandalf?" spoke up Dori, "Can't you do anything about this deluge?"
"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," replied Gandalf.
"Are there any?" asked a curious Bilbo.
"What?" questioned Gandalf.
"Other wizards?"
"There are five of us. The greatest of our order is Saruman, Saraman the White. Then there are the two Blue wizards; you know, I've quite forgotten their names," Gandalf replied.
"And who is the fifth?" asked Bilbo.
"Well, that would be Radagast, the Brown."
"Is he a great Wizard or is he... more like you?" asked Bilbo clearly not realizing that he just offended Gandalf.
"Bilbo!" hissed Eliza to the hobbit, who only turned to her with a confused expression on his face.
"I think he's a very great wizard, in his own way. He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. 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," answered Gandalf defensively.
When the company had finally started to set up camp for the night, they had come to some sort of broken down farmhouse. The place seemed oddly silent, not a single bird was seen or heard. The building appeared to have collapsed recently. Eliza didn't like this place one bit.
After dismounting her pony Eliza helped Bofur unpack the cooking supplies. She had been helping him for the past few days, since Thorin refused to give here any jobs. Even Bilbo received orders, Eliza assumed it was the whole 'You're a female' thing again.
"Thanks lass," said Bofur once they had done and a fire was lit.
"No problem," she replied. She then went over to Bilbo who was struggling to take of the green cloak she had given to him earlier. He looked so cute with his face scrunched up in concentration. "Need help?"
"Please." He replied.
"Here you go," she said once she had undone the clasp.
"Thank you," Bilbo said relieved to have the cloak off. They both then looked up only to see Gandalf stomping angrily away from Thorin.
"Everything alright? Gandalf?" asked Bilbo. The wizard merely stormed past the pair of them.
"Hey, were are you going?" she asked.
"To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense," he answered angrily.
"Who's that?" Bilbo asked.
"Myself, Mr Baggins! I've had enough of dwarves for one day," He answered storming past them and mounting his pony. Next moment, the wizard had left.
The dwarves and Bilbo all turned to see Thorin standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. Eliza was annoyed to see that it didn't look like that he cared whether or not the wizard had left.
"Come on Bombur we're hungry," said his grumpy highness putting all the dwarves back into motion.
A few hours had passed since, and there was still no sign of Gandalf. The sun had set long ago and Bofur was serving out the soup his brother had made. Bilbo was starting to get anxious, Eliza could tell because paced around the camp and wrung his hands in his tunic. "Calm down Bilbo, he'll be back," she said in an attempt to calm the poor hobbit.
"He's been a long time," he stated to no one in particular. He had finally stopped his pacing to stand by the fire.
"Who?" asked Bofur. Dwarves could really not have been born any thicker brained.
"Gandalf, doofus," answered Eliza. She was sitting beside Bofur, trying her best to warm her hands over the roaring fire.
"He's a wizard! He does as he chooses," exclaimed Bofur as it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Here, do us a favor: take this to the lads." He said handing Eliza and Bilbo a bowl of soup each to take to Fili and Kili.
"Come on then," she said making her way to the forest where Fili and Kili were. When they reached the brothers, Eliza held out Fili's bowl of soup to him, but he just ignored her. He was looking at the ponies very intently, as did Kili. She knew that they had to watch the ponies, but she didn't think necessary that much.
"What's wrong?" she them.
"We're supposed to be looking out for the ponies," said Kili, the one to answer her.
"Only we've encountered a slight problem," Fili added.
"We had sixteen," Kili started not looking at her or Bilbo.
"Now there's only fourteen," finished Fili. Eliza peered over Fili's shoulder to look at the ponies. They all seemed to be happily grazing to her, but she didn't know what was happy for a horse.
"Maybe you guys miscounted?" she suggested.
"Daisy and Bungo are missing," Kili said making a point that they had indeed not miscounted.
"Well, that's not good. That is not good at all. Shouldn't we tell Thorin?" asked Bilbo.
"Uhh, no," said Fili. He sounded a bit worried about the prospect of telling his uncle. "Let's not worry him. As our official burglar, we thought you might like to look into it,"
"Well, uh...look, some-something big uprooted these trees," said Bilbo nervously. Eliza then noticed that there were a few uprooted trees. Talk about being observant.
"That was our thinking," Kili replied.
"Something very big, and possibly quite dangerous," Bilbo continued on beginning to sound nervous.
"I vote that we should tell Thorin," she piped up.
"Hey! There's a light. Over here! Stay down," Pointed out Fili. The four of them quietly ran towards the light. Eliza crouched behind the log not wanting to be seen by whatever big thing was out there, the other three had the same idea as well.
She peered over the ledge to see that the source of light was a fire. She nearly cried out at the sight of two huge, ugly things sitting around the fire for warmth. Never in her life had she seen anything as ugly as them, they left her speechless.
"What are those?" whispered Bilbo.
"Trolls.\," Said Kili in a low voice. He starts to head towards the fire followed by Fili and Eliza. She turned around to see Bilbo grab her bowl of soup that she had abandoned.
"Leave the soup already Bilbo," she hissed to him. They all hid behind a tree trunk when another one of the so called trolls came into view carrying a pony under each arm.
"He's got Myrtle and Minty!," exclaimed Bilbo in a whisper, "I think they're going to eat them, we have to do something."
"Yes; you should. Mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small," said Kili sounding as if he was a genius with his idea.
"What! Are you crazy! Bilbo can't do that. No offence though, Bilbo," she hissed. Kili was stupid to think that Bilbo should just waltz into the clearing and get the ponies.
"N-n-no-" stuttered the hobbit.
"No I'm not, they'll never see him," said Kili. He still seemed to think that his idea was absolutely brilliant.
"No, no, no..." continued Bilbo.
"It's perfectly safe! We'll be right behind you," starting to push Bilbo towards the clearing where the trolls were.
"Yeah, as if three massive trolls that want to eat you are perfectly safe," she hissed sarcastically, "But if Bilbo's going then so am I since they are sooo safe," she sighed defeated.
"Um, I think you should go tell Thorin about the trolls, Eliza," said Fili.
"Nope, I'm going with Bilbo. How about you guys go tell Thorin, since you guys don't want to come," she suggested. FIli and Kili would gladly send Bilbo off to face the trolls but not themselves, not that she could blame them. Those trolls were freaking scary, stupid or not.
"I guess," said Fili hesitantly, "If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl."
"Twice like a barn owl, twice like a brown-once like a brown? Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Bilbo, but by that time the brothers had gone.
"Okay, here goes nothing," Said Eliza leading the way to where the trolls were. "Those things are beyond ugly," she whispered to Bilbo who nodded his head in agreement. They slowly made their way to the pen where the ponies were. The frightened creatures started to neigh loudly at the sight of Eliza and Bilbo.
"Shush," hissed Bilbo to them in an attempt to get them to quiet down. As they began to pull at the ropes, Eliza noticed that the trolls did a good job at knots.
"We need a knife or something to cut this," she whispered.
Bilbo looked around desperately for a knife, spotting one in the troll's pocket. He made a sign at Eliza to stay there, then he quietly crept up behind the troll. He slowly began to ease he knife out. The troll stood up and scratched his bottom making the knife slide back into its pocket.
Bilbo tried again to get the knife but the troll suddenly grabbed him accidently and sneezed all over him. "Argh! Blimey! Bert! Bert! Look what's come out of me 'ooter! It's got arms and legs and everything," shouted the surprised troll. The other trolls lean in to look at Bilbo covered in snot.
"Ew, now that's disgusting," Eliza whispered to herself. Much to her dismay, it caught the attention of the troll Bert. That's what the other trolls called him anyway.
"Here's another one!" he said his arm swooping down and grabbing Eliza.
"What are they?" asked one.
"I don't know, but I don't like the way it wriggles around!" said the one holding Bilbo. He shook the hobbit, making him fall to the ground.
"What are you two then? Oversized squirrels?" Bert asked Eliza.
"Were ah, um, were-" she started. Any day would be nice Kili...
"I'm a burglar- uhh, Hobbit," Interrupted Bilbo. Not doing any better than Eliza.
"A Burgla-Hobbit?" asked one.
"Can we cook `em?" asked another.
"We can try!" said the last troll making a lunge for Bilbo. The agile hobbit manages to dodge his arm, only to be cornered by all three trolls.
"They wouldn't make more than a mouthful, not when they're skinned and boned!"
"Perhaps there's more Burglar-Hobbits around these parts. Might be enough for a pie," Suggested a troll.
"Then grab him!" shouted Bert.
"It's too quick!"
All of the trolls lunge for the hobbit, trying unsuccessfully to catch him. "Go Burgla' hobbit!" shouted Eliza. She was trying her best to stay calm, but she was failing.
"Come here, you little... Gotcha! Are there any more of you little fellas `iding where you shouldn't?" said a troll. He had managed to catch Bilbo, and he now had him hanging upside down. Eliza was began to wonder what the hell a barn owl sounded like.
"Nope," answered Bilbo as bravely as he could manage.
"He's lying,"
"No I'm not!" Not as bravely now.
"Hold his toes over the fire. Make him squeal."
It was then that Kili chose that moment to burst out from behind a bush to slice at bert's legs. "Drop them," Kili said.
"You say what?" Bert asked.
"I said drop them," Kili repeated. Bert and William threw Eliza and Bilbo at Kili, the impact making him topple over. Eliza could hear a cry from the other dwarves as they charged at the trolls.
Eliza quickly stood up trying her best to keep out of the way. Bert made to grab at her, but Fili appeared knocking her over and stabbing at Bert's arm.
"Thanks," she said when Fili had helped her up. "Hey Fili, can I borrow one of your knives?"
Fili looked hesitant, probably not sure whether or not he should give her one. "Look, I would rather have some sort of defence than nothing," she reasoned.
"I guess you could have this at least," Fili said slowly handing her a knife from inside his coat.
"Thanks!" she said excitedly stabbing the nearest troll. She then began to swing the knife at every bit of troll she could see. She could hear a cry of surprise to her left. She glanced over and saw Bilbo being held by two of the trolls.
"Lay down your arms or we'll rip his off," said Bert. Thorin glared at the three trolls for a second before putting down his sword in defeat. The rest of the dwarves and Eliza followed suit.
Yeah Kili, it's totally safe.