Two weeks. It had only been two weeks. But they were the most painful two weeks I had felt in a very long time.
Azog continued his pursuit in the company, drawing closer every day.
They took great pleasure in torturing me constantly. I wore a Titanium cuff on my wrist at all time to extinguish my abilities, therefore my true form remained unconcealed.
The cuff burned my skin unendingly leaving an unfading red circle were the cuff rested. Sometimes it was difficult not to scream or at least groan in pain from the cuff, but I would give Azog no such pleasure. I was however grateful it was only a cuff.
My father was forced to wear a muzzle before he was killed. He bravely fought back after my little brother died, but it was in vain...
The hardest time was at night though. Every night when they set up camp was the prime time to hurt me. They would beat me, kick me, and chain me up like a dog. They didn't even treat their own dogs so horrid.
On the rarest night when I was given something to eat, it would mostly be the tiny scraps that clung to the bones even the Wargs would not eat.
I did not fight back though, how could I fight back? I had been taken by the very creatures who wiped out my entire race, and would very likely die by the hand of their leader. I freely decided not to fight back. I guess the self-preservation instinct told me I would suffer worse if I tried.
If anyone from the Company were to see me now, no doubt I would be unrecognizable. Not just physically by my appearance; but pretty much everything else. Around them, I tried to act more strong, confident, and free-thinking, but none of those qualities dared appear anymore. I was trapped in a brainwashed shell with every ounce of fight in me drained away like rain in a river.
I did sleep though, but I had to be very cautious when I slept. I did not dare sleep during the day; since even the first day Azog had me riding with him on his white Warg. I only slept at night when the Orcs chose to sleep, and were too bored to torment me at that time, and even then I always had to wake up before them, or they would beat me awake.
I think the only thing that kept my will from breaking was the thought of the Company. I had hope with every time we rested, they kept running, making our considerable gain lessen and lessen.
I hoped they were safe; I especially hoped he was safe. My thoughts always seemed to dwindle on the hobbit that held my heart. Until recently I was convinced my heart could not be stolen, but he did.
I wondered how often he thought of me.
Bilbo's POV
Two weeks we've been running. Two weeks ago Tanya was taken. It was sort of an unspoken rule not to talk about it though. We all knew she was suffering. I didn't want to imagine the things they were doing to her. Out of all of us though, Gandalf seemed the most affected.
He always had this look of forlorn lostness. He didn't speak much, but when he did it was authorizing and cold. It made sense he would react as such though; he knew Tanya longer than any of us.
On the second day Ori and Dori had were heard gossiping about how they wondered about her tortured state, wondering if it was their faults.
When Gandalf heard them, he had muttered that history was repeating itself.
I knew she once had a family, she told us about her parents and siblings. She also told us they had died when she was young, yet refused to reveal how.
Unfortunately, Gandalf had revealed the circumstances the night she was taken.
I understood now why she was so afraid of Azog and orcs in general.
***
Night time was just barely at an end when I heard the orcs had caught up to us. Gandalf insisted that I should go look, being the burglar and all, and everyone agreed with their newfound trust in me.
I climbed over a high ledge and peeked over some rocks that kept me hidden if they looked my way. I saw them alright, on the other side, with only a gorge that separated up. Azog and his Warg Scouts were running along a ridgeline, gong at such a pace I momentarily wondered if they would pass us.
Then I saw her.
I knew it had to be Tanya riding in front of Azog, but she looked so different. Her hair was completely white like fresh snow, and skin, while also incredibly white, was noticeably less bright than her hair, more like a pearl.
I was pulled from my thoughts when the orcs stopped moving to smell the air. Azog was looking on my side of the gorge, and for a second I thought he might have seen me before I could duck down.
Not finding anything, they continued on their way. I watched them go, but I saw Tanya looking in my direction as I was looking in hers. As the orcs moved forward, her head kept turning right where I was, and I knew without a doubt she was looking directly at me.
Suddenly, I heard a snarl to the left of me, and I swept behind the rocks. Slowly, I peeked out and saw what I was sure was a large bear watching Azog from another cluster of rocks, snarling softly.
Not wanting either groups to find me, I snuck away, back to the company.
I ran my way down the rocks to where the dwarves and Gandalf are waiting to hear my spy report, and yes, I am calling myself a spy.
"How close is the pack?" Thorin asked immediately, before I had even gotten all the way back down.
"Too close." I panted. "A couple of leagues, no more, but that is not the worst of it." Everyone surrounded me to hear.
"Was Tanya with them?" Balin asked quickly, disregarding the second bit I said. He and Tanya always were on friendly terms.
"Yes." I said. "At least I think it was her. But there's something else." I continued, trying to get the ball rolling back to where I had left off.
"Have the Wargs picked up our scent?" Dwalin asked worriedly.
I shook my head no. "Not yet, but they will; we have another problem."
"Did they see you?" Gandalf asked from behind me. I didn't answer immediately, so he jumped right to the- "They saw you!"
"No, that's not it." I said, scrunching my face in annoyance.
Gandalf then smiled and turned to the dwarves, I guess not caring that I had something to say. "What did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse. Excellent burglar material." He said proudly, to which the dwarves chuckled loudly in appreciation of me.
I might have been flattered, but I could not help but look exasperated that no one was hearing me out. "Will you listen- Will you just listen? I'm trying to tell you there is something else out there." I finally said while pointing up to where I had just been spying.
Everyone fell silent and I just stood in the center of a sea of worried faces.
"What form did it take? Like a bear?" Gandalf asked slowly.
"Ye..." I paused and looked curiously at Gandalf, who was either a really good guesser, or he knew something we didn't. "Y- yes. But bigger, much bigger."
"You knew about this beast?" Bofur non-accusingly asked. Gosh, Bofur was just such a nice guy, I must say. Really, he was just so nice.
Gandalf turned around and walked a few steps away, out of the dwarf circle surrounding me.
"I say we double back." Bofur suggested immediately.
"And be run down by a pack of Orcs." Thorin pointed out.
I would prefer not to get run down, if we could help it.
"There is a house," Gandalf said from his brooding spot before turning back around to us. "It's not far from here, where we might take refuge."
"Whose house?" Thorin asked skeptically, against a rock wall, with his arms folded. Wow, and I thought Gandalf had a brooding spot. "Are they friend or foe?"
"Neither." Gandalf responded. "He will help us, or he will kill us."
Well this sounded fun. Was there by any chance, a nicer, third option?
The dwarves all exchanged matched looks of dismay, while I just stood there thinking.
"What choice do we have?" Thorin skeptically asked again.
Suddenly, a roar from said bear split the night behind us, and we all ducked down in case it was there about to pounce.
The wizard stared beyond us. "None."
~
We had been running since then, letting Gandalf lead us. We ran out of the Eerie, through plains with lovely purple and white flowers, and across streams with slippery rocks too.
"Come on!" Gandalf urged us.
As we ran through a forest, we could unmistakably hear Azog and his orcs racing through the forest too.
Honestly, with all we had been kicking up, I was surprised they had not found us sooner, like in the plain with the flowers.
Everyone without exception stop suddenly when an ear-splitting roar sounded nearby. Not only had the orcs found us, it would seem.
Again, while their presence was not wanted, I was not surprised.
"This way, quickly!" Gandalf yelled to us as he started running again.
I noticed Bombur unmoving, and looking on in shock until he is pulled along from Thorin by his beard loop.
I could see the exit to the forest just after we jumped over this huge uprooted tree.
I did see a house too, surrounded by a hedge in the middle of a plain.
"To the house!" Gandalf urged. "Run!"
We ran in almost a straight line across the plain; and I saw Bombur, the fattest dwarf, outrunning all of us, probably in his fear to save his bacon. What a never-ending day this was turning out to be.
We were able to make it to the gate in the hedge alive, and Gandalf stood there to make sure everyone else got in. "Come on, get inside!"
We ran to the front door of the house,which was closed of course. Bombur, who reached the doors first, full on threw himself against it, but fell flat on his back when the door didn't budge. When the rest of us caught up, apparently the best plan the dwarves had was to begin throwing themselves against the double doors, trying to open it.
I looked back where we had come from, just as a massive bear broke out from the edge of the forest, running at full speed towards us.
"Open the door!" Gandalf shouted.
"Quickly!" Thorin added.
Thorin pushed through the dwarves and alone managed to raise the exterior bolt, which opened the doors.
Without a second thought, the entire company bolted inside the house, and the dwarves tried to slam the doors shut, but the bear has already gotten its head inside. A wave of fear struck me as I was so close to its huge mouth and teeth.
As the bear roared and tried to push its way inside, the dwarves yelled and strained to close it.
I pulled out my sword and pointed it unsteadily at the bear in case it did.
"Come on, lads!" Dwalin said to the other dwarves pressed against the doors, and with a final heave, they manage to close it and drop the bolt across it, with the bear outside.
There was a moment after, when we forgot all the shock, fear, and tiredness, and just took a much needed breath of relief.
"What is that?" Ori asked in disbelief.
"That...is our host." Gandalf said immediately.
We all turned to Gandalf in bewilderment, and he just looked down with a smirk. "His name is Beorn, and he is a skin-changer."
Oin checked his hearing trumpet to make sure he has heard Gandalf correctly, but he was the only one with a hearing disability who could pull of that excuse.
"You mean like Tanya?" I asked.
Gandalf looked back and shook his head. "No, not like Tanya. She can be anything at will, but not Beorn. The bear most of the time as a mind of its own."
Gandalf moved further into the house, where I noticed two cows also inside with us, chewing on yellow hay which littered the floor, not caring at all about a noisy group of strangers just waltzing in, or a giant bear who was trying to claw them to death.
"Sometimes he's a huge black bear; sometimes he's a great strong man. The bear is unpredictable, but the man can be reasoned with." Gandalf explained. "However, he is not overfond of dwarves."
Then thank the Ilúvatar I was a hobbit.
Ori peaked out a crack in the door to spy on Beorn. "He's leaving!" He reported with his ear pressed to the door.
As his brother, Dori pulled him away in a panic, I moved where Ori was to see for myself, and sighed in relief as I saw the bear-man walking away.
"Come away from there!" Dori hissed. "It's not natural, none of it. He ain't like Tanya, it's obvious; he's under some dark spell."
"Don't be a fool," Gandalf muttered as he walked right up to Dori. "He's under no enchantment but his own."
I was starting to notice how Dori had a bad habit of putting his feet in his mouth, but I wondered if anyone else noticed too.
"Alright now, get some sleep, all of you. You'll be safe here tonight." Gandalf said after taking off his wizard hat. Hours of running for my life had made me a wee bit exhausted.
Everyone started to spread out through the house, searching for a manageable sleeping place, yet I still heard Gandalf's quiet whisper to himself, "I hope."
***
A few hours passed, some snacks were nibbled, and relaxation mode was engaged. I tried to rest as well as I could, but was much as I tried, nothing was able to lull me away to the other side of the water.
I was laying on top of an old blanket that covered my spot over a pile of bright golden hay, with my arms tucked under my head and one leg crossed onto the opposite knee, humming an old spring song from home that was stuck in my head.
Fili and Bofur were laying close to me, having a quiet conversation which I ignored for the most part, until I heard Bofur ask, "Hey, what do you think Tanya would say if she were here right now?"
Suddenly my ears pricked up and I turned to look over my shoulder.
Fili thought for a minute before giving a sort of half-smile and responding with, "Probably some outlandish facts about things no one's heard of. Like, 'I know a man who owned a chicken that could play tic-tac-toe'."
Bofur laughed at that before mulling it over himself. "Or maybe she'd talk about the different lands she's been to, like 'I've been to a country where dogs have no noses'."
What would Tanya be doing if she were here right now?
Then Bofur looked over his feet at me, in a default relaxing position. "What do you think Bilbo?" He asked.
It was no secret how close the two of us had become, and truthfully, I had thought constantly about what Tanya might say or do if she were here with me. It mostly consisted of holding my hand or playing one of her games. I really liked her games.
"I really have no idea." I muttered as I stared up at the wooden ceiling. "That's her thing though, to leave people having no idea." Really, I just didn't want to talk about it. I had seen her this very morning, and I know she had seen me. I thought it would be a sort of relief to know she was alive and so close, but nothing in this world had hurt me more.
Whatever spell she had put me under in the last few months I'd known her had changed me as a person.
"Oh why can't you play the game with us?" Fili pleaded. "She would find a way for us to have a laugh."
I don't doubt it.
"You know, you've been in a sour mood since the day she was taken." Bofur noticed as he nudged me with his foot.
"Really? I had no idea." I muttered as I rolled over away from them as to say I was done talking. Could they not tell that I didn't feel like chatting?
"I heard hobbits were incredibly nice and polite." I heard him say to Fili.
Clearly he'd never been to a Best Garden Contest- one of the most important, cutthroat, and brutal competitions in Hobbiton. Families have been fractured, blood-feuds sworn, and countless casseroles thrown out to feed the pigs rather than been eaten- which in hobbit culture is an incredibly vicious insult.
In fact, it has been known for a hobbit to take a tea-kettle and bash a goblin to death with it for daring to uproot their prize-winning roses (said hobbit may-or-may not have been my youngest aunt, but I hold my silence for her). The point is, you do not mess with the Gardening contest, but most importantly, you do not get caught messing with the Gardening contest.
No doubt Tanya would have thought it sounded fun. Knowing her, she would very much enjoy watching these contests.
Selfishly, ideas started flooding in my head, and I started to wonder and dream about her living in Hobbiton with me when our quest had ended. I could bring her home, and we could be together. She could wear bright dresses, we could take long walks, I could give her flowers and kisses whenever I wanted.
I'd even marry her if I got the chance.
I would.