Rue (A Thorin Oakenshield/Hobbit Fanfiction)

22

The Company continued to collect themselves, helping each other off the ground as they dusted themselves off and found their weapons. Their slight chatter welcomed Thorin and Talia as they walked back into the troll camp, their eyes falling on the statues. The King examined the stone alongside Gandalf as Talia caught her dagger in midair, only turning to wink back at Fili after her fingers had wrapped around it. Fili rolled his eyes at her theatrics, although he was impressed.

"Where did you go to, if I may ask?" Thorin asked the wizard. Talia refastened the dagger at her hip, looking up to the wizard momentarily after Thorin spoke.

"To look ahead."

"What brought you back?"

"Looking behind." Gandalf retorted, taking in the once-captured King. Thorin could only nod and look at his feet, a crooked smirk tugging his lips up as he returned his gaze to the wizard. "Nasty business. Still, they all are in one piece."

"I'm sure you sensed that we had our asses handed to us." Talia added, nodding her head along with her husband in thanks.

"Well, not all of you." Gandalf tapped one stone troll with his staff, chuckling softly to himself. "Little did I know that Talia Rue had the mind of an escape artist."

"I'll relay your praise to her." She responded light-heartedly, enjoying Gandalf's resulting smile. "Though, we still lost the ponies."

"No thanks to your burglar." Thorin muttered. In his mind, the hobbit had still failed the mission, and he had yet to prove his worth. If he could not handle retrieving ponies from trolls, he most definitely could not handle retrieving the Arkenstone from the feet of a fire-breathing dragon.

But Talia thought differently. "Thorin, he distracted them so that I could get free. If he hadn't, Bombur would be stuffed like a roast chicken by now."

Gandalf hummed in agreement. "He had the nous to play for time. None of the rest of you thought of that." He eyed the dwarf, who only grumbled in response. Talia sighed in happiness; she loved it when she was right. "They must have come down from the Ettenmoors." The wizard continued, returning his gaze to the stone creatures in front of them.

"Since when the mountain trolls venture this far south?"

"Oh, not for an age. Not since a darker power ruled these lands." Gandalf muttered, his eyes narrowing. As the pair exchanged a look of alarm, Talia stared at the rock that were once their foes, searching their eyes. Something about them reminded her of Dol Guldur, of the influence that the Pale Orc himself was under. The three of them shook these ideas away, returning to the present matter at hand. "They could not have moved in daylight."

"There must be a cave nearby." Thorin derived, starting to move away from the trolls with the Company in tow. Talia took the lead beside him as Gandalf followed them through the wood, not far behind.

Within minutes of travel, a horrid odor hit Talia's nose, one that literally made her feel faint. "Fucking shit." She gagged, wafting the scent away from her nose. Being the only one that had heard her profanity, Fili grinned alongside her, though it was quickly wiped away as soon as the smell reached him too.

"Oh, what's that stench?!" Bofur exclaimed, taking off his hat and proceeding to beat the air around him with it.

"It is a troll hoard." Gandalf announced, now that they were within the cave. The Company peered down inside, seeing the glint of gold and suddenly becoming motivated to push past the scent. "Be careful what you touch."

The Company made their way into the depths of the hoard, glancing at the treasure within. Most of the Company was interested in the gold lying around. Dwalin rolled his eyes at Gloin as he stood guard over their 'long-term deposit', returning his gaze to his King. He and Balin watched as Thorin and Talia moved towards a darker corner, stacked to the brim with blades of unfamiliar origin to the royals.