"Thud—"
"Mmm!!!"
A muffled scream pierced the night as the four humans with ulterior motives who had been watching Thorin were bound hand and foot by Tarnes and the others, gagged with cloth, and thrown onto the cold, deserted dirt somewhere in Bree.
The moment their bodies hit the ground, the earth was compressed into depressions, stained with the cold atmosphere.
The intimate contact between their skin and the wet soil brought not only physical coldness but also a chill that arose from the depths of their hearts.
The figures of Tarnes, Bernahl, and Millicent were hidden in the darkness like ghosts in the night, their faces showing no emotion whatsoever.
The four bodies were scattered haphazardly on the grass, their breathing gradually steadying, yet carrying the urgency and unrest of those who had survived a calamity.
Bilbo hid nervously and fearfully behind Gandalf's gray robes, peeking out at the grim-faced Thorin.
The other dwarves were still in The Prancing Pony. Thorin hadn't told them what had happened yet, not even Fili and Kili.
He approached the cross-eyed man, crouched down, his gaze sweeping over him, a barely perceptible cold smile crossing his lips.
Tarnes had originally wanted to say he'd handle the interrogation himself, since he had ways to charm the other party into temporarily becoming his ally, which would save a lot of time.
But Thorin flatly refused, saying that since he was the one being watched, he would use his own methods to interrogate these people.
Thorin drew the Icerind Hatchet from his waist, the cold blade gently tapping the cross-eyed man's cheek as he asked in a low voice: "Who sent you to monitor me?"
The cross-eyed man's body trembled involuntarily, pressed against the dirt, wishing he could disappear into the ground.
Fear flickered in those naturally crossed eyes, but with his mouth gagged by cloth, he could only make "mmm" sounds.
It was clear that the cross-eyed man very much wanted to voluntarily answer the question.
Thorin pulled the cloth from the cross-eyed man's mouth, the Icerind Hatchet lightly pressing against his throat, his cold gaze indicating for him to speak.
Initially, a flash of hesitation passed through the cross-eyed man's eyes, but under Thorin's intimidating stare and the stinging pain on his neck, he could only steel himself and answer: "Someone has put a bounty on you, sir."
"A bounty? Who?" Thorin pressed.
The cross-eyed man pleaded in terror: "I really don't know. I only saw bounty notices and portraits elsewhere, saying that if you see a similar dwarf, you can go to the Great East Road, and someone will naturally come out to buy this information from me."
Tarnes and Bernahl burst into laughter upon hearing this.
If it was just surveillance, what did that murderous gaze they had sensed earlier mean?
Thorin heard the laughter from the two and naturally understood that the cross-eyed man was lying, or at least hadn't told the complete truth.
So he raised the Icerind Hatchet in his hand and struck down.
"No no no, I'll talk, I'll tell you again—"
Then, amid the cross-eyed man's terrified gaze and abruptly cut-off scream, the Icerind Hatchet cleanly severed his fragile neck.
But no blood flowed from the wound. The freezing power dwelling within the Icerind Hatchet directly crystallized the blood into cold, blood-colored crystals.
The cross-eyed man's head, eyes wide with death, rolled beside the bald, one-eyed fellow, making the latter's eyes widen.
Gandalf shook his head regretfully, while Bilbo, hiding behind him, let out a low exclamation.
This was the first time he had witnessed such a bloody scene, making Bilbo somewhat nauseous, the food he'd eaten that evening churning in his stomach.
But at the same time, Bilbo was somewhat surprised that deep down, he felt no resistance to Thorin's actions.
As for Tarnes, he didn't forget to take out the spirit extractor that Teacher Sellen had made for him, drawing the black-colored soul that emerged from the cross-eyed man's corpse after death.
Thorin stood up expressionlessly, heavily tapping the blade of the Icerind Hatchet with his finger to shake off the blood crystals, then walked over to the bald, one-eyed fellow.
The bald, one-eyed fellow's remaining healthy eye showed a panicked gaze, his pupil contracting.
"You'd better think carefully about your answer, understand?" Thorin said with seeming amusement.
The bald, one-eyed fellow was frightened into a cold sweat and nodded vigorously.
When the cloth was pulled from his mouth, while staring in terror at the cross-eyed man's severed head, he immediately said rapidly: "That cross-eyed fool got one thing wrong. Although I, like him, saw the bounty, the bounty content is actually for your head. Bring your head to the Great East Road, and you can exchange it for a large sum of money from the orcs."
Orcs?
A pale figure instinctively flashed through Thorin's mind.
But for Tarnes, upon hearing that the mastermind targeting the dwarves was orcs causing trouble, he immediately felt speechless.
In Tarnes' mind, orcs had now become like cockroaches; they could appear anywhere and disgust you at any time.
Thorin emotionlessly grunted through his nose and pressed: "Which orcs?"
The bald, one-eyed fellow was stunned and instinctively shook his head: "I don't know."
But the cold edge of the Icerind Hatchet made him immediately cry out again: "But the bounty notice I tore off is in the pocket on my chest! I'm really not lying! I really don't know which orcs they are. Maybe you can recognize them from the bounty!"
Just as Thorin reached out to search for the "bounty notice" the man mentioned, Tarnes also began searching the body of the decapitated cross-eyed man.
Since they mentioned bounty notices, the dead cross-eyed man must have one too.
Sure enough, Tarnes found a bounty notice made from some kind of animal hide even before Thorin did, but the crude text written in black paint was unrecognizable to him.
It wasn't dwarvish text, nor elvish text, and certainly not human common tongue.
Gandalf noticed Tarnes' confusion and asked: "What's wrong?"
Tarnes replied: "I don't recognize the text on this bounty notice. Do you know it, Gandalf?"
Gandalf said: "Bring it here, let me see."
At this time, Thorin had also found that bounty notice from the bald, one-eyed fellow's chest but then searched the remaining two uninterrogated but pale-faced, bearded men and found two identical bounty notices.
But these three bounty notices seemed different from the one Tarnes had found. The animal hide that Tarnes had found from the cross-eyed man's body was larger and darker, the ink seeming to be ground from blood.
The text on it was equally incomprehensible to Thorin. After re-gagging the bald, one-eyed fellow, Thorin came to Gandalf's side with these three bounty notices.
Gandalf had originally been chuckling with a spectator's expression, but after seeing those bounty notices in the bright moonlight, his expression became grave.
Noticing Gandalf's change in expression, Tarnes asked: "Is there something noteworthy about this text, Gandalf?"
Gandalf held the four bounty notices, looking at them one by one, then squinted at the three people still alive on the ground: "The text used on these bounty notices is written in the 'Black Speech.'"
Thorin was stunned, then his expression became as grave as Gandalf's: "Black Speech?"
Gandalf nodded, separating out the three identical bounty notices and looking at Thorin: "These three are indeed bounty notices, and what they're offering a bounty for is precisely your head, Thorin. This bald fellow and these two Dunlendings indeed accepted the bounty notices out of greed for the reward on your head."
Then, without waiting for Thorin's response, he held up the larger animal hide found on the cross-eyed man's body and said meaningfully, "And this one is not a bounty notice, but an order. It states that the man who died under your axe should not have disturbed you after discovering your tracks, but should have secretly followed behind you and reported your whereabouts at all times. The person you killed was a spy collaborating with the enemy. Unlike the others, he came with a specific mission."
"It seems our upcoming journey isn't as safe as we imagined, Thorin. And you should thank Tarnes and his friends, because if not for Mr. Bernahl and Miss Millicent helping to capture these people alive, we might have encountered far worse."
Gandalf said this after throwing all the animal hides in his hands into Thorin's arms.
Thorin frowned: "But I still don't know which orcs are offering the bounty on me, and I swear I haven't told anyone else about this expedition."
Gandalf said: "There's an orc who doesn't need to know what you're doing to put a bounty on your head. Thorin, actually your heart already knows who's offering the bounty on your head, doesn't it?"
Thorin was silent for a moment, then finally gritted his teeth and spoke a name: "Azog the Defiler, that damned pale orc."
Gandalf nodded, then frowned as he looked at the three humans: "But there's one thing I don't understand. After you severed one of Azog's hands, he's been hiding in the mines of Moria for a long time without coming out. But why is he suddenly issuing bounties now..."
Thorin said indifferently: "It doesn't matter, let him come. If he encounters me, I'll make him understand what the fury of a 'Son of Durin' means."
Gandalf glanced at Thorin, sighed, then looked at Tarnes: "We need to pick up the pace, Tarnes. Azog's sudden appearance makes me suspect the great enemy has begun to act. Because Azog isn't just an orc, but he's also an excellent general. Thorin and the others had better reclaim the Lonely Mountain as quickly as possible, the faster, the better."
Bilbo listened in confusion, understanding neither "Azog" nor "Black Speech." After hearing Gandalf's words, he instinctively asked: "What do you mean by 'the faster the better,' Gandalf?"
Gandalf looked at the small hobbit and said: "It means this is your last night to sleep comfortably."
Bernahl approached with a smile at this moment: "Have you decided? What about the remaining three?"
The bald, one-eyed fellow and the two bearded Dunlendings frantically shook their heads after hearing Bernahl's words, struggling on the ground.
Millicent controlled her prosthetic hand, drawing her Cleanrot Knight's Sword, which finally made them quiet down.
However, all three made desperate "mmph" sounds through their gagged mouths—they didn't want to die like this.
Tarnes thought for a moment and looked at Thorin: "You decide, Thorin. Since you conducted the interrogation, their lives should rightfully be left to your disposal."
Bilbo nervously blinked and swallowed, looking at Thorin.
He didn't know how this dwarf would decide these three people's fate.
Gandalf didn't interject but watched Thorin quietly with deep eyes, waiting for his decision.
Thorin looked back at the three humans pleading for mercy on the cold dirt and said indifferently: "Knock them unconscious. I'll call Fili and Kili over to throw them in some toilet. They're not worth me personally severing their heads, just let them spend the night with the maggots and flies in the cesspit."
The three people who heard this breathed a sigh of relief. Though they'd be thrown into a dirty, stinking toilet, it was better than losing their lives.
Bernahl looked at Tarnes, who nodded, and only then did he shrug and knock out the three people one by one.
The dawn light gently brushed away Bree's hazy night. Thorin and his companions shouldered their packs, drank deeply of the fresh well water just drawn up, and tightly bound their provisions to their saddles.
The residents of Bree cast curious glances at this group of dwarves who were shopping extensively, while Bilbo joined the dwarves in carefully selecting goods at the market—every loaf of bread, every roll of jerky.
The sounds of merchants haggling still seemed to echo in his ears, but the creaking sound of Bree's east gate opening told Bilbo it was time to depart.
However, he felt something was different about their group. Looking left and right, he discovered they were missing someone.
Bilbo called out loudly to Tarnes: "Tarnes, where's Mr. Igon? Why hasn't he caught up?"
Tarnes replied with a smile: "Oh, Igon. He said he caught a cold from the night air; after all, he's getting old. But don't worry, he'll catch up on horseback soon."
Only then did Bilbo nod: "I see. Then for the next meal, I'll prepare a hot, warming soup for Mr. Igon—trust my cooking skills."
Tarnes said: "Of course I trust you, Bilbo."
Bilbo relaxed and happily rode his pony to catch up with the group. After several days of long-distance travel, he was becoming increasingly skilled at horseback riding.
But what Bilbo didn't notice was that Gandalf gave a strange look after hearing Tarnes' words.
Tarnes showed an innocent expression in return.
Inside Bree, the three men knocked unconscious by Bernahl were discovered by someone who came to use the toilet in the morning.
The bald, one-eyed fellow recalled last night's events with lingering fear. Hearing the two bearded Dunlendings discussing something, he asked: "What are you talking about?"
"One of the Dunlendings sneered, "What? We're going to collect the reward, of course. Those dwarves were foolish enough to let us live. Though we can't bring them Thorin Oakenshield's head, you heard what was written about that cross-eyed fool. As long as we can report the dwarves' whereabouts to the orcs, we'll definitely get our reward money."
Then he raised an eyebrow at the bald, one-eyed fellow: "What, you want to go too?"
The bald, one-eyed fellow recalled the female swordsman who had knocked him unconscious without a sound, shuddered, and quickly shook his head in refusal: "Forget it. I'd have the money to take but not the life to spend it. I'm a local from Bree—I can survive without that money. Do whatever you want."
After speaking, he left the two without looking back.
"Heh, coward."
The Dunlending who had spoken spat at the bald man's retreating figure, then looked at his companion: "Let's hurry and leave through the east gate. Those dwarves probably haven't gone far yet. We'll follow them and report where they go to the orcs on the Great East Road."
His companion sniffed the stench on his body and frowned: "Should we take a bath first? We really stink."
The bearded Dunlending rolled his eyes: "By the time we finish bathing, who knows where the dwarves will have gone. This little stench is nothing compared to Dunland's swamps—just bear with it."
His companion could only reluctantly agree.
After the two left, from a hidden corner, Igon, who had "caught cold" last night, emerged with a cold smile, holding his dragon-hunting great bow, then looked up, his golden dragon eyes searching for Bree's highest point.
From then on, Bree had a new legend.
That evildoers would be knocked unconscious in toilets by Bree's guardian spirit, and if they still didn't repent, the spirit would become a terrifying archer who could pierce their hearts with an arrow no matter how far away.
(Author's Note)
PS: The bald man is indeed a Bree local, a rogue named Bill Ferny.
He appears not only in the Hobbit films but also has scenes at The Prancing Pony in the Lord of the Rings films (causing trouble for Frodo and company, eventually becoming an outlaw).
Thorin would spare their lives out of arrogance, but for killers like Tarnes and his group from the Lands Between, once you've offended them, there's no letting you go.
Not to mention these people targeting the dwarves originally had harmful intentions. Therefore, Tarnes gave face to Thorin and Gandalf, and also didn't want Bilbo to be exposed to such a dark side. So he concealed it from them and had Igon, the sharpshooter, stay behind to deal with these scum.
Also, in the original work, Azog was actually killed by Dain Ironfoot during the Battle of Moria long ago. I'm following the movie version here, since this orc has quite a bit of screen time.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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