[maikafanawen]

"Ihwesta! What are we doing! We can't get out!" Arië yelled.

"Stay together," the eldest tracker said firmly. "And fight." So they did. It was a madness that had cast its net over them and given them a devilish strength. Like wasps protecting their nest they horned in on their foe and smote them.

Arië, the youngest seemed to grow to an empowered height and bore down on the orcs with the cruel grace of a striking snake. Taurëwen, who all looked upon as a gentle and benevolent person, was now full of hatred and she loosed her wrath on the maltreatment of Greenwood. Even though the water had filled him and the current pounded his body, Reynion also gave more than his all, fighting gallantly alongside his companions. Finally Ainemetion appeared from where he'd been taken, joining his friends and pouncing upon the enemy as a cat would its unsuspecting prey. Ceros led them all with the will and commanding presence of a god. His strength was unchallenged by the hordes of orcs that rained down upon them.

How they all hated the darkness that had plagued their realm! Ihwesta was moving in a quick and fluid fashion, refusing to pause and give the goblins a standing target for even a second. Now with just seven against the score of orcs that came upon them, her sense of hope flickered like a candle in the wind. Yet she fought on, oblivious to the strain on her wearied muscles, and the cuts and scrapes from the wild swings of goblin scimitars.

Suddenly, their lost companion united in the battle. Gilbereth with one hand had a newfound energy and he tossed himself carelessly into the web of certain death. Ihwesta smiled. His determination had renewed her drive for the moment and she plunged her sword into the bowls of the retched. But her glory was short-lived.

There was a tremble in the earth and the orcs began to squeal and run off into the woods. The larger goblins stayed though and fought on, keeping the elves rooted to their fighting stances as the unseen enemy drew closer.

"Pull away!" shouted Ceros, trying to get the elves to run from the clearing between the forest and river's bank. It was fruitless. For every step an elf took farther away, a goblin was there to beat him back and soon, they would all be separated. Then the beast that was the size of ten small orcs packed in one broke through the wall of trees and crushed a goblin under its foot. It was a hill-troll, come down from the Misty Mountains and across the Glâdden Fields by some miracle untouched by the sun to reach Greenwood unscathed.

"Dear Eru...." Ihwesta gasped. "RUN!" Breaking through the net of orcs, that appeared docile compared to this new monster, they made their way through the dense forest away from the clearing, listening with unsurpassed fear as the troll barreled through the trees after them....