Here I am with chapter ten! Yay! I am really excited today, cause I just got brand new two-year old puppies! They are so adorable, and I love playing with them. Anywho, I hope you enjoy this new chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of Tolkien's fab characters, only my OC's.
The next day, they set off at a fast pace. After only a few hours of riding, it had begun to rain. Several hours later, it was still pouring down on them, and everyone had begun to get grumpy.
"Mr. Gandalf, can't you do something about this deluge?" Dori asked the wizard, and all eyes turned to Gandalf.
"It is raining, master dwarf, and it will continue to rain until the rain is done." He answered. Dori sighed quietly, and Elriauna slumped her shoulders. "If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard!"
"Are there any?" Bilbo asked, and Elriauna perked up slightly.
"What?" Gandalf asked.
"Other wizards?" Elriauna clarified, and Bilbo nodded his head in thanks.
"There are five of us," Gandalf answered. "The greatest of our order is Saruman, the white. Then there are the two blue wizards, you know, I've quite forgotten their names."
"And who is the fifth?" Bilbo asked with a furrowed brow.
"That would be Radagast, the brown." Gandalf said with a smile.
"And, is he a great wizard, or is he more like you?" Bilbo asked. Gandalf looked slightly hurt at the question, and Eliauna glared at the hobbit.
"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. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forests to the east, and a good thing too, for all the evil in this world will look to find a foothold." Bilbo didn't quite understand what the wizard meant, but decided to leave it.
"Ah, I cannot smoke like this! The rain is no help at all!" Bofur was complaining, and Eliauna laughed.
"Would you like the rain to go away Bofur?" She asked, and he glared slightly at her.
"Oh, no, I was hoping it would stay all day." He said sarcastically, and Eliauna just smiled.
"Well, I can help with that." She said to herself, and suddenly, Bofur was gasping in surprise.
"Whatever is the matter now Bofur?" Elriauna said in annoyance, but when she turned to see what was wrong, she was surprised to see that the rain had stopped around him.
"It's only around me! I don't understand it at all!" Elriauna looked to her sister, and scoffed.
"A bit obvious." She said quietly. Eliauna just laughed, and they continued on.
Later that day, they came upon an old, abandoned farm house that was in ruin.
"We camp here for the night." Thorin yelled, and everyone stopped. "Fili, Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them."
"A farmer, and his family, used to live here." Gandalf said with slight concern.
"Oin, Gloin, get a fire going." Thorin continued to give orders, and the dwarves quickly got to work.
"I think it would be wiser, to move on." Gandalf said with even more concern. Eliauna furrowed her brow, and started to unpack her things. "We could make for the hidden valley," Gandalf said to Thorin.
"I have told you already," Thorin said with a sigh, "I will not, go near that place."
"Why not? The elves could help us, we could get food, rest, advice!"
"I do not need, their advice!" Thorin said angrily.
"We have a map that we cannot read, Lord Elrond could help us." Gandalf tried to reason.
"Help?" Thorin said with raised eyebrows. "A dragon attacked Erebor. What help came from the elves?" Gandalf sighed, still wanting the company to stop in Rivendell. "Orcs, plunder Moria. Desecrate our sacred halls. The elves looked on and did nothing." Thorin slowly approached Gandalf. "You ask me to seek out the very people who betrayed my grandfather; betrayed my father."
"You are neither of them," Gandalf tried to still reason with the stubborn dwarf. Elriauna just shook her head. "I did not give you that map and key for you to hold on to the past."
"I did not know they were yours to keep." Thorin said angrily, through clenched teeth. Eliauna stood with her mouth open as he said this, and Elriauna sighed in tired annoyance. Gandalf glared at the dwarf king, and then turned and stormed off. As he passed by Bilbo and Balin, the hobbit looked at him confused.
"Everything alright?" He asked, but Gandalf didn't answer, and just continued to walk away from the group. "Gandalf, where are you going?" Bilbo asked a little more frantically.
"To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense!" Gandalf answered angrily.
"Who's that?" Bilbo asked.
"Myself, master Baggins!" The wizard yelled behind him, flustering the hobbit. Eliauna scoffed, and Elriauna threw her arms in the air.
"Thanks!" She yelled sarcastically, and Gandalf turned to momentarily glare at her.
"I've had enough of dwarves for one day." He mumbled before disappearing into the trees. She shook her head, and then carried her stuff over near where Bilbo was standing.
"Come on Bomber, we're hungry." Thorin called, and the orange haired dwarf nodded.
"Is he going mad?" Bilbo asked Balin, and the dwarf just gave him a sideways look. Eliauna came and started setting up by her sister.
"No, he is just being stupid." She said quietly, but unfortunately Kili still heard her as he came up beside her.
"Are you calling my uncle stupid?" She whipped her head around to look at him, and stuttered.
"I, uh, I- no?" She said with a small mile, and he laughed.
"That's ok," He said in a whisper as he leaned closer to her. "I've called him much worse." He smirked as he pulled away, and she giggled as she glanced at Thorin's turned back. Elriauna smiled at her sister and Kili, and jumped when she heard Fili's voice next to her ear.
"I think he likes her." He said with amusement, and she smiled back at him.
"I think so too." She agreed with a nod. As they watched their younger siblings talk and laugh with each other, Fili sighed.
"And I think I like you too." He said in a whisper that he thought no one would be able to hear. Elriauna heard it because of her acute hearing, and she gasped. "What?" Fili said nervously, afraid that she might have heard.
"Oh, it's nothing." She said with a slight smile.
Later that night, after everyone had finished setting up, the food had been made.
"He's been a long time." Bilbo said as he came back from standing at the edge of the camp.
"Who," Bofur asked as he got two bowls of soup ready.
"Gandalf." Bilbo clarified.
"He's a wizard, he does as he chooses." Bofur told the worrying hobbit. "Here, here's a favor. Take this to the lads." Bofur said as he handed Bilbo the two bowls he had filled.
"We'll come too Bilbo!" Eliauna called as she and Elriauna go up from their bed rolls. They followed the hobbit into the trees, all the way to where the group of ponies were tied up. They walked up to Fili and Kili, who were standing and staring into the distance with confusion written in their features. Bilbo held out the bowls to them, but when they didn't take them, furrowed his brow.
"What's wrong?" Elriauna asked, and both brothers opened their mouths.
"We're supposed to be looking after the ponies." Kili said, not taking his eyes off of where he was looking.
"Only we've encountered a, slight problem." Fili said, glancing at Bilbo, and giving a nod to the twins.
"We had sixteen," Kili said.
"Now there's, fourteen." Fili finished, and Eliauna looked worriedly over the group of ponies, counting them in her head. They all started looking around, and finally came to an uprooted tree.
"Daisy and Bungow are missing." Kili said as he and Bilbo came up to where the twins and Fili were standing.
"Well, well that's, not good. And that is not good at all," Bilbo said as he saw the tree. "Shouldn't we tell Thorin?" He asked, and Fili whipped his head around to look at the hobbit.
"Uh, no. Best not worry him." The blonde dwarf said frantically. Elriauna nodded, and Fili continued. "As out official burglar we thought that, you, might like to take a look at it." They all looked at Bilbo, and he hesitated.
"Well, uh, it looks as if something, big, uprooted these trees." He said as he came closer to the fallen tree.
"That was our thinking," Kili agreed.
"Something very big, and possibly, quite dangerous." Bilbo continued, with more concern slowly leaking into his voice.
"Hey," Fili said as he moved towards the tree line. "There's a light!" He stopped moving, and looked back to the others, motioning for them to follow him. "Over here," he finished, and Kili followed.
"Why not?" Elriauna said with a shrug, and she went after the two brothers, followed by Eliauna and Bilbo.
"Stay down." Kili said to Bilbo, and Bilbo ducked down. They all looked at where the light was coming from, and heard foul laughing.
"What is it?" Bilbo asked, tapping Fili on the shoulder. Before the blonde could answer, Kili had interrupted.
"Trolls." He said with anger, and he and Fili jumped over the log they were behind and started running. The sisters followed, but Bilbo hesitated before going back and grabbing the two food bowls that he had set down and then following. The four younger ones kneelt behind another log, but Bilbo had to scurry behind a tree close by when a troll came by carrying two more of the ponies. They were wriggling and neighing frantically, and Eliauna's heart went out to them.
"They are scared, they want help." She gasped, and reached out slightly. "They can see us! They are calling for us!" She said something quietly in elvish, and the ponied immediately stopped struggling. Kili glanced at her weirdly, but was quickly distracted by Bilbo.
"He's got Myrtle and Minty!" The hobbit said with slight rage. He sighed as he tried to think of what to do. "They're going to eat them, we have to do something." The brothers turned their heads in unison to look at the hobbit with slight mischief in their eyes.
"Yes, you should." Kili said, trying to sound as innocent as possible while leading the hobbit by the shoulder towards the troll camp. "Mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small, they'll never see you!" Kili tried to reason, while Bilbo just kept saying no, over and over again. "It's perfectly safe, we'll be right behind you." Elriauna questioned whether that last statement was true of not, but she decided not to say anything out loud.
"If you run into any trouble," Fili tried to back up his brother, "Hoot twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl." He took the bowls from the flustered hobbit's hands, and pushed him forward. Fili then turned and placed the bowls in Eliauna's open, but unexpecting hands, causing her to almost drop them. Bilbo stumbled a bit when he was pushed by the blonde, but recovered quickly.
"Twice like a barn owl, once, like a brown ow- once like a brown owl, are you sure this is a good idea?" He turned back and asked, but only saw Elriauna standing there.
"Nope, but I'm pretty sure we can do it." She said with a nod and a determined smile.
As Eliauna and the dwarf brothers ran back to the camp, she looked behind her and was horrified to see that Elriauna was gone.
"Auna?" She hissed into the darkness, slightly startling Kili, and causing them to stop.
"What's wrong, is she missing?" Fili asked, confusion written on his face. Eliauna nodded with her brow furrowed.
"I think she may have gone with Bilbo," Kili said, looking around and breathing heavily. Eliauna nodded.
"Yah," She said with a sigh, "I think so." Fili suddenly looked slightly more worried than before.
"I hope she knows what she's doing." He said with concern. Kili smirked.
"Would you like to go back and protect her?" He said slightly mockingly. Fili shot him a glare, and Kili just laughed.
"Come on, we should go get help before they get hurt." Kili suddenly sobered again, and nodded.
"Ok." He said right before they all took off running in the direction of camp once more.
"Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if don't look like mutton again tomorrow!" One of the trolls was saying as Bilbo and Elriauna came up to the camp.
"Quit your whining," The troll carrying the ponies said. "These ain't sheep!" Eliauna nodded.
"He's right about that." She said to Bilbo, and he just glared at her. They focused back on the conversation once a different troll started talking again.
"I don't like 'orse. I never 'ave. Not enough fat on them!" Eliauna slightly sighed in relief as she thought that it might mean they wouldn't want to eat the ponies.
"Well it's better than Leathery old farmer. All skin and bones he was. I'm still picking bits of him out of my teeth." It was then that Bilbo decided to move. He took off slowly in the direction of the cage that the trolls had put the ponies in, and Elriauna followed. Suddenly, the one in the middle, and the smallest one, sneezed into the pot.
"Disgusting!" Elriauna said quietly. "First they eat the farmer and his family, and now their sneezing into their own food. I am so glad I am not a troll." She was suddenly hushed by Bilbo, who was lightly glaring at her still. She held up her hands, and shook her head. "Alright, alright, I'll be quiet." Bilbo huffed before continuing on. Elriauna was unwillingly drawn back to the conversation as the small one started whining in pain. The troll that was cooking had the smaller one's nose pinched between his fingers, and he pushed him back down onto the rock he had been previously using as a seat.
"Sit down!" He yelled, and the small one cowered slightly in fear. He started to sneeze again, but this time stopped it by blowing his nose into a handkerchief.
'Well, at least he has some manners.' Elriauna thought to herself as she and Bilbo began to try and untie the bonds that were holding the ponies in their cell.
There it is! Chapter ten. A big hurray for reaching double digits! So sorry I took so long (again), as I said I had been restricted from fanfiction. Please R&R, God Bless, and I will see you next chapter!