DISCLAIMER – I don't own any of Tolkien's characters or Middle Earth place names etc
The sword hit the ground with a dull thwack. It bounced once, then lay still.
Druluk reached the elf's side and grabbed his arm to prevent him collapsing completely.
'Ylfronir!' he cried, desperately, blind to the melee all around.
The orc who had struck Ylfronir stared in shock, his fierce grimace morphing into an expression of puzzlement. He looked at Druluk, then a few yards away to where the sword rested. And then he raised his eyes to see another orc staring at the sword from the far side.
A quiver seemed to run through the second orc's body. Then slowly, deliberately, he stooped to place the battle axe he had been wielding on the ground. The orc who had struck Ylfronir swallowed hard, then flung his own sword away.
Radiating out from where Druluk's sword lay, so innocuously, on the soil, a gradual circle of orcs disarmed themselves, whilst men observed with incredulous stares.
Druluk slowly became aware of the drop in noise level. He looked up in confusion, and the first thing he saw was the weapon he had let fall. And realisation hit him with an almost physical force
Oh shit…
He forced himself to look up further, to the battlements of the Black Gate. Biting his tongue he squinted…and made out a small figure waving a flaring torch from side to side. Concentrating intently, Druluk counted just 5 such waves before the light vanished. The plan had been for Tlox to wave a full 60 times, to ensure the signal would get through. If he had only caught the last 5, that meant…
Druluk let Ylfronir slide to the ground, and stood up, looking around him wildly. He saw the closest orcs, weaponless now, staring back questioningly…and a young knight from Gondor standing further back, sword still at the ready, looking at the orcs in incomprehending fear.
'You!' Druluk shouted, and the knight glared right at him, swinging his shield up…
'Don't strike!' Druluk begged. 'I'm not going to. Just take him,' he struggled to hoist Ylfronir up, 'please. Please. He's wounded…'
'Get away from him, goblin!' the knight found his voice at last, 'or your next words will be your last…'
Druluk took a step backwards, hands up,
'Just promise me you'll get him safely out of here…'
The knight walked over, armour clinking, and swung the elf over his shoulder,
'Careful!' Druluk blurted out, then bit back his words as the knight's hostile eyes narrowed…There was a moment of tangible indecision…then the man turned on his heel and headed back towards the enemy lines.
Druluk sagged in relief…but it was shortlived. He had lost precious minutes since Tlox gave the signal, and his thoughtless casting aside of the sword too early had been a huge mistake. To salvage the situation now he really had to…
An ominous rumbling started to become audible…
No! thought Druluk to himself, not yet!
The ground began to quiver…
Druluk heard voices raised in fear, and became aware of running feet…
'Away from Mordor!' he yelled, his voice cracking, 'Orcs! Run for your lives AWAY FROM MORDOR!'
His head suddenly spinning, he dropped to his knees on the shaking ground. Around him, no one was moving
'What are you waiting for?' he screamed, 'what are you waiting for? Run!'
The plan was crumbling, just as the caves below them were collapsing thanks to Tlox's efforts. The young orc had insisted that sabotaging the structure was possible by breaching just a few key walls, and it looked as though he had been right...Druluk only hoped that he had managed to escape after igniting the explosives…
'Run!' he cried, hoarsely, with barely a breath left in him…And then he remembered.
Do exactly as I do… Those had been his words, as he tried to keep the plan simple. Bloody stupid, obedient orcs… He scrambled to his feet, and started to stagger away from the Black Gate. And then the other orcs nearby started to move.
The motion spread out, wave like, and the general movement away from the Black Gate grew into a charge. Druluk found himself carried along in the flow. He had given up trying to think. None of the men they rushed past seemed to be trying to attack them, they were all staring as the ground before the Black Gate gave way. Suddenly a great crashing noise tore through the sound of the mass exodus, and Druluk stole a glance over his shoulder to see that the walls of the Black Gate itself were slipping into the abyss which had opened up. The level of destruction was so much more than he had ever imagined. He went cold as he thought of the many orcs who had surely died in the collapse, Tlox almost certainly among them. He felt drawn irresistibly to take another look over his shoulder, tears flooding into his eyes.
Through the blur, he saw the final flourish, as a great cascade of glowing lava spewed out of Mount Doom. Tlox's explosives must have disturbed a more fundamental geological stability. His tears gave way to helpless sobs, and he gasped as he ran. But there was a certain glory in that destruction. It was a fitting memorial to Thrrl, Tlox and all the others. Not least Rashgrul. And no doubt, before long, himself. It was all over now.