Much Ado About Dwarves: Part Four B: The Battle of Five Armies
Chapter Five
It had been nearly a moon since Bilbo had been banished and the Arkenstone had gone. For almost every day since that day, Thorin's temper had been frightening. Kili had stayed with his brother and they'd kept more or less to themselves. Fili had tried several times to talk to their uncle, but had been rebuffed at every turn.
"I thought he'd get better once the Arkenstone was out of his reach," Kili said quietly as he and Fili sat on one of the beds in their room.
"Maybe it'll just take some time." Fili didn't sound very hopeful, though.
Kili just shrugged. In some ways, he wished they'd never retaken Erebor. He hated seeing Thorin like this. It was as if they were following a stranger.
"I'm going to try talking to him again," Fili said.
"I'll go with you." Kili knew that they would eventually be forced to do more lessons, learning more about being Princes of Erebor, but for now, he was going to take advantage of having free time.
Fili hesitated, but finally nodded. Kili knew his brother wanted to protect him and was glad Fili didn't try to persuade him to stay behind. "Maybe we could have some breakfast afterwards."
Kili gave a small smile. "What? No second or third breakfast?" But his attempt at humour fell somewhat flat. All it did was remind him that Bilbo was no longer around to have all the extra meals.
"I'm sure Bard will look after Bilbo. Legolas, too."
"Maybe we should go down the mountain after we eat?" Kili suggested. "We could visit with them."
"I doubt Uncle would allow it."
"Who says we have to tell him?"
A smile finally appeared on Fili's face. Kili could tell his brother was now thinking the same as him - their Uncle was barely talking to anyone. All they had to do was tell Dwalin that Thorin had told them they could leave - and it would likely be a long time before Dwalin realised otherwise.
Unless, of course, Thorin had already given the orders that no dwarf was to leave Erebor.
Kili pulled himself out of his thoughts as Fili walked out of their room. Following his brother, Kili noticed absently that someone had made sure to keep the torches in the wall brackets well-lit. He suspected it was Balin. Out of all of them, he was the voice of reason and one less likely to have been affected by the Arkenstone.
As Kili and Fili reached the treasure hall, Kili was surprised to see that there was no sign of their uncle. He looked at his brother, trying to hide his worry. "Do you think he went to Laketown to try and get the stone back?"
"I'm sure we would have heard if he had."
Kili nodded slowly, but even with the Arkenstone gone, Thorin had still spent most of his time in the treasure hall. That he wasn't here now made Kili wonder if their uncle had become more desperate and was ready to try something potentially dangerous - and stupid. "Dwalin would know if he left."
"We could try his room," Fili suggested.
Kili didn't bother replying to that and just followed his brother from the treasure hall. They walked back down the passageway, heading to their uncle's room.
Fili stepped forward and knocked loudly.
There was a brief moment of silence and then Thorin's voice called, "You may come in."
Kili exchanged a glance with his brother and then Fili took a deep breath before opening the door, stepping into the room and closing the door behind them both.
Thorin was standing next to his bed. His attention wasn't on his nephews, but rather, on the tapestry on the far wall. The brothers recognised it as one that showed their family line... their lineage. It took a few moments before he focused on his nephews. "Is there something wrong?"
"Why aren't you in the treasure hall?" Kili asked before Fili could say anything.
"Because I..."
Dwalin pushed his way into the room, drawing the eyes of the others towards him. "There's an army of orcs, goblins and wargs approaching Laketown."
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As Bard left his house, he spotted Legolas coming towards him. The elf was moving fast and Bard didn't need to ask what was wrong. "How close are they?" he demanded almost before Legolas was within hailing distance.
"They're at the borders of Mirkwood," Legolas answered. "The runners have just returned. I've sent them to gather the soldiers."
Almost as soon as Legolas had finished speaking, the men of Laketown had gathered. Since they'd already practised this several times, there wasn't too much panicking as they prepared the defence outside the town's borders.
Elves and men stood side by side. Bard made sure the reserves were kept well back, not wanting the enemy to guess at their true numbers.
It seemed to take an Age for the enemy to finally appear. Bard's grip on his bow became slightly damp and slippery, but he swiftly notched an arrow and loosed it in a high-reaching arc. To either side of him, the other archers were doing the same.
As the first arrows hit their targets, Bard and the other archers fired more. But no matter how many arrows hit orcs, goblins and wargs, by the time the two lines clashed, they were still hopelessly outnumbered.
The field quickly became a bloodbath. Bard did his best to keep far enough back to continue shooting arrows, but more than once, he had to use an arrow as a sword. Men and elves fell all around him. Some were able to crawl or limp away from the devastation, but others would never rise again.
More arrows were pressed into Bard's hand and quiver, but he couldn't look to see if it was his son or one of the other boys. The ground was becoming treacherous under his feet. Keeping his balance was nearly impossible and he slipped and slid, taking a blade on his shoulder from an orc.
Bard twisted to the side to avoid a stab aimed by a goblin and looked up in time to see a warg leaping at him. He found himself pressed in on either side by enemies and couldn't extricate himself to avoid claws and teeth.
An arrow embedded itself in the warg's stomach and it fell to the side, squashing a couple of goblins as it landed.
War cries that Bard didn't recognise sounded from behind him and he twisted round in time to see the dwarves of Erebor joining the fray.
Chapter Six
Legolas quickly discarded his bow and arrows. The fighting was in too close quarters to allow for long-range weapons, though he'd given the order for some of the archers to retreat back within the borders of Laketown and take shots if they could.
The bats had descended in a black cloud, making it hard even for elven eyes to see the enemy. Within a few moments, Legolas was covered in tiny bites that bled profusely.
Legolas glanced round, but couldn't make out who was foe or friend. He couldn't even see Bilbo, though the hobbit was small enough to escape the notice of most people.
Legolas drew a deep breath in and yelled, "Target the bats!" He wasn't sure how many had heard him, but within moments, the black cloud started to disperse. There were still a lot flying around, but it was getting easier to see and fight.
A sound reached Legolas' ears; a sound that didn't belong on a battlefield. Someone was humming a lullaby. An elvish lullaby.
The sound of the battle seemed to dim slightly. Legolas turned in the direction of the sound as an orc fell. Another orc stood behind the first, clutching a sword in hand that it didn't seem to know how to use.
The humming was coming from its mouth.
Memories flashed through Legolas' mind. He remembered his mother crooning that lullaby when he'd been an elfling. But this was an orc. And his mother had been killed by orcs... hadn't she?
Even as Legolas had to turn his attention to more of the dread creatures, though, he remained unfocused. He fought his way through the enemy lines, until he found himself standing directly opposite the orc.
It was virtually unrecognisable as the elf it must have once been. Only the humming of the lullaby even showed that it had ever been anything other than the creature it had been twisted into. As Legolas advanced, it - she - retreated back a step, clutching the blade tightly to its chest.
Wildly unfocused now, Legolas only barely turned in time to parry a blow that would have taken off his head. His eyes met those of his father's and he saw, there, the truth in Thranduil's gaze.
There wasn't any time for Legolas to think about it. He turned as she finally came towards him. The sword was raised, but not as if she knew how to use it. Legolas easily batted the sword aside as he moved back. He knew what he needed to do, but for the first time, he felt reluctant to take the life of an orc.
Legolas was dimly aware of others joining the battle. But he continued fighting against the orc, knowing that he couldn't let her live and yet unable to bring himself to strike a fatal blow.
A sharp cry pulled Legolas' attention away briefly. As he turned back, it was as the orc swept her blade forward. Legolas blocked the weapon, but she seemed to turn into the path of his dagger and he was powerless to prevent it from impaling her.
As her body crumpled to the ground, Legolas couldn't stop to mourn. As he turned, only just keeping his footing on the blood-slickened grass, he saw Fili and Kili. The brothers were standing back to back and seemed to be protecting someone on the ground behind them, but they looked like they were tiring quickly. Legolas ran quickly, but just as he reached the two dwarves, a goblin's blade breached Kili's defences, slicing into his side.
Kili crumpled and Legolas cut down the goblin. Bodies of men, elves, orcs, goblins and wargs littered the ground and Legolas could see how thin the number of defenders were getting. He wanted to help Kili, but didn't dare turn his attention away from the battle even for a moment. He just hoped that the dwarf wasn't too badly hurt.
Legolas felt himself beginning to tire. He stood protecting a dwarf he wasn't even sure still lived and his arms ached from constantly swinging his daggers, as well as the bites left on his skin by the bats. Sweat ran into his eyes and he had to blink constantly so he wouldn't be blinded.
Just as Legolas was starting to think they would be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers, he heard the sound of battle cries coming from the other side of the dread creatures. As yet another orc fell to his blade, Legolas could see an army of dwarves that had come up behind their enemy.
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It hadn't taken Bilbo very long to decide to use his ring to turn invisible. As soon as the battle had started, he'd put his hand in his pocket and slipped the ring onto his finger. Now, with Sting in hand, he ducked and shifted, weaving in and out of orcs, wargs and goblins and stabbing those he could.
At least he had something to take his mind off how things had gone with the dwarves.
Bilbo stumbled, nearly tripping and falling in the blood-drenched grass. He was dimly aware of glimpsing Gandalf, but whether the wizard was really there, or was a hallucination, the hobbit couldn't tell. Despite being invisible, he'd received several blows, including a sharp rap to the head that dazed him and sent him stumbling.
More orcs, goblins and wargs were being felled. They were still attacking in large numbers, but Bilbo could see dwarves hacking at the creatures; dwarves who weren't part of the company.
Bilbo stumbled and tripped over a body on the ground. As he picked himself up, he saw it was a young boy; only a child. Arrows were still clutched in one fist.
Bilbo pushed himself up carefully. All around him, the battle was going on. Clutching Sting tighter in a hand that was slippery with sweat, Bilbo threw himself at the nearest orc.
The sound of beating wings filled the air as Bilbo slashed with Sting. He looked up as the sky darkened and then felt a glimmer of hope.
The eagles had arrived.