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italics - elvish

The earth rumbled as at least a thousand armored dwarves crested the hill to the right of the elven army, the sun rising into the sky behind them. As the troops lined up along the top of the hill, their leader emerged. He was sat on a pig, wielded a large battleaxe, and his presence brought about a silence from his soldiers immediately.

"Ironfoot." Gandalf muttered, as the dwarves standing atop the gate began cheering at the arrival of their people.

"Say what now?" Alenia asked, as they hurried after Thranduil, who was riding through his own army, shouting orders for them to turn and face their newly arrived enemies. "Gandalf, who is that? He doesn't look very happy. Also, why is he riding a pig?"

"It is Dain, lord of the Iron Hills - Thorin's cousin." Gandalf answered.

"Are they alike?" the half-elf asked, as they strode quickly through the elven army that marched forward in neat lines towards the dwarves.

"I always found Thorin the more reasonable of the two." Gandalf said, pausing slightly to turn to the female, a grave expression set on his face.

"Shit, we're screwed." she muttered, as the two armies halted a few hundred yards away from each other. Gandalf grunted his agreement, as Dain and his pig trotted forward.

"Good morning! How are we all?" Dain called, a thick accent masking his words slightly. "I have a wee proposition, if you wouldn't mind giving me a few moments of your time. Would you consider...just sodding off!"

The townspeople fell back in fear, while the elves stepped forward, drawing their swords.

"All of you - right now!" the dwarf lord yelled, brandishing his axe.

"Stand fast!" Bard yelled.

"Come now, Lord Dain!" Gandalf called, moving forward to get in front of the army.

"Gandalf the Grey." Dain said. "Tell this rabble to leave, or I'll water the ground with their blood!"

"There is no need for war between dwarves, men and elves!" Gandalf protested. "A legion of orcs march on the mountain. Stand your army down!"

"An orc army?" she hissed to Thranduil.

"So he claims." he responded, still staring ahead at the dwarves.

"I swear I'm going to throttle that wizard one day for the secrets he keeps from me." Alenia seethed. "Because I guarantee he's right."

"Now, now. You can't just go around throttling elderly men." her grandfather chided, before looking down, smirking slightly.

"Scared, Gramps?" she asked, smiling slightly.

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you just alluded to me being elderly." he said, before he turned to look at Dain who was spouting off about how he wouldn't stand down to 'this faithless woodland sprite,' as the dwarf gestured to Thranduil.

"He wishes nothing but ill upon my people!" Dain yelled. "If he chooses to stand between me and my kin - I'll split his pretty head open! See if he's still smirking then!"

A dangerous smile appeared on Thranduil's face, as the Erebor dwarves cheered.

"He's clearly mad, like his cousin!" the Elven King said.

"How many times do I have to tell you, he's sick?" Alenia muttered, as she drew her sword. As much as she didn't want to fight the dwarves, as part elf, they would come for her anyway, and she did not fancy dying today.

"You hear that, lads?!" Dain called, as he turned to rejoin his troop's front line. "Come on! Let's give these bastards a good hammering!"

The Iron Hill dwarves cheered loudly, as both armies preparing to launch themselves at the other. The elves positioned themselves in a way that their shield and spears were at the front, barring the way to the archers behind them. Just as the armies were settled, the tension in the air rising, the ground began to shake, as a rumbling sound filled the air.

Alenia turned to look along with the two armies, as massive worms, with rotating jaws filled with hundreds of teeth, burst from the ground.

"Were-worms." she whispered in horror.

"Oh, come on!" Dain cried.

The monsters disappeared back into the earth, as the mist fell away, revealing Azog and a few other orcs standing atop a hilltop across the field, signalling devices at the ready behind them.

"The army isn't on the way." Alenia realized. "It's here."

Azog roared a command into the air, and hordes of orcs appeared out of the tunnels the were-worms left behind.

"The hordes of hell are upon us! To battle! To battle, sons of Durin!" Dain yelled, as he and his army rushed to the beasts approaching.

Alenia found Gandalf, and they both moved to go after the dwarves, before realizing that the elves remained in place.

"Will you not fight?" Alenia yelled back to the elven host.

"Thranduil, this is madness!" Gandalf shouted.

Thranduil shifted on his elk, but said nothing.

"If they won't fight, I will." she muttered, turning away, sheathing her sword and stalking forward, before breaking into a sprint after the army of the Iron Hills.

Soon, the thundering of feet surrounded her, as the Woodland elves joined the half-elf step for step. With a roar, and a hiss of metal being released, they leaped over the shield wall the dwarves had created, to crash directly into the orcs.

Alenia slashed, spinning and ducking through the maze of blades, her own sword cutting through orc flesh, dragging out blood and screams of pain. A smile grew on her face as she did what she loved to do; the deadly dance and adrenaline rush that came with it.

She parried a blade, before stabbing the beast through the chest and pushing its body into another one which another elf cut the head off of.

A horn blew, and Alenia turned to see the signalling device atop the hill shift, as another horde of orcs appeared through another worm tunnel, accompanied by a dozen trolls.

"Archers!" Thranduil shouted.

Alenia dragged her bow off of her shoulder, and set two arrows to the string, before drawing back and releasing. She reloaded, as she watched her projectiles hit their marks, before she fired again. Other elves around her were doing the same, while the swordsmen, people of Laketown and the dwarves kept the orcs away from the shooters.

Another horn blew, and the signalling post changed again, causing the trolls and a majority of the orcs to begin to march towards Dale.

"We need to get to the city!" she yelled, pushing through the armies, slinging her bow back over her shoulder.

"Azog - he's trying to cut us off." Gandalf shouted from nearby.

"All of you, fall back to Dale! Now!" Bard yelled, as he raced towards the city on his horse. As he passed the half-elf, he extended a hand, which she grabbed and used to swing herself up, and onto the horse.

As their horse galloped past straggling orcs, Alenia cleaved limbs and heads from bodies, leaning off the horse to the point of almost falling off to reach the beasts.

Ahead of them, the trolls had stopped and stooped over to ready the catapults they carried on their backs. Once prepped and loaded, the rocks were flung into the walls of the city, causing screams to sound from within.

Alenia and Bard on their horse neared the city, and she dragged her bow off her back once more, as they galloped over the drawbridge, and into the city. She turned this way and that, firing arrows and killing orcs as they galloped deeper into the city.

They reached the central courtyard, and they both dismounted. Alenia put her bow away once more, and together, they drew their swords.

"Where are my children?" Bard shouted, pushing against the stream of fleeing people.

"I saw them. They were down in the old market!" A woman answered, pointing behind her.

"The market?! Where are they now?" Bard asked. "Tilda! Sigrid!"

A man ran up to the pair and said, "Bard, orcs are storming over the causeway!"

"Get the bowmen to the eastern parapet. Hold them off for as long as you can!" Bard ordered, head still moving frantically as he tried to catch a glimpse of his children.

The man nodded, before motioning to the people behind him. "Archers, this way!"

"The orcs have taken Stone Street! The market's overrun!" A man running past wailed in despair.

"The rest of you, follow me!" Bard yelled, before running off in the direction the people were leaving. Alenia followed after him, along with the other men. As they passed an alleyway, her ears pricked up, as she heard the high-pitched screaming of a child.

"Tilda!" she shouted, as she darted to the right, heading towards the noise.

"Alenia!" the voice shouted back, sounding slightly strained. "Help!"

"I'm coming, hold on!" she called, pushing her legs faster around the bends, before she crossed paths with the orcs that was chasing the two sisters through the streets.

With a quick swipe of her sword, the beasts' bodies dropped to the ground, dead.

Both of the girls leaned against a building, panting and clinging to each other.

"Are you both okay?" Alenia asked.

They nodded, before Sigrid's eyes widened.

"Look out." she cried, causing Alenia to spin. Before she could raise her sword to defend herself against the orc that had snuck up behind her, Bain was there, crashing into the beast, impaling it on his sword.

"Thanks, kid." she said, reaching a hand down to pull him to his feet.

He nodded, and Alenia started to herd the children down the street to where Bard had been heading to fight.

"Da!" Sigrid yelled.

"Da, we're down here!" Tilda called, as Bain echoed with a "Here!"

Bard heard them and turned to see them, a relieved expression overcoming his face. However, his expression changed to one of fear as he stared at something behind them.

Alenia turned, shoving the kids behind her, as she took in the troll coming towards them. The monster sent men flying with a single blow of his mace.

The troll looked ahead, and caught sight of the children and Alenia. It growled, and the girls screamed.

"Bain, Sigrid, get down!" Bard bellowed from behind them, causing Alenia to jump on top of the children, sending the four of them into a pile on the ground, as a wooden cart with Bard aboard, soared overhead.

Alenia lifted her head in time to watch as the bowman launched himself off the cart, and stabbed the troll in the chest, killing it.

The half-elf staggered to her feet, helping the children up, before they ran to their father for a humongous way.

Alenia smiled, before sauntering over to the man. "That was the most extravagant way to kill a troll I've ever seen."

"Oh, please, like you wouldn't have tried to do the same thing."

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a/n:

my updating schedule is in shambles rn. i'm just updating whenever the fuck i want to at this point. oh well, that's not a bad thing i guess haha

also, it's battle time :((

i'll try to have another one up tomorrow.

- ash xx