Hello everyone!! Hannah-Siri Here!! =D
WoW!! Thanx for all the lovely feedback!! *hugs everyone who will hold still long enough ;) *
Yes our boys are FINALLY back together…took 'um long enough ;)
HaloGatomon: Oh *that's* what 'meep' means ;) I'd wondered!
Cheysuli: *blink blink* Oh my…our reader just went into total hysterics!!…It looks like Cheysuli may have gone *gasp* crazy!! *calls over shoulder* SARAH! Could you get some athelas! ;)
None: (Julie) I like that name! Though I *do* think 'none' is pretty clever, it's kind of hard to call someone that :D
RainyDayz: *is forced to dodge plaster-powder* YIPES!! ;) Yes, well, the 'almost killing him' thing was my idea of a clever reunion, and though Sarah liked it she kinda gave me a funny look when I first suggested it ;) *looks at RainyDayz prediction* Hmm…you never know ;)
Asen: That's funny, the power was out here almost all day yesterday :D Yeah! We're so loyal ;)
Mercredi: Ah yes, it's hard giving up things for stupid dwarves, but they have, in this case, a sort of ulterior motive ;)
Carrie: *blush* Why thank you!! I'm glad you liked their reunion! :D…oh and sorry about your blood pressure ;)
Lina Skye: *laughs* Yes, that is kind of funny! I'm sure Estel…umn…appreciates it ;) *jumps out of the way of her advance* Yipes! Maybe I'll just let YOU kill the rest of the evil-doers Lina =D
princess_leia94: Oh dear! *dodges plushy* Oh, uh…sorry Leia! ;)
Chloe: *giggle* Hmm…maybe we should put Eowyn up instead, ya think?? ;) Oh and sorry about making you 'nearly cry'…I didn't mean to really!!…well maybe just a little bit ;)
Littlefish: *laughs* Oh well I'm glad you're still liking it! Even if we DID almost have Legolas kill Aragorn ;) Oh, and sorry we're bad for your health, we don't mean to be *grin*. Interesting guess. Oh and I take it you *didn't* like that Naraka made him cut his hair?? ;) *Takes the award for understatement of the year* heheh… =D
Tom Starry: YIPES! Herring!! *frowns* Boy the weapons you readers come up with. Yeah, better have Legolas kill um instead, he certainly has a better chance :D
Cassia: Heehee! Good to see ya again! Glad you're still liking our little story…hmm…well sort of little story ;)
Katharine the Great: WoW! Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it :D
And sorry this is so late everyone!! We had our electricity out for a time yesterday, then our internet connection was going haywire today…anyway to make a long story short it took a while, but you didn't come here to hear me talk anyway so I'll be quiet… (I think that was a run-on sentence…never mind)
ONTO THE NEXT POST!!
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Death or Despair
By Sarah and Hannah
(disclaimers, explanations, and summaries
available at the top of chapter 1)
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Chapter 19
The Desperate Conflict
Because of Legolas' persistence in killing the men in the southwest storeroom, and the death of Balkhfiren, the orcs were, fortunately, not very organized. Still, these orcs knew how to fight independently as well as under a leader. They could be just as vicious individually as they were in a group, and were clever without instruction.
The elf had to move quickly to avoid the flying daggers that these orcs preferred — they threw them with deadly precision and more than once pierced a dwarf at least ten feet away straight through the skull. Legolas was very precise as well and felled many orcs by way of arrows, but he knew he was running short, and though he had tried to retrieve as many as possible, he had found to his surprise that the orcs continually broke them. It was unlike anything the elf had seen — even as an orc warrior fell dead in the midst of the horde, a second one would pause, yank the arrow free and snap it in half. All to prevent Legolas, or any of the dwarven archers, from retrieving it. What Aragorn had said was true: these creatures learned from their mistakes and were sure never to make the same one twice.
Unlike Legolas, Aragorn seemed to have a better notion of how to destroy them. From his previous encounter he knew the limits of their agility, as well as their favorite tactics. More than once the young ranger had prevented the appalling creatures from overwhelming him by moving quickly from left to right, throwing them off and halting their charge. As much as possible Legolas tried to imitate Aragorn's technique and soon realized that the best way to avoid the creatures was to decide on a new evasive maneuver each time one charged. However, because of this, Legolas felt himself tiring quicker.
The dwarves, unable to discover the orcs' pattern of attack, were soon brought down by the orcs. Over a dozen fell within the first minutes, forcing the second rank behind them to give way as the last of the orcs blocked the passage, trapping the dwarves in between two walls of their enemies.
Before long the defenders of the chamber's entrance were back to back with the dwarves battling Naraka; the orcs swarming around them, blocking them in firmly. Legolas' hand was still on his bow, but he could clearly see what an impossible situation it was. They were now surrounded and there was no way to escape, but still the elf would not give up hope.
Loosing an arrow at the now familiar open place in one orc's armor, he paid no heed to it's scream as it fell. A dwarf beside him cut one of the creatures in half, then swung at another, slashing it's back. But for every death amongst the enemy, there seemed to be a dozen more to take their places.
Suddenly a voice spoke up from beside him. "Legolas! Look!"
Legolas turned to where Aragorn was indicating, seeing them only a moment before the first volley of arrows brought the back row of orcs down. The creatures let out a yell of fury and turned on the attack— Nowin and his archers had arrived, and they had come prepared. Before leaving Bonfur's victory, they had first retrieved as many arrows as they could find and were now shooting them into orcs' rear, breaking a path through to Dorm.
The dwarf lord renewed his attack — his warriors charged, taking every advantage of the surprise reinforcements, and pulling Aragorn and Legolas forward with them. The elf gathered what few arrows he could that were undamaged and loosed them from his own bow, his quiver dangerously empty. Running close beside him, Aragorn smote an orc on the helm, cleaving partway through it's head, and moving on to drive the others back, away from the dwarves.
Then above the tumult, amplified somehow, they heard Dorm's voice reverberate above all: "Prepare to burn their wicked feet my lads!"
The Dúnadan turned, confused, but he was quickly wrenched back by Legolas who pulled him away just as a cauldron of molten metal was upturned. The fiery deluge spilled across the stone floor, flowing over the orcs and bitterly burning them. They let out howls and screams as they fell. Shifting back still further, the two friends watched from a safe distance away as the flickering torches of the orcs and dwarves were augmented by the red light of the flaming stream. Moving in, the dwarves quickly cooled the edges with water so as to not let it spread far, but it had been enough to eliminate quite few orcs and one of the humans.
Legolas turned to Aragorn, an almost amused look on his face. "They should have thought before they raided a smelting chamber." Aragorn nodded, staring around at the many orcs that had been killed, and making a face at the stench of burned orc flesh. "Come friend," Legolas motioned, "the battle is not won."
The orcs, now more angered than ever, leapt over the bodies of their fellow soldiers, their eyes blazing with hatred as the light flickered on their blades, but the dwarven warriors had found new reserves of strength. The ranger felt encouraged as the masses were equaled and the dwarves began to bring down each foe in turn, but something nagged at his mind. Something he felt sure he was forgetting.
He was so set upon it that he did not hear the orc coming until it let out a howl of pain directly behind him. "Strider!" Legolas called as he rushed over to him — the dwarf warrior, now back to the battle, had only barely killed the creature before it had taken off Aragorn's head. "What are you standing around for?" The elf whirled to drive his blade into an orc just behind him. "You will be killed, human."
Aragorn quickly brought his mind back to the present, impaling an orc in front of him on his sword, then doubling the blade back under his arm to stab one just behind him. But his eyes were still vaguely unfocused, "Something's wrong here Legolas."
"What?" Legolas looked at him carefully.
"Something I'm—" the ranger suddenly broke off. "The ceiling!" He cried out at the top of his voice. "Archers! The ceiling!" Legolas did not pause to question his friend. Reaching back, he pulled out an arrow and, catching sight of a black shadow above, he loosed the shaft at it's center. The orc let out a howl as it fell, dropping to the rock ground below.
The dwarves were quick: swinging their aim up almost in unison, the other archers let off a quick salvo, bringing down orcs like black rain. They had been preparing an ambush, as they had with Aragorn in Gundabad. One orc, seeing the crumbling of their attack, attempted to carry out their plan in part at least, dropping down purposefully towards the defenders below. Legolas' head was easy to pick out in the dim crowd.
The elf was sighting for another orc further away and didn't see the black shape falling towards him, but Aragorn did.
Bringing his sword up and level, he swept it over Legolas' head, bringing it so close that it brushed the elf's golden hair. But it was the orc that caught the full force of the steel blade and it fell to the ground beside Legolas, killed instantly. The ranger quickly pulled his sword away and Legolas glanced at him for a moment in a mixture of startlement and thanks. Aragorn was too busy to respond.
The orcs were now beginning to drop from many places across the ceiling, trying to fell at least a few dwarves, but their attempt to get the upper hand had only hampered their opportunity.
The dwarves were now stronger, and all they had to do was keep it this way till the end.
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Naraka was furious. He had nearly overtaken the dwarves: he could have returned in victory and carried with him many dwarf slaves as well, but now, with the appearance of the archers, the tables had once again turned from his favor. Being so close to his forced entrance into the chamber he hadn't been able to distinguish why, but for some reason the orcs' ambush from the ceiling had been foiled as well. His lust for a kill was now greater than ever. Turning back to the tunnel he gestured abruptly to the troops of orcs he had held in reserve.
"Go now!" He called. "All of you, destroy every last one of them!" The orcs growled with pleasure and leapt from the cave, passing Naraka like a storm. The startled looks of the dwarves showed clearly as they realized that Naraka had been more prepared than they had thought.
The captain watched quietly for a time as his soldiers slammed into the ranks of the dwarves, their want for blood returning with a vengeance after their forced wait. Everywhere dwarves and orcs were locked in combat, fighting to an end they did not know, and in each battle one would always die. Naraka smiled finally in cruel pleasure as the tables slowly began to turn back once more.
As his eyes followed the battle line, he suddenly caught sight of something that made him stop all together. A small flicker of gold. His eyes followed the flicker as he tried to place it's origin — then, as an orc in his immediate view was cut down, he caught sight of his prey. The elf.
"Strider!" The elf called across the chamber towards his friend, whom Naraka could not see — but it didn't matter, he cared not for the human, he only wanted the elf.
Abandoning his command post by the cave mouth he crept towards the creature, keeping it always in his line of sight.
"Your time has come, little one." Naraka whispered. "You cannot escape me here."
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When the reinforcements of orcs came upon them, there was no warning; Legolas had not even been looking in the direction of the cave mouth. But once the charge had begun there were great cries of shock from the dwarves who were first cut down. All attention was called to this new threat and Legolas was just as stunned as the other warriors. Whoever was leading this particular unit of orcs was clever: he had sent but part of his troops out to fight the dwarves, keeping the rest back so as to overwhelm them in the end. His face grim, Legolas turned his full attention to the oncoming swarm as it began to work it's way through the gaps in the defender's ranks.
These orcs had a ruthless attack plan, dividing into groups and encircling only one or two dwarves at a time, they would overwhelm them, cutting them down from behind, trampling them beneath their feet, or merely smothering them by numbers. Legolas angrily sent his last three arrows into several such groups, hoping to set free the dwarves trapped inside, but there were too many enemies between the dwarves and safety.
Suddenly something made him turn. Some whisper of danger for him, or for someone else — then he realized what it was: Aragorn was no longer beside him. The ranger was gone, though he had only moments before been fighting by his side.
"Strider!" Legolas called, his eyes turning in all directions, searching for his friend.
It took only a few moments for his keen eyes to find the human, and fear spiked through him at what he saw. The young man was trapped within one of the circles of orcs, his sword up in an en garde position, his face set.
Legolas reached instinctively over his shoulder to grab an arrow...only to remember that he had used the last. Frustrated with himself for being so careless he started to run to his friend's aid— His charge was stopped suddenly by a sword across his throat, seemingly appearing out of no where, and he was forced to stop short, his quick reflexes bringing him to a halt just as the weapon touched. Carefully he turned his head to look into the eyes of his attacker.
It was Captain Naraka.
TBC…
Evil, yes, and I'm afraid there's no excuse for us. *runs*