for all the gold || hobbit {completed}

chapter ten - milk and spiders

It took us a good few hours to climb down from the mountain peak, struggling down steep slopes and neglected trail paths. The eagles may have saved our lives, but they had not thought to drop us off in a more reasonable place. Or even one much closer to our destination. By the time we climbed down enough to join the rest of the forest, I was aching for sleep, aching for some breakfast, and aching to burn down the rest of this damned forest. If it wasn't the steep paths that slowed us down, it was the constant need to untangle ourselves from various over-hanging branches.

But we were running out of time. The eagles may have flown us a good few leagues east, but the warg pack was still on foot, and, now and then, we could catch their howls in the distance. Growing in both number and volume.

Our situation may have been dire, but Oakenshield, at least, had the sense - and Balin's insistence - to give us the order eventually to rest up. Being half-chewed up by a warg had taken its toll, even with wizard healing, and so when the leader sat heavily down, so too did the rest of us. Without even bothering to unstrap my shield from my back, I fell backwards into a cosy enough pile of leaves, folding my arms across my chest and closing my eyes just briefly enough to catch a few winks of sleep...-

But then another sound came. Louder this time. My eyes flung open and the other dwarves too started.

It was not a warg that was for certain, and it was not an eagle. It sounded almost like a-

"Bear?" Ori, next to me, whispered. Somehow saving his and his brother's lives had raised me further in his expectations. He was sitting beside me, scratching absently into the ground when the sudden noise caught his attention.

I sat up just as the hobbit ran into view. While the rest of us had taken to sitting around, the Halfling had been sent off to scout the area. And whatever had made that noise he must have seen it as the colour had drained completely from his face.

"How far is the pack?" Oakenshield asked, already back on his feet.

"Too close!" The hobbit replied. "A couple of leagues, no more." My hand slipped back to my belt which mercifully my sword was still strapped to.

"But that's not the worst of it," the hobbit added, quickly.

"Have the wargs picked up our scent?" Dwalin asked.

"Not yet," the hobbit replied. "But they will do. We have another problem." The company drew closer to him, our breath baited - what could be an ever worse problem than a pack of wargs in close proximity to us? What of the noise?

"Did they see you?" the wizard asked. "They saw you!"

"No, that's not it..."

"What did I tell you?" the wizard said, pleased as punch. "Quiet as a mouse. Excellent burglar material."

Some of the dwarves murmured happily among themselves, seemingly oblivious to the hobbit's concern. While I did not care too much for the hobbit's nerves, I at least wanted to know what the other problem was. I loudly shushed them, but the hobbit was already calling for silence.

"Will you listen?" he cried. "Will you just listen? I'm trying to tell you that there is something else out there!"

"Like what?" I said, barely concealing my impatience.

"What form did it take?" the wizard asked. "Like a bear?"

"Ye- yes," the hobbit said, "but bigger. Much bigger."

So it was a bear after all. Little Ori was right. But bears weren't too dangerous, were they? Weren't they just great, lumbering beasts who kept themselves to themselves?