The moon was yet to rise in full by the time that a company of men found themselves a place to rest after an arduous scaling of dreadful dark rock. Hardy they were and tall, not unlike their ancestors from the West. The vitality gifted through their blood by divinity was theirs from long ago and it showed. For few other men in those days would have been able to make that steep climb. Let alone under a dark cloudy nightsky. The surface had plenty of purchase, although slick and sharp most of those jutting rocks are. One false move and some trustworthy servants to their lord would be lost forever.
None of this was worth dwelling on, they made it to the top, all eighty of them. The wind up here was cold, but not as strong as expected and with only a gesture of his gloved hand did he get his men into action. These were no hapless vagabonds left to scrape in the wilds, nor an Orcish raiding party, these were the Men of the West. As confident as they were proud and also capable. They arrived near exactly where they meant to and an ancient stone hut still stood there. The thatched roof long blown off, but the walls still in one piece. Some of the men began unpacking their gear and part of this was to unroll large leather sails that were tied in place to form a roof. In the meantime two men came forth with maps. "Let us proceed over the most recent report.", the leader spoke while stabbing a finger at the thick parchment, right across the far world spanning ridge that is described as the White mountains. "We've never had a more obvious path to follow. Up here we'll remain unseen from unwanted eyes." "My lord Dulguzimra.", the second in command began addressing his officer in Adunaic, "Why did we go all the way out here? Surely it is true we won't be seen, but we could've made it through several passes below and be faster for it." The answer came with a curt shake of his head, "Too often.. strangeness has been happening down that valley. Only a few years before the worst would have been to meet the occasional Orc band. These days however an army that moves swift and enjoys leaving bloody trophies after each skirmish dwells there. It's not worth the risk and in the long it will have been less effort or danger than making it up here. See to it that all men have eaten and rested, by tomorrow morning we leave without breaking our fast. Can you convince them of that Azûlgazar? The handsome man nodded, his grey eyes shining as they do when given a chance to prove himself."
Before long most of them were sound asleep, not a one as much as breathing too deeply and give them away by sound. Dulguzimra went to the edge to observe the world below, he took in a breath of air and exhaled until his lungs were empty. It was dark for certain, but his eyes were sharp and he could make out distant lights of small villages. He could even see a jutting rock far to his left that must no doubt be a landmark where the Anduin river ran. The name at the moment was lost on him, a sign he indeed should get some rest. If only he could figure out from here where Imladris would be.. maybe soon. Then his ears detected a faint noise. Something from below? It couldn't be. He looked down and waited. But there was naught but naked rock, not even a black figure moving against the darkness. He was in no habit to casually dismiss any sound no matter how unlikely it was for there to be any danger. He went back into the house and got two men up to take guard. They did so without complaint and then he would lay down in no more comfortable spot than his men.
The next morning they did as he had told them. No food until later today. Their belongings were packed up and with the little discipline possible in this rocky terrain they continued their march. The sun was only freshly rising, but bright beams came over the horizon and the pink streaked clouds were carried off south by the wind. The day was otherwise uneventful, silence wasn't broken once throughout the better part of the day and it would be evening before they reached their destination and the ones meant to wait for them there. Dulguzimra, looked to either side , rose his hand and spoke to the point, "Check equipment." Without pause the men went over their gear, most had bows with each thirty arrows of fine feathering, a longsword as was their way and two knives. One for the hunt, the other something closer to a shortsword if needed. Beyond that they were dressed for speed and they wore dark leather that for most part matched the landscape and cloaks white on one side if they needed to hide in the snow or charcoal dark for the stoneworks. The only steel protection were their helmets, wrought from a dark iron and decorated with motifs depicting an old betrayed king of long ago days. Still bitterly remembered.Beyond this they had their baggage and all seemed to be in place.
Dulguzimra was about to signal a continued advance, but Azûlgazar broke silence, "Where is Inzilkôr? And Gimilkadar?" The men that were woken to join the guard last night, but surely they were with them in the morning. "What is this foolishness?", the leader began without anger. Azûlgazar looked to the end of the line as if he'd expect both lost men to appear in the back, they did not. "Perhaps a search party? Send a few men back to look for them.", Azûlgazar began and Dulguzimra nodded reasonably, "And when they are found there'll be disciplinary action. Five men, two for each and the final one to run back to us when they are found if unable to catch up for whichever reason. And now onwards."
It was evening again and there they were. Azûlgazar tried to hide his disgust, "Shall we have at them?" Ahead there was another stone hut, a near identical copy of the first. Here however there were Orcs and a few wargs awaiting. If he so wanted he could've sent his men upon that raable and they'd be dead to the last. But that was not why he was here and he moved forward his hand not too far from his sword near this kind. He didn't speak, merely set two fingers on his mouth and whistled loudly. Only that riled the Orcs up from their lazing and from what it seemed drinking. A miserable goblin like creature with enormous watery eyes and red fishlike lips standing out in his pale yellow snout, "You made it here fast and from the looks of it almost full numbers." Dulguzimra blinked with mild confusion, the Orc had barely seen him and somehow had a count of his men? Maybe scouts. "I'm not here to answer to you Orc, speaking of which, you do to me and I will know how you made it up here and indeed you and yours made it here fast too."
The Orc for a moment looked like taking offense, but realizing he didn't have the numbers and how well armed the men were he merely swallowed and replied, "After maybe sixteen years or has it been closer to twenty we finally dug a tunnel underneath the valley and all up here. We finished only a few days ago, look the hole is over there.", the Orc pointed a long nail at the gaping mouth wrested out of the hard rock, "On the way back you can even join us if you want. Spares you a treacherous exercise"
Dulguzimra pondered for a moment, how many more such holes have you lot dug out as such? The Orc shrugged if there are others I would not know. I was told to guard this one and to tell you lot what comes next. We're going to bring you and your fellows downhill, there's a village there full of folk who are handy with their long bows and do all sorts of nasty business with other villages further east. You can handle the men and ..hehe.. me and mine will do the rest of the work to make sure nobody gets to try this ever again.
Still thinking about his lost men he spoke directly and almost threatening, "When it starts to get dark. That is when we'll surprise them in their beds."
The Orc shrugged, "I'm in no hurry to go back. Besides, have you seen any other târk around here?" Dulguzimra didn't like where this was heading, "What of it?"
The Orc waved him to follow and they went behind the stone hut. Dulguzimra was prepared for much, but this baffled him beyond name. Amidst a circle of giggling Orcs there were two heads stuck on poles, their handsome features defaced with hideous clawmarks. The actions of a warg for sure. The man pushed his way through the deformed bodies and within an instant his blade was out. "I never figured Orcs the smartest of creatures, but to.. What treachery is this? How did you lot capture these men and get here so fast with them?" The tip of his sword on the neck of the nearest while his men came swooping in like a bird of prey to deal immediate death on the ragtag scum from the deep. The head Orc rose his hands, "Wait! Wait! That is not our work!" Sweat ran down the rippled yellow skin, "We came here only mere hours ago, the poles were already standing there. Drenched in red with..", and despite himself the Orc grinned, "With those heads decorated on top." The men weren't having it, "Nonsense, you mean to say that your wargs clawed them up and decided to erect some crude totems right after, that could've only been you lot up here!" Perhaps the Orc could've said something, maybe the explanation was only a second examination from being discovered, but it was in that moment a small pack of scouts had snuck up with bows of bone in hand. Without a second thought arrows were sent flying. Dulguzimra roared in pain as a shaft stuck from his sword arm, either a very skilled or very lucky shot. The Orcs pulled their own weapons to bear and the wargs howled so loud the entire valley must've shook with the echoes. Rusty and poisoned blades lashed out against finely crafted dark steel and within moments both parties lay into one another with wanton destruction on their minds. Azûlgazar weaved and ducked with two of his men behind him severing hands and stabbing legs, leaving their foes to bleed out on the hard rock below. At risk for their own lives they pulled their sliced up leader away from the circle and then Arnorian bows sang their song back. The band of Orcs were many, but they were dying fast and in truth it was only the wargs who with solely their bulk managed to drag several of these fighting men down. Rending them to bits until a dozen sword strokes and another dozen arrow shafts had them retching to death.
Most of the men were still wholly untouched bending over their wounded and indeed a few more were now dead. Azûlgazar held his leader's hand, he wasn't going to live surrounded and slashed from all sides. "Bind up the wounded, leave them here and place rocks upon the bodies of the dead, there is no burying anyone here. You are in command now." Azûlgazar nodded, there was nothing to it than continue to the goal on their own, "One thing I do not understand, why would these Orcs ambush us like this? Sure they are Orcs, but.." Dulguzimra spoke, "But they risked their own hides recklessly, most did. Perhaps it was a way for those with their bows to get rid of some rival pack. One never knows with these sorts. I still wonder about how they managed to get our own the way they did and then so which such speed in the night made their way all here only to ..", but as he was working it out his chin fell on his chest and he was no more.
Azûlgazar squeezed his fingertips against his brow for a moment and then told the men what to do. It was getting dark once more, the dead were covered by stones, the wounded were bandaged and simple lean to's were crafted to lay them in. All things considered they did not need the Orcs, during the day several of the men had snuck down and managed to find an ancient path. Here and there metal bars still stuck out to hold on to, who knows which hands crafted these stairs in the long ago. And while this was done there was one final demand, to close up the cavern from which these slime had crawled. If only they had some engineering tools, but the boulders they tirelessly rolled in against what must be a false wall were going to take a long time to get out. Regardless how everything so far had turned out, those villagers below weren't going to see the next sunrise, not the smallest babe would be left to grow up into the next generation of dangers. It wasn't necessary but this was in retaliation for the loss of his leader if nothing else. A handful of men were going to stay for the chance that more foes may appear here. All the others were going to make their descent
The pathway down was speeding up the process, any regular man might've needed a day or two to climb up and down, but they were men of greater vitality and strength. A handful of hours in the morning to come down and up again, but perhaps only two to come down. Eventually they reached a ledge below the ledge, there even was a remnant of a wall here too. One of the men broke silence, "We could set up some men here. We lost some arrows, but we still have enough to rain harm upon those below." Azûlgazar saw the roofs below clearly now. The place was fortified, even from here he could see the grizzly practice of leaving skulls on the wooden walls. A few figures were standing there on watch. None even thought of looking up, that much was clear. They numbered to seventy, ten up here and another sixty below? Yes, that would work.
The sky darkened and iron baskets below were lit. It was just when Azûlgazar was about to give the call screams were tearing through the young night. In crumpled broken heaps several of the men were landing among them. "What is going on?!", one of the men shouted. Azûlgazar looked up and amidst the screams there was a bestial roar there too, "Cursed by all Orcs and their pets!" He knew it was too late for those above, he was going below, but even there voices broke, the element of surprise was being lost fast. "Everyone swords out, the ten of you stay here and watch our backs!" He rushed down with his sixty remaining men. What he did not see is that in this moment a false wall opened and the rearguard with their swords still in the scabbard were given no chance ere also they were sent from this life screaming and roaring in pain themselves. Azûlgazar found himself in the village, but was met by fully armed men wielding shields, spears and several archers of their own. "Surrender now and you may be lucky to live!", one of these little men dared demand. Azûlgazar was of a long noble line and he wasn't going to be at the mercy of these dung smeared outdoor oafs. "Attack!" But unlike he expected there was no support from above, no arrow came down except those from these woodmen. At point blank range protected by that shield wall centuries of experience died right there in moments by men who could not live half as long. Azûlgazar wasn't the last to fall, an arrow landed in his chest and it took a spear thrust to his lean belly then he went down as did almost all his men shortly thereafter.
The next morning there was only one of this company left. He did not waken in the village, nor did he see anyone of his comrades. What he did see is that was lying on a bed, massive, for a moment he wondered if this was a dream. The furniture made him feel as if he was a child and in truth it was enough to almost make him forget the last two days. Then a door opened and the dread he felt before crept into his aching back and shoulders, "Who are..?" A woman, followed by a man. Both being of proportions that made no sense or perhaps he shrunk by some spell? The woman laid the back of her hand against the mighty chest of the man and he halted his forward steps.
"The folk here remember your people as friends and great warriors. The way you worked those Orcs up above you lot did well enough to prove the latter." The man tried to rear himself up, "How..?" "We saw the aftermath. We knew you were there, but had to make sure of your.? How does thou sayeth, allegiances.", there was grim mockery in her voice and the man realized he was still very much in danger. Behind her the man was breathing deeply, clearly trying to keep his temper. She spoke, "We've been following the trail of you lot for near four or five days, you are good at keeping your tracks hidden and you'd have lost us on your climb." He couldn't help himself, "What gave us away?" She laughed, "Two of you lot went on the edge of the stones at night and we could see the wisps of their breath. It wasn't much, but it was enough." "Was it the goblins that took them?", the wounded man asked anew. She shook her head, "No." She didn't embellish beyond saying, "They didn't die immediately, that only happened after they gave up the reason why you fighting men came here. Ransacking villages, doing filthy businesses with Orcs and who knows what other evils. Your own forebears would be ashamed of you if my thoughts were asked on that." The man's pride was stung, "They're only a means to an end." "Some means..", she answered with the mirth from her voice. "True.", he answered, "They proved themselves to be treacherous, but wait you said it wasn't them who took the watchmen." A toothy grin appeared on her face, "I think your friends from the depths below the mountains would've left you be. But I can see why you would think a warg might've been the one doing all that felling. The nights here can be fairly dangerous for those who don't pay toll." "Toll?" The question kept hanging in the air for a moment. He closed his eyes and sighed, "What will be my fate?" "You must pay the toll.", she said, pointing a finger of accusation at him, "You will tell what happened here to your kindred and that if any other dare these passes the same fate will befall them. You've been granted permission to walk back and since the goblins are your friends they'll probably leave you be so long as word doesn't come out. You can use those athletic legs of yours still. That shall be your toll to pay." He hissed in pain, "Who says I won't come back to find either of you. Those were fine men, but they weren't the only ones." She shrugged, "It is pointless to threaten each other with death. We're all clearly willing to face it. But remember, even at your best and ready you couldn't succeed and now you are permanently held back." At first he did not know what she spoke of, but then he lifted his right arm and realize it was gone at the elbow. He blanched ever so slightly. "Consider yourself lucky, the swipe that took that part of you was aimed for your face.", she continued.
He was given baked goods sweetened with honey and left to recover for a while though not permitted to leave the building. He had sworn not to. But then one evening he went to sleep and woke up at a mountain pass. There was no sign of the woman or the man. For a moment he figured all of it must have been a dream. It wasn't. He was still alone and he recognized the place, here he entered the valley with his comrades. At least he would not get lost in the wilds, he looked around him with a bowed head and shoulders. He was passing by a series of poles driven in the rock with tremendous force and upon each rested the heads of both his comrades and the goblins clustered together. Their handsome faces splattered with gore and most expressions clearly displaying the blood curdling agony in the moments before death.
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