A Shot in the Dark (Thilbo - Bagginshield)

Chapter 33

The days began to blur together.

They walked on and on but Mirkwood continued to stretch unending before them. Winter began to grow stronger until snow blanketed everything in sight while the trees became nothing more than skeletons. Their supplies began to dwindle and if not for Beorn and Tauriel, then Bilbo were not sure how he would have found food and fresh water. The only silver lining he could find in their travel was that they had yet to encounter any sort of Orcs or other dangers.

"Do you think it's odd that we haven't sighted any Orcs?" he asked his comrades one day as they rested for their noon break.

"The patrols in Mirkwood would not allow any Orcs through," Tauriel explained as she worked on brushing her thick hair out.

"Unless they are an army with Goblins and Wargs along for the ride," Bard interjected without looking up from his bow that he was cleaning.

Tauriel smacked him on the knee with her comb before returning to her task. "It was safer and smarter to allow the army through Mirkwood than attempting to stop them with the few soldiers we had at the time. By letting them through, we could herd them towards our main forces and eliminate them there."

"Were there any stragglers?" Beorn asked as he watched Tauriel brush her hair with a look of wonder. Bilbo had a feeling that the shape-shifter had never even seen a comb in his life before if his own knotted hair was any indication.

"If there were then the scouts would've taken them out," Bilbo realized as he played with his beads. "I suppose that explains why we would not have seen any since we left Erebor."

"Actually, our scouts did report something odd," Tauriel added as she paused in her brushing and looked up at them all with a wrinkle between her brows. "Before they entered Mirkwood, the armies split up; one group went into Mirkwood while another headed off to the south. Our scouts tracked them but eventually left them alone when it became clear they had no intention of going into our territory."

"Wait, you mean a part of that army is still out there somewhere?" Bard summarized as he looked up from his bow with wide eyes. "What the hell is wrong with all of you? How could you let them wander off so easily? They could be attacking another kingdom now!"

"It wasn't my decision to make," the Elf defended with a dark scowl. "The king ordered us to leave them be and focus on the forces traveling through Mirkwood. They were a bigger concern to him than the Orcs outside of the kingdom."

Bilbo felt himself turning cold and it had nothing to do with the weather. "If part of the army withdrew then we didn't really face the full power of the Orcs in the battle. That's why Thorin and Kíli and Fíli are still alive; because the enemy was weaker this time around. And now that I think back on it, we lost a lot more forces and even more were severely injured the first time."

Tauriel and Bard stared at him with mirror expressions of horror while Beorn released a deep breath through his nose. "If the remaining forces went south, then there is only one place they must be going to," the bear said slowly as he met the Hobbit's eyes with his own narrowed pair.

He swallowed and nodded. "Mordor."

"But why would they split their forces up like that? Why not stay together and crush us?" Tauriel asked as she looked between the shape-shifter and burglar.

"Because someone told them not to," Bard replied quietly as his hands began to shake. "Someone knew they would lose and didn't want to waste so many soldiers on a defeat. Someone who knew exactly what would happen and has been making plans just like you from the start."