Elven Beauty or Shire Roses

Chapter IV

"Daisy and Bungle are missing," said Kili as he and Fili examined the horses in their pens. Bilbo and I followed behind the two, the wooden bowls still clutched in our hands. There were several uprooted trees, as if something came through and pushed them over to get them out of the way.

"What? Well, that's not good. And that is not good at all," said Bilbo.

"Shouldn't we tall Thorin about this?" I asked.

"Uh... no. Lets not worry him. As our official burglars, we thought you two might like to look into it," said Fili. 

"Um... us?"

"Well, uh... it looks as if something big uprooted these trees," said Bilbo.

"That was our thinking," said Kili. 

"It seems to be something very big," I said, looking at the tree.

"And possibly quite dangerous," added Bilbo. Fili crouched down behind one of the uprooted trees and pointed into the woods.

"Hey! There's a light," whispered Fili as he beckoned as toward him. "Over here!" Sure enough, through the trees, we could see a light. We all moved closer to it, making sure to stay quiet. "Stay down."

"What is it?" asked Bilbo. Then we saw what was there. A large campfire with large trolls seated around it.

"Trolls," said Kili. The two brothers ran closer to the scene with Bilbo and I close behind. Before Bilbo ran after them, he placed down the bowl he was carrying, ran after them, but then ran back and grabbed the bowl again before he continued to follow. As we made our way towards the troll camp, we heard thundering footstep. He quickly took cover behind an old oak tree and saw a huge troll walk past, carrying two of our ponies.

"He's got Myrtle and Minty!" whispered Bilbo in shock.

"I think they're going to eat them, we have to do something!" I added. 

"Yes, you should. Mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you two are small. They'll never see you," said Kili.

"Us?"

"No. No. No," said Bilbo.

"It's perfectly safe!" said Kili.

"We'll be right behind you. If you run into trouble hoot twice like a barn ow, once like a brown owl," said Fili. He then pushed the two of us forward and took the bowls.

"Twice like a barn owl, once like a brown... hoots like a... like ... Uh, are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Bilbo as he turned around.

"They left us. Do you know what a bar owl and a brown owl sound like?" I asked, getting a little nervous.

"I... no, no I don't," said Bilbo as he turned back towards the troll camp. 

"Mutton yesterday, mutton today. And blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrow," said the troll on the right.

"Quit your griping. These ain't sheep! These is West nags!" said the troll who carried the ponies. He then set them down into a pen where the other two ponies were. 

"Oh! I don't like horse. I never have. Not enough fat on them," said the middle troll.

"Well, it's better than leathery ol' farmer. All skin and bone he was. I'm still pickin' bits of him out o' me teeth," said Right Troll. 

Suddenly, Middle Troll sneezed, causing snot to shoot out of his nose and into the pot that sat above the fire.

"Well, that's lovely, that is. A floater," said Right Troll. Bilbo and I quietly sneaked our way around, trying to reach the pen.