The Hobbit: An Unexpected Reunion

Chapter 6

The two wizards went off a few feet from the dwarves and were whispering to themselves. Mira was calming down hers and Fróia's company and everyone was finishing packing up. Bilbo had come to stand beside Thorin and Fróia, who were watching the two vastly different wizards with fascination.

"That is another wizard?" inquired Fróia, expressing her disbelief.

"Mhhm," mumbled Thorin, understanding her skepticism.

"I think that's Radagast the Brown," Bilbo said. "Gandalf mentioned him. He takes care of the wildlife in the western forests of Mirkwood."

"I wonder what brought him so far from his typical area," wondered Thorin.

"He said something about Dol Guldur," the hobbit replied, recalling the few words he had been able to discern in the brown wizard's eclectic babbling.

Thorin turned his body to glance at Bilbo, "You heard that?" The hobbit shrugged.

"Hobbits do have keen eye and ear sight," commented Fróia, winking at Bilbo behind Thorin's back. "What is Dol Guldur, Thorin?"

The dwarf prince eyed Bilbo for a while, unsure of whether he would put any stock in what the halfling claimed he heard, but eventually answered Fróia's question. "It's a ruined fortress. From long ago. No one ever steps foot in that place. It's a dark and evil dwelling."

The two dwarves and lone hobbit directed their attention Gandalf and Radagast, straining their ears to hear something more.

"Now," they heard Gandalf query, "a Necromancer. Are you sure?"

The brown wizard pulled out something wrapped in cloth. The three could not make out what was inside, but they noted how Gandalf froze as his eyes fell on the contents of the cloth.

"That is not from the world of the living," Bilbo heard Radagast say.

"What is he saying, Bilbo?" Fróia asked, only the hobbit didn't hear her. Shivers rolled down his back; he did not like the way the brown wizard had delivered his last sentence.

From within the forest, not far away, the company of various Middle-Earth races heard a howl.

"Was that a wolf? Are...are there wolves out there?" stammered Bilbo.

"Wolves? No, that is not a wolf," gulped Bofur, holding his axe.

"That was definitely not a wolf," affirmed Fróia. "That, was something worse."

No sooner than she said this, the group heard a growl at their backs. Glóin was the dwarf closest to the source of the sound and turned just in time to miss a four-legged creature lunge for them. Fróia pulled Bilbo out of the way, drawing one of her swords as she did. Thorin brought down his new Elvish sword down on the beast's head.

Out from the forest behind Thorin, another creature stalked on the prowl and started to charge for him. Kili shot at the beast and got it somewhere in the face and the creature tumbled down the hill. Dwalin waited for the thing to fall in front of him before he slammed his hammer down on the beast's head.

"Warg scouts," Thorin called, pulling his new blade from the beast's body. "Which means an orc pack cannot be far behind!"

Many of Fróia and Mira's company clumped together again, whimpers and moans of fear leaking from their quivering bodies.

"Orc pack!" Bilbo worried. This was a new thing he had yet to fear.

"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?" Gandalf posed to Thorin, walking towards him.