Dragon Heart

Chapter 2

No one's POV 

Jacob and his friends along with what remained of their forces were happily riding towards their keep. Their soldiers could be heard laughing and making jokes about the Horde and how they once again failed to take control of the pass.  

Arwen looked back and saw that several human soldiers were pulling carts behind their mounts, and within the carts, her wounded soldiers lay grunting in pain as healers were working hard to heal them with medicine and magic. 

A sigh left her lips while a frown came over her face.  She tried her best to hide her emotions and looked forward again hoping no one would see but she was wrong. Jacob and Thorin noticed her and wanted to cheer her up a bit. 

They both got on either side of her and Thorin said. 

Thorin's POV 

Thorin riding up beside his elven friend gave a small chuckle and then said. 

Thorin: "Why the long face my friend? You defeated our foes, and survived to tell the tail." He said happily. 

The elf girl looked down at her friend and with a saddened sigh said. 

Arwen: " Well it's just that I lost almost half of my squadron." She said sadly. "And We allowed the enemy to get so close to us and..." 

Just as she was about to continue when Jacob reached over and put a hand on her shoulder causing her to look over at him. 

Jacob: "It's not your fault Arwen. Our enemy is growing stronger and more deadly." He said plainly. "And I know losing your men is hard, but you managed to save most of them, so now you need to continue the fight until we have avenged them." 

Arwen listened to the words of her friend and a small smile came across her face. she reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder and said. 

Arwen: "Thank you my friend I will remember that." 

Jacob: "Indeed." He said removing his hand and continuing to ride on. "Now let us return to our keep so that we can tend to the wounded." 

Thorin: "And fill our bellies with food and strong drink." He said happily. " After that fight, I'm starving." 

Arwen and Jacob let out a few hearty laughs at their dwarven comrade. The dwarf joined in and soon all three of them laughed a bit as they began to leave the forest. Just then Jacob looked ahead and said. 

Jacob: "There she is home sweet home." He said motioning forward. 

No one's POV

Arwen, Thorin, and the rest of the soldiers all looked in the direction Jacob pointed and quickly saw their fort. 

It was a massive fortress that was built just a few yards outside of the forest. The fort was built as a first-line defense against any and all threats to the Alliance from the mountain pass. Originally at the start of the Horde invasion, the fort was taken by the Horde and used as a stronghold. 

After the Alliance drove the Horde all the way back through the mountains they ended up retaking the fort, and after some repairs returned it to its full glory once again. 

The entire keep was constructed out of stone and was able to sustain around eight hundred soldiers which included humans, elves, and dwarves. The main walls were fully constructed out of stone and stood thirty feet tall and fifteen feet thick. Towers lined the middle and corners of the walls and provided much-needed protection. Along with the massive walls ballistas were placed on each of the towers and even the towers on the main keep were equipped with these deadly weapons.