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Carlas's Post
The sun was high in the sky as the two dwarves walked through the small forest. The day was cool and clear and a soft breeze glided gently through the air, brushing at the dwarves beards. The forest was calm and quiet, but perhaps a little too quiet…
“It is good that we finally get a bit of a rest.” Durin said as he bent over to pick up some wood. “After being in Erebor for the last couple of years, I seem to have forgotten how much work it is being on a journey like this.” Dwalin laughed. “You are younger than me, yet you talk as if you were twice my age!” Durin laughed loudly at this. “I don’t hear that too often, normally it is quite the opposite! Though I have been quieter these last few days…”
“Why would that be?” Asked Dwalin curiously. “Oh, it is silly really” Durin replied, dropping a stick on the ground. “This is the first time I have travelled anywhere without my father. It is not as if I need him, but it feels different not having him here with me.” Dwalin nodded sympathetically and the two went quiet.
As Durin bent over to pick up the stick he had dropped, he heard Dwalin throw all of the wood he had been carrying on the floor, and before he could figure out what had happened he felt a large weight push him forward into a small clump of reeds. He turned onto his back quickly to see Dwalin on the ground beside him and a large spear sticking up out of the ground right where he had been standing only seconds ago. He pulled himself up onto his feet and looked around the area, but found no footprints. Where had the spear come from?
“In the tree!” Dwalin said as he stood up beside Durin. Durin looked back over to where he had been standing and saw an arm reaching down out of the tree just above the spear. Thinking quickly, Durin pulled out his hatchet and threw it as hard and fast as he could, but the arm was too fast. It shot back up into the tree and once the hatchet hit the trunk it grabbed onto the spear quick as lightening, and pulled it up into the tree. The two dwarves cursed sharply and took out their axes, holding them high above their heads. “A tree orc…” Durin mumbled to himself.
The two stood silently, watching the leaves above them for some kind of movement. Just as Durin was starting to think that they might be safe the spear shot down, just narrowly missing Dwalin’s arm. Dwalin grabbed the spear and snapped it across his knees before throwing it down onto the path while Durin swung his axe high above his head into the branches above, hitting the orc hard in the arm. It squealed and they heard it move through the branches away from them.
“Are you alright?” Asked Dwalin as he walked over to Durin.
“I’m fine, you?” He asked back. Dwalin nodded and looked over to where they had left the wood.
“We better be heading back to…” The two stopped quickly and looked over their shoulders. There was a noise coming from down the path, it sounded like it was coming from the trees…! “More of them, a lot more of them!” Durin whispered in surprise. “But they’re coming from the direction where camp is!” Dwalin looked over at him quickly. “We didn’t camp too close to the trees, so the others should be fine, but us…”
The two did not need to say anything else, they knew they couldn’t fight all of those orcs by themselves. They turned and ran.
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