Disclaimer: I do not own the Hobbit.
Sorry for the long time between post but tis the time of year to be overloaded with Christmas and work. Plus this was one scene that I did not know quite how to deal with it. Slight changes here and there but I present that moment.
"Ghaaaaa!" It was less than mighty battle cry but it was all Marie could muster as she hacked at the orc's shins or any part or the monster's anatomy. The battle had spread into Dale and those who had avoided the conflict before now had little choice than to either flee into the derelict ruins or fight back by any means. Marie had lost Bard quite early for he went in blindly searching for his children after leaving her in what he had assumed to be a safe location. It was not safe for long as the trolls broke done the walls and more orcs entered the city. Gandalf found her in time trailing behind a squad of archers, huffing his complaints as he pulled her in to his side.
"Keep me sight and keep your sword up Marie." He instructed her.
So she did, wounding the enemy in the legs while Gandalf finished them off. For an old man he fought like a spritely young warrior and Marie would have never guessed him to have such skill. The Lake Men fought bravely to push the orcs out to the northern quarter of Dale and away from the Great Hall where the children and injured were hiding. All the while that damned horn up on Ravenhill kept blasting out and Marie kept glancing up to see the flag system where Azog were watching it all unfold without lifting a finger.
Marie staggered back as Gandalf panted his staff into the ground and growled something in a strange tongue. The snow swirled around the staff before there was a burst of air, which sent seven orcs flying back.
"Gandalf?" Marie jumped up and rushed to the wizard's side. He was swaying and was breathing heavily.
"Quite alright Marie, quite alright." He shook his head and straightened his back.
"Didn't know you could do that." Marie padded her face with the back of her sleeve. "A trick like that could really be useful a while ago."
"I wouldn't be much of a wizard if I couldn't perform a simple 'trick' like that."
Another bang went off in the distance as another part of the city was knocked down. Marie wondered how long they could keep this up. The Iron Foot army had been cut off from the elves as more orcs arrived and almost all of the escape routes out of Dale had been over run.
"Gandalf, why don't you use your magic to …?"
"No Marie." Gandalf said quickly. "My powers are spent. If I attempt anything drastic now I may …" An orc jumped out from a crack and tried to swipe at Gandalf but the wizard batted him away with his sword and crack his staff over its head.
"Then what can we do?" This was too much for hobbit. Marie stuck Sting into the throat of a fall orc still in its death throes with great gusto, only to be struck across the cheek by its fist. She promptly slump against a rock, sweat dripped down her nose that left frozen steaks on her dirty and bloodied skin. On top of the punch she had been kicked several times that her hips were sure to be yellow and black. She wanted to stop, but if she did she would be killed.
'If only the dwarves were here ….'
Marie's ears pricked up as another fanfare sounded but there was something different about the sudden horn blast. It rumbled in the air and sunk into the earth and Marie's bones, like hearing a familiar tune after so many years. In her heart she knew what that horn meant and she scrambled to her feet with renewed faith. The battle out on the field increased in volume as the tide began shifting and Marie ran out onto a parapet to see it with her own eyes with Gandalf close on her heels. The dwarven forces that had been backed against the Gates of Erebor were charging forward to break through the black army of orcs.
"The dwarves. They're rallying!" Marie was smiling like Gandalf.
"They're rallying to their king." He said. Marie could feel every part of her body fill with air as she took an elated breath in and hope bloomed again in her heart, the fatigue was a forgotten thing.
"Come Marie. Come! We may yet survive this." Gandalf was off again to help push back the orcs but Marie wanted to see how the battle would shift completely in favour for their side. One can not ignore a wizard's command so easily so she followed on into the fighting. The elves were falling back to the higher levels presumably to take the advantage point before it was taken by the orc archers. It left the Lake Men to maintain their slim hold on the reclaimed levels, the corpses littering the streets was proof of it. Marie tried to catch sight of the dwarves below but she was too small to see over the walls. She wanted to see them again. See her friends and ...
"He's taken his best fighters."
"What? Gandalf?"
The wizard was staring off towards the frozen waterfall near Ravenhill. "It's Thorin. He is heading towards ... ah yes."
"What Gandalf? Tell me!" Marie grabbed at his sleeves and tugged hard. She had not the eyes of a wizard to see that far nor his height. "Where is he going?"
"To cut off the head of the snake itself."
Marie looked to Ravenhill and understood. "Azog."
"Yes. He has Dwalin, Fili and Kili at his side. And without their commander ..."
"Gandalf watch out!" Marie pointed to his right as a great big mass of an orc came barrelling towards them. No sooner had she shouted an arrow settled itself between its eyes and it fell to the ground with a crash. "Gandalf!" Marie and the wizard turned in the direction the arrow came from to see just who had shot it. Two elves on horseback came galloping up the hill through the battle, both whom Marie recognized. It was that fair haired elf with Orcrist and the captain, Tauriel if Marie remembered correctly. They had been noticeably absent from the whole ordeal before the battle.
"Legolas Greenleaf." Gandalf rushed towards the elf as he dismounted the horse.
"There is a second army. Bolg leads of force of Gundabad. There are almost upon us."
"Gundabad?"
Legolas nodded and the wizard's knuckles around his staff turned white. "This was there plan all along. Azog engages our forces then Bolg sweeps in from the North." Gandalf said through his teeth.
"What? The North? Bolg? Whose Bolg?" Marie rattled on and paced across the wizard impatiently. "Isn't Ravenhill in the ..." The answer came to her with all the grace of a sledgehammer and left her feeling just as stable. Thorin was up there. Kili, Fili and Dwalin too.
"It would seem that the snake remained in its cave for a reason." Gandalf said. The two elves glanced at one another. "What is Gandalf?" Legolas asked.
"Go before your father. Have him dispatch a force to Ravenhill to secure it. That might delay Bolg ..."
"There were too many to count Mithrandir." The red haired captain shook her head. "A single battalion will not slow them."
"They have to know." Marie managed to choke out. "They have to be warned ... the trap." She was already moving.
Gandalf caught her shoulder tightly. "And where are you running off too?"
"I thought that was obvious, to warn Thorin."
"Are you mad Marie?"
"I'm half Took, so yes. Now let me go." She wriggled until she slipped free of his hand. The elf Legolas watched her with a perplexed look. "You wouldn't make or of the city, let alone anywhere near the watch tower." He stated in a matter of fact way that made Marie turn her green gaze on him.
"I can make it past the eyes of an elf easy enough." She snapped. "I can make it there in time to warm them without any orcs seeing me."
"No." Gandalf reached out to catch her again but she skitted away. "It is too dangerous. I've already put you in harm's way and I will not allow this."
"I'm not asking you too Gandalf." Marie was off and running before Gandalf could respond and before she even had a plan in mind. It was only when she was stopped by the wall of orcs did she figure it best to stop and think. She ducked behind a pillar and out of sight, swapping her filthy sword for her magic ring and, with a deep breath in, slipped it onto her finger. She wasted no time to be overwhelmed by its magic and braved her way through the fighting. It was hard tell just who was fighting who, all that could be made out were lights and shadows moving about one another and avoided both in her haste. In an odd way she was grateful now to the orcs and their troll for smashing down parts of the western walls, making her escape out of the city easier than risking the overrun drawbridge. The hobbit slid down the remnants of the wall into the dried up mot below but tripped and tumbled over her head. She groaned and picked herself up quickly.
It was a risk going to warn Thorin of this new army but one Marie felt she had to take. He may hate her now, despise her even, but she wouldn't stand back and let him be overwhelmed by the enemy. And so she ran with all her might up the mout and across the plains, ignoring the pain her whole body was in. Her chest was tightening with each step and she couldn't stop her ragged yelps. As Marie crossed the frozen river she slid across it dangerously, leaving behind bloody footprints on the ice. All that was left was the cliff. Marie twitched her nose and gripped the rock face and started climbing. Not as easy as trees are but Marie still speed up the cliff while listening out for any sounds above her that may have been the swords clashing. A gush of wind pushed her off balance and almost carried her away. "Buggery bugger." The hobbit gritted her teeth and regained her footing on the icy rocks.
There was a squeal above her as an orc was flung over the top of the cliff and hurtled down towards the ground below. This only prompted Marie to go faster. The muscles between her shoulders burned like an open flame down her back, but that did not matter.
She was close now.
"Come on Marie, come ... on just ... a little ... more."
At last her fingers clawed at the worn stone bricks of the watch tower and Marie puller herself up and onto the ledge. It was a good thing that she held as tightly as she did or she would have plummeted onto a staircase ten feet below.
Marie balanced herself and ran along the ledge until the steps were close enough to jump onto. The stairs took her into a dark tunnel she remembered from the first time they came here and followed it along expecting to reach the banks of the waterfall, pulling off the ring in the process to ease the last leg of her journey. The doorway ahead of her was filled with a dull white light as the wind bought a cold fog over the ruins, but through the swirling snow there were two figures pacing across the door and the growling voice Marie could detect could be none other than Dwalin. And where there was Dwalin there was ...
"Thorin!"
Marie skidded to a halt not five feet from Thorin and the apprehension of facing him again hit her senses. He wanted her dead last time he saw her, and as far as their current standing was she was still a traitor. He had a sword out which made Marie weary.
He turned and saw her.
Marie waited for the fury.
All she saw was relief was over his face. "Marie." Then came hesitation. He looked to be holding himself back from going to her. By now Dwalin had also noticed her sudden appearance.
"Lass? Where did you ...?"
"You have to leave here now. Azog has another army, coming up from the north. This place will be overrun and we have no time left." Once she had spat out all that need to be said she took a generous intake of air to kick her lungs back into action.
Dwalin and Thorin glance at eachother then back at Marie. "You're sure of this." Thorin asked.
"Yes quite ..." Marie sucked in a breath. "Quite sure. Now please we have to ... Where are Fili and Kili?" She looked all around but could not find the brothers. She was sure Gandalf had said they were with Thorin.
"We are so close. That orc scum is in there. I say we push on." Dwalin brought his axe up and turned to the tower. Thorin caught his friend's shoulder. "No. That's what he wants, to draw us in. This is a trap."
So that is what Gandalf had meant. Azog had set himself up as both bait and the hunter for the dwarves and they had taken it.
"Find Fili and Kili, call them back." Thorin ordered his old friend. He seemed like himself again, even looking as he was on the long journey to the mountain. In control but cautious, prouder now without all his finery and crown. It suited him to be this way.
"Thorin, are you sure?"
"Do it. We live to fight another day."
Dwalin nodded and made for the stairs that would take him closer to the icy surface bellow. "Be careful." Marie said regardess if he would hear, but Thorin did. He looked to her again and they regarded eachother in silence. They both knew that this wasn't the time or place for further arguments or repentance and Marie simply dropped her gaze. She heard his boot scuff across the stone as she turned back to the tunnel.
A powerful boom reverberated under Marie's feet and up her spine. It sounded like a drum had been struck under the earth and at first Marie thought it had been an explosion off in the distance, until it struck again. This time it sounded much closer and was coming from the tower. Thorin and Marie moved in unison towards the now steady drum beat as lights flickered from the shadows, trailing higher and higher to the broken top of the tower were the fog gathered in a cloud. Marie squinted and she thought she could make out a tall figure moving out of the fog. Her guts twisted when the figure became more visible.
It was Azog. And he wasn't alone. Half a dozen black armoured orcs lingered behind him baring torches. Thorin quite visibly tensed up and rushed to the edge of the ruin and Marie followed him.
Azog was dragging something along behind him, something alive and struggling against the orc's hold. Marie swallowed hard as her fears came to light before her and well out of reach of her to stop. Another wave of movement caught her attention further down the tower, a single being poking out of a doorway. It was Kili, alone.
"Oh, please. Let it not be ..."
The Pale Orc raised his good arm up and lifted a squirming body up by the scruff of his neck. Marie made a small noise in the back of her throat and she stepped towards the edge blindly, stopping when Thorin's arm shot out to catch her.
Azog forced Fili to face his uncle, to show off how utterly helpless they both were. The young dwarf was bruised and bloodied all over his face and hair which made Marie clutch Thorin's arm tightly. Azog poised his other arm at Fili's back, which now had a large blade attached to the stump rather than the twisted metalwork he sported in his last appearance. "This one dies first. Then, the brother. Then you, Oakenshield. You die last."
Thorin was shaking, Marie could feel it against her body. She quickly looked up at him to see his pained expression. There was nothing he could do to stop it and was killing him slowly. Marie then looked to see if Kili was still hidden below, watching in pure horror as Fili dangled overhead.
Fili feebly moved his mouth up and down, forming silent words. A cry for help or a last curse at Azog? Then, as Azog pull his arm back, one word escaped in a great desperate cry. "RUN!"
The blow was harsh, bloody and Marie felt as if she too had been stabbed. Her knees buckled and all that was keeping her up was Thorin's own slack hold. He made a sound that was akin to having the air in the lungs being sucked out as Fili gave a final jolt before going limp.
"Here ends you filthy bloodline, Oakenshield!"
The orc released his hold on Fili's body and let it fall, a final stroke to his brutal murder, topped only with the fact that Fili's body landed right before his little brother's hiding place. Not even a second passed before Kili roared and ran blindly back into the ruin with bloody vengeances, straight into the waiting lackeys of Azog. His own shouts were soon drowned out by snarls and shrieks.
"No Kili! Wait!" Marie lurched forward even with Thorin pulling her away. Azog stared down at them, challenging Thorin to do something before fading back into the fog and the dark ruin. The female hobbit both pulled against Thorin and held onto him, her body not in accordance with distressed mind and her breath made ragged noises no different to a sob. Thorin called Dwalin back and hands her to him with new orders to watch her before storming off, screaming Kili's name. Dwalin did not hold Marie and followed after his friend which left Marie alone for a moment.
She cupped her mouth to muffle the strange cries she was making.
Fili. Faithful, proud Fili. Dead. Murdered before her eyes. And Kili, sweet boy with so much hope, just throwing himself into danger and could possibly ...
The grief hit her with such violence she felt physically ill.
'Now just ... alright just breath Marie ... Marie get a hold of yourself . Now is not ... oh heavens Fili.'
Once Marie gained some form of composure yet another challenge presented itself. She heard it first before she saw it, the flapping of multiple wings on the cold wind before horrible lanky birds burst through the fog and passed over the ruins and past Marie. She shrieked and ducked to dodge the leathery birds, soon realising that they were not birds but bats.
They took no notice of her and kept on track towards Dale.
The ogrish brutes that followed after the massive flock however, did.
They climbed up over the walls with such speed Marie had no time to move herself into action as they got closer, milky white eyes honed in on her and her helplessness.
"Duck!"
Marie hit the ground fast as Dwalin's axe passed overhead and sliced through the nearest orc's head. It was best not to question where and when only be thankful that he was here now. Marie grabbed at a pile of rocks and started doing what she once was best at. Causing trouble. She socked two orcs right in the forehead and another in the throat, leaving it to Dwalin to make the killing blow. Her next two throws were sloppy in comparison, but her rage was getting the better of her as she thought of some colourful insults for the orcs. She took small steps back and hurled stone after stone until to felt her heel hit the rough granite surface of a boulder and she had nowhere to go. One very tall orc, with a scar so wide on his head had metal plates bolted across it, took exception to her small resistance and stalked his way towards her while Dwalin was otherwise distracted. Marie picked up rock after rock but this orc was clearly smarter and batted away the incoming rocks with a deadly looking mace, his no existence nose flaring as he got closer. Marie remembered she had a damn sword and went to unsheathe it but the orc moved swiftly and swung the end of his mace up to hit her, but managed only to cuff her chin as she swayed back, tripping up herself and falling onto the rock pile with a painful thump. A buzzing noise filled her ears and she was acutely away of the pain blooming in the back of her head. Black spots dotted across her vision and she knew she only had a few precious moments before losing consciousness and the last thing she would see was the orc's horrific face leering down at her.
Why hadn't he killed her yet?
She was completely open and couldn't fight back and all he did was prod at her with the tip of his mace, grunting away to himself. Just as her whole sight went she was yanked up by her wrist and the last thing she registered was the tension crawling up her arm.
Whatever this orc had planned for her, it required her to be alive ... for now.
Hey, so yeah. (Much tears in having to do that. FILI & KILI!)
As previously mentioned in the last chapter I have some new ideas for Middle Earth fanfic. They won't be posted immediately but I will be working one for later in 2016. So these are the top three I have come down to and I need your help picking.
1: An Elf Mercenary with a not so pure elf heart and mind. Exiled from the Greenwood and armed with an axe and a fast mouth, this elf rather reluctantly gets roped into a fight that for once is not for gold.
2: In an attempt to create an army worthy of the Dark Lord, Saruman takes his breeding experiences to a new level with a single hybrid as lethal as an elf but as bloodthirsty as an Uruk Hai. Too bad this new form of life has other plans.
3: A Tenth Walker with a history that might have daggers at her back the whole way to Mordor. It's not out of redemption that she does this but simply to set things right. She is beyond redemption. After all, Sauron was not the only Maia who fell from grace.
I do hope to cover all these ideas eventually, but I need to pick one to work in for now. So let me know which YOU think I should do. Much thanks guys :)