The Hobbit: Odd Love in Strange Times
Chapter 16 of my Hobbit story, enjoy.
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Now onto the story.
Disclaimer: The Hobbit belongs to JRR Tolkien, Peter Jackson and all associated companies.
Chapter 16
Atop the mountains to the west of the large plain between Dale and Erebor, the massive army, led by Azog, appeared. Azog smirked as he observed the apparently deserted area before him. He was certain his victory was assured; he had sent one of his war bands ahead to secure hostages to ensure an easy victory after all. He signalled his army to halt and waited as one of his scouts approached up the hill towards the army.
"Master; there are no signs of the humans in the city." He informed Azog.
Azog pondered this. "They are within the mountain. Strange that the dwarves would allow this, no matter. They will not fight, not at the risk of the lives of the maggots we've taken."
Confident in this, Azog signalled his army to wait and rode his warg down the mountain path towards Erebor. He couldn't help but smirk at the pathetic attempt of the dwarves; to fix the crumbling old fortress walls. The defences looked quite secure; but looking secure and actually being secure were two different things.
He finally stopped, comfortably out of bow range and let loose a loud bellow. This unique method of greeting soon got a reply, as Thorin appeared on the wall, and with him stood Dain, Bard, Thranduil, Legolas, Tauriel, Gandalf, Bilbo and the rest of Thorin's company of Dwarves.
Azog was surprised by this; he had of course, known the dwarves, wizard and Halfling had been travelling together. He also anticipated that they would send to the Iron Hills Dwarves for aid. But the appearance of Elves and Men at their side was a surprising factor.
But that did not blunt his confidence; he still held the only bargaining tool after all. So, despite his distaste for it, he prepared to speak to them, switching to the Common Tongue.
"Men and Elves working with Dwarves…How desperate, and useless." He snarled. "You should know by now, you cannot risk fighting."
Thorin sneered at the pale orc. "Your arrogance is boundless; it blinds you to the truth."
Azog narrowed his eyes. "We hold hostages as you recall, if you do not surrender, they will meet their ends in the most painful ways we can imagine…Then all of you will die!"
"How drool." Thranduil remarked with a raised eyebrow. "Is it a habit of orcs to comment so…graphically on matters or torture and death?"
Azog paused; something felt very wrong here. He knew the Elf King to be pompous and sarcastic; but this was more than he was expected, especially in the face of three young members of the race of Men facing gruesome deaths.
His eyes fell on the man on the wall and he knew enough was enough; he had to press his advantage now.
"You there, Dragon Slayer; it was your children we took!" He bellowed. "Do you value them so little, you would see them die, rather than surrender for a quick painless death!?"
But Bard remained unmoved.
Thorin glanced over at Bard and nodded.
"Now is the time I believe." He remarked.
Bard also nodded and turned to face Azog. "Your words are empty creature; for you have no hold over me; or any of us!"
Then, before Azog could respond, as they had planned beforehand, Sigrid emerged from her hiding place and stood on the wall. Azog froze; the hostages had been described to him by the orc who carried the report. He knew her to be one of them, yet here she was, safe and well, in the mountain.
"My siblings and I are safe; your ploy failed; orc!" Sigrid cried out to the beast below. "You shall find no surrender here, nor have you the means to enforce it!"
Azog roared with rage; slipping back into Black Speech. "Then it shall be death all around!"
With that he wheeled his warg around and rode back to his army, amidst the taunting cheers of the dwarves of the company. The others on the wall were less inclined towards taunting, for various reasons.
Bilbo turned to Gandalf. "So um, exactly how do we plan to fight them?"
Gandalf shook his head. "Our plan only goes so far; beyond that, we're taking a great risk. A game of chance."
Bilbo supressed a groan; he might have guessed it would come to something like this.
Azog returned to his army where they were waiting. They all tensed, fearful as they saw their leaders enraged countenance. The moment he reached them, Azog leaned over and thrust the blade attached to the stump of his left arm through the head of the scout. Wrenching the blade free he roared and cried out. "First wave, advance, tear them down!"
With a blast of their war horns, the first wave of orcs charged down the mountain, heading for Erebor. Destructive as they were, the orcs left Dale alone. It was known now to be empty, there was more than likely nothing of value there; besides, they could always destroy it later, after they won the battle. Those on the wall watched the approaching horde of orcs as they charged. Sigrid gasped, horrified by the sight.
"You should go Sigrid, go join the others." Bard told her; but she was frozen with fear. "Go!"
That snapped her out of it and she hurried away. Apart from Legolas and Tauriel, those on the wall then left it. In their place a large number of Elves from Thranduil's army hurried up to the wall and joined those still there. As the orcs drew closer, they took aim with their bows, arrows ready to fly. Down below, the others were all getting ready to fight.
Dain was set to join his warriors as they prepared to launch an ambush. Meanwhile, the rest joined the remaining Elves and the men of Dale, all ready to fight in the battle that was about to begin.
The orcs charged towards Erebor, their archers moving to the front to fire on those upon the wall. The Elven archers however had greater range with their bows, and better accuracy. As soon as the orcs were close enough they let loose a deadly volley of arrows. Several orcs fell, but the others continued undaunted, facing yet another volley, and another.
By this time the orcs were in range to counter attack and did so, firing their arrows at their opponents. Unfortunately for them, the walls were too high and the wind not in their favour. However, the Elves knew this luck wouldn't last. They quickly prepared to fire again, using the same pattern. They had only fired their first volley when the orcs war horn sounded twice more. The next two waves of Azog's army advanced; some of them bearing siege ladders, while the rest were armed conventionally.
The survivors of the arrow onslaught regrouped with these two waves and formed a large unit. Many of them bore shields which they raised to protect from the arrows, guarding the orc archers and siege ladders. During this time, the Elven archers prepared, waiting for their next opening, Legolas and Tauriel were no longer on the wall however.
The orcs continued to advance closer, coming dangerously close when suddenly, out of nowhere, Dain and his army appeared; launching an ambush through various hidden passages within the rocks. Taken by surprise, many of the shield bearing orcs were massacred, allowing the Elven archers to fire again; their main targets being the siege ladders and orc archers.
Watching from his position on the mountain, Azog glowered. Grudgingly he had to admit that this alliance he was facing was fairly effective. Their tactics were good and they clearly had discipline and fighting spirit.
"We must break them, send forth the next two waves, crush them in a sea of death!" He bellowed.
So the war horns sounded again and the next two waves of orcs advanced. From there the battle became a straight out slaughter as Thorin and company, along with Tauriel, Legolas, Thranduil and Bard led their armies out to join Dain and soon they were fighting against the vast horde of orcs.
Despite the vast difference in numbers, the defenders fighting spirit remained undaunted. They suffered a decent number of losses, but for every one they lost, the orcs lost at least ten. They faced the vast horde bravely; the Dwarven battle cries rallying their fellow dwarves and the men of Dale. The Elves discipline kept them focused and efficient.
Azog watched all this with growing rage. He needed to break through them all soon, or he'd have to wait for Blog to arrive with the reinforcements.
He gave his orders. "Call forth the rock throwers, then send the rest of the army in, break the walls down!"
The orcs hastened to obey, using various banners and war horns as signals. Soon the rest of the orc army had charged in, meanwhile, at the same time, several trolls appeared, each one carrying a large boulder. They had more boulders strapped to their backs and on the ground beside them. They got to work, throwing the rocks at Erebor with all their might.
When the first rock hit, the defenders were taken aback and briefly lost ground. Thorin growled.
"Those walls, protect hundreds of lives. They must not be breeched!"
Thranduil, Bard, Legolas and Dain quickly took charge of the main battle as Thorin and his company broke away, heading towards the trolls. Taken by surprise, they found the first troll easy prey. The others were ready however and they found themselves with a difficult battle on their hands.
It was pure luck that Gandalf was present, his magic aided them greatly in overpowering some of the trolls. But they still knew they were in danger. The trolls were just too strong. Kili quickly fired his bow at one, only for it to turn on him.
But before it could attack him, another arrow struck it, directly in the eye. It howled in pain and staggered, Dwalin and Bifur immediately taking advantage of this to attack it. Kili turned and saw Tauriel had also joined them.
"You should be more careful, Master Dwarf." She remarked with a grin.
He grinned back. "Your timing is impeccable as ever, My Lady!"
They quickly joined the fight again. But the remaining trolls were giving them trouble. Especially since there were orcs charging up to them. It was then an unexpected salvation arrived for them.
A deep voice growled. "Any enemy of orcs and these beasts…are friends on mine!"
They turned in time to see Beorn before he turned into his bear form and rushed at the orcs advancing on the dwarves.
Buoyed by Beorn's appearance, the dwarves and Tauriel continued to fight on, finally killing the last troll, thanks to a last minute appearance by Legolas. They had saved the walls, the battle however was still raging and, as he turned to face the mountain, Thorin knew, it wouldn't be over. Not until he had settled things with Azog.
End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.