Hey guys! Welcome back to my story! With a new chapter!

Good reading!

Chapter 5: Roast Mutton

Now the Company had gone on 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 castles with an evil look, as if they had been built by wicked people. Everything seemed gloomy, for the weather that day had taken a nasty turn. Mostly it had been as good as May can be, even in merry tales, but now it was cold and wet.

Faced with the rain falling on them, the Dwarves balked as they tried to cover themselves. Even Bilbo regretted having gone with the Dwarves, thinking of his house Bag End. He imagined that all his things must be soaked. Hope and Alaric, to their great surprise, could find that the Elves cloaks offered by Gandalf sheltered them from the rain, but also kept them warm and dry, as the wizard had announced.

Bofur tried to smoke his pipe, but the large droplets of rain prevented him.

Not wanting to get soaked, Dori asked the magician:

"Here, Mr. Gandalf? Can't you do something about this deluge?"

"It is raining, master Dwarf." the old man in the pointy hat replied simply with exasperation. "And it will continue to rain until the rain is done! If you wish to change the weather of the world, you should find yourself another wizard."

"And Lady Hope? Could you do something about it?"

"It's Hope and I'm sorry, but I don't know any spell that can stop the rain," Hope categorically denied on her pony. "And I don't think fighting the rain, which is a natural process of nature, is advisable."

"Excuse me, Gandalf, but are there other wizards like you?" asked Bilbo innocently.

Even Hope was curious. She led her pony towards Gandalf's mount.

"There are five us." answered the wizard. "The greatest of our order is Saruman, The White. Then there are the two blue wizards. Do you know, I've quite forgotten their names."

"And who is the fifth?" resumed Bilbo.

"Well, that would be Radagast, The Brown."

"Is he a great wizard or is he… more like you?"

"I think he's a very great wizard, in his own way. He's a gentle soul who prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye over the vast forestlands to the East, and a good thing too, for always evil will look to find a foothold in this world."

"It must be nice to have the company of animals," Hope commented.

"Perhaps a better company than that of humans," added Alaric.

"Or better company than the Elves," Thorin muttered haughtily and hostilely under his breath.

When the rain stopped, our heroes reached a region called Trollshaws, a place not far from the Great Eastern Road and the Lone-lands.

The forests had begun to thin out and they saw steep wooded hills.

"We'll camp here for the night." declared Thorin. "Fili, Kili, look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them."

Gandalf walked away from the group to inspect a ruined farmhouse. Hope and Alaric joined him.

"A farmer and his family used to live here." said Gandalf looking at the ruins around him.

"And it was not a forest fire that ravaged this farm,"added Alaric.

"You think this fire was intentional?" Hope asked.

"I'm afraid so, my dear Hope," answered Gandalf with a somber nod.

Then he addressed the troop of Dwarves.

"I think it would be wiser to move on. We could make for the Hidden Valley."

"But I've told you already." retorted Thorin angrily. "I will not go near that place."

"Why not?" exclaimed Gandalf in annoyance. "The Elves could help us, figure out how Hope and Alaric came to Middle-earth. And we could get food, rest, advice..."

"I do not need their advice." resumed the leader of the Dwarves with indifference.

"We have a map that we cannot read." insisted the exasperated old magician. "Lord Elrond could help us."

But Thorin didn't share Gandalf's enthusiasm and continued in a voice full of anger and resentment:

"Help? A dragon attacks Erebor. What help came from the Elves? Orcs plunder Moria, desecrate our sacred halls, the Elves looked on and did nothing! You ask me to seek out the very people who betrayed my grandfather, who betrayed my father."

"You are neither of them." retorted Gandalf sternly. "I did not give you that map and key for you to hold on to the past."

"I did not know they were yours to keep." replied Thorin, still angry.

"And if you had to take back your Mountain," added Alaric to the Dwarf. "Maybe you should consider putting your resentment aside? No one is asking you to forgive them, but if they can read this map, it would be foolish not to ask their advice."

"Gandalf, Mr. Saltzman, keep your stupids advice to yourself!" shouted the Dwarven leader angrily.

Pushed to the limit, Gandalf walked away from them, grumbling under his breath.

"You are not very sociable as a traveling companion," pointed out Hope.

"Keep your tongue, Hope or else…" Thorin grumbled.

"What? Are you going to hit me?" called out the Tribrid defiantly.

"Hope, that's enough," Alaric told her categorically.

Gandalf had walked away, completely angry. Bilbo, Hope or Alaric had never seen him like this before.

"Everything alright?" asked the Hobbit anxiously. "Gandalf, where are you going?"

"To seek the company of the only one around here who's got any sense." the wizard grumbled, going towards his horse.

"And who's that?"

"Myself, mister Baggins! I've had enough of dwarves for one day."

So Gandalf was gone, much to the chagrin of Bilbo and the two visitors.

Furious, Alaric had turned to Thorin.

"I hope for you that he will come back."

But the Dwarf-King remained angry.

"I'm sorry you're lost here, Mr. Saltzman! But I don't have time to sort out your world problems. What interests me is getting back to the Mountain."

"Hey, we didn't ask to be here! And we want to go home as much as you want to take back your Mountain. I thought we could help each other! But with such behavior towards us, it could be hard."

"Rather, yes," replied Thorin with a sinister look. (Then he turned to the Dwarves.) "Come on Bombur, we're hungry!"

Hope was very anxious about Gandalf's departure.

"May he come back."

When night fell, Bilbo, Hope, Alaric and all the Dwarves were eating together. But the Hobbit was still worried about the magician's absence.

"Is he coming back?"

"Who?" asked Bofur, pouring himself a portion of food into his bowl.

"Gandalf."

"He's a wizard!" said the Dwarf lightly. "He does as he chooses. Here. Do us a favor, take this to the lads."

He gave him two bowls for Fili and Kili who were watching the ponies.

Bilbo then left to find the two young Dwarves. But they had some rather embarrassing news to tell him. Three out of seventeen ponies were missing. Something big had taken them away. Investigating, they discovered that they were Trolls. Three Mountain-trolls. They were gathered around a campfire, with the ponies trapped behind a wooden enclosure.

Fili and Kili suggested that Bilbo go rescue the ponies, for the Mountain Trolls were slow and stupid. And the size of the Hobbit would make it easier for him.

And so it was that Bilbo steeled himself to go and deliver their mounts from the clutches of the Trolls.

"Mutton yesterday, mutton today. And blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrow!" growled a hoarse and monstrous voice.

"Quit your griping. These ain't sheep! These is West nags!" growled a second voice.

Approaching closely, Bilbo saw the Trolls seated around a very large fire of logs and beech. They roasted mutton on long wooden spits and licked the sauce off their fingers. A good and appetizing smell spread around.

"Oh! I don't like horse. I never have. Not enough fat on them." growled a third voice.

Bilbo walked over to the pony paddock and looked at the rope that held the opening to the paddock. He tried to undo it. To no avail, it was too big for his hands. Gazing again at the giant monsters, he saw a long knife in his belt. He quietly walked behind the arguing Trolls.

Each time, he barely ducked so that his presence would not be noticed by the giant monsters. He came up behind one of the Trolls, with the knife in his belt hanging from his behind.

As he was going to grab the big penknife, the Troll got up suddenly, scratching his buttocks, and sat down immediately. The little man gave a disgusted look, then turned back to the knife.

Suddenly, the Troll looked like he was about to sneeze. He reached into his behind to find a huge rag, but accidentally grabbed the little man and sneezed on him, causing huge larvae to drip down his body.

The giant named William noticed the little man in his snot-covered handkerchief.

"Aah! Blimey!" he exclaimed, excited. "Bert! Bert, look what's come out of me hooter! It's got arms and legs and everything!"

The other two giants looked at Bilbo curiously. The latter squirmed in William's hands.

"What is it?" one of them asked, frowning.

"I don't know, but I don't like the way it wriggles around!" Bert replied, throwing the little man to the ground.

The latter got up, to then be threatened with a long pointed stick by one of the three giants.

"What are you then? An oversized squirrel?"

Bilbo stammered, trembling in all his limbs:

"Bilbo Baggins. A bur… a Hobbit."

"A burrahobbit?" they exclaimed, a little taken aback.

"What's a burrahobbit?" William asked. "And why did it come out of my nose?"

"Can we cook him?" asked another giant.

"Yer can try!" said the giant called Bert, picking up a skewer.

"Once skinned and boned, it wouldn't do more than a mouthful," remarked William, who seemed to have had a good dinner.

"P'raps there are more like him 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 nassty little rabbit," said he looking at the hobbit's furry feet; and he picked him up by the toes and shook him.

"Yes, lots," said Bilbo, before he remembered not to give his friends away. "No none at all, not one," he said immediately afterwards.

"What d'yer mean?" said Bert, holding him right way up, by the hair this time.

"What I say," said Bilbo gasping. "And please don't cook me, kind sirs! I am a good cook myself, and cook better than I cook, if you see what I mean. I'll cook beautifully for you, a perfectly beautiful breakfast for you, if only you won't have me for supper."

"Poor little blighter," said William.

He had already had as much supper as he could hold; also he had had lots of beer.

"Poor little blighter! Let him go!"

"Not till he says what he means by lots and none at all," said Bert. "I don't want to have me throat cut in me sleep! Hold his toes in the fire, till he talks!"

"I won't have it," said William. "I caught him anyway."

"You're a fat fool, William," said Bert, "as I've said afore this evening."

"And you're a lout!"

"And I won't take that from you, Bill Huggins," says Bert, and puts his fist in William's eye.

Then there was a gorgeous row. Bilbo had just enough wits left, when Bert dropped him on the ground, to scramble out of the way of their feet, before they were fighting like dogs, and calling one another all sorts of perfectly true and applicable names in very loud voices. Soon they were locked in one another's arms, and rolling nearly into the fire kicking and thumping, while Tom whacked at them both with a branch to bring them to their senses—and that of course only made them madder than ever.

Bilbo, meanwhile, struggled to escape the Trolls by crawling between them.

Kili suddenly came out of the bushes and cut William in the leg causing him to scream and fall.

The rest of the Company charged out of the bushes shouting and brandishing their weapons along with Hope and Alaric.

The Tribrid gestured with their hands, facing the Trolls.

"Icaeus."

Immediately, the Trolls were thrown back into the air and crashed to the ground. The Dwarves took advantage of this to fight them, to attack, to cut and to hammer their legs. Alaric attacked the Trolls by firing arrows from his crossbow that hit the Trolls' arms.

"Trolls, then! Not Cyclops!" he pointed out to the Tribrid.

"Yeah, I can see that," Hope said stunned.

As Hope, Alaric, and the Dwarves fought, Bilbo grabbed William's knife and cut the ropes, freeing the ponies. Tom, seeing this, walked over to him. But Hope stood in her way.

"Ica…"

But before she could finish, Tom grabbed her by the face, preventing her from speaking, and lifting her up in the air as if she weighed nothing. And he also caught the Hobbit. The Dwarves stopped fighting when they saw the Trolls holding Bilbo and Hope by their arms and legs. Tom still had his hand on Hope's face, preventing her from casting spells.

"Hope! Bilbo!" exclaimed Alaric, horrified.

"Bilbo!" Kili yelled, wanting to help them, but was held back by Thorin.

"Lay down your arms! Or we'll rip them off!" threatened William.

Thorin sighed in frustration as he looked at Bilbo and Hope and threw down his sword as the others followed suit, in Alaric's case, his crossbow.

The Trolls tied several Dwarves (Dwalin, Bofur, Dori, Ori, and Nori) to a spit and roasted them over a fire; the others (Thorin, Kili, Fili, Gloin, Bombur, Balin and Oin), Hope, Alaric and Bilbo, were enveloped by sacks nearby.

And so the struggle ended. They were in quite a mess now: all neatly tied up in sacks, with three angry giants sitting next to them and discussing whether to roast them over low heat, chop them finely to boil them, or just sit on them to reduce them to a jelly.

"That'll teach 'em!" said Tom; for two dwarfs had given them much trouble, fighting like madmen, as Dwarves did when cornered.

"Come on and eat'em! We ain't got all night! Dawn ain't far away, let's get a move on! I don't fancy been turned to stone." William mumbled. "We're going to roast them all, the Dwarves, the burrahobbit, the man and the little girl!"

Hope and Alaric looked at each other. Bilbo followed their gazes, understanding what they had in mind. Trolls were nocturnal and feared daylight. Dawn was near. It was therefore necessary to find a distraction to prevent the giant creatures from devouring the Dwarves while waiting for the day to rise.

"Wait! You must not eat them," he cried, raising his voice with determination. "You are making a terrible mistake."

"You can't reason with them, they're half-wits!" yelled Dori tied to the spit with the Dwarves.

"Half-wits?" exclaimed Bofur strapped close to him. "What does that make us?"

"I meant with the… uh, with the…with the seasoning." Bilbo explained simply.

"What about the seasoning?" said Bert looking at the Hobbit.

"Well…" stammered the latter, looking for a reason. "Have you smelt them? They smell bad and very bad food."

The Dwarves groaned plaintively. And Bilbo continued:

"Yes, it would be a bad idea to cook them."

"What do you know about cooking dwarf?" said Tom.

"Shut up, Tom, Bert and let the burrahobbit talk"

"In fact, the Dwarves are infested with worms in their tubes," Bilbo tried to explain, as a coherent explanation. "No, seriously… I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't. They have parasites everywhere, in their stomach, head... everywhere..."

Kili exclaimed:

"Yeah, we don't have parasites!"

A few ended up imitating him.

Alaric bumped into Gloin and Fili, to make them realize what was really going on and Thorin bumped his bag against other bags, silencing all the Dwarves, before yelling again:

"I've got parasites as big as my arm!"

"Mine are the biggest parasites, I've got huge parasites!"

"We're riddled!"

Alaric began to play along, adding in his turn, in a terrified tone:

"I don't have a lot of fat on my body! I'm cold meat! I wouldn't have a good meal! And the pimples on my legs tingle. I could infect you!"

The giants looked at the Dwarves with disgust:

"If they have parasites and pimples, better not eat them!" exclaimed Tom.

"Let's eat the little girl, then," Bert added, pointing his finger at Hope.

The Tribrid began to scream at the top of their lungs:

"I too have parasites! I am very sick! I have lots of very contagious pimples! If you eat me, you will be sick...or...or...or even worse...dead..."

"Hey, they're all lying!"cried Bert.

"They are taking us for fools!" added William.

"Fools?" said Tom, frowning.

Hope struggled from her bag. She didn't know when dawn would come. Maybe if she changed into a werewolf, she could save Bilbo, Alaric and all the Dwarves. As her eyes began to take on a golden color with amber highlights… a familiar voice sounded:

"The dawn will take you all!"

Gandalf appeared on top of a large rock above the clearing

The trolls looked at the old man curiously.

"What is that?" said Bert.

"Can we eat him too?" William asked.

The old man struck the rock where he was standing with his stick. Immediately, the rock split in two, bringing out the light of dawn, illuminating the entire clearing. When the sunlight touched the skin of the Trolls, they began to turn to stone amid cries and screams of pain. Within seconds, there were three giant stone statues in the clearing. Everyone cheered the old man who came down to join them.

Once Hope was freed, she cast a spell that extinguished the fire under the spit where the Dwarves were trapped.

Then she walked towards Gandalf.

"Good to see you again."

"I wasn't going to leave you, Young Hope. Neither you nor Alaric." answered Gandalf with a smile on his face, tapping a Troll statue with his staff.

Once freed, Alaric stared at the Troll statues in amazement.

"In our world, there are several legends about the Trolls which said that the sunlight killed them or turned them into stones. Apparently, some are truer than others."

Hope looked at the large statues with pity.

"How did they live so long being so stupid?"

"Other world, other creatures," Alaric reminded her, shrugging his shoulders.

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

"To look ahead." replied the Wizard.

"What brought you back?"

"Looking behind. And I wasn't going to leave Hope and Alaric on their own in these hostile regions. Nasty business. Still they all are in one piece."

"No thanks to your burglar and the witch."

"Hey!" Hope protested frustrated.

"They had the nous to play for time." remarked Gandalf to him. "None of the rest of you thought of that."

"It's true," approved the satisfied Tribrid.

Thorin just ignored her and watched the Trolls turned into statues.

"They must have come down from the Ettenmoors.", declared Gandalf.

"Since when the mountain trolls venture this far south?" asked the surprised Dwarf-King.

"Oh, not for an age." answered the wizard. "Not since a darker power ruled these lands."

Both looked at each other suspiciously. Even Hope and Alaric stared at them curiously.

"If you say they come from the Mountains, they could not have moved in daylight." Alaric pointed out. "They had to have a place to hide from the sun."

"There must be a cave nearby." agreed Thorin.

"Why go so far from the Mountains?" Hope wondered looking at the Mountains which were far from their current positions.

"This, my dear Hope, is a very good question," replied Gandalf.

And Thorin launched himself towards dark caverns. The other Dwarves followed him.

It's done for this chapter. See you soon!