Chapter 1
Nedgi; Daughter of Nedgar, Son of Nordgun, was born in a small colony in the Dwarven re-claimed Moria about fifty years after the end of The War of the Ring. Her family was very poor; as her father Nedgar, was the sole survivor of his clan who had fought during the Great War of the Ring. However; a new threat had begun. Lady Galadriel had been killed by her traitorous student the Elven wizard Altorah; who organized a new government among the Elves after he usurped Lord Elrond and massacred him and his family. He had turned Lady Galadriel's bones into a mighty magical hammer and scythe which had the ability to turn enemies into servant animals. Altorah had accomplished this through Melkor's magic. However; as he was uniting Elves all over Middle-Earth, Melkor's magic had corrupted him, and had turned him into a twisted creature. Altorah was originally a sleek muscular with Elf with neatly-combed short black hair, with fair, pallid skin. Now he was grotesquely yellow covered; and had cankers and sores covering his body rendering him hideous. Because of this, he entrusted his loyal assistant Feorin to make magical suit of armor that would hide his true form. Altorah was then known by a new name to the people of Middle-Earth. He decided he would conquer all of Middle-Earth. He began by killing all the Elves that spoke against him; which led him to wage war against the Elves of the Woods. As that conquest was going on; he aimed his sights at The Shire; but knew to wait, as he realized not only would Gondor and Moria come to their aid, but it also had many great warriors residing there. Soon; he would attack, and soon Nedgi would go the frontlines of that battle.
Growing up in the small re-colonized areas of Moria, Nedgi was often picked on by the other dwarves. They made fun of her because of she was poor, fat, and bad at sports. All the other Dwarves forced her to par-take in their games; in which they'd beat her up. She often asked her father Nedgar for help, but he was so old and weary that he couldn't lift a finger. Nedgi would then go to the Elders of the colony for help, but they refused to help her too; saying she was "spoiled" and that her bullying would pay off "to build her character" so they shouldn't intervene. After these messages Nedgi vowed to become stronger. Nedgi voluntarily chose to play their abusive games; learning how to get the hang of them in hopes of beating the other Dwarf children at it. She practiced day after day and night after night. Eventually Nedgi became a strong, young woman. She was beautiful; in a subtle kind of way. She had round cheeks and long brown hair that constantly got in her face. She had freckles, hazel eyes, and a long-bridged nose. She stood at 3''8, which was common for Dwarves, and still had a bit of chubby belly, although there was muscle under it. When Nedgi had turned sixteen years old she dared all of her bullies in the colony to challenge her at a game of wrestling. Through a lot of struggle; she defeated every opponent, except for one. She tried several months later; and she ended up being victorious against all of them. Over time; Nedgi would be celebrated by the colony. She would grow to accept and forgive her former-tormentors and all the other villagers would grow to apologize and accept her for who she was.
Eventually; Altorah had gathered enough ranks to invade The Shire and begin his plan of conquering Middle-Earth. Thanks to Elves resisting his rule and acting as spies for the Free Peoples; The Kingdoms of Gondor, Rohan, Erebor, The Iron Hills, The Shire and the reclaimed Moria had begun a counter-attack for the upcoming invasion against The Shire. Ranks of resisting Hobbits were gathered in four companies known as Frodo's Knights; led by Pippin Took, The Champions of Gandalf; led by Merry Brandybuck, The Smoking Warriors; led by Samwise Gamjee, and The Defenders of the Grassy Hills; led by Mungo Knotwise of Whitfurrows. It was their duty to hold The Shire from all invaders. Rohan cavalry would flank from Altorah's army from the East, and Gondor's forces would flank from the West; led by King Aragorn himself. Thanks to negotiations with the new, young wizard Ferris of the Stone, five legions of eagles aided by the great Southern dragon Cerocean; who had recently been sleeping for hundreds of years. Finally; the Dwarves were called to the fight. Erebor accepted immediately; and formed a flank against Rivendell; where they would intercept Altorah's moving troops. The Dwarves of the Iron Hills were a bit more reluctant to join; but they decided to aid by splitting their army in half; sending one to the Eastern front, and one to the Western front. Finally; the Dwarves of Moria were asked to stand with the Hobbits in the Shire. Although the men and dwarves constantly flattered the bravery of Hobbits; they all judged them as weak and unable to fight. To ask someone to stand with a Hobbit army against a full-frontal invasion was a death sentence. Many of the colonies refused to enter; and they stayed that way, the kingdoms of the Free Peoples couldn't force them. But not Nedgi's colony; she vowed to fight and to lead her regiment. And so she went to war.
Nedgi was in charge of a Dwarven battalion that was sent immediately to guard the Shire. With her battalion; was a handsome Dwarven boy named Richtin. Richtin had constantly bullied Nedgi as a child, but Nedgi never fought back or held it against him because she was madly in love with him. Although Richtin still hated her; he decided to play with Nedgi's affections, and enter a relationship with her. Although Nedgi was absolutely delighted, she had no idea that Richtin did this just to get his status raised, as Nedgi was now considered a hero. Soon; Nedgi and her soldiers entered the Shire. The entire land's perimeter was surrounded by 10-feet-tall wooden spikes buried deep in the ground. To the North were Frodo's Knights, to the East were The Smoking Warriors; to the West the Champions of Gandalf, and to the South the Defenders of the Grassy Hills. Nedgi split her force into four teams and assigned each team to a different sector of the Shire. She herself met up with Commander Brandybuck in the West. She found him with a tall, skinny, somewhat awkward wizard with a tall, purple coned hat and red and green robes.
"Aah," Merry began, letting some pipe-smoke out of his mouth, "good to see you my brave Nedgi, Daughter of Nedgar. This fellow with me is a man from Rohan known as Gleowine the Fox. He is a young inexperienced wizard, but still very powerful in his magic."
Gleowine seemed to flinch at the critique, and Nedgi couldn't help but feel bad for him a little. "Hey, you shouldn't speak so critically to your comrade, as not to lower his morale." Nedgi explained to Merry.
Merry couldn't help but feel incredibly guilty, he turned to Gleowine and muttered many apologies and many promises to buy him beer as compensation. The hobbit than turned to Nedgi; "Thank you, dear friend, for showing me the error of my ways. Now shall we spar?" Nedgi blushed red. She couldn't help but be enamored by his good looks and charisma; she would love to spar with him. "Gladly, friend!" she exclaimed.
Nedgi and Merry moved away from the men to find a good place to spar. Oh how much fun they had! With swift and wild parries and blows and lunges and sweeps and dives the two found themselves disarming each other. Merry's slender sword Rubymill was cast aside; as was Nedgi's dual hatchets. The two fell on their backs and laughed. They two had never met anyone like each other.
"Excuse me?" a voice rung out. It was Richtin. "What are you doing with Merry? Have you no shame? You should be with me raising the morale of our troops before the attack begins!" he complained. Although Nedgi's heart was heavy to leave Merry; as was Merry's heart to leave Nedgi, she was overtaken by some strange craving for Richtin's attention that she immediately obeyed. "Oh, I'm so sorry my beloved," she cried as she stood and ignored a sad Merry.
In all reality, Richtin did not need to be by Nedgi's side to give the troops a speech; he just wanted to be so he could brag to his mates about how he managed to date such a famous figure.
Nedgi turned sorrowfully to Merry, "I'm sorry commander, but I must leave now." Merry nodded; holding back tears and trying to maintain a respectful look. He felt as if he had fallen in love from the way he had connected with Nedgi. Nedgi was sad too to leave Merry, she had no idea what took her, but for some reason she couldn't escape the stability Richtin granted her, even if it was built upon a lie. Nedgi left with Richtin; and as they walked away Merry painfully heard Richton exclaim: "I don't want you talking to that man!" and grimly saw Nedgi nod her head reluctantly.
Two days later; the trumpets of battle were sounded. Everyone had to take to their battlements! Nedgi firmly grabbed her weapons and led her team to the Western front; Merry's regiment safely standing several yards away, but still parallel. Merry gave a friendly nod to Nedgi as if to assure her. Nedgi would nod back; but Richtin pulled her away. Nedgi gave an apologetic bow to Richtin; who she just couldn't give up, and she didn't know why. Then; a huge black-silver cloud amassed on the fields before the wooden-spike-gate. A banner popped out here and there sporadically; flashing the menacing coat of arms of Altorah; a whit sword and helm over a black field with the phrase: "Bow or Suffer Unto Altorah" in Sindarin. The Elven Black Cavalry had arrived. From atop their mighty, unrelenting steeds they shot a flurry of arrows. Once these arrows had finished their voyage from their bows to the skies to the ground; at least 500 of the troops in Western division perished. Another 2,000 were injured. Using her skills with her hatchets; Nedgi had deflected at least seventeen arrows directly aimed at her head and heart, but she still suffered from several deep gashes on her arms and legs.
As the army came closer towards the front; they prepared another wave of arrows. Before they could be unleashed; Commander Merry, still very alive, cried out: "Now Gleowine! Use your magic!"
Gleowine the Fox ran up to the gate; flinching now and then but never turning back. He took off his hat, and then flew beyond the gate shouting; "As the evil voices sing, so do I! As the angelic voices hum, so do I! Shining North Star, crack of lightning on sacred stone! Thou art undone by my own flesh and bone!" A gigantic tornado erupted out of the spinning hat. It grew to massive proportions under a minute; and sucked hundreds of Elven horsemen from the charging ranks and into the heart of the storm. The tornado whirled on and on as more of the soldiers disappeared within it. Both the hobbits and the dwarves standing ever so vigilantly at the gate cried out in joy. The cry was cut short however; as the tornado was disrupted immediately by a flash of blinding white Elvish magic. Standing in the middle of the field; among the remaining living cavalry-elves, was Altorah.
"Now!" a voice rung out! Suddenly; as Altorah appeared on the battlefield, Richtin and a series of warriors both Hobbit and Dwarven drew their weapons and the slew the soldier nearest to them.
"Betrayal! Treason!" Merry screamed. "Richtin…how could you?" Nedgi asked sorrowfully.
As the loyal soldiers fought the traitors; the Elven Black Cavalry, now with Altorah at the lead, advanced closer and closer to the gate. "Sir! We're trapped!" A loyal hobbit cried to Merry before a traitor hobbit bashed his skull in with a spiked mace. Merry and Nedgi slashed their way through the hordes of traitors; though for every traitor slain, so was a loyal warrior, and so was a yard gained by Altorah. After caving in the head and piercing the gut of a dwarf once though loyal; Nedgi came face to face with Richtin.
"My love, how could you?" Nedgi asked as tears welled up in her eyes. "Altorah pays better than you" Richtin chuckled as he lunged in to stab her with his sword. In rage, Nedgi parried, but it was too late. Richtin ran off to join Altorah, who had just entered the Western front of the Shire. Nedgi screamed in grief and confusion. She, Merry, Gleowin the Fox, and the remaining loyal troops charged at the elves racing towards the houses, but all the soldiers behind them were transformed into a menagerie of wild beasts from a bolt that spawned of Altorah's mighty hammer and scythe. They raved and rampaged and clawed and bit and the three had to slay the few that pounced towards them. Altorah than aimed his hammer and scythe at them.
"Bow…" he said calmly. Nedgi, full of tears and hate, jumped to hit Altorah in the head with her hatchet, but Merry stopped her, held her, and they all surrendered as the Elves took them in chains.