The Hobbit | The Lost Bender {Book 1}

11 | Turned to stone

{Myrna POV}

Panic started to come over us as the Troll sneezed forcefully into Bilbo, covering him in snot. The Troll who had sneezed looked surprised at his... Living napkin.

"Argh! Blimey! Bert! Bert! Look what's come out of my 'ooter! It's got arms and legs and everything!"

"What is it?"
"I don't know, but I don't like the way it wriggles around!"

He shook Bilbo off his handkerchief and the Hobbit fell to the ground, groaning a bit as he made contact with the sand.

"What are you then? An over-sized squirrel?" Bilbo crawled up, clearly disgusted by the slime that covered him.
"I'm a burglar-- uh, Hobbit."

"A Burgla-Hobbit? Can we cook him?"
"We can try!"

One of the Trolls tries to grab Bilbo, but he dodges the large hand coming up to him.

"He wouldn't make more than a mouthful, not when he's skinned and boned!"

"Perhaps there's more Burglar-Hobbits around these parts. Might be enough for a pie."

Bilbo kept avoiding the attacks, but lost control just a split second. A split second enough to have him dangling upside down between the fingers of the Troll he walked in upon.

"Gotcha! Are there any more of you little fellas hiding where you shouldn't?" Bilbo shook his head.

"He's lying."
"No I am not!" Bilbo said, a bit too defensively.

"Hold his toes over the fire. Make him squeal."

Suddenly, the bushes rustled and a charging Kili ran out to the Trolls, striking the one with the vest on his foot. He yelped and tumbled to the ground.

"Drop him."
"You what?"
"I said drop him!"

The other Dwarfs burst out of the foliage, slashing and bashing through the Trolls.

"Come on!" Rigmor said, pulling out her dagger and running forward to help. I followed her, cursing myself that I had left my sword at the camp.

"Raaah!" I bashed one across the ankle, making him howl in pain. "You want to fight, hm?" I taunted, stabbing my dagger into his foot.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Bilbo freeing the ponies. Good. I helped Ori getting one of the Trolls down. With just his catapult, he didn't come far.

"Bilbo!" Someone suddenly yelled and everyone fell silent, all eyes on the Hobbit, raised into the air by the trolls that held him up by his limbs.
"Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off."

Now all attention went to Thorin, the leader. The look of defeat washed over his face as he threw down his sword. We all followed his example. This was no good. This was no good at all.

A foot pressed painfully between my shoulder blades as we all laid on a heap, tied up in sacks. I bit my lip to suppress a groan as a knee hit my ribs. At least I was not tied on the spit above the fire like Dwalin, Bofur, Nori, Dori and Ori were.

"Don't bother cooking them. Let's just sit on them and squash them into jelly." the Troll with the vest said. He had introduced himself and his friends with the names William, Bert and Tom as he was tightening the rope around the sack I was in.

"They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage." Bert mumbled while rotating the spit.

"Is this really necessary?" Dori muttered.
"Oh, that does sound quite nice." William said.

All Dwarfs started cursing and yelling at the ugly creatures.

"Never mind the seasoning, we ain't got all night! Dawn ain't far away, so let's get a move on. I don't fancy being turned to stone."

Were we really laying here for that long already? The night had passed quickly. Where was Gandalf when you needed him?

All of a sudden, Bilbo tried to stand up in his sack.
"Wait! You are making a terrible mistake."

I narrowed my eyes at him. What was he talking about?
"You can't reason with them." Bilbo managed to get up and faced the Trolls.

"Uh, I meant with the, uh, with, uh, with the seasoning." he added.
Bert huffed. "What about the seasoning?"

Bilbo blinked.
"Well, have you smelt them? You're going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up."

Dwarfs started to mumble angrily.
"What do you know about cooking Dwarf?"
Tom asked, eyeing Bilbo suspiciously.

"Shut up and let the flurgaburburhobbit talk." Bert said, approaching the Hobbit smirking.

"Uh, the secret to cooking dwarf is, um..." He seemed to think.
"Come on, tell us the secret!"
"Yes uh... I'm telling you, the secret is... to skin them first!"

Gloin started to taunt him as Bert said that Tom should get his filleting knife. "What a load of rubbish! I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scuff them, I say, boots and all!" Tom said.

I saw Gandalf slipping through some trees nearby and hope starting to grow.

"He's right! Nothing wrong with a bit of raw Dwarf! Nice and crunchy!"

William scooped Bombur up by his feet and held him above his mouth, about to bite down. Bilbo practically panicked.

"Not that one, he... he's infected!" William stopped in his tracks, his gaze gliding to the Hobbit in front of him.
"You what?"
"Yeah, He's got worms in his,.. tubes!"

Completely disgusted, William drops the poor Dwarf to the ground.
"In fact they all have, they're infested with parasites. It's a terrible business, I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't!" Bilbo stuttered, earning angry remarks from the Dwarfs surrounding him.

Now it hit me what he was up to, he was trying to save time. Thorin kicked the others sacks, making them stop complaining. Suddenly, everyone got the plan. "I've got parasites as big as my arm."
"Mine are the biggest parasites, I've got huge parasites!"

A couple of more claims were to be heard as Tom spoke up, facing Bilbo.
"What would you have us do, then, let them all go?"

"Well..." Bilbo squeaked.
Tom understood the plan as well, unfortunately.

"You think I don't know what you're up to? This little ferret is taking us for fools!"

My eye caught Gandalf, who was standing on a big rock, his back facing the sun. He saw me and tapped on the stone with his staff. I knew what he meant, so I gave him a small nod. Gandalf stepped aside.

I let my hand move, my fingers trying to get in contact with the rock the wizard stood upon.

"The dawn will take you all!" His voice sounded over the camp.
"Who's that?"
"No idea."
"Can we eat him too?"

As the wooden staff of Gandalf lowered on the boulder, I thrust my wrist, the stone crumbling beneath the power.

Sunlight leaked over the Trolls. They tried shielding their faces from it, but failed horribly as their fat, grey bodies turned into solid rock.