Chapter 2: Mr. Bilbo's Trolls
That night he fled the Shire, leaving on the same path from 3 years ago. He didn 't stop once to rest, Frodo and Sam fell asleep in his arms. As soon as he was o ut of the Shire he removed the ring.
Lately it had been making him feel… weir d. He kind of felt drawn to it, paranoid , he didn't like it, as soon as he could he was getting rid of it.
It took him two days to reach Bree with no supplies or rest. He went to the Danc ing Dragon, Gandalf had recommended it t o him. Frodo and Sam were clinging to hi s legs as he ordered the room for the ni ght. Bilbo left the boys in the room and went to fetch some food for them. When he returned Sam and Frodo were curled up together on one of the beds.
Bilbo placed the food down and crawled i nto bed next to them, wrapping his arms protectively around them.
Using his share of his first quest, the next day he purchased two ponies and lot s of supplies. He left a message with th e innkeeper incase Gandalf came back thi s way, and then they set out again.
They traveled along the east road, the s ame paths he took with the dwarves.
Frodo and Sam couldn't ride a pony on th eir own yet, so they both had to sit in front of Bilbo or they all walked the po nies along.
"Uncle Bilbo, where are we?" Frodo asked , growing board of the adventure.
"We're on the east road Frodo." He said. Everyone was tired of traveling. He saw they were approaching the ruins of a bu rnt down house. "A farmer and his family used to live here…" he said to himself.
"What Uncle?"
"Have I ever told you boys about the tim e I out smarted mountain trolls?" of cou rse he had, it was their favorite story.
"Oh! Please tell it Mr. Baggins!" Sam be gged.
Bilbo dismounted the horse, leaving the two boys upon it. "Very well. Now mounta in trolls are not the smartest of creatu res, nor the fastest, they're loud, rude , and smelly!" the boys giggled, "we had stopped at this very spot, on out quest ." Sam and Frodo looked down to where Bi lbo was standing on the ground. "Gandalf wanted to move on, but Thorin was a stu bborn dwarf. Gandalf stormed off, angere d by Thorin's closed-mindedness. Thorin order Bofur to start dinner, and Kili an d Fili to watch the ponies."
Bilbo led the two horses into the woods, stopping by a rotten fallen tree.
"You see, Bofur had sent me with supper for the brothers. I found them here, sta ring at this tree," he patted it." Do yo u know what they said to me?'
"We were in charge of watching the ponie s!" Sam said giggling,
"Only we've encountered a slight problem ." Frodo laughed, Bilbo smiled. They cou ld recite his stories line by line.
"There were sixteen!"
"Now there's only fourteen!" the boys sh outed in unison.
"Now something pretty big had to have kn ocked these trees down, and walk off wit h two ponies." He helped Frodo and Sam off th e pony, leading them around the logs "it was mountain trolls that had taken our ponies!" he pulled them behind the rocks , he could still remember the huge mount ain troll stomping by with Myrtle and Mi ndy in his arms. "They had somehow manag ed to get four ponies from under the watchful eyes of Fili and Kili. Seeing this, the brother thought it would be a great time for me to demonstrate my burglary skills. I rea lly didn't have any-still don't have tha t much-but being a hobbit, we can get by unseen by most if we wish. So they push ed me out."
"It's perfectly safe! Mountain trolls ar e slow and stupid!" Frodo said pushing o n Bilbo's leg.
"They'll never catch you!" Sam started p ushing as well.
"Don't worry, we'll be right behind you! If you need us hoot twice like a barn o wl,"
"And once like a brown owl!" the boy bur st into a fit of laughter that Bilbo cou ldn't help but to join along. He led the boys to the edge of the clearing, makin g sure they couldn't see the statues.
"I just wanted to get the ponies, but th ey had tied the knot to tight! They were going to cook the ponies!" the boys gas ped, "they were arguing about mutton, 'm utton yesterday, mutton today, and blime y if it don't look like mutton again tom orrow!'" he did his best troll impressio n, "'why is Burt the cook? Everythin 'e makes tastes like chicken!' '-except the chicken-' 'yeah, what tastes like fish! ' now they kept arguing, and no matter h ow I pulled, the rope would simply not c ome undone " he brought them over to whe re the rotten wood still held together a makeshift stable.
"I saw one of the trolls had a sword- fo r me, it was probably a knife for him- s o carefully a snuck behind it, and almos t had the knife when, it picked me up al ong with its handkerchief and sneezed on me!" The boy burst into laughter again, "w ell now I was in trouble, they wanted to cook me! Asked what I was. For some rea son I said, I was a 'burgla-hobbit!' I o nly avoided them for so long until they caught me. Asked if there were anymore ' burr'obbits' around. I couldn't very wel l lead them to the others so like any re asonable hobbit, I lied- well not really because there were no more hobbits around. Wanted to hold my toes in the f ire- in the fire! – to get me to talk."
Sam and Frodo waited with baited breathe , "THEN! From out of the trees burst Kil i! He slashed at their ankles with his s word.-"
"DROP HIM!" Frodo helpfully supplied,
"Wha' did y' say?" Bilbo said in his tro ll voice.
"I said, put Him DOWN!" Sam joined in.
"Charging out from behind him, all the d warves started to attack the trolls, the y dropped me. Noticing the knife I was t rying to grab before on the ground in fr ont of me, it took this chance to free t he ponies. But I wasn't the only one to see my victory. 'Lay down yer arms, or w e rip off his.'" The boys gasped, "Two o f the trolls were holding my arms and le gs, I was extremely terrified. Reluctant ly Thorin and the others threw down thei r weapons. The next thing we know we're all tied up in sacks while they roosted Dwalin, Bofur, Bifur, Ori, Nori, and Glo in over a fire."
The boys gasped again, "oh no!" Sam whis pered.
"One of the trolls said they should just sit on us, make a nice jam, before sunr ise because 'I don't fancy bein' turned to stone'. It occurred to me, 'being tur ned to stone? If I could just stall till sunrise!' so did the first thing that c ame to my mind."
"WAIT!" Frodo yelled.
"I fumble onto my feet in the sack,"
"You can't do that! You need to cook the m more!" Sam said next, "have you smelt them, you're going to need a lot more th an sa-sa-sa" he had trouble with the wor d.
"Sage" Frodo helped his friend.
"Sage!"
"'What do y' know 'bout cooking dwarf?' Burt asked me, the others gave protest b ut Burt shut them up 'Quiet! I wanna hea r what the flurburbuglar 'obbit 'as to s ay.'"
"I'll tell you the secret to cooking dwa rf, its … uh …. Its" Frodo smiled
"'Tell us!'"
"I'm telling you! The secret is… you hav e to skin…them first." Sam said perfectl y.
"Now this earned many outcries from the dwarves, I believe Dwalin said 'he was g oing to get me'" he little hobbits giggl ed, "'I eaten plenty rare' on said, pick ing up Bombur. Now I couldn't have let h im get eaten-"
"NO! Not that one! He's-he's got… parasi tes! In his tubes!?" Sam cried out,
"'Ew! I touched it!' he cried dropping B ombur on the others with a thump. I said 'in fact, they're all infected! Nasty b usiness really, I wouldn't risk it.'"
"What did he say?" Frodo said
"He said we have parasites! We don't hav e parasites! YOU have parasites!" Sam sa id imitating Kili.
"Thorin gave them a good kick, and they changed their minds."
"I have huge parasites!"
"Mine are the biggest!"
"'What do you think we should do? Let 'e m go?'"
"Well…" the boys said together.
"'No the little ferret is lying' I'm not a ferret! I said defending hobbits ever ywhere. Thankful that is when Gandalf ar rived, splitting the rock," Bilbo pointe d to the large boulder behind him,
"LET THE LIGHT TAKE YOU ALL!" the little hobbits cried out together, throwing th eir arms in the air.
"'Who's that?' 'Can we eat him too?' and then the three trolls were frozen, turn ed to same stone as the mountains they c ame from, for all eternity." He spun the little hobbits around. They both gasped .
They slowly walked forward together, the y both looked back at Bilbo silently ask ing permission to touch, he nodded. They carefully poked at the troll before qui ckly running to hide behind Bilbo again. Peeking out to make sure they hadn't mo ved, the boys move more confidently to t he trolls.
"Mr. Bilbo-""you can just call me Bilbo Sam," "-can we see the cave where you go t sting?"
"Of course, let me get the ponies."
After getting the ponies, Bilbo led the boys to the cave. They stood at the mout h of the cave next to the skeletal remai ns of a warg.
"This is where you found Sting?" Sam ask ed.
"Actually Gandalf found it, and then he gave it to me. Hoping I would never have to use it."
"Uncle, can-" Frodo started.
"No." Bilbo said simply, no little hobbi ts will enter this cave under Bilbo's wa tch. They watched the cave in silence, f or a few more minutes.
"Why, hello again." A voice startled the hobbits. Bilbo turning quickly turned a nd pushed Frodo and Sam behind him. It w as Radagast the brown! "You're the hobbi t that was with Gandalf and those dwarve s years back."
"Yes I was." Bilbo relaxed slightly meet ing a familiar face.
"Why are you here again? I thought you a ll were heading to the lonely mountain…"
"I can tell you, but not right now." Bil bo gestured down to the two hobbits peek ing out from either side of him to see t he wizard.
"The Hobbiton was attacked by orcs." He said to the wizard as they watched Frodo and Sam play with the sleigh of rabbits . "I had to get them out, get them somew here safe. I'm headed back to Erebor."
"That was a dangerous quest, with 13 dwa rves and a wizard at your side." Bilbo n odded. It was. He had almost died. On se veral occasions. "I can help you," Bilbo looked away from his nephew and Sam, ab out to question the wizard. "I am headin g back to Rivendale, I can accompany you there and I can send word to Gandalf an d Erebor, if you would like."
"Thank you so much. How can I repay you? "
"It is no worry, just keep those little ones safe."