Dawn (A Hobbit Fanfic)

Chapter 30 - I am too stubborn to die.

I tried to find my way back to Thorin at the base of the tower. When I got there, I saw Dwalin fighting too many Orcs and Bilbo holding Fili down. Which was for the best, because Fili should definitely not fight right now.
I helped Dwalin out with the Orcs. "Where's Thorin?" I managed when he was in earshot.
"Out on the pond. Fighting Azog no doubt!" he returned.
"The absolute madman!" Honestly, I should not expected less. "You can manage this for a bit?"
"Might be able to."
"Good, because I'm going to help Thorin and afterwards, I'm gonna kill him."

I fought my way to the lake. Thorin was not there fighting Azog, but a small legion of Orcs. I had a few Orcs following me around as well.
Neither groups were trying to kill us, or just did a very bad job. The Orcs targeting me weren't great in numbers, but coordinated their attacks in such a way that it kept my arrows from Thorin's group. They weren't smart enough to simply steal my quiver, and I was no longer sharp enough to be able to dispatch of them quickly.
Then it struck me, they were preparing us for Azog, exhausting us, while Azog sat back and waited for the opportune moment: when we would be too weak to fight on our own.

At least I assume that Azog wanted my blood streaming over his own blade, much as he did Thorin's. It would explain why the Orcs were just jumping at me. I'll have to admit, I was kind of proud that I had annoyed him that much. I guess shooting any guy in the knee will make him dislike you.
They had driven me around the pond so that I could clearly see the tower tumbling down and forming a bridge underneath the waterfall of ice leading away from the frozen pond. Legolas was fighting his share of Orcs on it. He didn't seem to be giving orders to anyone, so he wasn't here as a general. He wasn't wearing armour either. Nonetheless, I was relieved at the news that he was alive but tore my eyes away quickly. What the hell was he doing here anyway?

The intense healing of Fili and then chasing after Kili had left me considerably exhausted. Add that to a few hours worth of running and jumping around, fighting, more jumping, high velocity goat riding, more fighting, getting thrown of a balcony and a week's worth of near sleepless nights and you can conclude that I was fairly tired.
I had only managed to kill three of the fifteen Orcs attacking me, but they weren't aiming to kill, just to further tire me out and keep me from helping Thorin. Or maybe they were aiming to kill but I just refused to die.
I killed one more, and another quickly after, I didn't use my bow, only my daggers and my sword. The arrows were for someone else. I'd probably need most them if the fucker was still mobile after I shot him in the knee.
The attacks of the Orcs increased in ferocity to make up for their diminishing numbers. Soon I found myself not counter attacking anymore, just blocking.

I heard the tower- the bridge collapsing into the chasm, but I couldn't spare a look. One Orc miscalculated his jump and so I was able to kill it. The next one made the same mistake.
With a burst of confidence, I managed to kill the Orcs until there were only five left, then turned the tables and tired them out. Dragging out time until Azog showed his face.

My plan was to pretend that I was too preoccupied with the five remaining Orcs, making Thorin a higher priority target, as a quick glance his way proved that his Orcs were nearly spent too, so Azog would turn his back on me and I could shoot him before he even reached Thorin.
To make it look believable, I let one of my assailants slash my leg. It slashed my face instead. I hadn't accounted for that and he only missed my eye by a hair.
Then I went back to blocking the attacks that were slowly decreasing in both number and ferocity. And a good thing too.
The blood streaming in my eye was half-blinding me, which was slightly inconvenient, as I was planning to shoot accurately within hopefully the next two hours.
It turns out that the Orcs were playing me too. I couldn't get rid of them.
After what seemed like an eternity, Azog finally stepped onto the ice, facing Thorin.

They seemed pretty evenly matched, which was not good, because there was not going to be victor of this battle. Not Azog and not Thorin.
I was too preoccupied with the few Orcs that were left to get a clear shot at Azog, who did not seem to have noticed me yet, which was good, because he wouldn't feel the excessive need to get Thorin between him and me, which would create a risk of me shooting Thorin. Even though that risk was very small, I still couldn't take it, which he would have likely assumed. In my previous facing off with Orcs many decades ago, they occasionally took advantage of the fact that the army I was leading would take shots that could potentially end up in an ally in the heat of battle. The Orcs themselves did not seem to have such problems.
Thorin had also not yet seen me, which was unfortunate, as he wouldn't feel the need to keep Azog's back turned to me.

I took longer than I should have dispatching of the Orcs. By the time I had though, neither Azog nor Thorin had noticed me yet. They were still turning circles around each other.
When Azog's back was turned, I notched an arrow in my bow, but the sudden blaring of a far away horn startled me, which caused my shot to be so inaccurate, it almost surprised me that I hadn't hit myself.
It was nowhere close to Thorin and Azog, so neither of them heard it embedding itself in the ice over the sound of the horn.

Azog squared his shoulders and I guessed that he was smirking as looked over the hills in the distance.
The sight made me want to curl up into a ball and scream, curse and cry all at the same time. The hills were black with Orc reinforcements, at least ten thousand of them, probably much, much, more.
The pale Orc charged forward and swung a large rock attached to a chain at Thorin, who, thank the Valar, wasn't caught off guard and ducked under it.
As Azog was unbalanced by the swing, Thorin managed to get behind him and slash him. Azog angrily swung the rock at him again, and as Thorin dodged, the rock smashed into the ice, cracking it in a starry shape where it landed. Then in a huge crack from the point of impact to my arrow.
I guess it was a powerful shot then.
Thorin was now in between Azog and me. I didn't dare shoot now, lest I hit Thorin. I tried to wipe the blood out of my eye. Wiping away half-dried blood is easier said than done, and painful if one loses their patience and starts rubbing aggressively.
When I'd recovered from the spots in my eye, I loaded my bow a second time and waited until I got a clear shot again. The ice continued cracking as the two arch enemies continued fighting, and as I didn't get another clear shot I scanned around for another weak point in the ice.
I found a point where there should be a lot of tension and shot it powerfully.
The ice cracked further which caused Thorin and Azog to pause for a bit. Azog then swung his chained stone at Thorin again, missed and cracked the ice so much that they were now on a loose chuck of it, drifting in the middle of the spring.
Azog swung the rock and missed again. The rock was stuck in the ice now so Azog had to slash at Thorin with his sword arm. Thorin dodged again.

I chose this as the opportune moment to shoot Azog in the chest. It didn't hit any vital organs I think, because he didn't drop dead, he just yelled in pain and anger. They both noticed me now.
I took the opportunity to be a little dramatic.
"What happened to Oakenshield dies last?" I challenged while pushing my hair out my face.
Azog looked more annoyed than frightened, which was not what I was going for, but at least he was not paying attention. Thorin saw Azog's distraction as a good excuse to slash his leg.

Instead of screaming again Azog looked shocked. His eyes were focussed on a point past Thorin, towards the mountain valley. I followed his stunned gaze and saw the most welcome faces I'd seen in weeks. The Eagles had come.
When they had flown over, I saw that they were carrying Radagast the Brown and Beorn. They would be good assets to our depressingly small army.
Azog really had an attention span that was worse than Kili's. Thorin used that to his advantage. He threw his sword down and reached forward, lifting the rock by the chain and tossing it at Azog.
Out of reflex more than thought, he caught it. Realisation dawned on him the moment Thorin hopped off the ice floe.
Without Thorin's weight to counter Azog's, the floe tipped over and Azog slid down. He clawed at the edge of the ice sheet but eventually the chain and rock dragged him under and the ice levelled.

Thorin sighed in relief and exhaustion. I limped down the bank and tried to make my way over to him. I had lost more blood than was ideal and had to slow down because I was feeling dizzy.
I didn't slow down though and collapsed in Thorin's waiting arms. He helped me stand up straight before grabbing my face and pulling me back down into a passionate kiss.