Well, I'm back. And I forgot to mention last time we meet that I will be having a lot of cameos from the original story. There was one in the last chapter. Can you catch them all?
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Chapter 2: Ambush
"I cannot believe that we are seeking help from the elves." Haron said. "We don't need them. We have all of the provisions we need, and we have a map that works perfectly fine."
"You Dwarves are as stubborn as the stone you live in. My orders are to escort you Rivendell and that is what I'm going to do." Katlyn said after hearing Haron complain for hours.
"But what do they have to offer us? They had their chance to help the Dwarves many times in the past, and all they did was try to steal what was rightfully ours."
"If the elves know of anything, it would be the artifacts of legends. What is it that we are looking for exactly? You never told me?"
"That's because I don't want you to tell those thieving elves anything." Katlyn rolled her eyes; she is not getting anything out of this Dwarf. Then she heard some sort of growling behind the tree line.
"Haron, did you hear something?" She said drawing her sword and dagger.
"Yeah. Warg" Haron grabbed his largest axe. "Whoever kills the most chooses where we go?"
"Hmm, deal" Katlyn said confidently. Then the warg showed itself. The great wolf had seen battle before and was hungry for flesh and bone. Its orc rider taunted the two of them in its disgusting language. With one flick of Katlyn's wrist, both the warg and the orc had daggers right between their eyes. "One, and two."
"Warg hunt in pacts, princess. I will still be able to catch up."
"Not with that kind of language you won't"
Not too long later, two rider less warg attacked from behind. Haron swung his great axe making a whirlind swing, killing both warg. "One, and two. We are even"
"Far enough, but you are still going to lose your own bet."
Six more warg, all with riders, appeared and were circling the pair. When they charged forward they were brought down by sword and axe. Riders fell and were executed promptly. Then there were only two left standing, Katlyn and Haron.
"How many did you get?" Katlyn asked after they had been waiting for another warg to come.
"Three warg, three rider" He said, wiping the blood off of his axe onto one of the warg, "I don't think there are anymore. How may did you kill?"
She walked over to an orc to grab her daggers, "Three warg, three riders." She looked at the warg Haron was using as a blood rag. She then threw a dagger at the warg. "Four warg, three riders."
Haron jumped up startled, "Why did you do that? It was already dead!"
"I saw it twitch. I might have just saved your life."
Haron started mumbling and continued cleaning his axes. "Well when you are done we are continuing to Rivendell…Wait…" She felt around her neck and knew that something was missing. "Damn it." She went around looting the corpses.
"Did you lose something?" Haron asked.
"Shut up and help me find my necklace. "It is silver… has a wolf on it…"
Haron looked down and saw it right next to him. "Is this it?"
Katlyn looked over then snatched it from the Dwarf's hands. She held it close to her chest and tried to walk away. But she could not find the strength, she fell to her knees crying, "I'm…sorry."
Haron approached her, "Are you okay?" He laid hand on her softly.
"I…I need a moment." Then she got up and ran deep into the forest, putting the necklace on.
It was dark when Haron saw Katlyn again; he had started a fire and just finished putting up the tents. "Are you feeling better?"
As she got closer, Haron could see what she was doing. She had blood splattered on her, but not orc blood, and she tossed four squirrels at Haron. "Y…Yeah. Sorry that you had to see me like that. It's just." Her voice trailed off holding her necklace. "This necklace is personal to me."
"Somebody close to you?"
"Yeah. My parents were traders between from Bree. I went with them all over Middle-Earth. Gondor, Rivendell, even the Shire. But on the way home… Orcs. They killed my parents and left me for the cold and rain to kill. Daddy gave me this amulet… and said to run. I ran as fast as I could home. Bree didn't have enough soldiers to spare for a tale told by a little girl. None of the travelers listened either. Except for one man. He recognized the amulet. We went out and gave my parents a proper burial. He was the leader of the Rangers at the time. They took me in and taught me everything I know now."
"You are not the only one to loose loved ones." Haron went into his tent and brought out a thin flag. "This was my squadron's standard. I was the only survivor from the Battle of Five Armies sixty years ago. I have been looking for a worthy death ever since."
"Why? Why do you want to die?"
"They were my brothers-in-arms, and the only family that I have ever known. They died an honorable death while I live."
"But do you think you family is disappointed that you live, or happy"
"I…I never thought about that." Haron said in disbelief, "One of them… he… sacrificed himself for me…"
"You see it is not worth dying over just to join them." Katlyn put her hand on his shoulder.
"I… I need to think about this." Haron said while he stood up and walked to his tent.
Well they had to stop going after each other eventually. Please don't forget to give me a quick review on how you think I did. And if you are in the mood, also say if you think Katlyn killed three or four warg. Peace out.