Chapter 29

Rivers of Blood


Ithildae and Kalus strode towards the tent at the summit of the brief encampment. Orcs already began the march into the tunnels, trolls crashing along in certain sections and shrieking goblins hanging off the structures on their backs. She whipped open the skin to the tent where Naurlûl stood patiently outside.

Azog and Zuzar knelt around a drawn map. Azog's sword arm made marks in the dirt as they reviewed their plans. They looked to her as she entered.

"Aza," Azog greeted. "You ride with Zuzar and to the city of Men. There it will be safer."

Ithildae said nothing to combat what he said, just nodding.

"Very well."

She noticed a lack of presence.

"Where is Bolg?"

A smirk came to his face.

"He rides to Gundabad where a second army awaits."

Ithildae fought back her shock.

"I did not know we had such extensive forces."

"We will crush them." Azog spoke in confidence, he stood and touched his daughter's shoulder.

The Pale Orc left the tent and Zuzar stared at her.

"Kal, get out for a moment." He snapped.

Kalus' hackles rose but Zuzar snarled at him. The smith took his begrudging leave.

"I don't know if I can trust you." Zuzar took threatening steps towards her.

"How so?" She challenged.

"Your father trusts you blindly, you are his daughter. Course he does… But I ain't stupid. I know you were raised by Elves. You fought the spiders in the woods and served them."

"Are you saying I may not be loyal to my father?"

"What do you think?" Zuzar narrowed his eyes.

"I think that you recognize me as an equal."

"Hell yes I do," Zuzar scoffed "Your mother had a mind like yours, but she couldn't act on it. You can. I am warning you to stay in line." He pushed a finger to her shoulder and left the tent.

Ithildae exhaled and let a small snarl slide through.

The tunnels were dark, dank, and smelling of some ancient filth which Ithildae could not name. Her ears ached from the constant pounding of feet echoing off the tunnel walls. Light only came from the occasional torches held along the steady stream of Orc warriors. The Orcess could glare forward and keep her grip deathly tight on Hiisht's back.

"We are staying with Zuzar's ranks, they go towards the city." Kalus murmured, he knew she was hardly listening to him.

Since they woke that morning she had been distant and brooding.

"Ith, ya gotta snap out of this." He hissed.

"I know, Kalus." Her voice was heavy.

He snarled and kept his warg trotting forward. Until a shout down the tunnel halted the army, a terrific rumbling shook them where they were. Ahead, there was a crash of rock and sudden light beamed in through this new hole in the ground. Yells of victory surged from the Orcs, shaking the ground as a long shape reeled from an adjourning tunnel and back into the depths of the earth.

Ithildae kicked Hiisht as they burst from underground like a geyser, wielding their crude and brutal weapons the Orcs of Dol Guldur ran forth in full strength. Ithildae did not unsheathe her longsword but kept bent down over her sprinting warg into the light of day. Erebor jutted up to the sky and an army of Elves stood at the lethal ready, on the other side were the heavyset Dwarves. Battle cries and screams of fear filled the air.

She hated it with every fiber of her being. Ithildae halted Hiisht as they neared the army of Elves, the army split around her and Kalus screeched to a halt. Thranduil wheeled around on his Elk, spotting her amongst the dark figures. She had no cloak, Ithildae Orquwen could be seen clear as daylight to those who knew her face.

Hate.

That was all she saw in the eyes and face of the Elven King as he stared at him. She lifted her chin and turned Hiisht to a full out sprint in front of the ranks, they sided along the ranks splitting off towards Dale. Zuzar's voice could be heard urging them onward. Her eyes lifted to the mountain ruins to her left, atop it was Azog and the contraption guiding his vast armies.

Trolls with towers on their backs lumbered forward, catapults launching boulders at the walls of the city. A group of humans were running in horror towards their newfound city, only a vague hope keeping their weary legs running from the oncoming storm of violence. Hiisht howled and her body tightened in excitement.

Ithildae kept Hiisht in a lope alongside the running of a troll up the hill. The rock helmet on its head collided with the wall, breaking it apart and snapping its neck. Orcs poured in over the fallen body and into the city of Dale. The Orcess' course changed, fear in her heart. They were innocent. Tilda was in there.

Hiisht leapt and cleared multiple Orcs and skidded to a halt in the city. Ithildae dismounted and drew her sword out of habit, walking head on into the carnage. There were already bodies strewn about, tainting the snow red with rivers of blood. Ithildae's mind numbed. It was too much like Moria.

"Ith!" Kalus grabbed her shoulder and snapped her out of it. "What are you going to do?"

"The opposite of what my father wants." She hissed.

"They will kill you."

Her hand tightened on her sword.

"I doubt it. Not against my rage."

She turned and her boots became soaked in blood and melting snow. There was no goal in her head, she wanted it to all go away. The fighting had to stop. Ithildae saw an Orc going for a woman, pinning her to the wall. Her blade plunged through his chest and she dragged him off the trembling woman. Their eyes lingered for a moment before the Orcess continued through these ruined streets, searching for something she could not identify.

Above, on the eaves of a crumbling house stood a cloaked figure. His white eyes trailing the female marching away below him, his chuckle was lost in the chaos of sound.

Thalias had never known fear like this. The Orcs poured in around them, Thalias witnessed truly bloodshed for the first time in her long life. It was as if she felt their souls being torn out of their bodies, their screams haunted her. She had grabbed Tilda and Sigrid by the arms and run, their brother Bain pulling a sword and following.

Humans were being herded away and towards the town hall where they could be barricaded in and saved from the fighting. Thalias dragged the children away, hearing the Orcs yelling subside slightly as they neared the safe place, hope fluttered in her heart, they could get make it. They could survive.

Stronger than it should have been, a hand grabbed her arm and she let the girl's arms go.

"Hello, Thalias." A voice cooed.

No.

All the blood in Thalias' body seemed drain completely, leaving her cold and numb as she faced the one who held her. Maltríth grinned, a charming and terrifying expression which brought tears to her eyes. His white gaze glittered with malice.

"It's been a while." He drew her closer to him, stroking her chin with his thumb.

"Tilda, Sigrid… Go." Thalias pulled away and said, her voice strong as she could make it in her fear.

Maltríth kept smiling, as if he had won a battle. The girls picked up on her urgency, Bain gave a frightened look to Maltríth and pushed his sisters forward. Thalias stood alone with him.

"Truly, it is wonderful to see you." He hummed, placing his hand on her lower back. "If you don't mind, you will be coming with me."

Thalias felt a tear seep out of her eye and trickle down her cheek. His gloved finger swiped it away.

"Oh, come now. I only have one little request for you."

Her feet stumbled forward when he led her down an alley way and out into a courtyard, it was still and a scraggly dead tree stood in the center. Maltríth pressed himself against her from behind, a knife in his hand teasing the fabric of her dress, threatening to dig into her side.

"I want you to scream, just like you did all those nights ago, make her come for you." He whispered.

Ithildae.

Thalias inhaled and let out a strangled sob. The dagger cut into her flesh and blood stained her dress.

She screamed.

Kalus cursed himself for not following Ithildae immediately, she was lost among the buildings in her rage. He had his blade drawn and he bolted through the streets, dodging his fellow Orcs and looking desperately for the redheaded female. His heart pounded. He hadn't slain a single Elf or human… Ithildae wouldn't have approved.

There was no sign of her as he cleared from the buildings and into a more spacious place covered in snow. Blood spattered the freshly fallen substance. Kalus snarled and scanned the area. He heard small screams and three figures came running around the bend, pursued by three Orcs. It was three kids, one of which was the little girl Ithildae had pulled from the water.

Sending a glare to the sky for his stupid loyalty to her, he charged forward and split the neck of the one nearest to the kids, sword raised above the cowering younglings. The second started to spit Black Speech at him, grappling with him for a moment. Kalus rammed his knife into his ribcage, the solid knife cutting through the iron like butter.

"Bastards made shitty armor." The smith grumbled as the body slid to the ground.

A strangled snarl erupted and another thud landed behind him, Kalus turned and saw the boy. A lanky think with wide brown eyes and shaggy hair to match. The sword he wielded was too big and heavy for him, yet it dripped with oily blood. Kalus scanned him for a moment.

"I ain't hurting you." He grunted.

"It's you!" Tilda's eyes were wide and a faint smile appeared on her lips.

"Yeah, it's me." He snorted.

"Is Ithildae here?" She stepped forward, her sister grabbing her so she could not get any closer to the Orc.

"Somewhere, she ran off and I'm tryin' to find her." Kalus grumbled, he took a breath: "Run off before anyone sees this… And boy," he pointed to the young man holding the sword aloft in shock. "Go for the neck, and keep ya head on a swivel."

Kalus turned and left the children without another word, his ears peeled for Ithildae's voice and the sound of her unique blade. His fist clenched tightly about the hilt of his weapon, his treason was now stained with blood.

There was a persistent screaming coming from nearby, it was a woman. Kalus felt himself falter, turning towards the noise and waited for her death to come. It stopped. Then he heard Ithildae's voice. The male crisscrossed his steps to find her, a snarl of worry on his face.

Then he heard Ithildae roar. It was feral, tearing from the throat of an enraged beast. Only a truly provoked Orc could make such a sound. Kalus found her a moment later, kneeling in a courtyard with a body on her lap, her shoulders shaking.

Ithildae knew that scream. She knew it and it pulled on very soul, luring her and guiding her. The Orcess was sprinting, Thalias' scream was distinct among the hundreds of others and her voice was hoarse with each new scream. Ithildae hated panic, but it welled up inside her and drove her mad. Kalus was nowhere behind her, but she could not worry for him in that moment.

She rounded a corner and suddenly the scream was right beside her.

"Thalias!" Her deep voice was raw in panic.

Ithildae froze. Thalias was sobbing, back pressed up against a much taller figure… He stared with smug white eyes, a knife with a white blade barely stopping from plunging into Thalias' ribs.

"Oh good, you found us." He had an arm around Thalias and a knife against her.

"What do you want from me?" Ithildae shook and came closer, her sword itching to be coated in his tainted Elven blood.

"I just wanted to make sure you got here quickly." He spoke so casually it made her blood boil.

"Let her go."

Maltríth hummed, moving his blade to her lower stomach.

"That wouldn't be any fun."

"I swear I will kill you if you hurt her!" She roared.

"That is nothing new, you have sworn that before." He droned, cutting into the fabric.

Ithildae couldn't move. Thalias arched and cried out in pain as the dagger began traveling upward, leaving a line of blood and severed cloth in its wake. He kept his eyes locked with her icy ones, they glimmered in hate and pain.

"No," he pulled away the dagger suddenly, keeping it poised at his hip. "That would be a redundant way for me to kill someone you love, isn't that right?"

The air left Ithildae's lungs, her hearing tuned out and all she heard was the beat of her own heart.

"For me to kill someone you love."

The slash up Thalias' torso mirrored the deadly one carved into her mother. Why had she not seen it sooner? Maltríth had wanted her, her mother would have stopped him… So, he eliminated her. All those years she had been blind. The memory replayed in horrible vividness, Dâgâlur above her mother with a knife dripping with blood. Red blood, not black.

"You… You killed her." She rasped.

And he laughed. Maltríth laughed in pride.

"Of course I did. I am glad you finally figured it out… Only took you a few centuries."

The foreign feeling of a tear traced Ithildae's pale cheek, bringing with it a hint of kohl. Her blood had turned cold in a rage deeper than she could fathom.

"You are shaking, surprised? You really shouldn't be… I wanted you to be this angry, otherwise you wouldn't kill me."

The blade in his hand moved like a bolt, sinking into Thalias' ribs with a sickening noise. Ithildae roared, Thalias' noise of pain tearing a hole in her heart. Maltríth tossed her to the ground like trash, looking Ithildae dead in the eye.

"Kill me if you can." He was gone in the snap of his cloak.

Ithildae sprinted forward and got on her knees, tenderly bringing Thalias onto her lap. Her hands trembled as she touched her face and askew hair.

"Y-You will make it. I will not let you die." Ithildae croaked, body rolling with grief.

Thalias was in shock, paled and eyes glazed.

"Ithi…" She breathed, touching her hand.

"I-I am sorry… Forgive me, Thalias." Ithildae's breath came in heaves.

"Kill him." Thalias said, her lip trembling.

Ithildae cupped her face, her other hand putting pressure on the wound.

"I could not save my mother, but I will save you."

"No… Kill him."

"I won't lea—"

"Ith… What happened?" It was Kalus' voice from behind her.

"Ninkhont… He killed my mother and now he has hurt Thalias."

"Oh…" He stepped closer and looked at the She-Elf in her arms.

The tear on Ithildae's face startled him. Her emotions were raging, he could see them in the storm behind her eyes. Kalus stood in silence and made his decision.

"Ith, go. That filth doesn't deserve to live."

"I am not leaving Thalias!"

"I'll watch her."

"You aren't a healer and if the Elves find you they will cut you down." She snarled.

"Ithildae!" He snapped, "That bastard has wronged you, what happens to me don't matter. I won't let her die. I swear on my last damn eye."

Ithildae stared at him in shock, her eyes closing in gratitude.

"All right…" She lifted Thalias gingerly, rising on strong legs and facing Kalus.

He took the She-Elf, who seemed startled by the change in Orcs.

"You can trust him, Thalias." She murmured, stroking her soft cheek. "Stay alive." Ithildae kissed her sweating forehead and departed through the snow.

Kalus watched her go, rage and power tensing her muscles. He would not go against her under any circumstances. He turned and heaved a deep breath, Thalias' breath was labored and her dress was soaking up more blood. In that moment, he knew he could not save her on his own. The Orc started forward and hoped that what he was about to do did not end with his own death.

He didn't get far before the way was blocked by a troop of Elves. An odd sense of calm settled over him, he had never felt it before. It was a need to submit. He knew his life hinged on the moments ahead. Kalus' eye closed when he saw who led.

The Elven King himself stood before them, swords drawn and black blood marring his fair skin.

"Put her down, filth." The King uttered.

"Will ya heal her?" He called out.

Thranduil's expression faltered.

"Why do you care?" He snarled.

Elves drew arrows to their bowstrings.

"Well, I promised my Queen I'd keep her alive."

Thranduil's eyes widened.

"On your knees." He commanded, snapping something in Elvish to the male Elf beside him.

The Elf came up to them and took Thalias from Kalus' arms, the Orc knelt and put his hands behind his neck and waited for the arrows to collide with his body. Only the cold edge of a sword tapped under his chin, tilting his face upwards.

The Elven King stood in a fury above him.

"Where is Ithildae?" His voice was strained.

"She went to kill Ninkhont."

The words did not register.

"She's killin' the White Eyed Elf… He killed her mum and did that." Kalus nodded to Thalias.

The blade dropped.

"You called her your Queen."

"Aye,"

Thranduil scowled at him, Kalus closed his eye and waited to be killed in cold blood on the snow.

"Tie him up and take him. If he struggles, kill him." The King turned and marched away.

Kalus saw two Elves kneeling with Thalias some ways off, his arms were pulled roughly behind his. back and he wanted to struggle. But he held still and watched as she responded meekly to the questions the Elves asked, they removed the dagger and had bandages around her wound. He exhaled in a puff of mist, turning his head and looking up to the tower, the war horns blew and the flags waved.

He sent her luck as she hunted her revenge.


We are FINALLY getting to the climax of the story... The 3 year anniversary of this monstrosity is next week on the 14th, I will do my best to update on that day since I know I can finish this story before next year.

disclaimer: please leave a review for attention starved author. she will write better with motivation and feedback.