They heard footsteps approaching but not once did their eyes leave the ponies, unblinking and unmoving.
"What's the matter?" Bilbo asked as he glanced between the three from where he was wedged between the brothers, Fili on one side while Kili and Athena stood on the other.
"We're supposed to be looking after the ponies," Kili stated.
"Only we've encountered a slight problem," Fili added as he spared a glance towards the Hobbit that was still attempting to offer them food, two bowls in one hand while he tried to carefully balance the three portions he had been given.
"We had sixteen," Athena decided to enlighten him on their original number.
"Now there's...fourteen."
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The four of them trudged through the makeshift stables searching once more for the two that they could not find in a last chance attempt to see if they had concealed themselves behind an object or another pony. During the search Athena noticed the state that some of the trees were in, it was as if they had been trampled by something, one of the trees had been entirely uprooted. The older brother made his way towards her upon seeing her fixated on the trees, stopping in his tracks beside her as his eyes settled on what she could see.
"Please tell me my eyes are deceiving me," he voiced, but the look that his friend gave him told him everything that he needed to know, he was not seeing things and something large had taken the ponies.
"Daisy and Bungle are missing," Kili called out as he made his way to where Fili and Athena were standing.
"What? Well that's not good," the Hobbit commented as he followed after Kili, still attempting to balance the stew each step that he took, "and that's not good at all," he added once noticing the fallen tree as well, "shouldn't we tell Thorin?"
At his question, Athena and Fili shared a panicked look before he quickly responded with the first thought that came to his mind. "Uh...no. Let's not worry him. As our official burglar, we thought you might like to look into it."
"Well, uh...it looks as if something big uprooted these trees."
"That was our thinking," Kili informed as Athena watched Bilbo make his way around the trees, baffled that he hadn't thought to put down the food yet.
"It's something very big, and possibly quite dangerous," finished Bilbo, his steps halting as well.
"Oh it's most certainly dangerous. Why else would a large creature take ponies but to eat them? It's not like it can ride them," Athena mentioned while she made her way to Bilbo and patted his shoulder. It was supposed to be a comforting gesture but the way that he flinched from the sudden contact after her ominous statement showed her otherwise.
"Hey, there's a light," Fili pointed out, everyone's head turning in the direction that he had begun to walk, "over here," he nodded his head towards the light and they all followed him in the direction, crouching down to take as much cover in the darkness of the night as they could. "Stay down."
The four of them were crouched, or knelt in Athena's case, on the floor overlooking a fallen log. She glanced at the bowls Bilbo had brought with him before sending him an exasperated look at how polite he was. Her eyes stopped at the light in the distance, surely one belonging to that of a fire. When a booming laughter filled the forest she briefly closed her eyes while letting out a drawn out sigh at the realisation of what they were up against.
"What is it?" Bilbo asked after seeing her reaction, turning to Kili who answered.
"Trolls."
The trio took off running in the direction that the laughter came from, the light guiding their way much easier than the sound would have done. She noticed that Bilbo was not following them and looked behind her only to see him rushing to pick up the bowls once more.
"Just leave them," she urgently whispered at him.
"Bofur told me to deliver the food and I'm not letting go until I've delivered the food," he responded as he bounded through the woodlands.
Athena was bewildered at the Hobbit's stubbornness and she took one of the bowls from his hands, lessening his burden of carrying her portion before she continued to run after the Dwarves. As they ran behind the brothers they noticed a troll passing nearby, her and Bilbo hurrying to hide behind a tree trunk as the footsteps sent vibrations throughout the ground around the beast.
"He's got Myrtle and Minty!" Bilbo exclaimed in a hushed tone as they peeked their heads from their hiding spots and watched the troll head towards its camp, one pony under each of its arms. "We have to do something," he added on after a moment, remembering Athena's words about the trolls' plan for the ponies — using them as dinner.
"Yes, you should," Kili quickly said as he stood up and ushered Bilbo towards the log, "mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you're so small. They'll never see you. It's perfectly safe, we'll be right behind you."
Completely ignoring Bilbo's protests Fili continued, "if you run into trouble hoot twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl," he told him, the bowls removed from his hands by the Dwarves before Athena gave him a gentle push which sent him stumbling through the thicket of ferns and away from their cover.
They didn't hear the rest of his ramblings as he tried to recall the instructions that Fili had given them because the three of them had already left.
"We're telling the others right?" Athena asked as they ran through the trees, careful not to spill the liquid in their bowls.
"Unfortunately," Fili responded.
Neither of them wanted the Dwarves to know that they had failed looking after the ponies, but they all knew that they couldn't leave Bilbo alone to face the trolls. They'd deal with the consequences once they knew their burglar was safe.
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"Where's Bilbo?" Bofur asked from the encampment as he watched the three rush down to meet the Dwarves, stopping to catch their breath as they handed their bowls to Dori who came to help them with their burden.
"That's a wonderful question," Athena breathed out with a point to Bofur, the rest of the Dwarves' attention landing on the trio as Thorin made his way to them.
"Aren't you supposed to be looking after the ponies?" He asked them, looking at each of those who stood before him in turn.
"Well, we were watching the ponies," Kili lied through his teeth but it wasn't as noticeable as his earlier lie to Athena.
"And out of nowhere came a troll, it took two of the ponies before we could do anything and left," Fili bounced off his brother's lie.
"Then Bilbo came and because he's the burglar he offered his assistance," Athena also added. Though the Dwarves knew the three of them better to let their lies slip past them, now was not the time to dwell on it or call them out.
"So, Bilbo is alone with a troll?" Thorin asked.
"Three. We think there were three of them," Fili informed his uncle, all the Dwarves looking at one another. Not a word needed to be spoken before they gathered up their arms and rushed to the Hobbit's aid, Kili far in front of the others.
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Athena rushed towards the fire, able to see the scene of Bilbo suspended in the air and Kili stood with his sword in hand as she raced towards where they were.
"Drop him!" Kili ordered, his voice commanding despite the clear height disadvantage he had with the trolls.
"You what?" The troll that held Bilbo up asked, a look of disgust seemed to permanently be set upon his face.
"He said, drop him," she declared once she finally moved close enough to be standing beside Kili, her bow in her hand as she knocked in an arrow and pointed it at the troll, pulling the string back before releasing the arrow, it embedded itself into the trolls hand causing him to release Bilbo who went flying into Kili, the two tumbling to the ground as the Dwarf caught the flying burglar.
As soon as the cries of the Dwarves coming to their aid reached her ears she shot another arrow at the troll, it burying itself into the troll's shoulder though it did little to halt its movements. Their skin was thick and their frames were large — it would take more than just a few arrows and stab wounds to take down these beasts.
As the Dwarves and trolls immersed themselves into battle she continued firing her arsenal of arrows from where she stood, each arrow meeting it's intended mark but no arrows causing a difference other than making one of the trolls stumble slightly from the initial impact. She only changed her position when the largest of the trolls ran at her, swiping it's burly hand in her direction. She leapt over the arm and landed on her feet, sheathing her bow as she instead pulled out her sword and began to hack and slash at whatever trolls came near her, maneuvering through the Dwarves who were also out for blood.
There were times where it seemed that their weapons were working, such as when what seemed like the youngest troll came toppling down, it's teeth being knocked out of its mouth from Dwalin's axe. The victory of taking down the troll was short-lived as it soon regained its footing and continued to stomp and grab whatever it could lay its hands on.
The fighting ceased once the Dwarves came together only to witness Bilbo being held by two of the trolls, it would only take a mere second for him to be torn to shreds.
"Bilbo!" Kili cried, only for Thorin and Athena to hold him back as he attempted to move forwards.
"Lay down your arms! Or we'll rip his off!" One of the trolls that held him threatened, unable to help the smugness in his tone.
Fear filled her heart for the fate of the hobbit. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they fought back Bilbo's limbs would surely litter their battleground, if they lowered their weapons there was no guarantee that any of them would be able to escape unharmed, or alive. It was only when Thorin lay down his weapon did the others follow. Frustration marked each of their faces as they knew they had been beaten, but they could not abandon Bilbo.