Chapter Three

The vicious Warg-riding Orc pack who had chased after Vanya searched in the valley below Smaug's peak for their prey. But, neither fatigue nor hunger got the better of them as they wandered through the valley of the Withered Heath. It was late at night when they approached the base of the peak, the sky sparkling with stars as if they were diamonds. The Orcs stopped and dismounted their Wargs and began to search the valley floor for any signs of Vanya. There were 25 of them, a small pack but all fierce warriors, and all of them spread out sniffing and prodding the ground. They all varied in size from the size of the average Dwarf to ones as tall as a Man, but all wore dark armor and helmets. One of the Dwarf-sized Orcs searched close to the base of the mountain when he spotted something and called out. The others with their Wargs came over running swiftly over to see what he had found and they were pleased. There, on the ground in front of the Orc, they discovered an Elvish short sword and a pale white satchel. Another one of the Dwarf-sized Orcs picked up the sack but none of them even attempted to touch the sword with their bare hands.

The Orc pack leader, who was taller than the others and very broad, approached it and bent down to give it a sniff. His armor, which was darker than the deepest darkness, covered his body along with razor-sharp spikes on the arms, shoulders and boots. He had a cut on the left side of his face from that of a blade but had piercing yellow eyes and nasty, pointed teeth. He, like all of the other Orcs in his pack, did not dare touch the blade for Orcs find Elvish weapons cursed to them. "The She-Elf has been here," he told his soldiers in Man speech. He then looked around and began sniffing the air for any chance to both catch and trace her scent. "Now, where could she have gotten to now?"

The smaller Orc who discovered the blade looked up at his leader then looked up at Smaug's mountain. "Perhaps she is hiding up there. I will go up there and do a reconnaissance to see if I can locate her up there."

"Aren't these mountains known for being full of the great Drakes of old," another short, stout Orc asked as he approached the leader.

"Yes, and there is no doubt that our quarry has taken it upon herself to hide somewhere amongst them," the leader said. He took a moment to look up the mountain's side before turning to his one subordinate who has volunteered to go up. "I do now know how long she might live if one is inside of the cave she entered, but we shall soon find out. You shall wait until whatever lives in that cave, dragon or otherwise, leaves then go check its mountain. If she is not up there we shall check another mountain."

"But, what if our little Elf is inside this one," the volunteer asked his leader.

"Then you capture her and bring her to me alive," his leader told him with a smirk. "If she resists you can rough her up but do not maim her." He then turned to the rest of his pack while approaching his large, silver coated Warg and mounted. "First things first, we must get into some mud so that we may hide our scents from the beasts who live here. At dawn, our little scout shall climb up and check out this mountain for any signs of our little friend. Now, let us find a place we can use for cover before we set our plan into action. But, before we do," he turned to his scout and pointed at Vanya's belongings, "you must pick up that cursed sword and satchel. There might be a chance we can use them."

"We cannot touch that blade! It is an Elvish blade, so it will burn us if we even try to place our claws on it," the scout exclaimed.

"Then wrap it up in your cloth before picking it up, you fool," the Orc leader hissed as he glared down at him.

"Yes sir," the scout answered nervously as he took a piece of cloth he carried in his pocket and wrapped the sword tightly. He also used the same cloth to grab the end of the satchel so he did not accidentally grab it with his own bare hands.

After he did his task, he and the rest of the Orcs mounted their Wargs again and rode a couple of leagues through the valley. About 20 leagues away, they stopped when they reached a small, but tall patch of trees beside a large mud puddle. This is where they decided to stay using it as a shelter but decided not to make a fire in fear of giving away their position. They dismounted and both Warg and Orc jumped into the mud puddle to cover their scents from being detected by the dragons. Once they were covered they all settled around each other staying close to their Wargs under the tree patch. It was not a few minutes later when they all decided to rest for the night as they did not sleep since their pursuit began. The Orcs soon fell asleep resting their heads against their own Warg as the beasts themselves fell asleep.

Only the leader of the Orcs stayed awake as he could not sleep knowing that his quarry was nearby at last. He found himself standing in front of the tree patch and his soldiers looking up at Smaug's mountain in the distance. For most of the night, he kept his sights on the massive peak feeling that the She-Elf maiden was somewhere within it. 'It won't be long now,' he thought to himself as he grinned staring at the peak. 'Soon, you shall be mine and my Master will be very pleased that I have completed my task from Him after all this time.' He then let out a soft but wicked chuckle as he stood there as the moonlight above illuminated the mountains and valley.