Chapter 18

After making their way down the rock formation, the Company began heading north once more.

They soon discovered, however, that Azog and his pack were still tracking them.

Once they made it to cover, Gandalf asked Bilbo to go ahead and look around to try and determine how far away the pack was.

Annelise used that time to move away from the Company and take a look at her shoulder.

She pulled out her water skin and quickly rinsed the wound before putting a few leaves of athelas in it and bandaging it with some of the extra cloths that Arwen had provided her with. She knew that it probably needed more attention than that, but did not want to alert her father or cousins to her situation as it was not too serious.

She then decided to change into a different tunic under her jerkin as the other was covered in goblin and orc blood. This would also help her to conceal her wound better.

She then quickly moved back to the group and nodded subtly at Gandalf when he looked over at her, reassuring him that she had taken care of her wound.

A few minutes later, Bilbo ran back down from his hiding spot with his report.

"How close is the pack?," Thorin asked.

"Too close. Couple of leagues, no more. But that's not the worst of it."

"Have the wargs picked up our scent?" Dwalin asked.

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

"Did they see you?" Gandalf asked.

"Hmm?"

"They saw you."

"No, that's not it."

"What did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse. Excellent burglar material," Gandalf said with a satisfied look on his face, causing all the others to break out in sounds of agreement.

"Will you listen? Will you just listen?! I'm trying to tell you there is something else out there."

"What form did it take? Like a bear?"

"Ye-yes but bigger. Much bigger."

"You knew about this beast?" Bofur asked the wizard accusingly. "I say we double back."

"Then the wargs will definitely catch our scent," Annelise threw in.

"There is a house," Gandalf said suddenly. "It's not far from here, where we might take refuge."

"Whose house? Are they friend of foe?" Thorin asked.

"Neither. He will help us or...he will kill us."

"What choice do we have?"

At this a loud roar rang through the air.

"None."

Gandalf quickly took the lead, directing them through valleys and across streams toward the house that he spoke of.

They were running through a stretch of trees when a roar rang through the forest. Annelise knew instantly that it was not the roar of the warg pack. It must have been from the bear-like creature Bilbo had mentioned.

'This way! Quickly!" Gandalf yelled back to them, as they had stopped running when they heard the roar.

They soon broke through the tree line and Annelise looked ahead of them to see a house surrounded by vegetation.

"To the house! Run!"

Annelise fell in step beside Gandalf, and was surprised to see Bombur passing the rest of the Company as he ran. The looks of shock on the others' faces would have made her laugh if she wasn't breathing so hard already.

She paused with Gandalf to make sure that Bilbo got in before she followed the others into the opening in the hedges surrounding the house.

She turned back in time to see the bear creature burst through the line of trees, sprinting toward them at unbelievable speed.

She ran to the Company to see them struggling to open the door to the house, watching as her father reached over the others to pull the latch free. The door quickly flew open beneath the weight of the dwarves and Annelise dove inside.

Gandalf made it inside just in time for the dwarves to push the door mostly shut before the bear began pounding against the door, with his snout preventing them from closing it all the way.

Annelise stood behind the dwarves next to Bilbo with her weapons ready, in case the bear was able to overpower the thirteen dwarves.

"What is that?" Ori asked when they were finally able to lock the door.

"That is our host," Gandalf replied. "His name is Beorn. And he's a skin-changer."

At these words, Annelise's eyes grew large as she looked around at the Company.

"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 over fond of dwarves."

"He's leaving," Ori said from near the door.

"Come away from there. It's not natural. None of it. It's obvious. He's under some dark spell," Dori said, pulling his younger brother away from the large door.

"Don't be a fool. He's under no enchantment but his own," Gandalf spoke. "All right now, get some sleep. All of you. You'll be safe here tonight...I hope."

These last two words were said under the wizard's breath and Annelise knew that she was the only one to have heard them.

She quickly moved off away from the Company, using a desire for privacy as an excuse when her father asked where she was going, to take a closer look at her wound.

When she was sure none of the Company could see her, and that Gandalf was distracted, she pulled off her tunic, jerkin and undershirt to get a better look at the full damage.

What little progress that had been made since their departure from Rivendell was now gone. The original wound had been torn open and new deeper wounds from the wargs claws were surrounding it.

She quickly put the leather of her jerkin between her teeth so that she would not cry out and alert the other to her pain as she cleaned out the wounds properly.

She then chewed a bit of athelas until it became a paste and applied it directly to the four cuts. Finally she wrapped her shoulder and chest tightly to prevent the bandages from moving, before slipping her undershirt back on.

She then toed off her boots and placed her pack under her head before drifting off to sleep.

Annelise woke to the gentle shaking and quiet voice of Gandalf the next morning.

"Annelise, it is time to greet our host," he said, looking behind him at the others moving about.

"Were you able to change your bandages last night?," he added with worry, looking back to her.

"Yes, I was able to clean them out better and apply more herbs."

"Them?," Gandalf began before he was interrupted by Thorin walking over.

"Good morning, father. How are you feeling?" Annelise asked, remembering her father's own injuries.

"Much better. Did you sleep well?," he asked, offering her a hand to stand.

"Yes, though I admit I am still a bit tired," she said, knowing that her own wounds and blood loss were contributing to her fatigue.

By this time, Annelise and Thorin had joined the others and heard them debating on how they should go about getting past their host, who she could hear outside chopping wood.

"Well, I say we should leg it. Slip out the back way," Nori said to the others.

"I'm not running from anyone, beast or no," Dwalin said roughly to Nori.

"There is no point in arguing. We cannot pass through the Wilderland without Beorn's help. We'll be hunted down before we ever get to the forest," Gandalf said to the group, seeing Bilbo joining them.

"Bilbo, there you are. Now this will require some delicate handling. We must tread very carefully. The last person to have startled him was torn to shreds."

"Well I guess that's it then," Annelise said, moving to the wizard's side and offering her arm to him. "Shall we?"

"Of course," Gandalf said, taking her arm. "Now we will go first and - Bilbo? You come with us."

"I-is this a good idea?," the hobbit asked, moving to Annelise's side. The young woman quickly place her other hand on his shoulder and gave him a small smile to try and ease his nerves.

"Yes. Now the rest of you, you just wait here and don't come out until I give the signal."

"Right. Wait for the signal," Bofur said from his spot by the window.

"And no sudden moves or loud noises and don't overcrowd him. And only come out in pairs. Right." With this Gandalf took up Annelise's arm once again and began to move toward the door, before pausing.

"No, actually, Bombur. You count as two so you should come out alone."

Annelise saw the dwarf in question nod understandingly and smiled back at her father over his shoulder before turning with Gandalf and Bilbo at her sides.

"Remember: wait for the signal."

They made their way out the door toward where Beorn stood, chopping wood.

She looked over to Gandalf fidgeting nervously and swallowed the lump in her thought that had formed at the sight of the look on the wizard's face. Bilbo seemed to notice the state of the old man as well, and decided to comment on it.

"You're nervous."

"Nervous? What nonsense," the wizard replied, looking down at the Hobbit.

Annelise clutched onto Bilbo's shoulder even tighter, trying to steady her own nerves at approaching the large man before them. It was a very rare occurrence for her to have to look up to someone when she spoke to them. It made her feel very uncomfortable to see that the man in front of them was even taller than Gandalf.

"Good morning," Gandalf said, trying to get Beorn's attention. When this did not work he tried again, louder.

"Good morning!"

Beorn chopped one last piece of wood before holding onto his axe.

"Who are you?," he asked with an extremely low voice.

"I'm Gandalf. Gandalf the Grey," the wizard replied with a bow.

At this Beorn lifted his axe from the chopping block, setting it before him, and turned to face them quickly.

The sudden movement caused both Annelise and Bilbo to flinch slightly, the young woman noticing that the hobbit was hidden behind her form.

"Never heard of him."

"I'm a wizard. Perhaps you've heard of my colleague, Radagast the Brown. He resides in the southern borders of Mirkwood."

"And who is this girl?," Beorn asked suddenly, turning his heavy gaze upon Annelise at the wizard's side.

"This is Annelise, daughter of Thorondil, niece of King Thengel of Rohan. She is a dear friend of mine," Gandalf said, stepping behind her to place his hand on her shoulder, causing Bilbo to move behind the wizard instead.

At this introduction Annelise glanced back at the wizard, surprised at the titles that he used. The wizard subtly shook his head at her, stopping her from protesting.

"You do not look like one of the Rohirrim," Beorn replied, taking in her dark hair and pale skin.

"My father was one of the Dunedain, sir," she responded quickly. Beorn nodded slightly before turning his attention back to Gandalf, and Annelise breathed a sigh of relief.

"What do you want?"

"Well, simply to thank you for your hospitality. You may have noticed that we took refuge in your lodgings here last night."

With this Gandalf turned to the side to gesture back to the house, exposing Bilbo to Beorn's line of sight.

"Who is this little fellow?," Beorn asked, tightening the grip he had on his axe.

"Oh, well, this would be Mr. Baggins...from the Shire."

Beorn lifted his axe off the ground slightly before saying, "He's not a dwarf, is he?"

"Why, no. No. He's a Hobbit. A good family and unimpeachable reputation," Gandalf said, patting Bilbo on the shoulder.

"A halfling, a wizard, and a princess. How come you're here?"

"Oh, well, the fact is that we've had a bad time of it...from goblins in the mountains."

"What did you go near goblins for? Stupid thing to do!"

"You are absolutely right," Gandalf said, waving his arms around.

Annelise soon heard sounds coming from behind her, and realized that the others must have thought he was signaling them. 'Wait, what was the signal?,' Annelise thought to herself.

While Gandalf was still speaking, she watched as Beorn picked up his axe defensively and turned to see Dwalin and Balin coming into the open.

She quickly sighed in defeat, knowing that there was no way to recover their situation now.

"Dwalin and Balin," Dwalin said, gesturing to him and his brother.

"And I must confess," Gandalf began, "that several of our group are, in fact, dwarves."

"Do you call two 'several'?"

"Well, now you put it that way...no. We-well, yes, there could be more than two."

"Wait, that's us," Annelise heard Gloin say behind her, and she looked to see he and Oin come out and bow.

"And here are some more of our happy troop."

"And do you call seven a 'troop'?," Beorn said to the wizard angrily. "What are you a traveling circus?"

"Dori and Ori at your service," Dori said from the door, and Annelise knew from the growl coming from their host that they were in deep trouble now.

"I don't want your service."

"Absolutely understandable," Gandalf said, lifting his hand to try to smooth over the situation.

Annelise looked back to see her cousins moving to join the others at this motion.

"Oh, Fili and Kili. I'd quite forgotten. Yes," Gandalf said. Suddenly the rest of the Company left the house, completely destroying any chance they might have had at saving the situation.

"Oh, yes, and Nori, Bofur...Bifur...and Bombur," the wizard continued, staring at Beorn.

"Is that it? Are there any more?"

Annelise looked up to see a fire burning in Beorn's eyes and was glad when her father moved to join the others.

"Sir, this is my adoptive father. Thorin Oakenshield," Annelise said, introducing her father. She watched as the recognition showed in Beorn's eyes and prayed that maybe all hope was not lost.

The Company soon found themselves sitting around Beorn's table for breakfast while he and Gandalf spoke.

"So you are the one they call Oakenshield," Beorn said while pouring a glass of milk for Fili. "Tell me...why is Azog the Defiler hunting you?"

"You know of him?," Annelise asked looking up in surprise from next to her father.

"How?," Thorin asked.

"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."

At these words Annelise noticed a shackle on his left wrist, no doubt from his own time in slavery. She felt her blood boil even more with hatred for the creature that had brought so much pain to her family and many others.

"Not for work, you understand," Beorn continued, "but for sport. Caging skin-changers and torturing them seemed to amuse him."

"That vile beast," Annelise growled under her breath. Thorin quickly reached over and grabbed ahold of her hand to calm her.

"There are others like you?," Bilbo asked suddenly.

"Once there were many."

"And now?"

"Now there is only one."

Beorn then set down his pitcher of milk and turned to Thorin.

"You need to reach the mountain before the last days of Autumn."

"Before Durin's Day falls. Yes," Gandalf inserted.

"You are running out of time."

"Which is why we must go through Mirkwood."

Annelise looked up from her hands upon hearing this. 'That is where King Thranduil and Prince Legolas are,' she thought to herself, searching back into her memories of the time that she spent there as a child.

"A darkness lies upon that forest. Fell things creep beneath those trees. I would not venture there except in great need."

"We will take the Elven Road," Gandalf said, and Annelise felt her father stiffen beside her before getting up to walk away from the table with his head bowed. She knew of the animosity that existed between her father and the ruler of those lands. "Their path is still safe."

"'Safe'? The wood elves of Mirkwood are not like their kin. They're less wise, and more dangerous. But it matters not."

"What do you mean?," Thorin asked, turning back to the man.

"These lands are crawling with orcs. Their numbers are growing. And you are on foot. You will never reach the forest alive."

Annelise looked around at her companions in despair, knowing that the words the skin-changer spoke were true.

Beorn then stood from his seat and continued speaking.

"I don't like dwarves. They're greedy and blind. Blind to the lives of those they deem lesser than their own," he said, picking up a small mouse that Bofur had just brushed off his arm and moving to stand before Thorin.

"But orcs I hate more. What do you need?"