Author note: I have borrowed the words jul'huon and armath taur from the fan fiction Way of the Dwarf by Shadow Smith.
Chapter 3
Primrose beamed at Thorin
"Thank you Thorin," she said.
The two continued to spar until Thorin disarmed Primrose.
"You did well," Kili said when Primrose rejoined him.
"I don't know where I'm going to get a sword my size from," Primrose said.
"That is a problem," Kili admitted.
"Maybe I should focus on my archery in the mean time," Primrose said.
Kili nodded and smiled. He was already planning to ask Bofur to make a bow and quiver for Primrose.
"Practice every day and you'll soon be as good with a bow as I am," Kili said.
"I will Primrose said.
Over dinner she thought about everything she had learnt and resolved that she would practice as much as possible so she could defend herself if necessary. Once dinner was over everyone sat around the fire and relaxed. The dwarves who had lived there told stories of Erebor which Primrose found very interesting.
"These stories of Erebor make me more and more determined to see my home," Kili said.
He was sitting next to Primrose and he smiled at her glad she was along for the journey. He had been surprised at how quickly she had learnt to use his bow and Fili's sword.
"Tell us about your life?" Thorin said, looking at Primrose.
So Primrose shared about life in the Shire and what it was like to be a hobbit. Then she looked at Thorin.
"So why did you need Uncle or I to come along on this quest?" Primrose asked.
"We need a burglar to get into Erebor and creep through the tunnels unseen and undetected by the dragon. Someone who won't be distracted by gold and isn't known to the dragon," Thorin said.
"I see. And what am I supposed to do when I am inside Erebor," Primrose asked.
"Kill the dragon. He should be asleep if he hasn't detected you," Thorin said.
"K..k..kill the dragon? I've never killed anything in my life," Primrose said.
She looked at Kili who was looking as shocked as she. He hadn't known this part of the plan and he was alarmed that Primrose would have to go into such danger.
"If the dragon is asleep it will be an easy matter," Thorin said.
"I will practice my fighting skills every day," Primrose said.
"Good," Thorin said.
He began talking with Dwalin and Balin and Kili smiled at Primrose.
"I'm going to have a chat with Bofur," Kili told Primrose.
She nodded and watched as Kili joined Bofur and the two talked. She could see Bofur nodding and Kili smiling. Then Kili rejoined Primrose and everyone began to get ready for bed.
After another 3 uneventful days the company entered Trollshaw Forest and when they stopped for the night Fili and Kili were ordered to keep watch over the ponies. The rest of the company set up camp and Bombur began cooking their dinner. Once dinner was ready Primrose volunteered to take some food to Kili and Fili and was handed two steaming bowls of stew. She made her way to where Kili and Fili were and found them talking and not paying attention to the ponies. At the same time she heard voices and the sound of ponies neighing. Primrose glanced at the ponies and to her horror realised two of them were missing.
"Um Kili two of the ponies are missing. Why weren't you keeping an eye on them my love," Primrose said.
"You're kidding. All we did was step away for a few seconds to relieve ourselves. Surely they can't have gone far," Fili said.
Kili nodded then smiled when he realised what she'd called him. They began looking for the ponies and then suddenly came across the source of the voices Primrose had heard. Trolls and they had the ponies.
"What are we going to do?" Primrose hissed.
"Can you sneak in there and free the ponies?" Kili asked.
Just then another troll arrived carring two of the ponies under his arms.
"What me?" Primrose asked.
"We'll be right behind you. You'll be fine. Hoot like an owl if you need help. You're our burglar remember," Fili said pushing Primrose forward.
She began moving forward and after she'd covered half a dozen or so steps she looked back to see no sign of Kili or Fili. Annoyed she silently snuck around to where the ponies were then tried to undo the knots of the crude pen that had been erected to keep them contained. They snorted and neighed when they recognized her.
"Ssh I'm going to free you," Primrose said softly.
Looking around Primrose could see that one of the trolls had a knife sticking out of his belt so she crept over to him and tried to grab it. On her third attempt one of the trolls suddenly reached down and grabbed her along with a cloth. He wiped his nose then stared at her.
"Hey look what came out of my nose," he said.
"What are you anyway?" another of them said.
"I'm a hobbit," Primrose said.
"Can we eat her?" the third troll said.
"Drop her," Primrose heard Kill's voice ring out. She looked down and Kili was standing near the trolls his sword drawn looking furious.
"I said DROP HER," Kili growled, swinging his sword dangerously.
The troll holding Primrose suddenly threw her at Kili who caught her the two of them tumbling over and over. The other dwarves burst out of the bushes and began fighting the trolls. Primrose got to her feet as did Kili who immediately joined the battle. Primrose had no idea what to do as she didn't have a weapon but before she could hide one of the trolls had grabbed her again and the next thing she knew two of them were holding her one holding each arm.
"Drop your arms or we'll whip hers off," one of the trolls said.
Primrose let out a frightened squeak and saw Kili looking even more furious and worried at the same time. Slowly the dwarves dropped their weapons looking unhappy about it. The trolls put some of them on a spit and the rest and Primrose two were put in sacks.
"I'm sorry my love," Primrose said softly to Kili as they were lying side by side.
"Not your fault," Kili whispered back.
Primrose lay still trying to figure out how to get the dwarves out of the situation they were in. Suddenly she had a brainwave.
"You're doing it all wrong," Primrose said, standing up.
"Doing what all wrong?" one of the trolls said.
"Cooking them. You don't cook them like that," Primrose said.
"How do we cook them then," one of the trolls demanded.
"Um ah… You need to skin them first," Primrose said.
The dwarves glared at her for that even Kili and began arguing with each other. Finally Primrose had a brain wave.
"You don't want to eat them," she said.
"And why not?" one of the trolls said.
"They've got parasites. Nasty big ones," Primrose said.
"I don't have parasites," Kili said indignantly but Fili shushed him.
Slowly the dwarves caught on to what Primrose was doing and began agreeing with her each saying their parasites were bigger than the previous dwarves.
"Mine are the biggest parasites of all," Kili declared.
In the end Gandalf returned making the sun rise and turning the trolls to stone. Gandalf freed the dwarves and once everyone was free they retrieved their weapons and outer garments. As they were doing so Primrose noticed a cave not far from the troll's camp and drawing Thorin's attention to it suggested they see what was inside. Everyone made their way to the cave and cautiously entered to find it was the trolls hoard. Amongst the various items the trolls had accumulated were some swords one which was the perfect weight and size for Primrose. Kili had found it and he grinned at her as he pulled it out of the pile of things the trolls had hoarded.
"Hey Prim look what I've found. It's perfect for you," he said, showing her the sword.
"Nice," Primrose said after she'd taken it from him and tried a few swings, "it's perfect. Thank you my love," she said
She said this softly as Thorin wasn't far away and it wouldn't do for him to hear her refer to Kili as her love.
"Now you'll be able to become really good with the sword," Kili said.
He had also found some clips and clasps that went in hair and intended to give them to her at some point.
"We need to get back to camp," Thorin said.
Everyone hastened to leave the troll's cave and locate the ponies before making their way back to camp. Kili and Fili and Primrose were with Thorin and she could tell he was very angry with Kili and Fili as he was not speaking much to them.
"How could you lose those ponies to three trolls?" Thorin asked
"We were only away from them for a few minutes to relieve ourselves," Kili said.
"You should have gone one at a time. Foolish dwarves," Thorin said.
"It's ok Thorin. Honestly it is. I'm fine," Primrose said, knowing he was angry because she could have been killed.
"No it's not ok. You were reckless too, going out there by yourself. These two put you in danger and they need a lesson in responsibility ," Thorin said.
"We're sorry Uncle Thorin," Fili said.
"We will be much more careful next time," Kili said.
"Not as sorry as you will be tonight. Tonight I will give both of you the punishment you deserve," Thorin said, "As for you Primrose be thankful you're not one of my dwarves you'd also be reciving a lesson tonight," he ended.
Back at the camp Thorin barked out orders to the dwarves as they packed away their things and prepared to leave. Before the company left the camp Primrose saw Thorin go over to a plant that she recognized as Jul'huon and picked a thin length of it. She glanced at Kili and Fili who had gone pale. As the company broke camp and began travelling she saw the other dwarves shooting nervous glances at the two dwarves. Not understanding why the other dwarves were nervous or why Fili and Kili had gone pale Primrose decided to ask Gandalf about it.
"See how Thorin is shaping the Jul'huon?" Gandalf asked while they were stopped for lunch.
Primrose could see that Thorin was shaping the Jul'huon into what looked like a switch. The carving he was doing on the handle was intricate and beautiful.
"In that shape it becomes an armath taur, an instrument used to discipline dwarven warriors. It is a wood that is hard enough yet flexible enough to deal great pain without inflicting any marks on the dwarf being punished," Gandalf said.
Primrose gulped feeling sick that Kili would have such pain inflicted on him and wondered if she could get Thorin to change his mind. She did not wish to see Kili being punished either as it would be too hard to bear.
"You shouldn't have to go through what Thorin's going to do to you tonight," Primrose said to Kili after they resumed travelling.
She was riding on his pony sitting in front of him as usual.
"You wouldn't understand. It's our way and has been our way for as long as anyone can remember . Uncle has been through it himself as has his father and his father before him. I've been through it before when I was younger too," Kili said.
"Gandalf told me what your uncle is making. I don't understand much more than that though," Primrose said.
"Don't worry yourself about it I will be fine," Kili said.
"It's my fault you're in trouble. Mahal Kili I'm so so sorry," Primrose said.
"Of course it's not your fault my love," Kili said.
"I don't think I'd be able to watch you being punished," Primrose said.
"Uncle will do it privately. You won't have to watch," Kili assured her.
"He shouldn't punish you at all. You were only doing something any dwarf has to do," Primrose said.
"Thanks but I doubt Uncle will change his mind," Kili said.
They continued to ride Primrose feeling unhappier and unhappier as the day went on. Finally the company stopped to camp for the night. After Primrose had dismounted from Kili's pony she approached Thorin.
"Can I talk to you?" she asked.
"You need to help the others collect firewood," Thorin said.
He turned away and she realised that this was her punishment. Primrose hurried away and after collecting a bundle of firewood returned to the camp and put the firewood down then approached Thorin again.
"Please don't punish Fili and Kili it was my fault everything happened," Primrose said.
"Your fault that those trolls got some of our ponies? Your fault that Kili and Fili weren't doing as I instructed them?" Thorin asked.
"Well no I suppose not," Primrose said.
She looked down and Thorin put his hand on her shoulder.
"I'm doing this for their own good and because I love them. When a child misbehaves their parents will correct them because they love them. I am doing this for the same reason," Thorin said.
Primrose nodded.
"When I was small I was spanked when I was particularly naughty. And Uncle would do so because he loved me and he wanted me to be a better hobbit as a result," Primrose said.
"That's exactly it," Thorin said.
Thorin strode over to Kili and Fili.
"Follow me," Thorin said.
Primrose watched as the three walked away hoping their punishment would be over with quickly. She saw Nori and Dwalin talking and then they looked at her.
"Would you like to come and watch with us?" they asked.
"You're going to watch? I thought Thorin was going to do it privately. At least that's what Kili told me," Primrose said.
"He's said we can watch. I once took 5 strokes of the armath taur without crying out. I want to see how Fili and Kili handle it," Dwalin said.
"I also want to see how they handle it. Some dwarves handle it better than others," Nori said.
"Would it be appropriate for me to watch? " Primrose asked.
Nori and Dwalin exchanged looks.
"On second thoughts you'd better stay here. It probably isn't appropriate for you to watch," Dwalin said.
"If you were a male it would be fine," Nori said.
Primrose understood and watched them head in the direction that Thorin, Fili and Kili had gone.