My Lord

Chapter Thirteen The Battle Part I

A loud clanging of armor draws the attention of everyone to the nearby hill. What seems to be a large army of men is making its way down the hill. "Ironfoot," says Gandalf quietly. 

Ironfoot? I am quickly pulled from my thoughts as Thranduil swiftly moves through us on his elk, commanding us to turn and ready ourselves. We begin to march directly toward the other army. "Thorin!" Shouts a small man riding some kind of boar.

Gandalf and Bilbo are discussing who this might be, but I can only hear a small bit as I march past them. "It is Dain, Lord of the Iron Hills," says Gandalf "Thorin's cousin."

Hearing this causes my stomach to drop. I can only imagine how stubborn a cousin of Thorin's might be. "Good morning. How are we all?" Shouts Dain, so everyone can hear him. "I have a wee proposition if you wouldn't mind giving me a few moments of your time." I shift my eyes to look for reactions from anyone. "Would you consider," he continues, "just sodding off?" We take a step forward, bows and swords in hand, as the people of Laketown take a nervous step back.

Gandalf emerges from the crowd and tries to calm Lord Dain down. He is not having it, though. "Tell this rabble to leave, or I'll water the ground with their blood!" We stay still, hoping that bloodshed will not be the answer.

"There is no need for war between Dwarves, Men and Elves," says Gandalf. "A legion of Orcs march on the Mountain." This makes my heart sink once more. I thought we were coming here to negotiate with the dwarves, not fight a second army of them as well as Orcs.

"I will not stand down before any Elf. Not least this faithless Woodland sprite." I see 
Thranduil's brows furrow while a small smile still remains on his mouth. "He wishes nothing but ill upon my people," continues Dain. "If he chooses. to stand between me and my kin I'll split his pretty head open!" Thandruil's smile grows larger as Dain finishes by saying, "See if he's still smirking then." He then returns to his army as Gandalf shouts after him.

"Let them advance," announces Thranduil. "See how far they get."

"You think I give a dead dog for your threats you pointy-eared princess?" Dain taunts Thranduil, causing his face to finally fully harden. I am surprised that this is the comment to finally get under his skin, but I cannot blame him for it. Dain then commands his army to fight and Thranduil does the same.

"Stand your men down," Thranduil says to Bard. "I'll deal with Ironfoot and his rabble." We advance toward the dwarf army as a herd of them on large goats emerge forward. Thranduil commands us to draw our bows, so we do. And on his word, we all release at the same time. An immense amount of arrows hurls through the air directed at the Dwarves. They counteract by launching some sort of arrow destroyers. They plummet to the ground hitting dozens of us. I jump at the sight of them being thrown from position and injured. There is no time to see if they are okay.

Thranduil has us shoot our arrows once more, but just as I feared, the same thing happens once more. Dozens more Elves are sent flying from the large spinning spears. Since we rotated our position, I am no longer in the frontline, sparing me from being hit either time. The new frontline forms a barrier with shields and swords, which stops some but many continue over and forwards, pushing further into us. I ready myself as a Dwarf speeds toward me. I send one, then two arrows at him, to no avail, and he continues running at me with anger riddling his face. I frantically search around for something other than my bow, as I spot a discarded sword on the ground. I grab it as quickly as I can and plunge it into his stomach, just as sharp pain writhes through my arm. As I was readying to strike him, he was doing the same but only swiped my arm, fortunately. I try to breathe through the pain as I pull the sword from his gut.

Just as I am preparing myself to continue on, I hear a distant rumbling. Everyone is stopping to look in the direction of the sound. Mid-battle both Elves and Dwarves now stand side by side, weapons still drawn, worried of what is to come. An enormous worm-like creature suddenly bursts through the side of the mountains behind us. It has a vast mouth with what I am sure are many sharp teeth. Without warning, two more worms blast through, followed by one more.

The giant worms then retract back into the mountain. Everyone is unsettled, unsure what to do next when a raspy voice booms from the mountaintop. It is an Orc and I have no a clue of what he is saying, but his speech is quickly followed by loud horns and large flags being raised. This seems to have signaled his army to come forth, through the holes formed by those creatures from before.

Everyone is still for only a moment more as it is broken by Dain shouting, "The hordes of hell are upon us! Fight to the death!" The Dwarf army immediately races forward to form a barricade against the Orc. We stand still and I am now shaking as I await Thranduil's order. With his signal, we follow the Dwarves and the front half begin launching themselves over them, swords being the first thing to make contact.

The battle continues as we now fight with the Dwarves against the Orcs. It is a horrific bloodbath. The horns blare once more as the hoisted flags shift direction. Beasts the size of ten elves now emerge and march towards us as well. Thranduil orders us to send a cloud of arrows at the beasts, taking a few of them down. For a third time, the horns and flags are summoned, causing the beasts to shift their aim to the Dwarves on armed carts with the giant goats. The Orc leader saw where the most power was and wanted to destroy it.

After taking the carts out, the beasts and army are guided to the city by a final horn blowing and flag raising. Following Bard and Gandalf's commands, everyone has started towards Dale. The Orc's launch boulders and beasts at the walls, trying to gain access. The weathered foundation almost simultaneously gives way and they flood through the barriers. Thranduil charges on, carried by his elk, so we follow close behind.

Fighting through the waves of Orc's is exhausting but I will not stop as long as he is still fighting. We continue on, trying to keep up when Thranduil's elk abruptly tumbles forward, throwing him off. He lands in front of the injured animal in the middle of a crowd of Orc's. I feel a lump form in my throat as I run as fast as my feet will carry me. He begins fighting them off and we soon join in. I am hurling my sword every which way to fight them off as I watch my kin fall around me. Gandalf and the mortal men are here now, fighting too, but it is a tumultuous battle that I am not confident we will win.

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Updated 11-9-2023