Great Eagles and the Magic Carpet: Murdering the Owner and Taking the House?

Although Thorin was rescued in time, Bilbo and the dwarves were in no better shape, fighting and retreating under the siege of dozens of Gundabad Wargs.

Just then, the butterfly that Gandalf had released flew back, and the Grey Wizard finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Gaius, are you going to use magic?" Gandalf asked meaningfully.

Aaron casually put away his Wand and put on his elven long robe.

As long as I'm not embarrassed, it's others who are embarrassed.

"Excuse me, I picked up the wrong weapon."

"Never mind," Gandalf smiled and shrugged. "The reinforcements have arrived."

The cry of eagles came from the sky, and suddenly some huge shadows appeared in the clouds. More than ten Great Eagles Accio from a distance.

They were even larger than Warg. Their sharp claws would grab Warg and throw it off a cliff. Their immense strength would topple trees and pin down enemies. With a flap of their wings, they would send flames through the forest engulfing the orcs.

The appearance of the Great Eagles caught the orcs off guard, greatly reducing the pressure on the expeditionary force.

Thorin, the dwarves who were fighting, and the Hobbit were all captured by them, thrown onto the backs of their companions, and flown into the sky.

"So, the Great Eagles is the savior you invited?" Aaron asked in astonishment.

"Obviously."

"Why didn't you say so sooner?" Aaron said speechlessly.

"Because I'm not sure if they can get here in time."

Aaron glanced at him and leaped down from the pine tree.

However, what followed him was not Great Eagles, but a dark blue blanket, on which Dori and Ori sat, looking bewildered.

"A flying device?" Gandalf murmured. "It seems Gaius is more mysterious than I thought."

As soon as he finished speaking, the pine tree could no longer support him, and Gandalf fell down, landing right on the back of a Great Eagles.

"Dori, Ori, don't look like you've never seen the world before," Aaron teased.

"We just didn't expect it." Ori was still a little dazed. "When I fell, I really thought I was going to die."

"This is unbelievable," Dori murmured. "Aaron, you actually have such a treasure."

"It's an heirloom, an heirloom," Aaron said sheepishly, while the Magic Carpet flew to a Great Eagles and pointed to Thorin, who was being held by it.

The Great Eagles immediately understood and placed the unconscious Thorin Oakenshield on the dark blue blanket.

"Is Thorin alright?" Bilbo shouted.

Aaron checked his pulse and heartbeat, then looked at the wounds on his body, and his brows gradually relaxed.

"He's still alive. The wound isn't fatal; he just needs some time to heal."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. If Thorin had died, they would have lost a core member of their team, and the expedition would have come to nothing.

"This blanket," Bilbo said thoughtfully, "Was it the one you gave me before?"

"Pretty good, right?" Aaron smiled smugly. "This thing will definitely get you home safely. Neither orcs nor Ogre can threaten you."

Bilbo nodded subconsciously. As long as they didn't encounter enemies in the air, this magic carpet made them invincible.

"Then why didn't you take it out earlier?" Bilbo asked. "Don't misunderstand, I'm not blaming you, it's just that the magical item could have been much more useful that way. If you were using it for traveling..."

"This really won't work," Aaron immediately shook his head. "First of all, my Magic Carpet can't fit an entire expedition team; it's not that big."

Secondly, it cannot fly all the time; it needs to rest.

Finally, do you know what overloading is?

It can still withstand the current speed of four people and maintain a certain flight speed, but if another person is added, such as Bombur, takeoff will probably be a problem.

In conclusion, our team's efficiency in traveling using it is not as fast as that of the road.

Besides, we had a group of ponies to ride when we set off, so there was absolutely no need to bring them out."

"Oh, I see!" Bilbo exclaimed in realization, and the others couldn't find any fault with it either.

"Instead of asking me, you should ask our Grey Wizard."

"If he had been able to bring the Great Eagles from the start, our efficiency would probably have increased several times over!"

"Cough cough!"

Gandalf had just taken a puff of his cigarette when he was choked by those words and started coughing, then he met the strange looks from everyone.

"Gentlemen, don't look at me like that," Gandalf explained. "First, we need to decipher the secrets in the map, and searching as we go is undoubtedly the best approach."

Secondly, the journey must be more meaningful; otherwise, how would you have the opportunity to meet Rivendell and find the lost divine weapon?

"Yeah, right!" Aaron curled his lip in disdain. "We almost got eaten by Ogre, and we were almost killed by orcs several times."

"Isn't everything alright?" Gandalf said with an awkward laugh. "The most important thing is that the Great Eagles Clan also has its own mission. The fact that they were able to spare some of their members to come and rescue people is already a great favor to me."

The group looked at each other in bewilderment, and Gandalf's reasoning convinced them.

The Great Eagles carried them all night, traversing countless mountains and ridges, and finally, in the early morning, it gradually dropped the expedition team off on a mountain peak.

Aaron put away the Magic Carpet and carried it openly on his back.

Gandalf went to Thorin, placed his right hand on his face, closed his eyes, and began to chant a spell.

A short while later, Thorin slowly opened his eyes, and his wounds miraculously healed.

"Where are the Hobbit?" Thorin asked weakly.

"It's alright, Bilbo is here, he's safe."

Thorin breathed a sigh of relief and stood up with the help of Dwalin and Kili.

He looked at Bilbo seriously and said in a questioning tone, "What are you doing? You almost got yourself killed."

"Thorin," Aaron said unhappily, "I think you should be more polite. Bilbo was the first one to run over and save you."

He has little fighting ability; the fact that he went that far already shows he was risking his life.

"I know," Thorin said, approaching Bilbo. "I told you you would be a burden, that you couldn't survive in the wilderness, that you weren't worthy of adventuring with us."

At this point, Thorin paused, then gave Bilbo a hug, saying, "I've never looked at you like that in my entire life."

"I'm sorry, I questioned you." Thorin apologized, somewhat ashamed.

"I doubt myself sometimes," Bilbo said nonchalantly. "I'm not a hero, not a warrior, not even... Golden Snitch."

"But you played a bigger role than them all," Aaron laughed. "If you hadn't saved the Soul Stone of this team, there would have been no point in us even entering Lonely Mountain."

"Lonely Mountain," Thorin murmured.

His gaze turned to the distance, where a towering, cloud-shrouded mountain stood.

"Our destination," Aaron said excitedly. "I thought it would take several months, but the Great Eagles brought us here."

"Erebor, the Lonely Mountain," Gandalf said with a sigh, "The last great Dwarf Kingdom in Middle-earth."

"Our home," Thorin said with a smile.

Just then, a bird flashed past them, flapping its wings and flying towards Lonely Mountain.

"It's a migrating bird; the bird has returned to Lonely Mountain," Oin said. This perfectly matched the omen he had read, signifying the end of the dragon's rule.

"My dear Oin, it's a thrush," Gandalf said.

"Let's take it as an omen!" Thorin's lips curled into a slight smile. "A good omen."

"You're right, I believe the worst is over," Bilbo said.

Upon hearing this, Aaron instinctively wanted to refute it.

Seeing the Lonely Mountain doesn't mean it's all over; on the contrary, Smaug is the worst part.

But seeing the smiles on everyone else's faces, he didn't want to spoil the fun and ruin the lively atmosphere.

The expedition continued onward, but they underestimated Azog's murderous intent towards Thorin Oakenshield; after all, the hatred for a severed arm was irreconcilable.

The Pale Orc led a group of orcs in a chase that lasted for more than half a month before they finally caught up with them.

The howls of wolves echoed across the mountaintop. Azog rode his White Warg and peered down, hoping to find his target.

But after looking around and finding nothing, he urged the White Warg to leave the mountaintop.

"Let's call it a day!" Aaron said in a low voice.

"Yes." Bilbo nodded slowly. "Tell Gandalf and the others!"

Just as they were about to set off, the roar of a wild beast suddenly came from one side.

The two exchanged a glance, then cautiously peeked out and discovered a huge black bear.

It lay prone on a Monolith, roaring at the distance as it opened its massive mouth, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth, as if searching for prey.

Gollum!

The two of them swallowed hard.

For Hobbit, bears were an absolutely invincible force, even more terrifying than orcs.

Aaron, however, sensed something different. It wasn't a bear, or more precisely, not an ordinary bear, but a powerful magical creature.

His past experience told him that these kinds of magical objects were very dangerous, and he should avoid them if possible.

The two remained silent, instead speeding up to avoid the black bear's sight.

They only breathed a long sigh of relief when they arrived at the dwarves' camp.

"How far away are the enemies?" Thorin asked.

"Very close, no more than a few yards (one yard = three yards)," Bilbo said, panting.

"But that's not the most dangerous part," Aaron added.

"The orcs have smelled us."

"It's not certain, but it's only a matter of time before they find us at this distance."

"Did they see you?" Gandalf asked.

"Absolutely not," Aaron said firmly. "The leader was Azog. Bilbo rescued Thorin from him, and I almost shot him in the throat."

If he had seen us, he would have hunted us down without hesitation, but he didn't.

"That's good." Gandalf looked at the dwarves with satisfaction. "See what I said? Quiet as a mouse, excellent choice for Golden Snitch."

The dwarves echoed their agreement, expressing their immense admiration for Gandalf's discerning eye in choosing men.

"Excuse me, although I signed the agreement, I have never considered myself Golden Snitch."

"Bilbo Bagins, that Hobbit has the potential, after all, he moves very lightly," Aaron said. "Besides, we've encountered something even more dangerous."

My gut feeling tells me it's a hundred times more terrifying Azog.

"What kind?" Gandalf asked gravely. "Like a bear?"

"Yes, almost, but much bigger," Bilbo said.

"You know?" Aaron looked at Gandalf in surprise. "What exactly was that bear?"

"Skin-changer".

Aaron:...

I will never ask this kind of question again; I can't understand the answer anyway.

"There's a house not far from here; we can take shelter there for a while."

"Is the owner of the house a friend or foe?" Thorin asked.

"Why are you asking this at a time like this?"

"We're not just being chased by a group of orcs, we also have a monster. Who knows if it'll spot us?" Aaron said speechlessly. "If the house owner is a friend, that's great; if they're an enemy, it doesn't matter. With so many of us, we can easily kill them all and take the house."

Upon hearing this, everyone stared at Aaron in astonishment, and a few even unconsciously took a half step back.

"Murder to silence witnesses and steal a house? It's hard to imagine that these words came from the mouth of a child under fourteen?" Balin's eyes twitched slightly. "Your family education really frightens me."

"Is there something wrong with what I said?" Aaron asked, puzzled. "Being merciful to the enemy is being cruel to yourself, no doubt about it!"

"There's nothing wrong with it, they just find it hard to accept, and I find it hard to accept it too."

Furthermore, the homeowner is neither an enemy nor a friend.

"Stranger?"

"No, he will either help us or kill us."

"Do we have any other choice?" Thorin asked in a deep voice.

Before the words were even finished, the giant bear's roar had already reached everyone's ears.

Aaron shrugged. "It seems there's no choice at the moment."

Gandalf led his expedition toward the house, but they were discovered by orcs. Azog immediately led a small group in pursuit, forcing them to speed up.

Just as they were about to emerge from the woods, the roar of a wild beast came from behind.

The expedition and the orcs Time Stop and turned to look. A huge black bear roared and charged toward them.

When Azog saw the giant bear, he knew he couldn't defeat it, so he had to abandon the dwarves who were about to catch up and retreat with his men to the side.

"This way, quick, run!" Gandalf roared.

Once everyone came to their senses, they immediately followed him and ran wildly toward a house not far away. Bombur even displayed a speed beyond the limit, catching up from last place to first place in a very short time.

He showed everyone what 'potential' truly means, managing to outpace everyone else when escaping despite weighing several hundred pounds.

"Hurry up and come inside!" Gandalf was counting heads at the front door, making sure no one was left behind, when a huge black bear appeared in his sight, startling him so much that he immediately ran inside.

At this moment, several dwarfs were banging on the door, but no matter how loud the noise was, the owner of the house showed no intention of opening it.

"Let me do it." Aaron immediately ran over; there was no door that the unlocking spell couldn't open.

But when he went inside, he found that the door was locked from the outside, which meant that no one was in the house at all.

"Are these people blind?" Aaron thought to himself, but his actions didn't falter at all. He unlatched the door and pushed it open in one smooth motion.