My breathing was faint as I lay near the dwarves, a fair distance away from the trolls with my body pressed up against the stony rock face that rose a good twelve feet out of the ground behind us in a hill. The firelight washed over my body, but it was clear no one could see me while I tried to soak up as much energy from the heat of the fire as I could.

My body tingled as my nerves began to cool in my body and I managed to regain some strength back – just enough to sit up with my back straight while I waited for my legs to stop tingling with the numbness of being half asleep.

A bundle of branches from the trees around us had been thrown onto the fire that crackled beneath the other half of the company; who were, unfortunately, being turned on a split.

There were complaints of it being too hot and the thin troll – Tom – moved away from the sacked dwarves, muttering. "Don't bother cooking 'em," Tom said in his nasally voice. "let's just sit on 'em, and squash 'em into jelly." He said and I began to shake my legs, trying to get the feeling back in them. My head was throbbing, but for the time, blinking seemed to help, and I was doing an awful lot of that.

"They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage." I watched with a scowl as the aproned troll – Bert – poked at Ori's stomach, and I watched helplessly as Ori squirmed with anxiety and fear welling up in his eyes.

"That does sound quite nice." Tom said and licked his thin and crooked lips.

"Is this really necessary?" Balin called from his spot on the ground; Bilbo leaning against him, both of them tied up tightly.

"Why don't you eat someone your own size!?" Gloin roared angrily as he wriggled between Bombur and Kili's sacked bodies.

"Never mind the seasoning." William – the pony-snatcher – grumbled as he twisted the split over the fire, looking at Bert with a grouchy expression. "We ain't got all night. Dawn ain't far away. Let's get a move on. I don't fancy being turned to stone." I managed to crawl over to the ring of stones around the fire. I could hear the grunts and squeaking of the wood as the dwarves faces rolled up and over a foot or two above my head.

I carefully set my hand in the fire and hissed with pain which turned to a sigh of relief as I began to soak up the energy at a slow – yet steady- pace. I could feel the warmth flood through my body and I barely felt the stinging in my hands anymore. I let my hair fall lose around my face as I relaxed a little; closing my amber eyes.

"Wait!" my eyes snapped open and I snapped my head back to look over my shoulder and felt the burn of the rushed movement spread across the side of my neck as I found that it was Bilbo who had raised an objection. "You are making a terrible mistake!" Bilbo said. My brow furrowed as I dabbled concentration between soaking up the energy in the fire, and listening to Bilbo.

"You can't reason with them. They're half-wits!" Dori shouted as he disappeared overhead as the dwarves spun about slowly.

"Half-wits? What does that make us?" Bofur asked sarcastically. I saw Bilbo as he managed to shuffle upwards onto his feet and hop a few inches closer to the trolls that were attempting to cook out companions; rotisserie style.

"I meant with the, uh, with the seasoning." Bilbo said with the strain of getting up evident in his voice as he grunted.

Bert let go of the split and leaned down with his hands on his knees as he looked at Bilbo curiously. His soiled apron fell to the ground as he eyed the small hobbit. "What about the seasoning?"

"Well, have you smelt them?" Bilbo asked and tilted his head in the dwarves' direction. "You're going to need something stronger than sage before you plate this lot up." Bilbo remarked. This didn't sit well with the dwarves and they began to glare and shout at Bilbo in protest.

"What do you know about cooking dwarf?" William growled skeptically down at Bilbo who opened his mouth to speak.

"Shut up." Bert said to William and his eyes fixed on Bilbo, eager to know of some other way to cook their kidnapped morsels. "Let the, uh, flurgaburhobbit talk." Bilbo smiled nervously at the large troll and looked over at William who glared down at him from the other end of the split.

"Uh, the secret to cooking dwarf is..." Bilbo stopped and shook his head as his brow furrowed. He hadn't thought his plan through this far yet. His nose twitched and he sniffed inaudibly.

"Yes? Come on." Bert prodded.

"It's, uh –,"

"Tell us the secret." Bert said and excitement – as well as impatience – coated every word.

"Yes, I'm telling you the secret is..." The dwarves all fell silent as they looked at Bilbo; some with worried expressions, others with irritation as Bilbo searched for his next choice words. "To skin them first!" he blurted with a smile. Chaos erupted as dwarves shouted and snapped, wriggling in their confines like worms on hooks.

"Tom, get me filleting knife." Bert said with a nasty grin and beckoned to the thin troll. Tom whirled around and began to search around the logs they had been sitting upon for Bert's filleting knife.

I knew I had to do something and I whirled my head around as I searched every corner of the campsite with my eyes. I searched for anything that resembled a knife to the trolls, rather than looking for what would have been a large sword to my mind.

"I'll skin you, ya little –" Gloin roared but was cut off by other shouts such as Dwalin.

"I won't forget that. I won't forget it!"

I spied a glint of rusted silver and I cast my eyes upon the troll dagger that lay on the ground. I looked up at the thin troll who was looking around as well. I'd have just enough time to grab it and return to my spot under the split, next to the fire.

I drew in a breath and gathered my courage in my chest before I pushed forward with my feet and I staggered to the filleting knife. I grabbed it in both hands and looked around to make sure none of the trolls spotted the dagger that would have seemed to be dragging itself towards the fire.

I quickly set the knife in the flames – out of reach – and I crouched low, seeing the confused face of Bilbo looking in my direction. He had seen the dagger move and set itself in the fire. He knew I was still there.

"What a load of rubbish!" William growled, "I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scarf 'em, I say, boots and all." I took my hand from the fire and I looked at my hands as my markings began to glow faintly. I had enough energy to get inside the heads of one of the dwarves or Bilbo, but I wouldn't be able to help much. My body was burning with hunger and thirst. I had burned through every ounce of protein, nutrients, and vitamins that were in my body.

"He's right." Tom sneered and I looked up as fear bubbled in my chest. I didn't want to understand the sinister idea behind his eyes, but I guessed it easily enough. "Nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf." The troll stomped over to the dwarves tied up in sacks and grabbed someone by the legs.

I saw the familiar beefy silhouette – the red hair with a large braid that looped from one side of his head to the other – as Tom lifted the dwarf into the air by his feet. It was Bombur.

The troll held Bombur over his open mouth and licked his lips. "Nice and crunchy." His tongue wiggled towards Bombur's reddened face and without thinking I picked up one of the hot coals and pulled back, ready to toss it.

"Oh, not that one! He's infected." Bilbo blurted out quickly. I froze and so did every other person – be they troll or dwarf – as Tom turned his head to look at Bilbo with wide eyes.

"You what?" William gaped and disgust was plainly etched onto his face.

"Yeah, he's got worms in his... tubes." Bilbo stuttered out. Tom flung himself backwards and dropped Bombur onto of the other dwarves who groaned in pain. "In fact, they all have. They're infested with parasites. It's a terrible business; I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't." Bilbo shook his head as the trolls stared at him.

"Parasites? Did he say Parasites?" Oin asked as he leaned over Kili.

"We don't have parasites! You have parasites!" Kili objected loudly, and rather childishly in my opinion. I understood Bilbo's intentions and it seemed I wasn't the only one. There was a thump and the arguing stopped. The dwarves looked from Bilbo to Thorin and back to Bilbo. It was a game of hot potato with eye contact.

"I've got parasites as big as my arm!" Oin said loudly, enunciating each syllable dramatically.

"Mine are the biggest parasites! I've got huge parasites!" Kili exclaimed. Shouts rose up from every dwarf in agreement; saying things such as "we're riddled" or "yes, I'm riddled" and "yes, we are. Exactly". This was all great fun to watch, and I took note of the sky that began to turn grey and blue. Morning. Bilbo was a brilliant Baggins of a hobbit, biding our time.

"What would you have us do then?" William asked and stopped over to Bilbo. "Let them all go?" he growled.

"Well..." Bilbo trailed off with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Do you think I don't know what you're up to?" Bilbo staggered back a few steps as William jabbed Bilbo harshly with his crooked, and meaty finger. "This little ferret is taking us for fools." William returned to the split and gripped the wooden wheel tightly as they turned the split again.

"Ferret?!" Bilbo squeaked indignantly at the crude insinuation.

"Fools?" Bert growled.

"The dawn will take you all!" I looked up as the familiar grey robed man clambered atop a large bolder and stood tall, his hat standing proudly on his head of grey locks, and his right hand gripped his staff firmly. Gandalf rose like a robin to the early morning, and his figure was back-lit by the soft dawn sun that crept up its ladder of wispy clouds into the sky.

A smile stretched wide over my lips as I saw Gandalf. Joy swelled in my body at the sight of our friend and guide, and I could do nothing but stare as the trolls spoke.

"Who's that?" William asked casually.

"No idea." Bert said with a simple shrug.

"Can we eat him too?"

Gandalf took his staff in both hands and raised it high into the air before he swiftly stepped sideways and brought his staff down hard with a thundering crack. The stone broke and the bolder crumbled. The sunlight flooded into the small clearing, enveloping every twig, leaf, bush, and dwarf with golden ribbons of warm light.

There was the sound of stones scrapping against one another, and I was momentarily blinded by the bright light. I shaded my eyes but I did hear screeching and roars of anger from the trolls as they shuddered, bodies turning from leathery beige skin, to rough grey stone. The trolls groaned to a halt and I stared in awe. In the stead the three, grumbling and squabbling trolls, there stood three statues – three statues as inanimate as they could possibly be –.

I looked at Gandalf from under the shade of my hand and smiled. Feeling the invisibility spell fade from my body and ease return to my aching limbs.

The dwarves' cheers rose up about me and I couldn't help but laugh myself – especially when Nori; above me started at my student appearance and shouted.

"Oh, get your foot out of my back!" Dwalin groaned, and I stepped back and lifted my hands, as the dying fire slowly swept towards my hands and entangled their fiery tongues about my arms and soaked into my pale skin. This would make the task of getting our companions down, much easier...