Beastly || Legolas

four

a hundred and seventy one years later.

One hobbit, far from home and so out of his depth that he was sure he needed a paddle, ducked behind a rock as the pale orc gazed over the landscape. The dawn light tinging the sky with orange as the wargs growled. The orc pack on the lookout for the company of dwarves. Bilbo waited with bated breath for what seemed like and age but was, in reality, only a few seconds before Azog gestured in a different direction and the wargs bounded away. The hobbit sighed then froze as another long growling sound reached his ears. He ducked behind a rock and peaked round. 

On another perch, away from where the orcs had just been, was a creature he had never seen before. It was a hulking black shape that was vaguely like a bear. But this bear was as big was a cart, bigger than any horse Bilbo had seen. The creature snarled in the direction the orcs had gone, face contorted in rage and the sound sending chills down the hobbit's spine. Carefully, he slipped away back down the mountain towards where his friends were waiting. 

"How close is the pack?" Thorin hissed when Bilbo came jogging into sight. 

"Too close. A couple of leaves, no more". The hobbit huffed. "That's not the worse bit". 

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

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

"Did they see you?" Gandalf's voice made Bilbo whirl around. "They saw you?" 

Bilbo sighed. "No, that's not it". 

Gandalf smiled. "What did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse". The dwarves all let out happy mummers of agreement. "Excellent burglar material". 

Bilbo was growing frustrated. "Will you listen? Will you just listen?" His voice rose and the dwarves fell quiet. He gestured back up the mountain. "I am trying to tell you there is something else out there".

Gandalf's face grew grave. "What form did it take? Like a bear?" 

Bilbo blinked in surprise. "Yes, but bigger, much bigger?"

Gandalf sighed and nodded to himself. "Was there a cat?" 

"A cat?" Bilbo repeated, face scrunched up in confusion. "No". 

"You knew about this beast?" Nori exclaimed. 

"I say we double back", Bofur suggested. 

"And be run down by a pack of Orcs?" Thorin snapped. 

"There is a house", Gandalf voiced. "Its not far from here, where we might, uh, take refuge". His voice did not seem overly confidant. 

"Whose house?" Thorin demanded. "Are they friend or foe?" 

Gandalf gripped his staff. "Neither. One will either help us or he will kill us. And the other, well he is an even more fickle creature. I would not like to be on his bad side". 

The dwarves all stared in slight horror. After a second of silence, Thorin spoke up. "What choice do we have?" Before Gandalf could respond, an echoing roar made them all startle. It was the sound of some great beast up in the mountain above. The sound made adrenaline spike and heartbeats race. 

"None".

---------------

Namir was the first back at the cottage that day, which was growing to become an increasingly common thing. Beorn had taken to spending longer in his bear form in preparation for the upcoming winter. The bear needed to stock up on food for hibernation. Not that the man actually hibernated, he just spent a long time between states of sleep and dozing. Very occasionally he would actually be awake enough to do chores but since Namir had become an adult at one thousand, he had taken on most of the chores in the winter. It paid back for the lack of work he did in the summer. (Why do work when you could bask in the sun all day?)