Eruwen (Part 1 & 2)

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Gandalf followed up by telling us all we had experienced, and it was obvious from the leatherman that he enjoyed our slaughter of the orcs - he regretted that he couldn't be there.

"The mountains were originally inhabited by my people before the orcs came from the north. Azog the Defiler slaughtered most of my family. But he enslaved some. Not for work, you understand, but for fun. Keeping the skin-changers in cages and torturing them seemed to amuse him," he explained.

"Are there more like you?" Bilbo asked.

"There used to be many of us."

"And-and now?"

"There's only one now," he said, putting down his milk jug and sitting down. "You must get to the mountain before the end of autumn."

"Before Durin's day comes... Yes," Gandalf agreed.

"Your time is running out."

I think everyone was aware of that.

"That's why we have to go through the Mirkwood," the wizard spoke.

"The forest is shrouded in darkness. There are terrible things crawling beneath its trees. The Orcs of Moria have made an alliance with that sorcerer in Dol-Guldur. I would not venture there myself unless I really had to."

"Gandalf responded, "We'll take the elven path, it's safe."

"Safe? The elves of the Mirkwood are different, not too wise but dangerous."

"I could handle them," I said and everyone looked at me, "I know the king of the forest elves."

How we knew each other was beside the point.

"But it doesn't matter," Beorn said.

"What do you mean?" Thorin asked.

"This area is crawling with orcs and more and more of them, and you're on foot. You can't get to the Mirkwod alive."

Beorn then stood up and walked towards Oakenshield.

He may not have liked dwarves, but he hated orcs, and the news that we had killed a great orc in the Misty Mountains made him look at dwarves a little better.

As a reward, he offered us ponies and Gandalf a horse to get us to the Mirkwood as quickly as possible. He also gave us supplies for a few weeks. He didn't forget to warn us about the Forest, what to prepare for, and what to avoid.