All's Far in Love and War

Chapter 16: Three Lives Gone Part One

Third Person POV:

On the battlefield, Thorin defeats an orc. He calls out to Dain, who is not far away. "Dain!"

"Thorin!" Dain smiled, "Hold on! I'm coming!" They continue killing orcs, all the while getting closer to each other. "Hey cousin, what took you so long?!" In a brief respite, they are able to meet and hug. "There's too many of these buggars, Thorin. I hope you've got a plan."

Thorin looks up and sees the hilltop on which Azog's wooden machines and signalling orders. "Aye - We're going to take out their leader!"

"Azog..." Dain whispered. Dain's attention was caught by the sight of a snow leopard. "Is that a-"

Thorin followed his cousin's sight and spotted Flora in her animal form "That is Flora Baggins. From the Shire. And yes she is a skin-changer."

Thorin strides forward and mounts a large goat that Dain's army had brought. "I'm gonna kill that piece of filth! Azog not Flora."

Thorin, Dwalin, Fili, and Kili, each on a goat, charge toward Azog's hill, smashing through the Orc armies in their way.

"Lead on!" Dwalin urges. Flora's ears perk up and her head snaps in their direction. She finishes the orc in front of her and goes after the four dwarves.

Back in Dale, Gandalf watches human spearmen and archers kill a massive troll.

"We may yet survive this." Gandalf smiles shortly.

"GANDALF!" Bilbo shouts. Gandalf kills an orc, then hurries over to where Bilbo is standing at the wall and watching Thorin, Dwalin, Fili, and Kili ride up a spur of the mountain to where Azog is. "It's Thorin!"

"And Fili, Kili...and Dwalin. He's taking his best warriors!" Gandalf smiles, "Looks like Flora is following them without them knowing"

"To do what?" Bilbo asked, not hearing Flora's name in that sentence.

"To cut the head off the snake." Gandalf explains.

Atop the hill, Azog hears the sound of goat hooves, and he snarls. Thorin and Co. reach some ruins on top of the hill, killing orcs along the way; there is a frozen river between them and where Azog is.

Legolas and Tauriel arrive back in Dale together on a horse; they charge through the streets, killing orcs on their way. They come to where Gandalf is standing.

"Gandalf!" Legolas says short breathed.

"Legolas... Legolas Greenleaf!" Gandalf sighed in relief.

"There is a second army! Bolg leads a force of Gundabad orcs. They are almost upon us!" Legolas explained.

"Gundabad...This was their plan all along. Azog engages our forces, then Bolg seeps in from the north." Gandalf grunted.

"Wha...the north...where is the north, exactly?!" Bilbo asked.

"Ravenhill." Gandalf turns and strides over to the parapets to look at the hill where Thorin went; that is Ravenhill.

"Ravenhill...Thorin is up there! And Fili and Kili - they're all up there!" Bilbo urged, "My DAUGHTER is up there!"

At the sound of Kili's name, Tauriel is alarmed. Together, they all look out toward the top of Ravenhill, which is shrouded in mist.

Thorin and Co. are still fighting in the ruins across the frozen river from Azog's stronghold. Having defeated all the enemies at present, they look out across the river at the ruins in which Azog was last seen; his wooden signalling machines are visible through the mist.