This chapter is dedicated to Jelly_Legs. I've been using their fanfic for some of the dialogue and you should definitely go check it out, they're an amazing writer!
TA 2941
The West
The sound of dwarf battle cries filled Nyx's ears as she slashed at the troll's hands, the blade ringing in the night. The burglar was instantly released and Nyx caught him in her arms, telling him to run for it. Turning from him, she reentered the battle, slashing at the trolls' legs and hands, cutting each time. She spun from their grasping hands and stomping feet, constantly moving. She knew she could bring them down, she just needed a chance to strike a deep wound.
Yet the wounds were not severe enough and the others had difficulty piercing the trolls' thick skin as well. They made do though, cutting at the ankles of the brutes and nearly bringing one down. Nyx ran between the dwarves, going wherever she was most needed, always seeking an opportunity to bring one down.
Their fighting was brought to a halt when they spotted Bilbo being held by two of the trolls, moments away from being torn to shreds. "Lay down your arms! Or we'll rip his off," one of the trolls commanded.
Nyx turned to Thorin, awaiting his order. While she personally would gladly give her blade up to keep Bilbo safe, it was their leader's call. He glanced over at her as well, surprised to see her awaiting his order rather than making the decision herself. She gave him a nod, telling him they stood a better chance without their weapons than with Bilbo dead.
In one swift movement, Thorin plunged his sword into the ground, Nyx and the dwarves following his lead. Frustration marked each of their faces but they would not abandon their burglar. Even if it meant being captured themselves.
~~~
They all ended up tied up, some put in burlap sacks and laid on the ground, the others being tied to the spit over the fire. Nyx is the last to be turned to, still standing tall, desperately wishing for her sword back. Still, she has the tiny blades around her cuffs but she won't use those. Not yet.
One of the trolls peers down at her, "This one isn't a dwarf. Or a flurba-hobbit." The troll uses his finger to push back some of her hair, revealing a pointed ear. "It's an elf!"
Excitement breaks out between the trolls before she spits out, "De lhyda nin!" Her voice is clear and sharp and the trolls back away for a second before one grabs her too. (De lhyda nin- you sicken me, Sindarin)
The troll lifts her into the air, tying her to the spit as well. They look angry at her for her words, for while they cannot understand them, they could hear the hatred in them. She is set on the lower ring of dwarves, Dwalin's boots digging into her back. The spit begins to turn again, a constant switching of scenes making her slightly nauseated.
"Ignore the elf witch!" The fat one says as he spins the spit. "And forget cooking 'em. Let's just sit on 'em and squash 'em into jelly!"
"They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage," another troll argued, Nyx catching a glimpse of him as she spins.
The fat troll then speaks again, glancing down at the dwarves, "Oh, that does sound quite nice."
"Never mind the seasoning, 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," the third troll snaps back causing Bilbo's eyes to widen at the new information.
The hobbit struggles to his feet before hopping towards the dwarves. Nyx watches, understanding what he is trying to do. "Wait! You are making a terrible mistake!" he cries, his small form tiny in comparison.
"You can't reason with them, they're half-wits!" yells Dori from a sack on the ground. Nyx can't argue with that, her few experiences with trolls had proven that true. But perhaps their stupidity could be used against them.
Bofur, near her, yells, "Half-wits? What does that make us?" She also can't argue with that.
Bilbo, still in his sack and hopping closer, speaks over the incoming chaos. "I meant with the.. uh the.. the seasoning!"
One of the trolls nearby steps forward, staring down at the hobbit. "What about the seasoning?"
"Well, have you smelt them?" Bilbo says, leaning in like he is sharing a secret. Nyx suppresses a snort, understanding what he is doing but not wanting to worsen the situation.
The dwarves however, don't pick up on his plan. They immediately start arguing and throwing insults at the hobbit who rolls his eyes. "What do you know about cooking dwarf?" The troll asks.
Bilbo's mouth opens and closes like a fish until the first troll leans in again. "Shut up and let the.. uh, flurgerburbur hobbit talk."
"Well.. uh. The secret to cooking dwarf is um..." the hobbit stammers off, desperately trying to figure out what to say.
"Yes? Come on."
"It's.. uh.."
"Tell us the secret!"
Bilbo glances around desperately stammering blankly. Nyx is the one who picks up his sentence, trusting in the hobbit's plan. "The secret is to skin them first!"
The dwarves immediately start lobbing insults at the both of them though Bilbo sends her a small smile. The troll turns to her and pokes her with a huge finger. There. Using one of the tiny daggers by her palm, she pokes his wrist, puncturing a vein. The brute doesn't notice but the poison lacing the dagger instantly enters his blood.
"Get me filleting knife," the troll says after withdrawing his finger. The dwarves are still yelling and Dwalin digs his boots into her shoulders. She rolls her eyes, trying to ignore the ever increasing burning feeling.
Another troll argues back, "What a load of rubbish! I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scoff 'em I say, boots and all!"
The efforts of the elf and hobbit begin to fall apart as the trolls decide on that course of action. Fortunately, as she spins, Nyx spots the sun beginning to rise. The trolls will turn to stone soon though whether or not the company will join them in their stomachs remains to be seen.
"He's right! Nothing wrong with a bit o' raw dwarf," says one of the trolls, picking up Bombur.
The poor dwarf is being hung the mouth of the troll when Bilbo blurts in, "Not him!" He stammers for a moment as the troll stares at him. "He's infected. He's got worms... in his tubes. In fact we all have. They're infested with parasites, it's a terrible business, I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't."
Bombur gets dropped to the ground, nearly crushing Fíli beneath him. And while the hobbit and elf have managed to stall for a considerable amount of time, the dwarves have yet to catch on. They instantly start yelling, saying they don't have parasites until one of the trolls manages to get them to shut up for a second. The third troll is barely keeping his eyes open, the poison beginning to work on him.
"What about the elf?" he asks Bilbo. "I heard they can't get parasites being all immortal and such."
Bilbo stares at her, his mouth opening and closing before he comes up with something. "Well- Well, elves are stringy. Cause.. erm.. they're thin and um."
It takes all of Nyx's strength not to laugh at the hobbits words. It's brilliant considering the situation though an odd thing to come out of his mouth. However, the absurdity of it manages to click in the brains of the dwarves. Thorin kicks Kíli in the shoulder and they fall silent, finally catching on.
Immediately they began agreeing with Bilbo and Nyx. They mention how severely riddled they are and Kíli yells, "Mine are the biggest parasites, I've got huge parasites!" Nyx nods from her part of the spit, too tired to say anything.
The smarter troll stares at Bilbo then, "What would you have us do then? Let 'em all go?" The hobbit shrugs. "You think I don't know what you're up to? This little ferret is taking us for fools!"
Chaos breaks out again until finally, finally Gandalf shows up. His staff is in his hand, standing upon the rock that just barely blocks the sun. "The dawn will take you all!"
"Who's that?"
"No idea."
"Can we eat him too?"
The wizard ignores all their voices and slams his staff into the stone, splitting it in two. Sunlight pours in, striking all of their faces. The trolls hiss and squawk as the light touches them, every spot of them slowly turning to stone. Finally there is nothing left of them but statues.
Nyx grins as the dwarves struggle to their feet, freeing themselves from their sacks. Those on the spit have to wait a bit, Nyx shying away from the fire just below her. Some of the others come over, put out the fire, kick away the ashes and let them down. She falls first, a good deal of the dwarves falling on top of her.
Nyx groans, "Off Bofur," she says, pushing the dwarf off of her. She coughs, the wind having been knocked out her.
"Sorry lass," he responds, pulling her to her feet. She glances around, realizing they are now all free.
Balin brings her the weapons she had lost, placing the blade into her hands as well as returning her cloak. She thanks him, glad to have the comforting weight of the sword on her back. Bilbo is the first to talk to her. "Sorry I called you stringy," he mumbles.
"It's fine, Bilbo. I'm just glad you were able to come up with something. Your wits kept us alive," she replies, placing her hand on his shoulder with a smile.
However, placing her hand on his shoulder causes her to wince and she swiftly removes it. "Are ya injured, lass?" Óin asks, walking by examining the others for any injury.
Nyx shakes her head, curling her hand up to hide her palm. "Old injury." The dwarf raises an eyebrow but walks past. He could have sworn he saw an open wound there.
In truth, the wound is very old, over 6,000 years old from a severe burn. It should have healed millennia ago but its nature caused it to remain potent years later. It was like the feeling of a healing burn except that it lasted years upon years. The burn was a curse in of itself. It was what you got from trying to take something you were not worthy of.
Taking some bandages from her bag, she wrapped her hand, the wound having become inflamed from the night. Generally, she kept it bandaged much like the tape wrapped around brawlers' hands but she had forgotten to change the bandages yesterday. Carefully, she wrapped it around her fingers in particular where the burn was the worst.
Thorin glances over at her, still remembering her willingness to heed his orders. She had accepted him as their leader without question and he found his respect growing for her. And when he saw her bandaging a wound with a resigned expression on her face, it clicked for him just how experienced the soldier was. She had been in situations like this before, she knew to heed the leader's orders rather than causing problems, she knew how to stay calm, how to treat her own wounds. No wonder Gandalf asked him to allow Nyx on the quest.
Shaking his head from such thoughts, he told the company to begin looking for a troll cave. Nyx joins the others, her keen senses leading her into the forest. The birds are singing again in the trees, seemingly glad to see the trolls gone. Sun filters through the branches high above, the light turning green as it passes through.
Walking towards the front, she follows the stench of troll, eventually finding the cave and waving the others over. Her nose is wrinkled slightly in an attempt to block the disgusting smell though some of the others don't pick up on it. Bofur walks over and instantly is assaulted by the smell, "Oi, what is that stench?!"
"It's a troll hoard. Be careful what you touch," Gandalf answers, using his staff like a walking stick. The cave reeks of the smell and below she can spot what appears to be the hoard, confirming Gandalf's words.
Stepping into the cave, Nyx is faced with the full force of the smell and curls her lip at the stink. The cave is clearly a hoard, coins and various trinkets scattering the ground below their feet. The coins clink beneath her boots, bouncing against others. Near her, three of the dwarves, including Bofur, are digging a pit and filling a chest with various treasures.
She watches with a grin before seeing Gandalf and Thorin inspecting some swords. They catch her eye as she can tell the blades had been forged by her kin. Nyx approached as the two inspected one of the swords. "These swords were not made by any troll," Thorin said as he stared the sword.
"Nor were they made by any smith among men," Gandalf added. He passed the sword to her and she inspected it with an expert eye.
Turning it in her hands, she studied the blade. "I know this blade. My kin forged and wielded these blades. This is an elvish blade, forged by my kin in Gondolin millennia ago." Thorin's eyes darken upon hearing her words and he moved to place the blade back where he had taken it. "You should keep it. These blades are far too nice to be kept in a troll hoard and you will not find finer craftsmanship in this world."
The dwarf stared at her for a moment before deciding to take it. They can both agree it had been expertly made though they may disagree over the decency of its creator. Thorin walked out of the hoard, calling for the others to join him. Those digging the pit hastily cover it up and follow after him. Nyx leaps after them, glad to get out of the dark cave.
The group spread out and Nyx spotted Gandalf giving Bilbo a dagger or a sword in his hands. She can see his apprehension at taking it but he still does. Nyx walked over to the hobbit and laid a hand on his shoulder. He glanced up at her and she gave him a small smile.
"If we have time, I can teach you to use it. There's no point having a blade and not knowing how to wield it," she told him. He nodded and she watched as he walked over to Gandalf.
That's when she heard something coming.
Word Count: 2440