“Never mind the seasoning; we ain’t got all night! Dawn ain’t far away, so let’s get a move on. I don’t fancy being turned to stone.” Tom snapped as he turned the stake with half of the dwarves roasting on it as Bilbo heard the main point of what the Troll had just said. Turned to stone? He got an idea, maybe he could buy them more time. Dawn couldn't be too far away he thought. Struggling at first he managed to get to his feet and jump forward.
“Wait! You are making a terrible mistake.” He cried out gaining everyone's attention as Thorin just glared at the hobbit. Wondering what else could this Hobbit do to make things any worse.
“You can’t reason with them, they’re half-wits!” Dori called out from the stake as it was being turned consistently.
“Half-wits? What does that make us?” Bofur responded slightly offended as the three Trolls just glared down at Bilbo.
“Uh, I meant with the, uh, with, uh, with the seasoning.” Bilbo quickly thought off as he frowned to himself slightly before nodded trying to convince the monsters.
“What about the seasoning?” Bert asked as he came closer towards Bilbo bending down, almost too interesting in what he had to say. Bilbo was personally rather uncomfortable with how close the Troll was, but he couldn't exactly explain, since he needed to focus on a plan to buy time for the sun to arrive and turn them to stone.
“Well have you smelt them? You’re going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up.” Bilbo sneered as from behind the dwarves were all calling him a traitor and threatening to kill him. Though if they didn't get out of this alive it wouldn't matter. Thorin was ready to kill Bilbo as he squirmed harder in his sack trying to get out so he could ring Bilbo's neck. The other dwarves who were closer to Bilbo were quickly him roughly from behind in the sacks as he turned round and glared at them, before he looked back up to the Trolls.
“What do you know about cooking dwarf?” Tom sneered down at Bilbo before he was cut off by his brother.
“Shut up, and let the, uh, flurgaburburrahobbit talk.” Bert gave a smile, his rotten teeth made Bilbo want to gag as he gave a slight nod though he wanted nothing more than to just run.
“Uh, th--the secret to cooking dwarf is, um--” Bilbo began, his mind started to block as he panicked slightly. What if he couldn't think of anything and his plan failed? He worried a little.
“Yes? Come on." Bert encouraged giving him a prod almost making Bilbo fall back over but he jumped to keep his balance.
"It’s, uh--” He muttered trying hard to think. THINK BILBO! He cried out in his head. He knew all their lives depended on him to think on a plan to get them out of here.
“Tell us the secret.” Bert kept encouraging
“Ye--yes, I’m telling you, the secret is … to skin them first!” Bilbo shouted out before he gasped realizing what he had just told the Trolls, wincing knowing that he would be dead meat as soon as they were all free.
“Tom, get me the filleting knife.” Bert told his brother as the other Dwarves erupted in threats and anger.
“If I get you, you little--” Gloin shouted as he gulped
“I won’t forget that!” Dwalin cursed as it made Bilbo slightly more scared. He made sure not to look over to see that Thorin was fuming and was murdering Bilbo with his very piercing blue eyes.
“What a load of rubbish! I’ve eaten plenty with their skins on. Scuff them, I say, boots and all.” Tom hissed as in the distance Bilbo saw Gandalf slipping behind a few trees rather nearby as he felt a sudden wave of relief knowing that help was on its way. Though he wasn't exactly sure on how much longer he would have to distract the Trolls.
“'e’s right! Nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf! Nice and crunchy.” William chuckled evilly as he grabbed Bombur in one of the sack and dangles him upside down over his mouth, about to eat him. Bombur was crying out as the others were calling out his name in protest.
“Not--not that one, he--he’s infected!” Bilbo quickly shouted out as all the Trolls frowned and looked at him with wide eyes.
“You what?”
“Yeah, He’s got worms in his … tubes.” Bilbo frowned not making any sense to himself shrugging as the Troll William shrieks in disgust before he flung Bombur back towards the pile of Dwarves in the sacks in disgust. As Bombur landed on the rest of the company they all groaned from his weight and the impact.
“In--in fact they all have, they’re in--infested with parasites. It’s a terrible business; I wouldn’t risk it, I really wouldn’t.” Bilbo tried to convince them, thinking that this would be the best way to save them. Make it sound like they were all sick and infested with parasites and maybe they won't even have to worry about being eaten.
“Parasites, did he say parasites?” Oin shouted out.
“We don’t have parasites! You have parasites!” Kili snapped out towards Bilbo.
“What are you talking about, laddie?” Gloin hissed. The rest of the dwarves chime in about how they don’t have parasites and how Bilbo is a fool. Bilbo rolls his eyes as the dwarves mess up his plan. Thorin suddenly understands Bilbo’s plan as he gave a sharp kick to the others. They all look up at him then understand and go along with it. All the dwarves begin proclaiming about how they’re “riddled” with parasites.
“I’ve got parasites as big as my arm.”
“Mine are the biggest parasites, I’ve got huge parasites!”
“We’re riddled.”
“Yes, I’m riddled.”
“Yes we are. Badly!”
“What would you have us do, then, let ‘em all go?” Tom snapped down at Bilbo as he shrugged making it look like he was thinking about it.
“Well...”
“You think I don’t know what you’re up to? This little ferret is taking us for fools!” Tom snapped towards the other Trolls as they all nodded in agreement.
“Ferret?” Bilbo repeated offended. But before they went to grab Bilbo once again to shut him up, they all looked up in the distance sniffing the air. The dwarves frowned as Bilbo looked behind him to see nothing. He looked back to see the Trolls whimpering slightly. All the dwarves were suddenly confused as they held their noses like they smelt something they didn't like.
"Tom, do you smell what I smell?" Bert shrieked as they all nodded and heard a sudden rustling of the bushes as they hide behind the stake shaking at what was coming out of the bushes. Before Artemis stumbled forward, her weight balancing mainly on her good leg, her sword in her right hand as the three Trolls just stared at her. She was panting and sweat beading down her face.
It was then that Fili, Kili and Bilbo noticed how pale and sick she looked. They noticed her wounded leg and gasped slightly. They hadn't know that Artemis was sick because they had been on duty for looking after the ponies.
"I thought she was a ---" Before they could say that she had the scent of the dragon one of the Trolls grinned happily to see the rips in her pants.
"Look, she is dying from dragon poison" They grinned evilly as the rest of the dwarves gasped. Dragon poison! Thorin just stared at Artemis shocked, was she attacked by a dragon, was that even possible! HOW! One of the Trolls went to go grab her as she swung her sword, the tip of the blade making contact with his skin. He howled as his hand erupted in flames, before his hand turned to ash. Artemis gasped at the sudden strength from her sword as she dropped the handle. It was burning through her gloves, and she couldn't hold the weight no longer.
Thorin couldn't take his eyes off her wondering, what more did she have under her sleeves. She was full of surprises as he watched her lean against a tree before her leg gave way as she was on her knees looking up with a slight smile on her face. He followed her direction and a grin erupted on his own face. Gandalf.
“The dawn will take you all!” Gandalf shouted as he stood on a rock above them.
“Who’s that?” Bert asked.
"No idea.” Tom replied shrugging
“Can we eat 'im too?” William asked foolishly as Gandalf strikes the rock with his staff, splitting it in half, allowing the sunlight behind it to pour into the clearing. When the sunlight touches the trolls’ skin, they begin turning into stone amidst loud screams and howls of pain. Within seconds, there are three stone statues of trolls in the clearing. All the dwarves cheer for Gandalf. Of course, the dwarves on the spit, including Dwalin, still look uncomfortable.
“Oh, get your foot out of my back!” Dwalin complained. Thorin chuckled slightly before he turned back to look at Artemis but felt his heart twist when he saw her not moving unconscious lying on the ground. Once all the dwarves were set free, Oin and Thorin made their way straight over to Artemis, Thorin carefully not touching the blade sheathed her sword, she starting to feel a death cold.
"Gandalf!" Thorin called as he walked his way over. He looked pained as he glanced at her wound. Thorin watched his reaction from pained go to fear. He placed his hand over her wound muttering a few words but not much improvement seemed to affect the wound as he sighed.
"She needs proper medicine. I can only stop the poison for a little while" Gandalf whispered to Thorin as he nodded. Gandalf looked down at the young girl before waved his staff over her. Thorin gasped as he saw her shrink to dwarf size as he looked back up at Gandalf.
"To help. We will have to carry her" He informed before he got to his feet and walked off. Thorin couldn’t bring himself to tear his eyes away from her as he gave her soft cold hand a gentle squeeze before he followed on after her.
Gandalf walks to one of the troll statues and thumps it with his staff, with a pleased smile on his face as Thorin walked after him.
“Where did you go to, if I may ask?” Thorin asked Gandalf as he looked down to the dwarf.
“To look ahead.” Gandalf responded with a small smile, though as he looked over to see Oin treating Artemis he felt guilty and rather worried.
“What brought you back?” Thorin questioned.
“Looking behind. Nasty business. Still, they are all in one piece.” Gandalf responded simply. As Gandalf and Thorin kept on their talk privately Artemis woke up, with the welcoming ice cold cloth on her forehead as Oin greeted her with a smile.
"How bad is it?" Her voice was weak and croaky, as she whimpered to her stupidity.
"Not going to lie, it's pretty bad" He whispered before he bit his lip, he wanted to know how she had gotten dragon poison in her body.
"Dragon claws. Dragon claws have poison on them" Artemis simply responded as he just nodded, thought deep down he wanted to know more as did the rest of the company as they heard her words, or shared it with the others who were too far to hear her speak. It made the dwarves wonder what Artemis does at night. Fili and Kili both separated from the group slightly to make a plan.
They foolishly planned to follow her one night she planned to go running off. They knew it would be breaking the contract and her one request. But being young and foolish they wondered if they could actually find out what she did, was she a dragon slayer or something. Was that what she meant about they needed her to finish the quest? They didn't care they just knew that the next time Artemis ran off at night, they were going to follow her……