Red (The Hobbit Fan Fiction)

10. A Sticky Situation

10. A Sticky Situation

       Roaring.

            It didn’t sound like an animal. It didn’t sound like one of the Trolls. I concluded the noise to be from a fire. A fire. We’re going to be eaten. Though I had fallen unconscious, I didn’t forget the situation I was in, the situation Bilbo and the thirteen Dwarves were stuck in. I also remembered that Gandalf was nowhere in sight.

We were doomed and sure to be eaten by Mountain Trolls. This wasn’t how I expected this journey to go. Of course, I never expected it to be obstacle-free, that would defeat the whole concept of an adventure, after all.

            “Oh!” squeaked a Dwarf. “That’s hot, that’s hot, that’s hot!”

            Were the Trolls cooking Dwarves right now? I moaned, fluttering my eyes open. I tried to move freely but realized my body was contained. I lifted my head up to see I was stuffed in a sack. As my vision cleared, I noticed the majority of the Dwarves, and Bilbo, were alongside me, all engulfed in sacks. A few Dwarves were tied to a spit, which the Trolls were manning. A blazing fire was slowly heating them from below. I swallowed.

            “Don’t bother cooking them,” Sneezy suggested. “Let’s just sit on them and squash them into jelly.”

            “They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage,” said Bert.

            “That does sound quite nice.”

            “Lily,” Bilbo said, relieved. I threw him a somber smile. “You’re awake, thank heavens. Are you all right?”

            “For now.” I sighed. I looked to the spit. “It looks like that’s our fate.”

            “You sound as though you’re giving up.”

            “What can we do, really?”

            “We’ll get out of this, Lily.”

            “How? Gandalf has abandoned us and we’re all in sacks!”

            “We’ll figure something out.”

            I heard some Dwarves nearby throw demands and insults towards the Mountain Trolls.

            “Never mind the seasoning,” Complainer said. “We ain’t got all night. Dawn ain’t far away. Let’s get a move on. I don’t fancy being turned to stone.”

            I saw something click in Bilbo’s head, the gears were turning. He looked to me, a hopeful twinkle in his eyes.

            “Follow my lead,” he whispered.

“What are you thinking?” I raised an eyebrow.

“We’re going to stall them. You heard what he said; they’ll turn to stone when sunlight gets to them!”

Maybe I had been too worried about being eaten to really pay attention to the Troll’s words. Of course. At least Bilbo had a sane mind right now; I was too panicked about dying.

“Good thinking,” I commended my best friend. “But do you really think we can stall them for that long?”

“Daylight shouldn’t be too far off.”

“If you think so. Let’s hope this pays off.”

“Let’s hope.” He looked at the Trolls. “Wait! You are making a terrible mistake.” Bilbo wriggled to get himself standing.