Chapter 2: Trolling Around

Bella was awoken the next morning to the sound of feet walking up and down her hallway, and voices chatting happily. Blinking confusedly for a few moments, yesterday's events rushed to her memory. "They must all be up!" she gasped, as she flung herself out of bed and changed into her traveling dress; a red, knee length gown that was both warm and light. Glancing in her mirror, she brushed out her curls before walking into the hallway.

"Good morning Bella," one of the dwarves, Balin, said to her as he carried a tray of food to the dining room. Other dwarves were also assisting in bringing food and drinks. Shaking her head slightly with a fond smile, she walked into the dining room and saw that Thorin and Gandalf were already seated and eating while the others were just beginning to sit down. A chorus of good mornings and hellos were said to her as she too sat down, which she repeated with a happy smile. She pretended not to feel Thorin's glare through her back.

They sat and ate for a short while before soon they were up and heading out the door. As the dwarves piled out of her hobbit hole, Gandalf turned to her. "Bella, you must pack the basic necessities and then meet us at the Green Dragon Inn in two hours. Please do be punctual!" With that, Gandalf was out the door and she was once again left alone.

"This is going to be so much fun!" she squealed in delight, finally being able to be happy and giddy without looking childish. Running to her closet, she pulled out her travelling pack and inside it placed another traveling dress, as well as a pair of fine leggings and a warm shirt and jacket. From her pantry, she stuffed a few non-perishable food items inside her bag, hoping that they'd last her more than a week. She didn't want to have to rely on the dwarves for food, feeling that it would be rude. Also in her pack, she placed a hair brush, water canteens, and a few other insignificant items. Bella did not own any weapons, so she was forced to depart her home for an adventure unarmed. Perhaps she could find a weapon along the way. As she left her hobbit hole, she put on her black cloak, fastening it around her neck.

Setting out, she walked down the lane, past the great Mill, across The Water, and then on for a mile or more. When she got to Bywater, Bella spotted the dwarves saddling up a large amount of ponies and strapping their bags onto the beasts' backs. A small black pony stood off to the side, which she realized was more than likely hers. "Just great," Bella thought, "I wore a dress and now I have to ride. Side-saddle it is, I guess!"

Some of the dwarves (Kili, Fili, Balin, Ori, and Bofur) greeted her when she arrived, while the others simply ignored her or gave her a slight head nod. Thorin Oakenshield was one of the ones who ignored her, and she could tell that he was upset that she had showed up. It stung a bit that he resented her so much; after all, he'd only just met her and that was hardly enough time to judge a person.

When they all started mounting their horses, Bella looked at her pony, and noted that it even though it was a small pony; it was still a bit too big. As she contemplated how she was going to get on, a hand gently touched her shoulder, causing her to look up at the figure next to her. It was Fili. "Would you like a hand getting up there?" he asked her with a grin.

A small blush crept up her neck as she gave a small smile back. "Thank you," she replied, as she took his hand and he helped hoist her up into the saddle. Once on her pony, she maneuvered herself so that she was sitting comfortably side saddle. Looking over, she caught Thorin watching her as Fili helped her onto her pony with a dark expression. Bella turned away, and smiled thankfully at Fili before he went and jumped onto his own pony.

That's how they all came to start, jogging off from the inn one fine morning just before May, on laden ponies. They had not been riding very long, when up came Gandalf very splendid on a white horse. He had rode next to Bella for a short while and informed her that he had locked up her house so that no one would enter it while she was away, for which she thanked him for.

Throughout the day, the dwarves chatted amongst themselves, telling stories and singing tunes. Bella felt a bit excluded, since no one would talk with her for very long, but she didn't blame them. Men during these times were not used to traveling with a woman. The only two to actually sit back and have a conversation with her were Fili and Kili. Occasionally they stopped for meals, but spent most of the day riding.

At first they had passed through hobbit-lands, a wide respectable country inhabited by decent folk, with good roads, an inn or two, and now and then a dwarf or a farmer ambling by on business. Then they came to lands where people spoke strangely, and sang songs Bella had never heard of before. Now they had gone far into the Lone-lands, where there were no people left, no inns, and the roads grew steadily worse. Not far ahead were dreary hills, rising higher and higher, dark with trees. On some of them were old, evil-looking castles, as if they had been built and inhabited by wicked people. Everything seemed gloomy, for the weather that day had taken a nasty turn. It was cold and wet, and Bella shivered in her dress, but she hid it as best she could.

Throughout the next almost month of travelling, the dwarves ignored her, never conversing with her (except for occasionally Fili and Kili).It was very lonely, and Bella was beginning to feel a bit depressed because of all the isolation, but she still preferred this over being alone in her hobbit hole. Although the pouring rain did give her pause.

Gandalf eventually disappeared from their group, and they were forced to trudge on. On this particular day, the winds were strong and the rain was heavy, pelting down upon them with force. Thorin muttered something about supper, "and where shall we get a dry patch to sleep on?"

They decided in the end that they would have to camp where they were. They moved to a clump of trees, and thought it would be a bit drier. Instead, the wind blew the rain off the leaves, making an annoying drip, drip. That night, not even the dwarves were able to light a fire. At one point, one of the ponies (Bella's to be exact) spooked and took off into the river before they could catch him. Bella had hiked up her skirts and trudged into the water before anyone else could say anything, and eventually came back out again, nearly drowned. Shaking off the water, she tied her pony next to the others and sat by a tree, shaking from the cold.

She changed into her leggings and shirt, pulling on her coat and cloak, but she could still not get warm. A few of the dwarves looked at her with pity as she sat there shivering on the ground, but they were all wet from the rain too, so there was nothing they could do. It wasn't until she let out a small sneeze that something heavy and warm fell onto her shoulders. Startled, Bella glanced up and was shocked to see that Thorin had placed his cloak over her. "You'll catch your death out here," he said bluntly, not even looking at her.

"Thank you," she murmured softly as she pulled the cloak around her, reveling in its warmth.

"This is why you shouldn't have come; you're not built to handle the extremes that we are no doubt going to face," he snapped, storming away before she could say anything. Angrily, she shut her eyes and smacked the back of her head against the tree. The pain turned her attention away from Thorin. Eventually, she began to doze off.

It wasn't long before she was awoken to the sound of Balin's voice shouting: "There's a light over there!" Standing up, Bella glanced where the old dwarf was pointing. There was a hill some way off with trees on it, pretty thick in parts. Out of the dark mass of the trees they could now see a light shining, a reddish comfortable-looking light, as if it might be a fire or torches twinkling.

When they had looked at it for some while, they fell to arguing. Some said "no" and some said "yes". They snapped back at each other, coming up with various reasons as why they should or shouldn't go. Bella just sat back and watched them argue it out until Oin and Gloin began to fight.

That settled it. "Enough!" she snapped. "Stop acting like children. I am here to be a burgler, correct? We will move to the bottom of the hill, and I will sneak up to see what the source is of that light."

Several argued, but Thorin raised a hand to silence them. "Very well, it is after all your purpose." And that was that. They moved the ponies and bags in the direction of the light, and stopped once at the bottom of the hill. "Figure out what it is, and if you can come back if you can. If you can't, hoot twice like a barn owl and we will do what we can."

Off Bella went, not telling them that she had no idea what a barn owl sounded like. But at any rate, Hobbits can move quietly through the woods, and they take pride in it. Since she could walk quietly, she was able to walk straight up to the fire – for fire it was – without disturbing anyone. And this is what she saw.

Three very large trolls were sitting round a very large fire of beech-logs. They were toasting mutton on long spits of wood, and licking the gravy off their fingers. There was a fine toothsome smell. Also there was a barrel of good drink at hand, and they were drinking out of jugs. Even Bella, in her sheltered life, could see that they were trolls: from the great heavy faces, their size, and their language.

"Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrer," said one of the trolls.

"Never a blinking bit of manflesh have we had for long enough," said a second. "What the 'ell William was a- thinkin' of to bring us into these parts at all, beats me – and the drink runnin' short, what's more," he said jogging the elbow of William, who was taking a pull at his jug.

William choked. "Shut yet mouth!" he said as soon as he could. "Yer can't expect folk to stop here for ever just to be et by you and Bert. You've et a village and a half between yer, since we come down from the mountains. How much more d'yer want? And time's been up our way, when yer'd have said 'thank yer Bill' for a nice bit o' fat valley mutton like what this is." He took a big bite off a sheep's leg he was roasting, and wiped his lips on his sleeve.

Bella knew that she should head back to the company, but she also knew that trolls kept loot in their pockets, and what time of burgler was she if she couldn't rob them of their valuables? She silently crept behind a tree just behind William. Bella put her little hand in William's enormous pocket and found a purse, which was bigger than she was! Trolls' purses are the mischief, and this was no exception. "'Ere, 'oo are you?" it squeaked, as it left the pocket; and William turned round at once and grabbed Bella by the neck, before she could duck behind a tree.

"Blimey, Bert, look what I've copped!" said William.

"What is it?" said the others coming up.

"Lumme, if I knows! What are yer?"

"Bella Baggins, a hobbit!" she snapped, frustrated that she had been captured. Fear ran over her skin at the sudden thought that Thorin probably had abandoned her, and the company could be on their way elsewhere by now.

"A hobbit?" said they a bit startled. Trolls are slow in the uptake, and might suspicious about anything new to them.

"What's a hobbit got to do with my pocket, anyways?" said William.

"And can yet cook 'em?" said Tom.

"Yer can try," said Bert, picking up a skewer.

"She wouldn't make above a mouthful," said William, who had already had a fine supper, "not when she was skinned and boned."

"P'raps there are more like her round about, and we might make a pie," said Bert. "Here you, are there any more of your sort a-sneakin' in these here woods, yer nasty little rabbit," said he looking at the Bella, grabbing her by the legs and shaking her. Using her hands, she kept her skirt from falling while she was upside down.

"Not a single one! Why on earth would I have left companions to come looking for a place to rest? It's only little ol' me," Bella said, not wanting to give away the company.

"Let the poor blighter go," William said. He had already had as much supper as he could hold; also he had lots of beer. As soon as he said this, Bella reared back her head (as much as she could upside down) and screamed at the top of her lungs. Startled, the troll holding her dropped her, and she hit the ground hard. The air left her body at the impact, and she lay there dazed for a moment, before Bert reached down and grabbed her in a fierce grip, shaking her profusely.

"Whad'ya do that for?" he snapped at her. "Ain't no one gonna hear you round 'ere!" As soon as the sentence was out of his mouth, a battle cry sounded from within the dark forest, before the company appeared running towards them with weapons drawn.

"She lied!" Tom said, snarling at the oncoming dwarves before he grabbed Bella's left arm and left leg, while Bert held her other arm and leg. At the sight of this, the dwarves all stopped, staring at her with mixed expressions. Fili and Kili, along with Bofur, Balin, Bombur, Nori and Ori looked concerned, the others were expressionless, and Thorin looked angry!

"Drop yer weapons!" William said with a snarl. "Or she'll be ripped apart."

Bella was shocked when Thorin began to lower his sword, along with the rest of the company. "NO!" she shouted fiercely, startling everyone. "Don't drop your weapons!"

Turning her head, she bit as hard as she could into the hand of Bert, causing him to roar out. The two trolls pulled on her limbs roughly, causing a scream of anguish to pass through her lips. Her scream, plus her squirming was enough for them to drop her, and she once again hit the ground hard. Once she had her bearings (which took only a few seconds) she scrambled away from the trolls and the dwarves charging them, backing into the trees. Pain filled her body and mind at having her limbs nearly torn from their sockets, and from having hit the ground twice from quite a height.

Still, Bella watched the battle, making sure that no one got hurt. It didn't take very long before they had slain one of the trolls, the other two soon following the first into death. As she sat there witnessing Thorin slay the final troll before the dwarves began to look around for her in a mild panic, Bella carefully stood up. Walking over (or more like limping) she went back into the clearing. "Are any of you hurt?" she asked, glancing over all of them for injuries. She thanked any higher power that existed when she saw that none of the company had been hurt, except for herself.

"No, but you have been," Thorin said in a gruff voice as he approached her. When he laid a hand on her shoulder, she cringed away at the flash of pain. "Oin! Is there anything that can be done?"

Oin shook his head. "No, an injury as such will just need time to heal. Though it probably won't take more than a few days at most."

The company went to sit by the fire that the trolls had lit, welcoming the heat. Bella, however, sat further away, a bit embarrassed to be with the company. As she sat against the tree, the dull ache in her limbs did nothing to ease her mind. After a few moments, Thorin came to sit next to her. Before he could speak, she said: "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get myself captured."

Thorin shook his head. "Don't blame yourself for this. I allowed you to go check out the light, knowing very well that it might be something dangerous. I apologize for my thoughtlessness. None of the other dwarves blame you either, and we were all concerned when we heard you scream."

"Thank you, Thorin," she said softly as she looked up into his icy blue orbs. Her heart leapt in her chest, beating wildly.

"You should get some rest. We will be heading out in the morning," he murmured as he handed her his cloak again.

"Won't you need this?" she asked, fighting her eyelids to stay awake. Thorin simply shook his head before walking off. Wrapping the fur lined cloak around herself, she fell into a peaceful slumber.

When Bella woke next, it was because of a huge commotion happening within the company. Looking up from her place against the tree roots, she spotted Gandalf surrounded by all the dwarves. She stood up quickly, regretting it instantly at the sharp pain that ran through her body from the injuries she'd received the day prior. After taking a few deep breaths, she deposited Thorin's cloak by his bag, before walking to a few feet away from the gathering.

"Where did you go to, if I may ask?" said Thorin to Gandalf.

"To look ahead," Gandalf said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"And what brought you back?"

"Looking behind, I spotted a fire in the distance, and yet here I arrive to see a bunch of slain trolls and an injured Bella. I can only guess as to what had happened," said the old wizard. Bella blushed slightly, but it faded when Gandalf and a few of the dwarves smiled at her. The wizard held out his hand and handed her a few green leaves. "They'll take the pain away."

Gingerly, she placed them in her mouth, chewing them up and swallowing them. Almost instantly, she felt the pain recede and let out a content sigh. "Thank you Gandalf," she said, nodding her thanks.

Suddenly, Bella remembered something! The stuff from the pockets. Limping over, with several of the dwarves hovering behind her in case she fell over, she retrieved the gigantic purse. There wasn't much useful inside of it except a large key. They searched about and soon found marks of trolls' stony boots going away through the trees. They followed the tracks up the hill, until hidden by bushes they came on a big stone door leading into a cave. They used the key, and the great door swung back with a big push.

There were bones on the floor and nasty smell was in the air; but there was a good deal of food jumbled carelessly on the shelves and on the ground, among an untidy litter of plunder, of all sorts from brass buttons to pots full of gold coins standing in a corner. There were lots of clothes, too hanging on the walls – too small for trolls, probably having belonged to victims – and among them were several swords of various makes, shapes, and sizes. Two caught their eyes particularly, because of their beautiful scabbards and jeweled hilts.

Gandalf and Thorin took one each; Bella took a small sword (almost a dagger in large man's perspective) in a leather sheath.

"These look like good blades," said the wizard, half drawing them and looking at them curiously. "They were not made by any troll, nor by any smith among men in these parts and days; but when we can read the runes on them, we shall know more about them."

"Let's get out of this horrible smell!" said Fili. So they carried out the pots of coins and food that looked fit to eat.

"Come, we must head out to Rivendell now," Gandalf said, turning to the ponies and his horse. He mounted his white steed, and as the dwarves mounted their ponies, Thorin turned to Bella.

"Here," he said in what could be considered a gentle voice. "Allow me to help you on." Thorin, unlike the others who've helped her onto her horse, simply picked her up gently and placed her on her ponies back. A deep blush filled her cheeks.

"T-Thank you," Bella said, but softly grabbed his shoulder when he turned to go to his pony. When he turned to look at her, her insides turned to jelly, but her question still ragged in her mind. "Last night… would you really have dropped you weapons?"

Thorin looked shocked, but he nodded all the same before mounting his pony. Then they were off, heading toward this Rivendell that Gandalf spoke of.