"How many?" Thorin quickly asked.
"Just three, we think," Fili said.
"Just three?" Gloin shouted.
"How did a troll steal the ponies while you both were watching them?" Dwalin grumbled.
"There's your answer, they weren't watching them," Nori stated. Fili and Kili glared at him.
"We need those ponies," Thorin said.
"And our other burglar," Balin added. This caused multiples sighs and mutterings as each dwarf went to grab their weapons.
"Speaking of," Ori spoke up, looking around.
"Where'd Blair go?"
Thorin immediately whipped his head towards where Fili and Kili said the trolls were. The sun had already fully set. Only the campfire was their source of light, leaving everywhere but a few feet around them to be covered in complete darkness.
"Great, now both our burglars are gone," Dori complained.
"Quickly," Thorin said, grabbing a sword. "Fili, lead the way." The company of dwarves stalked through the darkness towards the troll camp as quietly as they could. Fili lead them through the trees, until they reached the point where faint light was shining through. Incoherent arguing could be heard coming from the area around the light.
"What's our next move?" Balin whispered to Thorin. "Thorin?"
He followed Thorin's gaze to a small figure closer to the troll camp. Suddenly, Thorin gestured for the dwarves to huddle up.
"Slowly surround them in groups of two or three. Stay hidden until the signal," Thorin whispered to them all.
"What signal?" Bofur questioned. Thorin looked at Kili, causing everyone else to turn towards him.
"Oh, come on. Why does it have to be me?" Kili groaned, causing multiple hushes to follow.
"Kili will confront them first, and once they're up, we charge, got it?" Thorin said. Everyone gave various murmurs in agreement and started pairing up. Thorin immediately turned back to where he was looking before.
"I'll stay with you, uncle," Fili said.
"No, go with Balin. I have to do something," Thorin whispered back, starting to walk closer to the camp.
As he got closer to the light, the voices became clearer.
"Hey! That's my grog!" one loud, obnoxious voice shouted. A loud thud slightly shook the ground beneath Thorin's feet. He paid no attention, searching the trees for who he thought he saw. Then he spotted her, peering from behind a bush, watching something intently. As quietly as he could, Thorin walked towards her, occasionally stopping to hide behind trees at the sound of one of the trolls' voices in his direction.
Blair watched from behind a bush, just large enough to fully cover her, as Bilbo crept up to one of the trolls.
"What is he thinking?" she muttered, praying he would glance in her direction. He looked like a bug compared to the massive trolls. Three of them sat around a fire, a big pot in the middle, no doubt for the freshly caught ponies to be cooked in. If she could get to Bilbo, she could drag him away quickly and quietly before the trolls spotted or heard them. She started mapping out her route in her head, when she suddenly felt a hand around her wrist.
"He-" she yelped, before a hand was clamped on her mouth.
"Who's that?" one of the trolls bellowed. Thorin quickly hid both him and Blair behind a tree, pushing them both against it. Blair's heart pounded against her chest. She glanced up, Thorin's face inches away from hers, his hand still on her mouth. He watched the trolls closely, holding his breath.
"It's nothing, now hurry up!" another troll yelled. Blair gave a sigh of relief, Thorin quickly moving his hand away. She tried to move away from the tree, but Thorin kept his hands pressed against her shoulders, her back still to the tree.
"What were you thinking?" Thorin whisper shouted, glaring at her. "You could've gotten yourself killed."
"My brother is out there! He could get himself killed!" she whispered back, her eyes full of worry. His glare softened at this, feeling a sense of admiration for her loyalty, something he knew all too well. "We have to do something!" she whispered again. "Please."
That single phrase of 'please' was all Thorin needed to hear.
"Everything's going to be fine," he reassured her. Blair felt an odd sense of comfort by this considering the words were coming from someone she was angry at up until around half an hour ago. Thorin couldn't help but give a small smile at seeing her slightly relax. Suddenly, she straightened up, a more determined look on her face as she looked up at him.
"Alright, what's the plan?"
"The rest of the company is surrounding the trolls now, Kili is going to distract the trolls before we come out and attack," he explained, quickly and quietly.
"Sounds good, I'll be right behind you," Blair said.
"You have no weapon, so no, you can stay here." Blair opened her mouth to protest but then shut it. Suddenly, an idea came into her mind.
"Trolls turn to stone when the sun comes out, right? So we just need to keep them occupied until the dawn," Blair said. Thorin furrowed his brow, thinking about their plan.
"So we just need to keep fighting them long enough. Dawn can't be too far off."
"What if I try to find Gandalf? He'll know exactly what to do if things don't go the way we want," she suggested. Thorin looked doubtful for a moment but then considered it.
"I don't know if you wandering around in the dark is the best idea," he muttered.
"I'm perfectly capable of walking around at night," she scoffed. "Plus, the more time you all have the better." Thorin paused for a moment, noticing the determined glint in her eyes. He had to admit, he was pretty impressed by her knowledge.
"Okay, you remember which direction he went in?"
"Yep, I remember exactly where!" She slipped out of his grasp he unknowingly held and started going towards the direction where Gandalf had walked off. Thorin watched as she hurriedly ran off, before heading back to give Kili the signal. He quietly crept closer to the circle of trolls just in time to hear, "What are you? An oversized squirrel?"
Bilbo hung upside down, dangling in one of the troll's hands.
"I don't know, but I don't like the way it wriggles around!" another troll yelled, tossing Bilbo on the ground.
"No, I'm, uh, er," Bilbo stuttered. "Burglar- HOBBIT!"
"A burglarobbit?" one of them questioned.
"Are there any more of you little fellas hiding where you shouldn't?"
"Uh, nope! Just me!" Bilbo squeaked.
"Can we cook him?"
"We can try!"
All three trolls tried to grab at Bilbo, blocking any routes of escape. Thorin made eye contact with Kili from across the circle, nodding.
Immediately Kili ran out, yelling, "Drop him!"
and bringing his sword up for battle.
"You what?" a troll sneered.
"I said," he commanded. "Drop him!" Before they could react, Thorin jumped out, the rest of the company following. Bilbo was thrown at Kili, knocking him to the ground. They charged at them, slicing whatever they could. Dwalin swung his hammer, easily knocking out a few of one of the troll's teeth. Bilbo quickly ran over to the ponies and sliced the rope that set them free.
A bit of a ways away now, Blair ran, looking this way and that for any sign of Gandalf, calling his name. Luckily, the sun was just beginning to rise, providing a faint light to shine upon the forest they had all found themselves in. She huffed, stopping to catch her breath, frustratingly. For all she knew, Bilbo and the company could be already be captured, or worse, eaten. She quickly pushed that thought away, and started to jog forward, before stopping again.
"This is pointless," she muttered. Who knew how far he'd travelled now? What if he left them all for good? She didn't hear the argument he had with Thorin. Whatever he said could've driven him away permanently. In a spur of the moment decision, she turned around, sprinting back to the troll camp. Gandalf couldn't save them now, so if they needed help, she would have to find a way. It didn't take long to find the camp, considering how loud and obnoxious the trolls were. What worried her, though, was what she heard them say.
"I've eaten plenty with their skins on!"
"Nonsense! They should be sautéed, with a sprinkle of sage."
"That does sound quite nice!"
Blair crept up behind a large boulder, peeking from behind. Immediately she saw multiple of the dwarves tied up around a large stick, slowly spinning around a fire. The rest were in little sacks, just their heads peeking out, and left in pile. Blair instinctively put a hand to her mouth. She quickly looked for Bilbo, breathing a sigh of relief when spotting him. The moment passed, and Blair sat behind the rock. She had to think. Surely she could do something to distract them! Then the perfect idea came to her. It was just a matter of pulling it off.
She cleared her throat as quietly as she could.
"That sounds horrible!" she shouted, making her voice as deep as it could go. She squeezed her eyes shut, praying they were dumb enough to believe the rouse.
"Oi! What'd you say?" the troll spinning the dwarves over the fire said.
"Huh?"
"You wanna see something horrible? Look in a mirror!" the cook dwarf yelled.
"I didn't say nothing!" the squeaky troll yelled back.
"Oh, shut up!" Blair shouted again. There was a moment of silence, her heart pounding, sure she was about to be caught.
"What'd you just say to me?"
"Quit your griping!"
"You started this in the first place!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Not!"
Blair carefully watched from behind the rock, a small smile coming to her face at the so far success of her plan. Now she just needed to somehow shine the rising sun on the trolls. She looked at the boulder, stepping back a tad bit. It was way too big for her to move by herself. She took a deep breath before attempting the push. She pushed the rock as hard as she could, her arms shaking from the effort, but the boulder didn't budge.
"Who's that?" she heard one of the trolls say.
Blair froze, holding her breath. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye she spotted a grey cloak and a wooden staff, coming towards her. She could barely hold in her shout of joy at the sight. Gandalf quickly came up to the boulder.
"You may want to step aside," he advised, getting on top of the rock and raising his staff.
"The dawn will take you all!" his voice boomed. With that, he brought down his staff, the large boulder cracking in two, allowing the sun to flood through. Immediately, the trolls began hissing and cracking, slowly each of their body parts turning to stone. Eventually, all three were complete stone statues, frozen in time. Blair looked on in awe.
"Oh, get your foot out of my back!" Dwalin yelled.
Before Blair could run up to them, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at Gandalf, who smiled down at her.
"That was quite the trick you played there," he said. Blair waved her hand.
"It was merely a distraction. You did all the work," she laughed.
"It never ceases to amaze me," he chuckled to himself, before making his way to the group. She watched him, quizzically, before following behind, running towards Bilbo.
"Bilbo! Thank god you're alright!" she said, helping him get out of his sack. Bilbo smiled back at her.
"Yes, I'm fine," he replied. "Was that you?"
"Was what me?" she asked.
"The voice! You distracted them, didn't you?"
Blair shrugged. As she gave Bilbo one final tug, lifting him out, she felt someone's gaze from behind her. She turned around, meeting Thorin's eyes. He gave her a small smile and nod. She faltered for a few moments, but then returned the smile, before turning back to Bilbo.
"Are you alright? You look a bit flushed! Are you coming down with something?" Bilbo questioned, worriedly.
"I'm more than fine," she grinned.