An Experiment Gone Wrong

Chapter 2: In the Shadows

Mara waited in the trees with the rest of the Company as they listened, and waited, for the best time to strike.

"...Are there anymore of you little fellas hiding where you shouldn't?" She heard the troll say. This was new, she had never heard a troll speak. She only remembers vague roars and old tinges of fear. She threw the thoughts out of her head and listened harder.

"No" a voice she could only assume was the so called Bilbo that was captured.

"He's lying!"

"No, I'm not." Bilbo started to sound a little flustered to Mara. She noticed Kili moving around the trees, behind the troll that had Bilbo, but wasn't too concerned about his actions. She wasn't about to let anyone get in her way of killing these trolls.

"Hold his toes over the fire. Make him squeal!" The elder troll said, but before the much stupider troll could follow the orders, Kili had rushed out and sliced right through the trolls leg.

"Drop him!" He commanded the troll, who at first was confused at the order, making Kili repeat himself. The troll threw Bilbo down at Kili who in turn fell from the weight of the impact.

Thorin ran to pick his nephew up, but before he could get to him, Mara and everyone had ran out of the woods. Mara was helping up Bilbo and Kili, all while staring down the trolls.

"Lay down your arms or we'll rip his off!" The dumb troll said. Mara looked around and slipped her Nightingale hood on. Drawing her sword, she crouched down causing a puff of black smoke to appear around her.

When the smoke disappated she was gone. Thorin and the other dwarves gasped and some exclaimed the obvious, but at the end of the day, they all ended up in sacks being roasted slowly and fought over about the best way to cook them.

"Damn that elf!! How dare she escape like a coward!" Thorin thought to himself angrily, unable to do anything but watch as his friends and family were slowly roasted, crying out for help, and making small attempts at fighting for their lives.

Meanwhile, Mara skulked around the campsite trying to think of the best way to take them out. She could pierce them with arrows, but their skins too thick. It would take too many and in their rage they might squish some trolls.

If she rushed in with her sword, they would fall and, again, it's not a risk she's willing to take.

She sat on the top of the rocks, straining to think of what to do, when Gandalf walked up behind her and smiled peacefully.

"Step aside my dear. These trolls will not be easily fell by your weapons. It's best I take care of it."

Mara nodded a little annoyed but stepped aside as she was told. She watched as Gandalf stood tall atop The rocks and raised his staff. "The dawn shall take you all!" He cried out, earning a couple of hopeful 'can we eat him?' from the trolls before breaking off a piece of the rock and showering the trolls with sunlight.

Mara watched, dumbfounded, as the three troll brother's turned to stone right before her eyes. She removed her hood and put it away in her satchel, her eyes falling to her feet to avoid the angry gaze of Thorin. Her face was hot with shame at how pathetic she performed against this world's creatures. She was definitely not at home and she hated it.

Once everyone was freed from their confines, Mara approached everyone in the company. She cleared her throat softly and looked up to meet each one in the eyes. "Thorin, Kili, Fili, Balin, Dwalin, Bofur, Bifer, Bomber, Oin, Gloin, Nori, Ori, Dori, Bilbo, Gandalf, I'm sorry..."

Mara averted her eyes from the numerous confused and angry looks.

"Lass, where did you go?" Balin asked before anyone could lose their temper on her.

"I was in plain sight Master Balin. I sat atop The rocks trying to find a weakness in the enemy, but the trolls in my land are very different. They don't have sentience..." She trialed off.

"Well, let's be thankful Gandalf came when he did and our Burgler had enough sense to stall for time." Thorin said before gathering people to look for the trolls cave nearby.

Mara ran a small, nimble hand through her short hair. She needed to get home. She didn't deserve to stay in this company. Mara slumped against a tree and fought back tears of anger.

*AN: sorry it's been F O R E V E R since I've updated, and I hope this chapter wasn't terribly written. I finally found motivation and my son started crawling, so it was motivation, but exhausted motivation. Haha! Hopefully my next update won't be as long. Thank you for reading!!*