Wargs and Eagles
After escaping the goblin tunnels through the back door, Bilbo Baggins rejoined Gandalf and the dwarves on the eastern slopes of the Misty Mountains. The company, exhausted and hungry, pushed on through a pine forest as evening fell. The moon rose over a clearing that struck all of them as an unpleasant place, though nothing was visibly wrong. Then a long, shuddering howl came from downhill, answered by another to the right and a third nearby. Wolves were gathering. Bilbo, who knew the sound from tales told by his Took cousin, recognized the evil packs that lived under the shadow of the goblin-infested mountains. Even his magic ring, he realized, was little use against wolves that smelled keener than goblins and did not need to see their prey to catch it.
The Siege in the Trees
Gandalf shouted for everyone to climb trees. The dwarves scrambled up as high as they could trust the branches: Fili and Kili reached the top of a tall larch; Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, and Gloin settled in a huge pine; Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, and Thorin found another; Dwalin and Balin swarmed up a slender fir; Gandalf hid himself in a large pine at the glade's edge. Bilbo, unable to climb any tree, scuttled from trunk to trunk like a rabbit. Dori, grumbling but decent, climbed down, let Bilbo scramble onto his back, and then jumped for the branches himself just as a wolf snapped at his cloak. The wolves—the evil Wargs of the Edge of the Wild—trotted into the clearing, hundreds of eyes blazing, and surrounded every tree that held a dwarf. The glade was evidently a meeting-place. More wolves kept arriving, and a great grey wolf, their chief, spoke to them in the dreadful language of the Wargs. Gandalf understood: the Wargs and goblins often helped one another, and a great goblin raid had been planned for that very night. The Wargs had come to meet the goblins, who were late because of the death of the Great Goblin and the excitement caused by the dwarves. The Wargs believed the company were spies for the woodmen and resolved to keep them trapped until goblin soldiers arrived—and goblins could climb trees or cut them down.
Gandalf's Fire-Cone Attack
Gandalf, though a wizard, was dreadfully afraid, but he was not going to let the Wargs have it all their own way. He gathered huge pine-cones from his tree, set one alight with bright blue fire, and threw it whizzing down among the circle. It struck a wolf on the back, setting its shaggy coat ablaze. More cones followed—blue, red, green—bursting in coloured sparks and smoke. A specially large one hit the chief wolf on the nose, making him leap ten feet into the air and then rush round biting even his own wolves in his anger and fright. The dwarves and Bilbo shouted and cheered. Wolves are afraid of fire, and this uncanny fire stuck and burned into their coats. Soon wolves were rolling over to put out the sparks, while those that were burning ran about howling, setting others alight, until their own friends chased them away. The commotion filled the forest.
The Goblins Arrive and the Fire Closes In
The Lord of the Eagles, sitting on a lonely pinnacle of rock at the eastern edge of the mountains, heard the uproar and swept up into the air with two of his guards. From high above they could see the ring of Wargs, the flashes of fire, and the glint of moonlight on goblin spears and helmets as long lines of the wicked folk crept down the hillsides and wound into the wood. The ancient race of the northern eagles were proud, strong, and noble-hearted; they did not love goblins and swooped on them whenever they could. The Lord of the Eagles summoned many eagles, and they began circling down towards the glade. Below, the fire set by Gandalf's cones had spread. Yellowing bracken, fallen branches, and deep-piled pine-needles were soon in flames. The wolf-guards did not leave the trees but leaped and howled round the trunks. Then goblins came running up, yelling. They were not afraid of fire and soon had a plan: they stacked fern and brushwood round the tree-trunks and fed the fire nearest the dwarves, creating a ring of smoke and flame that closed slowly in. The goblins danced round and round, singing a horrible song about roasting the "funny little birds" in the fir-trees. Gandalf climbed to the top of his tree, his wand flashing like lightning, ready to spring down among the spears—a leap that would have been the end of him.
The Eagles' Rescue
Just as Gandalf prepared to leap, the Lord of the Eagles swept down from above, seized him in his talons, and was gone. The goblins howled in anger and surprise. Back swept the great birds, down like huge black shadows. The wolves yammered and gnashed their teeth; the goblins yelled and flung their heavy spears in vain. The eagles' talons tore at goblin faces. Other birds flew to the tree-tops and seized the dwarves, who were scrambling up as far as they dared. Poor Bilbo was nearly left behind again: he just managed to catch hold of Dori's legs as Dori was borne off last, and up they went together above the tumult and the burning, Bilbo swinging in the air with his arms nearly breaking. The flames about the trees sprang up suddenly above the highest branches, and Bilbo had escaped only just in time.
Flight to the Eyrie and Aftermath
Bilbo never forgot that flight, clinging to Dori's ankles, moaning "my arms, my arms!" while Dori groaned "my poor legs!" Heights made Bilbo giddy, and looking down between his dangling toes at the dark lands opening wide underneath him made his head swim. The pale peaks of the mountains came nearer, moonlit spikes of rock. The flight ended just before his arms gave way; he loosed Dori's ankles and fell onto the rough platform of an eagle's eyrie. The Lord of the Eagles spoke with Gandalf, who had once rendered a service to the eagles and healed their lord from an arrow-wound. The eagles agreed to carry the company far away and set them down well on their journey across the plains below. The Lord of the Eagles would not take them near where men lived, for men would shoot at them with yew bows, thinking they were after sheep. But they were glad to cheat the goblins of their sport and repay their thanks to Gandalf. The eagles brought dry boughs for fuel, and rabbits, hares, and a small sheep. The dwarves cooked a fine meal, and Bilbo, too weak to help, slept curled up on the hard rock more soundly than ever he had on his feather-bed at home, though all night he dreamed of his own house and wandered in his sleep looking for something he could not find. So ended the adventures of the Misty Mountains. The next morning, fifteen great birds rose from the mountain's side, and Bilbo was allowed to climb onto an eagle's back and cling between his wings. The eagles set them down on the great rock called the Carrock, where they parted with the polite farewell of eagles: "May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks." The Lord of the Eagles later became the King of All Birds, wearing a golden crown, and his fifteen chieftains golden collars made from the gold the dwarves gave them. Bilbo never saw them again except high and far off in the Battle of Five Armies.
