[Estel the Descender]

Estel’s Post:

'What do you make out there, up ahead? I see shadows moving. And a barge upon the water.' Ælfritha called out to Malienna and Maikadurion, as she feared her horses would be taken beyond her reach, 'Come, ride!'

But even as Béowulf, Corrin and Léod heard Ælfritha's cry, Anglachel also called out, 'Look! Horsemen to our rear!'

Horsemen? thought Béowulf, By Helm, wolf-riders! They have come from the Entwash!

'Ælfritha!' called Béowulf, I will face these orcs!'
Then he turned to Corrin and said, 'You will have to get off, Master Corrin. Go with Ælfritha and fulfil your oath!'

Corrin answered firmly, 'Nothin' doin', horse-master! You face them with me!'

'Look, friend', said Béowulf, 'There is an entire troop of mounted orcs and a dwarf who, well. . .'

'Who cannot keep his seat?' finished Corrin, 'Then should I fall off I shall fight them on the ground and keep them busy enough so that you can do whatever you have to do. Wait! let me finish! I know that you are trying to get me angry enough so that I would not stay with you anymore, but it won't work! You cannot get rid of me that easily! Just a sec, I’m not done yet! I will not leave a comrade again, like I did Izrênna and Deorlin! Please do not interrupt me! I am going to fight beside you, you hear! I happen to be a veteran of--'

'Alright, ALRIGHT!' interrupted Béowulf, 'You are with me! Hold on to my belt so that you can get a firm seat and use your weapon.'

Béowulf added, 'You really talk too much, Master Corrin!'

'Yeah, yeah, yeah,' said Corrin, 'Are we just standing here or are we going to fight?'

Béowulf urged Léod forward with a cry and they charged, Béowulf holding his spear above his head as if to hurl it while Corrin held his axe poised to strike. In the meantime, Ælfritha called out to the others to follow her, saying, 'Come! Béowulf has given us time! Quick, before the thieves escape!'

Man, dwarf and horse charged straight into the enemy formation. 'Cwelan!' cried Béowulf as he hurled his spear. The spear struck the eye of the lead wolf-rider who fell off its mount. Quickly shifting his shield to his right hand, the man drew his sword from his left side with his left hand. With the sword he slashed the throat of the wolf whose rider was slain by the spear. As other wolf-riders closed in, Béowulf would either strike them, both rider and wolf, or parry the blows aimed at him.

Beneath Béowulf's shield Corrin swung his axe with his right hand as he gripped Béowulf's belt with his left. Corrin cried
, 'Strike their mounts! they cannot fight without their wolves! And wolf necks are a closer target! And even as he cried, his axe swung down upon a wolf's neck, causing it to stumble along with its rider. Béowulf followed suit and began striking at the wolves first before the orcish riders.

Léod would kick anyone or anything that came up behind them and trample on those that would come before them. Any rider who has lost its wolf to either the sword of Béowulf or the axe of Corrin was rendered helpless to the hooves of the mearh. Sometimes Léod would push forward, sometimes he would walk backwards, trampling upon the fallen orcs. Sometimes the mearh would quickly wheel away from a cut or thrust meant either for him or his own riders. Then, biting here and there, Léod would suddenly crash headlong into a wolf, knocking it off-balance, and either Corrin or Béowulf would finish it off, both crying their battlecries.

For gúðhréð! Forþ tó beadu! Hading! Tó beadu!

Khazâd ai-mênu! Baruk Khazâd ai-mênu! Izrênna!

Thus, despite the fury of the orcish attack man, dwarf and horse were for the present unharmed.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0 ~0~0~0~0

The charge slowed down the wolf-riders but did not stop them. Several of them went after Ælfritha's group. Seeing them come, Maikadurion wheeled his horse back and drew his sword. Charging the borrowed horse, he would cut all who would come close enough to him. The wolf-riders halted their advance and quickly surrounded the half-elf.

Big mistake.

Maikadurion in an instant leapt from his horse onto the nearest wolf while slashing its rider. With his next stroke, he killed the wolf even as it tried to bite him.

Leaping once again, he began to systematically cut the throats of every wolf and rider he encountered. Swerving clear of the riders' blades and spears, Maikadurion proceeded to incapacitate the other wolves. Soon, all orcs have lost their mounts.

Twenty orcs and almost double that number of wolves lost their lives to Maikadurion's blade.

Demoralised, the remaining orcs surrounded the half-elf once again, this time hesitantly. Thirteen goblins attacked, screaming their harsh battlecries.

All thirteen orcs were dead in thirty seconds.

Remounting the borrowed horse, Maikadurion rode swiftly to rejoin Ælfritha's group.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0 ~0~0~0~0

Inspite of the skill, fury and cooperation of man, dwarf and horse, the greater numbers of the Orcs soon had the upper hand and Léod was obliged to retreat towards the Anduin, some distance north of where the barge was first sighted.


Gryphon Hall’s Post:

Though they were making the orcs pay for every inch of ground they took, they were getting wounded. Blades kept coming from every direction, seeking to maim and kill, but for the skill of the man, horse and dwarf they would have. However, even Corrin, suited in armor began feeling the bite of black steel.

Léod was moving sideways, facing south, so that their relatively protected right side was exposed. There was a great many of them but they cannot get near for fear of Béowulf. But one orc, dismounted now that his warg was dead, tried to go for Léod’s rump, his curved blade raised high. They were now just ten yards away from the river, when Corrin saw the orc come. He let go of Béowulf’s belt, took his throwing axe and as he fell backward hurled it at the attacker. Corrin never saw the axe bury itself between the eyes of the orc; now he had to hold his ground as horse and rider was still driven back. Shifting his heavy two-handed axe to his left hand, he threw his last throwing axe with his injured right arm at the throng, then drew his broad-bladed sword. Then, following Béowulf, he fought.

Béowulf had, by now, shifted his shield to the left and his sword to the right. His sword swung many times, cleaving many a goblin neck, but still on they came. Corrin did his best to stay as far away from the kicking legs of Léod without getting himself isolated away from the horse. ‘I am a veteran of the Battle of the Five Armies! I survived! I triumphed!’ cried Corrin, unheard above the din of the orcs pressing around. ‘I will not die today!’

They were by the water’s edge by now, trying very hard not to be flanked, but it was becoming difficult: there was just too much dead, and the orcs climbed over their comrades to attack them. There was no bank, but something like a small cliff with water lapping at edge. This, of course, helped them from being encircled from behind, but they were in danger of slipping in themselves. Corrin had been using his own body to shield Béowulf and Léod from the more dangerous strikes; strong though the armor of the dwarves are, Corrin, too, was getting injured. And a lot of the blades still hit Léod or Béowulf, all of them getting bloodied.

Corrin then had the irresistable urge to break free, and madness seemed to overcome him as he made a desperate rush to where the orcs (living and dead) seemed to be thickest.

For a while, he actually seemed to open a gap for them to go through. Then the press of orcs on him became to great, and he stumbled. As the orcs started to strip him of his armor, he heard the horrible scream of the horse as a blade struck. Corrin, struggled up, his hauberk and helm gone now and stabbed and cut several more orcs.

‘GHAAAAAAARRRRGGHHHH!!!’ Corrin screamed as he turned and charged the group of orcs being held at bay by the sword of Béowulf. Corrin’s own sword stuck and broke on one of the orcs as he took them all with him down into the waters of the Anduin. With his remaining weapon, his father’s two-handed axe, he continued to hew and hack at his enemies, but his eyes strove for the water’s edge, hoping to see Béowulf and Léod escape.

But the water bore him away swiftly, and he saw no more.

Estel’s Post:

Seeing their friend fall, Béowulf and Léod fought with renewed fury.

But in vain.

Without the dwarf to protect them, both rider and horse were being wounded liberally. Béowulf made one mighty stroke with his sword and the weapon cleaved through the helm of one orc. Yet the sword broke at the hilt and Béowulf, seeing his father’s sword destroyed, cried in grief and anger. He threw the useless hilt at the horde.

Another goblin, armed with a mace, swung upward at Béowulf. The rider, seeing the peril, attempted to block the club. But the force of the blow broke Béowulf’s arm and the mace-head caught his chin.

Béowulf swayed on his saddle for an instant then fell off into the freezing water. Léod kicked the goblin with the mace and then leaped into the water to his master and friend.


Gryphon Hall’s Post:

Corrin had killed his last orc, but he was still floating swiftly down the Anduin. He was struggling to keep his head above water, but would not let go of the heavy axe, the only thing left to him. ‘No, I shall die before I lose this,’ thought Corrin. ‘This last of all. . .’ His right arm was broken and useless, but with his left he grasped the axe, and saw an outcrop of rock on the west side of the river. Beside it was a small bank. With a heave, he drove the axe into it and stopped his progress down the river. ‘I knew I wouldn’t die. But the poor lad and beast, I left them! Woe is me! I have never left a comrade, nor a friend,’ wailed Corrin. He was weeping openly now. ‘And I have just left two to the mercy of those orcs.’

How long he hung there, being buffeted by the waters, he didn’t know. He felt weak, cold and despondent, he hung there, unwilling for now to pull himself to the safety of the bank. Then he saw a struggling speck upstream, making splashes as it was borne down. It was Léod! But were was Bé- NO! Béowulf was on Léod, but was slumped on the saddle, seemingly dead. ‘No, lad! NO! Not like this!’ He could see Léod’s struggling getting weaker, as his wounds sapped his life’s blood down the waters. Béowulf, too, had wounds. But there was no time to waste! Gathering his last ounce of strength, he shoved his broken arm through the leather loop at the end of his axe and in one smooth motion turned around in a way that momentarily hid the horse as it passed by, but grabbed the harness at the last possible moment. The broken arm stretched and felt like tearing, but Corrin held on. ‘I am a veteran, a brave veteran, a stout dwarf,’ thought Corrin in his mind, then yelled, ‘OF THE LONELY MOUNTAIN!’

But the horse was too heavy and he felt the reins slipping. Then he heard a sickening crack and a wash of pain went over him. He forgot everything then, not seeing his left hand let go, not feeling the broken arm slip limply out of the axe's leather loop. Water closed over his face. Sigh, Corrin thought sadly, If it ends this way, it ends this way. If I had saved the lad and the bothersome beast, it would have counted for something. I guess it's better this way: Dáie would have been ashamed. I wish Bethberry gives the gear I left at the White Horse to Darrin. I wish I could have seen Dáie one more time. I wish-’

Estel’s Post:

A splash, then nothingness.

[ February 06, 2003: Message edited by: Estel the Descender ]