I must admit, it's a lot of fun to see you guys guessing who Thorin is calling for help :D
I won't tell of course, but we'll find out in the coming chapters.
I hope you guys had a lovely New Years celebration, I'm a bit hung over and glad that I always have some chapters on standby, otherwise you probably wouldn't get anything to read today. Let's hope my brain works properly again tomorrow.
Thanks for all the latest reviews and enjoy the next chapter!
"Kíli, this is getting stupid."
The sun was rising above the treetops, the forest slowly coming to life again. The three dwarves and the hobbit had been travelling through the night, keen on finding the tracks of the bear again but to no avail. Fíli and Kíli were skilled hunters but had never been forced to just aimlessly follow one single track, while Ori and Bilbo both turned out to be pretty much blind in the darkness.
"It's gone", Fíli breathed, slumping down on a tree trunk. "By now the bear will have eaten our supper anyways."
"And it wouldn't be supper anymore, but breakfast already", the hobbit added, sitting himself down next to the blond dwarf, obviously knackered.
Kíli on the other hand didn't seem to even consider giving up just yet. He kept on searching the ground for paw traces, Ori following him around like a puppy.
"He can't be that far away", the youngest muttered. "He must have his lair around here somewhere."
"We probably went in circles and the bear is long gone. Just knock it off already", Fíli sighed, leaning back a little to look up at the sun. Kíli disappeared in the bushes, Ori on his heels and Bilbo looked at the older brother.
"Shouldn't we… you know, follow them?"
"They'll be back in a bit, just wait for it", Fíli closed his eyes, enjoying the rays of sunlight on his face. Bilbo waited for a while, before he shrugged and mimicked the dwarf.
"LADS!", it suddenly bellowed from the bushes and Bilbo nearly toppled off the trunk in surprise. "COME OVER HERE!"
Groaning, Fíli got up from his spot, followed by Bilbo, who wasn't sure what to expect. They found Kíli and Ori at the edge of meadow, both curiously peeking from a row of pine trees.
"What is it?", Fíli asked but was quickly shushed by his brother.
Before them lay a long, thorny hedge that surely had not grown like that by nature. Kíli signalled them to follow and the four of them wandered along the hedge until they reached a very broad, dark wooden gate.
"Looks like someone's living here", Bilbo stated the obvious as they spotted a low wooden house in the centre of a yard. Kíli suddenly yelled, pointing at some huge bear tracks in the muddy ground before the gate.
"It went in there!"
"Don't be ridiculous. Why would a bear go somewhere that close to men?", Fíli asked, but the tracks were quite obviously leading through the gate and onto the court, where they suddenly disappeared.
"Maybe the bear lives here?", Ori suggested, immediately feeling stupid afterwards.
"Or the bear has killed the family living here", a shiver ran down Bilbos spine and he ducked behind Kíli a little.
"There could be someone gravely injured in there! We need to have a look!", Kíli exclaimed, looking at his brother who wasn't at all convinced.
"You just want to know if the bear is in there", he said dryly.
"Don't hold me for a heartless dwarf! I am most worried about the wellbeing of the people living in this house!"
"Most worried my a-"
"Come on now!", with that Kíli grabbed his brothers sleeve, pushed open the gate and pulled Fíli along on the court. Bilbo and Ori followed soon after, not wanting to be left alone.
"Kíli, we don't have time for this nonsense", again Fíli was quickly shushed by his brother who had gone into adventure mode and completely ignored any demur directed at him.
They carefully walked across the court, checking to their left and right and while Bilbo and Ori were legitimately concerned that a black bear might attack them any moment, Fíli seemed rather bored.
Until he passed some curiously looking bee hives and was suddenly grabbed by the collar and yanked off his feet, right up in the air.
"Fíli!", his brother shouted, quickly drawing bow and arrow. "Let him go!"
The one holding Fíli by the collar was a large man, at least seven feet tall and very muscular. He had a long black beard and wore a woollen tunic, a grim look on his face.
"Who are you and what are you doing on my property?!", he bellowed, his voice deep as thunder.
"Let him go!", Kíli snarled, aiming right at the man's head.
The giant turned around to look at the other intruders and suddenly dropped Fíli, only to charge at Kíli next.
"You! It was you!"
The young dwarf was too startled to shoot, thus he was grabbed next and lifted off the ground.
"You did this to me!", the man yelled and nobody was quite sure what he was talking about, until Bilbo noticed that the man limbed badly. His eyes grew wide in shock and he suddenly became very pale, dropping down next to the coughing Fíli who still struggled to catch his breath.
"It's him", the hobbit whispered. "He's the bear."
"Get lost", Fíli grumbled and got back onto his feet. "My lord, would you be so kind and let my brother down again? We didn't mean to intrude!"
"Yet you did!", the man thundered, lifting the struggling Kíli even higher. "And I am no lord!"
"Then how may I address you?", Fíli asked, feeling uneasy at the sight of his brother dangling in the air like that. Although he had it coming, in a sense.
"My name is Beorn! And this is my home that you carelessly stepped into!"
"Our deepest apologies. We didn't mean to cause any harm. If you could drop my brother, we will be on our way again."
Kíli gasped something about 'fish' and 'supper', trying to kick the massive man but to no avail of course.
"What's wrong with him?", Beorn asked, looking at the struggling Kíli.
"He is a little upset because a bear stole our supper last night", Fíli explained and was surprised when Beorn dropped Kíli, not caring about the still tarnished state of the youngster.
"For that I apologise", the man muttered, his chin high. "Instincts, I don't usually steal fish."
"So he is the bear!", Bilbo squealed, growing paler and paler by the minute. Kíli got up, coughing and dusting his coat off.
"Hope that arrow hurt", he muttered, still very much peeved at Beorn for stealing their food.
"It did!", Beorn barked, causing Bilbo, Fíli and Ori to flinch a little. "And I wonder how you wish to make up for that!"
"Not at all?", Kíli replied but was quickly pulled back by his brother, his mouth covered by Fílis hand.
"We have nothing of value with us to offer unfortunately."
"You could work your debt off", Beorn suggested, looking around the court. "I can barely walk and my animals need tending to."
"Animals?", Ori piped up, suddenly being very interested. Down in the mountains, animals couldn't prosper and live, thus they fascinated the young dwarf just like any other living creature or plant.
For the first time, Fíli felt sorry for Thorin. Deeply sorry. Keeping three companions in order and leading them on seemed like an impossible task already, considering how little time they had. He couldn't even imagine leading thirteen of them, let alone an entire kingdom. All he wished for right now, was his bed in the Ered Luin or a good pint of mead.
"Aye", he muttered. "We shall do that then."
They worked in Beorn's Halls until nightfall, mucking out stables, sweeping the court and the buildings, cleaning windows, cutting wood and bringing it in and feeding Beorns huge grey hounds, that terribly scared the poor hobbit, though they seemed quite friendly.
By the time they had finished, the moon had already risen above the pine trees and all four of them were completely exhausted. They were thus surprised, when Beorn let them into the wooden hall they had cleaned before and a small supper was set up. Honey and cream, bread and a kind of warm herb liquor, all waiting for the hungry dwarves and the little hobbit.
"Help yourselves", Beorn said, sitting down at the head of the table and watching a little bemused, as the four of them struggled to get up on the massive benches. Kíli helped Bilbo before climbing up himself.
"I don't usually like having guests", the skin-changer explained. "But you worked well today. I must still ask you to leave tomorrow morning."
"Tomorrow?", Fíli asked, his bruised fingers clasped around his cup of liquor.
"You may sleep by the court tonight if you like. The woods have become dangerous, wargs venture out from the north."
"We noticed", Kíli replied. "They attacked our company only a few days ago."
"Company?"
"The four of us had to stay behind because of injuries", Fíli explained. "We plan on meeting up with the rest up in the north soon though."
"I see. Well you seem to have healed pretty well", Beorn noticed.
"We did, fortunately", the elder brother nodded, taking a sip from the warm liquor and he immediately felt much better, while the hobbit, Kíli and Ori were digging into honey and bread. "We do not mean to intrude any longer though, we can sleep in the woods as well. But thank you for the kind offer."
"No need to act so polite, I know dwarves aren't like that", Beorn muttered. "Loud creatures you are, ill-mannered as well."
Kíli was about to fluff himself up again but Fíli nudged him under the table, of course hitting the already dickey ribs.
"We're sorry that you think of us this way and we will try not to bother you. Our hobbit is genuinely friendly though." Bilbo nearly choked on a piece of bread.
"Do you know any stories, Master Hobbit?", Beorn asked, looking at Bilbo.
"Stories?", the hobbit twiddled with his cup. "Well, not many to be honest. And no interesting ones! Hobbits don't venture out a lot."
"Shame", Beorn mumbled. "I enjoy good stories."
"We could tell a story!", Kíli suggested but the skin-changer quickly pulled a face.
"I'm not interested in dwarven adventures! Especially not when the dwarves end up being heroic."
"There is a story", Ori quietly chipped in. "I-It is a dwarven story but not a very charming one I suppose."
Kíli and Fíli looked at him, surprise showing on their features for they were not aware of any stories about dwarves that didn't flatter them in any way.
"Hm", Beorn chuntered. "How about this. You tell your story and if I like it, and by that I mean like it a lot, I will let you sleep in my house and ease your trip to the north a little. I don't meet many people with good stories."
All eyes were on poor Ori, who had no idea what he had gotten himself into.