Whoo. Another week, another chapter. Enjoy the violence everyone.


To Be a King

Chapter 52:- Gorkil the Goblin King


When the Goblins and the accompanying Spider horde charged, Spadamon knew that there was no time for fear. They'd been outwitted and now the Goblin attack had come out almost literally nowhere and the Dúnedain Rangers who the Hobbits had been counting on for support were not here. Perhaps they didn't even know that they enemy had got past them, but now was not the time to worry about that. They had incoming right now and as far as he could see all of the Hobbits had frozen up, eyes wide with terror.

Not that he could blame them. They'd been expecting to see the enemy coming, and if that had happened they would have been able to brace themselves, build up their courage and get ready for the attack. But now they'd been dropped in at the deep end with the emergence of the monstrous Scorpion and its screeching rider. Their nerves had snapped before the attack had even started and now they were all like deer in the headlights, watching the oncoming death barrelling towards them and unable to move.

So Spadamon motivated them the only way that he knew how.

By throwing caution to the wind and charging out of cover with a cry of, "TO ARMS, HOBBITS! FIGHT FOR YOUR HOMELAND!" and springing onto the first Goblin that came across him. Though only half its size, Spadamon's full weight crashing into the Goblin's chest took him off guard and the short sword that stabbed into his stomach as he fell backwards made sure his surprise didn't last very long.

Though reckless, Spadamon's show of bravado worked, and the Hobbits immediately remembered what they were supposed to be doing. A front line of them, including Paladin and Saradoc, let loose little warcrys and charged forwards after the little Digimon with their short swords drawn or their staffs raised, while the others clambered into position to shoot from afar.

The two lines clashed in a hail of clanging metal, screeches and screams.

Spadamon was in the thick of things, thankful for some of combat techniques that had been taught to him by Shoutmon himself in recent years. He rolled past a Goblin, narrowly avoiding the sword that crashed into the ground behind him and bounded onto its back, slicing across the back of its neck as he sprang onto the shoulders of another Goblin to do the same thing. He bounced onto the shoulders of a third, but a fourth Goblin took a swing at him while he was there. Spadamon leapt straight up, avoiding the blow that actually cut the head off the unfortunate Goblin, while he landed on the fourth and stabbed his blade into his bare chest.

As the Goblin fell, Spadamon rolled to the ground and found himself in the path of a Spider with another Goblin astride his back. The Spider motored towards him, attempting to seize him with its fangs but Spadamon danced to the side, his blade slicing through all four of its legs on the one side of its body. The Spider squealed and pitched to the side, throwing its rider off, and Spadamon finished it with a stab right into the top of the arachnid's head.

Another Spider Rider motored by and this one attempted to spear Spadamon with its makeshift prong. Spadamon jumped backwards to avoid the blow but then dashed forwards running right up the shaft of the spear to kick the Goblin in the head and knock him off. The Spider ran off but Spadamon fell upon the Goblin and plunged his sword into its stomach in the same motion.

Suddenly another Goblin fell upon him in turn, seizing him in its hands and hoisting him into the air. Spadamon squirmed wildly, trying to slash at the Goblin but it had a firm grip on his wrist so he kicked it in the face several times. The Goblin spun around, grappling with him and trying to get close enough to let him bite Spadamon with his hooked fangs. But in passing, Spadamon's tail lashed out and he was able to grab another Goblin around the neck with it and yank him in. The two Goblin's heads clashed together with an almost comical thunking noise and the one holding Spadamon released him. Spadamon landed and dashed between the Goblins, cutting a leg out frounderneath both of them as he went before whirled around to throw his sword into the face of another Spider that was charging right at him. It stumbled and crashed to the ground right next to him, dead.

As Spadamon pulled his sword out of the Spider's face he couldn't help but be quite surprised at his own fighting prowess. Sure he'd had the training but up until now he'd never fought like this. But then again, most of the enemies he had been against in the past had been vastly more powerful than him and many of them were fifty times bigger. These creatures, on the other hand, were much more at his level and he had a chance to shine in a way he'd never got to before.

Sheltered by the corpse of the Spider, Spadamon turned to see how the rest of the battle was going.

As it turned out, he couldn't really tell if it was going well or not.

The Hobbits fought bravely, ducking and stabbing and hacking at the Goblin and Spiders that were pouring upon them, but you could see the fear in their eyes quite clearly. And no amount of practice could prepare you for an actual battlefield. This was no controlled fighting environment with staves and well-coordinated practice fights. The Goblins were slashing and hacking totally randomly and the Spiders were not something they'd prepared for at all. Still they parried and struck back to the best of their ability.

But it wasn't enough. Their inexperience was showing and Spadamon saw several of them fall prey to the swords of the Goblins, while the Spiders bore many of the others to the ground under their superior weight.

Saradoc and Paladin were doing quite well though. They were standing back to back, just as they had been trained to look out for each other, lashing up with their swords to turn away the snarling Goblins and fend off the Spiders. They were holding up while the rest of the line was being pushed back.

Spadamon hurried out from cover, jumping onto a Spider's abdomen and using it like a spring-board to go sailing over the heads of many other Goblins, beheading one as he flew past and rolling through the legs of another when he landed, striking upwards to hit the Goblin in a place where nobody wanted to be hit with anything, let alone a sword. Weaving between the Goblins, he reached the two Hobbits and hamstringed a Goblin that was about to leap on them.

"You guys have to take charge of everyone," he called over the sounds of the battle. "You're their authority figures here." He turned and dodged another spear, leaping up to grab the Goblin who had thrust at him with his tail and slam his face into the butt of his own spear shaft. "Defend the Shire!"

"Right, you're right," Saradoc nodded, stepping backwards and calling encouragement to the other Hobbits. "Form up, Shire-folk! In pairs like we practiced. Watch out for each other! And stay together!"

There was an immediate response, the terrified Halflings grabbing on to any suggestion that would prevent what had already happened to many of their comrades happening to themselves and to their other friends. They immediately pressed together and began working together a little more and fought back with renewed efficiency.

"Archers!" cried Paladin, raising his sword, before having to use it to block the strike of the next Goblin. "Let loose!"

There was an immediate response from the treeline, as the Hobbits that had been stationed among the branches and the bushes pulled back their shortbows and let loose with a flurry of arrows that sailed over the heads of the fighting Hobbits and fell upon the Goblins and Spiders that had yet to reach them, felling many more. That action alone caused a cheer from the front fighters and they put more effort into their defence.

"Come on Hobbits," Paladin continued. "Show them how good our aim is."

More Hobbits ran forward out of the bushes with armfuls of large stones that they dropped to the ground before them, seizing them one by one and hurling them with the next round of arrows. While the stones were not lethal in most cases they were good at momentarily incapacitated a Goblin, often enough for a sword Hobbit to finish him off.

"We've got to hold the line!" Spadamon shouted, leaving Saradoc and Paladin to fend for themselves as he hurried along the edge of the fighting, trying his best to provide support where he could. His small size was actually a real advantage here, as the Goblins mostly never saw him coming until he was upon them and by then there was a sword aimed right at them. He slashed his way along the line like he was hacking his way through a thick woodland, mostly attacking their legs and allowing the Hobbits to finish them off.

But he would occasionally do something more daring like rebound off a Goblin's chest to fly across a short distance and land on another, or riding a Spider like a bucking bronco and stabbing repeatedly into its back. And while he did not know it, he was drawing the attention of one particular Goblin.

Despite the intimidating entrance and the screech to start the battle, the Goblin King astride the mighty Scorpion had made no further move to join the battle. He was standing back and watching proceedings as they went, his huge yellow eyes narrowed in slight irritation. The raid on the Shire was supposed to have taken the Hobbits by surprise, but they hadn't even entered its borders and the Hobbits were ready to engage them. That had not been part of his plan.

But what had most especially not been part of his plan was the little white creature with blue armour and the tiny sword. He didn't know much about Hobbits but he knew that that thing was most definitely not one of them. And if it was not a Hobbit then what the heck was it?

Whatever it was, it was clearly a capable warrior, with far more combat experience than anything the Hobbits had ever had.

Regardless he had a battle to win, so he clambered up so he was actually standing on the Scorpion's back rather than sitting and screamed in his grating high voice. "Push the offensive, you vermin! Force those puny Halflings back! Archers line up and fire into the trees. Flush them out from their hiding places! Spider Riders, pull back and wait for my mark!"

The Goblins went from an unruly rabble to an unruly rabble that followed orders. The Goblins with bows, pulled away from the front and formed themselves into something that vaguely resembled a line, stringing their bows and loading the arrows, sending shots haphazardly firing towards the edge of the river where the opposing shots were coming from. Screams rang out from the trees as a few Hobbits tumbled from the branches or collapsed out of the bushes with shafts buried in them, while the Spider Riders turned back from the front lines as order, weaving their way through the rank and back towards the King.

Spadamon gritted his teeth when he saw some of the archers fall and darted through the ranks of the Goblins, leaping upon the first Goblin archer he could find and cutting through his bowstring, before grabbing his own arrow and stabbing it into his forehead. He then bounded onto another one, knocking its aim off so he shot another Goblin in the back of the head and knock it to the ground, stabbing into it to finish it off.

But he knew attacking the archers one by one wasn't really going to do much good, so he raised his sword, preparing for something more drastic than simply attacking with it. But even as he did, another Goblin leapt out of nowhere and took a mighty swing at him with a mace of some kind. Spadamon blocked the strike but the blow carried him off his feet and knocked him to the ground, causing him to lose his grip on his sword, and it went flying to land a short distance away. The Goblin raised the mace above his head and brought it hammering down, forcing Spadamon to roll out of the way, but the Goblin just leapt after him and raised it again.

As Spadamon looked up at his potential death a rock suddenly zinged overhead and smacked into the Goblin's head. The Goblin yelped and staggered to the sideways, giving Spadamon a chance to dive upon his sword and spring to his feet, leaping up to finish the Goblin off. He wished he knew which Hobbit had thrown that rock but he'd probably never find out.

But then he raised his sword again and shouted, "BLUE BRAVE!" His voice carried above the battlefield and he slashed his glowing blue sword through the air, the energy blade that came out of it slicing through several of the Goblin archers at once.

All activity momentarily ceased, a strange lull falling over the battle as the Goblins wondered what had just happened. But then their attention slowly shifted to Spadamon. They might not be sure what had happened, but they knew who had done it.

"Uh-oh," Spadamon murmured as many angry faces glared down at him.

The Goblin King recovered first and waved his skull totem. "SLASH HIM! Bring the tiny one down and you'll be rewarded!"

The Goblins instantly converged on Spadamon and he slashed another Blue Brave across several of the to bring them down, but now they were coming at him from all sides. He cut the hand off a Goblin that attempted to grab at him and dove beneath the legs of a Spider, darting out the other side and dodging through the legs that attempted to stamp on him as he tried to make his way back to the front lines. The entire battlefield started up again, arrows flying and rocks whistling overhead as the ring of cold steel started up again.

The Goblin King rallied the Spider Riders around him into a line and then yelled, "PART WAYS, GOBLINS! RUN THEM DOWN!"

The Goblins responded immediately, bunching together to leave large gaps in their forces that were essentially large lanes from the back to the front. This allowed the Spider Riders and the King a clear path to the front and they took advantage of it, kicking Scorpion and Spiders into high gear and thundering down the pathways at top speed, motoring towards the Hobbits.

Spadamon found himself in the middle of one of the lanes and immediately bounded back towards the Hobbits with one of the Spiders hard behind him. The Goblin riding on it was armed with a bow, and screeched in delight as he armed it, loosing a shaft right at him. Spadamon threw himself forwards into a dive, the arrow burying into the ground inches from the tuft of his tail and then had to roll to the side again to avoid another one.

"CRUSH THEM!" The Goblin King roared as the bizarre and gruesome cavalry bore down upon the little defenders, who quailed at the approach.

"Retreat Hobbits, retreat!" Spadamon yelled. "Bring up our own cavalry."

"You heard him, Hobbits, go, go, go!" Paladin waved his sword and the Hobbits on the front lines that were still alive hurried backwards as fast as they could, which was quite fast when motivated. The Goblins attempted to hurry after them but across the other side of the river several Hobbits riding ponies crashed over the bank and into the water, the ponies kicking their way over the ford as the riders held their pitchforks at the ready. The riders passed by the fleeing Hobbits as they both reached the eastern bank at the same time, the Hobbits wading into the water while the pony riders charged the oncoming Spider Riders.

Spadamon though was still out among the Goblin horde and the Spider Rider had caught up with him. Spadamon turned around as the Spider brought his fangs down at him and brought back his fist, before crying, "SUGAR POUND!" and punched the Spider in the face. The moment his fist made contact there was an explosion of white powder as the Spiders' face was coated in Sugar. And for a creature with eight large eyes, this was far from pleasant. The Spider screeched, shaking its head and almost ploughing into the ground headfirst.

Instead, its head ploughed into Spadamon and he was forced to grab on to the Spider's face to prevent himself from going flying. He gritted his teeth as the Spider thundered on blindly and the Rider above leered down at him, drawing his sword and slashing down at him. Spadamon threw himself aside and went rolling, and the Goblin's sword hacked into the Spider's face instead, slaying it and this time causing it to actually plough headfirst into the ground, catapulting the Goblin off. He flew through the air and came to a sickening halt on the point of one of the pony-riders little spears.

Spadamon himself landed sprawled on the ground a short distance away. Another Goblin leapt at him with a high-pitched squeal of triumph but then the cavalry arrived. Literally. The pony riders crashed into the Goblin ranks, flattening several of the beneath the hooves of the little horses, including the one that was about to attack Spadamon. The little Digimon rolled back onto his feet and hopped backwards to watch the cavalry's attack.

At first it seemed to go well, with the Goblins scattering before them or falling beneath the hooves, but then the Spider Riders reached the fore and the two sets of cavalry broke upon each other, bringing both charges effectively to a halt. The aftermath was mixed. In many cases, the ponies reared up to kick at the Spiders faces while the Hobbits jabbed with their short spears, but in many other cases the ponies panicked and the Spider snared them in its legs, pushing rider and steed alike to the ground. More arrows flew through the air, felling some of the other pony riders as they skittered about, trying to regain some of their lost momentum.

But it was the Goblin King and his Scorpion that made the biggest impact. None of the ponies could compare to the massive creature, which physically slammed one of them off its feet with a swipe of one huge pincer before spider stepping around to stab both its pincers into another. Its huge tail whipped overhead to impale another Hobbit rider and retracted back forcefully enough to drag the rider with him and fling him into the air, while the Goblin King hacked at another with his serrated scimitar.

The foul hiss of the Scorpion filled the air as it scuttled forwards to fall upon some of the other pony riders. The line broke in terror and Spadamon could see the charge was lost.

"Fall back," he yelled. "Back across the river. We've got to hold them off!"

The pony riders that remained listened to him and immediately pulled backwards, hurtling back in the direction they'd come. There was a raucous cheer from the Goblins, who surged forwards in pursuit. More arrows zipped through the air to pick off a few more of the pony riders from behind, but an answering volley from across the river from the Hobbits briefly halted the Goblins, allowing the pony riders to pull away. Spadamon leapt up to grab the saddle of one pony as it passed and ploughed into the water of the river, and the little Digimon looked back across the battlefield.

He felt his breakfast rising into his throat. The Hobbits had taken out many of the Goblins and Spiders in their valiant effort but their lack of fighting experience was clearly showing. There were dozens of Hobbits lying strewn and lifeless across the side of the river. Spadamon guessed that over fifty of them had already fallen. Had he even made the right call in calling upon them to fight?

No, they all had the right and they'd all volunteered, but Spadamon could not help but feel responsible regardless. And he felt the bile rise further when the Goblin and Spider hordes ran right over the bodies of the fallen to charge into the river in pursuit.

"Go, go! Slay them all!" the Goblin King was screaming as his Scorpion scuttled down the bank to join them. "They flee in fear so hunt them down!"

"We've got to hold the river!" Spadamon shouted as he jumped down from the pony when they reached the other side. "Form up the archers and hold them back! Don't let them cross! Don't…"

And then something inexplicable happened, which none of them had been expecting at all. The river, which was normally shallow and slow at this particular part of the Brandywine, suddenly started churning and frothing as the water level rose and swirled around the Goblins trying to cross it. Cries of bewilderment and fear ran right across the length of the river, followed by blubbering gurgles when a large wave seemed to spring up out of nowhere right in the middle of the river, washing towards the Eastern bank. The Goblins and Spiders all currently in the water were caught in the wave and swept back to the shore tossed into heaps on the bank, spluttering and hacking water. Then the river retreated and seemed to go back to normal.

There was another lull in the battle as everyone tried to work out what had happened. The Goblin King stared, nonplussed for a moment before he snarled and pointed to two Goblins. "You two. Cross the river!"

"What? But sir…"

"DO IT!" The King screeched and the Scorpion's tail flexed menacingly at the same time. The two Goblins cringed and sprinted down the bank and into the water, wading through to the best of their ability. The Hobbit archers strung their bows but Spadamon ordered them to wait, wanting to see what would happen as well. And sure enough, the river suddenly churned again and the wave sprang up again, washing the two Goblins backwards and flinging them into the ranks of the others before calming once more.

This was odd. Rivers didn't normally act up like this. Not even in the Digital World. But Spadamon could tell this wasn't something that normally happened even here either because all of the Hobbits looked as perplexed as he did.

But for some reason the river was letting the defenders cross back and forth, but was keeping the invaders out. It was physically repelling the Goblins away from entering the Shire.

What could have caused something like…

Suddenly Spadamon remembered something. A beautiful woman with long golden hair, singing along with her merry, bearded husband while he and Halbarad sat in their hut. Halbarad and Tom Bombadil had called her Goldberry, the river-daughter. He was not really sure what being a river-daughter entailed but was it possible she had something to do with this?

He didn't know for sure, but he grinned and said, "Thanks Goldberry," anyway.

"We can't cross the river, sire. It won't let us." One of the Goblins spluttered. The King snarled the Scorpion lashed out with a pincer, snapping shut around the Goblin's neck and removing his head from his shoulders.

"I can see that!" The King rasped. "Find a crossing! Now!"

Spadamon looked up sharply as the Goblins set into motion. "Where's the nearest bridge?" he hissed to the Halflings.

"Half a mile that way," Paladin pointed south. Which was the direction that the Goblin horde was going.

"Hurry! We have to get to the bridge and hold it!" Spadamon shouted, running along the bank in the same direction as the Goblins and flinging a Blue Brave energy blade across the river to cut three of them down. The Hobbits immediately got the message and ran with him. The Goblins increased their speed, so the Hobbits did the same. It had become a race between the two sides to reach the bridge first, but the Goblins weren't interested in playing nice, and started firing over the river with their arrows to bring more Hobbits down, while the Spiders raced ahead, scurrying along at a blazing speed on their eight legs.

"Pony riders run ahead and cut them off!" Spadamon cried. "Fire! Do anything you can to slow them down!"

The ponies dashed on past while the Hobbits ducked and dodged the arrows flying their way, replying with many of their own or scooping up rocks as they ran to hurl them across the river. The air was thick with projectiles hurtling across the river from both directions and there was no cover for either side, meaning they could only rely on their own quick wits to survive the onslaught. Hobbit and Goblin alike fell by the wayside as they both ran faster. There had probably never been such a high-stakes race in the Shire ever before.

When they reached the bridge, the pony Riders and the Spiders were already both halfway across it, both sides kicking and biting at each other as they tried to push their way to the other side. But the Spiders had an advantage that the ponies didn't – they could run along the sides of the bridge as well as the top, and many of them were already doing just that, some clambering back up to the top behind the pony riders and others carrying on towards the shore.

"Hurry, we've got to hold this bridge," Spadamon cried as he bounded on ahead, springing at a Spider and slicing it across the fangs with his sword. "This is where we make our stand, guys! If they want to attack your homes, they'll have to get past us first!"

The Hobbits roared their approval and charged forwards, throwing rocks at the Spiders to distract them while others ran in and hacked at them with their little weapons. Spadamon hurried onto the bridge to stab over the side and impale a Spider that was scuttling along the vertical surface, while Saradoc and Paladin hurried on behind him to hack at the Spiders trying to overwhelm the pony riders from behind, allowing them to pull back just as the main Goblin force arrived on the other side of the bridge and started across it with screeching warcrys.

"Come on, Hobbits," Paladin said, hacking wildly at a Spider's eyes. "Form into groups, we need to keep them back for as long as we can."

"Archers rally to sides. Don't let them get past us!" Saradoc added as he hurled a rock right into a Goblin's forehead and parried the sword-strike of another. "Someone find something to use as shields!"


And so the battle was fought furiously over that one bridge, one side pushing hard to invade and the other pushing hard to defend. While Spadamon had been directing the battle as best he could before, the two Hobbit leaders were now starting to come into their own.

This was perhaps the best battleground they could have hoped for. Were it not for the river physically keeping the Goblins crossing through the water, the invaders could have swarmed across in their vast numbers and overwhelmed the Hobbits through sheer weight and pressure, as they had been doing before on the other side of the river. But here, on the narrow bridge which was their only means of crossing, they couldn't do that. They could only cross in smaller numbers and the Hobbits were now the ones with the advantage and they used it to deadly effect.

Spadamon watched with no small amount of pride as Saradoc and Paladin co-ordinated the defence. Any Goblin or Spider that tried to clamber over the sides fell victim to the shots of the archers, while many stone throwers stood at the rear, flinging rocks over the heads of those fighting on the bridge to fall among the Goblin horde.

As to those on the front lines, many of the Hobbits pulled the large wooden wheels off their carts and brought them to the front, forming a barricade of shields that the Goblins could only try and push against or force themselves past, only to fall to the thrusts of the Hobbits crouched behind them. The defence was mounted in waves, about a dozen Hobbits or so holding the bridge for a minute or two before another dozen ran in to take their place, allowing them to fall back and regain their breath as they joined the rock throwers, and then another fresh dozen Hobbits would move in to replace the front fighters again and so on and so on. Whenever a Hobbit at the front did fall or was injured, several others would rush in and drag them out of the way.

Spadamon had to hand it to Paladin and Saradoc, they had been studying their tactics. And now that they were doing much better, the confidence of the other Hobbits rose, and Spadamon noticed an increased ferocity in their attack. Now they knew they had a shot at victory and they were going to do anything in their power to ensure it.

Of course it wasn't all one way. The Goblins were relentless in their approach and even as their own dead piled up against the shields, they started clambering over the top of them forcing the Hobbits to aim higher. But that also made it easier for the Hobbit archers to hit them and so instead they just mercilessly shoved the bodies of the fallen over the sides and fell on the shields with gnashing teeth. Many of them managed to leap over the top and slash at the Hobbit defenders before they were taken down.

And as usual, the Goblin archers fired their arrows overhead. Fortunately they seemed to have pretty terrible aim, but they did continue to slay Hobbit after Hobbit.

Whenever a Spider crashed against the shields it took more effort to hold it back as it pushed its considerable body weight against them. Two of the Hobbits fell back, gasping for breath and with puncture wounds in their stomachs as the Spider's stinger jabbed under the shields into them and a couple of times they almost broke through before they succumbed to the multiple stabbings from those on the other side.

And there was still the occasional Goblin that tried to sneak through the river on either side of the bridge. But whenever one tried, the river responded aggressively and hurled them back. Spadamon noted that the river never killed any of the Goblins, only pushed them away. He didn't suppose actually killing an enemy was in Goldberry's nature.

But then of course, the Goblin King decided that he'd had enough of this. The blood of the Hobbits' froze in their veins at the curdling battlecry that issued from his mouth as he urged his steed forwards. Goblin and Spider alike fell back before him, getting out of the way to allow him and the Scorpion easy passage onto the bridge. The shieldbearers quailed as the Scorpion scuttled menacingly forwards, pincers clacking and tail poised to strike.

"Archers, bring him down!" Paladin shouted. Several Hobbits sprang to it, running into position to get a clear shot and letting loose. But the Goblin King kicked the Scorpion's sides and it reared upwards, exposing its belly to the arrows that thudded into it and almost all of them merely bounced off the Scorpion's hard exoskeleton. Those that didn't only penetrated a little way in, not enough to harm the creature at all. Another volley of arrows had the same effect. The carapace of the Scorpion was much thicker than that of the Spiders, and the Hobbits shortbows were not strong enough to damage it.

"You are no match for me!" the King grated, his face twisted into a sneer of sadistic delight. "Submit to me or fall to my Scorpion's claws!"

The Scorpion dropped back down to all eights and lunged forwards, its pincers grabbing one of the shields and crushing it into splinters. The Hobbits yelled and scrambled backwards, the Goblin King laughing raucously as the Scorpion batted away another shield and its tail lanced down to skewer another unfortunate defender.

Spadamon yelled and started forwards, leaping onto Saradoc's shoulders and springing off to sail right at the King with his sword raised. The King saw him coming and blocked with his scimitar, throwing Spadamon away to land on the side of the bridge.

"What are you?" he scowled. "You are no Halfling! And you are the one responsible for this resistance against us – I know it!"

"That's right, I am," Spadamon said, thinking quickly. "I'm the leader here. And if you want to find out what I am, then you're going to have to catch me! Follow me, doofus!" and he darted across the bridge towards the east side, past several startled Goblins.

"RAAAGH!" the Goblin King roared and steered his scorpion around. "NOBODY TOUCH HIM!" he screamed, stopping a Goblin that was about to swipe at Spadamon in his tracks. "I will be the one to fight that thing! Silence these Halflings! Teach them to fear our might!"

Spadamon grinned. The King had taken the bait and he sprinted off into the woods with the Scorpion and its rider motoring after him. He heard the sound of combat start again behind him, but he was sure the Hobbits could hold out without him now, as long as he kept the Scorpion and the King out of the way.

But still, nothing was certain yet.

"Come on, Halbarad, where are you?" he hissed as he piled on speed to keep ahead of the Scorpion chasing him down.


Far away from the intense battlefield on the edge of the Shire, preparations for another war were continuing in Rivendell. Elrond was standing on a balcony overlooking the rest of the Homely House, feeling several twinges of sadness as he did so. Before the events of the last week, this place had been a site of peace and tranquillity that spanned over four hundred and fifty years, several generations worth in the life of a Man and even a reasonable length of time in the life of an Elf. And yet suddenly everyone was on high alert and, for the first time in centuries, Elves that normally played the flute or the lyre in their dining hall were putting on armour again.

He'd known that something like this would happen for many years now. He hadn't needed to sense it to know it would happen. Rivendell had been instrumental in the downfall of Sauron at the end of the Second Age, the stronghold where the Last Alliance led by Elendil and Gil-Galad had spent years preparing for the March on Mordor that led to Sauron's defeat. Sauron was not about to let Rivendell be a threat again if he could avoid it.

They needed to prepare. And they had to fight back. If they didn't drive the Goblins out of the Ettenmoors to the North then they would be repeatedly invaded until they could not hold out any longer.

But they were few in number. Only around four-hundred Elves now lived in the stronghold of Rivendell. It had been twice that number in years past, but now many had gone west to the Grey Havens to leave Middle Earth behind forever. And now, those that remained behind would have to act to keep the shadow in check.

Of course every one of the four-hundred Elves was a capable warrior. Every Elf, male and female alike, was combat trained and almost every one of them had seen battle in the past. But against an entire stronghold of Goblins and all their various allies, they would need more than two-hundred.

Or… perhaps that was no longer true. They did have the Digimon now. And they were a force in their own right. Elrond himself had called them the Hope of the North. Perhaps it was indeed true.

But nevertheless, he knew that they needed more, so he had sent a message out to the Elves of Lindon, on the western-most coast of Middle Earth asking for their assistance. He did not know how much help they would be able to send, but he was sure that Círdan, the Elf Lord of the Gray Havens, would not ignore a plea for help.

But would the Elves of Lindon be able to get there in time.

Elrond turned from the balcony and headed off down to the strategy meeting that he knew to be taking place below. Now that MailBirdramon, Sparrowmon and Beleram had returned from their scouting, the meeting had been moved outside to where they could participate. Glorfindel had also joined Beelzemon, Elladan and Elrohir around the table to study the maps of the Ettenmoors.

"We estimate the fortress to be here," Elladan said. "At the base of these mountains based in the Rift of Nûrz. It's the exact same site as the fortress of…"

"The Witch-King," Glorfindel finished for him.

"The who now?" Sparrowmon asked.

"Sauron's top lieutenant," Glorfindel replied. "After Sauron's initial downfall at the end of the Second Age, he went into hiding, only to emerge years later north of here to set up the kingdom of Angmar and invade all the surrounding lands. The Ettenmoors became a part of that Kingdom and he built one of his main fortresses there. Eventually he was defeated and Angmar fell, and all his fortresses cast down. So it seems that the Goblins are not building a new fortress… but rather re-building an old one."

"That's the way it looks to be sure," nodded Elrohir.

"Then what happened in the past to lead to the downfall of this fortress?" Beelzemon asked. "Is there any way that we can duplicate the result?"

"We do not have the same numbers at our disposal as before," Elrond replied as he reached the table. "During the downfall of Angmar, we had the aid of a large army of Men from Gondor. But Gondor is too far away to call on assistance with any degree of speed and they will not be able to send aid anyway, for their own lands are under attack from Sauron's main force of Mordor. We can hope that the Elves of Lindon will answer our call swiftly… but perhaps not swiftly enough."

"I agree, for whatever we do, we must do it soon, before the fortress is completed," Elrohir jabbed his finger on the map. "The more complete it is, the better the chance they have of finding a way to hold it. And that tunnel they are digging does not reassure me either."

"I cannot fathom it," Glorfindel shook his head. "It is true that there was a fortress there before, but they never dug a tunnel like that during the reign of the Witch-King. And the only reason I can think of digging such a large tunnel would be in order to find something long buried. But what could they possibly think is down there?"

"If we strike quickly enough then we may not even need to know," MailBirdramon pointed out.

"I know, but there is… something about that tunnel that puts my mind on edge. Something is telling me that above all else, we better hope that they do not finish it."

"I have a question of my own to ask," Elrond said. "Where exactly is Glóin? Should he not be here planning this with us?"

"I was wondering the same thing actually," Glorfindel replied. "And unless my ears deceive me, he is on his way here now."

Everyone fell silent and listened and sure enough they could hear the gruff voice of the Dwarf, along with a much lighter voice that they recognised to belong to Lillymon. And the both of them were… singing. Moments later the two of them emerged from a nearby door, followed closely by an amused looking Arwen. Glóin was clapping and bobbing his head as Lillymon spun in circles in the air, singing along to the words that the Dwarf had been teaching her.

"There's an inn, there's an inn, there's a merry old inn,
Beneath an old grey hill,
And there they brew a beer so brown,
The Man in the Moon himself came down,
One night to drink his fill.

"Oh, the ostler has a tipsy cat,
Who plays a five-stringed fiddle,
And up and down he saws his bow,
Now squeaking hiiiiiiggghh, now purrrring looooww,
Now sawing in the middle.

"So… the cat and his fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle,
A jig that could wake the dead,
And he squeaked and he sawed and he quickened the tune,
While the landlord shook the Man in the Moon,
'It's after three!' he said!"

Glóin belted out laughing as Lillymon pirouetted to a stop and bowed her head. "Well done, lass. You've got a good mind for good lyrics. Aye, I still remember the time I first came here, back with the company of Thorin. Bofur climbed up on a pedestal and sang that song at the dinner table. You should have seen the faces on the Elves. They thought we'd all lost our marbles."

"No, we were just shocked at your lack of decorum considering you were also throwing all the food around while your companion was singing," Elrond replied. "Still, it's nice to see somebody enjoying themselves in this hour of need."

"Aye, well, there's little point in preparing myself for battle," Glóin shrugged. "I've got everything I need the moment I pick up my hammer."

"No, but you could help us prepare the offensive," pointed out Glorfindel.

"True, I could," Glóin nodded. "But I'm a single Dwarf. I haven't a clue how to plan an attack involving an army of Elves. Now, if I had a legion of Dwarves at our disposal then perhaps I could be of more use. But the only Dwarves this side of the Misty Mountains are those that live in the Blue Mountains and they're many days march away."

"No, but perhaps it would be possible for some of them to come to our aid, right?" Sparrowmon asked. "We could probably go and pick a few up if you wanted and ferry them here. I mean I don't know about transporting an army but we could do our best."

Glóin pondered. "It might be worth looking into. I can think of a few Dwarves that might be itching to cleave some Goblin necks."

"And perhaps we could also call on support from the Dúnedain," Elladan suggested. "They helped us invade Angmar before. Perhaps their descendants can again. I am sure they would be willing."

"Indeed," Glorfindel nodded. "But one key thing to remember about all this is that the Goblins have been little but a disorganised rabble until now. As you observed its likely they have a new King, who is directing them and turning them into a lethal force again. If we can find that King and slay him, then the rest of the Goblins may just become little but a confused mob once more. And their alliance with the Mountain Giants might be broken."

"Not the way it works for us," Beelzemon said. "When our leader falls, we fight on in his name."

"As happened in the final battle of darkness," MailBirdramon agreed.

"As would we if it came to it," nodded Glorfindel. "But while this new King is their greatest strength he could possibly be their greatest weakness too."

"Their soft spot," Glóin grinned. "I like the sound of that."

"Yes, and…" Elrond started, but stopped almost immediately when something small and blue streaked by like a large dart, making everyone's heads snap sideways to follow its progress as it shot straight at Lillymon. The flower fairy yelped as it zinged by her ear and whipped around, only to see a small bird with blue feathers and a long beak settling on a bush next to her.

"That's a kingfisher," frowned Elladan.

"And it appears to be holding something," Elrohir nodded. "In its beak."

He was right. The kingfisher looked like it was holding a tiny little scroll in its mouth. Lillymon stared at it for a moment, and it hopped closer to her and gestured at her with its head, as if it was trying to give the scroll to her. "For me?" she asked, reaching out slowly with a hand. The kingfisher hopped onto it and dropped the scroll into Lillymon's other hand when she offered it, before fluttering up to her shoulder.

"Aaw, that's cute. He likes you," Sparrowmon giggled.

"I like the colour of his feathers," MailBirdramon said, amused.

"What does the message say, Lillymon?" Beelzemon stepped forwards, wondering who would want to send a message to a Digimon in this world.

Lillymon was already unrolling the scroll to find out, reading it out slightly haltingly. "It says – 'To whichever Digimon gets this, top of the morning to you. Just thought you and your Elf friends would like to know that there has been a Goblin invasion into the Shire. Nasty business…"

"The Shire?" Elrond eyes widened. "The Goblins have penetrated deep into Eriador to attack the Shire?"

"The home of the Hobbits… Bilbo's home," Lillymon remembered.

"That's the land that I woke up in, I think," Sparrowmon breathed. "The one with all the little people. Oh no, that's terrible."

"Wait, there's more," Lillymon said, reading the rest of the message. "'Not sure what the outcome of the battle will be, but just thought you might be interested because your old chum Spadamon is fighting the Goblins in it now…' SPADAMON!"

"Another Digimon?" Beleram asked.

"A very small Digimon," Sparrowmon said. "He's in a battle right now at this Shire place! We have to get there right now!"

"Agreed," Beelzemon nodded. "We must act immediately. Sparrowmon, do you think you can remember the way there?"

"I don't know, I didn't come here directly…!" Sparrowmon faltered.

"You'll reach the Shire if you fly straight that way," Arwen pointed to the West.

"Got it!" Sparrowmon nodded. "Let's move!"

"Hey, wait, I'm coming too," Lillymon cried, taking the kingfisher off her shoulder and placing it on the table as all four Digimon rose into the air together, MailBirdramon and Sparrowmon powering their jets ready to go. Lillymon landed on Sparrowmon's back and clung on to her wings, while Beelzemon spread his wings and landed on MailBirdramon, his only hand holding on to the red spike that jutted out of his back.

Moments later, the four Digimon shot away at a speed that shocked the Elves. Sparrowmon and MailBirdramon could both fly faster than the other two, so they only able to stay together by having the other two riding them, with their wings outstretched the minimize wind resistance. Moments later, they were lost to sight.

Beleram the Eagle sighed. "I volunteered to stay and help Sparrowmon in any way I can. But there's no point in following after them now. I'd never be able to keep up."

"They'll be back, won't they?" Elladan frowned. "I was only just getting used to having them around."

"They'll return," Elrond nodded. "And when they do, perhaps they'll bring another Digimon with them." The Elf Lord picked up the scroll that Lillymon had dropped and read it through, noting who had sent the note at the end, which Lillymon had failed to read out in their urgency. Tom Bombadil. Elrond smothered a laugh. Bombadil might not get the ways of the rest of the world, but he and Goldberry certainly had their own way of helping those that lived close to where they lived.


Glorfindel had been right about one thing. Without their King leading them, the Goblin forces on the edge of the Shire were attacking blindly, with no real strategy in mind. They bounded onto the bridge one after the other and hacked madly at the shield wall of the Hobbits just like before, splinters of wood flying everywhere as their swords or maces struck down. But unfortunately they appeared to be doing a little more damage than before too. The shield wall had buckled under the Goblin King's brief assault and the Hobbits were struggling to get it back up properly in their defence.

Saradoc had called up some Halflings with long staves or spears to come up and reach past the Goblins in an attempt to push them back but many of the Goblins simply grabbed the weapons and pulled them out of the grasp of the Hobbits and started trying to use it against them. And they'd started swarming over the sides of the bridge in greater numbers, leaping at the defences from almost every angle.

Paladin was running forwards to try and take Saradoc's place when suddenly a Spider came surging at him from right underneath the bridge – it had been crawling along upside down and unseen by any of the defenders and suddenly it was upon him. Paladin fell backwards, hacking upwards with his sword and hitting the Spider in its palps. It hissed and drew back, but instead primed its stinger and lunged at Paladin with it. Paladin's blade only just managed to turn it aside and moments later three arrows thudded into the creature's abdomen and it fell with a dying gurgle.

Paladin sighed in relief. And then he noticed the size of the arrows. They had not come from any Hobbit bow.

And then suddenly there were arrows filling their air with an even greater density than usual, long shafts flitting out of the trees and pummelling into the condensed Goblins on the bridge, who panicked and screeched, trying to retreat, only to run straight into yet more arrows, for they were all coming from behind them on their side of the river.

"For Elessar!" a resounding cry came from the trees and, long grey cloak streaming out behind him and sword in hand, Halbarad dashed out from the trees with a company of Rangers behind him. They fell upon the Goblins like a small rockslide. Halbarad sliced through two Goblins in the same stroke and spun around to decapitate another, kicked another in the chest to push it back into another and then stabbed through them both, levering their bodies aside and drawing his sword out to sweep upwards and gut a Spider that had just reared up in front of him.

"Protect the Halflings!" he yelled as he led the Dúnedain in. The archers stayed hidden amongst the trees but the swordsman spread out, flanking the Goblins and dashing into the river shallows to wade their way across. Many of the Goblins forgot themselves and leapt off the bridge into the water after them but they were promptly repulsed as normal by the water, allowing the archers to finish them off with unerring precision.

Halbarad forged the river, ignoring the fact that it came up to his chest and left his clothes sopping but as soon as he reached the other side he leapt onto the bridge, drawing his bow and firing an arrow through the head of a Goblin trying to spear Saradoc.

"You've acted valiantly, little Halflings," he said. "Spadamon made the right call indeed in getting you to join the fight."

"Thank you, good sir," Saradoc said, stabbing his sword low the puncture the belly of another Goblin and then slam the shield he was holding into the face of another to send it sprawling. "Where we you though?"

"We took out their advance patrol, but the rest of their force found out we were attacking through fell sorcery and went around us," Halbarad said, standing in plain sight as he fired arrow after arrow, jabbing his head hard to the side as two from the enemy zinged over his shoulder. "Whoever is in charge of these Goblins is more cunning than I thought they would be. Where is he?"

"He was about to breach our lines," Paladin shouted over to him. "So Spadamon led him away. We don't know what's become of either of them."

"What? Well then we must find him!" Halbarad cried, hitting another archer through the middle of his forehead. "Let's finish this quickly! FIRE!"

Elegost grinned when he heard the command and sliced through the rope that was next to where he had been standing. The rope had been holding back a tree that the Dúnedain had managed to bend over much earlier and load its branches with several reasonably sized boulders. The tree sprang back up to an upright position and flung all the boulders into the air. The Goblins and Spiders wailed as stony death rained down upon them, many of them being flattened underneath the falling stones.

The Hobbits cheered, regaining their courage once again with the return of the Rangers and forcing their way forwards, pushing the Goblins back across the bridge once again. Elegost grinned as he strung his bow and focused down the shaft taking aim at a Goblin trying to traverse the side of the bridge… when he noticed something else down his line of sight. He gasped, and ran forwards screaming, "HALBARAD! HALBARAD! BEHIND YOU!"

Halbarad heard his shouts and whipped around. One of the few Elvish curse words came out of his mouth when he saw another large force of Goblins and Spiders running down the riverbank to join the battle – on the Hobbit's side of the river. The Goblin King hadn't just split his forces once, he'd done it twice, and he'd sent another force to find another crossing to the North.

Now they were the ones that were outflanked.

He whirled around and fired an arrow that hit a Spider in the side of the head, causing it to careen sideways and flatten the Goblin that had been running next to it.

"Tighten up, Hobbits," he cried, drawing his sword and running to face the new threat. "Your land is invaded. Help me to defend it!" And he cut into a Goblin's waste and slammed the sword out of the hands of another right before slicing it across the neck. The other Rangers turned their arrows attention on the new army and the Hobbits let loose something that sounded like a mix between a cry of war and a wail of despair as they charged in to fight beside Halbarad.

"Sorry, Spadamon," Halbarad said through gritted teeth as he ducked under a Goblin sword and ran past it, cutting it across the backs of its knees as he went. "I hope you know what you're doing."


Spadamon was still running, the pounding of his heart mingling with the sounds of the Scorpion's feet hitting the ground as it dashed along after him. He glanced back over his shoulder to see that it was gaining on him.

"You'd think that having so many legs would make it trip up more," Spadamon huffed as he hurried on, trying to put as much distance between himself and the rest of the invasion as possible, drawing the Goblin King away.

"You cannot run forever!" the Goblin King screeched after him. "My Scorpion never tires. You will eventually run out of energy or breath and then you will meet your end, creature!"

"I'd prefer it if I lived to see another day, thanks," Spadamon shouted over his shoulder, and kept on running. He knew the Goblin King was right, but as long as he had the river at his side he knew that he should be able to get away with no problem so he kept running.

He couldn't keep track of how long he had run for but eventually he deemed that he had run far enough. He wanted to draw this out for as long as he could though so instead of running straight for the water he leapt onto a nearby boulder and spun around, raising his sword and preparing to launch a Blue Brave at his pursuer…

…except that he didn't have a pursuer. The woods behind him were empty.

"Uh… huh?" he blinked staring at the treeline and the river. There was supposed to be a giant Scorpion and his hideous rider charging right at him but instead there was nothing. Nothing at all. Not even the distant sounds of combat from the battle before. Spadamon was alone.

"Oh damn," Spadamon cursed himself for not checking that he was still being followed. The Goblin King must have decided he wasn't worth it and doubled back. He needed to get back there. He jumped off the boulder and hurried back the way he'd come.

Too late he became aware of the ground beneath him vibrating, and a split second later there was an explosion of dirt right beneath his feet, sending him shooting into the air like he'd been shot up by a geyser. The monstrous Scorpion burst out of the flying spray of dirt and lashed up with one pincer. Only a swift twist to the side saved Spadamon from being snapped in half by the giant claw and he fell to ground on his back, the wind being knocked out of him. But he had to roll aside furiously anyway as the Scorpion's body fell towards him and he had to dive backwards to avoid the tail that buried itself in the dirt right behind him.

"You're a slippery little fish," cackled the Goblin King. "But you chose the wrong opponent!"

Spadamon pushed himself back to his feet and held his sword in front of him, gritting his teeth when he realised the Scorpion was now between him and the river. He couldn't believe he'd fallen for that trap. "BLUE BRAVE!" he yelled and sent his energy blade lashing out at the King, who ducked down as the Scorpion crossed its pincers in front of them both and took the attack without flinching.

"That might work on my Goblins but it will not work on me," the Goblin King sneered.

Thinking quickly, Spadamon settled on taunting. "Not work on you? How do you know that? What I think you meant to say was that it wouldn't work on your Scorpion. He's the one doing all the fighting here. You're just cowering on its back hoping it will protect you."

"Ragh! You think that I am a fool? Me, Gorkil the King of all Goblins? You think that you can goad me into attacking you myself?"

"Wouldn't that be more far, your Highness?"

"I do not play fair, creature! Now, tell me, what are you?"

"Oh you want to know?" Spadamon was blagging now, desperately trying to think of his next words. "Well… maybe I'll tell you. If you play fair and fight against me one on one. Get off your Scorpion and lets have a match, yeah? You've got a sword. You must know how to use it."

Gorkil snarled. "That will not work on me!"

"Oh, I get it," Spadamon smiled, nodding knowingly. "Your forces aren't scared of you at all. They're just scared of your Scorpion because it listens to you. That's why they don't dare disobey you. They don't respect you, just your mount."

That did the trick and Gorkil rose up on the Scorpion's back, leaping off and landing with his knees bent in the traditional bow-legged stance of a Goblin. He was a little chubbier around the waist than a regular Goblin but he was pretty similar in build.

"I've changed my mind," Gorkil growled. "I don't want to know what you are. After all, it will not matter after I kill you. The only thing I will need to know then is that you are dead."

"Big words. Can you back them up?"

"RRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHH!" the King let loose a bloodcurdling warcry as he shuffled forwards faster than anybody had any right to move in that weird jumping gait and scythed his sword down. Spadamon jumped upwards over the strike so the blade only carved a line in the ground beneath his feet and slashed at the King's face, but the skull totem caught the blow and flung Spadamon away. He crashed into a tree trunk and fell to the ground, managing to land on his feet somehow and looking up as Gorkil charged again.

This time Spadamon charged in to meet him and dived past him attempting to slash him in the side as he went, but Gorkil side-stepped with surprising agility and brought his totem crashing down towards him. Spadamon rolled aside but then had to block the scimitar with his sword, the blades pushing against each other and Gorkil's superior strength winning out and sending Spadamon rolling backwards.

"Okay, he's better than the other Goblins," he murmured as he clambered back up.

Gorkil was already bearing down on him and sprang into the air, raising both weapons above his head to bring them slashing down from above. Spadamon dodged beneath him and slashed up with his sword, scoring a hit on Gorkil's leg. Gorkil howled in rage and pain and whirled around, flinging his totem like a spear. Spadamon, not expecting this, was smacked in the head by the skulls on the tip and knocked backwards, dazed.

He shook his head, trying to clear it, and yelped when he saw Gorkil almost on top of him. He flung himself madly to the side as Gorkil chopped down, then again and again as Gorkil followed him hacking and slashing the ground where he'd just been several times over, laughing uproariously.

"Run, run, little warrior," he shrieked.

Spadamon abruptly stopped rolling and slashed upwards with his sword while on his back, catching Gorkil's blade and managing to hold it off inches from cutting his throat. But now he was pinned down and Gorkil grinned savagely as he reached for his neck with his free hand.

Spadamon brought that plan to an end quickly by sinking his teeth into Gorkil's hand. Gorkil howled and wrenched it back, pulling Spadamon up with him as the little Digimon clung on grimly. Spadamon planted his feet on Gorkil's chest and pushed away, but as he sailed backwards Gorkil slashed in with his blade and the tip cut into Spadamon's arm. Spadamon gasped as he fell to the ground, hand darting to his stinging wound and gritting his teeth.

"Fear me, fool!" Gorkil snarled and dashed towards him again. Spadamon bounced up, rebounding off a tree-trunk, to try and race away, Gorkil following after him. But then Spadamon whirled around, his sword glowing blue.

"I think you should do a bit of running," he said. "BLUE BRAVE!"

This time it was Gorkil's turn to fling himself sideways as the energy blade sailed past him. Spadamon swept his sword through the air several times, generating many small energy blades in the air, but Gorkil's stowed his sword in the belt around his shoulders and dropped to all fours, now displaying even better agility than before as he rolled and leapt and bounded around like the world's ugliest chimpanzee. His path took him back towards his fallen totem which he scooped off the ground. Drawing his sword again, he swung it deftly and actually managed to deflect Spadamon's next Blue Brave away, causing it to slice into a tree trunk instead.

"It's only a matter of time now before you fall," he sneered.

"We'll see about that," Spadamon cried, as the two of them rushed each other again.


And I think that I'll end it there. I think I did pretty good here with the Hobbits. I wanted to show how even people who actually aren't that good at fighting can do pretty well when they are given the right motivation and I think I pulled it off. I hope you enjoyed the chapter except for the Hobbit deaths because of course that's never pleasant.

See you next week.


Coming up:- Chapter 53 : The Fallen Sword