O.k., let's pick up where we left off…

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Right at that moment, a sudden chorus of howls of rage broke out around the hill. More Wargs had come…

Gorluk looked up as Gandalf started shouting orders to the Halflings. "Fling fuel on the fire! Draw your blades, and stand back to back!"

He's making the Halflings fight too? Gorluk thought with shock. But as the fire blazed higher, Gorluk began to see the outlines of many Wargs. With shaky legs, he slowly climbed down the pine tree to meet them. As his feet hit the ground, a large grey Warg strode up towards him. Gorluk froze, hoping that the Warg would mistake him for one of their allies. He stopped and sniffed him in confusion. "An Orc? And what do you think you're doing here on this side of the mountains, runt?" He growled. The Warg's companions stood behind him and waited.

Gorluk trembled but couldn't think of anything to say. But then, he thought up an idea. "I-I-I-I'm…..", he stuttered at first. "…I was sent here from Mordor to patrol the Misty Mountains, in case any trouble happened," he found himself blurting out. Gorluk turned red as many of the Wargs howled with laughter. The grey Warg grinned, showing his sharp teeth. "And why would Mordor have any interest here?" he asked slyly. Gorluk thought for a moment, but couldn't think of an answer. He nervously piped up, "The great Eye doesn't want you here. Turn back now, before you furry his face." No! Gorluk thought. He had meant to say, before you face his fury, but Gorluk was so scared that he couldn't even think straight.Gorluk turned even redder as the Wargs rolled over on their backs and laughed harder. Some of the Wargs had already turned around to attack the travelers.

As the sound of battle rang in the background, the grey Warg turned to Gorluk with his red eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You're lying," he growled, "I can recognize the scent of an Orc from Mirkwood anywhere, and I can definitely recognize the scent of fear. You reek of both."

Gorluk began to shake harder. He raised his knife in the air as a last attempt to scare them away, his voice almost drowned out over the howling of the Wargs. "Those travelers are under my protection. Leave now, so you won't have to face the punishment of the Great Eye!"

The grey Warg grinned again, venomously this time. He crouched down, ready to spring. "We care nothing for the Great Eye anymore. We are our own pack, and we can do as we please." The grey Warg suddenly roared and sprang towards him. With a terrified shriek, Gorluk thought fast and ducked beneath him, and sliced his belly open with his knife. The Warg fell to the ground with a thud, and never moved again.

Gorluk blinked and turned to face the rest of the Wargs. Some looked with surprise, but one howled with rage and ran towards him with red eyes. Gorluk darted to the left and slit it's throat. As more Wargs came, he did the same thing to them, sometimes ducking, other times darting to the side. Gorluk discovered that his small size actually gave him an advantage when it came to fighting, which is something he never thought of before.

He fought on, until he realized that there were no longer any Wargs before him. Thinking that he had won the battle, Gorluk turned towards the travelers' direction and let out a cry. Turns out, there were Wargs attacking at all sides, and almost all of them were already up the hill! The group seemed unhurt, but they were battling as hard as they could. "Hey!" Gorluk shouted. With his knife upraised, he began to dash up the hill.

But he felt himself come to an abrupt halt. Someone had grabbed his coat from behind! He could feel someone trying to tug him away. He whirled around and squeaked "If you don't let me go this instant…" but then his voice trailed off as he saw who had grabbed him.

It was a Warg of course, but that wasn't why he had stopped. Gorluk blinked in surprise because he saw that this Warg was probably only a Pup. It was only a few inches shorter than Gorluk, but it was still only the size of a large dog. It's eyes were wide and alert, but Gorluk could somehow see that it was afraid. The Pup continued to yank at his coat, but it wasn't pulling hard enough to drag him away.

"…What are you doing?" Gorluk asked awkwardly. He didn't know what else to say. The Pup didn't answer, and only continued to stare up at him with scared eyes. "I won't hurt you, honest," Gorluk said, raising both his palms up in the air. But Gorluk forgot that he still held a knife in one hand, and once the little Warg saw it, he threw himself to the ground and began to whimper. "Please don't kill me yet!" the Warg begged in a high-pitched wail. "I was only doing what the pack was telling me to do! Please spare me!"

Gorluk couldn't believe what he was watching. This was the first time that he had ever seen a Warg beg for mercy, and it was also the first time that he had ever seen anyone afraid of him. He looked around, first at the young Warg, then at all the other Wargs he had just killed. Had he just killed the little Warg's family? He felt like a monster.

He suddenly heard a loud noise behind him. Gorluk gazed up the hill as Gandalf strode towards a group of Wargs with a burning branch in one hand. He tossed the branch up into the air, and it suddenly shone like lightning. His voice rolled throughout the hill like thunder as he shouted "Naur an edraith ammen! Naur dan i ngaurhoth!" The tree above the Wizard burst into a blinding flame. The fire began to spread from tree-top to tree-top at a surprising speed. Gorluk turned quickly to the Warg, who stood trembling on the ground. "Run!" Gorluk told it in a commanding tone. The Warg immediately bolted and disappeared into the night. The other Wargs fled in the opposite direction. The whole hill seemed to blaze with a radiating light. Right as Gorluk was about to run from the flames, he could see that by some sort of magic that they had begun to die down.

Gorluk scampered up the hill to see if any of the travelers were hurt. They all seemed fine, and were busy getting ready to move for the second time that night. After this battle, they definitely weren't going to wait around for a second to see if they would come back!

But the only thing that was on Gorluk's mind at the moment was that young Warg. He had never felt so guilty in his life. It was the first time he had ever killed so many creatures, creatures that he thought were wicked at first, but when he saw that Warg-pup he realized what he had done. They were Wargs that didn't care for Sauron! Did that mean that there was some good in them? He knew that there was some good in that young Warg, because it didn't even try to attack him at all.

Gorluk had to remind himself that they were there to kill the travelers anyway. But why, he didn't know. He was only trying to defend his friends after all. He couldn't be blamed for that.

Gorluk looked up as the first light of morning began to appear in the sky. But then he saw the travelers begin to make their way down the hill, so he quickly scrambled up the only tree that remained unburned. As they passed him by from beneath him, Gorluk saw that they were walking south-east… Directly towards the doors to Moria. Moria must be their only option now Gorluk thought. As he climbed down the tree and began to follow them once again, Gorluk could have sworn that he saw two eyes beneath a bush. But when he had glanced back again, they were gone.

Gorluk turned back, and began to follow the group towards Moria, the one place that he didn't want to go. But now it was probably the only way to wherever they were going (which Gorluk had yet to figure out).

As Gorluk walked back toward the mountains in a new direction, a particular young Warg poked it's head out of a bush and watched him leave. When he had disappeared from sight, the Pup began to follow in pursuit.

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THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SO MANY REVIEWS!

There is one thing that I want to clear up real quick. I've had a surprising number of people (twenty at least) private message me this question, so I want to clear this up before someone else asks me again…

I AM NOT TURNING GORLUK INTO AN ELF. HE IS STAYING THE WAY HE IS.

I will be glad to answer any more questions, either as a review question or a question that you can message to me.

Oh, and also, Happy Easter! (But if you're Jewish, then happy late Passover!) I thought that it would be cool to update on a holiday.