Chapter 7
News of War
Lonely Mountain, Erebor
Middle Earth
September 25, 4
The Fourth Age
Mid Morning
Gimli son of Gloin was walking on the ledge outside the Lonely Mountain in Erebor taking in the beauty of the River Running. He thought he saw a black speck in the sky moving towards him. He turned to go back into the great dwarven hall when he heard a thud of something landing. He turned around and saw a great Eagle! It was Gwaihir's brother, the Wind Prince, Swiftwing!
"Ah Swiftwing! What news from Gwaihir?" he greeted.
Swiftwing ruffled his feathers and began to walk towards the dwarf.
"Very grave news Master Dwarf. It goes ill in Rohan and Gondor! Edoras and Minas Anor are besieged by the Dark Lord Sauron and his minions!" he told the dwarf.
"What in Middle Earth happened? I thought young Frodo Baggins had destroyed the ring a couple years ago and Sauron was destroyed forever!" Gimli cried in confusion.
"Seemingly Master Baggins destroyed a fake ring and kept the real one for him when he left Middle Earth. He is in a place called Coruscant now with Master Gandalf under careful eye and protection." The eagle replied.
"Good, he needs to be watched! It seems we cannot trust anybody these days!" Gimli said gruffly.
The Eagle agreed with the dwarf. What had happened to Middle Earth? He remembered the days when he was just a young fledgling and there was a period of peace in Middle Earth. That was just after the Battle of Five Armies. He had briefly met Old Gandalf a few times, but seeing the wizard after that was rare. Then 50 years had passed and then evil began to issue forth all over Middle Earth. All because of a simple Ring of power. And he had thought it destroyed until he had learned of the young halfling's treachery a few weeks ago. Since then things had begun to escalate until there were all out wars all over Middle Earth! Something had to be done and soon!
"What do you advise we do Master Dwarf?" Swiftwing asked Gimli.
Gimli thought for a moment. The first thought that popped into his head was arming all the Dwarves and marching out to meet Sauron and his minions. But once he thought of the result of that he decided against it. Then he thought of the situations in Rohan and Gondor. That was it! He could bring an army of Dwarves to aid both Rohan and Gondor! He would have to have two separate armies though. He would also need to appoint a commander for the other army because he would be in one of them.
"Alright Swiftwing, I am going to send out two armies of Dwarves, one to Rohan and one to Gondor. I want you to fly as swiftly as you can to Edoras and alert King Eomer that we will be there in two weeks at most and then as swiftly as you can fly to Minas Anor and alert Lady Arwen that another party of Dwarves will be arriving in 2-3 weeks tops. Farewell and Godspeed!" he instructed.
The eagle bowed his head and lifted off. He was gone before Gimli could say another word. Gimli hustled off to start a council with the Dwarves in Erebor.