Moon

Chapter 5: When Smells Attack

*Edited*

"Why does it still smell like troll?" moaned Moon, covering her face with her hair again. "Two are turned to stone and the other is a pile of ash! Ugh, the hair isn't helping. It smells like whatever filth we've been lying in for the past hour," she said angrily.

Moon absolutely hated trolls, and being around their scent for such a long period of time was starting to affect her. She considered getting a tattoo that read: CAUTION- When exposed to trolls for over an hour, violence and death may occur; right across her forehead. I know that if she stuck by that rule, a million tattoos would cover her body.

"They could not have traveled in daylight. There must be a cave nearby. Moon-" said Gandalf, but she was already on it.

"Troll horde, that way!" she said, sounding distinctly like she was gagging.

Balin patted her shoulder sympathetically and the rest of the dwarves had to practically drag her in the direction of the horde.

As they walked into the cave, Moon stumbled backwards and gasped. The putrid smell was overpowering. Her head pounded and her nostrils stung. Smoke curled from her nose as her body tried to clean itself.

She had only stood in the room for a couple of minutes, and she was preparing to bolt when Gandalf called her name. Moon huffed, took a deep breath and trotted further into the hole that smelt like death in a box.

"Look," said he. It was a polished silver elven sword. The hilt had been crafted with a small sun upon it, and an emerald glowed at the base of it. Tendrils of silver snaked around the hilt before melding with the solid blade. It was a truly beautiful weapon. ((side picture))

"I shall keep it. Perhaps, when Lord Elrond and I cross paths again, I will ask him her name."

"Her?" asked Thorin.

"Her," she confirmed, refusing to elaborate further. She shot a subtle and horribly failed wink at Gandalf, who shook his head in amusement.

It was very likely that Moon would see the beloved Lord Elrond again, for that was where they were headed. Without the dwarves knowing, of course. He also kind of halfway adopted her, so it was a very high chance she would see him again.

Moon walked calmly out if the cave, a new scent hitting her nose as the troll odor fled from her senses.

"Gandalf," she said quietly as he talked with Bilbo.

"Gandalf," she said a little louder. No response.

"Gandalf!" she cried, and he looked at her in surprise. "Something's coming." The smell was familiar, but she could not place it.

A man on a sleigh pulled by rabbits shot out of the undergrowth.

"THIEVES! FIRE! MURDER!" shouted the brown wizard. She could now smell the pungent stench of animal feces radiating off him. Definitely Radagast.

"Radagast. Radagast the Brown, what are you doing here?"

He opened his mouth in excitement, but closed it again, his expression changing to that of confusion. Moon face-palmed in amusement at the forgetfulness of her old friend as he opened and closed his mouth once more, looking like a dead fish.

"Oh I had a thought, but I've just lost it! It was right there, on the tip of my tongue!" he cried. A look of shock etched itself into his wrinkled features.

"It's not a thought at all!" he said, sounding muffled. "It's a silly old," Gandalf plucked a long, stick-looking bug from Radagast's mouth and Moon giggled,"stick insect."

The dwarves were visibly flustered, and were clearing their throats and shifting from foot to foot amount other various nervous habits of which I haven't the rudeness to list.

Moon plugged her ears as to not accidentally listen in on the two wizards private conversation. It didn't really help much, as she could smell their increasing worry and nervousness.

She silently cursed her enhanced senses. Though another, more worrisome and rancid odor invaded her nose. Orcs. She sprang into action as a warg leapt over Thorin. She pulled out her new elven sword and had lodged it in the beasts neck.

Before she could pull out the stunning blade, Kili had shot the next down and Dwalin finished it off.

"Who did you tell of your quest beyond your kin?" asked Gandalf.

"No one," replied Thorin.

"Who did you tell!?" demanded the old wizard.

"No one, I swear. What in Durin's name is going on?"

A deep growl reverberated throughout Moon's chest as Gandalf said,"You are being hunted."

"I can draw them off," piped in Radagast.

"These are Gungdabad Wargs, they will outrun you," said Gandalf.

A look of determination set itself into the wizards features. "These are Rhoskabell Rabbits. I'd like to see them try."

As Radagast disappeared in the underbrush Gandalf put a hand on her shoulder. "It is time." The company trotted off after Radagast as soon as the words were out of Gandalf's mouth.

She heaved a sigh and stopped fighting. Her muscled relaxed before suddenly seizing and rearranging. Her bones ground and snapped. Her skin hardening and turning blue and scaly. Within a matter of seconds, a full blown ice-breathing dragon stood where Moon once had. The others had already gone.

A mighty roar of relief and rage filled her throat. She burst over the tree tops and landed in front of the company, not wanting her wings damaged.

She breathed ice, freezing some if the wargs and their riders in place.

"Why is the damned creature fighting for us?" shouted Dwalin.

"I don't know! But I'll take it!" said Bofur, knowing exactly who it was and wholeheartedly accepting the help.

Moon's hide could be pierced by regular arrows if they were heavy enough, because she was not a real dragon, just a skin-changer. Therefore, she roared in pain when a storm of arrows rained down on her, drawing red, dripping blood.

"This way you fools!" cried Gandalf. He locked eyes with Moon and she shook her head once. She would meet them in Rivendell. If she did not make it, then so be it.

She cried out in pain as an Orc slid its blade down the thin membrane of her wing, shredding it. She lashed out with her tail just as Lord Elrond and a number of elven warriors rode in and helped her defeat the orcs.

The elves stood back from her as she swayed. Not being able to keep the dragon within from shying away from the pain, she snapped violently back into a human, the arrows embedded in her skin scraping eerily against her shifting bones.

"Ithilien," said Lord Elrond. [Moon's elven name]

"Ada," she whimpered before going limp. He gently placed her on his steed and they rode swiftly to Imladris.