[Novnarwen]

There was no time to think, no time at all. "ORCS!" Dwalin yelled desperately. "ORCS!" he continued, helplessly. "I noticed they were Orcs," Durin said alarmingly through gritted teeth. "Now run!"

The two dwarves found themselves running like crazy. Both were stricken by panic, and none dared to look back. They heard the foul Orcs behind, shrieking and laughing evilly. As he heard them snigger and call for them, Dwalin could think of nothing other than running back to the camp and to the others. However, he realised that if the Orcs kept this speed (and they kept their speed), they would probably be dead and buried before they ever saw another dwarf again. Dwalin shuddered, but ran on as he saw he was falling behind. He fluttered his arms, hoping he would catch a good wind which would make him fly away from this horrid place. There was no wind.

For a second, they both stopped behind a huge tree trunk, catching their breath.

"We are so . . dead?" Dwalin said miserably.

"No, we are not. Come on, be positive!"

"Positive!? We have a dozen with Orcs behind us and you tell me to be positive! I'll remind you of that statement when we're dead!" Dwalin said aggressively, suggesting that they should make a run for it, before the Orcs actually grabbed them and killed them.

"What we need is a hiding spot," Durin explained calmly.

"Like ... where? A Tree?"

Durin wasn't able to reject to this suggestion, before Dwalin was pushing him up the tree and afterwards hearing Durin make his way up to the top. Dwalin, unfortunately, smashed his head into one of the branches and fell down onto the ground. He let out a little shriek, but helped himself up again as he saw the Orcs coming closer. Had they spotted him? Of course. He fought desperately to get hold of a new branch, hearing Durin, from above, calling to him about several good branches ahead. "I don't care about those ahead! I care about getting up!" Dwalin called back, shaking. He tried to calm himself down, but he realised that the branch was too high and he was too short. He would never manage to get up there.

Time started to run. Paces away, the Orcs were gathering to get them, but Dwalin saw no other choice than to try. Moving swiftly on to another tree, he grabbed the lowest branch he could get hold of, and pulled himself onto it. The rest was easy. Soon he sat in the top, satisfied by his accomplishment. In the neighbour tree, Durin sat nervously and just below the Orcs grinned evilly.

"Durin?" Dwalin suddenly burst out. What a stupid idea, he thought shuddering. "Who said Orcs can't climb?!" Dwalin asked, not daring to look down anymore, frightened that the Orcs would come up and seize him by the wrist and force him down, or worse; just fell the tree.

"You pushed me into this!" Durin exclaimed.

It was true. Dwalin had in fact pushed him up in the tree, and now they were done. There was no way out. The two of them were separately stuck, as in: very stuck, at the top of two high trees.