Where did Fili, Kili and Kali go? They went to go warn the others of course. Fili and Kili had rushed ahead, yelling for their uncle. Kali was right behind them, but paused to take a long slurp of the cold soup, (forgetting all about her dilemma with Thorin), then dumped the rest in the bushes and stepped into the dying firelight. 

 Thorin wasted no time getting information. He was right up next to her as soon as she appeared, "You! Is this true? what they say about trolls taking the ponies?"

 Although Thorin surprised her, Kali stood her ground, "Yes everything they say about the trolls is true."

 "How many did they take?" he asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

 "Five. Myrtle, Daisy, Bungo, Minty," a tiny look of pain flickered over his face, softening his glare a bit. Minty was his pony.

"And the fifth?"

 Kali sighed and ran a worried hand through her hair, her worried gaze now aimed at the ground, "My pony. Nonoro," regrettably, she looked back up to meet his gaze, "They took Nonoro."

 Kili stepped up, somewhat dissolving the tense situation between Thorin and Kali with his nervous laughter, "No worries, though, uncle. We've sent Bilbo after them!"

 Thorin rounded on his younger nephew, "You sent the burglar in there alone?!"

 Kili shrunk back, but it was Fili who spoke, "But we also came to tell you of the situation."

 Thorin slapped a hand over his face and sighed, "You three had one job! All I ask of you was to look after the ponies and now we've got five of them about to become dinner for three mountain trolls! This is the last time I allow the youngest to do something this important," by the end of his quiet rant, Thorin was mostly talking to himself.

 Kali cleared her throat, "For your information I am one of the eldest here, Thorin."

 Thorin gave her an incredulous expression but had no chance to speak of what she'd just disclosed, for Kili groaned inaudibly in what I assume to be Khuzdul, "If you are not going to do anything to help Mr Baggins then I will!"

 No one could stop him from running back towards where the hobbit was last seen. Fili and Kali watched him disappear behind a tree and it was Thorin's turn to groan, "The name of Mahal- Fili! Rouse up the Company. You," his irritated gaze was back on Kali, "Lead me to the trolls."

 Kali did just that, leading him (and the rest of the Company now that they were awake) past the rest of the ponies that were, luckily, still there and into the back where Bilbo was last seen. She stopped just outside the clearing the trolls were in when Kili at jumped into the clearing, brandishing his sword, "I said; drop 'im!" Bilbo wasn't dropped. Bilbo was tossed, right onto Kili. When the two tumbled to the ground, Fili and Thorin unsheathed their swords and charged from the bushes. The rest of the group following suit. 

 All chaos broke loose. The trolls were stumbling and roaring, being completely beaten by the band of dwarves who could only reach the trolls' legs. You'd think the trolls would wisen up and do something other than grab towards their targets. Kali was late in joining the chaos, rooted to the spot watching with pride at how everyone banded together to save Bilbo. When she did join, however, her initial mission was to not get stepped on, not get caught and help Bilbo free the ponies.

 "Bilbo!" Kali was at his side in a heartbeat, watching him struggle with the ropes containing the ponies, "What are you doing?"

 "I am trying t- What does it look like I am trying to do?!" he snapped, throwing his hands up, "I cannot untie the rope."

 Kali looked over his shoulder at the discarded troll knife lying unguarded on the ground, "Have you tried something sharp?"

**

The rope was successfully cut through by Bilbo and Kali disappeared to return the ponies to safety and quickly check them over to make sure no harm was done. When she returned to the site, she was immediately grabbed and shoved roughly into a burlap sack by wandering troll hands. Once the sack was tied, she was thrown onto the half of the Company who wasn't being spit-roasted. 

 Sadly enough, the main dwarf that cushioned her fall was Thorin.

 Kali did a quick rundown of the situation. Dwalin, Bofur, Nori, Ori and Dori were those tanning over the fire. Leaving Bifur, Bombur, Thorin, Fili, Kili, Balin, Kali, Oin, Gloin and Bilbo in a pile of burlap and hair off to the side. 

 Oin shook with rage, "Untie us you monsters!"

 Gloin joined in, too, "Take on someone your own size!"

 Fili kicked Gloin best he could, "Don't give them any more reason to eat us!"

 Gloin didn't like that and the two began bickering. 

 Bilbo seemed to be the only one listening to what the trolls were saying, for he suddenly struggled to his feet, "Wait! Wait! You are making... a terrible mistake."

 From the spit, Dori cried out, "You can't reason with them! They're half-wits!"

 Bofur looked confused, "Half-wits? what does that make us?!"

Bilbo faltered, "Uh, I meant with the, uh... with, uh... with the seasoning!"

The troll with the ragged, dirty makeshift apron on paused and looked at Bilbo, "What about the seasoning?"

"Well have you smelt them?" Bilbo leaned in a little, "You're going to need something a lot stronger than sage before you plate this lot up." 

The entire lot of dwarves began shouting insults at Bilbo, calling him a traitor and other such profanities. The ones in sacks closest to him began kicking him, and somewhere amongst the ruckus you could hear a long string of Silvan insults coming from Kali's mouth. 

The troll wearing a loincloth scowled, "What do you know about cooking dwarf?"

The first troll looked close to hitting the second on the head, "Shut up, and let the, uh, flurgaburburrahobbit talk."

Shut up and let the what talk? Kali didn't bother asking, and simply tuned her ears into what Bilbo was saying, "Uh, th--the secret to cooking dwarf is, um--"

Apron-Troll's tone of voice was over-eager, "Yes? Come on."

"It's, uh--" Bilbo's gaze was everywhere, frantically searching for a distraction.

"Tell us the secret," the troll pressed.

"Ye-yes, I'm telling you the secret is... to skin them first!" Bilbo finished triumphantly, pleased with himself for finding his words.

The troll leaned back, "Tom. Get me filleting knife."

Gloin growled, "If I get you, you little--"

Dwalin, still rotating over the small flame, cut Gloin's rant off mid statement. He was waving his pointer best he could at Bilbo, repeating angrily, "I won't forget that! I won't forget that!"

'Tom' retaliated, though, "What a load of rubbish! I've eaten plenty with their skins on! Scuff 'em, I say, boots and all."

The third troll jumped on the opportunity, "'e's right! Nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf!" And suddenly he had a hold of poor Bombur and was dangling him over his open mouth, "nice and crunchy!"

Bilbo cried out, "Not--not that one, he's--he's infected!"

All dwarves' heads jerked to watch Bilbo. The trolls paused and Tom's face furrowed, "You what?"

Bilbo continued, "Yeah, he's got worms in his... tubes."

Bombur was dropped back onto the dwarf pile (much to everyone's distaste) in disgust by the troll who had him, "In--in fact," Bilbo continued, "they all have, they're in--infested with parasites. It's a terrible business; I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't."

Everyone was in an uproar now. Oin was the first to be heard, "Parasites? did he say parasites?"

Kili's shout was next, overlapping with Oin's, "We don't have parasites! You have parasites!"

Gloin was another one to be heard, "What are you talkin' about, laddie?"

Kali raised her eyebrows and stopped mid-insult when she saw Bilbo's eye's roll. She then understood and kicked Gloin, making him shut up. Thorin apparently, too, understood Bilbo's plan because he roughly kicked Kili in the shoulder.

Everyone was silent, and if you listened closely you could hear the gears in each dwarf's head turning and creaking as their minds put together small pieces of everything. Suddenly Oin shot out, "I've got parasites as big as my arm!"

Kili was the loudest, shouting and squirming from his sack, "Mine are the biggest parasites, I've got huge parasites!"

Kali bit back a smile, "I'm absolutely riddled!"

Nori's yell came from somewhere off over the fire, "Yes, we're riddled!"

Ori joined his brother, "I'm riddled!"

Dori was next, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Every last one of us! Badly!"

Tom sneered down at Bilbo, "What would you have us do, then, let 'em all go?"

Bilbo looked somewhat queasy, "Well..."

Tom stood to his full height, "You think I don't know what you're up to?" he pointed down at the hobbit, "This little ferret is taking us for fools!"

Bilbo went from queasy to offended, "Ferret?"

The troll with the apron wore the same expression, "Fools?"

Gandalf suddenly emerged out of nowhere, standing atop a large round rock, "The dawn will take you all!" 

Apron-troll squinted, "Who's that?"

Tom shook his head, "No idea."

The quietest troll piped up, "Can we eat 'im too?"

None of them had a chance to find out, for Gandalf struck the rock with his staff. The boulder split clear in two, sending the early-morning sunlight pouring over the trolls. The morning was then filled with the agony-filled cries of the trolls as each of them were slowly turned into stone.

Amongst the cheering, Dwalin's groans were heard, "Oh, get your foot out of my back!"

Gandalf then set to helping everyone from their binds, however little he needed to do. Dwalin, once the feeling came back to his legs, freed Kili, who untied Fili who helped Kali out of her sack like the gentleman he is. Kali then went onto Bilbo who ventured off to help straighten out Bifur's back with Bofur. Kali stooped to help out Thorin while Gandalf was undoing those above the fire (now put out).

"Hello, Thorin," Kali dropped to her knees, quick fingers working at the heavy knots of the sack in order to get out of Thorin's hair as soon as possible, "You aren't injured, are you? Feeling nauseas, a headache? Anything broken?"

"No I am not," was the grunted response, "I'm a perfectly fine, just get me out of this ruddy thing."

"You're out, calm yourself, Thorin," Kali brushed off her hands and stood up, "You're welcome." Bilbo was calling her from across the clearing, so Kali left Thorin.

Thorin stood and began weaving through the throng of dwarves, briefly stopping to make sure none were hurt. He may have been concerned but was really making his way towards the wizard, who had stopped by a stone statue and thumped it with his staff. A smug smile made it's way to his lips.

Thorin stopped. Through his brooding exterior, though, he did look slightly elated to see the wizard, "Where did you go, if I may ask?"

"To look ahead," Gandalf told him shortly.

"What brought you back?"

Gandalf hesitated, "Looking behind... Nasty business. Still, they are all in one piece."

"No thanks to your burglar," Thorin noted in a dark voice.

"He had the nous to play for time," Gandalf snapped, his tone faded into a lighter one, "None of the rest of you thought of that." Thorin gave a slight nod of gratitude at that, which was probably the most Gandalf was going to get as a thanks. Gandalf gave a quick look to the statues once again, "They must have come down from the Ettenmoors."

Thorin's eyebrow quirked, "Since when do mountain trolls venture this far south?"

"Oh, not for an age," Gandalf sighed, "Not since a darker power rules this land."

In the midst of the two sharing a look, Kali dared to slowly step into the conversation, "They could not have moved at all in daylight. How would they hide?"

Thorin stiffened, "There must be a cave nearby."

With Thorin and Gandalf at the lead, the Company all went quick to search for the troll's cave. After a few moments of witless wandering, Gandalf called out that he'd found what they'd been searching for. 

Nori groaned as they all descended inside, "Oh, what's that stench?!"

Gandalf waved his torch about, shedding light over the various weapons, golds and skeletons, "It's a troll hoard. Be careful what you touch."

By now the entire group was inside, and many were coughing and retching at the various decaying scents in the air. Bofur kicked at some coins off to the side, "Seems a shame just to leave it lyin' around. Anyone could take it."

Kali, who had been right behind him, nodded and muttered in agreement. Gloin, however, was slightly more vocal, "Agree. Nori, get a shovel."

Kali, Bofur and Gloin had begun filling a small chest with various coins, goblets, necklaces and such. Trying hard to ignore Thorin and Gandalf (knowing very well she should not eavesdrop) Kali still caught a couple words from the Grey wizard, "... for a finer blade!"

Dwalin was right behind the three, arms crossed as he stood in a defensive stance. He looked at the chest with disgust, "What on earth are you doing?"

Gloin continued to shovel the loose dirt back over the chest they'd placed in the hole (dug by Nori, obviously), "We're makin' a long term deposit."

Suddenly, Thorin called out, "Let's get out of this foul place. Come on, let's go. Bofur! Gloin! Nori! Kali!"

With one last fleeting pat of the ground, Kali stood and reluctantly obeyed Thorin's command. She paused right before the doorway, however, when her eye caught sight of a tall sword sheath jabbed into the side of a skeleton. How peculiar it's still in the sheath... Kali reached slowly towards it, knowing she'd seen the casing somewhere before.

However, Thorin's sudden appearance back in the doorway jerked her from her reverie, "Miss Silveram I suggest if you insist on staying apart of this journey you keep with the Company and do not slow us down any further than that hobbit already is."

"Bilbo is not slowing anyone down," Kali's voice was low, "He is only doing what you ask of him, Thorin."

"Then perhaps you should follow in his footsteps," Thorin snapped, "Let's go."

Suddenly there was a shout from Fili outside, "Something's coming!" Kali turned and dislodged the sword from the ribcage of the unsuspecting human who'd gotten it lodged there to begin with and swiftly followed Thorin from the cave. 

"Stay together! Hurry now. Arm yourselves," Gandalf called out. The Company ran off into the woods. 

A little ways off, the hurried rustling was getting nearer, and suddenly a sled pulled by abnormally-sized bunny rabbits darted from the bushes, stopping at such a place where it'd have run Kili and Kali over should it had continued moving. The shot man driving jumped from the sled, shouting frantically, "Thieves! Fire! Murder!"

"Radagast!" Gandalf stepped forward, gently pushing aside Nori and Bombur, "Radagast the Brown. Ah. What on earth are you doing here?"

Radagast the Brown. Kali mused, So this is the Wizard who takes more kindly to animals than people. I like him. Everything about him screamed ANIMALS, too. His lopsided fur hat and long, ragged brown cloak. The wooden staff with the frayed top that was clutched tightly in his hand. There was also dried bird dung down the right side of his face, tangling in his frizzy, tangled brown hair and beard; something Kali cringed at the thought of.

"I was looking for you, Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong," Radagast answered, visibly shaking.

"Yes?" Gandalf answered politely, waiting for the newcomer to calm himself.

Radagast opened and closed his mouth several times, as if the problem had completely left his head, "Oh, just give me a minute. Um, oh, I had a thought, and now I've lost it. It was, it was right there, on the tip of my tongue!" his expression went surprised, his tongue curling, "Oh! It's not a thought at all; it's a silly old..." Gandalf slowly reach up and pulled an insect from Radagast's mouth, "-stick insect!" Radagast finished as Gandalf dropped the insect into Radagast's palms, and the two went a ways away to speak in private.

"Fili. Kili," Bilbo spoke in a hushed tone beside the two brothers, "Where has Kali gone off to?"

The two twirled about in their spots, looking around. Fili frowned, "She was just here, I swear she was. Kili?"

Fili turned to Kili, who was still searching, "Should we go find her?"

Bilbo's tone was uneasy, "Perhaps I should." The halfling didn't wait for an answer, but instead stepped through a bunch of bushes. Immediately he began calling out, "Kali? Miss Silverarm, where did you go?" an arrow stuck through the ground right ahead of him. Bilbo jumped back, "Good Lord!"

"I'm up here, Bilbo."

Bilbo's large, furry feet refused to move forward, giving him the chance to look up. Indeed, in the tree to his right, sitting with her back to the trunk was Kali. She was on a good sized branch several feet up, and still had her bow drawn, though no arrows were placed in it. He frowned, "Why are you up there?"

He'd made to start climbing up to her, but the moment his fingertips touched the bark Kali slid from the branch and landed in a crouch behind him, "I needed to get away for a few moments," she explained, her voice unreadable.

Bilbo still knew her tone, "Kali," he sighed, turning to face her completely, "What's the matter?"

Kali ran her free hand through her hair with a sigh, "Bugs, Bilbo. I dislike them greatly."

For emphasis, it seemed, Kali shuddered. Bilbo's gaze went worried, "My apologies. I'd forgotten about that phobia of yours-" a shrill howl came from the distance, cutting Bilbo off. Quickly, he led the way back to the others, "Was that a wolf? Are there--are there wolves out there?"

Bofur shook his head, "Wolves? No, that is not a wolf."

To prove Bofur's point, a large animal with a pointed snout appeared in a divot in a small hill nearby. The animal pulled back its upper lip, revealing long, sharp, yellow teeth. It'd pawed the ground with it's ginormous paw and a low growl emitted from it's throat.

Suddenly it jumped, right on top of Ori. Thorin, who was nearest, drove his sword (a new one Kali'd never seen with him before. She assumed it must have come from the troll hoard) straight into the beast, killing it directly. 

Kali went straight to help Dori and Nori drag the carcass off their brother, just as another appeared. Simultaneously, Kali and Kili took out their bows and shot, the arrows hitting true to their target. The Warg tumbled down the hill in a blur of fur, teeth and blood. At the bottom it stood once more, only to be killed by Dwalin.

Thorin pieced the situation together, "Warg-Scouts! Which means an Orc pack is not far behind."

Bilbo's eyes were the size of tea saucers, "Orc pack?"

Gandalf began interrogating Thorin, "Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?"

Thorin gazed up at him, "No one," however, after he said this, Thorin's gaze flicked to Kali, standing behind Bilbo with an armed bow at the ready.

"Who did you tell?!" Gandalf stepped closer as he exclaimed.

Thorin, like the stubborn dwarf he is, stood by his point, "No one, I swear! What in Durin's name is going on?!"

"You are being hunted," Gandalf replied quietly.

"We have to get out of here," Dwalin stepped up to Thorin's side, gripping a bloody ax.

"We can't! we have no ponies!" Ori cried, "They bolted!"

Bilbo cast a backwards glance at Kali and was surprised to find she was unphased by this news. She was still poised for attack, "You don't seem worried."

"About what?" her eyebrow quirked and a faint smirk played on her lips.

"Your pony. Nonoro," Bilbo finished, "He seemed very dear to you and yet no worries from you at the news of all the ponies bolting."

"Nonoro is a very intelligent pony," Kali nodded, "He knows where to go and how to evade very well. Even more so than I do..."

"I'll draw them off!" Radagast suddenly declared.

Gandalf most certainly did not approve of this plan, "These are Gundabad Wargs; they will outrun you!"

Radagast took a giant step closer to Gandalf, a mischievous look glinting in his eyes, "These are Rhosgobel Rabbits; I'd like to see them try."

Gandalf nodded, hesitantly, and then spoke to no one in particular, "We need to move. Immediately."