I Won't Let You Go (Bagginshield)

Trolls.

I crept closer to where the ponies were, trapped in a small fenced off area. Who the hell had put them over here? I was about to undo the lock allowing them to run free when a noise behind me startled me, causing me to turn around slowly. I turned and beheld a troll.

No, not just one...two...three!!! Three huge trolls, towering above me, sitting around their campfire. Luckily, their backs were turned to me, or else I would be troll food. I didn't know what to do, or say. If I opened the gate, the ponies would escape, but the trolls would notice me. Fili and Kili would be back soon, but did I dare wait for them? I had to make a move, and soon.

So I decided to just wait. I hid in the shrubbery surrounding the ponies' cage, and hoped for them to come soon. And sure enough, they came, all fourteen of them, swords flashing. I had never been so relieved in my life. I began to crawl over to them when Thorin saw me, caught my eye, and slightly shook his head. I was confused until I realized! The trolls had not yet seen me. I had the upper hand. Before they noticed me, I quickly turned and freed the ponies, only to realize the silence. As I slowly turned back around, all three trolls were staring at me.

My first instinct was to run. Just run into the bushes and never look back. But something--I didn't know what then--made me stay. And I'm glad I didn't run. I stared up at the trolls, did some quick thinking, and pulled up some random weeds sticking up by the fence. "Did you gents forget seasoning?"

The first troll looked at me. "Seasoning? I don't think so! We trolls like to peel flesh from bones, and eat our prey raw!"

I made a disgusted face that wasn't at all forced. "Raw? No, no, no, you've been doing it wrong all this time. You see, you must cook your food first. Cooking brings out more nutrients...and....is healthier..." I saw Thorin roll his eyes but luckily trolls are morons and didn't realize I was trying to stall them.

"Shall we cook you?" asked the second troll.

"I would not recommend that, because Hobbits are absolutely repulsive...we smell, we have a bad taste, and there's not really much of us to split three ways."

"That's why we can just cook up a Dwarf or two!" chimed in the third troll, and I wanted to fall into the dirt and just die. We were doomed.

The trolls hoisted all the Dwarves into huge burlap sacks and zipped them up, while I prepared the pot that would cook us all. As I was stirring, I blinked into the trees. Was that...the Sun? And where on Earth was Gandalf?

Suddenly, I remembered something I had only read about in books.

"You know, there is something utterly wrong with this mixture," I said disdainfully, glaring into the pot. "We are missing a very important ingredient...you see, Dwarf flesh is absolutely disgusting...if we don't get something to kill the parasites that infest them, we'll get their parasites ourselves. And let me just say right now, Dwarf parasites are not something you three gentlemen want."

Of course, I was just spewing lies out of my mouth. The Dwarves became indignant, promising they didn't have parasites, until Thorin realized what I was doing. With a sharp kick to Kili, all of them recanted and began assuring the trolls they did, indeed, have parasites.

I just rolled my eyes to high heaven and hoped I could stall them just a bit longer.

"I think he's lying," the first troll said.

"LET DAWN TAKE YOU!" a voice shouted from the trees, and the startled trolls turned to face the sunlight--and immediately turned into stone.

A huge weight lifted off my shoulders, and I sighed with relief. Now I could truly relax.

Thorin came up to me. "Smart thinking, Master Baggins, to stall those trolls," he told me.

I didn't know how to respond to praise. "I...yes, um...well, I couldn't have done it without you--all of you, the company. I would be dead if you hadn't come springing from those trees....looking completely fabulous and majestic, I finished in my head.

As the future king walked back to join his company, I began to seriously think I was in trouble....

Did Gandalf mention Thorin was from Erebor?