Eruanna POV
We rode for most of the day until the sun started to set, I scouted ahead until I found us a high area to camp for the night safely.
I offered to hunt some game for them in order to stretch my legs and search the area in case of orcs or anything else around.
Bombur made a fine stew with the many rabbits and foxes I found, you really have to hunt a good amount with all these dwarves and one hobbit in the company, thankfully I have a smaller appetite and can go on longer without food compared. Gandalf himself does enjoy a hearty meal too so I made sure to grab him a decent sized hare to himself.
Presently I'm sat in a comfortable yet alert position that Haldir taught me within branches of a tree over the camp, giving me a complete view of all around us.
I catch attention to Bilbo as he gets up from where he was sleeping, walking over to his pony, I smile gently at him as he feeds the pony Myrtle. Looking like he doesn't mind horses anymore, good thing since we'll be riding for a good portion of this journey.
Suddenly I hear a shriek in the air, I look up and around us instantly, focusing on where the sound came from, I see no movement there, I quietly climb down to be closer to the front of the camp, being able to still see the direction the sound came from,
"Orcs?" I hear from Bilbo, speaking with Kili and Fili, I can only half listen to them as I'm using majority to listen around us, I cant hear anything out of the ordinary, but that only makes me more on high alert.
I hear their words and I will be giving them a scolding, an Orc raid is nothing to laugh about,
"You think that's funny? You think a night raid by Orcs is a joke?" asks Thorin, I look behind me seeing him stood up from where he were laid, I look back in front of me, he and I share an almost equal hatred for Orcs.
"We didn't mean anything by it" says Kili,
"If you did not mean it then you should not have said it Kili. You should never joke about the terrors those creatures have brought to people, the death tole they have made…" I say, slight venom in my voice, keeping my back on them.
"You know nothing of the world," Thorin says, his footsteps nearing towards me until he stops beside me,
"Anything?" he asks me silently, I shake my head but keep searching with my eyes,
"Nothing moves, and I can't smell anything up here. However, something must have made that noise, and it sounded too loud for it to be a distance away" I say,
I keep listening to all around us, listening out for anything from a snapped twig to a rustle of leaves, even able to listen to Balin's story behind us,
"Don't mind him, laddie. Thorin has more cause than most to hate orcs. After the dragon took the Lonely Mountain...King Thror tried to reclaim the ancient Dwarf kingdom of Moria. We had help from our cousins and Eruanna had come also when called to help us. But our enemy had got there first" he says, I remember that day well. As any of us whom were at that battle do;
Flashback:
"Sistrum, I would not have asked for you this if I did not think we needed your assistance" Dwalin says, after receiving me at the gates of the camp they had set up. I had received a message requesting my presence from Dwalin with urgency. Of course I had set off after packing and saddling Arod and riding as swiftly as we were able.
"You said it was urgent Hano" I say, leading Arod beside me, looking around at the camp, it looks like its getting ready for war, all of them making weapons and armour, sharpening instruments and those made weapons, this certainly looks familiar.
"What is happening?" I ask, he leads me over to a tackle where I tie Arod's reigns to and follow Dwalin to a large tent resting in the middle of the camp.
He enters first and keeps the cloth to the side for me to enter, where I come upon more dwarves around a table, my eyes instantly spotting prince Thorin, then his father prince Thrain and king Thror.
They and the rest around the table see me instantly as I enter, pausing in their conversation and turning to face me, I bow my head to them in respect, seeing them returning the gesture.
"Lady Eruanna. What brings you to us?" asks king Thror, I frown in confusion at him, and then to Dwalin in question beside me, was it not Thror that would have asked for me here?
"I sent for her" he says, I look over to the others, clearly none of them had been expecting me, what is my brother up to?
"This is a dwarven matter, not of elves, no offence to you of course lady Eruanna," Thror said, I nod in acceptance and look down to keep the peace, I know Thror's temper and he as well as the others do not have the best love for elves, not that I blame them after what happened, although they have not any reason to doubt my loyalty to them.
"This is the one elf we have sworn will always be welcome at our homes, at our tables. And I for one would welcome her beside me in battle" Dwalin says, I frown at him for that, so this is a camp readying for battle, but there are no wars going on, what are they getting ready to fight for?
"I will also vouch for her" Thorin says, walking over to my other side I smile at him in thanks as he does the same before looking over at his father and grandfather,
"We will need all the help we can get. Eruanna has been there for us in our darkest moment, I see not why she be here and help us into our brightest" he says, I look to the dwarves around the table, spotting Balin and some others I know more then the rest, but all of them I have gotten on well with.
"Aye, I believe they are right, Eruanna is a excellent warrior, she has magic too which can help. And she knows more of these creatures then we do" says Balin, I look to him at that, curious of what he means.
"Very well, we honour your presence here lady Eruanna, and I myself thank you for your aid," says king Thror, I nod at this,
"Forgive me your highness, but I did not receive information into what it is I am helping with" I say giving a light smile in humour, hearing a chuckle from Dwalin behind me,
"Brother, that is not the best idea you've ever had! You should have warned her what she may be going into" says Balin, giving Dwalin a scolding look, I hide the smirk as best I can.
"Please, lady Eruanna, let me explain" says prince Thrain, I nod in answer and come to walk before the table with the others. Not caring of the dirt, I kneel to the floor to be eye level with them, they know this is not an offence of any kind from me, I expressed to them enough times in my visits to Erebor that I prefer to be eye level with people whom I speak with and I see it as a sign of respect which they later admitted they liked.
"We know that with the dragon Smaug in our mountain, there is no way for us to take back our home, and even with your help for most of our people to find new settlements and homes in villages and areas nearby, we wish for a place where we may all reside together" Thror explains, I nod in understanding, not taking offence in what he says, it did take a lot of work to help with some of the villages around to allow dwarves to stay with them or in their towns, that is where I would arrive and give them my word that the dwarves would not cause trouble and would work hard to help the people there which they all agreed to and were in the end happy they had a roof over their head from it all.
"We have looked at maps of places big enough to hold us all, where we might re-build and start over. But there are not many as you can imagine, and it would take a long time to start from scratch and I would like to live to see us all together again" says King Thrain, I nod for him to continue, from the sounds of it they have found a place,
"Where have you found?" I ask, it must be somewhere they must go to war for considering,
"Moria" says Thorin, my eyes widen at this, looking to him in shock at that name.
"Moria? But the demon there?" I ask looking to them all in fear, not just because of the demon but this could lead them to their deaths, it killed king Durin the VI and his son, leading to all the elves abandoning the place.
"That is not what stands in our way currently Eruanna" says Dwalin beside me, I look to him confused, something else resides in Moria?
"Orcs have taken over Moria, desecrating our great ancestral halls. We're not sure when they came to reside there but the demon does not seem to be against sharing with them" says Thrain, I nod at this, my eyes on the table.
I feel a hand on my shoulder and I look to Dwalin at this, him, Balin and Thorin are the only ones whom know most of my past, and my dealings with those creatures.
"I will fight with you" I say, looking back up to them, I know from my expression they know they can count on me, if its one thing I hate most of in Middle Earth, its orcs.
End Flashback
That truly was a bloody battle. I had not fought so hard in so long; we were all beyond exhausted after the defeat. What was left of us came back to the camp and there were no songs, no meal, we just…mourned. We didn't speak at all the rest of that day, I think we all knew there was nothing that could offer comfort for the loss that day. Not only had Thorin lost his grandfather but Thror had gone missing too.
"Moria had been taken by legions of Orcs...led by the most vile of all their race: Azog the Defiler. The giant Gundabad Orc...had sworn to wipe out the line of Durin. He began...by beheading the king. Thrain, Thorin's father, was driven mad by grief. He went missing. Taken prisoner or killed...we did not know. We were leaderless. Defeat and death...were upon us. That is when I saw him. A young Dwarf prince...facing down the pale Orc. He stood alone against this terrible foe. His armour rent...wielding nothing but an oaken branch as a shield. Azog the Defiler learned that day...that the line of Durin would not be so easily broken.
"Our forces rallied...and drove the Orcs back. And our enemy...had been defeated. But there was no feast...nor song that nigh...for our dead were beyond the count of grief. We few had survived. And I thought to myself then...there is one who I could follow. There is one...I could call king"
I look behind me at the corner of my eyes, seeing them all stood looking to Thorin whom I noticed had turned around to them all.
"And the Pale Orc? What happened to him?" Bilbo asks, my eyes on them all now, a little settled in the idea that there isn't anything out there, I walk over to where Gandalf is sitting,
"He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That filth died of his wounds long ago." Thorin says, walking away from the ledge where we both previously stood and back to where he was resting before.
However I look to Gandalf, seeing him share a look with Balin, I narrow my eyes at Gandalf for the action, catching his eye,
What are you keeping from me? I ask him in his mind, seeing his eyes flutter a little in surprise, with how long I stayed in my grandmother I'm surprised he didn't think she would teach me this magic.
It is only what I have heard in passing my dear; nothing confirmed he says, I frown at this,
There are words in the wind of a Pale Orc? How is that possible? That wound should have killed him I say,
He is a Gundabad Orc Eruanna, they are much stronger then the others, you know of their strength, you do well to remember that he says, I look down at this, forgetting that Azog was a Gundabad Orc, indeed there are few that can best them, but I had faith that the wound made by Thorin would have killed the Orc…or perhaps my trust in the dwarves strength at the time and the loss of those in battle blinded me the idea that he could have lived.
I can only hope that it is only rumours and not truth that the Pale Orc lives.
("Hano" – closest translation to brother in dwarvish
"Sistrum" – closest translation to sister in dwarvish)