Return to Me (Kili)

Chapter Six: Daylight Breaks

"We don't have parasites! You have parasites!" A cloudy voice greeted Priscilla as she awoke, dazed. She blinked a few times, confused, and moved to get up, but she couldn't move her arms or legs very well. Someone above her kicked a foot, and there was a slight pause.

"I... I've got parasites as big as my arm!" Another voice said.

"MINE ARE THE BIGGEST PARASITES I'VE GOT HUGE PARASITES." The first voice again, only much louder. Kili?

"What is going on...?" She said slowly, sitting up a little, blinking again. She was in a sack, tied loosely at the neck, and laying next to a bunch of other dwarves in sacks. Her vision finally cleared up enough. There was a troll standing right above her, speaking to Bilbo. 

She froze, remembering what had happened. The pony was still on the spit over the fire, but the trolls had built it up enough to add another spit, this one full of live dwarves. "Oh, no." She breathed. 

Suddenly a voice boomed from behind her. "The dawn will take you all!" Gandalf.

"Who's that?" Said one troll.

"No idea." Said the next, who went back to his cooking without a blink of an eye. 

"Can we eat 'im too?" The last troll said, curious.

Gandalf brought down his staff and broke the large boulder he was sitting on in two, and the light of the dawning sun broke through, hitting the trolls. They writhed and screamed in agony, turning to stone where they stood. In moments, all that stood there was three stone trolls, harmless, and dead. 

The dwarves cheered for Gandalf, but the ones over the spit quickly called for help, as the sun hadn't stopped the fire and they were still roasting. Gandalf hurried down and helped Bilbo out of his sack, then went to the fire and put it out as Bilbo began helping the others out of their sacks. He went to her second, after helping Thorin, and helped her out, stabilizing her as she got back onto her wobbly feet. She fell into his arms and just hugged him for a moment, still shaken from the recent events.

"You're alright?" He asked her.

"Yes, I think so. What happened?" She asked.

"Well, Thorin and I and the rest of the Company showed up just as you fainted, which you did a wonderful job of, by the way, burnt one of the troll's toes with that hot soup you had in your hands." He jokingly gave her a curt nod. "But really, your distraction got Kili and the ponies out of the safely- all but that one there on the spit, but there was no hope for that one anyway- and he came and took you and the ponies out of the way as we all rushed into battle and fought the trolls for a little while."

"Oh, that was... sweet of him," she said. "But you still ended up tied in sacks?"

Bilbo tilted his head to the side. "It was going well, until the trolls grabbed me and threatened to rip my arms off, so they put us all in sacks and tied us up and I was just in the middle of buying more time for Gandalf when I assume you woke up." He finished. 

"So no one really has parasites..." She clarified.

"Oh no, of course not." He laughed. "Or at least, I hope not."

"Oh, good. You worried me for a second there, honestly. Thought you'd all gone mad." She shrugged back, chuckling.

Ori came up to her, almost sheepishly. "Um, Miss Baggins?" She looked at him. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news. I really do. But, well... we've accounted for all the ponies except yours, I'm afraid." He said quickly. She looked to the pony on the spit, recognized it finally, and groaned, sitting down.