The attack comes almost three weeks after Nori, Kíli, and Dwalin catch up with the caravan. Sela had decided to change route as soon as they had come to the old road which runs past Moria and about a day south of Rivendell to join the East-West road. Most do not bother with it, though there are still villages between Rivendell and Isengard due to the small amount of trade that has popped up with the elf settlement over the centuries. Even the dwarves of Labamgarel Zarrakh engage in a limited amount of trade with Elrond and Sela is one of the few whose family has long standing contracts with the elven settlement. Which explains why he has little difficulty changing his route.

The road is one of the more dangerous ones, and there are few who will attempt it with fewer guards than Sela has with him now. There are few who will attempt it with more than Sela has with him but the merchant knows the road well and knows the best places to stop for the night and the number of watches to assign. So it comes as little surprise that one occurs, no matter how careful they have been. It is early in the season for an orc attack, but that is not the only thing that makes this one notable. There are easily double the number of orcs than they would expect in a simple hunting or raiding party and their leader is someone that Nori is definitely interested in dealing with.

Even if she could have cheerfully waited a few more years before doing so.

They are woken by one of the sentries shouting before he falls with an orc blade in his neck. They have been bedded down for a couple of hours, the first watch cannot be far off the time when they would be trading with the second watch which shows that there has been some planning and possibly watching involved in the attack. The dwarves of the caravan are on their feet in moments, some with their boots off after climbing into blankets, but most of the more experienced travellers have kept their boots on while on this route. Nori and Dwalin are two of them, and they had insisted that Fíli and Kíli do the same as well as keeping close to the older couple at night. Fíli had argued against it for a while, accustomed to the road and being given his own space, but seeing his younger brother taking Nori's concerns about the four of them sleeping separately makes the older prince subside. Nori is glad of it now as the four of them roll from their blankets, grabbing their weapons as the thief slips a knife from her sleeve and flings it at an approaching orc. Kíli grabs his bow, shooting arrow after arrow at orcs and wargs while others around them race to engage the orcs that have surrounded them.

"You lads find Hela and keep your heads down!" Dwalin orders the pair, his eyes landing on the same orc that Nori's do a moment later as she watches her large guard pale. "You keep well away from that one," he gestures with his axe, "am I clear?"

"Dwalin…" Fíli begins to object.

"Do as he says," Nori snaps. "Find your lass, grab a couple of ponies if you can and get your arses to Rivendell. It isn't far from here, a couple of hours at most. Wait for us for a few days and if we don't come…" she pauses to smash her mace into the face of an orc. "If we don't come, get to the Shire and hole up with Briar for the winter. We'll meet you there if we can."

Predictably a few more objections are made by both of the boys as they work their way as a group through the orcs that have surrounded them, shielding both lads from sight of the massive white orc with a metal spike in place of his forearm.

"This is not up for discussion, Shadow!" Nori barks finally. "That is an order from your Wolf. See it done."

Kíli's demeanor shifts almost instantly, his expression taking on the hardness of intense concentration as his mixed fighting styles become more prominent. He is no longer pretending to be the foolish prince. His responsibility is protecting his brother and that is what he intends to do. Their uncle would not run, Nori knows, but she also knows that Thorin is a reckless fool where this particular orc is concerned and she wants no part in getting those two lads killed again because she is letting them do what they think their uncle would want. She is only relieved that the order came from Dwalin first. That they are both in agreement that the boys need to stay away from Azog is clear. Now, of course, they need to handle ensuring that the boys can get away and Nori very much doubts that she and Dwalin are going to survive to see whether they are successful in their goal.

But, then, that is what comes of going up against a nightmare.

There are not so many orcs that the caravan has been completely overwhelmed, although everyone else is still pressed enough that they have to focus on keeping themselves alive rather than going after the white orc. Eventually, however, it is going to come down to someone facing him or hoping that the twenty-five or so of them handle the other orcs well enough to force Azog to withdraw. As much as Nori would like to avoid tackling Azog herself, she knows that he needs to go and this might be the only chance that she gets that does not involve her deliberately setting out to find him. At least no one will question how this particular encounter came about.

Getting to Azog is not as difficult as it would be in a full scale battle. There was probably fifty orcs when the camp was attacked, but that is the kind of number that twenty-five dwarves can handle with ease and orc numbers are thinning rapidly as the caravan guards turn the tide of the surprise attack around. Nori and Dwalin force their way towards Azog, over the few bodies of some of their fallen companions and past even more dead orcs, axes and mace swinging constantly. Azog roars something, batting a young dwarf away like he is little more than a fly and the remaining orcs turn their full attention towards pressing the caravan harder. The thief and her guard are separated for a short time, surrounded by the larger bodies of orcs and flanked by the shorter forms of their people. It is not until Nori manages to break through the ranks of orcs that she sees where Dwalin is.

Her guard stands before Azog, both axes raised above his head as he forces the metal spike that forms Azog's arm back. Behind Dwalin she sees the great white warg that Azog usually rides, several arrows sticking out of its hide that have familiar fletching. She cannot see the orc's face, but given the state of his warg she does not need to. The way that the orc is furiously pounding at Dwalin makes the point just fine. There is a shout from the darkness at the edge of the firelight, Kíli's voice though she cannot make out the words above the shouting and the clang of metal.

Something seems to shift behind her and she spins, ducking as the delicate hairs at the nape of her neck which have escaped her braids whisper with the movement of air behind her. She moves, twisting so that she can slam her mace up between the legs of the orc that just tried to brain her and then spinning it round so that she can slam it into the creature's jaw. Its face seems to collapse under the strength of the blow and she nods once before turning back to Dwalin. In the moment of her distraction Azog has obviously gained the upper hand, his remaining fingers clenched around Dwalin's neck as he lifts the struggling guard, axes on the ground where they have obviously been dropped so that Dwaling can claw at the hand which grips his neck. Nori sees red, leaping forward with a yell and slamming her long mace into the massive orc's arm. There is a crunch and the orc screams, turning his gaze on her and grinning as he drops Dwalin to the ground, grinding something out in his terrible voice that Nori does not understand. The language of the orcs was never her speciality. She makes no response, just swings her long mace once more and this time it is parried by Azog's iron prosthesis, the clash between the two enough to jar the mace in her grip and she ducks as the orc swings for her.

They do this for a while, Nori forcing the orc to keep his attention on her when it looks like he is about to decide that she is no longer worth his time or effort. The thief ducks and dodges and makes pass after pass, attempting to break through and smash more than just the orc's arm but even the pain of his shattered arm is not enough to break Azog's battle focus. She is beginning to tire, beginning to slow, and worse Azog is starting to notice. He chuckles, snarling something out and pain flares in Nori's side. She spins, sees another orc there with a vicious smile splitting its face and she firms her grip on her mace, not sure if she will be able to eliminate this enemy before it or the one behind her takes her life.

An arrow zips from the darkness, embedding itself into the side of her new opponent's head and at the same time Azog roars once more. Nori turns once again, sees Azog twist, his metal arm lashing out and the Dwalin slumps to the ground, his eyes glazed as the white orc stands over him and his axe still stuck in Azog's shoulder. Nori's mace tumbles from her grip as the orc raises his arm, she takes two steps and leaps, snatching the axe from Azog's shoulder and rolling to her feet as she falls, hearing the orc once again roar in pain. She can hardly see, hardly think, only knows that the blade of this axe has to meet the orc's spine if she is to have half a chance of surviving this.

The focus of battle takes her, the axe seems to flow with her as she uses all the strength she has to swing. The satisfying sound of metal sinking into flesh meets her ears, Azog slumps forward as his legs collapse, suddenly refusing to hold him any longer, and Nori finds herself at his head, axe in hand, raising it high and then bringing it down with a scream once, twice, three times until his head rolls away from the body and comes to rest at Dwalin's feet.

Her large guard lies still and silent, but Nori does not see that now, her amethyst eyes focused on the corpse in front of her. The corpse of the thing once destined to take Fíli, Kíli and Thorin from their rightful place in Erebor's Halls is before her, downed through what Nori knows to be sheer luck. Dwalin's axe is heavy in her hands, the sound of fighting has dimmed to almost nothing now, and for a moment she almost lets it slip from her grip. Dwalin would be furious, though, if she did that. And it would be disrespectful of the weapon which has allowed her to put an end to this threat to Durin's line.

It should have been Dwalin to do it, a little voice in the back of her mind insists, Azog took the most from him.

She pushes it away, her breath still coming in tight gasps, shaking her head as blackness begins to encroach on her vision.

Dwalin stirs, coughs, the sound distant and almost unreal.

Nori sways.

Her guard shouts.

Darkness takes her.

A.N: See you all on Monday *runs off cackling*