little gentleman

When Boromir returned, he brought brand new weapons. He expressed surprise at the increase in the number of the team: "I didn't expect so many people to come, especially you, Mr. Baggins. I'm afraid I don't have any suitable weapons for you here."

Bilbo said he didn't need a weapon: "I've only come to bring back a runaway boy, and that's no use for a weapon." Did he need a stick with which to beat Frodo?

"Weapons are never superfluous, believe me," said Boromir.

Aragorn winked at Boromir with a mischievous smile: "Tell Mr. Baggins why your sword is broken?"

"Nothing worth saying." Boromir thought it was nothing to say.

"Tell me, I want to know." Bilbo's curiosity, once aroused, wanted to know.

Boromir shrugged: "I went to explore the road this morning. I walked a little further and met a group of half-orc robbers. The head of the leader was so hard that it broke the blade of my sword."

Bilbo couldn't react for a while: "You mean...you...killed someone?"

"Otherwise?" said Boromir indifferently. "My head will be left in a goblin pack today! Mr. Baggins, don't you think that someone will die in this operation? You must do it now." Ready to kill the enemy!"

Bilbo finally realizes how dangerous this rescue operation is. Although he likes to read stories about brave knights, but when the real killing happened by his side and on his friends, he realizes that he has nothing to do with it. Not mentally prepared to accept this kind of thing.Who would have thought that nobles in peaceful times would take lives with swords?A man and a spider were not the same thing at all, though Bilbo himself had fought giant spiders in Mirkwood.

"Don't frighten people in such a boring way!" Thorin relieved Bilbo. "Let's think about our plan!"

Aragorn and Boromir are no longer mentioned.

In the evening, Theoden, king of Rohan, entertained the people generously, but he was very opposed to their plans: "It is too imprudent to go to Mordor now, this season is the most active time for the half-orcs, and they don't like outsiders. Run to their door."

"But there are already half-orcs who have come to the human territory, and we should come and go." Aragorn showed no fear.

"My friend, do you see what kind of jobs the half-orcs on the human land are doing?" Theoden said disgustedly, "Bandits, thieves, murderers, only a few honest people can find a job that works hard and doesn't use their brains." Work."

"You can rest assured, Theoden, we are prepared." Aragorn was confident in their actions.

Before going to bed, Thorin came alone to the door of Bilbo's room and knocked softly.

The door opened, and Bilbo scratched his head and said, "Thorin? What's the matter?" He sideways let Thorin in.

Thorin whispered: "Bilbo, I have something for you." He took out a fine silver-white chain mail: "This is mithril, more malleable than any metal, and stronger than steel." Hard, this mithril armor was handcrafted by the best craftsman in the history of the dwarves, and it is our family heirloom."

Bilbo was taken aback. "How could such a valuable thing be given to me?"

"Put it on." Thorin's tone was not harsh, but it was irresistible.

"Now?" Bilbo thought for a while, then took off his coat and put on the mithril armor over his shirt. He felt a chill, the temperature of mithril was very low.

Thorin took a step closer, lowered his head, looked deeply into Bilbo's eyes, and said firmly, "Bilbo, I swear: under no circumstances will I let you be forced to kill, nor will you Any harm. The only thing I can't guarantee," he paused, "is that you won't be able to see the killing scene, and I'm sorry for that."

There was a surge of warmth in Bilbo's heart, and it was not gentle, but made his whole body shudder, and at that moment he believed Thorin more than anyone else: "Thank you, Thorin." He twitched mouth, but said nothing else.

There was a soft smile in Thorin's eyes, and for a moment Bilbo thought Thorin was going to embrace him.But Thorin didn't. He stepped back, said good night politely, and retreated outside to close the door for Bilbo.

Bilbo felt a sudden loss. He sat back on the bed, feeling that he had lost interest in everything.All along, he deliberately didn't think about his feelings for Thorin. When he was in Rivendell, he excused himself with conflicting emotions. After learning that Frodo ran away from home, he had no time to think about it.Now he has to face up to his own heart. Although he is extremely reluctant to admit it, he has always apologized to Sorin with regret. He once misunderstood Sorin because of prejudice, and rejected Sorin in a very rude way. He proposed marriage to Suo Lin, and even uttered insults, but now he was full of remorse, but he couldn't bear to apologize to Sorin.What was more difficult to face was that Bilbo found that under his remorse there was a stronger feeling, which he dared not speak, even in his heart, and he hid from his heart and forced himself not to Think about that fact - after all, it's too late.

Bilbo lay sideways on the comfortable bed, the metal reminding him of his mithril armor.He sat up, looked down at the priceless treasure on his body, and gently stroked the delicate texture.Then a question suddenly occurred to him: Thorin wouldn't let him sleep wearing this, would he?

After thinking it over carefully, Bilbo decided that it was not practical to sleep in his armor, as soldiers in old wars might have done, but now he had to get a good night's sleep.So he took off his mithril armor, put it lightly on top of the folded coat, stood up and checked the doors and windows to make sure no thieves would come in to steal this treasure, and then lay back on the bed in peace.

That night, Bilbo couldn't sleep, and he couldn't get Thorin out of his mind anyway. The comfortable bed became worse than the forest floor, and he turned over and over again.

But Bilbo didn't know that he wasn't the only one suffering from insomnia. In another room not far away, Thorin stood on the terrace, staring solemnly at the sea-like prairie in the distance under the night.

In the morning, Bilbo sat up rubbing his eyes, and accidentally caught a glimpse of a light, and turned his head to see that it was the mithril armor on his clothes.He picked up the Mithril Armor and unfolded it, looking carefully against the sunlight.

It's a radiant and gorgeous treasure.Thorin actually gave him such an important heirloom!

After thinking for a while, Bilbo put the mithril on the outside of the shirt, and the cool breath enveloped his body again.According to Thorin the mithril was very strong, and it seemed he thought they were about to face a severe challenge, so he asked Bilbo to protect himself with the mithril.But what if the half-orcs just bite their heads?Bill Burton felt his scalp go numb, and shook his head vigorously, throwing away the unfortunate thought.

The result of shaking his head too hard is that the world is spinning. When Bilbo went down to eat breakfast, his eyes were full of gold stars. His dumbfounded appearance made his companions feel strange.

"Did you not sleep well last night, Mr. Baggins?" Aragorn asked.

"No, slept well." Bilbo's eyes followed the straggling star, and they almost met each other, but none of the others seemed to see the star.

"Then I'm relieved, because today will be a tiring day." Aragorn said with a smile, "Let's set off after breakfast!"

Theoden's nephew, Eomer, had just returned from Helm's Deep this morning, and he promised to escort them all.

"I admire the courage of everyone. Without an army, I would not dare to go east." Eomer said frankly.

"Three brave men are worth an army, Eomer," said Aragorn, "truly brave men."

"In any case, good luck to you, you will need it," said Eomer sincerely.

After bidding farewell to Eomer, the six continued on to Mordor. They were about to step into the most wild and backward land in Middle-earth, where it was almost still in the age of primitive civilization.

Bilbo walked alongside Thorin, and he asked in a low voice, "Thorin, how are we going to find them both now? Do you know exactly where we are going?"

"Let's find someone first." Sorin's expression was gloomy, hiding his anger.

Bilbo asked no more, feeling that Thorin would not have said much if he had asked.

A few days later, a group of people came to the border of Rohan. The vast grassland scenery of Rohan gradually receded. In front of them were continuous mountains, towering majesticly above the earth, and the peaks pointed directly at the blue sky.

In the valley, the dense jungle obscured the view, and everyone lined up and walked carefully. It didn't look like anyone lived here, only occasionally there was a clear and crisp bird song, and there were unknown beasts walking through the forest. passing sound.The companions stopped talking, and Bilbo couldn't help becoming nervous when he saw Aragorn put his hand on the hilt of his sword. He pressed his chest subconsciously, and the texture of mithril passed through his clothes to his palm, which made him feel a little relieved.Bilbo's memory of the giant spiders in Mirkwood was still fresh, and this dark forest brought back bad memories.

"Follow closely, Bilbo." Thorin slowed down and reminded Bilbo, "No matter what happens, don't panic, remember not to leave my side."

"Okay..." Bilbo tried to act as normal as he could to show he wasn't afraid, but his tense eyes gave it all away.To be fair, Bilbo is not a coward, and he dares to fight in the face of danger, but after all, he is just a hobbit who is used to living a comfortable life, and unknown dangers can easily make him nervous.

After walking for a long time, the woods still showed no signs of thinning. The area of ​​this forest exceeded Bilbo's imagination. He listened carefully to every small sound among the trees, and scanned the range of his eyes vigilantly.Among the group, Bilbo's eyesight is the best, which is a natural advantage of hobbits.

"There seems to be some animal, not small in size," said Bilbo alertly.

"What? I didn't see anything?" Boromir looked ahead, "Aragorn, did you see it?"

"No." Aragorn shook his head.

Thorin saw nothing either, and looked to Bilbo, who nodded to him in the affirmative.

"You'd better take your swords," suggested Gandalf, "Bilbo is a fine snitch, and his perception far surpasses yours."

"Hey! I'm not a snitch!" protested Bilbo.

Aragorn made a gesture to make everyone quiet, and his companions immediately reined in their horses and stood in place.Now everyone can hear the heavy breathing of a large animal coming from the forest, and the sound gradually approached everyone from far to near.

Thorin drew his sword, and galloped his horse forward, putting him in front of Bilbo.Aragorn and Boromir also drew their swords and held them in their hands, ready to strike.

A dark figure emerged from the shadows of the trees, a powerful animal with a low voice in its throat and a cold gleam in its eyes.When it finally walked out of the woods that covered its body, everyone finally saw clearly: it was a warg.

The warg arched its back and snarled menacingly, its sharp teeth frightening.

Aragorn was in front of everyone, and he was face to face with the warg at this time. He clenched his sword tightly and stared at the warg, ready to meet the attack of the beast at any time.

Suddenly, a sharp arrow shot into the ear of the wolf, and the wolf fell to the ground and died without even howling.

Everyone turned their heads to look in the direction of the sword, and saw a figure running briskly over with a longbow on its back.The archer ran up to the crowd, drew his sword from the worg's head, and raised his head to watch the group warily.This archer is a handsome human being.

"Sorin?" The archer was quite surprised when he saw Thorin.

"Long time no see, Bud," Thorin said coldly, "I was just looking to catch up with you!"

The tense atmosphere permeated, and Bilbo felt bad. It seemed that the archer was the "one he was looking for" that Thorin said, but there was no joy of reunion after a long absence, but full of explosive tension. hostility.