Calm The Fire

23

Snow covered rocks and mountainside is what was used as current cover as the sight of Azog and a few of his comrades went running past. He stopped on a jutting out rock and looked around; his pale blue eyes skimmed over everything, trying to find the targets he had been so long hunting for. The sky was slowly darkening, the pale pastel pinks were slowing ebbing away to dark blue and black.

In the dim lighting, it caused the pale orc and warg to look more menacing, if that was even possible. The shadows played over everything, and at one point made Azog's eyes look totally black before shifting back to their natural pale colour. When he failed to see or find anything, he charged off on the back of his steed, the few which were with him ran after him.

A low growl soon replaced the whining of the wargs. Ducking down and pressing as close as possible to the rocks, Bilbo looked sceptically at the beast which seemed to be looking out and over everything. "It's a bear."

"That's not a bear." Came Náriel's whispered response. The two of them combined had the best eyesight within the company, not to mention being silent and light on their feet. It made sense to send them off to be lookouts. Though granted they didn't wish to see anything, let alone Azog.

Twelve months had passed; the seasons had changed, and the cooler weather was slowly setting in again. As repetitive as the change of seasons was, so was Azog's hunting. He had somehow managed to pick up their scent again and had commenced hunting for them. Seeing him sail past caused the two of them to glumly exchange a look.

Now this look changed to one of pure confusion. Bilbo frowned, shook his head and waved a hand to the massive dark creature in the distance. "That is a bear." He said firmly, what else could it be, if it wasn't a bear?

"It's too big to be a bear!" Náriel exclaimed quietly, if that was a bear, it was the most gigantic bear she had ever laid her eyes on. Although that wasn't saying much, she hadn't actually seen many bears around her homeland.

Bilbo looked at her, then the creature which was still lowly growling, then back at her. "It's a bear!"

"Whatever!" Náriel's exasperated voice said while looking back the mountainside. "We should move." Her eyes flicked up and looked to Bilbo, he seemed to agree. Slowly she ushered him down the path they had climbed up, she took one last look at the creature before following quickly after him. Even as the two of them retreated they heard the echoing roar which seemed to rebound and reverberate off of the cliffs around them.

Shuffling down the rocky path, the two of them were greeted by a few members of the group. "How close is the pack?" Thorin asked while walking up to them.

"Too close, couple of leagues, no more." Bilbo walked past and stood in the small clearing which they had all been hiding in for the time being. "But that's not the worst of it." He said sounding a little breathless from his run.

"Have the orcs picked up our scent?" Dwalin asked, thinking this is what he meant.

"Not yet," Bilbo admitted. "But they will do. We have another problem."

From behind him, Gandalf simply asked; "Did they see you? They saw you." His question was simple but the last part of his sentence was serious.

Bilbo turned and looked up at him. "It's not that." He paused, "And no, they didn't."

"Ah! Good, what did I tell you? Quiet as a mouse. Excellent burglar material." Gandalf said while smiling, the surrounding group murmured with agreements and soon smiled too.

Bilbo and Náriel exchanged a look. "Please," she said quietly, though by now the dwarves were talking amongst themselves. "Bilbo has more to say." Still she went unheard.