Queen Under The Mountain

Peculiar Housings

Bilbo came running around the corner where he had been on the look out for the Orc pack that we had recently encountered. It was an action filled night, and I had hoped it was the only time we'd meet face to face with Azog.

"How close is the pack?" Thorin asked.
"Too close. A couple of leagues, no more." Bilbo stopped in the middle of our grouping. "But that's not the worst of it."

"Have the Wargs picked up our scent?" Dwalin asked.
"Not yet. But they will do." Bilbo answered. "We have another problem."
"Did they see you?" Gandalf questioned. "They saw you!"
"No, that's not it." Bilbo shook his head.
"What did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse." Gandalf smiled. "Excellent burglar material."

"Will you listen? Will you just listen?" Bilbo lost his patience. "I'm trying to tell you there is something else out there."
"What form did it take?" Gandalf asked. "Like a bear?"
"Y-yes, but bigger, much bigger." Bilbo nodded.
Oh, so Gandalf reads minds now, what else?

"You knew about this beast?" I asked. Gandalf didn't answer. I hate when people do that.

"I say we double back." Bofur said.
"And be run down by a pack of Orcs?" Thorin said.

"There is a house." Gandalf said. "It's not far from here, where we might take refuge."
"Whose house?" Thorin asked. "Are they friend or foe?"
"Neither." Gandalf answered. "He will help us, or he will kill us."
"Well that's just dandy!" I put my hands on my hips.
"What choice do we have?" Thorin was slightly holding back a laugh.

There was a roar and we looked around, trying to depict what made that sound.
"None." Gandalf answered Thorin's question.

By mid morning we had made it out of the rocky terrain and to a grassy field, where we were running, we didn't know exactly what we were running from, whether it be the Orc pack or whatever had made that roar. When we had made it to a forest, the roar came to our ears again.
"This way! Quickly!" Gandalf shouted. So it was the roar we were running from.

We left the forest and came upon a field where ahead of us was a house surrounded by a hedge and trees. "To the house!" Gandalf shouted again.

We ran in a line and Bombur ran past me and the others, to which I burst out laughing. He was first to the gate leading to the house, running at full speed and shortly he was met with another gate, but it was closed. Bombur bounced off of it, rebounded by his own force. Kili and Fili banged on the door, it was locked. I looked up and found the latch, out of Fili and Kili's reach.

"Oh for Durin's sake, Thorin!" I called out.
"What?" He was behind me.
"There's a lock, lift me." I pointed.
Thorin lifted me by my legs and I was face to face with the latch, I pushed it up and the force of the Dwarves below pushed it open. Thorin let me down and we ran in.

Once everyone was in we quickly pushed the gate open before the beast got in, its large snout stuck out, trying to snap at us. With on last push the gate was closed and had a bar over it.
"What is that?" Ori asked.
"That is our host." Gandalf answered.

I turned from the door and stared at Gandalf in disbelief. "You can't be serious. That beast?" I pointed at the gate.

"His name is Beorn, and he's a skin-changer." Gandalf led us into a barn. "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."
We looked around the barn and found that everything was huge compared to us. Even as a normal thing for things to be larger than us, but some of the tools were big even compared to Gandalf.
"However," the wizard continued. "He is not overfond of Dwarves."
"Then why bring us here in the first place?" I asked.
  "I suppose you want to get slaughtered by the Orcs on our tail?" Gandalf looked at me.
  "No." I shut my mouth.