I'm Staying With You (A Hobbit Fanfiction)

Chapter 26

I'm woken by the sound of a door opening. When I look around, I see that Bilbo is awake as well. He hides behind his haystack, and I pretend to be asleep as a massive man comes into sight.

Our host. Of course.

I don't get up because I don't want to get killed, so I lay back down and fall asleep.

I wake up a little while later and stand up. Gandalf is awake and is sitting at the table with Beorn, I assume.

"Good morning, Nossa," Gandalf says.

"Good morning, Gandalf. I assume you're Beorn?" I ask. The large man nods.

"I am surprised to see a woman traveling with this group. It is very unexpected."

"Yes, I suppose it is," I reply, smiling and looking at the other dwarves, who are still asleep. "Anyway, is there anything I can help with?"

"I think you can set the table, Nossa. The food is already being prepared," Gandalf says. Beorn nods.

"Thank you for the offer, though."

I smile and set the table. I sit down and Beorn serves me some sort of food I've never seen before, bread, and a mug of fresh milk.

I eat slowly and eventually, others start to join me. The first to wake up are Fili, Kili, and Bofur.

"Morning, boys," I say.

"Morning, Nossa," they reply. They sit down, and food is put onto their plates. Eventually, all the dwarves have joined us, but not Bilbo.

As Beorn pours a cup of milk, he turns to Thorin.

"So you are the one they call Oakenshield. Tell me, why is Azog the Defiler hunting you?"

"You know of Azog?" Thorin asks. "How?"

Bilbo joins the table and Beorn pours him some milk before continuing.

"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."

My eyes travel to a large metal cuff around Beorn's wrist, and I wish I could hack it off.

"Not for work, understand, but for sport. Caging skin-changers and torturing them seemed to amuse him." He pours Ori more milk.

"There are others like you?" Bilbo asks.

"Once there were many," Beorn replies.

"And now?"

"Now there is only one."

All of us look at him, and I feel horrible. I can't imagine being the last of my race.

"You need to reach the mountain before the last days of autumn," Beorn says, changing the subject and sitting down.

"Before Durin's Day falls, yes," Gandalf says.

"You are running out of time."

"Which is why we must go through Mirkwood."

"A darkness lies upon that forest," Beorn warns. "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."

"We will take the Elven road," Gandalf says. "That path is still safe."

I look over at Fili, who grabs his mug in two hands and takes a long swig.

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

I try to imagine Elrond or Lindir as dangerous, and I can honestly say that I can't.

"What do you mean?" Thorin asks.

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

We all watch Beorn as he stands up from his chair.

"I don't like Dwarves. They're greedy and blind." Dwalin brushes a mouse off his arm, and Beorn takes it in his hand. "Blind to the lives of those they deem lesser than their own."

He takes a long pause, watching the small mouse in his large hands.

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

"Horses," Gandalf says quickly. His face is full of relief, and so is everyone else's.