The Skin-Changer Beorn

I don't own Digimon or the Hobbit

The next morning, an hour and a half before dawn, the company awoke to sounds of Wargs howling in the distance, they packed camp quickly and began moving again. "You'd think after losing an eye and his Warg, Azog would take some time to lick his wounds." Daisuke muttered to Veemon.

"Unfortunately, not. You killed his Warg, scarred him in battle and humiliated him in front of the other Orcs. He'll be after your head for sure lass." Balin informed her.

"Even more reason to keep moving to get as much distance between us and the pack." Thorin said from the front of the group. "Master Baggins, scout ahead and see how close the pack is and if they know where we are." He ordered Bilbo who nodded and quickly ran off up a nearby hill made of stone.

"This is getting too close for comfort. If they find us we're good as dead, we need to find a place to hide." Daisuke said looking around feeling worried as the howls of the Wargs were heard in the distance before an even louder roar was heard putting everyone on edge.

"As if Wargs and Orcs were bad enough, now we've got whatever that thing was to worry about." Veemon grumbled, Bilbo quickly made his way down the hill towards the others panic being his main expression.

"How close is the pack?" Thorin asked as the company surrounded him.

"Too close. A couple of leagues, no more. But that's not the worst of it." the Hobbit answered.

"Have the Wargs picked up our scent?" Dwalin asked him.

"Not yet. But they will do. We have another problem." Bilbo answered.

"Did they see you?" Gandalf asked and Bilbo looked at him. "They saw you?" he asked his eyes widened.

"No." Bilbo answered and Gandalf smiled.

"What did I tell you. Quiet as a mouse." He said and the Dwarves smiled and began talking but Daisuke could see Bilbo had more to say.

"Quiet!" she shouted silencing the group and all eyes turned to her making her blush. "Bilbo has more to say." She told them and Bilbo smiled at her.

"Yes, there is something else out there." He said and the Dwarves all shared looks of concern while Gandalf looked at the Hobbit.

"What form did it take? Like a bear?" he asked.

"Ye…wait how did you know what it looked like?" Bilbo asked the Wizard who turned away from the others.

"You knew about this beast? I say we double back," Bofur suggested quickly.

"And what? Be run down by a pack of Orcs? I highly doubt the Eagles will come back to save us this time," Veemon retorted.

"Can't you make yourself bigger again?" Ori asked him.

"Well yeah, but just me alone against a pack of Wargs and Orcs wouldn't go well for me." He answered.

"There is a house." Gandalf said quickly turning to face the company again. "It's nearby, and there we might take refuge."

"Whose house, are they friend of foe?" Thorin asked him.

"Neither. He will help us, or he will kill us." Gandalf answered.

"What choice do we have?" Thorin asked as the creature roared again.

"I'm going to say none. Come on let's move." Daisuke said and the company ran off. They soon were running through a field of lavenders that were in full bloom as fast as they could all run with Gandalf urging them on constantly as they tried to make it to the woods on the far edge of the clearing.

"Come on!" the wizard shouted, Daisuke looked back and saw a flash of white in the trees and gulped.

"They've found us, run!" she shouted and everyone began running faster with Bombur surprisingly overtaking everyone in his desperation to stay with the group. Soon they ran through the trees when another roar was heard making everyone stop for a brief moment.

"This way! Quickly!" Gandalf shouted and everyone ran off again with Bombur freezing up until Veemon grabbed his beard and pulled him.

"Now is not the time to freeze up!" he told the Dwarf as they all saw the house in the clearing and Gandalf stopped to count everyone as they passed him, Daisuke was the last to pass when she and the wizard saw a huge black bear emerge from the trees roaring and heading straight for them.

"Oh crap, get inside!" Daisuke told the others just as Bombur bounced off the door and everyone began trying to open the door until Veemon lifted the latch everyone else had seemingly missed and everyone ran inside with Daisuke and Kili being the last two in with both tripping and falling to the ground, the large bear stuck its head in the door and roared as the others tried to shut the door until a loud clang was heard. The bear pulled away from the door allowing the Dwarves to shut and bar the door.

As everyone caught their breaths they turned to see Bilbo was holding a large pan in his hands making everyone look at him in stunned silence. "Did you just…hit that thing…with that?" Veemon panted and the Hobbit nodded.

"I think I did." Soon laughter filled the large house which was a welcome sound and Daisuke smiled.

"Um…do you mind getting off me now?" she blinked and looked to see she was still on top of Kili and their noses were almost touching and both their faces flushed bright red, Daisuke squeaked and jumped back causing a new round of laughter to come from the others and Gandalf gained a small smile.

"Well, let us hope our host doesn't mind the bump on his head." He said causing everyone to look at him. "His name is Beorn. And he's a skin-changer. Sometimes he's a huge black bear. Sometimes he's a great strong man. The bear is unpredictable, but the man can be reasoned with. However, he is not overfond of Dwarves." He explained causing the company to glare at him.

"And you brought us here anyway? Great, we're either going to be killed by Orcs or we're going to be ripped apart by a giant black bear, honestly I'd take my chances with the Orcs." Veemon said as Ori went to the door and looked through a small hole to see the bear leaving.

"He's leaving." he said before Dori pulled his younger brother away.

"Get away from there. It's not natural, none of it. He's under some dark spell." He said and Gandalf frowned at the Dwarf.

"Don't be a fool. He's under no enchantment but his own. All right, now get some sleep. All of you. You'll be safe here tonight." He said with only Bilbo, Daisuke and Veemon hearing him mutter. "I hope."

Soon night had fallen and Beorn was still in his bear form standing guard of his house while Azog and another Orc watched him, Azog now had bandages over his face where Daisuke cut him during their brief battle. "Attack now. Kill the Dwarf filth while they sleep." The other Orc told him in the Orc tongue.

"No. The Beast stands guard. The time will come, then I will have Thorin's head, and the head of that girl who dared to stand in my way." Azog growled walking back to the rest of the pack while two of the Wargs snapped their jaws at each other. The pack then heard branches snap and turned as another Warg with an Orc rider approached them and Azog looked up at the Orc which was almost as pale as him.

"They are gathering at Dol Guldur. The Master has summoned you." The Orc told Azog who growled but nonetheless climbed onto his Warg and set off for Dol Guldur, soon he was standing alone in Dol Guldur as something moved in the shadows around him.

"We grow in number. We grow in strength. You will lead my armies." The being in the shadows told him in the foul speech all Orcs knew.

"What of Oakenshield?" Azog asked it.

"War is coming." It answered.

"You promised me his head." Azog said angrily before he was knocked off his feet by the shadows.

"Patience Pale Orc, the time draws near. You will have your trophy, but the girl. The one who took your eye, she must remain alive. You will bring her to me. If she is harmed in anyway, you will beg me to grant you a quick death." The voice in the shadows promised before the shadows receded. Azog growled and got to his feet before he could be seen.

"Bolg!" he roared and the Orc from earlier walked towards him. "Do you still thirst for Dwarven blood?" he asked and Bolg smirked.

Back at Beorn's house with the sun slowly beginning to rise, Daisuke woke up and seeing how nobody was awake yet she pulled the ring from her pocket and looked at it. "Such a small thing did something to Gollum, he seemed obsessed with keeping it. But why, it's just a ring…isn't it?" she thought, she was brought out of her thoughts by hearing the door opening and she grabbed her sword and crept over the others and saw Beorn as he walked in only this time he was a rather tall man with greyish-brown hair, a forked beard, remains of a shackle on his left arm, and a mane of hair growing as a ridge down the length of his back and he had a bruise forming on his head from where Bilbo had struck him.

He looked at her and she gulped. "Unless you know how to use that sword little one, I'd advise keeping it in its scabbard." He said softly.

"Um right…sorry to intrude in your home Master Beorn," she said quietly. "We would have asked only, we were being pursued by some Orcs."

"I am aware. Tell me, why would Azog the Defiler hunt you?" Beorn asked as he walked to the fireplace and Daisuke decided to follow him.

"A long story. We ran into him earlier, but were saved by the Eagles." She answered sitting at the large table while Beorn looked at her.

"The Great Eagles came to your aid?" he asked scrutinising her. "They do not bother in the troubles of others, what makes you all so special?"

"I'm not sure. But I believe Gandalf, the guy wearing grey over there had something to do with it," Daisuke answered. "He's a Wizard." She added.

"And what would a Wizard, thirteen Dwarves, a Halfling, a small dragon and you be doing travelling together?" Beorn asked with a piercing glare making Daisuke gulp as she looked up at the skin-changer.

"Um it would be best if the others wake up before we explain. I might miss a few things." She answered and Beorn remained silent before he nodded and walked away leaving Daisuke who sighed in relief. "That was too close." She thought. Soon the rest of the company had awoken and were sitting at the table eating a breakfast of honey bread and honey cakes as Beorn filled Fili's rather large tankard with milk from a barrel that had been turned into a jar.

"So, you fought Azog the Defiler leaving him with another scar and taking one of his eyes?" Beorn asked Daisuke who nodded as she bite into a honey cake.

"You know him?" Veemon asked the skin-changer who nodded.

"My people were the first to live in the mountains, before the Orcs came down from the North. The Defiler killed most of my family. But some he enslaved. Not for work, you understand, but for sport. Caging skin-changers and torturing them seemed to amuse him." He explained.

"There were others like you?" Bilbo asked.

"Once there were many. Now there is only one." Beorn answered solemnly. "You need to reach the mountain, before the last days of autumn."

"Before Durin's Day falls." Gandalf told him.

"Then you are running out of time." Beorn said.

"That is why we must go through Mirkwood." Gandalf said.

"A darkness lies over that land. Fell things creep beneath the trees. There is an alliance between the Orcs of Moria and the Necromancer in Dol Guldur. I would not venture there, except in great need." Beorn told the company.

"That is why we will take the Elven Road; their path is still safe." Gandalf said.

"We must have different meanings of the word. The Wood-Elves of Mirkwood are not like their kin, they are less wise and more dangerous. And any Dwarf that enters their lands are locked in their dungeons for all reasons." Beorn said and Thorin clenched his fist.

"There must be another way," Bilbo said.

"The only other way would be to go around the forest, but that would be hundreds of miles in either direction. And time is not on our side to consider such things." Balin said grimly.

"Then through the forest we will go." Daisuke said reluctantly. "Can you help us in any way Master Beorn?" she asked the skin-changer who looked at the company.

"I do not like Dwarves, they're greedy and blind. Blind to the lives of those they deem less important than their own." He said as a mouse scurried along the table and Daisuke gently picked it up and smiled at the creature before Beorn gently took it from her. "But I hate Orcs more. What do you need?" he asked and the company smiled.

"As much food as you can spare, and transportation," Gandalf told the skin-changer who nodded.

"Very well. You must leave now while you have the light, I believe your hunters are not far away." He said.

"Let's just hope luck will be on our side this time." Veemon said and the others nodded as they began to gather their things for the journey ahead.

The end of the chapter

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