Date: TA 2941
Thorin: 195 years old
Lina: 192 years old
"Well, that explains where the bastards have been coming from," Kira announced flatly. She passed her scope to Lina.
Lina frowned as she peered through her friend's instrument. At first they'd though the black line winding its way across the northern plains was from fire. Then they saw it move. On closer examination the dwarves realized it was much worse than fire.
Literally hundreds, possibly even thousands of orcs were marching out of the mountains to the far north of Kira's Fortress. After drawing as close to the marching horde as they dared, the dwarves had discovered exactly where they were coming from.
Mount Gundabad stood at the junction of the Misty Mountains and the Grey Mountains. Dwarven Lore placed the waking of Durin the Deathless in that mountain. Then the orc and goblins had taken it over. Once, during the War of the Dwarves and Orcs, the mountain had been retaken by the dwarves. According to Nes and Kes, the stronghold was lost when Bolg came.
"They're directly in our path," Lina breathed, staring in horror at the mass of creatures moving east. The dwarven commanders intended to circumnavigate Mirkwood entirely and take their forces north, just as they had done when visiting the Iron Hills. The presence of so great an orc host made that nearly impossible.
"Now what?" Gavin asked, looking to Kira for guidance.
"We don't have nearly the forces to engage them in direct combat," she answered, turning her own gaze to Lina. This was Lina's mission, she was the supreme commander.
"We don't have the time to redirect our whole army around the forest to the south," Lina answered. She traced the various possible routes on the map. "I won't take us through Mirkwood either. I have not heard from Thorin since he entered that dark place."
"We could shadow them. Keep about a day behind them. Then we'll know exactly where they are heading and, hopefully, keep out of their way," Kira suggested. "My scouts know all the best places to hide should the orcs turn to check their tail. We've taken the northern passage enough times."
"I don't see that we have much choice," Lina sighed finally.
"Tell the troops we'll wait here until the orcs are a day out of sight," Kira ordered Gavin. Her Second saluted and disappeared into the encampment.
"If we move about the same speed as the orcs ahead of us," Lina observed, "We should make it to the Mountain before Durin's Day. It's barely the start of autumn. The journey around Mirkwood took us two weeks last time at about the same pace."
"Where do we meet Thorin?"
Lina shrugged helplessly. "I won't know until I have some word from Thorin."
With a curt nod, Kira followed after Gavin.
The line breaker returned to her maps and the like. It would do none of her present company any good to see how disturbed she was by her husband's silence. That burden was hers to bear. Kira had other matters at hand to consider.
Since Kira began her command of the fortress, the fighting force within it had doubled in size. Nearly two hundred warriors marched at her command now. The only dwarven fighting force larger was that of Dain Ironfoot. He could muster five hundred heavily armed dwarves. What Kira's forces lacked in brute strength, they made up for in cunning and speed. Where Dain's forces were heavy infantry, Kira commanded two hundred of the most versatile skirmishers in Middle-Earth.
With guidance from those trained under the assassin twins, the fighters learned every dirty trick of fighting ever recorded. Dwarven tactics melded with those of Men and Elves to create a style of fighting unique to those of Kira's Fortress. It was those tactics which made the raiding parties so successful, and that had kept Kira's band alive when facing overwhelming odds. With the skills of Kira's warriors, Lina's assassins, and Bilbo, there had to be a way to defeat Smaug.
"The orcs will be out of sight by morning," Nes informed her commander, appearing out of the growing darkness.
"Good." Lina finished packing away the maps. The assassin stood quietly beside her, gazing out over the plains to Mount Gundabad.
"I lived there once," Nes said softly. Lina's head snapped to the side.
"What?"
"I used to live in Mount Gundabad," she repeated. "Before Bolg retook the stronghold for the orcs, it was held by a joint force of dwarves and humans."
Lina leaned against her field table. Never had Nes given much information about her life before Belegost. Any insight into her upbringing was rare indeed.
"The stronghold was first taken by dwarves during the War of the Dwarves and Orcs. However, they were too few to hold it for long. To bolster their strength, the dwarves agreed to take in a band of wandering Men," Nes continued, "The Men had been cast out of their homes and forced to wander for the skills they practiced. The entire small group was made up entirely of assassins or assassins-in-training. The Dwarves were so desperate for help, they didn't care what the Men were. So they accepted the assassins: males, females, and children. In close quarters, it was only natural that some interbreeding would occur."
Lina hid a small smile at the dry humor in her companion's voice.
"My father was a dwarven soldier, my mother a human assassin. I never really knew her. Assassin children are taken away from their birth parents as infants and raised collectively. I knew Kes was my brother only through the bond we've shared since birth. Try as they might, they couldn't break the bond between us. So they simply gave up and trained us as a team," Nes shrugged. She played nervously with one of her smaller daggers.
"So you came to Belegost after Mount Gundabad fell?" Lina asked.
"No. We came when we got tired of wandering alone and fighting for nothing. Bolg came to Mount Gundabad when I was only a few years into my training. I don't remember much except a lot of my people ended up dead. My brother and I fled with some of the human assassins. Most of the dwarves didn't make it out."
The assassin fell silent. Lina received the distinct impression that her brief glimpse into Nes's past was over. Why the younger female had opened up at all was a mystery.
"We heard about you," Nes finally said. "Humans didn't want us. We looked too much like Dwarves. And we were assassins on top of it all. None of the dwarves wanted a female like me who could fight. Then we heard rumors of Lady Firehammer. The hope was that you wouldn't turn us away."
"I'm glad I didn't," Lina told her, smiling.
"I am too."