Far to the north, while the men of Rohan and Gondor were fighting their own battles, their is a lesser known battle that took place, but was just as important, a battle between dwarves and men, against the terrible Easterlings of Rhun. This is an account of a dwarven scribe of that tale.
-March 17, 3019 of the Third age-
It was a sun-filled morning in the grand splendor of Erebor, Dale was prospering as always, having its riches double in the last few years, and the long lake was just finishing up delivering their fish to the gates of the Lonely Mountain, trade once more flowing through the three kingdoms. The patrols around the territory were still strong and Dain and Brand II were in a meeting in Dale. Since the Battle of Five armies the gold was split between Erebor, Dale, Esgaroth and Mirkwood. Thranduil and his kingdom had resumed a grudgingly accepted alliance between the two races, and the Northmen had once more had wine from the Woodland realm and Weapons from Erebor. All the while Durin's folk had in a way prospered, their numbers were growing once more and they now had good control over the north.
When the first noise was heard it was a ginormous rumble across the land, The golden colored armor from Rhun was clear, they came for war, the summons from Sauron had not gone unheeded, after Sauron was denied, he quickly sought out revenge. So he sent the armies of Rhun forth to lay waste to the free peoples. Among their ranks were catapults, Ballista, and a battering ram. Terrible things in that army, their numbers so big it cannot be counted in numbers. The dwarves of Erebor quickly sent out Ravens to the Iron Hills and Esgaroth to tell them what was going on, and begging for reinforcements. Dain quickly ran back to Erebor with his guard after telling Brand to ready his forces for war, so there was a great noise was heard as the forges of men sprung up in a hurry, making longswords and longbows all of brilliant creation, their numbers were large for the size of the city, and they marched with haste towards the east wall, where the army was approaching from. Then the first catapult launched, The sphere of stone crashed into one of the towers of Dale, smashing it to pieces. They had approached from the east, just avoiding the sights of the Iron Hills and made their way to the valley. The men of Dale quickly sent down rocks from catapults and arrows from their longbows, but it was not enough, for what men they could bring down more just took their place, their catapults kept firing as if they were limitless on rocks. Most flew past and landed somewhere unimportant, but some crashed into Towers, houses, and the wall. It was weakening fast, and it would be just a matter of time before those walls came crashing down and the hoard of men pouring through, they could not hold long after that. Brand gathered his forces, with hope that the warriors from Esgaroth would arrive soon. Rock upon rock they hurled towards the nearly defenseless city. But not all was lost, the mounted crossbows of Dale provided quick return of fire towards the attacking armies of gold. It appeared that they were at a stalemate, but the rocks of Rhun were hard and launched with fury and the walls soon came crashing down with a noise like an earthquake. Looks of dread shone on the faces of the men of Dale, and they quickly formed a phalanx wall to cover the hole in the wall of the city, but these were no dwarves, they had neither the might nor the numbers to hold against a full blown charge from the Easterlings. But the formation never was tested, for at the last moment the warriors from Esgaroth charged the ranks of the Easterlings, cushioning the impact and letting the Dalesmen form ranks. The men of the lake came upon them with swords and pikes and all they could prepare in the short time they had. The Easterlings shock did not last long, for their morale was high, for Saurn had filled them with confidince that they would win over Gondor and Rohan and send reinforcements north if need be. They counter-attacked with vigorous fury, tearing apart the ranks of the lakemen, and they barely escaped with half the men they started with. The fishermen were not trained as well as the men of Dale, and so could not contend with the battle hardened warriors of Rhun. The men of Dale were different, they had better weapons for living so close to Erebor, trained and battle ready by the dwarves they charged along with the remaining men of Esgaroth, and temporarily giving a dent in the opposing armies front, but it was not enough, and they soon retreated towards the heart of the city.
-End day 1-
So how do you like me writing a bit larger chapters?
