Disclaimer: not mine
Chapter 14
Dain was allowed into the mountain, grinning the whole time. He was greeted warmly by the company, giving Hari the chance to slip away. He moved to the Throne room and looked up at the Arkenstone where it sat above the throne. He should never have allowed Bilbo to find the blasted thing. It had a power all of its own, one that was neither good or evil true but it was still very dangerous. The mountain's troubles hadn't truly begun until it had been found. He suddenly smirked, why was he always stealing magical stones? He summoned the Arkenstone and looked down at it before pulling a piece of rubble from his pocket. He focused his magic on the rubble and watched as it compressed into an oval shape even as the colour shifted and began to shine. Eventually he appeared to be holding two Arkenstone's. He placed the fake one back above the Throne and then banished the real one, ensuring it would never be found again. Perhaps Thorin would regain his senses now but he personally doubted it. He slipped back out of the room and re-joined the others, only Gandalf noticing. And it was then they heard the dreaded sound of Orc horns. They moved to the Gate to see as the army crested the hill.
"Right! Let's get this party started, shall we?" With that Dain was gone to get his people into position.
"Aren't we going out there?" Bilbo asked when Thorin simply stood there staring out at the soon to be battlefield.
The Iron Hills dwarves stopped and built a shield wall with their massive spears pointed outward, lead by the chants of the leader. The orcs were fast approaching the shield wall, running down the slope. Suddenly, right as the Orcs reach the dwarves, the dwarvish shield wall was raised and the dwarves rushed forward, cutting down Orcs with their spears. Dain rode furiously through the Orcs, smashing them left and right with his hammer.
Hari looked at Gandalf who nodded and they two wizards split up, moving to the battle field. Bilbo hesitated before following them quickly, not wanting to be left behind and unwilling to do nothing to help. The men poured out of Dale, having emptied the old armoury for weapons and partial armour. They soon joined the battle, Bard mounted on the horse Thranduil had provided before.
"Send in the War Beasts!" Azog commanded in Black Speech and the wooden signalling devices changed their position to show a new signal.
Gandalf, seeing the signal, looked toward the tunnels to see new legions of Orcs, including massive trolls and other monsters, come out.
"They cannot fight on two fronts. Now we make our move. Attack the city!" As a horn sounded and the signalling device changed again, another legion of Orcs that had been waiting for the signal turned and marched toward Dale, which lay between the current battle and the tunnels.
"Azog - he's trying to cut us off" Gandalf called even as Harry slammed his staff into the ground, golden waves of magic sending orcs flying as he fought to keep the Orcs away from the mountain. He turned to where Gandalf was looked and they saw massive trolls, each large enough to carry multiple other orcs and wooden structures such as catapults on their back, marching toward the city along with the armies of Orcs.
"All of you, fall back to Dale! Now!" Bard screamed to his men, terrified for his children. Bard, the Lakepeople, Gandalf, and Bilbo rushed toward the city, trying to intercept the Orcs.
"To the city! Bilbo! This way!" the Grey Wizard ushered the hobbit on while Hari stood his ground, trusting Gandalf and the men to deal with the newcomers. The orcs could not be allowed to gain a foothold within the mountain.
The monstrous trolls approaching the city stopped at a rise overlooking Dale. They bent over and planted all four legs on the ground, thus making their backs horizontal. On their backs were catapults loaded with large rocks; orcs on the trolls' backs wound up the gears of the catapults. At a signal from their leader, who struck the ground with his mace, the catapults were released, and the rocks flew toward Dale. They smashed into the walls and towers, destroying everything they hit. As Bard, at the front of his army, rode across a bridge into Dale, he saw the Orc army approaching the wall from another area. A troll with a giant triangle-shaped rock strapped to his head ran up to the wall and smashed into it headfirst, knocking it down and knocking himself out in the same motion. The orcs behind him rushed into the city through the hole, entering the houses and killing whatever people they found.
"My children! Where are my children?" Bain dismounted and made his way through the city on foot, searching wildly for them, sword in hand.
"I saw them. They were down in the old market." A woman paused long enough to tell him.
"The market?! Where are they now? Tilda! Sigrid!"
Percy ran up at the head of a company of the Laketown soldiers. "Bard, Orcs are storming over the causeway!"
"Get the bowmen to the eastern parapet. Hold them off for as long as you can!" He commanded, hoping he was doing the right thing, he was not a soldier!
"Archers, this way!"
"The orcs have taken Stone Street! The market's overrun!" a running man screamed when he recognised Bard and Bard's face hardened in determination.
"The rest of you, follow me!" Bard's group encountered the orcs, and they began fighting.
Elsewhere in Dale, Gandalf and Bilbo were also fighting the orcs, Gandalf using staff and sword while Bilbo ducked and darted around him, making use of his small size and blade.
A group of townspeople ran toward the orcs, and Alfrid was running with them. "Charge! Onward! To the death!" While still shouting, he stopped running, panting for breath. Seeing that no one was watching him, he hid in a building.
Orcs chases Sigrid and Tilda, Sigrid half pulling the younger girl along, both utterly terrified, this was even worse than the attack on the inn. As they ran screaming around a corner, Bain jumped out and killed the lead orc. The second orcs knocked him to the ground and swung at him, only to get his sword caught on something overhead. Bain used this chance to thrust his sword into the orc, killing it. He and his sisters rounded a corner and see their father fighting further up the lane, uphill from them. "DA!" Sigrid screamed in relief, they were safe now, right?
"Da! We're down here!" Tilda jumped up and down, waving her arm.
Bard heard them and turned to see them, looking relieved. However, his expression changed to shock when he saw a troll enter the lane behind the children, throwing men many feet away with a single blow of his mace. The troll saw the children and growled, and the girls scream. They were too far away for Bard to reach them in time, and he looked around frantically. As the troll approached the children, Bard lifted upright a cart that had been laying sideways in the courtyard. He scrambled into it and launched it down the avenue toward the children. The troll raised its mace to smash the children, but paused in surprise when it saw Bard hurtling toward it in the cart.
"BAIN, SIGRID - GET DOWN!"
They threw themselves to the floor as the cart bounced over them. It then smashed into the troll and sent it flying; Bard was also thrown forward, and he managed to thrust his sword into the troll's heart in a flying strike. He quickly went to his children and hugged them, making sure they weren't hurt before leading them through the streets, searching for safety.
"Bard!" Gandalf called as he saw the man and Bard ushered the children over to him. "The city can't stand, we need to get the women and children out."
"To where? Lake town is gone, Mirkwood too far even if Thranduil would give us sanctuary."
"Hari holds the land before the Mountain, they will be safe within."
"Thorin will allow it?"
"Hari will ensure it." He promised.
Bard nodded and then turned to Bain. "Listen - I need you to gather the women and children. Get them ready to run for the mountain." Alfrid, hiding in a doorway nearby, heard them speaking. Bard gently tightened Bain's grasp on the sword. "You understand - you must not look back for any reason!"
"We wanna stay with you!" Tilda whispered.
"Show your father some respect!" Alfrid snapped as he emerged.
"You leave it to me, sire. You heard him, we make to the mountain!" Alfrid grabbed Tilda and Sigrid and began rushing them away.
"Alfrid, women and children only. I need every man fighting. See that you return!"
"I'll get them to safety, sire." Seeing orcs appear nearby, he nervously hurried away. "And my sword is yours to command." He began rounding up the people he saw.
"Bilbo." Gandalf looked to the hobbit who took off after the children.
"Make for the Mountain!" Bain yelled as they moved through the town.
As they approach the gates, Alfrid ran and pushed his way through the people, knocking many of them over in his haste to reach the bridge and the path to safety. "Out of my way! Abandon the cripples!" he ran across the bridge and towards the slope up to the mountain city. Hari stood on the slope, sword and magic cutting through any opponent that got close. He spotted the people of Laketown and redoubled his efforts to ensure they would make it safely.
Azog watched from his hilltop vantage point. The Wizard was proving troublesome but the everything else was going well. "They cannot hold the city. The Dwarves are almost spent."
On the plains in front of Erebor, the Iron Hills dwarves were being driven back by the orcs. Dain fell as Orcs managed to kill his mount. "You buggars!" He began killing orcs left and right with his hammer and by headbutting them. "Where's Thorin?! We need him! Where is he?"
From his vantage point, Azog gloated as both battlefronts were being won by the orcs. "Let these lands run with blood! Slaughter them all.] "
"FALL BACK!" Bard shouted at his men.
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Thorin sat silently on the throne, a crown upon his head and decked out in armour. Dwalin approached slowly, unsure of his mood.
"Since when do we forsake our own people? Thorin, they are dying out there."
"There are halls beneath halls within this mountain - places we can fortify." He dismissed Dwalin's concerns, Dwalin looked disappointed and angry. "Shore up, make safe. Yes...Yes - that is it. We must move the gold further underground - to safety!" Thorin began walking away, but Dwalin angrily called out to him.
"Did you not hear me?! Dain is surrounded! They're being slaughtered, Thorin."
"Many die in war. Life is cheap. But a treasure such as this cannot be counted in lives lost. It is worth all the blood we can spend!"
"You sit here in these vast halls, with a crown upon your head, and yet you are lesser now than you have ever been." He spat in disgust. He had known Thorin all his life and he had never seen him like this. It couldn't be the gold, Hari had sealed it away. His eyes went to the stone above the throne, maybe the gold wasn't the only problem.
"Do not speak to me as if I was some lowly dwarf lord…" he shook his head. "As-As if I were still...Thorin...Oakenshield." the drawn out and almost stutter were not like him at all. "I AM YOUR KING!" Thorin roared and drew his sword; however, he was so unbalanced that he almost fell over.
"You were always my king. You used to know that once." Dwalin bowed his head in sorrow. "You cannot see that you have become."
"Go! Get out...before I kill you." He yelled and they both froze, eyes locked as Dwalin stared in shock at the threat.
"Thorin…." He whispered and Thorin staggered back, collapsing on the Throne. Dwalin wanted to go to him seeing that but held his ground.
"Dwalin?" Thorin whispered and Dwalin saw that for the first time in days his Kings eyes were clear. He moved quickly up the stairs to the Throne.
"Thorin?" He grabbed his elbow and helped him sit up fully.
"What…. a dream…. what have I done?" He whispered before throwing the crown aside.
"Nothing that can't be undone my friend."
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"FALL BACK! FALL BACK! TO THE WIZARD! FALL BACK!" Dain bellowed. The remaining dwarves began retreating toward the gates of Erebor, with the orcs in pursuit.
"Now comes their end. Prepare for the final assault." Azog commanded and a signal horn sounded, the orcs regrouping to march on the dwarves.
The dwarves of the Company sit desolately, hearing the cries of battle outside but unable to help their kin. The women and children of Lake town had been helped inside and into Balin had led them deep into the mountain where they should be safe. The dwarves hadn't seen Bilbo as he'd turned back to the city as soon as the women were safely inside the walls. They rose as they saw Thorin and Dwalin approaching from further in the mountain, swords drawn. Thorin was no longer dressed in his royal robes and the armour now rested over his normal clothes.
Kili faced him and began shouting. "I will not hide behind a wall of stone, while others fight our battles for us!" Thorin and Kili continued to approach each other as he yelled, almost trembling from emotion. "It is not in my blood, Thorin." He choked out as the stopped in front of each other.
"No, it is not. We are sons of Durin. And Durin's folk do not flee from a fight." Thorin laid his hand on Kili's shoulder, smiling. Kili smiled back at him through his tears before they touched foreheads. Thorin turned to the rest of the dwarves. "I have no right to ask this of any of you; but will you follow me one last time?" The dwarves rose and raised their weapons, ready to follow their leader and friend again.
Dain and his surviving dwarves set up a desperate shield wall in front of the moat by Erebor's gates; the orcs line up by rank, ready to attack them. Hari had fallen back behind their ranks to catch his breath, leaning heavily on his staff. If something didn't change soon they would lose this fight and he could not allow that but he was running out of ideas.
Azog suddenly stopped the orcs with him on the hill from signalling the attack. "Not yet! Wait...wait." Several heavily armoured trolls shouldered their way to the front of the Orc ranks. "Attack...now!"
The orcs sounded their signalling horn, and the orcs and trolls began to march forward. Suddenly, another trumpet was heard; it is Bombur, atop the wall. The orcs stopped in confusion.
In Dale, Bilbo and Gandalf heard the sound too and looked up in surprise. "Thorin!"
The barricade of rocks in the gateway of Erebor suddenly smashed outward as it was hit from inside by a giant statue that the dwarves had hung up like a bell. The rocks fell forward and made a rough bridge across the moat. Thorin and his dwarves rushed out and through the ranks of the Iron Hills dwarves; Azog looking on in shock. Dain begins shouting to his troops. "TO THE KING! TO THE KING!"
"Du Bekâr!" Thorin yelled as he ran to the front. Thorin led the way as all the dwarves formed a wedge behind him. They smashed their way through the orc ranks, releasing their pent-up anger and hatred.
Bilbo and Gandalf look out at the plain from an abandoned causeway. "The dwarves! They're rallying!" They watch as the dwarves, fighting with new vigour, destroyed the orcs.
"They are rallying to their king!" Gandalf smiled slightly in relief.
"Any men who want to give their last - follow me!" Bard ordered as he stood and put aside the water skin he'd been drinking from, drawing his sword. They charged through the city and clashed with the orcs, fighting with reckless abandon now that they knew the dwarves were back at it.
In the caverns of Erebor, a woman grabbed a spear and turned to the others huddled inside. "I say we stand with our men in life and in death! Arm yourselves!" Many of the women and older men grabbed their weapons and followed her; Bain and Sigrid among them, leaving Tilda with a heavily pregnant young woman.
Meanwhile, a woman turned to an old lady sitting hunched over under her shawl. "Come with us, love."
"No, no, no! You leave an old woman be."
"Don't be afraid."
The "woman" under the shawl suddenly stopped using the fake voice and spoke in a male voice; it was actually Alfrid, who was trying to disguise himself as an old lady. "I said get off!"
The Woman reached over and yanked off the shawl, revealing Alfrid to everyone. "Alfrid Lickspill, you are a coward!"
"Coward?! Not every man is brave enough to wear a corset!"
"You're not a man, you're a weasel!" They grabbed whatever tools or weapons they could find to join the battle, if they could remember the way back to the gates.
Thorin pulled his sword free of an orc and turned to see his cousin. "Dain!"
"Thorin!" Dain grinned. "Hold on! I'm coming!" They continued killing orcs, all the while getting closer to each other. "Hey cousin, what took you so long?!" In a brief respite, they were able to meet and hug. "There's too many of these buggars, Thorin. I hope you've got a plan."
Thorin looked up and saw the hilltop on which Azog's wooden machines stood signalling orders. "Aye - We're going to take out their leader!"
"Azog..."
Thorin strode forward and mounted a large goat that Dain's army had brought. "I'm gonna kill that piece of filth!"
Thorin, Dwalin, Fili, and Kili, each on a goat, charged toward Azog's hill, smashing through the Orc armies in their way. "Lead on!" Dwalin yelled.
Back in Dale, Gandalf watched human spearmen and archers kill a massive troll. "We may yet survive this."
"GANDALF!" Bilbo yelled even as he ducked and slashed an orc across the chest. Gandalf killed an orc, then hurried over to where Bilbo was standing at the wall and watching Thorin, Dwalin, Fili, and Kili ride up a spur of the mountain to where Azog was. "It's Thorin!"
"And Fili, Kili...and Dwalin. He's taking his best warriors!"
"To do what?"
"To cut the head off the snake." He answered grimly even as he felt magic coming again from the direction of the mountain, Hari had obviously recovered some.
Atop the hill, Azog heard the sound of goat hooves, and he snarled. Thorin and Co. reached some ruins on top of the hill, killing orcs along the way; there was a frozen river between them and where Azog was.
Legolas and Tauriel galloped into Dale; they charged through the streets, killing orcs on their way. They stopped as they reached Gandalf. "Gandalf!"
"Legolas... Legolas Greenleaf!" Gandalf smiled at the Prince, hoping his presence meant the army of Mirkwood was returning.
"There is a second army! Bolg leads a force of Gundabad orcs. They are almost upon us!"
"Gundabad…This was their plan all along. Azog engages our forces, then Bolg seeps in from the north."
"Wha...the north...where is the north, exactly?!" Bilbo glanced around in confusion.
"Ravenhill." Gandalf turned and strode over to the parapets to look at the hill where Thorin went.
"Ravenhill…Thorin is up there! And Fili and Kili - they're all up there!"
At the sound of Kili's name, Tauriel was alarmed, he was still recovering from the wound, he should not be fighting. Together, they all looked out toward the top of Ravenhill, which was shrouded in mist.
Thorin and company were still fighting in the ruins across the frozen river from Azog's stronghold. Having defeated all the enemies at present, they looked out across the river at the ruins in which Azog was last seen; his wooden signalling machines were visible through the mist. "Where is he?"
"Looks empty. I think Azog has fled!" Kili really hoped so because his arm was beginning to throb and he could feel the wound pulling whenever he moved his sword.
"I don't think so...Fili, take your brother. Scout out the towers. Keep low and out of sight. If you see something; report back, do not engage - do you understand?!"
Noise made Dwalin glance back. "We have company; Goblin mercenaries. No more than a hundred."
"We'll take care of them. Go! Go!"
As Fili and Kili ran towards the river, Thorin and Dwalin prepared to meet the goblins rushing toward them.
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Hari had seen Thorin make for Ravenhill and Azog and was concerned, that orc was too clever for comfort. And where was Bolg? Surely Azog would have a roll for his son in all this. Only a minute ago the women who he had helped into the mountain had run out, armed and ready to kill to protect their families and who was he to stop them when he had done the same thing so many times? Besides some of the best fighters he'd ever known had been women and just plain scary. Seeing that the focus had shifted from the mountain to the city he took a deep breath and vanished, reappearing feet from Gandalf.
"Bolg leads the armies of Gundabad from the North." Gandalf called to him and Hari swore.
"Where's Bilbo?" he asked after nodding to Legolas.
"He has gone to warn Thorin."
"They'll be slaughtered." And he was running on fumes. How were they to win this with so few? Where was Thranduil, they had to know of this, there was no way they had made it much into the forest before the battle began. He looked up at the hill, closing his eyes, there was only one way out but the price…. he took a few deep breaths and then looked over at Gandalf, smiling sadly. "Goodbye my brother."
Gandalf frowned and then his eyes widened. "Hari no!" he shouted as the other wizard vanished.
"Gandalf?" Legolas asked as he sent another arrow into an approaching orc and Tauriel rushed away, needing to get to Kili.
"Hari is going to end the war." He answered solemnly. Legolas looked at him in confusion before drawing his blades to fight.
Hari appeared in the ruins just as Azog held Fili over the edge and the Prince cried out as the sword pierced his back, Thorin screaming in rage and grief as his body was dropped. But it didn't hit the ground, instead floating down gently and Thorin glanced back to see Hari striding forward. "Surrender or die." Hari called sternly and Azog laughed.
"Pitiful wizard, there is nothing you can do." The orc snarled.
"Wrong." His hand snapped out and he pulled Bilbo in, touching the Ring he still wore. He felt Sauron's soul, his evil and he ripped it from the anchor of the golden ring and far to the East in Mordor there was a scream before all fell quiet as he was finally banished for good. Harry's magic filled the ring, leaving it with a few tricks before golden energy surrounded Fili's body, bringing it over before lowering him to the ground. Thorin stared in shock as his nephew suddenly gasped in air, eyes snapping open as he coughed and then scrambled up, looking around wildly. Thorin dropped to his knees and reached out to touch his face, feeling the warmth of life. He looked back to the wizard to see his eyes were pure gold, dark curls whipping around in an unseen wind.
Azog stared in horror as the young Prince suddenly sat up, it was impossible! But somehow, he knew, the Master was gone now. What was this Wizard?
Hari looked down at the embracing dwarves and smiled. A wave of his hand and Kili was suddenly with them and pulling his brother into a tearful hug. He could feel the pain and knew he didn't have long. "Live well my friends." He whispered but only Bilbo heard before Hari strode out onto the ice, staff falling form his hands as he raised his hands, ripples of golden energy flowing out around him and then suddenly he let his arms drop and the rings exploded outward, over the hill and out onto the battlefield bellow. Where the rings went the enemy died. In seconds only dwarves and men were left, even Bolg and his army were gone.
Thorin stared at the wizard in shock and Hari turned to them, looking so sad. "Be a good King Thorin Oakenshield." He then looked to the brothers. "Follow your hearts." Then he looked at Bilbo. "Hobbits truly are an amazing people." And then he screamed in agony as golden energy shrouded him from their sight. When the scream stopped there was no sign of the wizard.
TBC….
Just the epilogue to go.