A/N -

Ok, so this will be the last upload for the beginning of this story. I like to add a few chapters at a time and move ahead a few chapters. It helps because if reviews come in it might assist with adjusting a storyline or giving me a little more inspiration. So if you end up following this story (please and thank you) and I don't update in like a month, never fear... it means that you'll have a few chapters to read when I do update!

Hidden Beneath

Chapter 3

They took camp near the edge of a cliff that night. Fili and Kili reclined near the fire, chatting idly about events back in the Blue Mountains. The Lady Ranger was nowhere to be seen, but the rest of their company snoozed or reclined around the fire.

Kili watched as the Hobbit got up and walked over to his pony. Apparently he had grown fond of it, slipping an apple from his coat to the creature. Kili nudged his brother and motioned to what he watched. Fili smiled warmly. The Hobbit wasn't so bad, a bit of a whiner, but that was expected of a creature that had never left its home before.

There was a scream in the distance, a very familiar scream. Bilbo looked out over the lowlands in alarm before running back towards them. "What was that?"

"Orcs," Kili replied smugly. There was another scream.

"Orcs?" Bilbo asked, he looked horrified.

"Throat-cutters," Fili added. "There'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them."

"They strike in the wee small hours, when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet; no screams, just lots of blood," Kili continued. Bilbo shrunk away in fright, causing the brother dwarfs to burst into laughter. It was so easy to work the hobbit up.

"You think that's funny?" Thorin growled at his two nephews. Kili immediately regretted his actions. He knew well his uncle's temper. "You think a night raid by orcs is a joke?"

"We didn't mean anything by it," Kili murmured in their defence.

"No, you didn't," Thorin sneered, looking away over the valley. "You know nothing of the world."

Kili looked to his brother, who shrugged and sighed. Balin soon walked over and joined the brothers. "Don't mind him, laddie," he began, settling himself against the rock.

Kili noticed the Lady Ranger, Valisilwen, appear from around the cliff face. She looked as if she glowed more than before under the moonlight, the light reflecting off of her jet black hair. And her eyes, they were unique, never before had he seen eyes of two different colours. When she wore the hood of her cloak, which she did often, it gave her an eerie look as only the ice blue of her eyes could be seen against the darkness.

She glanced at Thorin with a look of apprehension, but leant against the cliff face and looked to Balin, apparently interested in what he had to say. "Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain, King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. But our enemy had got their first."

Kili looked to his uncle, he remained unmoving looking over the cliff's edge.

"Moria had been taken by legions of orcs lead by the most vile of all their race; Azog, the Defiler. The giant Gundabad Orc had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began by beheading the King. Thrain, Thorin's father was driven mad by grief. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed, we do not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death were upon us." Balin looked sadly at the ground, sighing before looking up to Thorin and continuing. "That is when I saw him; a young prince facing down the Pale Orc."

Kili looked to his uncle in wonder, no longer listening to Balin. What horrors his uncle had seen, and yet he continued to fight on. No wonder he seemed so distant to everyone. He had lost many in such a short time.

"But the Pale Orc?" Kili was snapped from his thoughts and back to the story being told by Bilbo's voice. "What happened to him?"

Thorin was walking back towards the fire. "He slunk back into the hole from whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago."

Kili looked at his brother again, who frowned and watched his uncle walk away with a look of awe. Kili looked to the Lady Ranger, but she was no where to be found once more.

oOOo

They rode throughout the day, through heavy rain that soaked them to their skins. Valisilwen did her best to block out the whinging of her company, it was more tiresome than the rain to her.

They soon came to an old, abandoned farmhouse that lay in ruins.

"We'll camp here for the night," Thorin called, dismounting his pony. "Fili, Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them."

Valisilwen and Gandalf dismounted their horses, sending their horses on their way, knowing that unlike the ponies, their horses would return at their call. The Ranger looked around the ruins carefully, sniffing the air. There was something not right about the scent she was picking up.

"A farmer and his family used to live here," Gandalf murmured, also looking around. The dwarves ignored them both.

Gandalf spoke louder, while Valisilwen moved away to investigate their surrounds further. "I think it would be wiser to move on. We could make for the Hidden Valley."

Thorin responded at this. "I have told you already, 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 replied sharply.

"We have a map that we cannot read. Lord Elrond could help us."

Valisilwen moved further away, blocking out the ensuing argument. She was struggling to listen to her surrounds with the voices from the dwarves and wizard. She knew of this place, but it had changed a lot since she had last been in these parts.

The stench the area carried put her on alert, but she did not want to risk exposing too much of her skill set to the dwarves, lest they should become too reliant on her.

She looked about the ground and noticed some very large tracks and decided to follow them.

She had followed them so far when she heard two familiar voices that made her groan inwardly.

By the stream that ran through the wooded area surrounding the ruined farmhouse she found the ponies, as well as Fili and Kili. Instead of passing by them she decided she would pass over them. She easily climbed a nearby tree.

"What do you think of the Lady Ranger?" she heard Kili ask his brother.

"What is there to think? She rarely speaks, and when she does it is usually snidely or sharply," Fili answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Her eyes are interesting. They make me feel slightly self conscious though."

"Like they see right through you?" Kili suggested.

"Exactly."

"She says she's not an elf, but I heard only elves looked like her," Kili thought aloud.

"Don't tell me you're smitten on her?" Fili groaned. Valisilwen groaned inwardly too, as she crept along the boughs of the tree and away from their conversation as quickly as she could without making a noise.

"No, nothing like that, I was just thinking about what it is she could be, surely she could not be of the world of men?"

Valisilwen smirked. Kili was obviously the more perceptive of the two brothers.

Once on the other side of the brothers she quickly made her way to the ground. She heard crashing through the brush and quickly pulled a dagger from her ankle and crouched low. Gandalf appeared through the bushes, and he did not look pleased.

"Gandalf?" she inquired.

"Come with me."

Valisilwen followed the wizard as he muttered continuously about the stubbornness of dwarves. She didn't say a word but let him continue with his rant. He eventually stopped and looked around at her. "You've been awfully quiet since we arrived in this place. Did i not see you appear to be tracking something?"

"Indeed, I caught the scent of something rather vile," she answered. She still hadn't quite put her finger on what it was. It was something she had not smelt in quite some time, but she knew the smell.

"Did you track it at all?"

"Yes, it was large, rather clumsy from what I could gather."

"I see. Can you find the scent and track it again?" he asked curiously.

"Of course." She raised her head to the sky and looked around, before looking to her right. She looked to the ground and found the large tracks again. She began to follow them slowly. The scent was growing stronger the closer she got to the cave. Then it struck her. She looked up at Gandalf in horror. "Trolls!"

Both turned and went crashing back through the overgrown woods, Vasilien far ahead of Gandalf. She slowed when she began to hear unfamiliar voices and a fire burning. She looked behind her and motioned to Gandalf, before dropping low to the ground and skirting the campsite.

There were three trolls, ugly creatures that stood nine feet tall with hideous hide like skin and terribly ugly faces. She heard Bilbo talking to them. "Uh, th-the secret to cooking dwarf is, um..."

Clever Hobbit. He was trying to stall the trolls. She crept through the underbrush until she was nearly on her stomach. She could make out that Bilbo was in a sack, with only his head exposed. Five of the dwarves were tied to a spit over the fire, she grimaced at that. The rest were tied up in sacks with Bilbo.

"Yes, come on!" One of the trolls growled at Bilbo impatiently.

"It's, uh..."

She weighed up her odds. She was a strong fighter, but this was three fully grown trolls, and several unarmed and bound dwarves that she would risk getting trampled on by said trolls if she was not careful. It was a hard decision. She looked to the horizon. The sun was coming, but whether it came soon enough was another story.

"Tell us the secret," the same troll urged Bilbo.

"Ye- Yes, I'm telling you, the secret is... to skin them first!"

"Tom, get me filleting knife."

"If I get you, you little-" Valisilwen inwardly groaned again as she heard Gloin and several other dwarves begin to abuse Bilbo. She could that Kili was the closest to her hiding spot, she looked up and watched the trolls carefully. They were too busy arguing with each other and Bilbo about the best way to eat dwarf.

She continued to creep closer through the underbrush, freezing when one of the trolls reached down and picked Bombur up from the pile of dwarves. She looked up and saw all the trolls and even the dwarve's attention were on Bombur and the troll holding him.

Quick as lightning she grabbed Kili by the sack that contained him, dragging him into the underbrush with her, quick to place her hand over his mouth and hold him close to her, waiting to make sure the trolls did not notice the movement. Kili's eyes were wide as she waited and listened, the trolls continued to argue. Once she was certain it was safe, she took her hand from his mouth and began slashing the rope that kept him bound within the sack.

"My lady?" he hissed in surprise and relief. She held her finger to her lips, before handing him her throwing knife that she used to cut the rope and began creeping forward on her stomach again. The troll had dropped Bombur again, apparently disgusted after Bilbo had proclaimed he was full of worms, right near where she crouched, hidden. And once again, the dwarves were going to foil Bilbo's plan by arguing that they weren't.

She quickly grabbed Bombur, covering his mouth with her gloved hand to prevent him from crying out in surprise. She rolled him to Kili.

The other dwarves were out of her reach, she would need to move to grab them, but she heard one of the trolls raise their voice. "You think we don't know what you're up to? This little ferret is taking us for fools!" he said picking up a large mallet.

"Fools?"

Valisilwen knew she could no longer wait. She jumped up, drawing her sword. "Hey!"

The three trolls whipped around in surprise. "Who's that?" one asked in confusion. He threw an arm out to try and grab her, but she ducked and rolled away from his reach. She was about to step forward again when she heard Gandalf shout.

"The dawn shall take you all!"

"Another one?" They looked around for the voice in surprise, as Valisilwen jumped forward, ripping Bilbo from a trolls hand and moving away quickly.

"Can we eat 'im too?"

Valisilwen watched in relief as Gandalf stuck the rocks above the valley with his staff, allowing the sunlight to spill into the valley and clearing. As the sunlight touched the skin of the trolls, they began turning into stone amidst loud screams and howls of pain.

Don't miss me too much, ok?

xo

Krayzee