Part 3

As if alive, and sensing the violence that would surely come, the forest became silent. The only sounds came now from the Dwarves as they hefted their battle axes and hammers from one hand to the next, chain-mail rubbing against leather, dry vegetation crackling under their heavy feet. The Elves in the middle of this unholy circle were quite the opposite as they backed silently into each other, loading and drawing arrows as they did so, each one aiming out towards their aggressors like the points on a compass. From his upside down position Legolas recognized their maneuver as being a defensive stance called Melradee's Bloom, taught to them all by his own father. He struggled to free the second arrow lodged behind him but it held tight, snagged among the braided designs of his belt.

The cowled Dwarf, the one who had ensnared Legolas, chuckled and raised one unarmed hand, then he spoke with a voice that dripped poison, "I wonder…." he began, now gently waving his raised hand in the direction of the other Darkroot Dwarves, "I wonder what brings a half dozen prancing Mirkwood Elves so far from their cozy beds… could they be seeking someone?"

Brinwier drew his bow back an extra inch as he targeted the darkness within the hood of the speaker's cloak. "You know exactly why we are here Dwarf."

The Dwarf lowered his hand and clasped his other in front of him as if in meditation. Then he hissed, "Surely you have not traveled so far in order to kill yourselves have you? Perhaps you have… who am I to try to understand the puerile reasoning of Elves?"

When the other five Elves felt Brinwier take a deep breath and hold it, they all simultaneously tensed, ready for the moment to let go of their flights. "Of course, you Elves will only act in defense," continued the dark Dwarf, "so let us help you on your way. Troffmok!" At this one of the other Dwarves took a small throwing axe from his belt and hoisted it at Brinwier. As the Elf ducked to avoid the spinning blade he released his arrow, as did his brothers. The arrows whistled toward their targets but abruptly stopped and fell to the ground a mere finger's width from the grinning faces of the Dwarves. The Elves heard a sharp cracking noise as if their arrows had hit a glass wall and the Dwarves began to laugh. As one the Mirkwood Elves released second arrows, which clattered and fell against this invisible shield as the first ones had. Even as they loaded their third attempts the Dwarves were rushing upon them with surprising speed, with apparently two Dwarves descending upon each Elf.

Legolas could only watch helplessly as his brothers attempted to evade their attackers by leaping into the air and over their flailing weapons. Four of the Elves appeared above the Dwarves' helmeted heads and somersaulted to clearer ground ready to take up the battle. Legolas felt choking bile rising in his throat when he saw that Primdale and Ambrore had not been fast enough. The Dwarves screamed with glee at their capture and all but five of them laid into the trapped Elves, smashing their legs with heavy hammers and taking turns to hack at their fallen bodies with their axes. Brinwier was already leaping toward the cloaked Dwarf when his opponent suddenly vanished, leaving an echoing laugh and a black vapor on the air. Dellane, Emedial and Fremora were aiming at the five Dwarves who now came at them brandishing their battleaxes with uncontrolled fury. Two of the Dwarves fell back, arrows jutting from their throats; a third needed a second arrow in the eye from Dellane's bow to fall.

The remaining two Dwarves rushed Fremora as she fumbled for her next arrow and brought her down with their heavy blades, one across the stomach and the other deep in her shoulder. She collapsed like a doll under their weight and moaned as she saw her insides spill out onto the dirt. Brinwier and Emedial were upon her attackers immediately and in seconds the two Dwarves lay grasping their slit throats as their blood mingled with Fremora's on the ground. Brinwier and Emedial sheathed their knives and took up their bows once more as Dellane came to join them, his weapon already drawn back.

The remaining Dwarves turned away from the bloody pulp that had once been Primdale and Ambrore and yelled a battle cry as they ran towards the trio. Three more arrows flew into Dwarven flesh and now the fight seemed more even. Dellane and Emedial ran in opposite directions, leading one Dwarf each away from Brinwier who loosed an arrow at one of the two bearing down on him. Its point glanced off the helmet of the closest Dwarf who barreled into Brinwier, knocking the air from his lungs and putting him on his back. The Dwarf sat on his chest, his stocky knees pinning Brinwier's arms to the ground and the shaft of his axe across the Elf's neck. Brinwier started to choke but could not find the strength to break out from under the creature weighing him down and squeezing the life from him. The second Dwarf took up position by Brinwier's head and raised its axe high, ready to split the Elf's face in two, and shouting a victory yell at the sky. Suddenly, in the split second of quiet before the deathblow, Brinwier heard four noises. The first was a soft, wet rip; the second was a sharp snapping sound, then the sound of metal upon metal and lastly the sound of a final breath gurgling through gushing blood. The Dwarf, its axe still raised high, fell slowly backwards, a slender arrow shaft protruding from its open mouth. The Dwarf on his chest looked up in surprise, and gave Brinwier time enough to flip him over and bury his dagger in the Dwarf's neck.

Brinwier jumped up and looked over to the hanging Legolas. Legolas had relaxed his grip on his bow and had stopped struggling. A sound to Brinwier's left made him turn and draw his bow but it was only Dellane backing out from the trees, bow raised, as he returned to the clearing. "The Dwarf vanished!" he shouted over his shoulder to Brinwier, all the while scanning the trees for any sign of his quarry. "Mine too!" came another familiar voice as Emedial appeared from behind a group of Birch trees. Brinwier shook his head as he ran over to Legolas' tree and started to climb it. "Dwarves and wizardry do not mix…" he muttered as he cradled Legolas' head and started to carve at the wooden outgrowth in the young Elf's mouth. As his knife penetrated the bark of the tendril, dark red sap spurted from the cuts and the appendage withered and shrunk back into the trunk of the tree. Legolas sucked in the fresh air greedily, then gave a small cry as the wooden restraints around his ankles suddenly let go and he fell head first into the waiting arms of Dellane.

The sound of bushes being parted startled the Elves and they drew together in a smaller version of Melradee's Bloom with Legolas curled up inside their triangular ring. Scarp Hedin jogged into the clearing and skidded to a halt when he saw the carnage before him and the tired Elves with their arrows all trained upon his head. He threw his hands in the air and took a step back, stumbling over the legs of a dead Dwarf. "Whoa, wait, it's me…" he yelled, then, more quietly, "what did I miss?"

Part four in a couple of days guys!