'Well this place freakin' reeks'.

And it had, trust me on that. Despite the many treasures - valuable and invaluable - the little troll cave smelt of either rotting flesh, poop or whatever else those fowl creatures could produce.

'What is that stench?'

'Isn't that basically what I just said?' I inquired grumpily. 'Don't you guys ever listen to me?'

Gandalf's reply said all. 'It's a troll hoard,' he replied to the Dwarf who had spoken - and not me. 'Be careful what you touch,' he warned fairly.

'I'll take that as a no, then,' I muttered to myself. Dori, who walked beside me, snorted softly.

The troll cave was filled with weapons, gold, chests, clothing and any other thing that you could think of. I guessed that whoever the trolls ate, they then kept anything that they, well, didn't eat. 'I can't imagine what a troll would want with a frilly dress,' I said dryly, picking up the hem of said dress. 'I mean, they are so last season'.

'Keep your comments to yourself, Millie. We cannot understand a thing that you are saying,' said Gandalf lightly, poking around the cave.

I'd huffed indignantly at his turned back.

'Seems a shame to leave all this lying around,' said Bofur slowly, eyes catching the other greedy looking Dwarves. Admittedly, I had been thinking along the same lines. So, I stooped down and grabbed a handful of coins, shoving them into my bag.

'What?' I said, catching the amused eye of Kili. 'I have no money and no relatives - may as well grab some dollar while I can, right?'

'Do you honestly think that we'll let you go as soon as we have finished the quest?' he replied, all traces of humor gone. 'You are one of us now, Millie. Isn't she lads?'

'Indeed, she is!' said Bofur, scooping a load of gold into a newly dug hole. 'Can't let you go off alone and homeless, can we?' There was a murmur of absent agreement, as the Dwarves and the Wizard rifled through the many forgotten items.

I was stumped, embarrassed and flattered. 'Oh,' I coughed, my face pink. 'Well- that's, um, that's very nice, you guys. Thank you. I'll just-' I turned swiftly around, hoping that they would not see my watering eyes. Let me tell you, I did not normally cry. Aside from the panic of first arriving here, I had not cried since.

Kili's voice was soft behind me. 'Are you crying?' he asked quietly, so that the others would not hear.

Oh, buggering hell.

'No!' I muttered quickly, blinking away the shiny eyes. 'I'm just...very flattered, is all. But I'm not crying'. I turned to face him, glad that the others were busy. I did not like to show the, well, the soft side of myself too often. 'Thank you,' I'd mumbled. 'For before, when you covered me. It was stupid and pointless, but thank you anyway. You didn't have to'.

Kili straightened up and puffed his chest out. ' 'Course I did,' he said, shrugging with a toothy smile on his face. Sometimes, even now, I forget that he was seventy-seven at the time. He seemed so young, so careless and young.

I was mid-smile when suddenly Dwalin called my name. I turned to the older Dwarf, who chucked something relatively light and small in my general direction. I caught it with stumbling hands, surprised at how cool the object felt.

Upon closer inspection, I found it to be a dagger of some sort, larger than the one that I had shoved into the trolls leg. '...You trust me with this?' I'd asked, glancing up at him, baffled. The small sword was thin and cold. Upon retracting it slightly from the scabbard, I saw the metal to be silver and light. Pretty. 'Aren't you afraid I'll break it, or, I don't know, accidentally stab myself in my sleep?'

Dwalin cocked a brow at me and crossed his arms heavily. 'You're gonna need something to defend yourself with, lass, and although I'm not too fond of the Elves, that right there is a good blade. Light enough for you to handle, am I right?'

I weighed the sword, scared of how fragile it looked. 'Yeah,' I replied. 'It is'.

Kili took it from my arms quickly, but dropped it immediately. 'It's hot!' he barked, as the sword clattered to the floor. 'How were you holdin' it when it was so hot?' He looked as if his pride had been hurt, and rubbed his burnt hand with care.

I stared at him, incredulous. 'The heck are you smoking? It's cold'. To prove my point, I reached down to pick up the small sword. 'See? Cold!' I pushed it toward him, but he jumped back. 'Oh my God, you wuss!' I'd laughed out.

A few of the others seemed to find the whole exchange rather amusing, and glanced over. Kili glared at them, then back at the sword. 'If it was cold, then I would not have dropped it from the heat,' he snarked back.

I held up my hands, still holding the sword. 'Alright, I'm sorry, Grumpy'.

Gandalf appeared at my side, and I looked up at him, my face smoothing out into a smile. 'Millie,' he said. 'Do I have your permission to hold you sword?'

'What?' He gave me a stern look, raised eyebrows and all. 'Yeah, sure, knock yourself out, Gandizzle ' I said, handing him the sword. He held it with care, and did not cry out in pain as Kili had. 'See,' I said, turning to the Dwarf. He merely rolled his eyes to meet mine, annoyed.

Gandalf continued to study the object, then smiled. 'It is as I thought, the sword is Aglos, and was made by the Elves. It is burning hot to the touch to those that it does not belong to, and cool to those that it does. You gave me permission to hold it, and therefore I was not burnt. Kili, though,' his amused, blue eyes found the moody looking Dwarf. 'Was'.

'No way,' I said, practically jumping on the spot. 'I have a magic sword. I feel like I'm in Skyrim!'

Gandalf smiled kindly and handed it back to me, and I took it with great excitement. 'Aglos,' he said. 'Meaning Snowthorn. Your sword has a name, and has seen battle, my dear'. His eyes traveled to Thorin, who was handling some shiny looking swords, and wandered over to him.

I held the sword with nimble fingers, gazing at it. 'All of a sudden I feel way too ordinary to be holding this. If it's Elvish, shouldn't an Elf have it, and not me? I can't even use a sword'.

'You will learn,' replied Kili, less moody than before.

That's likely, ha! 'Aren't I meant to, like, throw this on the floor and spit on it, or whatever? Seeing as it's made by Elves, I mean. You know, like Thorin is doing to those swords over there,' I said, nodding to the miffed looking King, who looked at me at the sound of his name.

Busted.

'Let's get out of this foul place,' he grumbled, turning away and addressing the rest of the Dwarves. 'Nori, come!' he called to the Dwarf was still filling in the hole where they had buried a chest of treasure. He, along with a few of the others, had been making a 'long term deposit'.

I looked at Kili, who had turned away from his retreating Uncle and back to me. 'What?' he asked, noticing my troubled stare.

I looked at, er, Snowthorn (squee!) and back at him. 'I don't really know how to attach this to my belt,' I told him, sheepish. 'Let alone fight with it,' I said as an afterthought. 'I am useless'.

Kili, anxious to follow the rest, quickly held out his hand, and with a quick confirmation from me of 'yeah, yeah, I give you permission to hold my sword', he took it, crouched, pushed my cloak aside (I blushed, like a teenager) and began to attach the scabbard of the sword to my belt. I wasn't quite sure how he did it, but in the end, he did. I could barely feel the weight of the sword on my side, and once Kili was with height with me, I smiled brightly.

'Look at me, huh? Who'd have thought I'd ever have a sword!'

Kili rolled his eyes, muttered, 'yes, the notion is alarming,' and started out of the cave, me following after him. I practically swaggered out, all made up in my new woman-warrior sword. A freakin' magic sword, at that.

The others were mooching around the outside of the cave, while Thorin studied the surrounding area, deciding which way to go next. I stood idly beside Ori and Dori, the latter who muttered to his brother, 'If you keep writing in that damned journal, you're going to end up walking into a tree, Ori!'

The youngest sent his grey haired brother a dark look, but his small eyes flashed to mine upon seeing my not so subtle stare. At seeing me, he pulled the journal closer to his chest. Taking the opportunity that I had, I'd asked, 'What do you write in that thing? I've tried to read it, but it just looks like, I don't know, Vulcan or something'.

'I've never heard of Vulcan before,' stated Dori, turning to me. 'Is it a language that you know?'

'Er, no'.

A half amused, half curious stare was given to me. 'I see. In reply to you question, though, Ori is documenting our travels. He is a skilled writer and artist, you know'.

I hadn't, and I'd told them so.

'Somethings coming!' warned Thorin loudly, capturing the attention of everyone in the company. The Dwarves all jumped into action, and without really know how, I found Fili by my side, grabbing my arm and pulling me down with the rest of the Dwarves. I did not question his sudden appearance, nor who was coming. I was simply thankful that he'd helped me.

Something had been coming. It was loud and fast, smacking tree leaves and bushes out of the way, before, finally, bursting out into open, causing all of the armed Dwarves to stutter backwards, surprised.

'...Santa?' I'd yelped, staring at the bearded, dirty man who stood atop a sleigh led by...rabbits.

'Radagast!' Gandalf had shouted merrily, spreading his arms and walking forward. The Wizard hippy? 'Radagast the Brown!' he stood in front of his friend, peering curiously at him, while the rest of us stared on, baffled. 'What on earth are you doing here?'

'I-I was looking for you, Gandalf!' said Radagast. In all honestly, I'd expected him to be a little more, I don't know, hippy-ish. He worn pretty much the same clothes as Gandalf, only moss green, dirtier and covered in leaves. As well as this, he had a large drip of bird poo falling down his grubby, wild face. 'Something's wrong - somethings terribly wrong'.

'...Yes?'

Radagast held up his hand, opened his mouth and then paused, looking quite lost. He attempted to speak once again, but faltered. 'Just a minute - oh! I had a thought, and now I've lost it! It's right there, on the top of my tongue!'

'Is it just me,' I had whispered quietly. 'Or do you guys seriously want what this guy is smoking?'

Fili coughed out a laugh beside me.

'Oh!' said Radagast. 'It's not a thought at all! It's a-' And Gandalf, looking far too calm, pulled out a wriggling, real stick insect from inside the Brown wizards mouth. 'Stick insect! finished Radagast happily.

I bit back a gag, shaking my head slowly. 'If he starts pulling bugs out of anywhere else, I'm leaving'.

Fili elbowed me in the side, and I swallowed a smile. Gandalf then shot me a disproving look, took Radagast by the elbow, and led the bumbling Wizard a few meters away, ensuring that we could not hear their conversation.

'What do you reckon he saw?' I asked Fili, who looked away from the muttering Wizards and down at me. Seriously, how was it that his braided hair was in perfect condition, while my below shoulder length hair looked like a rats nest?

He shook his head. 'Who knows? I do not try and understand Wizards and their cryptic ways'.

I nodded. ' 'Nuff said'.

'May I study your blade?' he asked suddenly. I nodded, handing it him with my up most permission. Fili's blue eyes ran over the sword, until he sharply withdrew it from the scabbard, making me jump. He half smiled at me, his eyes twinkling. 'You are fortunate to find a sword that suits you so perfectly,' he commented, handing it back to me with a secret smile.

I took it slowly, eyes narrowed. 'What do you mean by that?' I'd asked, suspicious.

Fili shrugged, nonchalant. 'I simply mean that while the sword runs hot and cold, so do you,' he grinned, stepping away from my quick slap. His eyes traveled to a place over my shoulder. His smile grew. 'You will have to excuse my brother, he is rather slow and dimwitted at times. To makes things clear with him, you will have to make your intentions obvious'.

The fast change of subject spun me about, making me all confused. 'Huh?'

All of a sudden, a sharp, raspy howl broke through the chirping of birds, and the drawl of the Dwarves. There was brief silence, in which I squeaked quietly, stepping closer to the alert Fili.

'Was that a wolf?' asked Bilbo quickly. 'Are there- are there wolves out there?'

Bofur stepped in front of the Hobbit, holding his weapon close to his chest. 'A wolf? No, that is not a wolf-' His point was proven quite clearly then, due to the large dog-like creature that prowled over the top of the ground above, it's mouth open and a growl erupting from deep within its throat.

'Oh, bugger-' I was pushed roughly to the side by Fili, my back smacking against the dirt wall behind me. The creature bounded down, straight past all of us and into the awaiting sword of Thorin. 'Oh. My. God,' I panicked, pushing myself away from the wall, just as another one appeared. It was shot down by Kili, who'd strung his bow and arrow, subsequently making it skid to a stop at my feet, dead. I bumbled backwards, finding myself back-to-back with the filthy wall once again.

'Sweet Lord!' I'd yelped. Everything happened quite quickly from then on out, as if every nerve in my body was telling me to be quick, as if the adrenaline was being pumped heavily through my veins.

Don't be mislead, I didn't turn into, like, Xena or anything.

'Millie!' yelled Kili, suddenly appearing on the other side of creature, presenting me with his open hand. 'Come! Quickly!' I bit back, once again, a gag, pressing my foot firmly against the stomach of the large, dead creature, catching Kili's hand in mine, and promptly tripping to his side. 'Are you alright?' he asked.

'I'm fine!' I stuttered, pushing myself upright by using his shoulder as support, just as Thorin shouted,

'Warg scouts! Which means an Orc pack is not far behind!'

'Orc pack?' stressed Bilbo, just as I let out a long moan. Orcs. I had hoped - prayed - that they would not appear in The Hobbit - I had been wrong, it would seem. Apparently every nasty mystical creature was going to pop in to say hello once a day.

'Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?'' question Gandalf urgently, addressing Thorin. The King sent the Wizard an angry look.

'No one'.

Gandalf still seemed pretty peeved. 'Who did you tell?!'

'No one, I swear!' Thorin stared at Gandalf, troubled. 'What in Dorin's name is going on?' he had demanded.

Gandalf stated a fact that had my stomach running cold. 'You are being hunted'. He scanned the area, turning away from the King. I caught the eye of Bilbo, who swallowed tightly, mirroring the same fear that I felt.

'We have to get out of here,' growled Dwalin.

'We can't!' cried Ori, appearing out who knows where, tripping over his robes. Kudos to him, though, I could never have run in those things. 'We have no ponies! They've bolted!'

I'd pushed my hair back, muttering an angry, 'can anything else go wrong, really?'

Radagast addressed us all when he said, 'I'll draw them off,' with a sneaky, freaky look that had me stepping sideways away from him. Sure, he was going to save us, but the guy was on some hard drugs. He must have been.

Gandalf seemed to find the idea both stupid and pointless. 'These are Gundabad Wargs - they will out run you'

'These are Rhosgobel Rabbits,' replied Radagast with sass that I could only admire. He jutted his chin up at Gandalf, clutching his staff tightly. 'I'd like to see them try.'

'You are totally getting invited to my birthday party,' I told the Wizard, who mounted his 'sleigh' and spoke quietly to his rabbits. The Wizard glanced at me, gave a swish of his fingers, a giggle, and pulled heavily at the reigns. The rabbits sniffed the air and shot forward.

And then he was gone.

'I can only hope that he will be safe,' muttered Gandalf. He turned to us all. 'Come! He has bought us time, but they may still find us. We must hurry, if we wish to outrun them and find safe passage!'

And run, we did.

Within half a minute, I was panting heavily, struggling to not trip over the many twigs and rocks that were scattered on the ground. The Dwarves ran so close together that I was, thankfully, pushed along with them. Despite this, my chest heaved and my heart hammered.

'I'm starting-' I huffed. 'To seriously regret bunking Physical Education!'

The howling of the Wargs was the only thing that kept me running. That, and the sudden appearance of Kili's hand tightly grasping my own. 'Save your breath!' he yelled, pulling me further along. I didn't know whether my legs could take much more. The Dwarves were fitter than me, and here I was, a University student who had smoked, drank and ate most of her fitness away.

The world had dissolved into running feet and labored breaths. I hadn't really thought much about where Gandalf was leading us, all that had really mattered was that we all get out of there safely, away from the Wargs and the Orcs.

I didn't really fancy, once again, becoming Millie Mozzarella.

I'm awful with time zones, so I don't know whether it's already 2013 or nearly that in other countries (I know, I'm thick), but here in England it's New Years Eve, meaning I might be suffering from a...'headache' tomorrow, and therefore there may not be a new chapter.

Knowing me, I'll probably update anyway.

Anyway, thank you so so so much for the reviews! I can't believe I went from being on nearly 100, to over 100. You guys are amazing, keep reviewing, please!