Chapter Five

"Daisy and Bungle are missing." Kili told the two.

"What? Well, that's not good. That's not good at all." Bilbo said.

"Should we tell Thorin?" Mariah asked, still holding the bowls of food.

"Uh…no. Let's not worry him!" Fili said.

Mariah couldn't help but think he was only saying that so they wouldn't get in trouble.

"As our official burglar, we thought you might take a look into it!" Fili said with an encouraging voice to Bilbo.

"Well, uh…it looks as if something big uprooted these trees." Bilbo said as he pointed to the trees he spoke of.

"That was our thinking." Kili said as they walked around.

"It's something big and quite dangerous." Bilbo said with lack of encouragement.

Mariah looked around and seen there was a light. She pointed in the direction with one of the bowls. "Hey, guys! There's a light over there…"

"Good eye!" Fili congratulated and they all moved over towards the light.

"Stay down." Fili whispered as they all crouched down.

"What is it?" Bilbo and Mariah ask together.

They peered over the tree and seen a camp fire with two trolls sitting around it.

"Trolls." Kili answered and went to Mariah's side.

They see a huge troll walk by, carrying two of the ponies, one in each arm.

"He's got Myrtle and Minty! I think they are gonna eat them, we have to do something!" Bilbo whispered to the three but more to Fili and Kili.

"Yes, you should Mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small. They'll never see you." Kili said as he took one bowl from Mariah and started to eat out of it.

"Me? Me? No. No. No." Bilbo whispered back, shaking his head.

"It's perfectly safe!" Kili whispered, wiping his mouth with his hand.

Fili took his bowl from Mariah and ate after he spoke. "We'll be right behind you. If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl."

"Twice like a barn owl, hoot twice like…like uh…" As he was talking to himself, trying to remind himself, he was sneaking to the horses.

"Let's get Thorin, in case if something bad were to happen." Fili said.

Kili grabbed Mariah's hand and tried to lead her away. She tried to fight back from him, but she was much weaker. He turned around and looked at her with a questionable look.

"What is it?" He whispered.

"I'm staying here. I can't leave him by himself, Kili…" She whispered back.

"Mariah…" Kili began to say but she held up a hand.

"Don't Mariah me…I can't leave him alone. It's not right." Mariah said with a serious face.

Fili touched Kili's shoulder and whispered. "I'll be right back." He put his bowl down and ran to the company.

Kili also put his bowl down and went to Mariah. He held her to his chest as they hid behind the fallen tree. He peeked out every once in a while to make sure Bilbo was alright.

"Mutton yesterday, mutton today. And blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrow." One troll said.

"Quit your griping. These ain't sheep." Said the one with the horses. "These is West nags!"

"Oh! I don't like horse. I never have. Not enough fat on them." Said another troll.

"Well, it's better than a leathery ol' farmer. All skin and bone he was. I'm still pickin' bits of him out of me teeth."

A troll sneezed and went into the food.

"Well, that's lovely, that is. A floater."

Mariah hid her face into Kili's chest. She felt as if she were going to vomit. Kili rubbed her back up and down to comfort her.

"Oh! Might improve the flavor!"

"Ah! There's more where that came from."

The same troll tried to sneeze more snot into their food. One of the trolls slaps him and grabs ahold of his nose.

"Oh, no you don't!"

"Oww! Oww!" Said the troll who tried to sneeze again.

"Sit down!"

The troll sits and sneezes again, he takes a tissue and blows his nose. At the same time Bilbo snuck into the camp and tried to free the ponies.

"Well, I hope you're gonna gut these nags? I don't like the stinky parts.

The troll who grabbed the one that sneezed nose, hit him over the head.

"Oww!"

"I said sit down!

"I'm starving, are we going to have horse tonight or what?

"Shut your cake hole! You'll eat what I'll give ya!"

Bilbo watched the trolls as he tried to free the ponies. Mariah looked up to Kili from his chest. Kili looked down at her and smiled at her.

"It's alright. Don't worry; he's going to be fine. If he were to be in any trouble, I would save him." Kili whispered and lightly kissed her forehead. "So, relax."

Mariah blushed and didn't respond to him. Instead she hid her face into his chest. How was she supposed to respond to that? Why did he kiss her forehead? She poked her head up to see what was going on. She seen Bilbo behind one of the trolls and tried to get his knife. The troll sneezed and reached behind him to grab his handkerchief but instead grabbed Bilbo and blew his nose all over him. Oh, yeah that was a nice time to start looking.

The troll looked down and seen Bilbo in his hand.

"Ah! Blimey Bert! Look, what's come out of me hooter! It's got arms and legs and everything!

All of the three trolls stared at Bilbo with confused expressions.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, but I don't like the way it wriggles around!" The sneezy troll said as he dropped Bilbo to the ground.

A troll pulled out a knife and threatened Bilbo.

"What are you then? An oversized squirrel?"

Mariah gripped onto Kili and whispered to him. "Kili! He's-…" She started to say.

Kili put a finger over her lips and smiled. "Shh, I got it. Stay here while I save Bilbo. Okay? Do not fight with us." He ordered in a soft tone. "Please…" He let her go and snuck around the camp.

One of the trolls had Bilbo up in the air by his legs.

"Gotcha! Are there any more of you little fellas hiding where you shouldn't?

Bilbo shook his head. "No."

"He's lying!"

"I'm not!"

"Hold his toes over the fire. Make him squeal!"

Suddenly Kili comes out of the bushes and attacks one troll by striking his sword against his leg, making the troll scream.

"Drop him!" Ordered Kili, swinging his sword around in a circular motion.

"You what?"

"I said…drop him." Kili repeated.

"Wow, he sure is hot…" Mariah thought to herself.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see who is was. It was Fili. He had his finger over his mouth, telling her to be quiet.

The troll that had ahold of Bilbo threw him at Kili, making Kili fall to the ground as he caught Bilbo.

All of the dwarves came out of hiding from the bushes and started to attack the trolls. Mariah couldn't stand it anymore. She got up and made her way to the ponies. Bilbo manages to steal a knife and free the ponies as the dwarves fought the trolls. The trolls noticed Bilbo Mariah and grabbed them, holding their arms and legs.

"Bilbo!" Shouted Kili. He saw Mariah and his face went into shock and devastation. "Mariah!" He shouted as he went to attack the trolls.

"No!" Thorin held out his hand, putting it on Kili's chest. Kili stopped charging.

"Lay down your arms! Or we'll rip theirs off!"

Mariah could feel them tightening their grip on her, making her yelp. She looked over at Kili; her face showed that she was in pain.

Thorin reluctantly dropped his sword and one by one each dwarf did the same. Kili's face was full of rage as he dropped his sword, yet part of him had the look of disappointment and fright. Mariah was overcome by shame and hatred she had towards herself. How could she be so stupid? She let Kili down.

The trolls grabbed all the dwarves and put them in separate bags that covered their whole body but their head. Some were even tied up and put up on the spit over the fire.

Mariah was beside Kili, not looking at him. How could she? He had to of hated her now.

Bilbo stood up from inside his bag and started to talk to the dwarves.

"Wait! You are making a terrible mistake!" Bilbo shouted.

"You can't reason with them, they're half-wits!" Dori shouted at Bilbo.

Bofur spoke after. "Half-wits? What does that make us?"

"I meant with the uh…with the seasoning." Bilbo said.

"He's trying to buy time…but for what?" Mariah thought and then realized the sun was about to come up. "That's right! Trolls turn into stone in the sun!" She whispered to herself.

"What about the seasoning?"

"Well, have you smelt them? You're gonna need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up!" Bilbo said and Mariah couldn't help but smile a bit.

It was true, they did have a musky, male scent on them. She could put up with Kili's though. She had gotten used to it. Hopefully she didn't smell horrible.

The dwarves started to get angry at Bilbo and shouted at him.

"What do you know about cooking dwarf?"

"Shut up, and let the…uh, flurgerburbur-hobbit talk."

"Uh…the-the secret to cooking dwarf is um…" Bilbo began to speak.

"Yes? Come on."

"It's uh…"

"Tell us the secret!"

"Ye-yes I am telling you. The secret is…to…" He thought for a moment and then smiled a bit. "Skin them first!"

All the dwarves started to shout at Bilbo. They were calling him a traitor and what not. Mariah sat there trying to be quiet.

"Have they not realized it's almost sun rise?" She thought to herself. "Truly they couldn't be that dumb…"

"Tom, get me filleting knife.

"What a load of rubbish! I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scoff 'am I say, boots and all!

"He's right, nothing wrong with a bit o' raw dwarf!" The troll that sneezed a lot said as he picked up Bombur in his sack and held him up.

Mariah noticed a grey figure in the woods and realized it was Gandalf.

"Nice and crunchy." The troll said as he was about to eat Bombur.

"Uh…not that one! He's infected!" Bilbo shouted out.

"You what?"

"Yeah he's got worms in his…tubes." Bilbo said with a bit of a pause.

The troll threw Gloin down in disgust.

"In fact, they all have. They're all infested with parasites, it's a terrible business. I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't." Bilbo said, acting as if he was concerned about the trolls.

"Parasites? Did he say parasites?" Oin asked with a bit of anger to his tone.

"Yeah!" Kili shouted. "We don't have parasites! He looked over at Bilbo and nodded to him. "You have parasites!

Mariah rolled her eyes and at the same time as she nudged Kili, Thorin kicked Kili trying to get him to shut up. Kili looked between Mariah and Thorin and realized what was going on. He faced the trolls when they all realized what was happening.

"I've got parasites as big as my arm!" Oin shouted.

"Mine are the biggest parasites, I've got huge parasites!" Kili shouted as well.

"We're riddled!" shouted Nori.

"Yes, we are, badly!" Dori said.

"Especially, Mariah! She is basically one herself!" Kili added and looked over to Mariah, giving her a small smirk.

Mariah rolled her eyes at him.

"What would you have us do then? Let 'em all go?"

"Well…" Bilbo began to say with a slight tilt of his head.

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

"Ferret?" Bilbo asked in confusion.

"Fools?" Asked a troll.

Mariah scooted closer to Kili.

"How long can we keep up this distraction before it's too late?" Mariah thought to herself.

Suddenly Gandalf emerged from his hiding place on top of a rock.

"The dawn will take you all!" Gandalf shouted as he held up his staff.

"Who's that?" Asked a troll.

"No idea." Answered another.

"Can we eat him?" Asked the sneezy troll.

Gandalf hits the end of his staff down onto the stone and breaks it in half. The sunlight shined through the split rock and immediately started to turn the trolls into stone.

The company and Mariah all cheered and laughed with joy as the trolls became statues. Mariah glanced over at Kili who seemed to be back to normal. His face showed his young and worried free face. Kili looked over at Mariah and smiled brightly at her.

Gandalf untied the whole company. They wriggled out of their bags. Kili helped Mariah step out of her bag, which made her feel good inside. She still felt bad about not listening to him, but she couldn't just sit there and do nothing. She thought she could have at least helped free the ponies.

"What's that stench?" Bofur asked, his face all scrunched up.

"It's a troll hoard. Be careful of what you touch." Gandalf warned as they went inside the cave.

The dwarves and Mariah cough from the foul smell as they went deeper into the cave. Soon, they found the trolls' treasure.

"Seems a shame just to leave it lying around. Anyone could take it." Bofur said.

"Agreed. Nori, get a shovel." Gloin said.

Mariah looked over and seen Thorin pick up a sword. It was absolutely beautiful.

Mariah's necklace glowed from under her dress and she pulled it out. As she examined the necklace, Kili came up to her and looked at it as well.

"That's a pretty necklace…" He said and gently took the pendant into his hand. "Who gave you this? A boy?" His tone seemed to have a slight tone of jealousy, but maybe she was imagining it.

"No, my grandmother gave this to me. The day before I got here, in my world, was my birthday. She told me to take very good care of it." Mariah looked up at Kili who had a look of understanding and…relief?

"I see. You're birthday huh?" Kili asked and put the necklace down on her.

"Yeah…"

"Too bad I didn't know you before…I would have gotten you something."

"Nah, it is fine. I wouldn't want anything anyways." She smiled brightly. "But if you want…for my birthday, show me how to fight."

"I could…but I'm sure that's just an excuse to spend more time with me." He teased and stuck the tip of his tongue out.

"I'm just giving you reasons to touch me." Mariah teased back and then giggled. "Sorry, that was a bit…"

Kili chuckled and ran a hand over her cheek. "No, you're right. It is a reason."

Mariah shook her head and backed away from him. "Watch out…I'm a parasite." She joked.

"I knew you were going to give me a hard time about that." Kili laughed. "Well, if you are one then I am one too."

Fili came up to Kili and Mariah. "Oi, lovebirds…I found a dagger Mariah could use."

He held out a small dagger to Mariah. She took it and examined it.

The handle of the dagger was made out of smooth wood. The wood color was light brown but had dyed emerald green in it. Every other ring in the wood was emerald green. The end of the handle was a silver acorn. The other end also had an acorn on it, where the blade and handle meet. The handle had a guard on it that was silver leaves. The blade was shiny and not warped. It looked as if the dagger had never been used.

"It's beautiful…" Mariah said.

Gandalf went over to her and hummed in agreement. "It's Elvish make, just like Bilbo's. Only his is more for fighting while yours is more for hiding."

"Suits me well then." Mariah joked and made Fili and Kili chuckle.

They were back at camp and started to pack up their things. Thorin told them that they would set up camp earlier today and catch up on sleep.

Mariah started to put her stuff back into her bag when she heard a voice behind her.

"Mariah, can we talk?"

She turned around and nodded to Kili. She had an idea what he wanted to talk about. Mariah followed him around a corner so they could have privacy.

Once they were all alone, they stood there in silence for a bit before Kili started to speak.

"Mariah…I thought I told you to stay put?" Kili asked and turned around, facing her. His expression showed slight disappointment.

"I…well…yeah you did." Mariah looked down and started to play with her hands. "But, I wanted to help! I couldn't sit there and be useless…" Mariah glanced up at him.

His emotion didn't change and that worried her.

"You weren't being useless…" Kili spoke after some silence. "You were following directions that I gave you."

Mariah sighed and shook her head. "You don't get it, Kili."

"No, you don't get it." He said in a stern voice. Kili walked over to her and grabbed each shoulder, looking into her eyes as he spoke in a calmer voice. "I am supposed to protect you. How can I when you don't listen to me? I need you to be safe, Mariah…" He trailed off before speaking again. "Please, don't ever put yourself in danger again."

"I didn't mean to, Kili. Also, you don't have to protect me." She said with furrowed eyebrows.

"Yes, I do. I want to protect you. I need to as well…it's within my nature." He smiled a bit. "You know, you look cute when you're mad."

"This…" She pointed to her face. "…isn't mad. I can show you mad if you want."

"That is for another day…" Kili chuckled and hugged her to him. He ran a hand up and down her back. "Right now, no…I just want to be glad you're safe and well."

"…me too…" Mariah mumbled into his chest before holding him back.

He felt so warm and gentle. Mariah never imagined that a man, let alone someone like Kili, would ever care for her.

"Don't get too attached, Mariah." She thought to herself. "This is only a dream. Once you wake…everything will be back to normal."

Mariah didn't want that at all. She wanted to stay in this world forever. Even though there are monsters and scary creatures, she felt at home. In Kili's arms, she felt like she was someone special.