Raven: An Unexpected Adventure

Five

Bilba

Somewhere Around the Border of the Old Forest

Mid-September 2958

Bilba woke with a start to realize that she was riding in a saddle. At first she was felt unexplainably confused, but then it all came rushing back. She'd been kidnapped. She and Raven had heard wolves and then, Bilba had been in the henhouse to gather hay for the animals brought into the smial when something had struck the back of her head. As though triggered by her remembering the attack, Bilba's skull began to throb. She shifted, and a strong hand caught her before she could overbalance and fall from the saddle.

"I won't catch you, if you fall." a voice warned. Bilba's eyes snapped open, and she spun around, causing her captor to do just that: catch her again. He was a dwarf, she realized in shocked surprise. He seemed to be of middle age, with a full blonde beard that was kept neat in two simple braids. He wore travelling clothes that looked new and of fine quality and had a pair of axes on his back. Bilba didn't know much about weaponry, but the pair seemed to be of high quality, much like the dwarf's garments. Last night she hadn't gotten a good look at her assailants but, whatever she'd been expecting, it hadn't been a dwarf on pony back.

"What did I tell you about squirming?" the dwarf growled, as Bilba tried to right herself to little success.

"Who are you? Where are we going? What happened?" Bilba murmured, the questions falling from her lips without pause. Why would dwarrow kidnap me? She wondered, her mind feeling oddly fuzzy.

"None of that matters now." the dwarf grumbled dismissively.

"You kidnapped me, this isn't some vacation I planned." Bilba babbled and the dwarf scoffed behind her. "So, why did you take me and where are we going?"

"I've orders." the dwarf grumbled in response, and Bilba thought his answer was an attempt to stop her questions, not that it worked.

"Orders from who?"

"That's none of your business, Halfling." the dwarf spat, and Bilba began to lean back before an alarming realization shot through her. Raven. Her daughter, Raven was not with her.

"Raven," Bilba murmured as the dwarf was forced to catch her again before she overbalanced.

"If you fall off of the horse you'll be walking." the dwarf threatened.

"Raven," Bilba protested, "where's Raven?"

"We don't have any ravens, not that I understand why you'd be so concerned anyways, not like you'd have a message to send." Bilba frowned at the response, of course she didn't expect them to send a message. All she wanted was her daughter.

"Not a raven, my Raven, she's still a child." Bilba mumbled. Behind her, the dwarf cursed.

"Finnvari!" the dwarrow called and Bilba craned her head, nearly falling again, as another dwarrow appeared. He was also well-dressed with a more elegantly braided dark brown beard and rich clothing and weapons.

"What, Nyrin?" the dwarf snapped, his accent thicker.

"There's a lass, we left a child back at the hobbit's hole." Nyrin replied and Finnvari's scowl deepened.

"You have a daughter?" he demanded of Bilba.

"Her name's Raven." Bilba found herself saying before she realized that it might have been safer to keep Raven out of it all.

"How old?" Nyrin demanded, sounding worried. As ridiculous as it sounded, the worry in Nyrin's voice soothed Bilba's own nerves. It made sense, Bilba reasoned, because no matter why or how she herself might be involved in this scheme, she doubted any dwarrow would intentionally bring an innocent child, especially a girl, into danger.