(PTII)Defenders of Middle Earth: A Middle Earth Story(Book 4)

Chapter 23: Dawn

Brand awoke to see Dain's bearded face where the troll's had been, his features fierce with battle-lust. 

"Wake up, lad, wouldn't want you to miss all the fightin'!" The dwarven king laughed as he knocked aside an Easterling with his warhammer. Brand rose slowly, but as he rose a wave of excruciating pain shot through his right arm. Dain's eyes widened as he looked at it. 

"Woah there, that arm ain't gonna do ya no good!" He held out Brand's sword, extending the hilt to the king. "I hope yer left arm's just as useful!" 

Brand took the blade and looked down at his arm. His forearm was bent at an unnatural angle, and his elbow appeared completely out of joint. He frowned and let it fall to his side. 

"I can still fight. What did I miss?" He asked, surveying the battlefield. 

"Quite a bit laddie! You may have noticed, for one, that we're not in that bloody trench anymore, we're in a different one!" Dain quickly struck down an orc and almost casually turned to look at the Daleman. "We got pushed back! The Eastmen now have all of the trenches but this one! Oh. All your men are gone, I'm afraid to say. Most of mine too." 

"So how many are here with us?" Brand asked skeptically. 

"Countin' us?? Two!" Dain grinned and shook his head. 

"You're mad!" Brand exclaimed angrily. "Why didn't we retreat further??" 

"Aye, I'm most definitely mad, but there wasn't nowhere to retreat to! We're completely surrounded!" 

As Brand looked around, he saw that the dwarven king was right. Somehow Easterlings and Haradrim had moved between them and the gate, and the only way they'd be able to make it through was by wading through hundreds of enemy soldiers. 

"How exactly do you plan to get out of this predicament?" Brand asked.

"It just so happens that the Easterlings have these really nice wagons... Wains as they call 'em. Wouldn't be too hard to steal one!" 

Brand put a hand to his head in exasperation. "That's really all you've got?? We might as well hop atop one of those giant warbeasts and hope it listens to us!"

"Ooh! What an idea!" Dain exclaimed, the sarcasm completely lost on him, before shaking his head. "No, that'd probably be overkill. Besides, there's a wain right now!" 

Brand turned to see a bronze chariot, pulled by two massive warhorses, thundering toward them. The driver was slumped over the front of it, an arrow in his back, and any other occupants had evidently been killed already. Without a word of warning. Dain leapt on top of it as it roared by, and gave a shout of sheer excitement as he grabbed the reins. Brand quickly followed suit, his leap significantly less graceful. He pulled himself up onto the wain and reached for the bow that was strapped to its side. 

"I hope you're a good shot with that thing," Dain growled. He steered the wain into a group of advancing Haradrim, sending them all flying to either side to avoid the scythes that were attached to the wheels. 

Brand attempted to pull the bow back, but winced in pain as his arm dropped back to his side. "I won't be much use, I'm afraid," he told Dain ruefully. 

"Use your sword! Try and lop off some heads as we pass!" 

Brand drew his sword, watching for any orcs or Easterlings that came too close. 

"Woohoo!" The dwarf exclaimed as he ran over a hapless orc. "Take that ya crooked-toothed scum!" 

Brand shook his head and laughed. "You know, this might actually work!"