A/N:
Let the fun begin! We all love the battle scenes, lets be honest.
Hope I'm getting the chapters out quickly enough for you all, I don't want to do them too quickly, but trying not to leave it too long between chapters either.
Enjoy!
The Orcs charged towards the small army of dwarves that stood before them. Valisilwen arrived before the dwarven army and skidded to a stop, her cloak blowing out behind her as she did so.
"Heh! Lady Ranger, so nice of you to join us. Will your cowardly companions be joining us on this fine day?" Dain sneered as he rode past.
"And yours, Dain? I don't see Thorin and his men here? Seems the dragon-sickness did not take long to take hold." Dain whirled around to glare at Valisilwen, but she took no notice, the orcs that marched towards them were nearly upon them. Rilien skidded to a halt beside her, drawing his own sword and drawing her attention to him with a raised eyebrow. He gave a grim smile and a small nod. He chose to do what was right, and she couldn't help but feel glad.
She looked back towards the oncoming army of orcs, before she braced herself. "Ready!" she shouted, and heard the dwarf shield wall behind her brace, as she crossed her swords in front of her, with only metres left between them and their enemy.
Suddenly, right as the orcs were about to reach them, elves launched themselves over the shield wall of the dwarves, landing before Valisilwen and Rilien, wielding their swords, and beginning to rain down upon the orcs.
The Ranger and Elf looked at each other in surprise, before running forward to assist. As the elves and the Ranger pressed forward against the orcs, the dwarvish shield wall was raised and the dwarves rushed forward, running down orcs with their spears. Dain rode furiously through the ranks of orcs, smashing them left and right with his hammer, while laughing manically.
Valisilwen and Rilien fought back to back, cutting down orcs as they approached them, occasionally joining forces to take on any particularly large ones that ran towards them. Although Rilien's attention was generally on the fight at hand, during moments of peace between orcs, as miniscule as they were, he would notice how beautiful Valisilwen's fighting style was. Even with the fierce aggression she fought with, as she swung her twin swords around it was like her body was a ribbon attached to the ends, following the movements of her swords.
As she dodged their blows, her body would form graceful arcs or she would spin away, only to bring her swords around with deathly whispers and flashes of steel. She was not afraid to use her body either, kicking out or flinging herself up and over her enemy, or sliding along the ground with great speed and agility, her swords cutting down her enemies as she did so.
They heard a horn blow and they looked up towards Azog's position. The wooden structure behind him had changed. Valisilwen strained to look towards the tunnels while still fighting off orcs.
A new wave was approaching, but this one contained trolls and other unsightly monsters. She cut down the orc she was battling with and turned back towards the rest of the elven army that were awaiting orders, pulling a bow she had claimed from the elf Fletcher before the march to Erebor had been called from her back. "Thranduil!" She called his attention to her, before turning and aiming her bow for the new threat exiting the tunnels, releasing an arrow. Her arrow landed between the eyes of a troll. It fell back, crushing a few orcs as it did so.
He gave the order to his archers, who raised their bows and began firing towards the tunnels as Valisilwen also continued to fire her bow, while Rilien continued to fight off orcs from her.
Yet another horn sounded off in the distance. "Argh! What now?" Valisilwen growled.
Rilien fought off one more orc before looking off into the distance. He could see no changes. Suddenly, there was a shout from the Bowman in charge of the Men. "All of you! Fall back to Dale! Now!" Rilien turned to see another mass of orcs and trolls were heading for the ruined city. The Men, Gandalf and Bilbo all rushed towards the city.
"They attack the city," Rilien said, blocking an Orc that tried to strike at Valisilwen, before deftly removing its head from his shoulders.
"The women and children!" Valisilwen cried out in alarm. She looked to Dain. "We leave this to you, Ironfoot!"
"Like we needed your help!" he shouted as he charged by, earning an eye roll from Valisilwen as they began running towards the city.
oOOo
Bard rode into the breached city of Dale, dismounting his horse and drawing his sword. He ran against the flow of the fleeing women and children. "My children!" he shouted to a woman he recognised. "Where are my children?"
"I saw them. They were down in the old market!"
"The market! Where are they now? Tilda! Sigrid!"
Percy, who was in charge of a small contingent of Laketown soldiers, ran to Bard. "Bard, orcs are storming over the causeway!"
"Get the bowmen to the eastern parapet. Hold them off for as long as you can."
Percy nodded once and then motioned to the troops. "Archers! This way!"
A fleeing man ran by. "The orcs have taken Stone Street! The market's overrun!"
Bard turned to the remainder of the troops. "The rest of you, follow me!"
Bard led them towards the market and charged at the orcs they encountered there. Once dispatched with the majority of the orcs in the market, Bard left the remnants to the rest of the Men and continued to search for the children. He rounded a corner looking around wildly.
"Da!" Sigrid shouted, spotting him first.
"Da! We're down here!" Tilda called, relief evident in her voice.
Bard turned to see them, relieved himself, to have finally found them. But his relief soon turned to shock when he saw a troll enter the lane behind the children, the children turned to see what he was looking at. The troll struck out at some men, throwing them many feet away with a single blow of its mace.
It spotted the children and growled, causing the girls to scream in terror. They were too far away for Bard to reach them in time and he looked around frantically. As the troll approached the children, Bard spotted a discarded cart. He righted it, climbing into it before launching it down the lane toward the children.
"Bain, Sigrid, get down!"
The children turned and saw the cart, with just enough time to throw themselves onto the ground, Sigrid diving onto Tilda protectively, as the cart bounced over them. It then smashed into the troll and sent it flying backwards. Bard was thrown forward and managed to thrust his sword into the troll in a flying and devastating strike.
Bard quickly recovered himself and the children, leading them through the now empty street.
"Listen, I need you to gather the women and children. Take them to the Great Hall and barricade the door." He pried the sword gently from Bain's hand, whose fingers were tightly wrapped around it, so tight his knuckles had turned white. "You understand, you must not come out for any reason!"
"We wanna stay with you!" Tilda exclaimed.
Alfrid suddenly appeared from a doorway nearby. "Show your father some respect!" he sneered to the girl. "You leave it to me, sire. You heard him, we make to the Great Hall!" Alfrid grabbed Tilda and Sigrid and began to usher them away.
"Alfrid," Bard called after him, highly suspect of Alfrid's ulterior motives. "Women and children only. I need every man fighting. See that you return." He thrust the sword he had taken from Bain into Alfrid's hand.
"I'll get them to safety, sire," Alfrid sneered in return. Seeing orcs appear nearby, he nervously hurried away with the children. "And my sword is yours to command." He noticed some people running aimlessly, falling over in the process. "Get up!" he shouted, beginning to round them up too, which mildly surprised Bard.
Bard turned to Bain again, holding his face in his hand and looking at him earnestly. "Look after them." Bain nodded before running after Alfrid.
"Shift it, Granny!" Bard heard Alfrid shout in frustration, making his eye twitch in annoyance.
Bard turned and continued onto his men, returning to the fight against the orcs.
oOOo
Valisilwen charged into the city, swords drawn, taking the head of any who would challenge her. Rilien was right behind her. He hadn't left her side since they had taken to the battlefield. She stopped and looked around, the streets were littered with dead men, elf and orc alike. She grit her teeth and continued through the streets.
Occasionally, a few orcs would jump out at them from side streets, but it was nothing they could not dispatch with on their own.
As they continued to hurry through the streets they came upon a large group of orcs, who had yet to notice them yet. As they were about to run them through, they saw them all cut down at once, and to emerge from their midst as they fell, was none other than King Thranduil. He was scowling as he straightened and sheathed his swords.
"What news from the battlefield?" Thranduil asked, as he strode towards them with an air of contempt as he stepped over the orcs he had just slain.
"The orcs continue to come with more trolls," Rilien replied, obediently, sheathing his sword.
"And they will continue," Valisilwen added, ignoring protocol and keeping both her swords in her hands. "Unless we do something about Azog."
"We need to protect the city first," Thranduil replied pointedly, without looking at the Ranger. Valisilwen sighed. He was right, even she had to admit that the city was their first priority. She nodded once and moved to return to the front gates of the city, Rilien following her.
When they arrived, they found Dain and his remaining dwarves had set up another shield wall in front of the moat surrounding Erebor, trying to make a desperate last stand. "What is Thorin doing, has he seriously gone that mad?"
"It would seem so," Rilien murmured, firing an arrow at oncoming orcs.
They watched as more orcs lined up before the dwarves, as if they were ready to make another charge at them. This time there were no elves to help them, as the remainder had returned to the city of Dale to defend it.
Valisilwen grit her teeth. Thorin was abandoning his own cousin to the orcs, it was disgusting. And as much as she despised Ironfoot, she would not leave him to fight and die alone. "Gah!"
She sheathed her swords and concentrated all her energy, until she felt like all her limbs were on fire, and then, she howled.
oOOo
Rilien turned in surprise when a bone chilling howl came from beside him, to see Valisilwen transform then and there. It was almost instantaneous. One second she was standing there, the next it was like there was an explosion of fur beside him. She turned her head to look at him. "I'm going to help Dain, I would return to your King, if I were you," she said in a growly voice.
Rilien raised his eyebrows, but immediately shook his head. "You are my charge."
"I am not and never was!" she growled menacingly in response, showing her teeth as she said so. "Do not throw your life away for me, Rilien."
The woman was infuriating. No matter what he did, she still didn't seem to understand he was there because he wanted to be. "Then don't throw your life away. You're one of the last of your kind," he retorted. "If there was anyone here that needed to persevere, it's you," he said, as she charged an orc that got too close and ripped it's throat out, spitting after she did so. "And I intend to make sure you do."
She turned her head to look back at him. Even in her wolf form, he could still make out the confused look on her face.
He sighed. "Just let me help you. I'll happily be there for you, Valisilwen."
She glanced towards Erebor again, before meeting Rilien's gaze once more. She said nothing but nodded, walking back and crouching slightly. "Get on, hold on and shoot anything that's ugly."
"So, I can shoot Dain?" he joked as he did as she commanded, carefully, not wanting to hurt her.
"Anything taller than 3 feet," she corrected herself. He could almost hear the eye roll in her voice. She lurched forward, as he pulled another arrow from his quiver and began firing at orcs.
They charged their way through the throng of orcs that pushed their way towards Erebor and the remainder of Dain's Iron Hill dwarves. Valisilwen skidded to a stop in front of the angry dwarf leader, now pig-less, who raised his hammer threateningly at her.
"Whoa, Dain! We're here to help!" Rilien shouted in alarm, dismounting quickly to stand before the wolf, her ears flattening as she shied away slightly in surprise from the dwarf's reaction. Obviously, Dain had not realised that the wolf he rode in on was Valisilwen.
"Oh yeah, you and whose army?" Dain said, before trying to look past the elf to the wolf. Rilien and Valisilwen turned to look back at the approaching orcs. "And what happened to the Lady Ranger? Run off with her tail between her legs, I'll bet." Valisilwen turned and growled at him, baring her teeth. Dain's eyes went wide as he stared at the wolf's eyes. "Mahal, Ranger?"
Rilien and Valisilwen turned to face the oncoming orcs, standing between them and the small group of group of dwarves. "What are they doing? Why don't they attack?" Rilien asked, watching as the orc ranks slowed.
"They're awaiting Azog's orders to attack. He was always one for dramatics," she replied, baring her teeth at the memory that obviously ran through her mind at that moment.
"Where is Thorin!?" Dain demanded, glancing back at the wall that blocked off the entrance to Erebor.
"You cannot rely on him, Dain," Rilien replied, looking over his shoulder. "The dragon-sickness has taken him, Valisilwen was witness to it firsthand."
Dain looked at Rilien angrily, but then he looked solemn. Clearly, Dain knew it was likely true, no doubt he was familiar with the sickness that had taken Thorin's father and grandfather.
They all turned to watch as several heavily armed trolls shouldered their way to the front of the ranks of orcs.
"I hope you're ready, Dain," Valisilwen growled, her hackles rising and teeth baring again. "This could well be the last battle."
"As long as I outlast you, I'll die a happy son of Durin!" Dain shouted, raising his hammer, all the dwarves behind him cheered, raising their spears and shields loudly. Rilien saw Valisilwen smirk and roll her eyes. It was a very disturbing thing to see a wolf do.
Over on the hill, they heard the orcs signalling horn sound, looking back to the trolls and orcs that spread before them who began to charge towards them.
To Rilien's surprise, and evidently all those around him, including the orcs and trolls that charged toward them, a second trumpet sounded. Behind them, the barricade of rocks in the gateway of Erebor smashed outwards, causing them all to duck slightly and the orc army to hesitate as the rocks flew out, falling to form a rough bridge across the moat.
Thorin and his company of dwarves emerged from the darkness, rushing out through the ranks of the Iron Hill dwarves as Dain began to shout. "To the King! To the King!"
"To arms!" Thorin shouted as he ran towards Rilien and Valisilwen.
"Welcome back, King under the mountain," Valisilwen growled as he ran past her. Rilien grinned, before turning and beginning to fire arrows with his bow, felling many orcs that were charging towards them and the King under the Mountain.
*Fistpump* Chur!
xo
Krayzee