Note to Reader: Some knowledge of the history of the Mines of Moria may be needed for complete understanding of this story, but if you don't know it you will still get it. You may only need to know that the Balroug is also known as Durin's Bane. I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors, but some are on purpose. Also this is my first fanfic and it is not that good, but I will probably be writing more equally bad ones, so please leave reviews and criticisms.
It's a rare night in the mines. It's calm and silent, and most of the colonies are sleeping or out hunting. Usually at this time of the night there are echoes of brawls or rummaging somewhere in the mine, but tonight the darkness in the mines was calm and silent. It was nice. Unlike most orcs, I enjoy the peaceful and serene moments; I never wanted to come to the mines. They're crowded, noisy, and often savage, but… I've come to like it here. It's dark, wet, musty, and food always wanders in through one way or another, what else could an orc want? Still, I miss the calm and silent nights my colony would have in the wide open mountains before we came to the mines. That's why I savoir these moments of silence in the mines. That is, until my bumbling cousin comes and wakes me up for some inexplicable reason. "Halgidure, Halgidure! Wake up, quickly!" I don't have to open my eyes to know it was Borku, who else would wake me up when the entire colony is sleeping? I'm already annoyed by his presence, I don't want to deal with his silly reasoning.
"It'll wait 'til morrow, go away." I wave him off, but his continued nudging and kicking tell me that he wouldn't go away.
"Wake up! It's an emergency!" He tells me in the same high pitched whining that he says everything in. He's the only orc I knew who didn't only sound like a little girl during their war cry. "Hurry!"
I roll over and my eyes drift open to look at him. It is dark, but I can still make out his blurry round figure hovering over me. Another kick from him into the knot of my stomach sends me flying at him. "This best be of importance or you best run off before I cut your tongue out!" I wouldn't really do that, well…maybe if he weren't my cousin, but he should know better than to bother me while sleeping. I'm usually more rational than the others, but we orcs are known for our temper, and Borku is always getting beaten up because he's annoying. Annoying orcs aren't very popular since most orcs are also very irritable.
"But I had to wake you. I think there's something else in the mines." I loosen my grip on the fat of his neck. I could have guessed this; he's always saying that someone is in the mines. Just the other day we heard a prowler wondering around, clearly crazy, ranting about some precious, and Borku was yelling that dwarves were back. Every time something happens, he says the dwarves are coming back. We killed the last remnants of Dwarrowdelf decades ago, and no Longbeard would dare enter the mines as long as Durin's Bain resides here.
"What gave you that stupid bloody idea again? Why would anyone come into the mines?"
"I heard a noise, it sounded like yelling." We're orcs, like we never bloody yell.
"It's probably just some scrabble, now go away."
"No, it sounded like a Longbeard!" Everything sounds like a dwarf to him. "Let's just go take a peek." I would usually never get up, but then we hear a loud crash of something falling from one of the old main chambers. None of the orcs ever wondered through there.
"Fine, we'll go see what it is." Now several other orcs were awoken and coming with us. Goldur was with us and so was his brother Orkbun. They are silent and ill-tempered orcs, not the most pleasant to be around, but they're useful warriors. Orkbun helped to defeat Balin's company in the mines, and they were even supposedly descendants of the great Chieftain Azog.
We march through a dark hallway until we got to a hollow wall which leads straight up to the main hallway of the chamber the crash emanated from. We quickly crawl and scurry up the wall. But once we get to the top Orkbun, Goldur, and I have to stand and wait for Borku to slowly catch up and throw himself to the top on the floor of the main hallway. He must be the only orc I know who can't scurry. As we creep down the hallway corner to corner, making our way to the main chamber, we actually do hear speaking, and it's not orcish. "Orkbun, Goldur, go back and tell the chief!" Borku was the last orc I would ever want to be stuck with alone against intruders, but I didn't want one of them losing their temper and attacking without the rest of the colony, it might be dangerous: they left. Borku and I pressed ourselves up against the wall with the main doors on it.
"Maybe we should just go back and wait for the colony." Borku whines even in his whisper. The bloody coward wanted to come check it out, and now he's scared and wants to leave. He can just forget that. I've lived in this mine for most my life, ever since The War of Dwarves and Orcs, and I'm not about to prance out because some prowlers came along.
"Quit your frettin, let's go take a closer peek." Borku then cowers behind me and pushes me forward, thinking I was going towards the door. "Cut that out you dimwit!" I push him away trying to make as little noise as possible, then climb up a pillar in the corner of the hall and wait at the top for Borku. He just stares up stupidly in awe at the size of the massive pillar. Pudgy fool. I decide to leave him, and then I crawl through a crack in the wall that opened up at the ceiling of the main chamber. I be sure to stay in the darkness of the crack, avoiding being seen, and peer down into the grand room that is covered in rubbage and a thick sheet of dust. Sure enough, the thin rays of light breaking in through cracks reveal some sort of party of all sorts of non-orcs. There is definitely at least one longbeard who has auburn hair. There is also a horrible golden elf, four half-men, and two actual men. I also see another tall man, but judging from his staff, he was a sorcerer or wizard. Being escorted by a wizard, this is a dangerous bunch. I'm now glad to be waiting for the whole colony. Just as I begin to realize that I must be as quiet as possible to avoid detection, I hear Borku blabbering from the other end of the tunnel I had crawled through.
"Halgidure, help, I'm stuck!" The tubby fool. I knew something like this would happen if I left him. "Halgidure, hurry, I'm scared. I think I hear someo--" He is suddenly cut off by something. I look back at the party, they are all there, yet there appears to be some sort squabble between the wizard and a little one standing next to the well. They couldn't have gotten him. Just as I decide to go find him, Orkbun and Goldur come back dragging him.
"This bloody twit got 'imself stuck!" Orkbun growls slamming Borku into the wall.
"What happened, where's the colony, why did it take so long?" I'm frantic with panic, sure that any minute now we would be noticed.
"Don't worry, the chief went to tell the Grand Chieftain. The whole army is coming." Goldur says as though this would be a comfort to me. The whole army. That's every orc in this mine. There must be millions, at least. Millions of yelling, fighting, raveling, savage orcs all in one place. They scare me just as much as this group.
"The whole army, what if we wake…. Durin's Bane?" I gulp down the thought of it.
"Quit your worryin'!" Goldur barks me. Just then I hear the Chieftain's war drums. The bloody war drums, why do they have to bang the bloody drums for every little thing, and why do they have to be so loud? And wouldn't some sort of element of surprise be better? Sure enough, the group starts to get scared and they all huddle together. They don't stand a chance.
"We should move now, I want to make sure I get my fair share of blood." Orkbun tries to jump down before I grab him.
"Wait, not yet." I struggle to hold them all back, not know how long I could. The others better get here soon. The drums get louder and louder, we begin to hear the growls and clanging, the group becomes tenser and tenser, and Orkbun more impatient.
"Come on, let me go!"
"Not yet!" Then suddenly, I hear a wave of orcs coming in from behind us through the tunnel. They begin pouring through all different cracks in the walls. "Now!" Orkbun drops down and runs at them but he is quickly decapitated by one of the men with long black hair. Before I can even think twice about it I am pushed down by orcs behind me and my chest hits the ground with a thud. The man who had just killed Orkbun approaches me, his sword hurling and Orkbun's very blood shooting off of it into my face. Then suddenly Goldur jumps down on him from the ceiling and the man quickly turns his face from me to the orc being dropped on him. Goldur falls straight onto his sword and his body hits the ground at two different times, but he saved my life. The man quickly turns the other way and begins slashing more of my friends and family. I was never much of a fighter and I am pretty sure that eventually our numbers will overcome them, so I turn to run the other way, but just then, as I begin to wonder what happened to Borku, he barrels down from the ceiling landing straight on top of me. "Get off me you giant piece of filth!" Borku rolls off of me, away from the growing pile of orc bodies around the men with swords. I run to the side of the room with him and we stand there like two little girls of orcs. Orcs are not typically honorable creatures, but we at least don't run away from a battle. As shame overtakes me, I decide to do my part. Of course, Borku can't, he wouldn't make it two steps without someone looking out for him. "Stay here, I'll go get one of the halflings, that shouldn't be all that tough." Just as I run to do my part, I hear a halfling with a glowing blade scream "Aragorn!" The orc that was chasing him is immediately impaled by three arrows, an axe, and a sword simultaneously. I guess it'll still be honorable to stay here and be Borku's protector, I mean, family first, and all.
As I try to get Borku away from the fray, all of the orcs suddenly stop attacking, and I hear growing echoes of more drums. "Oh no, they wouldn't." I know what this is.
"What is it, Halgidure!? What's happening?" Borku looks at me frightened, and for once I agree with the pathetic look on his face. A few years ago there was a troll that had somehow gotten into the mines; it began terrorizing colonies and eating orcs. When we organized a party of soldiers to stop it, they apparently got it tied down, and instead of taking the chance to kill it, they captured it and locked it up. I thought it was dumb, but they said we might need it someday. And now they have a chance to let it loose. I'm just frightened because I don't know who it will kill more of: them or us. The troll is slowly marched in bound by chains, but dragged by orcs it could surely throw across the room, and as soon as they let it loose, guess what… it does. Let's just say I have a dodge a big slimy green arm that is mysteriously missing its body. The troll then turns to the party and begins chasing them around the room. Before we had been safe in our little corner and now I have to drag Borku about the whole room, dodging trolls and humans, and fighting the flow of orcs going towards the party but running away from the troll at the same time. Next thing I know we are stuck right in between the two as a brown-haired man swings at me with his sword, which I manage to jump up and dodge, but I jump right into a giant swing of a metal rod by the troll. As I am hurtled across the room, Borku sneaks under the troll in between his legs and actually scurries, to meet my flying body on the other end. I hit the wall with a thud and sink to the ground. Before I know it, Borku is at my side, urging me to get up. It seems that I was in the same position I was in only moments earlier in the story. But this time, I decide not to get up. I wave Borku off and tell him to go hide, and that I'm going to lie down and go unconscious for a little while, but before I can see Borku run away, I black out.
I awake only moments later, but just in time to see that the troll has apparently stabbed a Halfling and the golden looking elf shoot an arrow straight into the back of the troll's head. All of the other orcs have buggered off by now, and no one notices me. All of the party rush to the unconscious Halfling. I sit up preparing to take this chance to run, but I don't see Borku anywhere. "Borku! Borku where are you! Hurry, we must leave! Borku! Are you hurt!? Borku!" The group is too busy with the Halfling, who apparently lived, to notice my yelling. I was frantic, and thought Borku might be dead…Until I hear a voice from behind me.
"I'm here, Halgidure." Borku is lying right behind me. Apparently the dimwit's idea of running and hiding is going and hiding right behind me. It's like a troll hiding behind a bush.
"Why didn't you run?"
"I didn't want to leave you alone; I thought I had to protect you." Yeah, I feel safe now. The bloody coward was just afraid to go on by himself.
"Come, quick, let's get out of here." We scurry up the wall and back through the ceiling crack into the tunnel. Outside of the room it is quiet and there is nothing but bodies. "Where has everyone got to, now?" I wonder. We make back to our colony's nest and find the chief with the few survivors assembling there. I walk up to him, expecting answers, but he cuts me off.
"The Chieftain says were going to cut them off in the Grand Hall. They have to go through there to escape. He's assembled the whole mine, they're all in position, we gotta leave." I take Borku and am led by the chief. We navigate a complicated network of tunnels that I've never been through, meeting with dozens of other orcs on the way.
Borku leans towards me while panting and trying to keep up, "Every orc in the mines? My god, think of how chaotic it will be!" I was trying not to.
"At least it will get the job done, they'll be dead."
"But think off all the noise, what if we--"
I cut him off, "Just stick close to me." For once Borku has a point, and it's a frightening one.
When we get to the Grand Hall we are at the top of a massive pillar and the group is already standing in the center of the Hall, surrounded by an unending ocean of orcs. We stop at the half way down the pillar. I hope that everything will be over by the time we get to the bottom to attack, but before the first orc can even strike, there is a loud sound like thunder somewhere in the mines, and off in the distance there's a glow that is growing. Those idiots, of course they would wake it, they were making so much fuss throughout the entire mine. I know that we have to get as far away as possible. Apparently, so does everybody else, because they quickly begin retreating up the pillars that they had just descended. Even the group of unfortunate travelers run as fast as they can, but they won't make it. I dash with the flow of orcs scurrying up the pillars until I realize that Borku is not at my side. I look down to see him clinging to the pillar in fear with rushing orcs all around him. The bloody fool can't scurry! "Halgidure, help!" He cries out for me in the most genuine fear I have ever heard in his voice.
"Just wait, I'll be there!" The other orcs should be up the pillars soon, they are moving faster than I have ever seen any orcs move; but that fiery glow is quickly getting bigger, and soon I saw that Icould make out Durin's Bane at the end of the Hall. Just as the last orc rushes by Borku, he gets knocked to the side and loses his grip. He falls all the way down to the center of the hall. "Borku!!! Get up, you have to!" He struggles just to sit up, and I am slightly relieved that he survived the fall, but that relief means little when I see that beast barreling down on him. Borku clearly couldn't move from the spot on the ground.
"Halgidure, I can't move, help, please!" He blubbers out in a whimper. "Please, I'm sorry for waking you!" He reaches out to me as though I could grab him from the top of the pillar. The ground is shaking now with the approaching onslaught of destruction. I am only feet from the safe tunnel at the top of the pillar, and countless meters from Borku lying helpless in the hall.
"I'm coming!" I shout out preparing to make the giant leap that would surely kill me.
"Thank you!" Borku managed to shout out before passing out on the ground. Durin's Bane emerges from the end of the hall, preparing to effortlessly crush the tiny lump lying in its path. I quickly rush into the tunnel at the top of the pillar and ball up in a crevice for safety. As I hear the monster passing I hear Borku yell out "Halgidure!" before being suddenly silenced. I scurry through the tunnel and make my way back to the nest. As I said, orcs are not honorable creatures.