his exception

chapter six: beorn

Thorin and his company had set off from Rivendell as were now making their way with Mirkwood in mind. Bilbo had made his way down the rocks to where the dwarves and Gandalf are waiting to hear Bilbo's spy report.  "How close is the pack?" Dwalin asked with a hint of annoyance in his gruffly tone. "Too close. A couple of leagues, no more, but that is not the worst of it." Dwalin looked up at the hobbit, panic stricken,  "Have the Wargs picked up our scent?" 

Bilbo caught his breath, "Not yet, but they will; we have another problem."

Gandalf quickly put his hand on the hobbit's shoulder, shaking them slightly. "Did they see you? They saw you!" Bilbo looked up, "No, that's not it." Gandalf smiled and turned to the dwarves.
"What did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse. Excellent burglar material." The dwarves chuckled loudly in appreciation of Bilbo. Bilbo looks exasperated that no one is hearing him out.  "Will you listen- Will you just listen? I'm trying to tell you there is something else out there." He almost shouted. The dwarves look worried. "What form did it take? Like a bear?" Gandalf asked. "Ye..." Bilbo started but he paused and looked curiously at Gandalf. "Y- yes. But bigger, much bigger."

 "You knew about this beast?" Bofur turned to face Gandalf. The wizard turned and walked a few steps away. "I say we double back." Bofur concluded. "And be run down by a pack of Orcs."  Thorin grumbled to himself, he knew this quest would be difficult but not this difficult. They had nearly were killed by wargs and now they could be killed by a bear. "There is a house, it's not far from here, where we might take refuge."  Thorin looked at Gandalf, "Whose house? Are they friend or foe?" Gandalf looked down through his grey beard. "Neither. He will help us, or he will kill us." The dwarves looked at each other in dismay. "What choice do we have?" A roar splits the night behind them; it is the bear.  "None."

The company run through plains and across streams.  "Come on! Hurry up!" Gandalf ordered from the front with Thorin. As the Company runs through a forest, Azog and his Orcs race through the forest too. Azog urged his party on. Both groups stop suddenly when an ear-splitting roar sounds nearby. "This way, quickly!" Gandalf panted. As the dwarves panic and run, Bombur looks on in shock until he is pulled along.  "Bombur, come on!" Bofur called. As they exit the forest, they spy a house surrounded by a hedge in the middle of a plain.  "To the house! Run!"

The Company runs across the plain; Bombur, the fattest dwarf, outran all the rest of them in his fear. They ran through a gate in the hedge. "Come on, get inside!" Gandalf urged. They ran to the front door of the house; it is closed. Bombur, who reaches the door first, throws himself against it but fell flat on his back when the door doesn't budge. The rest of the dwarves catch up and began throwing themselves against the door, trying to open it. Gandalf looked back as a massive bear breaks out from the edge of the forest and ran toward them. "Open the door!" He shouted.
"Quickly!" Thorin ordered as he kept his eyes focused on the bear. Thorin, pushed through the dwarves pressed against the door, and he managed to raise the exterior bolt, opening the doors. The entire company bolted inside the house and they tried to slam the door shut, but the bear had already gotten its head in the door. As the bear roared and tried to push the door open, the dwarves yelled and strained too close it. Bilbo pulled out his sword and points it unsteadily at the bear. Gandalf looked on in apparent amusement. The dwarves yelled as they pressed against the door. "Come on, lads!"

[With a final heave, the dwarves managed to close the door and drop the bolt across it. They sighed in shock, fear, and tiredness. "What is that?" Ori whispered, as he held his hand to his chest. "That," Gandalf paused, "...is our host." The dwarves and Bilbo turned to Gandalf in bewilderment.  "His name is Beorn, and he is a skin-changer." Oin checked his hearing trumpet to make sure he has heard Gandalf correctly.  "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 overfond of dwarves." Gandalf continued. The dwarves looked at each other in dismay. Ori peaked out a crack in the door. "He's leaving!" He whispered looking back at the rest. Dori pulled him away from the door.  "Come away from there! It's not natural, none of it. It's obvious: he's under some dark spell." Gandalf shouted, "Don't be a fool; he's under no enchantment but his own. Alright now, get some sleep, all of you. You'll be safe here tonight." The dwarves started spreading out through the house. Gandalf whispered quietly to himself.  "I hope."

The dwarves sleep all throughout the house. Some goats chew on hay. Bilbo, who was sleeping, sat up and looked around. After making sure that no one was watching him, he pulled out the Ring. As he examined it, a dark voice is heard chanting softly. "Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum ishi krimpatul." ("One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, one Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.") In the forest outside Beorn's house, the bear ambled toward the house. At the edge of the forest, the bear stood on its hind legs, and its form melted into that of a tall man. The man looked toward the house. Bilbo was sleeping in the house; before he heard a noise, he woke up and quietly peeked out of his blankets. He saw Beorn, in human form, enter. Hours passed and now it is morning; Beorn's ponies pranced through the fields and a very large bumblebee landed on Bilbo's nose, waking him with a start. Putting on his jacket, he walks toward the kitchen, where all the dwarves and Gandalf are already seated. Beorn poured milk from a pitcher into Fili's cup. He is much taller than any human, even taller than Gandalf. Beorn addressed Thorin.

 "So you are the one they call Oakenshield. Tell me, why is Azog the Defiler hunting you?" Thorin looked shocked, "You know of Azog? How?" Bilbo noticed how Beorn looked down before he spoke.  "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." Bilbo then saw the remnants of manacles on Beorn's wrist. "Not for work, you understand, but for sport. Caging skin-changers and torturing them seemed to amuse him." Bilbo spoke but barely a whisper came out,  "There are others like you?" Beorn turned his gaze to the hobbit.  "Once, there were many." He replied sadly.  "And now?" He didn't like this topic so he said something hoping they would catch along and stop asking questions. "Now, there is only one." The dwarves, Bilbo, and Gandalf looked on in silence. "You need to reach the mountain before the last days of autumn?"

"Before Durin's Day falls, yes." Gandalf nodded. "You are running out of time." The skin changer replied.  "Which is why we must go through Mirkwood." Beorn chuckled to himself before he carried on, looking on with a glare. "A darkness lies upon that forest. Fell things creep beneath those trees. There is an alliance between the Orcs of Moria and the Necromancer in Dol Guldur. I would not venture there except in great need." Gandalf spoke next, "We will take the Elven Road. That path is still safe." Beorn snorted before he muttered, "Safe? The Wood-Elves of Mirkwood are not like their kin. They're less wise and more dangerous. But it matters not." Thorin looked confused at him. "What do you mean?" Beorn looked back at the dwarf,  "These lands are crawling with Orcs. Their numbers are growing, and you are on foot. You will never reach the forest alive." Thorin looked shocked. Beorn stood up from the table and faced Thorin. "I don't like dwarves. They're greedy and blind, blind to the lives of those they deem lesser than their own."

Beorn picks up a mouse that had been scampering on the table and held it, all the while approaching Thorin who is standing with his arms crossed. "But Orcs I hate more. What do you need?"