Hey guys! I am deeply sorry that this is so late, things have not been going well for me lately, I'm still not 100% better, but I already felt guilty enough with how long this has been, so I wanted to get this up at least.

Also, I'm going to be going back through my previous chapters at some point and making some slight edits on them, as I've noticed quite a few mistakes I need to change.

I've also had ideas for two new stories, which are not going to be uploaded just yet, not until I get a little ahead with this and the other stories too.

I'm not sure when the next one will be updated, but I'll try and not make it too late xx

Review responses;

Crystal-Wolf-Guardian-967 – I'm glad you love this!

Kathrine Sparrow – Thank you! I love Sophia too, both her and her son. I hope you continue to enjoy this xx

Chapter 6

Once the four of us have gotten our packs, Fili and Kili thanking me for packing everything away, we make our way back to the troll camp to see everyone is just about dressed and ready to get going again.

Allowing Aiden to stay with Fili and Kili, I go over to Gandalf who thumps one of the troll statues with his staff, a pleased smile on his face.

"Well, it's not everyday you see something like that in my world." I say while running a hand over the stone trolls, causing Gandalf to chuckle, even moreso as I take out my phone to take some pictures of the trolls, some of the others also chuckle at this, finding this amusing.

I look up as Thorin, now fully dressed, walks over to us. I don't know why, but just watching the way he walks, makes my heart skip a beat.

"Where did you go to, if I may ask?" he asks the wizard.

"To look ahead."

"What brought you back?"

"Looking behind. Nasty business. Still, you are all in one piece."

"No thanks to your burglar."

I look to him at this. I have often heard the dwarves refer to Bilbo as their burglar, but what he is supposed to be stealing, I don't know. I'm also disappointed that he's blaming Bilbo for what happened here, so I try to stand up for the Hobbit.

"He had the smart idea to stall for time."

Gandalf nods in agreement.

"She's right. None of the rest of you thought of that."

Thorin has the decency to look repentant, agreeing with both of us as he nods. The three of us then examine the statues of the trolls.

"They must have come down from the Ettenmoors."

"Since when do mountain trolls venture this far south?"

"Oh, not for an age, not since a darker power ruled these lands."

Gandalf and Thorin look meaningfully at each other, obviously having no idea what they are talking about, I don't ask. Although, I do have that niggling feeling again. I look back at the trolls.

"Well, if this is what happens to them in the sun, then they can't have been walking around in daylight, right?"

Thorin nods as he looks around. "There must be a cave nearby."

After Thorin gives the order to find the cave, we walk on to find it. It takes us a little time, but we soon smell it before we see it. The entrance being large enough for the trolls to enter.

As soon as the smell reaches me, I back away almost throwing up. Seeing Aiden about to follow some of the dwarves inside, I quickly grab the back of his shirt to pull him away, not allowing him to go anywhere near it. He just grumbles as I take his hand and we go stand with Fili and Kili, who are grinning at us.

Inside the cave, those of the company that were brave enough to go inside, instantly scrunch up their noses, even Thorin having to cover his nose and mouth with his arm.

"Oh, what's that stench?!" Nori asks in disgust.

"It's a troll hoard. Be careful what you touch." Gandalf replies, seemingly not to be affected by the stench.

As they walk further into the cave, many of the dwarves cough and retch at the pungent smell. Inside, they find piles of gold coins and other treasure in caskets and strewn around the ground. The trolls must have been collecting all of this for a long time.

"Seems a shame just to leave it lyin' around. Anyone could take it." Bofur says as he nudges some of the gold with his toes.

Gloin nods "Agreed. Nori, get a shovel."

While exploring, Thorin walks over to where there are weapons in barrels, many swords by the looks of it. Putting the torch aside, he looks around and pulls two swords covered in cobwebs, one large and one small.

"These swords were not made by any troll."

Thorin hands the larger sword to Gandalf, who had approached him, and keeps the other one, turning it this way and that in his hands as he inspects it. It's light, lighter than his own dwarven made sword, Deathless. So he knows it's not made by dwarves.

"Nor were they made by any smith among men." Gandalf draws the sword in his hand out of its sheath a few inches. "These were forged in Gondolin by the High Elves of the First Age."

Realizing that they are Elven swords, Thorin scowls as he starts to put the sword back in disgust.

"You could not wish for a finer blade."

Glancing at the wizard, Thorin draws the blade out of its sheath a few inches as he inspects it closely. Even though the sword had probably not been in use for a good number of years, it still looks as if it had just been forged, the blade shining brightly. He had to, begrudgingly, admit, Gandalf was right, this is truly a fine blade.

Sheathing the sword, he turns to leave before he stops, something catching his eye. He notices another sword, one slightly smaller than his own, with a flowery pattern carved into the white handle. Picking it up, he looks it over, It has clearly been made for a woman in mind, he thinks of another woman in his company that could use this.

Behind him, Gloin, Bofur and Nori are filling a chest with treasure, then bury it in a hole in the ground. Dwalin looks watches them.

"We're makin' a long term deposit." Gloin simply says.

He lets out a sigh and a shake of his head as he sees Thorin walking over, two new swords in hand.

Thorin walks past them towards the outside. "Let's get out of this foul place. Come on, let's go. Bofur! Gloin! Nori!"

As he exits, he looks around for Sophia and finding her with Fili, Kili and Aiden, he walks over.

As Thorin, Gandalf and some of the others go into the cave, I stand with Fili, Aiden is with Kili, rummaging through a few things that have been strewn about outside the cave, Bifur is also with them.

"So, how are you finding life on the road?" Kili asks as he joins his brother and I, after dropping a skull that Bifur had handed to him.

I keep an eye on Aiden as he crouches by some stuff outside the cave, Bifur right besides him. "Different. I mean, I've been camping before, loads of times, but I've never seen anything like the trolls before."

Fili nods. "That's the first time we've seen a troll also. Hopefully it'll be the last time."

I grin. "Yeah, almost getting eaten by a troll is not high on my list of things to do either."

They both chuckle as Aiden runs over, a wide smile on his face.

"Mummy, look what I found!"

Looking into his hands, I see a few gold coins in one hand and a small sheathed dagger in the other, which sets me on edge to see him holding a weapon like that.

"Can I keep them?"

"The coins, yes, but not the dagger." I answer as I instantly take the dagger from his hand, causing him to pout.

"Awww, why?"

"Because you're too young to even be holding this."

Fili clears his throat, causing me to look at him. "If I may, I don't mean to overstep my boundaries or anything, but dwarfling's would have started learning how to fight when they turn five. With your permission, I could teach him how to use the dagger, but only if you're comfortable with it. We will use sticks first of course, like you and I have been doing."

I think about this as I look to Aiden. Obviously, I don't want my baby to get mixed up in any fighting or anything like that, as I said, he's too young for all that, and I don't want him scarred any more than he already is. Although, it wouldn't hurt for him to be prepared, at least until it's time for us to go home. And besides, I can't deny my boy anything when he gives me those eyes, no matter how hard I try to be stern with him.

I let out a sigh. "Fine, I'll allow Fili to teach you." I stop him from jumping up and down as he looks excited, about to reach out for the dagger. "But, I'm keeping this until you're ready to use it. You're to practice with sticks or wooden swords first. When you've had more training and are a little older, you can have this."

He gives another pout but wisely says nothing as I slip the dagger into one of the pockets on my backpack, he just examines the coins in his hand instead.

Hearing footsteps approaching us, I look up to see Thorin walking over, a sword in either hand. He passes the smaller one to me.

"Since you've been coming along well in your training, it's time you had your own."

I look to it for a few moments. After almost breaking one of Fili's swords when he got me to try to use it the other night, I'm wary.

He seems to sense my thoughts, "It is of elven make, so it is a lot lighter than our swords."

Glancing up at his reassuring look, I hesitantly reach out to take it. He's right, it really is light. Still has some weight to it, of course, but I can hold it without any trouble. Looking at the hilt, I notice flowery patterns carved into the wood, the same patterns carved into the sheath. Taking hold of the hilt, I pull the blade from it's sheath and stare at it in awe. The blade is straight but curls into a point towards the end, almost like a scimitar. The metal shines as if it has just been crafted, although from the dust and cobwebs covering it, it looks as though it's been abandoned for many, many years. I look up to see Thorin and his nephews watching me. I smile at him, nodding my head.

"Thank you."

He also nods. Before he can say anything however, there's a sudden sound coming towards us.

"Something's coming!" Thorin shouts.

Aiden immediately clings to me.

"Stay together! Hurry now. Arm yourselves."

After arriving at where the sound is, I stay beside Fili, Aiden behind me, my sword drawn as we prepare for whatever is coming.

Suddenly, a rabbit-drawn sled bursts out of the bushes and stops besides us with a man driving it. The man is wearing a brown cloak, trousers and shoes as well as a pointed hat. This must be the Radagast Gandalf was telling us about the other day, if the bird crap in his hair is anything to go on.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" he yells out in a panic.

Gandalf immediately calms everyone and confirms my suspicions. "Radagast! Radagast the Brown. Ah. What on earth are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you, Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong."

"Yes?"

Radagast opens his mouth to speak, but shuts it. He opens his mouth again, but closes it again. He has forgotten what he was going to say.

"Oh, just give me a minute. Um, oh, I had a thought, and now I've lost it. It was, it was right there, on the tip of my tongue."

We watch as he curls up his tongue in surprise.

"Oh, it's not a thought at all; it's a silly old. . ."

My stomach turns as Gandalf pulls a stick insect out of Radagast's mouth.

". . .stick insect!"

I look away at this. Trolls are one thing, but bug in the mouth. Nope. Still. At least it wasn't a spider.

The dwarves and Bilbo look flustered. Radagast and Gandalf go off a few paces and speak privately.

Fili helps attach my new sword onto my belt and I take the blade from it's sheath to look it over again.

"That's a really good looking sword." Kili says as he walks over to Fili and I.

I smile. "Yeah. I'm still a bit nervous about having to use it though."

Fili pats my back. "Don't worry, we'll continue to teach you."

I grin at him as I sheathe my sword. "Kind of a good thing really, I'm not at risk of breaking yours, now."

He and Kili laugh at this. Hearing Aiden giggle, we look over and I smile as I see him fussing the rabbits, those that can reach him, snuffling at his face.

"Tickles!"

Fili, Kili and I chuckle at this, as well as some of the others that are watching nearby. I walk over and kneel next to him, holding my hand out to one of the rabbits, it leans over to sniff my hand before allowing me to pet it.

"Bigger than the rabbits at home, aren't they?" I say to Aiden.

He nods as he strokes them. "Uh-huh. Still cute."

Standing with Dwalin, Thorin watches mother and son as they fuss over the rabbits, a fond smile on his face. Ever since he met this woman, this otherworldly woman, he's been feeling stirrings within him, stirrings he's unsure if he can ignore for much longer. He has never felt like this about any other woman before, never looked at another woman twice, even when other Lords have practically shoved their daughters, sisters and nieces in his direction, hoping he would fall in love with one of them, hoping one of them would be his One.

Sophia is different however. He is not sure if she is his One, but just being near her is enough for sparks to go through him. Seeing her smile, hearing her laugh, seeing how she is with her son and when he offered her condolences and comfort after Balin's tale about Azog. He is interested in getting to know her more though, to see if she could be his One. But, then what? She'll be leaving them soon, when they find a safe place for her, and then she'll be able to find a way home. Just this thought alone is enough to cause his heart to ache.

Before he can think on anything else, he frowns as he notices her stand quickly and looking around, an uneasy look on her face.

He walks over to her.

"Sophia?"

She doesn't answer, still lost in whatever is going on in her head. He worries when he sees the flash of pain cross her face and places a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Sophia."

Her head snaps to him, face panicked and eyes looking wild, as if he's interrupted her from a night terror.

Smiling at Aiden, I suddenly get a bad feeling come over me. Standing, I look through the trees to see where this is coming from, wincing slightly as my head starts to hurt.

Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I gasp and look to Thorin, not realising he had stood next to me, calling my name. He looks at me in concern.

"What is it?"

"I-I don't know. . .I. . .I've just got this strange feeling going through me. . .as if. . .as if something's about to happen."

He frowns and before he can say anything else, a howl is heard in the distance. Aiden immediately runs over to me and holds me tightly.

"Was that a wolf? Are there-are there wolves out there?" Bilbo asks.

"Wolves? No, that is not a wolf." Bofur replies, sounding afraid.

Turning at the sound of a growl and a branch snapping, my eyes go wide as I see a creature that looks like a wolf, but too wild and too big. It leaps into the midst of the Company, knocking down Dori. Thorin pushes Aiden and I back before he strikes and kills the creature using his new sword. Hearing a sound behind me, I turn to see another of the wolf creatures running for Aiden and I.

Thorin pulls the both of us to him before shouting to his nephew. "KilI! Get your bow!"

Kili shoots it with an arrow, bringing it down. However, it gets back up, only to be killed by Dwalin.

Gandalf and Radagast appear as Thorin pulls his sword out of the wolfand turns to the wizards.

"Warg-Scouts! Which means an orc pack is not far behind."

"Orc pack?" Bilbo asks in disbelief.

Great. Looks like I'm seeing an orc sooner than I wanted to. Turning to Aiden, I pick him up and hold him as Gandalf turns to Thorin.

"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?"

"No one."

"Who did you tell?"

"No one, I swear. What in Durin's name is going on?"

"You are being hunted."

"Hunted?" I squeak out, causing Thorin to take my arm in comfort.

"We have to get out of here." Dwalin states.

"We can't!" Ori yells out as he and Bifur run over. "We have no ponies; they bolted."

"I'll draw them off." Radagast suddenly says.

We all look to him as if he's crazy.

"These are Gundabad wargs; they will outrun you." Gandalf tries to reason.

"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits; I'd like to see them try."

Gandalf hesitates for a moment before nodding.

"Alright. Good lukc, Radagast."

The brown wizard nods before getting on the sled and takes off.

"We need to hurry, come." Gandalf says as he walks in the opposite direction the wargs came.

Reaching the edge of the forest, we find the wargs arent there so carefully run out to an outcropping of rocks nearby and wait.

"Come and get me! Ha ha!" I suddenly hear Radagast shout out a few moments later.

I see the sled going extremely fast with the wargs and riders – I'm assuming are orcs, I can't see what they look like very well from here.

"I don't know whether that guy is brave or insane." I think aloud

"Insane. Definitely insane." Bofur says from behind me.

Bifur, who is next to me, suddenly grunts at me in words I can't understand before he begins to sign to me.

'Back. Aiden on back.'

I nod in understanding as he turns and I place Aiden on his back.

"Hold on tight to Bifur, carino. It's going to be alright. And don't look."

He wraps his arms and legs around the dwarf, burying his face into his back while holding onto him tightly. I take Bifur's hand as he turns to me.

"Thank you."

He smiles at me, placing a hand on my shoulder as he stands in front of me.

"Come on!" Gandalf orders as he runs on, with us right behind.

We run across a rocky plain, running away from the wargs. After a while of running, we stop as we see the orcs chasing Radagast on a hilltop not far away. I'm so thankful the orcs and wargs didn't look to their right and see us.

"Stay together." Gandalf says as he turns in a different direction.

"Move!" Thorin orders as we move on.

We turn and run in another direction. I'm trying to keep control of my breathing, which is heavy. I've never had to run so much in my life, suddenly thankful that I began working out before I got here. I would've hated to have done this a few months ago.

As we reach more rocks, Thorin stops as Radagast rides past, the orcs right behind. Ori starts to run out of cover, not realising Thorin has stopped.

"Ori, no! Come back!" Thorin exclaims as he grabs the collar of the dwarf's coat and pulls him back.

Looking to Aiden, I see he still has his face buried in Bifur's back, not wanting to look at anything. I place a comforting hand on his back, as I hear his sniffles, letting him know I'm right here.

We wait a moment for the wargs to get ahead a bit, giving us a chance to catch our breaths before Gandalf gets us to move on.

"Where are you leading us?" Thorin asks.

Gandalf doesn't answer as he moves on ahead of him, leaving Thorin to scowl after him. Noticing, I stopped to watch the interaction, Thorin gently but firmly takes my arm as we run after the wizard, his hand lowering to my hand to keep me with him.

We soon take cover again behind an outcropping of rock. As we hide, I hear one of the wargs from above and I almost stop breathing in fear as I hold onto Thorin's arm, my head in his shoulder. I feel more than see Thorin nodding towards Kili who, after a few seconds, steps out with an arrow drawn and fires at the warg above it. It roars before toppling down as Kili fired another arrow.

My eyes go wide as I see my first ever orc. A vile looking creature with grey-black skin. My grip on Thorin's arm tightens as it gets up and charges towards us, but Dwalin takes it out, Bifur, after having passed Aiden to Bofur, and a few of the others killing the warg.

There's a sudden howling as the wargs have caught on to us and are now heading our way.

"Move! Run!" Gandalf yells out to us.

We don't need him to tell us again as we run on as fast as we can, Thorin still holding my hand to keep me close, but they soon catch up to us.

"There they are!" Gloin exclaims, pointing ahead to a warg rider that is standing on the hill ahead of us.

"This way! Quickly!" Gandalf yells out as he runs in another direction.

We follow him as we run in another direction but soon stop as we face the wargs again. I bump into the back of Thorin as he stops suddenly.

"There's more coming!" Kili cries out in alarm.

"Kili! Shoot them!" Thorin shouts, while keeping a protective arm around me.

I watch as Kili starts shooting the wargs and orcs, how long his arrows will last for, I don't know.

"We're surrounded!" Fili suddenly exclaims as he runs over to where we're huddled together.

"Where is Gandalf!?" Dori asks.

Looking around, I see the wizard has vanished. Where in the world has he gone!?

"He has abandoned us!" The bald dwarf accuses.

We all gather close to each other to protect one another, Kili is stood away from us, still shooting the wargs. Ori uses a sling shot to shoot a rock at one of the wargs, which had no effect, the warg barely flinching.

"Hold your ground!" Thorin calls out to us as he draws out his new sword.

I stand beside him as I take out my own. I may not know how to fight much, nor do I want to fight, but if I'm going to go down, then I'm going to go down fighting my damned hardest. I'm not going to let those foul creatures harm my son!

"This way, you fools!" Gandalf's voice suddenly calls out.

Looking around, I see Gandalf drop down behind a rock. Thorin grabs my arm and we run over to where he dropped down. He stands on a rock in front of the crevice before telling me to get down. I slide down as I hear his voice ordering the others.

"Come on, move! Quickly, all of you! Go, go, go!"

Gandalf helps me up. "Are you alright, dear?"

I nod, breathing heavily as I stand by him.

The dwarves and the hobbit all slide down into the cave. One of the first dwarves being Bofur, Aiden in his arms, as he rolls on the ground, curling himself around the boy to protect him.

"Aiden!" I call out, immediately taking him from the dwarf.

"Mummy!" Aiden clings on tight to me.

I rub his back as he cries, making soothing noises as the Ur family stay close to us while the other dwarves slide in, apart from Thorin, Fili and Kili, causing me to worry for them.

"Kili! Run!" I hear Thorin yell.

After a few moments, the young brothers and Thorin slide down. I breath a sigh of relief as everyone is now safe.

There's a sudden ring of a horn being blown and the sound of weapons clashing together. After a few moments of us listening to the commotion, an orc suddenly falls into the cave, an arrow sticking out of it's chest. Luckily it's already dead.

Thorin pulls out the arrow and examines it.

"Elves." he hisses in disgust before tossing the arrow asdide.

"I cannot see where the pathway leads. Do we follow it or no?" Dwalin asks from the path ahead.

"Follow it, of course!" Bofur instantly says as he rushes for the path, the others behind him.

"I think it would be wise." Gandalf insists.

Aiden and I walk in between Fili and Kili as we follow the narrow path in between two cliff sides.

I have to try to calm my breathing as I can feel the start of a panic attack coming on.

"Are you alright?" Fili asks as he puts a hand on my shoulder.

I nod while shakily answering. "Yeah. I just have claustrophobia. Fear of enclosed spaces."

His hand tightens comfortingly on my shoulder.
"We'll be out soon. Deep breaths."

I continuie taking deep breaths as we walk on.

The dwarves have some difficulty getting through, especially Bombur, who has to be pushed from behind by his cousin, Bifur.

Soon enough, we come out into an open area, to my relief, which overlooks onto a valley below. I gasp, my eyes going wide at what I see. There are tall white buildings that seem to come out of the mountain, green grass, greener than any grass I have ever seen, trees and a few waterfalls falling down from the mountain. It's the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I kneel down behind Aiden and take a moment to wrap my arms around him as we look over the city, just taking this time to reassure myself that he is safe, he is unhurt. I smile as he leans back into me, his hands coming up to hold my arms.

"The Valley of Imladris. In the Common Tongue, it's known by another name." Gandalf informs us.

"Rivendell." Bilbo utters.

Hearing Bilbo say Rivendell, as well as hearing Imladris, it sparks something in my mind, a memory of something that I can't remember as I feel a prickling sensation at the back of my mind. I should know this place, but for some reason I can't think what it is.

"Here lies the last Homely House east of the sea."

Thorin stalks over to Gandalf with a thunderous look on his face.

"This was your plan all along, to seek refuge with our enemy."

"You have no enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield. The only ill-will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself."

"You think the Elves will give our quest their blessing? They will try to stop us."

"Of course they will. But we have questions that need to be answered. If we are to be successful, this will need to be handled with tact and respect and no small degree of charm. Which is why you will leave the talking to me."

We then make our way down the cliff towards the Elven city.

Well, there's chapter 6 done. Now we go into Rivendell next. Please leave your comments and reviews, I love hearing from you xx