Out of the Frying-Pan Into the Fire
The Hobbit, chapter 6: Out of the Frying-Pan Into the Fire.
We begin with Bilbo scrambling out of the Goblin stonghold with the One Ring on his finger. After a quick observation, he realizes that he is on the other side (east) of the Misty Mountains! He was about to go back in search of Gandalf and the Dwarves when he suddenly found them nearby, debating whether they should go back for him (Gandalf threatening to abandon the Dwarves if they won't help search for Bilbo). After seeing Balin on guard duty (and that he cannot see Bilbo standing right in front of him), Bilbo decides to pop-in and give everyone a scare.
Bilbo crept up on them as Gandalf was demanding to know why Dori dropped Bilbo. Dori made a remark about Gandalf almost lopping his head off with Glamdring in the dark. Bilbo crept into the middle of them and whipped off his Ring, saying "And here is the burglar!" causing everyone a scare. Gandalf chastised Balin for not seeing Bilbo approach. This trick caused the Dwarves to see Bilbo in a much better light than before, Balin complementing Bilbo on being able to sneak past him. In fact, it was so much praise that Bilbo decided to keep the Ring a secret awhile longer. Bilbo recounted what happened to him, but left out the magic ring, making it seem like he rushed by Gollum and the Goblins. Gandalf, though, gave Bilbo a strange look, as if to let Bilbo know that he knew there was more to the story.
Gandalf told the Company that they needed to hurry up and get going. The Goblins would be very riled up by nightfall, and also that they had in fact been in the tunnels for several days. Bilbo realized that he had not eaten at all in days. That is bad by Human standards, so you can imagine what it is like for a Hobbit! He took to searching for berries as they walked.
As the Company travelled, they crossed alot of loose pebbles. Their movement started a gradual avalanche that sent them all down the hillside until they came to a patch of pine trees. Gandalf viewed this as a speeding of the journey and continued on.
As night came, they Company suddenly halted as wargs were heard in the distance. Bilbo freaked (having heard stories of them from the Old Took). So, Gandalf ordered everyone up into the trees. Bilbo couldn't get into a tree, so Dori, hopped down and pulled Bilbo up onto his back, just barely making it into the tree as the wargs came tearing into the clearing.
Unfortunatly for them, this clearing was a warg meeting spot, and a scheduled meeting was due to begin. The wargs were supposed to meet the Goblins here to launch an attack on a village of nearby woodsmen who had gotten brave enough to live right by the forest (according to the warg cheif, whose speech Gandalf could understand). But the goblins were late, due to the death of the Great Goblin and the chaos the Company had caused in their tunnels.
Gandalf had finally had enough and began snatching pinecones and, causing them to light up, began tossing them at the wargs. The pinecones exploded into flames on impact! (Does this mean Gandalf invented the grenade?) Gandalf kept hurtling the exploding pinecones at the wargs until they were all in a mass panic and their fur was aflame.
The commotion had caught the attention of Gwahair, Lord of the Eagles. He left with a group of eagles to check it out and see if there was Orc mischeif about. As they swooped down from the cliffs, the goblins had come upon the chaos and decided to have a bit of their own fun. They concentrated the flames around the trees with their enemies in them. The flames rushed up into the trees, and an Orc song began:
Fifteen birds in five firtrees,
their feathers were fanned in a fiery breeze!
But, funny little birds, they had no wings!
O what shall we do with the funny little things?
Roast 'em alive, or stew them in a pot;
fry them, boil them and eat them hot?
The flames had pushed everyone to the tops of the trees, and as they were getting ready to jump, eagles snatched them all up and took them away. Bilbo was almost missed and had to grab onto Dori's legs for the flight, much to the discomfort of them both.
The Eagles eventually brought them back to the Great Shelf, their home. It seems that Gwahair and Gandalf were friends, since Gandalf had one healed the Eagle Lord from an arrow-wound. After a discussion, the Eagles agreed to take the Company as far east as they dared to speed up their journey in the morning, after feeding their starved group.
So, ends another stage of the Quest of Erebor.
We begin with Bilbo scrambling out of the Goblin stonghold with the One Ring on his finger. After a quick observation, he realizes that he is on the other side (east) of the Misty Mountains! He was about to go back in search of Gandalf and the Dwarves when he suddenly found them nearby, debating whether they should go back for him (Gandalf threatening to abandon the Dwarves if they won't help search for Bilbo). After seeing Balin on guard duty (and that he cannot see Bilbo standing right in front of him), Bilbo decides to pop-in and give everyone a scare.
Bilbo crept up on them as Gandalf was demanding to know why Dori dropped Bilbo. Dori made a remark about Gandalf almost lopping his head off with Glamdring in the dark. Bilbo crept into the middle of them and whipped off his Ring, saying "And here is the burglar!" causing everyone a scare. Gandalf chastised Balin for not seeing Bilbo approach. This trick caused the Dwarves to see Bilbo in a much better light than before, Balin complementing Bilbo on being able to sneak past him. In fact, it was so much praise that Bilbo decided to keep the Ring a secret awhile longer. Bilbo recounted what happened to him, but left out the magic ring, making it seem like he rushed by Gollum and the Goblins. Gandalf, though, gave Bilbo a strange look, as if to let Bilbo know that he knew there was more to the story.
Gandalf told the Company that they needed to hurry up and get going. The Goblins would be very riled up by nightfall, and also that they had in fact been in the tunnels for several days. Bilbo realized that he had not eaten at all in days. That is bad by Human standards, so you can imagine what it is like for a Hobbit! He took to searching for berries as they walked.
As the Company travelled, they crossed alot of loose pebbles. Their movement started a gradual avalanche that sent them all down the hillside until they came to a patch of pine trees. Gandalf viewed this as a speeding of the journey and continued on.
As night came, they Company suddenly halted as wargs were heard in the distance. Bilbo freaked (having heard stories of them from the Old Took). So, Gandalf ordered everyone up into the trees. Bilbo couldn't get into a tree, so Dori, hopped down and pulled Bilbo up onto his back, just barely making it into the tree as the wargs came tearing into the clearing.
Unfortunatly for them, this clearing was a warg meeting spot, and a scheduled meeting was due to begin. The wargs were supposed to meet the Goblins here to launch an attack on a village of nearby woodsmen who had gotten brave enough to live right by the forest (according to the warg cheif, whose speech Gandalf could understand). But the goblins were late, due to the death of the Great Goblin and the chaos the Company had caused in their tunnels.
Gandalf had finally had enough and began snatching pinecones and, causing them to light up, began tossing them at the wargs. The pinecones exploded into flames on impact! (Does this mean Gandalf invented the grenade?) Gandalf kept hurtling the exploding pinecones at the wargs until they were all in a mass panic and their fur was aflame.
The commotion had caught the attention of Gwahair, Lord of the Eagles. He left with a group of eagles to check it out and see if there was Orc mischeif about. As they swooped down from the cliffs, the goblins had come upon the chaos and decided to have a bit of their own fun. They concentrated the flames around the trees with their enemies in them. The flames rushed up into the trees, and an Orc song began:
Fifteen birds in five firtrees,
their feathers were fanned in a fiery breeze!
But, funny little birds, they had no wings!
O what shall we do with the funny little things?
Roast 'em alive, or stew them in a pot;
fry them, boil them and eat them hot?
The flames had pushed everyone to the tops of the trees, and as they were getting ready to jump, eagles snatched them all up and took them away. Bilbo was almost missed and had to grab onto Dori's legs for the flight, much to the discomfort of them both.
The Eagles eventually brought them back to the Great Shelf, their home. It seems that Gwahair and Gandalf were friends, since Gandalf had one healed the Eagle Lord from an arrow-wound. After a discussion, the Eagles agreed to take the Company as far east as they dared to speed up their journey in the morning, after feeding their starved group.
So, ends another stage of the Quest of Erebor.