Chapter 38: Tracks Revealed

The next morning, on the road from the Shire to Bree.

Riding on horseback, Allen, dressed as a Ranger, was currently scouting the surroundings of the road; his duty was that of a scout, and he bore this responsibility.

In fact, this stretch of road from the Shire to Bree was very safe, though this is not to say that the powers of darkness were uninterested in this place.

Rather, it was because of the presence of the Northern Rangers, who silently guarded this secluded paradise, sparing the Humans and Hobbits living here from the threat of evil minions.

They belonged to the Dunedain; after the fall of the Kingdom of Arnor, their leader, in order to preserve their limited strength, no longer claimed his status as king, but instead called himself a chieftain.

Subsequently, this chieftain did not re-establish a settlement for his people, but instead led the remaining clansmen to become a nomadic people traversing Eriador.

If Allen remembered correctly, most of them should currently be living in the area between the Hoarwell and the Mitheithel; that place should be called River Corner, located to the south of Rivendell.

As for who led this force at this time, Allen was not clear; there were no relevant records in his memory.

What Allen was clear about was that their current chieftain was the son of Arathorn II, the future King of Men, King Elessar.

This boy, only ten years old, was currently receiving sanctuary in Rivendell as the foster son of Lord Elrond, and his Elvish name was Estel.

Of course, he would have more names in the future, such as "Strider," more familiar to the people of the Shire, or Aragorn, who would shine brilliantly during the War of the Ring.

Estel should leave Rivendell at the age of twenty; perhaps on this journey, Allen would have the opportunity to meet this boy who was destined for greatness and forge a bond of goodwill.

In fact, while scouting, Allen would occasionally discover the tracks of Aragorn's kin, the Northern Rangers.

But clearly, this party composed of thirteen Dwarves, two Humans, and one Hobbit did not pique their interest.

Yes, Bilbo Baggins had ultimately joined this expedition; on this point, Allen had considerable confidence in this Hobbit.

Allen actually could not imagine how the inner thoughts of this Hobbit, who had just come of age, had shifted.

He could only speculate that what played a role in this matter, besides the kindness of Bilbo Baggins, was Gandalf's extremely powerful ability to "abduct people."

Regardless, when this Hobbit caught up holding the Contract, Allen still breathed a sigh of relief; after all, fate is something inscrutable.

With the journey proceeding steadily, a few days later, the expedition arrived at Bree; they did not linger there, but after replenishing some supplies, they set out on the Great East Road toward the Misty Mountains.

In truth, this road was far from dangerous; aside from a few highwaymen hiding in the shadows whom Allen had ferreted out and killed, there were no other unexpected situations.

But even without danger, this journey was far from comfortable, especially for the Hobbits.

Allen could see Bilbo Baggins's discomfort; Allen wondered if this Hobbit was already missing his comfortable Bag End.

However, Allen did not give this Hobbit any extra care; Allen knew that Mr. Baggins had to adapt to this kind of life, and he certainly would.

Yet, adventures, while offering beautiful scenery on the road and thrilling stories at the end, consist mostly of boring walking, walking, and more walking; occasionally, accidents that no one likes will happen.

This day was already the seventh day since the expedition left Bree; the group camped on a flat piece of land by a cliff.

This spot was chosen well; it was spacious, could accommodate the expedition's personnel, horses, and luggage, and had only one path, making it particularly easy to defend and very safe.

But Allen, sitting by the campfire, always felt that something was not quite right.

He always felt a sense of trepidation, but for a moment, he could not figure out what was wrong, so he kept pondering.

Soon, a few strange sounds drifted over from the distance, startling the Hobbit who was quietly feeding the horses.

Lacking adventure experience, Bilbo Baggins became nervous in an instant and hurriedly asked everyone what those sounds were.

Kili and Fili, these two lads, were after all very young; they wanted to tease the nervous Mr. Baggins and began to recount the terrors of the Orcish.

Then they were quickly reprimanded by Thorin Oakenshield; perhaps Kili and Fili were too young and had not experienced much, so their hatred for the Orcish remained on the surface, unlike those older Dwarves whose hatred was etched into their bones.

Some of the Dwarves here had even participated in the Battle of Moria; soon, old Balin began to recount the circumstances of that great battle.

This familiar scene finally made Allen remember what exactly he was worried about.

It was on this very night that the expedition's tracks were discovered by a few Wolf Riders, and not long after, there would be the endless pursuit by Azog.

Thinking of this, Allen knew he was already too late, because Thorin Oakenshield was already standing on the edge of the cliff showing off.

In order not to alert any potential enemies, Allen quietly signaled to Kili, who was skilled with the bow, and raised the Noldor Composite Bow in his hand; Kili clearly understood Allen's meaning, took out his own bow and arrows, and followed Allen.

The others who were awake also noticed the unusual behavior of Allen and Kili and cast questioning glances toward them.

Allen signaled for them to be quiet, then led Kili to hide behind a tree at the edge of the cliff.

He carefully poked his head out, peering toward the forest on the opposite side of the cliff, searching for enemies that might have already appeared.

With just one glance, aided by the moonlight, Allen saw two dark shadows on the opposite side.

Those were indeed two Wolf Riders watching this side; although it was night, that place was one or two hundred meters away from here.

But Allen could be certain that Thorin Oakenshield's tracks had been exposed.

To avoid the ensuing situation, Allen prepared to shoot the two pieces of scum on the opposite side, but he was not sure if Kili's skill could complete such a sniping.

Regardless, he had to try; Allen signaled for Kili to kill the one on the left, while he would kill the one on the right.

After confirming the targets, Allen and Kili quickly flashed out from behind the tree and rapidly shot two arrows toward the opposite side.

Allen's first arrow accurately struck one of the Riders, while the other Rider was also shot off his Warg by Kili.

Immediately after, Allen's next arrow struck the Warg that had just reacted; the Warg tumbled to the ground, and although the other one was also hit by an arrow from Kili, it did not die but frantically bolted into the forest.

Seeing this, Allen knew that Azog would still learn of their party's tracks.

The actions of Allen and Kili, along with the wails of the Orcish and Wargs on the opposite side of the cliff, ultimately startled everyone in the camp.

Just now, Allen and Kili were very focused and did not disturb them; now that the matter was over, they all asked what the two had discovered.

At this moment, Allen, with a look of annoyance, said: "Those were two Wolf Riders; I believe they have already discovered Thorin. I originally wanted to kill them with Kili, but one Warg still got away."

As Allen spoke, he mounted his horse, preparing to go over there to check the situation and incidentally see if he could catch up with the Warg that had fled into the forest.

Thorin ordered Kili, Fili, Gloin, and Dwalin to follow him, while the others remained, but Gandalf still followed along.

Half an hour later, they arrived at the place where the Wolf Riders had died; on the ground lay two Orcish who had already breathed their last, and one dead Warg. There was a pool of blood on the ground extending into the distance; this must have been from the Warg that was hit.

Allen ignored the others who were examining the corpses and whispering to each other.

He rode his horse along the blood trail to pursue, but the blood trail soon disappeared; Allen had no choice but to return to the camp.

At this time, all members of the expedition were gathered around the campfire; they seemed to be discussing something, and after Allen approached, he heard Gandalf losing his temper.

Because the party had already been discovered by the Wolf Riders, and Thorin Oakenshield still had a bounty on his head from Azog, this meant the entire party was now in great danger.

Therefore, Gandalf strongly advocated that the party should hurry to Rivendell to seek temporary sanctuary, and they could also obtain the help of Lord Elrond there.

After all, there are not many people in all of Middle-earth who can read the text on that map.

However, this proposal did not receive the approval of Thorin Oakenshield; he was extremely unwilling to have any entanglement with the Elf.

Now, he simply arranged for more people to participate in guard duty and required everyone to seize the time to rest, as the Expedition would be speeding up their travel starting tomorrow.

This made Gandalf very furious; the old man spent almost the entire night complaining to Allen about the stubbornness of the Dwarf, but what could Allen say? Allen could only manage a short nap amidst the complaints.

Over the next few days, the Expedition changed their previous unhurried attitude and traveled at a breakneck pace; because Bilbo was experiencing life in the wild for the first time, he appeared exceptionally exhausted.

Facing this unexpected situation, a somewhat guilty Allen reached out to help Bilbo many times.

Fortunately, until the Expedition crossed the Last Bridge, Allen had not discovered the slightest trace of Orcish during his scouting; of course, Allen also understood that it was simply not yet the time.

Along this journey, Gandalf and Thorin Oakenshield quarreled once again.

Gandalf still proposed heading to Rivendell, which was still rejected by Thorin; the two eventually fell out, and in the end, these two people had even started to stop speaking to each other.

Allen could do nothing to help with this situation and could only fulfill his duties as a scout well, then try to stay as far away from Gandalf as possible when sleeping at night.

Until one day, while scouting at the edge of a forest, Allen discovered an abandoned farm; he knew he had arrived at the territory of the Troll.

In the movie, three stone Troll lived here; they were driven down from the Ettenmoors by someone.

Allen speculated that it was likely not being driven away, but rather to hide; these three Troll named William, Tom, and Bert likely did not want to be enslaved by the Orcish of Mount Gundabad, so they escaped.

Their destructive power was truly too great; these three fellows ate all the Humans in their vicinity in a very short time and also launched attacks on passing merchants.

Therefore, Allen wanted to kill them during this expedition, not just for the three weapons in their cave, but even more so to prevent them from continuing to harm travelers passing through here.

Moreover, Allen actually only had this one chance; it would be very difficult for him to come to Eriador again in the future.

Regardless, Allen had to take advantage of the daylight to first find the Troll's cave, and afterwards, he would persuade Gandalf and the Dwarf to join forces to kill those three Troll who were a scourge to the region.

After all, it was not just Allen and Gandalf here at this time; these dozen or so Dwarf could be of great help.

Even though Allen was not particularly proficient in the skill of tracking, he quickly found his target.

Because the traces left behind by the Troll here were truly too many; they were simply trampling over this piece of land without any restraint.

Allen looked at the foul-smelling cave and quietly snuck inside; he soon saw the three Troll lying in the cave fast asleep, as well as gold and silver treasures scattered everywhere.

Allen did not think about launching a sneak attack on them; the Troll had thick skin and flesh, so a sneak attack might not necessarily kill them, and Allen also did not believe that he alone could defeat the three of them.

Having found the target, Allen quickly left the Troll's cave and returned to the group; he sought out Thorin Oakenshield and told him about the Troll.

Allen clearly stated that the Expedition should clear out these three Troll; if nothing else, the Dwarf would also be traveling this road, and killing them would be good for everyone.

Gandalf agreed with Allen's statement, but Thorin Oakenshield did not speak and instead looked at his clansmen around him.

The opinions of the Dwarf were not unified; some Dwarf also felt that they should kill those three Troll, while other Dwarf felt that they should not create extra trouble and it would be better to complete their expedition as soon as possible.

In fact, Thorin Oakenshield was more inclined toward the latter choice; he was stubborn, not stupid, and now they were still evading the pursuit of the Orcish, so they should prioritize the journey.

Seeing this situation, Allen also felt somewhat helpless in his heart and knew that he could not have too high expectations for the sense of justice of the Dwarf; they were just a group of ordinary people, and if one had to say something, they were already decent Dwarf.

Facing the current situation, Allen said helplessly, "Actually, I don't think I finished what I was saying. Besides the Troll, there are many shiny, golden things in that cave. According to my estimation, they should be able to fill several chests. Even if it's not for the sake of passing travelers, just for those treasures, I think we should kill those few Troll."

This sentence stirred up a great response among the Dwarf.

"Is that so? Are you telling the truth?" "Can it really fill several chests? How big are the chests?" "Then what are we waiting for? It's almost dark; we should go ambush them immediately." "Let's go, let's go!"

These treasures directly convinced the majority of the Dwarf; after seeing the reaction of the many Dwarf, Thorin Oakenshield had no choice but to agree to this action.