Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Because I don't usually do this and I probably should... all the lovely character from Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit do not belong to me :( They belong to J.R.R. Tolkien and Peter Jackson... kinda. But Arirua is my character ;D.

Arirua slid through the shadows of the shadows of the forest, avoiding both the trolls that had taken her comrade and the company itself. She had placed the quiver of arrows of her back and kept the bow in her hand, ready for anything.

She found the place where the two brothers had been keeping the ponies, and she saw the hoof prints that the ponies had left when they had bolted, out of fear no doubt. Arirua walked through the trees, scanning ahead as best she could so as to not make much noise. It had grown very dark and all she had to see was the light of the moon and the small light from the troll's campfire. And their voices. Arirua could hear them ringing through the woods now that she was away from the company's campfire and the loud conversations that the dwarves would have.

Arirua soon was very close to the light; causing her to duck behind some bushes in order not to be seen by the slow, stupid mountain trolls. She wrinkled her nose; she could smell them from where she was.

"Hold his toes over the fire." she heard one of them say, "Make him squeal." Arirua quickly pulled one of the arrows from the quiver sensing trouble when she heard the scream of one of the trolls. Then she heard his voice.

"Drop him!" said Kili. Arirua turned to look over the string of bushes she was hiding behind. She could see him, standing there, looking up at the trolls with this look she couldn't describe.

"You what?" said the troll that was holding Bilbo. The poor hobbit was hanging upside down, held there by his foot. Arirua quickly strung the arrow she had pulled and stood up, allowing the light from the fire to wash over her.

"I believe the dwarf said put him down." Arirua told the trolls. They all, including Bilbo and Kili, turned to look at her. "Now, put him down before I shoot this arrow through your heads." She pulled back on the arrow to show her point. The troll that was holding her frowned and then suddenly turned back to where Kili was standing. Before Arirua or Kili could react, the hobbit was sailing through the air and landing on top of the dark haired dwarf.

That was when the rest of the company came rushing out, axes and swords at the ready. Their attack was swift, many went for the knees and feet, seeing as that was all they could reach. Arirua climbed out from behind the bushes and began shooting when she could, being sure to hit none of the company.

Dori, the dwarf that hair that resembled the fish that were shaped like a star, was kicked across the campsite by one of the trolls. Arirua winced when he landed. She watched as Bofur crushed one of the troll's toes with his hammer.

Suddenly Arirua saw Bilbo, unarmed, running through the chaos. She quickly took off running. He stopped and hid behind one of the barrels that were just sitting in the middle of the clearing. She saw him glance over at the horses and begin looking around in search of something. Arirua started to run to him, to tell to stop thinking about whatever was going through his head, but she was stopped when one of the trolls began running towards her. Arirua looked around at Gloin, Bombur, and Dori, hoping that one may have a close range weapon that she could use. She had been so stupid to leave Lalar sitting at the campsite the way she had. Arirua pulled a long dagger from her boot, planning on making the best with what she had when she saw the dwarf sliding under the troll. The dark haired dwarf slide underneath the feet of the troll and jumped up and stabbed the stupid creature in the stomach.

"What are you doing here?" she heard the dwarf ask. "Thorin told you to stay at the camp."

"And I…" Arirua started to say as she pulled another arrow from the quiver and shot it into the shoulder of the troll, "am not to be babied. I am not made of glass. I will not break if I fight." She did a quick roll out of the reach of the troll's big hand that reached for her. Kili followed her, jumping up and bring down a blow the hand. "I am not glass!" she repeated.

"He's just looking out for you." Kili tried explaining.

"I do not need looking after!" Arirua said grunting. She was running low on arrows and patience as well. Suddenly she was pushed to the ground by the dark haired brother; Arirua started to get up and begin to berate him for pushing her down as he did but she saw why he had done it. A different troll had taken an interest in their little party and had swung his hand in their general direction.

"Don't need looking after huh?" Kili said, getting up and offering his hand to Arirua. The woman slapped his hand aside and got up herself.

"I will have you know that I had the whole thing completely under control." Kili gave her a raised eyebrow look. To prove her point, Arirua pulled one of the last arrows out of the quiver. She quickly strung it and pulled back aiming for the troll's foot. She waited for a moment; as soon as the troll lifted his foot, she let the arrow fly. It found its mark and troll cried out in pain. "I have the situation under control I assure you Master Dwarf."

"Ah, yah, ah…" Kili stammered, trying to find words to express the ideas going through his head. "Don't, ah, waste all my arrows!" he said finally.

Arirua just rolled her eyes as she started running back into the thick of the fight. "It is not wasting them if I am saving your life." Kili watched her go. She was truly beautiful, in a way he couldn't describe. There were no women like Arirua in the Blue Mountains.

"Come on lad," Balin yelled at him, bring him out of his thoughts about the fair-haired beauty, "this is no time for daydreams." Kili shook his head, focusing back on the fight.

Arirua joined in the fight where ever she could. She watched as Dori was picked up by his weapon and swung around until Ori, being the small brave soul he was, took his slingshot, and shot the dumb brute that was throwing his brother around in the eye. Arirua turned to see the troll lose interest in Dori and begin to chase Ori, who began running in the opposite direction right into the hand of the one of the other trolls. Just as Arirua prepared to shot the creature in the eye, she saw Dwalin, the tall, gruff, bald headed dwarf, do a flip over the small pot that rested on the fire in the middle of the fight and land on his forearms and knees. Suddenly, Thorin, who Arirua had seen fighting the hardest during the battle, jumped off his back and into the arm of the troll holding Ori. Thorin brought his sword down on the creatures arm, making it shout in pain and release Ori.

During the fight, Arirua found herself fighting alongside Balin and Fili. They sliced at the knees and feet while she shot for the higher parts of the body like the troll's face or arms.

"What… are… you… doing here?" Fili asked her at one point during their fight against the bigger troll.

"It is very funny Fili, but you and your brother ask the same question." Arirua said laughing to herself. "I will tell you as I told him. I am not made of glass; therefore I will not be treated as if I am made of glass." Arirua reached up to the quiver to have her hand meet with emptiness. The woman's eyes widened.

"I am out of arrows." she said. She quickly reached down and grabbed one of the arrows that the troll had pulled from his arm and restrung it to let it go again.

The sound of hooves interrupted her moment of panic. Fili and Arirua looked up to see the ponies running away from the fight. Bilbo did it. she thought to herself.

The next few moments came in a blur. Arirua, Dwalin, and Fili attacked the troll that had captured Ori in his hand. It was Fili in the end who was able to get the beast to release the young dwarf, throwing him across the troll campsite. Arirua quickly ran over to were Ori had landed, helping him up along with Dori and Kili. Suddenly, the small group of the company that was near Arirua stopped and looked up. She glanced up as well, and the sight made her nearly drop poor Ori on the ground again.

Two of the trolls stood over them, holding Bilbo by his hands and feet.

"Bilbo!" Kili shouted, beginning to rush towards him, only to be stopped by Thorin.

"No!"

"Lay down your arms." one of the trolls said, "Or we'll rip his off!" Arirua could see the fear in the poor hobbit's face. She moved her foot slightly and felt something move underneath of it. Glancing down, she saw an arrow, one that had not been bent or broken. Arirua slowly bent down and snatched it off the ground, stringing it almost instantly.

Arirua watched as the rest of the company, lead by Thorin, put down their weapons. Some were placed down and others were thrown down in anger. That was when Arirua took that moment to pull up Kili's bow and the single arrow, aimed at the head of what seemed like the lead troll.

"Put him down." she said as calmly as she could.

"You too woman. Arms down or the flurgaburburrahobbit loses his!" Arirua's grip did not loosen from the bow, her anger was now increasing.

How DARE they talk to her as if she were dirt! How dare they threaten her life and the lives of her comrades!

"Drop the bow!" Thorin said, pulling her out of her thoughts. Arirua glared at him. "For once today DO AS I SAY!"

Arirua looked at Bilbo and then looked at Thorin and then she looked at Kili, who nodded. Brow furrowed with anger, Arirua pulled the arrow off the string and made a giant motion of throwing them onto the ground before the trolls and Thorin.

"Good." said the troll that had spoken first. "Now, get the bags."

Eldarion was now sitting on the edge of his bed next to his mother. During the part about the troll fight, he had climbed out from underneath of the covers and moved closer to his mother.

"Oh, please don't stop now mother." he said as Arwen stood up. She smiled at her son and sat back down on the bed.

"But you must go to sleep my son." Arwen said, brushing his forehead lightly.

"I am not yet tired," the young boy said, stifling a yawn that gave him away, "Please just a little more." Arwen sighed.

"Alright, just a little bit more."

Those who hadn't been placed into the bags were tied to a spit over the fire pit. Arirua struggled, trying to find a way out of her sack. She was squished between Oin, who she had come to realize was quite deaf and Kili. She, Kili, Fili, Thorin, Oin, Bombur, Gloin, Bilbo, and Balin were all struggling to get out of their bags, but they also had to watch the trolls slowly turning six of their friends on a spit over an ever growing fire.

"Don't bother cooking them. Let's just sit on them and squash them into jelly." one of the trolls said.

"They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage." another troll said. He seemed to be the cook of the three, always going on about spices and ingredients that would make the meal taste better.

"Is this really necessary?" Arirua heard Dori shout from the spit.

"Ooh, that does sound quite nice." said the third and final troll. Arirua had come to realize that he was the dumbest of the three, always making dumb comments or mistakes that would get him into trouble with the other two.

"Untie us, you monsters!" yelled Oin, right into Arirua's ear.

"Take on someone your own size!" Gloin yelled along with his brother.

"Never mind the seasoning; we ain't got all night! Dawn ain't far away, so let's get a move on. I don't fancy being turned to stone." said the troll turning the spit while the dumb one poked at the dwarves on the spit with a metal prong he found. Arirua's head popped up at the same time Bilbo's did. They both looked at each other, thinking about what the troll had said. Suddenly the hobbit stood up, goodness knows how, in his sack.

"WAIT!" Bilbo said loudly, grabbing the attention of the three trolls and thirteen dwarves, "You are making a terrible mistake."

"You can't reason with them, they're half-wits!" Dori yelled, trying to escape the ropes that tied him to the spit.

"Half-wits!? What does that make us?" Bofur asked from the other side of the spit. While the dwarves were arguing about half-wits and what not, Arirua reached down into her boot, searching for one of her knives. Her hand was met with nothing. She grunted in frustration.

"What's wrong?" Kili asked in a whisper.

"I have run out of knives. I threw too many while we were fighting them." Arirua was frowning.

"It's fine. We'll get out of this somehow." Kili promised her. Arirua's lips curled into a small smile; despite their situation, Kili still manager to make her smile, something that not many could do.

"Uh, I meant with the, uh, with, uh, with the seasoning." Bilbo said, continuing with the trolls.

"What about the seasoning?" asked the cook, leaning forward towards the hobbit.

"Well have you smelt them?" Bilbo asked him. The troll took a whiff of the dwarves laying in the bags and seemed to get Bilbo's point. "You're going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up." A chorus of "I don't smells" and "Traitors" rang up from the pile of dwarves. Arirua knew he was playing for time but she couldn't help feel ever so slightly offended.

"What do you know about cooking dwarf?" asked the leader.

"Shut up, and let the, uh, flurgaburburrahobbit talk." demanded the cook, giving his full attention to Bilbo. Bilbo frowned at the troll for getting his name wrong but continued.

"Uh, th-the secret to cooking dwarf is, um-" he said stammering, trying to think of something off the top of his head.

"Yes? Come on.

"It's, uh-" The dwarves on the spit and in the sacks waited expectantly for Bilbo's answer. Arirua could feel some of them getting restless and nervous.

"Tell us the secret."

"Ye-yes, I'm telling you, the secret is" Bilbo said. Suddenly, they all saw that he had gotten an idea as it washed over his face "… to skin them first!" The entire company cried out in anger, even Arirua.

"Tom, get me the filleting knife." said the cook.

"Bilbo," hissed Arirua, "you are supposed to buy us time, not seal our fates." She knew that the dwarves hadn't heard what she had said for they were still going on about the hobbit being a traitor. Except Thorin, who had stayed very quiet through the whole ordeal.

"If I get you, you little-" she heard Gloin say.

"I won't forget that!" Dwalin's unmistakable gruff voice said from the spit.

The troll was apparently named Tom said, "What a load of rubbish! I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scuff them, I say, boots and all."

"`e's right! Nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf! Nice and crunchy." the dumb troll said. He trudged over and picked up Bombur, who was in one of the sacks along with Arirua, and dangled him upside down over his mouth. Arirua looked away, almost burying her face into Kili's shoulder. She did not want to watch her friend be eaten by trolls.

"Not-not that one," Bilbo said, trying to save Bombur from his horrible fate.

"Are you okay?" Kili whispered to Arirua. The pale blonde nodded, but still stayed close to Kili.

"He-he's infected!" Bilbo told the troll holding Bombur, who gave a noise of shock.

"You what?" Tom asked him.

"Yeah, He's got worms in his … tubes." Bilbo said, trying to sound as matter-a-fact as possible. The troll holding Bombur drops the dwarf back onto the pile nearly crushing Oin, Arirua, and Kili from the wait.

"In-in fact they all have, they're in-infested with parasites. It's a terrible business; I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't." Bilbo told them.

"What about the girl?" the dumb one asked. By now, Kili, Oin, and Arirua had pushed Bombur off of them and were finally able to breathe a little easier. Arirua looked up to the troll's hand reaching down for her. She tried to move out of the way but there was nowhere to go; they were backed up against a line of rocks and the dwarves were all piled on top of each other.

"Let go of me!" Arirua screamed , moving around as much as she could to loosen the troll's grip. "Faica!" she cursed at the troll. "Faica!"

"Put her down!" she heard Kili yell. She could tell by his voice that he was very angry. "Or I will make sure that you regret ever laying a hand on her!"

"Her too." Bilbo told them. "She's infected with parasites too." Arirua was suddenly dropped from a very high distance onto Kili and Oin.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, out of breath from having the wind knocked out of her.

"Parasites, did he say parasites?" Oin asked all of a sudden.

"We don't have parasites! You have parasites!" Kili shouted childishly at Bilbo. Arirua giggled slightly, even though she knew that it was a highly inappropriate time for it. She tried to move off of Kili, but Oin had rolled over and taken up much of her previous space. The young woman was now stuck half laying on Kili's chest and half laying on the ground, which meant being crushed by Oin.

"What are you talking about, laddie?" Gloin demanded of the hobbit. The rest of the dwarves chimed in, making comments about how they didn't have parasites, that the hobbit was lying about the whole thing. Bilbo rolled his eyes, annoyed with the dwarves for not catching on. Thorin, who had been silent this whole time, kicked Kili and others. Arirua grunted, having felt the kick herself. They all turned to look at him and their eyes widened slightly.

"I've got parasites as big as my arm." Oin said slowly.

"Mine are the biggest parasites, I've got huge parasites!" Kili insisted, causing Arirua to laugh again.

"I have the biggest parasites!" Arirua said loudly, "Mine are much bigger than his!" she added dramatically. She felt Kili laughing silently to himself.

"We're riddled." Nori called out.

"Yes, I'm riddled." Ori told them.

"Yes we are. Badly!" Dori insisted.

Tom, the leader of the three, looked at Bilbo, "What would you have us do, then, let 'em all go?"

"Well..." Bilbo said, shrugging in a nonchalant way.

"You think I don't know what you're up to?" Tom asked Bilbo. "This little ferret is taking us for fools!"

"Ferret?" asked the offended Bilbo.

"Fools?" the cooked asked, taken aback.

"The dawn will take you all!" Gandalf said, his voice bellowing through the clearing. The dwarves all turned to look and saw Gandalf standing on top of a stone, high above the trolls.

"Who's that?" one of the trolls asked.

"No idea."

"Can we eat `im too?" asked the dumb one. Gandalf raised his staff and brought it down, breaking the rock into two parts, allowing the sunlight to shine through the space between the rocks. The company watched as the sunlight hit the skin of the trolls and it slowly change color from the ugly color it had been to stone gray. The trolls tried to move but in a matter of moments, they were rendered to stone, stuck in that position until they eroded away. Cheers rang out from the dwarves all around the campsite, even the dwarves that were still tied to the spit, although they looked extremely uncomfortable.

"Oh get your foot out of my back!" the dwarves in the sacks heard Dwalin say.

The company quickly begins to untie or escape bags and spit as quickly as they could. Gandalf was sure to help Bilbo free first, allowing him to untie the others while he and Thorin went to figure out how to get the ones on the spit down. Bilbo was sure to release Arirua from her sack first.

"There you go Miss." he said as he pulled a final time. As soon as the ropes were untied the bag fell straight off her shoulders and onto the floor.

"Thank you Mister Baggins. Go take care of the others." She then turned to Kili, who was still lying on the ground, not having yet master how to stand up in the burlap sack. "Would you like some help?" she asked him.

"If you are offering, yes. If you are just making jokes, no." Kili told the girl. Arirua laughed and leaned down to untie the knot.

"Thank you for catching me, sort of." she said, as she tried to figure out the knot. The dark haired dwarf looked up at her and smiled.

"I couldn't let a pretty thing like you get hurt could I?" Arirua turned her face away, allowing her hair to fall in her face hiding her blush.

"You think I am pretty?" Arirua asked timidly. Kili opened his mouth to answer when Thorin could be heard across the clearing,

"Kili, Fili, hurry up and get over here. We're going to need your help."

"I guess I need to go help Thorin." Kili said. Arirua nodded and pulled a final time, releasing the dwarf from the bag.

"Um, yes, of course." Arirua said. She quickly turned away because she didn't want Kili to see the blush that was growing across her pale skin.

"Mother, why does there have to be love in the story?" Arwen's son asked. "This story is suppose to be about adventure and fighting, not kissing." Arwen laughed at her son's reasoning.

"Well, I guess we must stop there Eldarion, for there is much more love coming up." She pulled the covers back up to her son's chin and kissed him on the forehead. "Good night Eldarion." Arwen walked over and just as she was about to blow out the candle, Eldarion spoke up.

"I want to hear what happens to Bilbo though. Please don't stop now mother. You're just getting to the good parts." Arwen laughed, knowing that her little trick had worked. She was enjoying the time with her son and did not care to stop yet.

"Alright. After the dwarves got the six off the spit…"

"Where did you go to, if I may ask?" Thorin questioned Gandalf after the six had been rescued from the spit. The company was gather their things from around the clearing, gathering up what weapons they could.

"To look ahead." Gandalf explained.

"What brought you back?"

"Looking behind." Gandalf said, looking Thorin in the face." Nasty business. Still, they are all in one piece." he commented, looking at it from the bright side.

"No thanks to your burglar." Thorin said seriously.

"He had the nous to play for time. None of the rest of you thought of that." Thinking about it, Thorin nodded slightly. Together, they began examining the statues that had once been trolls.

"They must have come down from the Ettenmoors." Gandalf thought out loud.

"Since when do mountain trolls venture this far south?" Thorin asked Gandalf as he studied them.

"Oh, not for an age," said Gandalf as a dark shadow passed over his face, "not since a darker power ruled these lands."

Gandalf and Thorin stood in silence for a moment thinking.

"They could not have moved in daylight." Gandalf stated.

"There must be a cave nearby." Thorin quickly started walking towards a rocky area he could see.

"Thorin?" Balin yelled after the King, "Where are you going?"

"To find a troll hoard."

There was murmuring between the dwarves after Thorin had disappeared through the trees of the forest around them. Several of the dwarves started after him.

"Troll hoard?" Bilbo asked, confused. Arirua nodded, still picking up pieces of arrows from around the campsite. She rested her hand on Lalar to make sure the sword was still there. After Kili had left to help his uncle, Arirua had quickly and quietly ran back to the camp to grab her sword. She had left everything else, figuring they would return to get their supplies later.

"Treasure, laddie." Gloin told him. Bilbo's eyes widened.

"Come along then Mr. Baggins." Arirua said, starting to walk, "We do not want to miss out on any of the adventure do we?" Bilbo quickly caught up to her and they followed the other dwarves and Thorin.

A/N: Hello there lovelies... I have made you wait for so long and I'm sorry, but HERE'S A LOOONG CHAPTER :D I think this is the longest chapter I have ever written in my life... wow. Anyways, comment are encouraged and greatly appreciated. I'm gonna do a special thanks thing real quick. Hopefully I'll start writing little comments, but for now, I'm just gonna list out your names and give you all a huge thanks :D

Soooo a big THANKS to... reika88, Kaija212, jefferyA, SarahBloomSakura, Wise Owl Eyes, bluebaby3296, Dalonega Noquisi, the Oz Meister and Jen Baas, ZabuzasGirl, sillystring-roxs-the-earth, shopgirllaura, KiliLover, Guest, 88XeqtionerAngel88, AuraRedWolf, KeepingThemAtBay, FrankieFusciaxx, Teleryn, 13Nyx13, Enchanted Elf, and all 41 of you who faved the story or the 72 of you who alerted it (does that make sense?). I really appreciate all of you :D

Chapter 8 is in the makings as we speak... so hopefully it will be up sooner than this one was posted. Thanks for the wait :)