Estateillio

Warnings

• Estateillio stayed for the night and at first light left again, returning to Erebor at high speed. The dwarves would march the next day and their journey would take them about 5 to 6 days, as they estimated.

• It was noon of the second day that Elrond spoke to her again.

• "Rendi, Suilan le. How fare you?"
• "Has something happened, Elrond?"
• "Yes. I arrived in Eryn Galen not too long ago, just two hours before the Prince returned to his halls, bearing news of an army of orcs in Gundabad, as you said. They are not far behind him, he says, two or three days only, though he rode hard. What say the dwarves of the Iron Hills? Will they aid?"
• "They will. Dain is wise and he started preparing for war immediately and they will reach Erebor within four or five days. We rode ahead of him, however, and will arrive in two days, one perhaps if we travel through the night and I lend Illúmdil some of my strenght."
• "I would advise against that. You should still be in time and we cannot know if thy power might be needed elsewhere during the battle."
• "Still, we shall make haste and thee I would ask again to convince Thranduil to help."

• And Estateillio rested her hand on the strong neck of Illúmdil and asked him: "My friend, war is approaching and many are in danger and we wish to help them. I would ask a favour of thee, dear friend, to make haste. To go at the highest speed you can hold for a long time without my aid, for Elrond advised me to save my strenght for the upcoming battles."

• And Illúmdil snorted and answered: "For long years have I fought the shadows. I came across the sea with my rider and now have stood at your side, rider-daughters, for millennia and never have you forced me into anything and always tried to keep me from harm, though hard such a task in battle is. I know the need to save energy for when the need is dire and I will do so myself, for I too have chosen to partake in this war as best as I may, but faster I can still go and our breaks we can shorten."

• "Hannan le, málomma", she thanked him and his strides lengthened and their pace quickened and they could have outpaced Shadowfax, Lord of the Mearas, and dust settled behind them.

• And during their short breaks, when the night was darkest and many fell things lurked in the shadows just waiting to attack them, Estateillio conversed with Elrond and she learned that Mithrandir had gone to talk to Thorin and they had not yet news of him and he told her also that Thranduil, under his careful and Legolas' demanding nudges, was starting to see reason in their plans.

• And together, she and the war horse decided to make for Eryn Galen and also to make a short stop in Esgaroth to warn the Atani of the looming threat.

• On the morning of the fourth day since they left the Iron Hills, horse and rider halted on the northern shores of the Long Lake upon which Esgaroth was built and the elf asked a boatsman to be ferried across, for she brought important news for their leaders, and he asked her if she was from the forest and she affirmed and he took her across to not displease any of the elves that dwell in Mirkwood.

• And she talked to the mayor and told him of the orcs and of the death of Smaug and to her dismay, the man disregarded the first entirely and focused completely on the latter and he talked about a promise Thorin had made them.

• When she left again, she told everyone she came across of the threat, so that at least some might be warned and carry on the message to others. And then Illúmdil carried her into the depths of Eryn Galen towards the halls of Thranduil and so they did not hear the screams when the remaining orcs of Dol Guldur came upon Lake Town and the orange glow of flames was reflected in the deep and dark waters and few survived.

• And of these survivors, Bard had been the most valiant, for he had saved many from the flames and killed a lot of their attackers after he had escaped from his cell. And they named him their new Lord and remembering the promise of Thorin, they headed towards the lonely mountain to seek shelter from the roaming orcs there, for some of them had heard from the elf that Smaug had fallen.

• And from the north approached another army, a bigger one, led by none other than Azog, the Defiler, who was the archenemy of Thorin Oakenshield and they arrived at the foot of the lonely mountain the same day that Estateillio arrived at the palace.

• "We cannot do nothing, my Lord Thranduil. If Erebor falls into the hands of the enemy, we have little hope of retaking it. They will have a military advantage in the North whence they can strike hard. Eryn Galen will then be their next target. The best chance of fighting them is to attack quickly and annihilate their forces", she argued at the council that had been arranged when the size of the enemy's army had been made clear to them.

• "It would be the cause of many deaths, Lady Fairwen, unnecessary deaths. What have the dwarves ever done for us that justifies sending good soldiers into their doom?", the king replied harshly.

• "This question, I believe, both sides could pose. Yet when we asked Durin IV for help all those years ago, he gladly aided us, for he knew our goals to be common, and thus was able to put aside old grievances."

• "But the question should rather be 'Which course will cause more death?' and the answer to that is simple. Help the dwarves and men now and your combined forces will be much larger and thus your losses smaller if you play your cards right. The other option would entail standing alone against a foe that holds the strongest stronghold in the North. And we both know how that ended last time."

[《◇》]
Didn't think I'd get the chapter done today, so I'm glad I managed.
Prompts for the Christmas bonus chapter until Thursday 8pm CET and it will definitely be included, after that until Friday 1pm CET and I might manage to still squeeze it in, but can't promise anything.
Hope you enjoyed!
AT
P.S.: Suilan le means I greet you, Hannan le means thank you and màlomma means our friend.