I'm Staying With You (A Hobbit Fanfiction)

Chapter 9

Everyone eats their stew in silence, and occasionally people get up for seconds.  Night falls, and Bilbo keeps watching out for Gandalf. 

"He's been a long time," he mutters. 

"Who?" Bofur asks. 

"Gandalf," the hobbit replies. 

"He's a wizard!  He does as he chooses.  Here, do us a favour.  Take this to the lads."  Bofur hands Bilbo two bowls of stew that I dished out and the hobbit takes them with unsteady hands. 

"I'll go with him!" I volunteer. 

"Alright, Nossa.  I'll watch the stew," Bofur says.  Bombur attempts to eat a spoonful and Bofur smacks his hand.  "Stop it, you've had plenty." 

"Aye, it's not a bad stew, Nossa.  I've had worse," I hear Gloin say.  I shoot him a glare and he chuckles. "I'm just pulling your leg, lass.  It's good, honestly." 

I smirk and continue following Bilbo to where Fili and Kili are watching the ponies.

When we arrive, Fili and Kili are staring straight ahead at where the ponies are waiting.  Bilbo holds out the stew, but they don't take it. 

"What's the matter?" I ask. 

"We're supposed to be looking after the ponies," Kili states.  

"Only we've encountered a slight problem," Fili says. 

"We had 16," Kili counts.

"Now there's 14," Fili explains. 

"How did this happen?" I ask. 

"We don't exactly know," Fili sighs. 

Kili walks through the area where the ponies are, looking around. 

"Daisy and Bungo are missing." 

"Well, that's not good," Bilbo chuckles nervously. "That is not good at all.  Shouldn't we tell Thorin?" 

"Uh, no.  Let's not worry him," Fili says. "As our official burglar, we thought you might like to look into it." 

"Well, uh," Bilbo stammers. "Look, something big uprooted these trees." 

"That was our thinking," Kili sighs. 

"It's something very big and possibly quite dangerous," Bilbo continues. 

As I look around, I spot a small spot of light between the trees. 

"Hey, there's a light," I say, bending down and looking it at.  "Over here."  Everyone rushes to my side and looks as well. 

"Stay down," Fili mutters.  We all crouch behind a fallen tree log, listening.  There's some grunting, laughing, and the sound of a fire crackling. 

"What is it?" Bilbo asks. 

"Trolls," Kili growls.  He leaps over the log and Fili and I follow him.  We start running towards the light, and Bilbo is following us, still with the stew in hand. 

We duck around branches and leaves, rushing through the brush skillfully.  Bilbo follows behind slowly, not as used to running through forests as we are.  

We duck behind another fallen tree and Bilbo doesn't notice right away.  He lets out a surprised gasp as a troll comes into view and he ducks behind the tree directly beside us. 

We watch in horror as the ugly beast carries another two of our ponies to their fire. 

"He's got Myrtle and Minty!" Bilbo exclaims in an angry whisper.  "I think they're going to eat them.  We have to do something!" 

Fili, Kili, and I turn our heads towards him. 

"Yes, you should," Kili whispers.  "Mountain Trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small, they'll never see you!" 

"It's perfectly safe.  We'll be right behind you," I say.  Bilbo tries to object, but ends up stuttering a string of unidentifable words. 

"If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl and once like a brown owl," Fili explains.  Both him and Kili have taken their stew from his hands and we're gently pushing Bilbo towards the trolls camp. 

Bilbo mumbles the instructions to himself, stuttering and making small motions with his hands.  Fili, Kili and I turn around and start heading back to camp.  We're probably going to need help. 

A/N: I'm on a writing spree tonight!  Woot woot!