Chapter 80: Rainbow Carp

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The danger dealt with, the dwarves, Bilbo and Gandalf got down from the trees. The first two were looking at Edward in awe, first was the feat in Goblin-town, and now he had somehow injured an Orc general from fifty meters away.

"That was so cool! How did you do that?!" Kili cried out what the younger dwarves were thinking.

Edward smiled and replied, "I recovered another part of my power. This was air magic, I condensed the wind into a bow and an arrow, and shot Bolg. Unfortunately, I missed the head."

While the younger dwarves looked impressed, Balin remarked, "I think I know who this Bolg is, and so does Thorin."

Everyone's eyes turned to them, and Balin explained, "Years ago, at the battle of Azalnubizar, Thorin killed Azog the Defiler. The orc had a son though, Bolg. I think this is the very same Bolg, here to avenge his father."

Dwalin snorted, "He's probably too scared to ever come back!"

The other dwarves laughed, but Balin warned, "If the rumours are true, then he is even worse than his father, and if this is true, then I doubt he will be any scared."

Edward looked back at the place Bolg was a moment before, and feeling the downed moods, said, "Scared or not, he certainly felt the difference in power, and won't dare come back without a bigger army. Even on Wargs, this should give us a few weeks before they come back with a bigger army."

The rest of the dwarves nodded, and the group backtracked a little off the cliff before continuing their journey.

The Misty Mountains were quite a difficult terrain to walk in, and the company was on foot, so despite not going very far, it took the company about half a month to go all the way down to the foot of the mountain, Carrock.

This month was rather stressful as Bolg proved to be an annoyingly good general. Although he and his troops had presumably retreated, he had left a group of Orcs and their Wargs behind to pester them by howling at them nearly constantly.

The Wargs were too fast to be caught by even Edward, so the group was constantly harassed by the howls of the Wargs, making it hard to sleep. Thankfully, after a week, Gandalf finally relented to use some of his power and set a silencing spell around them.

Gandalf, as a Wizard, or Ishtar, was not allowed to interfere too much in mortal affairs, his role was to fight evil, to fight darkness, not help a company of dwarves reach their mountain.

For Edward, this period was much more enjoyable than for any of the others. Not only could he enter deep meditation to shut off his hearing, he also felt the constant strengthening of his blood, and the rise in power than came with it.

By the time they reached Carrock, his blood had already turned into a deep, profound red with a few hints of a golden color from time to time. The benefits of this purified blood were also better than he expected, possibly because of the input of magic in addition to Chi.

His blood was not only strengthening his body, it was also enhancing his healing factor by a huge deal, small injuries were healing so fast it was unbelievable. But that wasn't all.

Whenever he used magic, he could also feel that the price of it had lessened.

So overall, the purification of his blood was going well, and he was getting stronger every day, which was a relief.

All good things had to end though.

When they reached Carrock, the howls of the Wargs intensified, and Gandalf warned, "Bolg has returned, with a sizeable army. We need to hide."

Thorin frowned, "Where do you want us to hide? There is nothing on this mountain we…"

He stopped talking though as the howls of the Wargs were suddenly drowned out by another roar, a much more powerful and terrifying one.

It silenced the Wargs, but the company knew they were not out of danger. Gandalf looked like he was thinking for a few seconds before he said, "I know of a place. Come, we must hurry!"

The group ran on the now even fields, and after about ten minutes they spotted a house in the distance. However, behind them they could see a mass of dark figures speed through the night, coming for them.

The company ran faster, as fast as they could, but they were dwarves. They had short and stocky bodies, not something suited for sprinting.

For every meter closer to the house they got, the Wargs would get three or four meters closer. For a moment, the dwarves thought they could reach the house, but as they were about fifty meters from the house, which turned out to be a farm, they understood they wouldn't make it.

But as they readied themselves for combat, the same terrifying roar as earlier made itself heard, and this time it was much closer.

The company saw a giant beast, a bear taller than any normal bear, slam through the legion of orcs, crushing everything in it's path. Gandalf showed a small smile as he informed, "This is Beorn, our host."

The company turned to look at him, and Fili exclaimed, "You think this is better than Orcs?!"

Gandalf snorted, "Beorn is a skin-changer, he is a man who can turn into a bear."

Thorin had his sword out as he turned to his company and cried out, "Host or not, it is not right to have our battles fought by another. Who's with me?!"

The dwarves roared back, "Aye!"

Thorin laughed, and as everyone unsheathed their weapons, the dwarves charged at the Orcish army. The army was big, but not so much that it became an impossible victory. They were initially well coordinated, and had archers and cavalry, making it a difficult opponent, but with Beorn smashing through their ranks, the attention of all the archers were turned to him, but they could deal barely any damage to the great bear.

Edward followed close to the dwarves, but did not go ahead of them. While it was fun winning battles, he couldn't babysit the dwarves through their entire journey.

Of course, as they reached the Orcish Army, he didn't hold back in the slightest. Using his agility and speed, Edward ran through the ranks of foot soldiers and cavalry to reach the archers.

They tried to stop him, but just like Beorn he was unstoppable, and easily reached the archers before starting a carnage.

He had already gotten used to killing large amounts of flesh beings in the Misty Mountains with the goblins, so he did not feel much as his sword dismembered the Orc archers.

With Edward, Beorn and thirteen battle hardened dwarves, the Orcs did not last long before fleeing. Much to Edward's sadness, Bolg was not among the army, if he could have taken out their leader things would be easier for the rest of the journey.

Still, this was one fight won, and now only one last danger was left, the huge bear, Beorn.

Fortunately, as the Orcs fled, it did not immediately attack the dwarves or Edward, but seemed to be thinking before it ran toward it's house.

Bilbo and Gandalf, who were in the way, did not move, Bilbo looked like he wanted to, but Gandalf reassured him.

And as Beorn approached them, his huge form starting morphing, sizing down and losing a huge amount of it's fur. Finally, as it reached the two, it had changed into a tall man, taller than even Gandalf and Edward.

From the distance, Edward and the dwarves couldn't hear what was being told, but as they arrived by Gandalf's side, Beorn was already walking back home, and Gandalf said, "Beorn welcomes us into his abode. Be polite inside."

The dwarves nodded and the group moved into the farm. It was already the middle of the night, and as they arrived not much was said as the group quickly fell asleep.

The next morning, the group woke up to a strange sight. A pack of dogs were standing on their hind legs, and setting the table with their forelegs, acting like humanoids. On the side, Beorn was talking to them in the… dog language.

It sounded like barks twisted in some kind of speech. It was very strange to hear, but the dogs seemed to understand as they quickly finished setting the table.

Seeing his guests were awake, Beorn grunted with his deep voice, reminiscing the group of his roar in his bear form, "Sit down."

Everyone sat down, including Beorn, and as the dogs served the group, Beorn asked, "What are you doing in my farm? Why bring Orcs to me?"

Thorin was about to reply, but Gandalf was first to speak, "We are on a quest, to reconquer the Lonely Mountain, Erebor. This is Thorin Oakenshield, son of Thrain, son of Thror."

The dwarves looked at Gandalf in shock as this was not something they were supposed to say to anyone, many would try to stop them.

However, Beorn only showed an amused expression, "Is that so? I see why the orcs would be chasing you."

Gandalf smiled and continued, "Yes, and we came here for your help."

"Which I gave, already."

"Yes, of course, that's why we will be leaving later today for Mirkwood."

Beorn hummed slightly, before looking at the company. After a moment of silent eating, he offered, "I've never liked dwarves, they're greedy and don't respect other races. But orcs, they are nothing but destruction, and I hate them. If only to annoy them, I will help you. I will get you provisions for your trip."

The group was pleasantly surprised by the news, and the ongoing meal was quite a joyful one, although the dwarves restrained themselves from celebrating the usual way they did. They didn't want the bear to come out.

After they were done eating, they got provisions from Beorn, who marvelled at Edward's Space Bracelet, but did not show any greed for it, which was surprising.

And so they were once again on the road.

Mirkwood was some distance west of Beorn's farm, and so it took them another half a month to get to their destination. There was one small incident this time though, a minor one, but it was quite unexpected.

The group had to pass through the Anduin River to reach Mirkwood, and it's current was much too strong for them to cross with all their load.

As they were on the bridge, they heard a loud splash, and saw a strange creature jump out of the water, over the bridge, and back into the water on the other side of the bridge. The creature was a big fish, the size of a dwarf, and as it arched over the bridge a rainbow appeared above the dwarves.

The dwarves, Bilbo and Edward looked at the rainbow above their head, mesmerized, while Gandalf had explained, "How lucky of us, this is a Rainbow Carp. It is said that it brings good luck to those it chooses to help."

Edward got to the edge of the stone bridge, and saw the carp swimming in circles below them, as if wishing them good luck for their travel. He wasn't sure why, but he waved at it, and the fish seemed happy as it left after a few more jumps into the river.

Through his Chi Sense, he could feel that an energy had indeed covered them after the carp jumped over the bridge and continued jumping into the water.

The rest of the way to Mirkwood was spent in a rather happy mood, although some were disappointed the luck of the Rainbow Carp did not make horses and ponies appear…