The Last of the Guardians Part 2 - A Hobbit Fan Fiction

Chapter 2 - The Lost Home

Nema had taken the watch by the time the big bear returned to his home. He was not a bear anymore, but a man, bare-chested and with a mass of shaggy black hair that grew in knots over his scalp and down his back. A heavy manacle encircled his left wrist, a manacle Nema recognised, and she shrank back into the shadows of the tree.

The bear man paused by the beehives lining the path and lifted the lid to peek inside one. A bee flew up and rested for a moment on his finger, then returned to its hive.

"As I recall, you stole a horse from me," the man said, without looking up.

The Guardian sighed and dropped to the ground. "Then you should also recall that I stole the horse after saving your life."

"Aye," he smiled, turning around to face her, "that you did." He opened his arms to embrace her, but Nema stepped back, shaking her head.

"I am not a little girl anymore, Beorn," she protested.

Beorn lowered his arms. "So I can see," he said, his eyes roving over her wings. "When did you Change?"

"Three nights past."

"You reek of orc already. What fight have you thrown yourself into now?"

"One that does not concern skin-changers like you," Sîor said before Nema could reply. He dropped from the tree and landed in a protective crouch in front of his fellow Guardian. "Nemaiza we do not socialise with his kind. Let the dwarves deal with him. It is they who roost beneath his roof, not us."

The skin-changer's nostrils flared. "The way I see it, you are a skin-changer. Do Guardians not become eagles before they grow their white wings?" Sîor looked at Nema with a cross expression on his face, as if about to chastise her for sharing so much about their kind, but Beorn continued before he could speak. "Besides, you are roosting in my trees, and who are you to tell her who she is to share her words with?"

"He is Sîor. A Guardian and my mentor."

"Nemaiza, why don't you scout for orcs?" Sîor said pointedly. Nema looked at him uncertainly, reluctant to leave him. The other Guardian turned his piercing glare on her though, and she unfurled her wings hastily.

"A piece of advice," Beorn said to Nema, keeping his eyes locked on Sîor's. "You may have your wings but you are not invincible. In truth you are all the more vulnerable." If she had heard, Nema gave no sign, and soon rose into the lightening sky. Sîor waited until the bear man had disappeared inside his house before flying up and settling on the roof to await the sun rise.

The sound of the door opening and closing disturbed Bilbo's sleep, and he woke with a start to see a huge, hairy man standing over the dwarves. He had a terrifying look on his face, and Bilbo dared not move for fear of sparking further anger in him, keeping his eyes almost closed until he was squinting through his eyelashes. The man cast his eye over the dwarves, his fury increasing with every one he counted. But when his eye fell upon the wizard staring into the dying embers of the fire smoking a long pipe, his anger faded, and he went to sit in the chair beside the hearth.

"Gandalf," he said in greeting.

The wizard, still staring at the embers, nodded and re-filled his pipe with Old Toby. "I apologise for having to drop in on you like this. It could not be helped."

"It could," Beorn retorted. "What are you doing in these parts, wizard? And why were you being followed by a pack of orcs?"

"A long tale, and one I am not at liberty to tell." Gandalf turned away from the fire at last and fixed Beorn with a pointed stare. "You told me it was your own wits that helped you escape the orcs all those years ago. You lied."