Title: A tale about friendship, Part 12?

Author: Dís Thráinsdotter

E-mail: Overall rating: M, for violence and orctorment. This chapter: M

Summary: A group of children are told the tale of their friendship with the dwarves in general and the Folk of Durin in particular.

Warnings: The overall rating of this fic is M, as parts of it deals with violent battle and torment. There are also Original Characters in the fic, but no Mary Sues. Unbetaed, all mistakes belong to me.

Disclaimer: I don't own any one of Tolkien's characters, never have, and never will. The only ones I own are the people you have never met before.

Chapter 12, Fighting and reinforcements

"One of the things that made Melian utterly furious was when they went through Gundabad and found Thrór´s clothing hanging on the walls in the central cavern. Thráin looked at the clothing and Boromir took it down. The people of Thráin and the people of Huor felt sad and they agreed that the clothes would be sent to Morwen for safekeeping and at the same time letters were brought to the families. Some time after these first battles the messenger returned to the camp with reinforcements, letters from the families and also medicines that Morwen had sent. She confirmed that she had received Thrór´s clothes and would keep them for the time being. The people who had come to give added strength to the Army said that the messenger had told them what had happened and they promised that they would make sure that the Orcs got what they deserved and then some" Melian told them.

The children agreed with that and asked, "what happened to those who were rescued?" Melian answered, "when they were able to return to their peoples they did so. It took a while for them because they had to regain their strength, but when they left they were told that they were welcome in the homes of the Army and that seemed a great comfort for them." Gandalf nodded in agreement.

"I was in Rivendell at the time and everyone there, including Elladan and Elrohir, were amazed to find that large groups of Dwarves, Elves and Men came over the Misty Mountains. When Elrond asked them what had happened they told him that they had been rescued from Orcdens by a Dwarven Army and treated by kindly persons so they could go home. One thing that astonished all of us was that they had travelled together, which is one thing that Elves and Dwarves don't do often. Another thing was that all of them mentioned one person, Melian Golden heart, with great admiration. Elrond said that he would like to meet that person, and his sons asked what had caused the Dwarves to hunt the Orcs in earnest. When they heard about Thrór´s death and the search for his murderer they were astonished but they promised to aid as much as possible. They kept up their pressure on the Orcs and ensured that no information about the Dwarven Army reached the Orcdens further south."

"What happened then?" Thranduil asked and Balin answered

"We fought for the better part of the year but during the wintertime we rested in camps that we made, where we could prepare the following years fighting and where the rescued could recover. I think that the women did a tremendous job gathering herbs, scouting Orcdens and treating the wounded. We all knew that the Orcs were likely to retaliate and some of our groups were attacked but on the whole the Orcs found it hard to take the scouts by surprise." Thranduil agreed with that, saying that none in any of the Free Peoples would trust an Orc, or anything that they might have anything to do with. Bard asked if it was hard to fight the Orcs in their dens and Balin answered "it was very hard because there is very little light in Orcdens, there are lots of passages going in every direction and we didn't know where the passages would lead to. In addition to that, the Orcs fight fiercely when attacked in their own dens so we had our work cut out for us. The people of Huor would search for all exits that the Orcs could use, when they were found they were guarded while part of the Army attacked the Main Gate. When the Orcs tried to get out through their emergency exits we waited for them, we slew them and were able to enter through them. We pinned the Orcs between us and very few were able to escape. But we couldn't stop all of them from escaping as a cornered creature is dangerous to approach and it was inevitable that at least a few of them would get away.

We did also find it increasingly harder to fight the Orcs but we also received reinforcements, both from our own peoples and from the Dwarf-peoples we rescued. One of the first groups to come to us was led by Veig and Gandalv. Their people wanted to get their own back on the Orcs and thought that the best way to do it was to help us. Veig told Melian that there had been such joy when they returned and when their father told their people what had happened, he had been told by all that the persons who should have felt any guilt were the Orcs who had been killed and it wasn't likely that they would have felt any. Veig brought a letter from Hepte where he said to her that she had been right, he had told his people what he had been through and he was still accepted. The people of Hepte were grateful to her and willing to help us."

Thranduil sat straight up and said "a few years before the war started I had sent a group to Rivendell with a message. Orcs attacked them; only two of them got away and were found by Elladan and Elrohir while they were hunting the Orcs. We had no idea what had happened to the others until they suddenly reappeared in Mirkwood. When I asked what had happened they told me that they had kept the Orcs from getting the two youngest but they had all been taken captive by them and forced to work for them. Then they had been rescued by a Dwarven Army and treated by some Mannish women, the chief of who was named Melian Golden heart by all others under her care. I was happy to see them again and then I forgot about it. Now it comes back to my mind." He looked at Balin and said to him "now I understand why some of my people looked as if they saw ghosts when they saw you" and Balin answered

"we found them in one of the Orcdens and brought them out of it. Melian was worried for them, as it was clear that they had been in the clutches of the Orcs for a long time but they recovered and soon they were able to return home. I was surprised to meet them in your Great Hall and I think they were surprised to meet me and Dwalin as well."

"They were" Thranduil answered "and when you got away I suspected that they had something to do with it" but Balin said that they had had nothing to do with the escape of Thórin & Co.

TBC