The Hobbit: Odd Love in Strange Times
Chapter 5 of my Hobbit story, enjoy.
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: The Hobbit belongs to JRR Tolkein, Peter Jackson and all associated companies.
Chapter 5
Almost immediately a sense of fear and worry gripped them. Tilda was nowhere in sight; Bard was doing his best to stay calm, for the sake of the others. It wasn't easy however.
"Where did she go?" He muttered worriedly.
Bain turned to where Sigrid was standing, trying to help the children prepare for the journey to Erebor.
He quickly called out to her. "Sigrid, where's Tilda?"
Sigrid looked up, confusion and worry written all over her face. "What, I don't know, I thought she was with you?"
Bain shook his head; starting to panic.
"No; I have no idea where she's gone." He said quickly.
Bard sighed. "This doesn't make any sense, where could she be?"
It was then a new voice joined them. "Is there a problem?"
They turned and saw Bilbo standing there; looking at them, clearly concerned.
"My youngest daughter has gone missing. "Bard explained. "She's just…vanished."
"She could be anywhere now, she could be in trouble." Bain added.
Bilbo nodded; thinking hard. "We, we should inform Thorin; this, this isn't…"
He never finished since Bard immediately hurried to where the Dwarf King was aiding his people in leading the Lake-Town people out of the city. Bard quickly explained the situation to Thorin who seemed rather put out by the information.
"We've already started moving people to the mountain." Thorin remarked. "This…This complicates things."
Bard nodded sadly; meanwhile Bain and Sigrid were talking quickly and quietly together.
Finally, they seemed to reach a decision and turned back to their father.
"Da, you help the Dwarves get everyone to the mountain." Sigrid said at last. "Bain and I will look for Tilda."
Bard turned to them; looking even more worried now. "Are you sure, I mean, what if there's danger?"
Bain merely put his hand on the sword he was wearing. "We're prepared; we'll find her Da, I promise."
"Very well; just be careful." Bard said at last.
With that they turned and headed into Dale. Bard watched them go, concerned but hopeful. He then turned back to Thorin.
"Well, I guess our only option is to continue evacuating the people." He remarked.
Thorin nodded. "Very well; let's go, Dwalin, get the others from the mountain to come and help. We'll need escorts to be safe."
Dwalin hurried back to Erebor to do just that. Meanwhile, Bard joined the remaining Dwarves and Bilbo in helping the people gather supplies that they would need and ensuring those could fight had weapons.
He was aided in this by Percy, who had become something of a second-in-command to Bard. Unseen by the others, Bard wasn't the only one to watch Bain and Sigrid go off in search of their sister. Two others had seen them go too; Elisa and Fili and both were greatly concerned.
Fili tried to focus on helping the others. But his mind wandered back to Sigrid and Bain's departure.
'Maybe I should have gone with them; Sigrid is unarmed.' He fretted. 'What if Bain gets outnumbered. I'm sure he does his best but, he'd not a trained fighter.'
He caught himself once again thinking of Sigrid in that manner and the unusual feelings. He shook his head.
'What is wrong with me, I need to focus.' He told himself firmly. 'Besides; I shouldn't be thinking that way.'
But despite his attempts, his mind still wandered. Elisa meanwhile had finished packing what she could, along with her parents. She bit her lip, her worries clouding her mind; her parents noticed her preoccupation however.
"Elisa." Her father Finn said softly, getting her attention. "Are you alright?"
She started but then sighed. "I…I'm worried about Bain and Sigrid Da."
The catch in her voice when she said Bain's name however wasn't lost on her parents. Yet remarkably, only her mother seemed to narrow her eyes in disapproval and even that seemed forced.
That confused her, when it had first started and they discovered it, her parents had been against her relationship with Bain. They claimed that he and his family were heading into trouble and she was putting herself at risk.
'But then, even before I met them, I was at risk. I always wondered if they forgot just how vocal I was against the Master.' She pondered to herself, subconsciously rubbing her arms through her sleeves.
She caught what she was doing before she moved her hands to her back however and tried to act calm. Her parents nodded, seeing the change in her expression and they continued to work on getting ready to leave.
Bain and Sigrid picked their way over a small pile of rubble that blocked one of Dale's streets. Once they managed to get across it Bain looked around for Tilda.
"Where could she have gone?" He muttered, fretting worriedly over his missing sister. "It's not like her to just wander off like that."
Sigrid nodded as she came up next to him. "I know, we just have to keep looking. She must still be in Dale somewhere."
Bain nodded and they continued searching, calling out Tilda's name as they did so. They were worried she'd been hurt, or something terrible had happened to her. They had considered that, her natural curiosity and excitement might have led her to go to Erebor.
But they quickly discounted that on the grounds of the danger involved. In circumstances such as these, Tilda would curb those natural parts of her personality and stick to her family, no matter what. Suddenly a strange scuffling noise and what sounded like muffled voices reached their ears.
"Wait, do you hear that?" Bain said quickly. "Where's that noise coming from?"
Sigrid listened carefully. "Over there somewhere."
She indicated where she'd heard it and together they made their way over; Bain keeping his hand on his sword. When they rounded the corner they were met with a horrifying sight. For there, waiting for them, was a moderately sized orc pack and there, amongst the orcs was Tilda.
She was staring at them in dismay, tears in her eyes, her hands were bound behind her back as an orc held her, holding a dagger to her throat while his other hand was tightly clamped over the poor girl's mouth.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.