Chapter 3: Night-time adventures
Bilbo gave me a startled look. "They are gone? Just like that?" I nodded. "But they left you a message on the mantelpiece. "Whilst he hurried away into the living room, I had to smile. I couldn't help myself but notice the smallest hint of disappointment in his voice. I had cleaned up the kitchen - after a very excessive breakfast, it seemed - and I just finished shortly before Bilbo joined me. I had gotten up very early, as usual, and had found the hole empty.
Bilbo came pondering back into the room with a stern look on his face: "Can you believe this? They left without a proper 'Good bye' or 'Thank you', but the contract is still here. And the note... the note! It says to meet them at the 'Green Dragon' at 11 a.m. As if I had agreed to do it already!" As I began to chuckle, he frowned at me, asking: "What?" I knelt down in front of him and said: "Bilbo... If you had not decided to sign this thing and go with them already, why on earth are a feather and a map in your hand?" He looked at me sheepishly, then his gaze dropped down to his hands and finally he gave a sigh. Then he looked up at me again and even a little smile crept around his lips. After a long silence he asked: "Am I mad?" I cocked my head a bit, touched his forehead with the back of my hand and stroked back his hair. "I am afraid it is so. But... it seems to run within the family!" With this I handed him an already packed backpack that I had prepared earlier this morning. Bilbo's facial expression changed from surprise to a gloomy smile and before I could say another word he rushed out of the room, the backpack in his hand. I shook my head and stood up, and following him I saw, that he ushered around in the hallway, looking for this and that, only to have me tell him that I have already packed it. After turning in circled for some time, he jerked the door open and was outside already. I put on my leather boots, took my backpack and went after him closing and locking the door behind me. Then I turned again, to find Bilbo gone. I saw him racing down the lane and tried to keep up with him which turned out tougher than I thought. As I quickened my pace I had to smile yet again. I hadn't seen him running like this in years. So on we ran, down the lane, past the festival tree, through the market, past the Mill, across the Water and over the countryside. The way went on for about a mile or so, but finally I saw the roof of the 'Green Dragon' from afar.
We arrived at the inn 11 a.m. sharp, where Gandalf stood already waiting for us, with a big smile on his face: "So did you get him out of bed after all?", he cried towards me, as we came to a halt, quite short of breath. I returned the smile, taking deep breaths of the fresh spring air. Bilbo stopped short next to me, panting as well, and had a big smile on his face. Up until now he didn't seem to regret his decision. Later he would often ask me, how I could have been so insane as to approve such a task. But for now he seemed happy enough. There was a shout of excitement, which came from Balin, who had been standing outside the 'Green Dragon' and had been looking out for us. Bilbo went towards him, proudly waving the signed contract. I looked at Gandalf and asked: "Everything went well so far?" He looked at me under bushy eyebrows and nodded: "I talked to him, everything is set. You are not bound to any contract or agreement, only my promise that you won't do anything to harm the company or the quest. And you won't be in for a share of the treasure, except you earn it on the way." "I don't want anything of their gold... I just want Bilbo to be safe", I replied. "Oh, and thanks again for the help today", I added after a short break. He smiled and answered: "It was my pleasure to be of service." What I hadn't told Bilbo was that Gandalf had shown up in the early morning and after a cup of tea I told him of my suspicion, that Bilbo wanted to go, but would need a little encouragement from my side. Gandalf fully agreed and even helped me prepare the backpacks. Before he joined the dwarves again, I asked for another favour: That he would talk to Thorin, convincing him that I wouldn't be a burden on the way. "Ah, there they come", Gandalf said, getting me back to the present. The dwarves had just left the inn and now joined Bilbo and Balin. With them they had several ponies, one for each of them to be precise. There was also a great white horse, which Gandalf had brought along with him, a small pony for Bilbo and even a small horse for me. Every beast had a package of goods strapped on its back: some carried food, some tools and one even a small kettle. Then Thorin gave a cry and everyone got on his pony (or horse) and we set out, the warm rays of the sun on our backs. The day couldn't have been better to begin a journey, I can tell you! Although I have never been on horseback before, I got used to it very quickly and so it didn't take long until I started to really enjoy the whole thing. It also helped that the other felt the same way, apparently, and so our little party went along merrily. Many a song was sung, too many to remember, except when we halted for meals - which happened way too infrequent for Bilbo's taste. So the first couple of days went by without any further interruption or struggle. Then the end of May grew near and the sky grew dark with heavy rain clouds. We were a good while out of any decent land when the rain began. No hood or hat would have kept us dry from this rain, which came pouring down all day long. By nightfall we tried to find shelter and go somewhere modest, but such a place could not be found. We had to get off our ponies by now, for they would have got stuck in the mud if they had to carry both us and our supplies. All were quite miserable by now, when all of a sudden a loud noise startled the ponies and four of them bolted. Kili and Fili followed them, as did Bofur and I, but we were too slow: Before we could get hold of them, they had fallen into the river, though running quite low in summer, now ran fast and had a lot of water, because of all the rain, of course. Without thinking twice about it, Kili and Fili jumped into the water and helped the beasts out again, where I took them at their bridles and gave them to Bofur. After a short while, all of the ponies were quite safe, but still most of the supplies had been washed away. Although my hair was braided, some strains had gotten loose and clenched to my eyes, narrowing my vision. So it happened that I didn't realize how soft the ground on the bank was. Just as Bofur helped Fili up, I saw how Kili slipped back into the water when the ground gave way and in the next second his blue hood disappeared between the waves. Although Bofur shouted I was on my way already, running down-river as fast as I could. As soon as I saw a glimpse of Kili's hood on the surface I flung myself onto my belly, reached under water with both hands and desperately hoped that I would grab him. For a short second I feared that he had slipped past me, but luckily I could feel how a hand closed around mine. The sudden weight nearly made me fall into the water as well but I didn't let go and after some difficulties I managed to pull him out of the river. That's how Bofur found us: flat on our backs, panting and dripping, but alive. After I had recovered my breath I rolled onto my belly and stroked a strand of wet hair out of my face. I crawled near Kili, who laid there, his eyes closed. I touched his forearm and called his name and suddenly he sat up straight, coughing up water. I smiled with relief and sat up myself. Bofur and Fili helped us to our feet and we got the ponies back to the others. They weren't pleased at all when they heard that most of the packages were lost - especially because most of the food had been in them.
Long story short - all felt very miserable and didn't want anything else than a nice, dry place to rest for a while. We went on for a long while, but couldn't find such - which made us even more miserable. Not even Gandalf was of much help in this matter, so finally it was decided that we made camp where we were, for the night fell in already. Oin and Gloin prepared a small fireplace under some branches - we'd wandered in the shadow of a forest for some time now - but no matter how hard they tried, no fire would start, although normally dwarves can make one almost everywhere. As Oin and Gloin just started arguing with each other, Balin hushed them down. "See... over there... there is a light!", he said. All turned and indeed: between the trees there was a reddish, flickering light, as if cast by a fire. As Balin started making for it, Thorin stopped him. "Wait, we don't know what awaits us there...". So they started discussing what should be done and as Thorin turned to Gandalf for some advice, he found that the wizard was gone. "Great, just when he would be most useful!", Dori muttered. "Speaking of useful...", Thorin added and looked at Bilbo. "How about giving our burglar a chance to prove himself." That proposal found a lot of agreement among the company, except from Bilbo and myself, of course. Still, after some time of arguing back and forth, Bilbo agreed to take a look, he could move very quietly after all. Before he went though, I whispered a word or two into his ear and then he was gone, vanished in the undergrowth. I looked around me and saw that the dwarves gathered together in small groups, to chat quietly. It was the first time that I was all on my own with the company and knowing about their bonds I left them on their own. Bilbo was gone for some time when Kili sat down next to me. I had tried to find some shelter from the rain under the branches of a small tree, but it wasn't any good. The leaves were heavy with water already and the constant drip-drip-drip started to annoy me. "Lovely weather for May, ha?", he said, smiling. "Oh yes, it's marvellous! I wonder if it ever stops raining again.", I answered, returning the smile. "I am sure it will... hopefully before we all have drowned. Speaking of which... I wanted to thank you for saving me back at the river." I looked at him: "Oh.. ahm... no problem. You would have done the same. I am just glad I didn't miss you." "So am I, believe me.", he chuckled. After a short pause he added: "To be honest, I didn't even think about how I would get out again as I jumped in" I had to smile yet again: "To be honest, somehow I thought as much." He laughed at that and scratched his head. After that an awkward silence followed and so I blurted out the only thing that was on my mind at the moment: "Bilbo is gone quite long now, don't you think?" Kili nodded. "You are right... shall we... go and have a look?" I gave him a queer look: "We... you mean you would go with me?" He jumped to his feet and offered me his hand to get up: "Sure! Let's see what our burglar is up to." I nodded, took his hand and stood up. Together we trotted towards the place where Bilbo had vanished into the undergrowth and slowly made our way to the light in front of us. Soon we could hear loud noises as if a fight was going on. We exchanged a concerned look, crouched low behind some trees and crept nearer. All of a sudden the trees grew thin and a wide clearing opened where we met a strange sight: Three enormous people were in a fight and shouted at one another, calling themselves terrible names. Only that those weren't normal people but trolls. One who knows could tell very easily from their grey, leathery skin, their size and their rough language. Two of them were locked in each other's arms, hitting one another, while the third whacked at them with a branch, which made them even madder. I couldn't take my eyes off them for quite a long time and stared at this scenery, my mouth wide open. My stare was interrupted when the two trolls who were fighting rolled over into the fireplace (where the light had come from in the first place) and a great deal of sparks burst into the air. I covered my eyes and started to watch out for Bilbo, for whom we had come here after all. I found him soon enough on the far end of the clearing, low on the ground so he would not get stomped on or rolled over. Just when I started to think about how I could get past these fighting creatures, Kili shouted "Watch out!" and threw himself on me, so we both went down together. And not a second to early! For one of the trolls, the oldest it seemed, who was punching the others, let go of the branch suddenly and it would have crushed me if not for Kili's reaction. So there we lay now, my heart jumping in my chest, with Kili above me, when he suddenly got picked up. The trolls had heard his cry and let me tell you, they don't like dwarves at all (especially uncooked). "Blimey, Bert look what I've copped!", said the one who had lifted him up. "A nasty dwarf!", replied the other, obviously Bert. "So that's what 'Lots and none at all' meant. No more burrahobbits, but many of these dwarves, I bet!", said the third. Kili kicked around wildly, making quite a commotion, while I tried to slip away unnoticed. Of course I never thought about leaving Kili to his fate, but I wouldn't have been any good if I had gotten caught as well. So I remained flat on the ground and when I was some yards away I stumbled to my feet and hid behind a tree. When I caught sight of Bilbo, who was on the move himself now, I risked a short look and sprinted towards him. What I did not see, was that right in that moment Kili had kicked one of the trolls right in his left eye, who dropped him. The trolls were startled and Bert took two steps backward. With his second step his heel struck me in the back so hard that I went flying to the ground where I hit my head on a rock and everything went dark.
When I opened my eyes again I immediately regretted the decision. Looking around me I realized where I was and slowly memories came back. As I wanted to lift my arms to rub my eyes, I found that I couldn't, for my whole body (with exception of my head) was stuck in a sack. Slowly the area around me became visible as my sight began to clear up. Next to me were some more sacks, each with a dwarf inside, judging by the movement and mumbling that came from inside. I counted 12 altogether and asked myself once more where in all that commotion Bilbo was. Suddenly I heard Thorin's voice from afar, who came last, not unaware that something was wrong. "What's all this trouble? Who was been knocking my people about?" "It's trolls!", Bilbo's voice replied from behind a tree. I sighed with relief as I heard that and added: "They hide in the bushes with sacks!" Do they now?", he said and jumped out of the shadow, near the fire, where he got hold of a burning branch before the trolls could catch him. One of the trolls leaped forward and got the gleaming end of the branch in his eye, which put him out of the fight for a while. Bilbo obviously tried to help as well as he could - he got hold of the leg of the second troll (which was as thick as the trunk of a young tree - but was sent spinning up into the top of some bushes in a matter of seconds. That very same troll got the branch of Thorin in his teeth and lost one of the front ones, before he kicked the sparks of the fire into the dwarves face. Just as I wanted to cry "Thorin, look out!", Bert popped a sack over his head and brought him down. He was thrown to the others very roughly, while the three trolls sat down and started to discuss how they should cook them! Whether they should roast them or mince them fine and boil them or simply sit on them and squash them into jelly. Just as William and Tom (the two younger ones) had convinced Bert that it would be best to roast them now and eat them later, a voice called: "No good roasting them, it will take all night." It sounded as if William was the one speaking, so Bert turned to him and replied: "Shut up already! We won't change plans now or it will take all night!" "Leave him alone.", said Tom. "He didn't say a word." "Of course he did, you have no ears?" "You have no ears!", Tom shouted and again a fight arose, even worse than the one Kili and I had encountered in the beginning. Once more they rolled over the whole clearing and soon would have rolled over me, if I hadn't given a loud cry, as they drew very close. That startled them and they stopped fighting, looking at me now. "Oy, brothers!", said William, "how about roasting this one first...Before it makes such noises again." In horror I heard the other two agreeing and as Tom reached out his hand once more a voice cried: "The dawn will take you all and be stone to you!" They all turned to see who had spoken and I could see that William opened his mouth to give a reply but not one word came over his lips. For just in this moment the sun had crept over the tree-tops and there stood William, Bert and Tom, a big surprise on their faces, turned to stone by the light of day. And like this they stand to this day and will stay there till the world breaks apart. How the dwarves all cheered when suddenly Gandalf stepped forward from behind some bushes, for of course it had been his voice that had kept the trolls quarrelling until the sun came up. It is a good thing to have a wizard with you, that's for sure, and now even Thorin and Company were aware of that. Gandalf helped poor Bilbo out of the thorn bushes Tom had thrown him in and after that they began to open up the sacks. As Bilbo helped me to stand up again I drew some deep breaths. Then I looked at him - he was smiling at me very relieved - before I flung my arms around him and drew him close. "Thank goodness, you are alright!", I whispered, while he hugged me back. "Yes, I am, don't you worry! Let's go and help the others!" I nodded as I let go of him and turned to help unpack the dwarves. Not all had been as lucky as me and were nearly suffocated where Gandalf had been all night and why Bilbo had not gone back to the camp earlier to warn them. After Bilbo told us his version of the story, Gandalf explained that he suspected some trouble around and went to look ahead. After he had found some destroyed farms and ransacked houses and some other damages in the forest he was aware that this was the work of trolls. "So I hurried back to you, to find my fear become true... but we are all still in one piece.", ended his tale. "And what's even more important we know that these trolls could not have moved in daylight, so there has to be a cave or some place to hide nearby. If we are lucky we'll find some food and shelter to rest for a while." So it was decided that Nori, Bofur and Gloin went to collect the ponies while the rest of us searched for the trolls' cave. It didn't take us long to find the right place, easily given away by the big footprints around it. The only problem was what the entrance was blocked by a big stone and no matter how hard they pushed or what keyword Gandalf would use, the stone would not move. "Wait... see, there is a keyhole.", Fili said suddenly. "Small wonder it wouldn't move..." "Would this help then?", Bilbo asked very quietly from the back. Everyone turned towards him as he produces a key, quite large for us of course. "Why didn't you say something before?", Dwalin asked angrily. "I didn't know it would be relevant", Bilbo replied as he handed the key to Gandalf, who immediately fitted the key into its right place, unlocking the stone door and pushing it open. Inside the small cave (at least it seemed very small for three big trolls) were all sorts of useful things: food, water, a rope, some knives and even some swords were hung up on a wall. After we had a quite satisfying meal I sat down outside the cave and enjoyed the sun. It had finally stopped raining and even the dwarves began to cheer up. As I looked left I saw that Bilbo leaned with his head on my shoulder, fast asleep. His eyes were closed, his breathing flat and calm. I had to smile as I stroked over his curly hair; after the last few hours of excitement he did what was best. I laid my arm around him and rested my chin on his head. Listening to the wind playing songs on the leaves with a soft tune I dozed off.
