Chapter 16 · Gandalf the Cunning
The three idiot trolls had never seen Gandalf before.
"Who's that?" the dumbest one asked. "Can we eat him?"
"He looks like a human," said the second idiot troll, licking his lips. "Humans are tasty."
Before the words had even finished leaving his mouth—
Gandalf said nothing more.
He channeled his power directly. The crystal atop his staff burst into a blinding white glow.
"Ah! Sunlight!"
Terrified, the three idiot trolls reacted on instinct. Anyone struck by sunlight would turn to stone, so they all threw up their arms to shield their eyes.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
"Huh?" the dumbest troll looked down at himself in disbelief. "I didn't turn to stone."
"Me neither."
"Did… did we get stronger?"
From a certain point of view, the three trolls were genuinely gifted comic relief.
Gandalf knew full well that the light from his staff alone probably wouldn't petrify them—but given the situation, he had no better option.
After all, dawn was still some distance away.
Without hesitation, Gandalf poured in more power and shouted to Bilbo and the others,
"What are you waiting for? Get over here—now!"
Seeing Gandalf, Bilbo felt hope surge through him. He didn't dare waste a second and sprinted toward the wizard.
The other Dwarves followed suit.
Only Thorin Oakenshield, still half-naked and gripping his sword, remained where he was, glaring murderously at Smaug.
He hesitated—only for a moment.
With everyone else already running, there was no way he could kill Smaug alone.
Thorin turned and bolted.
At the same time, the three idiot trolls—each shielding their eyes with one arm—staggered forward toward Gandalf.
"Damn humans! You dared trick us!"
"Don't run! I'll eat every last one of you!"
"We're not easy prey!"
They roared as they charged.
Smaug, of course, didn't bother to chase anyone.
He turned calmly into the forest, shifted forms, and became a raven once more, then took to the air to follow the group from above—watching the spectacle with amusement.
For a time, the scene was chaotic:
The trolls chased.
Gandalf's group fled.
Smaug watched from the sky.
Unknowingly, the eastern horizon began to pale.
Dawn was approaching.
Gandalf noticed at once. He stopped, turned around, and unleashed his power again. The staff's crystal flared with brilliant white light.
Forced to shield their eyes yet again, the trolls slowed.
In the next instant—
The first rays of dawn washed over them.
The three idiot trolls stiffened, their bodies hardening at terrifying speed.
In moments, all three were stone.
"There's still one left!" Thorin first let out a breath of relief, then snarled angrily.
"If trolls can't face sunlight, there must be a cave nearby! The last one must've hidden there!"
"We're going to kill it!"
There was no doubt about it—Thorin was not the sort to forget humiliation easily. What Smaug had done would be remembered forever.
Gandalf didn't fully know what Thorin had endured, but Thorin's appearance alone told him enough.
"Fighting a troll inside its cave isn't wise," Gandalf said calmly.
"You're all safe now. We should leave immediately."
"No!" Thorin rejected the idea outright. "I must kill it!"
With only one troll left, Thorin was confident he could finish it.
Gandalf paused for a moment.
"What exactly happened back there?"
Thorin said nothing.
No one else spoke either.
The silence became strange and heavy.
Gandalf, ever perceptive, chose not to press further. After a brief thought, he said instead,
"Thorin—put some clothes on first. Then we'll look for the cave."
---
A few minutes later—
Fully dressed and sword in hand, Thorin took the lead, his expression taut as he searched ahead.
Bilbo, meanwhile, wanted nothing more than to leave immediately. Everyone was safe—risking more danger felt pointless.
But he also knew his opinion carried little weight.
So he walked beside Gandalf and asked quietly,
"Where did you go?"
"Just took a walk," Gandalf replied gently. "I'm glad you're unharmed."
Remembering what had nearly happened, Bilbo still felt shaken.
"We almost died."
Gandalf's voice remained calm.
"So tell me—how did you end up running into trolls?"
Bilbo cast a glance at Thorin Oakenshield, who was striding at the very front, seething with rage, then lowered his voice and gave Gandalf a rough account of what had happened.
Naturally, Bilbo left out Thorin's most embarrassing moments. Instead—quite reasonably—he mentioned the strangely intelligent raven.
When he finished—
My cue, Smaug thought.
Still perched in a nearby tree in raven form, Smaug moved at once, fluttering down to Bilbo and landing neatly on his shoulder.
Bilbo brightened.
"That's the raven! This one right here!"
Gandalf turned his gaze toward Smaug.
With just a single look, his eyes narrowed.
There was no mistaking it.
The aura clinging to this raven was almost identical to that of the unnatural eagle he had encountered earlier.
Some kind of shapeshifting magic? Gandalf wondered.
He wouldn't claim to know every spell in all of Middle-earth—but this was certainly unusual.
And so, new questions surfaced in rapid succession:
What is its true form?
Who sent it?
And for what purpose?
By now, Gandalf was certain of one thing:
Whatever this raven truly was, it had not been sent by Galadriel.
Gandalf withdrew his gaze and said nothing. He took a slow draw from his pipe, thinking for several seconds, then made his decision.
For the time being, he would keep the raven close and observe it carefully, see if it revealed any clues.
After all, driving it away—only to have it return later in another guise—would be far worse.
"Your luck is good," Gandalf said at last, smiling faintly as he spoke casually.
"This is a very perceptive raven."
Time passed.
At last, Thorin—burning with impatience and desperate to kill the remaining troll to wash away his humiliation—found what he was looking for.
"Here!" he shouted. "This way!"
Foolish though he was, Thorin's courage was genuine. With a single command, he charged straight into the cave without hesitation.
The other twelve Dwarves didn't dare lag behind and rushed in after him.
The cave reeked—an overwhelming stench that made the stomach churn.
"Jesus! It smells like death in here!" one Dwarf blurted out.
"Shut up!" Thorin snapped coldly, fully focused on hunting the troll.
The group advanced slowly.
The cave wasn't particularly large.
After circling through it, they found—unsurprisingly—nothing.
"It's not here?" Thorin's anger flared. "Impossible! Could there be another cave?"
Before anyone could answer, Thorin answered himself.
"Yes—there must be another one! That troll didn't know the three that turned to stone. This must have been their cave!"
"We go back out," Thorin declared.
"And we keep searching!"