Chapter 12: Out of the Frying Pan & into the Fire!
However, just as things were starting to get better, Azog and his Warg Riders just HAD to show up on the top of the mountain as Azog commanded in his dark, sinister tone of voice in the Dark Tongue, "Run them down! Tear them to pieces!"
Everything seemed peaceful with the dwarves until Eri collapsed momentarily, Thorin reaching out to catch her as she clutched her head and replied, "Danger...in the mountains...Azog and his men...They're coming...for us..."
Thorin looked on in disbelief at Eri's vision until they heard howling in the distance, causing the group to fear the worst as Eri rose groggily from her spot on the ground. "Out of the frying pan..." Thorin whispered as Gandalf shouted, "...and into the fire! Run! RUN!"
Everyone took off running down the mountain as fast as they can as the Wargs followed them rapidly. Then it happened, night fell. Soon, one Warg caught up to the group and leapt at Bilbo as he ducked behind a rock, the Warg's jaws snapping in the air over his head. The Warg landed in front of him, growling, as it charged at the poor little Hobbit. Bilbo pulled out his sword and held it in front of him as the charging Warg impaled itself in the head on the sword and fell down dead. Bilbo looked on in surprise as a few more Wargs caught up to the dwarves, causing the Company to reach several trees to climb onto to. This was a place where they would soon be trapped because there was NO way off the cliff besides a great fall down the mountain. Up, up, up the group climbed as the Wargs were on their tails, snapping their heads up to bite the feet of the Company as Azog came forth. Thorin and Eri looked on in shock as Thorin gasped, "Azog?!"
Azog sneered at the King in his dark language as he taunted the poor man, "Do you smell it? The scent of fear? I remember your father reeked of it, Thorin son of Thrain."
A realization came to both Thorin and Eri as she saw clear visions of the past: Thorin's father had been kidnapped and murdered by Azog and coincidently, Eri's parents had been murdered by the Pale Orc too. The whole epiphany almost brought tears to their eyes as Thorin shook his head in disbelief, "It cannot be."
"That one is mine...Kill the others! Drink their blood!" Azog screamed as the Wargs jumped onto the tree, leaning the bark from one side to the other as the dwarves screamed in terror, fearing the branches would collapse and that they'd fall from the ledge. Several trees collapsed like dominoes as the group jumped from one tree to the next, hanging on for dear life as Azog laughed in his sinister tone. In desperation, Gandalf grabbed some pinecones and threw them to different members of the group after lighting them on fire. Now they were getting somewhere! The group launched red-hot pinecones at the Wargs and Orcs like ammunition as several Wargs were caught on fire or retreating with their tails in-between their legs. However, some dwarves were losing their grip on the tree as Ori and Nori fell off, only managing to grab each other and then Gandalf's staff in the nick of time before anything bad happened, because let's face it: How could things get any worse?
Meanwhile, Thorin, clung to the tree as he death-glared Azog with a heart full of hate and anger, causing the dwarf King to draw his sword and leap down the tree as Eri screamed, "THORIN, NO! DON'T PLEASE! STOP!" Bilbo and the others, hanging from the tree, just
looked on as Thorin charged the great beastly Orc, wanting revenge not only for his family but Eri's parents as well while the Orc just smirked and delivered skull-bashing blows on Thorin one after the other. Thorin was getting thrown around like a rag doll as he was hit once, twice, three times, and then the final time which just about sealed his fate. Thorin went flying into a boulder and hit his head, knocking him unconscious as blood and bruises plagued his strong body. Eri looked on in fear at her 'husband' while everyone in the tree shouted Thorin's name.
Azog smiled as he shouted to one of his men, "Bring me the Dwarf's head!" The Orc Drew his sword and neared Thorin's neck as Bilbo drew his blue sword and Eri drew her bows and arrows. The sword almost made contact with Thorin 's battered-up flesh until Bilbo and Eri threw themselves between Thorin and the orc, knocking the creature over as they both killed the Orc with a sword and flying arrows. Thorin opened his eyes with as little strength he had just enough to see his 'wife' and the Halfling working together to protect him as he smiled before finally collapsing out cold. Bilbo and Eri noticed this and shielded Thorin with their own bodies. Azog noticed this scene and smirked as he shouted, "Kill them."
Just as it seemed like the end for the Company, dwarves falling from the trees and Wargs ready to kill Bilbo, Eri, and Thorin, several large Eagles swooped down and took out many Wargs single-handily as they rescued Gandalf and the Company. As the chaos of the rescue unfolded, Azog snarled in frustration as an Eagle gently grabbed Thorin and his sword in its talons before flying away. Then, an Eagle headed straight for an alarmed Bilbo and a calm Eri as it snatched them off the ground, throwing them from its talons before they screamed and landed on the back on another Eagle. The rest of the Eagles proceeded to snatch the dwarves out of the tree and fly away as Azog and the few Warg Riders left growled in anger and frustration, cursing under their breath in their sinister Tongue as the night began to end...