The road to Ost Forod - part 2
Read part 1 here.
Their stay in Hobbiton was a pleasurable one, it was rather quiet in the morning and so were Hilfar and Ullfar for once. They stood up early and gathered all their supplies after a nice warm breakfast served at the inn. They took the north road, they passed little bridges over small rivers, they entered a pine forest and a halfling lumber camp until around noon they arrived at Brockenborings. They were close to the greenfields and the northern border of the Shire. Before they headed north a bounder warned to thread with care as the goblin activity had grown lately. The sheep herders kept their sheep closer to town than they normally would. They had little choice but to go for it, the narrow passage to Oatbarton was the only road. Silently they walked over the green fields keeping their eyes peeled.
All seemed silent enough and the narrow passage was getting closer. Suddenly Ulllfar stopped and pointed at what seemed like totems in the distance. Hilfar saw it too and climbed on a hill with a single tree to get a closer look. Hilfar saw goblin encampents against the hills, many fires were burning and a lot of activity within the camp. Suddenly a small statured creature jumped out of the tree on Hilfar, it had a short rusty blade. Hilfar reacted by shielding his arms before his face. The goblin was rather small, but fierce in behavior. He tried to dig his blade in Hilfars chest, but Hilfar managed to get a firm grip on his blade hand. He squeezed his arm forcing him to let go of the blade. With his right hand he grabbed his throat and pushed him against the tree. The goblin cackled a high pitched laugh, "too late dwarf! They know your here. Gralg will get you! Gralg will kill you! Gral...." Crack! Hilfar broke his neck like a twig.
Hilfar dropped the vile creature and looked sideways to the large goblin camp and froze of fear. Hundreds and hundreds of small statured figures were running out of the camp in their direction. When he snapped out of his amazement he ran off the hill towards the goods-laden poney and shouted to Ullfar "Run! Ride! Get out of here!". Ullfar did not understand at first but drew his sword none the less. Hilfar tried to mount the poney which had no saddle, the poney protested under all the extra weigth. Ullfar heard the screams of an approaching goblin army and spurred the poney forward "Follow me son!". Hilfar held on to the manes of the heavy loaded horse which out of instinct followed the other poney. They galloped to the narrow passage which was covered by overhanging trees, Hilfar had a hard time holding on as the poney blindly followed the front rider.
A dozen goblins tried to cut their path and arrived sooner at the passage, they climbed the trees and stood ready to ambush both mounted dwarfs. As they entered the passage the goblins tried to throw themselves on top of them. Ullfar was swinging his blade around him wildly, he let out a fierce battle cry "Khazad-ai-menu!". A goblin jumped on Ullfars horse but was quickly thrown off again by a swing of his blade. Another goblin landed on the potion crate that was bound on the backside of Hilfars poney. The rope that binded the crate snapped, both goblin and potion crate flew off the poney and hit the ground hard. The crate bursted open and all the homebrewn potion phials were shattered on the ground. Among them were some disease cures but also phials with fire oil concentrate. Meanwhile Ullfar was cutting a way through the goblin ambush and reached the end of the passage. The big goblin hoard started to enter the passage behind them as both dwarfs made it out on the other side. As the narrow passage filled with goblins, some torch bearers accidentally lit the fire oil concentrate that lay smouldering on the floor. An explosion was heard and a fire haze filled the narrow passage. Goblins burning, screams of agony, their assault was broken and they scattered into the woods.
Hilfar and Ullfar did not look back until they saw the southern border of the town Oatbarton. The poneys nearly dropped to the ground out of exhaustion, Hilfar and Ullfar dismounted and lay on the ground breathing heavy out of shock. Bounders of Oatbarton gathered around them all armed with either bows or spears. One of the bounders yelled "Dwarfs! They are dwarfs! The goblins were after them!" A crowd of halflings gathered on the southern edge of Oatbarton, looking at the few burning trees near the narrow gap. Hilfar and Ullfar stood up and faced the captain of the bounders, who did not look happy at all.
A bounder scout returned and whispered something to its captain whose expression turned even more grim. He spoke slow but steady "So you stirred the goblins, look what you have done. We lost the only road that connects us to the Shire, thanks to you two!". The dwarf traders could not believe their ears "Bah! This is not of our making!". The bounder captain ignored their words and continued "You are not welcome here, your presence endangers our village, you need to leave immediately." Hilfar and Ullfar were appaled by these accusations but were still to shocked to utter something in defence. Hilfar spoke up "Wait! Let us send word back to our halls, they will awnser our plea for aid and send warriors to deal with the goblin menace". The bounder captain was weighing his words in silence. Hilfar continued "The longbeards know how to deal with goblins! Trust me on this". The bounder captain finally agreed to this. Hilfar ripped a journal page and writes a plea for aid to Warmaster Thogen, he folds the note and hands it to the bounder "Send this to Thorins halls." The captain gave it to another bounder who immediately searched for a raven, "you will be escorted to the northern border of Oatbarton, from there please take your leave". And so it happened, both dwarfs walked through their village under escort of bounders while the halfling citizens threw angry looks at them, some of them scanded "Trouble makers!" or "Get out! Peace disturbers!". Ullfar grumbled and muttered, silently cursing all the halflings out of frustration.
With a troubled mind they left civilised lands facing unfamiliar roads. Hilfar cursed as all his potions were lost during the attack. He still had the requested ingredients and the polished gems, but this journey would certainly not make him a profit. They could not go back as the goblins blocked their path and so they decided to go on with their journey until they found a safe haven.
Read part 3 here
