Thorin and the wizard seemed to be having a terrible argument.

You were watching from the distance, hidden between the trees, as the sounds of their disagreement reached your ears. You'd been tracking the Company for several days now, so far undetected. The previous night before you had narrowly avoided being discovered, after the dwarves pitched camp and went searching for firewood.

Presently, they had stopped to rest at a ruined farm house, half burnt and almost skeletal in appearance. You wondered what had become of the previous inhabitants, where they were now. And more sinisterly, if they were still alive.

By the sounds of things, Thorin was being pigheaded about some matter or the other, and this wizard was greatly unimpressed. He stormed off, despite the hobbit's protests.

You could not fathom why the wizard had insisted upon bringing such an irksome creature. All Master Baggins seemed to do was complain, ask ridiculous questions, eat a fair portion of the food and complain some more. The dwarves of the Company did not seem to take kindly to this portly irritation, however a few seemed intent on befriending him.

Thorin yelled something at the other dwarves, and they appeared to start making camp in the ruins of a farmhouse. You watched them as darkness fell, then retreated up into the camouflaging branches of a tree. From your position, you could see their entire camp. And luckily, no one seemed to have noticed you.

After some time, as the sun sank behind the mountain ridge, it came to your attention that you were not alone. Two dwarves sat on the ground not far from your tree, watching the Company's ponies. You believed their names were Fili and Kili, and they were some of the youngest dwarves in the company. The two seemed fairly lively young things, and you had observed them pulling several pranks upon their unfortunate peers. Flowers had been knotted in a rather fierce-looking dwarf's beard as he slept, and several members of the Company had woken one morning to find pony dung in their packs.

You also noticed that they seemed to be rather close with Thorin, which was odd. You had not recalled Thorin ever having much in the way of family apart from his father, grandfather, and two siblings. Then again, a lot had happened since the ruin of Erebor.

Could they be his sons?! The thought runs you through, as visions of Thorin and a comely dwarf maiden married, having children, kissing dance through your head. But with some discomfort, you dispel them. Best not to jump to conclusions. And in your distraction, you fail to notice when two ponies disappear.

Mr Baggins suddenly made his appearance, clutching two steaming bowls of soup for the young dwarves. They seemed to be concerned about something, and they moved further into the forest, the hobbit trailing after them. Loud cracking and stomping sounds soon came near, and the three dived under cover just in time, as a great lumbering troll thundered past, two panicked ponies tucked under his arms.

A troll! Your hand went immediately to your sword belt, wrapping around its hilt, but you stopped yourself. No need to cause trouble.

The troll seemed to be the main cause of the dwarves distress, and they appeared deep in conversation with Bilbo. They seemed to be gesturing towards the direction which the troll had gone, as there appeared to be not one, but three trolls sitting around a campfire. The hobbit then took a few tentative steps towards the trolls' camp, and Fili and Kili melted back into the forest.

You drop from your position in the tree as quiet as a shadow, and make your way around the edge of the trees to the other side of the trolls camp. There, at the base of the fringe of trees, you find a small wall of rock. Carefully finding handholds, you clambered to the top, and crept back from the edge, so you could survey the scene without detection.

You watched the hobbit curiously as he made his way unnoticed into the trolls' camp. Trolls were quite stupid, after all. Padding quietly along on his astonishingly large feet, the hobbit passed them easily, unseen by their dull eyes.

The trolls had picketed in the ponies in a makeshift paddock, whilst they quarrelled about how best to cook them. Their ridiculous argument reached your ears, and you rolled your eyes. 'Imbeciles,' you murmured under your breath.

Meanwhile, Bilbo seemed intent on setting the ponies free. He was attempting to retrieve a sort of scythe from the belt of one of the trolls, with much difficulty. He became caught up in a handkerchief and was used to blow a trolls nose. You would have laughed if the situation wasn't so dangerous.

The troll shrieked at the sight of a mucus-covered Bilbo in his handkerchief, and his two companions began arguing as to what it was. Bilbo wriggled his way out of the handkerchief and fell to the ground, attempting to make a run for it, but he was blocked by the trolls.

The stupid creatures were still contemplating what the hobbit was, and if they could eat him.

"A flurburbrahobbit?" One said blankly, its face screwed up in confusion.

They picked him up, and were about to dangle him over the fire when the dark-haired young dwarf burst from the bushes, sword in hand.

"Drop him!" He shouted, a dangerous glint in his dark eyes.

The trolls said something unintelligible back, and the young dwarf repeated "I said, drop him!"

And then he charged, at Bilbo, shoving him out of the way as the rest of the Company burst into the clearing, wielding their weapons and shouting a war cry. They set upon the trolls, slicing, hacking and crushing, doing their best to decimate the creatures. And in the midst of it all was Thorin, sword flashing in the firelight, a look of ferocity on his face.

The battle continued for a short while lonfer, until two the the trolls noticed that Bilbo had freed the ponies, the beasts rearing and bolting in panic. They picked him up and held him by his limbs, threatening to rip him apart if the dwarves did not stop.

You closed your fingers around the hilt of your sword. This was your chance. You prepared to charge, when a voice said quietly behind you "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

You whirled around to find yourself face to face with Gandalf, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

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