Emerge the Dragonborn | The Hobbit

Chapter 7 - Troll Supper

Anaynah, Fili and Kili stood silent as they stared, unblinking and unmoving. They did not stir when they heard the sound of Bilbo approaching them from their campsite, him looking very awkward as he tried to balance three bowls of stew in his arms.

Bilbo came up and wedged himself between Fili and Kili, Anaynah next to the younger brother. The Hobbit was confused when none of them reacted to him offering their supper, looking back and forth between the three.

"What's the matter?" Bilbo inquired.

"Well..." Anaynah began.

"We're supposed to be looking after the ponies." Kill started as he continued to stare into the nothingness before him.

"Only we've encountered a slight problem." Film continued as he glanced in Bilbo's direction, the Hobbit twisting his head to each of them that spoke.

"We had sixteen..." Anaynah added, the air turning grim.

"Now there's fourteen."

______

A panic started to form. The four of them did a thorough search of the clearing where the rest of the ponies remained. Anaynah moved swiftly, searching for any clue she could manage to find. And sure as luck she did.
As she covered the area she saw that a handful of trees had been trampled on, pushed over and even completely uprooted.
A puffed-out Fili jogged up beside her, his eyes widened as he stared at the alarming scene before them.

"I do not like the look of this," Anaynah said as they exchanged a glance. They both knew the ponies had not just wandered off. They were taken, by something very large and dangerous.

"Daisy and Bungle are missing," Kili stated as he came marching down towards them also taking notice of the uprooted trees, Bilbo too following.

"That is not good." The Hobbit then saw the sight before them too, "That is not good at all! Should we tell Thorin?" He suggested in worry as he gestured to the scene with his hand that still carried the bowls of stew.

"Uhh, no," Fili said quickly, the three sharing a panicked look. Fili did not want to suffer the wrath of his uncle when he found out that they had failed to do their simple task while they were off being childish, "Let's not worry him. As our official burglar, we thought that you might like to look into it."

"Well uh," Bilbo started as he began to inspect the trees, "it looks as if something big uprooted these trees."

"That was our thinking." Said Kili and he followed behind Bilbo who approached Anaynah's side.

"It's something very big, and possibly quite dangerous," Bilbo concluded as he fell silent.

"I would say most definitely." Anaynah corrected as she looked down at the Hobbit. Only then did she notice Bilbo was still trying to balance the three bowls of stew.

"Hey, there's a light." Fili hunkered lower, pointing past the trees deeper into the woods, "Over here, stay down." he beckoned the others to follow him. They moved swiftly, reaching a fallen fall where they all crouched down to inspect the area ahead of them.
Anaynah's eyes focused on the light in the distance that seemed to be coming from a bonfire. Harsh laughter was booming in the distance. Anaynah sighed in irritation as they all realised what lay before them.

"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered in frustration, Bilbo sending a bewildered look her way.

"What is it?" the Hobbit asked, fear tickling its way into all of their hearts.

"Trolls," Kili spat with disdain. The brothers and Anaynah took off in the direction of the commotion to get a better view.

The Ranger, however, halted in her tracks when she noticed Bilbo was not following them anymore. She was baffled to see that he had turned around only to retrieve bowls of soup he was adamant about delivering.