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italics - orkish

The Ranger and the orc grunted, as they struggled against each other, pushing and shoving as they rolled down the side of the mountain. One last rotation had Alenia smashing into a broken staircase, and caused Bolg to tumble over her onto a few steps below her.

He recovered quickly, and leaped at her, his mace swinging down. Alenia rolled to the side, barely evading the blow, before she slid down the icy stairs, bumping the whole way. As she reached the final step, she planted her feet and stood, lifting her sword with both hands to block the heavy mace that Bolg swung down at her yet again.

"You tried to kill Kili." she growled, side-kicking him in the stomach and causing him to stumble back a step.

"He will still die. After I kill you." Bolg said, a hideous smile gracing his face, as he swung again, forcing Alenia to spin and avoid the swipe.

"Then I guess I'm going to have to kill you first." she said, smirking slightly, her eyes murderous, as she lifted her sword in challenge.

Their weapons met again and again, blow for blow, spinning and twisting to evade each other, before striking once more. Until the orc swung at Alenia again, causing her to bring her sword up and leaving her stomach unprotected, as he withdrew his mace as quick as a snake and side-kicked her into a stone wall.

The Ranger hit the wall with a crash, her sword skittering across the stone floor, as she landed sprawled on the floor. Bolg walked over to her, as she struggled into a seated position, wheezing slightly and glaring defiantly as he lifted his mace once more.

That's when a loud crash sounded next to them, and the two turned to watch as Legolas charged at them over a newly-formed bridge, his sword out. Bolg went to smash his mace down quickly on the Ranger, but Alenia had already moved, and by then Legolas was upon him.

As Legolas and Bolg exchanged blows, Alenia stumbled to her feet a few yards away, and lunged for her fallen sword. She scooped it up and turned just in time to see her uncle force the orc backwards onto the fallen tower, striking and dodging and moving with a grace that only an elven warrior could possess.

As she started to move to help him, someone called her name from above, and she turned to see the boys looking down at her. "It's Thorin!" Fili yelled, pointing to somewhere behind him.

"Go!" Legolas shouted from where he was on the tower with Bolg. He kicked the orc back, before turning to his niece for a brief moment. "I can handle him."

Alenia nodded, before rushing up the stairs, sheathing her sword. She stopped at a landing, and climbed up a fallen piece of stone, before leaping to grab ahold of the edge of the level above her. Fili and Kili reached down to grab her and pull her up, and the trio turned to make their way through Ravenhill to Thorin.

They ducked under archways, and ran down staircases, the clanging of clashing blades getting louder and louder as they moved closer to where the king fought below them.

"This place is a maze." Alenia muttered. "We'll never get there in time."

"We have to." Kili said, as they raced down a staircase, which led them onto a balcony overlooking the icy plain just in time to see Thorin duck under a large stone that Azog had swung at him with the chain it was attached to.

"Where do we go now?" Fili asked.

Alenia glanced around and saw that there were no easy ways down anywhere close to them, and there wasn't a nice patch of wall that she could slice her way down like she had done when she had caught Fili.

A deafening boom sounded below them, and Alenia winced as cracks began to form in the icy surface below the fighting pair, splitting their slippery battlefield apart.

"We've got to go back up, come on!" she yelled, before bounding up the stairs they had just come down, and taking a left down a passageway, the two brothers following after her.

As the trio rounded a corner, Alenia had to throw herself into a backwards bend, as an orc's sword came swiping right at her head. Kili's own blade slid out above her, and deflected the blow, before slicing the orc's head off. Fili pulled Alenia up from her awkward half-squatting, half-bridge position that she had found herself in before they were off once more, though this time, the half-elf's sword was drawn and ready.

The passageway opened up onto another balcony much closer to the ground, and the trio's eyes swept across the frosty river below them, before latching onto Thorin's lone figure a ways down from where they stood.

"Where's Azog?" Kili asked.

"Did Thorin win?" Alenia echoed.

"He must've." Fili said.

"This doesn't feel right." she mumbled, as the dwarven king on the frozen river walked away from them, staring down at the ice as he moved.

Thorin paused, before letting out a pained gasp that was barely audible from where Alenia and the brothers stood, as a blade slid upwards, cutting through his foot.

Azog leaped out of the water, crashing through the thick sheets of ice like it was a piece of paper, stabbing down with his horrific metal arm, which Thorin barely managed to stop with his own blade, his hands digging into the sharp steel of it.

"No!" Fili shouted, as Alenia went for her bow. She dragged it off of her shoulders, but when she went for an arrow, her hand closed around air.

"Shit. I'm out." she gasped, dropping her bow to the ground as she moved to leap from the balcony and run towards Thorin, the brothers on her heels.

But the brothers and the Ranger stopped at the edge, frozen in horror, as Thorin pulled his sword away from where it was held above his body, allowing Azog's blade to sink into his chest.

"Thorin!" Fili screamed, and Alenia lifted a hand to her mouth in horror. Kili let out a small, choked sound that broke the half-elf's heart.

Azog smiled cruelly down at the dwarven king, who lifted his own blade and stabbed the orc, causing the hideous smile to drop off of his face. Thorin flipped Azog, and drove his sword in deeper, cracking the ice below.

As the wounded king knelt atop the body of his enemy, Alenia pushed the brothers forward.

"Come on." she said softly.

The trio moved to the edge of the balcony, and dropped to the ground below them, bending their knees to dull the impact, before taking off into a sprint, as Thorin struggled to stand up and stumble towards the edge of a frozen waterfall that tumbled off the side of Ravenhill.

"No." Kili whispered, as the trio slid to a stop beside the king. "Gods no."

"Thorin," Fili said, his voice cracking, as he and Alenia grabbed the king on either side, the pair's arms wrapping around his waist and gently laying him down onto the ice. "Thorin, please."

Thorin smiled softly, reaching up to stroke his elder nephew's cheek. "You are their king now."

"No." Fili sobbed. "I'm not ready. You- you were supposed to lead them."

"You're ready. And I couldn't be prouder." Thorin turned to face Kili and clutched his younger nephew's hands. "Of both of you."

Tears were flowing down the princes' cheeks, and Alenia closed her eyes as a tear of her own slipped down her cheek.

"Take care of our people." Thorin said. "And each other." He looked to the half-elf who was kneeling beside Kili. "Try to make sure they don't get into too much trouble."

"I will." she swore, smiling sadly, as more tears dripped down her face.

Rapid footsteps came towards them, as Bilbo rushed for the fallen king. As the hobbit slid to a stop beside Thorin's body, Alenia sat back on her heels, watching. Her heart began to sink lower and lower in her chest as Bilbo and Thorin spoke, the hobbit's voice slipping into a sad, pleading tone.

And when Thorin let out a final sigh, Alenia bowed her head and gathered Kili in her arms, as the Son of Durin passed into the next world, leaving his nephews, friends and kingdom behind.

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a/n:

this hurt to write

also, hi. i'm back to wrap this story up and move on to the sequel :))

sorry this was kind of short, hopefully i'll have the next one up sooner and it'll be longer

- ash xx