Author's Note: I came home from a crumby day at work to 22 reviews! Thank you guys so much for making my day better!
Lina looked up from her anvil and watched briefly as a line of wounded dwarves were carried past her shelter. She recognized one of the males as one who had trained with her. His face was contorted in pain; an orc arrow protruding from his side was the reason.
He was one of the lucky ones. Of those doing battle down in the tunnels, trying to find some weakness in Azog's defenses, far too many did not return. Sometimes the band of dwarves was successful in driving back the orc warriors, but even these victories were costly. Too few were ever left after a fight to capitalize on any advantage. The victors did what they could in bringing back the bodies of their fallen comrades. In battles the dwarves lost, there was no percentage on survival. If the dwarves were lucky, they might find the bodies later in one piece. If they weren't, well, entire bands of dwarves were missing and never a sign of their existence found.
Lina had been part of a group who'd barely survived an orc ambush in one of the tunnels. Her skills as a line breaker had allowed the survivors to escape above ground. Of the twelve warriors who'd made up her band, only three had survived. Half of the group had gone down in the initially attack. The fighting and subsequent retreat had claimed three more. A desperate swing at a stone pillar by Lina had collapsed the tunnel on their pursuers, allowing her and the two dwarves with her to escape. Most groups were not so fortunate, and many a band had disappeared underground. Very few made it out of such situations like the one Lina had escaped and made it out alive.
"Another twelve warriors missing."
Lina glanced over at the female warrior entering the forge. In the past couple of years, Lina had befriended a number of the younger female warriors. Ira, the female axe wielder who'd escorted Lina from the arena after her bout with the prince, had been the first Lina had accepted as a constant companion. The female had long since grown out of her hero-worshipping stage, becoming a fierce warrior and loyal friend.
"Anyone we know?" Lina asked, setting aside her hammer.
"Not this time. They were Blacklocks," Ira replied, setting her blade on the rack beside Lina's hammer.
Lina nodded. A twinge of guilt appeared at how calloused she had become. A glance at Ira showed the same conflicted look in her friend's eyes. They were both relieved that the missing warriors were not their friends, but both knew that those missing had been someone's friends.
"Rumor has it there's going to be an assault on the east gate," Ira informed Lina. Lina looked up, her brow furrowing with concern.
"We don't have nearly the strength to make a full frontal assault. The promised troops from the Iron Hills still haven't arrived," she answered. It didn't make any sense to her.
"We can't wait for them any longer," Thorin said from behind her. The two females both started at his entrance.
"We are going on a full offensive then?" An uneasy feeling began to grow in Lina's heart as she waited for the confirmation she knew was coming.
"We have to. We're wasting our troops in these tiny underground battles. The groups today were out collapsing any tunnels that might allow the orcs to get in behind us," he replied. "Patrols confirmed their success, in spite of our losses. We move out in two days."
"I'll make sure the girls have their armor repaired and their weapons sharpened then," Ira announced, rising from the chest she'd been seated on. She nodded to Lina and gave a small bow to the prince before departing the forge.
"We've had six years of gradual losses. Do we have the strength to go against the entire orc horde?" Lina leaned against the edge of her table, folding her arms across her chest. Thorin joined her.
"I don't know. We've never had an accurate count of Azog's strength, we've been shooting blindly at targets since the beginning of this campaign." The prince sounded as worried about the coming battle as Lina was. Neither feared their own death, rather they feared the death of their people.
"Does the king have a plan in place to protect the line of Durin?"
"He does. It's partially the reason I've come tonight. He's summoning the line breakers after he makes the announcement to the rest of our number." Thorin turned to look at the female sitting beside him. She wore a worried expression on her face. Very few of the line breakers had reached their majority yet. It was a dangerous job, and one that had cost a number of lives already. An entire generation stood to be wiped out in this battle.
A bell toll rang out across the vast dwarven encampment. They were being summoned.
Thorin's large hand gently squeezed hers in reassurance as he rose. His eyes were tired and sad, but they still held hope. There was still a fire burning in them.
"We will win this battle," he murmured, drawing Lina close. "We must."
He pressed his lips in tender reassurance against hers before turning to answer the bell's summons. Lina watched him go to join his father and brother before she banked the forge fires and moved to join her friends.
A number of Lina's friends had gathered at the edge of the meeting field, waiting for her to arrive. Dwalin was standing beside Ira. Kira, Ira's sister and a wicked swordswoman, was present. Ona, the bladed-staff wielder Lina had trained with, hovered around the fringes with a pair of male line breakers, her brothers. The group greeted Lina with nods, their faces grave. Ira had already let them know what was going on.
The small band joined the gathering dwarven army. On a small ridge, the rulers from the various clans had assembled. Thrain and his two sons were in conference with the clan leaders of the Firebeards. The Firebeards were mostly phalanx units. Lina figured they'd be the ones used to hold the line and haul it forward.
As a line breaker, Lina knew that she and her fellow line breakers would be in the thick of the fighting. She just didn't know how Thrain intended to use them just yet. Very few of the other commanders had line breakers in their ranks. The broken nature of Thrain's society had forced him to break from a traditional army make-up in order to keep his people alive. Line breakers were odd fighters, not usually put into units, but working best on their own with a single goal. This required independent thinkers, which many commanders discouraged in their armies, at least among the lower ranks.
The commanders motioned for silence and explained the gist of their plans to the gathered warriors. There were a few murmurs of surprise, but most were of resignation. They had all known the push was coming eventually. Now the dread of the day settled in. Thrain called for his line breakers to gather at the center of his clan's camp. The other commanders called for certain members of their own forces to gather before dismissing the whole gathering.
Lina, Dwalin, Ona, Ona's two brothers, and a few other dwarves broke off from the masses of dwarves returning to their tents. Upon arrival at the camp center, they were escorted into Thrain's war tent.
"I have a special plan for you," he announced once everyone was present. "As you know, our army is small, but we are strong. We have the best chance of shattering the enemy's line and so we are to lead the charge."
Lina's eyes shot to Ona. They knew what was coming now.
"You've all trained in some form of line breaking. You know who works best with whom. Therefore, I request you tell me which groupings are the best to use." The king looked directly at Lina when he finished speaking. He somehow knew Lina was the unofficial leader of the band.
"For myself, I work best with Ona and Dwalin. The three of us have trained together for nearly seven years now," she finished speaking and looked to Ona's brothers. They picked up where she had left off. All told, there were six groups of various sizes among the line breakers. Experimentation with the gathered fighters had placed them in the groupings which they declared to the king. These were the sets that would be best together. Each group knew their companions' strengths and weaknesses better than they knew themselves.
Thrain nodded as he absorbed the new information. Then he began to assign each of the six groups to their place in the battle. Ona's brothers and their two companions would be in the group leading the charge with Thrain. All four were skilled in penetrating an enemy's front line to get to the more valuable targets which is what Thrain intended to do. Lina's band was assigned to Frerin. He was under one of Thrain's senior commanders who were to spearhead a separate column. Lina's job was to protect the younger and more impulsive prince. He was known to break plans at the slightest provocation. It would take the best line breakers to follow him on his wild charges and be able to pull him out again. Thorin was in command of another group of line breakers. His group was to play rearguard for the most part. Thorin could hold his own as a fighter and was far more level-headed than his younger brother. The line breakers with him were mostly to give him a retreat option should he deem it necessary.
Lina accepted her assignment with a bow to the king. She requested Frerin join her line breakers for a few hours following the meeting, to bring the prince up to speed on his line breakers' capabilities. The prince agreed to meet them in the forge.
Once dismissed, Lina , Dwalin, and Ona retreated to the forge. They had much to discuss. The prince had to know exactly how his bodyguards, which is essentially what they were, operated. Lina and Dwalin were both skilled with the massive war hammers Lina forged. Each could easily clear a path in a melee with one swing of their weapon. Ona used her bladed staff to widen the path further. Her wicked blades took out anyone attempting to close the gaps opened up. In smaller battles and in practice, the trio had found that using Lina and Dwalin in the first and last positions of the lineup was best. One of them would begin opening the path, Ona would widen it significantly, and the other would play rearguard. In the case of a charge and wanting to open a path for advancement, Lina and Dwalin took the lead with Ona behind them. In the case of retreat, one opened, Ona widened, whoever was being escorted came next, and the last guarded.
When Frerin appeared, the trio briefed him on their skills. He seemed to accept their presence. Lina took the opportunity to inquire after the state of his armor. It had to be repaired or strengthened. Nothing could be left to chance.
The meeting ended later that evening. Lina sat alone in her forge, checking over Frerin's armor for weaknesses. A couple of scales had to be replaced and some leather reinforced. Dwalin's armor, as well as Ona's, rested on the table beside her. Lina wanted these pieces checked over and finished tonight before the rush of requests arrived the next morning.
Lina had hoped the work would quiet the fears which rose in her mind and heart, but she was wrong. If anything the search for flaws in the armor made the fears seem larger. Her fear was not for herself, though she truly did not wish to die. Her fear was for those she left behind. Her mother was one. Lorina had been left with many of the other noncombatants back in Dunland. If any of the dwarves returned from this battle, if Lina was not among them, would they still treat her mother with courtesy? Would Lorina be able to support herself and survive?
What of Thorin? His survival was as questionable as Lina's was at that moment. She knew that he, like his father and younger brother, would be driving deep into enemy ranks to find and kill Azog. The question of who would get there first and whether or not they would survive weighed heavily on Lina's mind. In leading the charge, the dwarves under King Thrain's command would have the greatest chances to earn honor in combat, but they were also the least likely to survive. Thorin was the most likely to survive of his line. His father was driven into this war by grief and would go into battle consumed with rage. Whether that rage would blind him to reason Lina did not know. Frerin was impulsive and far more swayed by his emotions than either his father or his brother. He might start the battle calmly, but there was no telling what would set him off. Lina's band of line breakers would have their hands full with him. They could not let him get too far from them in the thick of the battle, and he was known to leave his guards far behind when he spotted what he wanted.
What would she do if Thorin did not survive? Lina tried to push that question from her mind. Of course, Thorin would survive the battle. . . . But what if he didn't? The question nagged at the back of Lina's mind. Since that night nearly ten years ago, they had carried on a quiet romance. Neither let on what was happening between them in public. To do so would cause a scandal of epic proportions. But quietly, hidden from prying eyes, the pair spent their free moments together. Mostly they talked while working on small projects. The subjects varied. One night they could be discussing the strong desire they both had to return to Erebor. The next they were discussing improvements in Lina's armor. Occasionally the talking took a more personal turn.
Lina had once, out of curiosity, asked what their relationship actually was. The question had startled Thorin. They soon came to the conclusion that any relationship beyond that of mere friends was utterly impossible. A deep sadness had settled within Lina's heart as the reality of their situation came to light. Both had agreed it was best to end any notion of romance between them. That agreement had lasted only a month before neither could stay away from the other. They were fast becoming friends, but mere friendship would never satisfy either of them.
Their relationship had maintained the same speed over the next several years. The pair met quietly and secretively. It was no secret that they had become friends. Anyone could see that. Following Thorin's realization that the other males did not accept Lina as he did, he was frequently seen supporting her in public. She, in turn, supported him in any way she could. But the fact that their attachment to one another ran far deeper than anyone might have guessed was hidden from view.
Those discussions late into the night invariably took a more physical turn. Both had agreed early on to certain boundaries in the relationship. Lina longed for a relationship that involved her heart and soul in addition to her body. That desire kept Lina from compromising herself. Thorin was surprisingly willing to agree to her terms. He was a very physical being, and that played out in their relationship. He loved it when Lina ran her fingers through his shaggy, dark hair. What surprised Lina the most was how much he enjoyed her playfulness, something she'd never been allowed to express as a very young dwarf in her father's house.
The first time, she was nervous. Lina had never been allowed to wrestle with other children. So her natural playful tendencies had been buried. Now, she was given more freedom to express herself and her desires. When she had seen Thorin sitting quietly on the floor with a piece of scrap leather, attempting to figure out what to do with it, she'd had an overwhelming desire to pounce on him. He seemed far too serious for someone examining a sorry-looking piece of leather. After a moment's deliberation, Lina tackled him. At first he'd been surprised and startled. He lay quiet for so long Lina was afraid he was annoyed with her. She'd started to crawl off of him when he'd responded by dragging her down onto the floor with him and pinned her.
These wrestling matches were as physical the pair allowed themselves to be. Lina rarely won the matches as Thorin was far stronger than she. It spoke to the trust between them that she never pushed him too far and he never took advantage of her beyond a few stolen kisses. Lina found herself aching for more, but she could not give in to those desires. If something should happen, and how far their relationship had gone, became public, it would destroy them both. Even if it never became public, Lina would know and the knowledge of how she had betrayed her beliefs would eat away at her. If there was ever to be a truly physical aspect to their relationship, then there had to be marriage. Lina could imagine giving her body to none other than her husband.
Lina paused in her work and stared at the tools in her hands. Husband. She did not need one. She could easily take care of herself without a husband. Thrain had seen to that years ago. Yet she wanted one. Not one like her father had been to her mother. Not a master like many tried to be to their wives. She wanted a partner. Someone with whom she could she could share every part of herself, and expect the same in return. That man could not be just a lover, but he had to be a friend, a partner. After a life spent hating males for what they could do to her, for what they had done to her, Lina had found one worth having.
Her mind returned to the question that haunted her. What would she do if Thorin died? She would go on as she had before she'd set eyes on him. She would survive as she always had, through her own strength of body and mind. The loss would hurt, more than any blow she'd ever received, more than any cut or burn or betrayal. It would hurt, but she would go on. There was no other option. Thorin had told her that it was her strength as a woman alone in a world of men that had drawn him to her initially. It was her strength that had drawn him as much as she had been drawn to his power. No, she would never dishonor him by rolling over in defeat. If he died on that field of battle—and Lina prayed he would not—then she would go on living to honor his memory.
The last piece of armor was deemed to be in excellent condition. With that Lina set aside her tools and wandered through the silent camp to the tent she shared with Ira and Kira. She was exhausted and the battle had not yet begun.