The Elf, the Hobbit and the Dwarf - Book 1 NEW VERSION

Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire

"Up into the trees!" Gandalf called. "All of you!"

They had indeed reached a dead end, there was cliff right ahead and their only refuge were the high trees right by the cliff. Míriel quickly swung herself up in the same tree as Fíli and Kíli while the wargs caught up with Orcs on their backs and gathered under them. They tried to jump up and grab them, but they were too high up, fortunately.

Míriel raised her glance to see what more they had in front of them, and then she saw him. The greatest one of them all, Azog the Defiler, showed himself on an equally as pale warg as his skin. His face was filled with red scars from old battles and his skin was so pale that he did not look alive. But alive he was, and he was larger than any other Orc they had seen before. Azog had placed a sword on his missing underarm, and he glared at them all with amusement and malice. All the other wargs turned and bowed toward their master, and everything fell deathly silent.

Azog the Defiler spoke to Thorin in his own tongue which Míriel did not understand. The Defiler looked at Thorin with a pleased gaze since he had probably longed to kill the last of Durin's line for a long time.

"Azog," Thorin whispered as he stared into the eyes of Azog. It was like he couldn't believe it.

"Do you smell it?" Azog said in his tongue, black speech, while inhaling through his nose. "The smell of fear. I remember your father reeked of it, Thorin son of Thráin."

"It cannot be," Thorin said and shook his head.

"That one is mine," Azog said and pointed with his axe toward Thorin. "Kill the others!"

At his command, the wargs set off toward the trees and they started scratching and tripping them over. The trees were dangerously close to the end of the cliff and they started to bend over the edge the more the wargs pushed and scratched on them. Gandalf used his staff to light some cones on fire, this way they would be able to fight the wargs with something. Míriel grabbed one of the fiery cones and threw it on one of the wargs, seeing as the forest now started to burn because of all the cones that had been thrown at it. She tried helping out by setting some of the grass the wargs stood on fire.

The more the wargs jumped and pushed on the trees, the more they started to bend over the edge of the cliff. The wargs would have been able to reach them if it was not for the flames that stopped them from getting too close. The trees were now almost entirely bent over the edge and the Dwarves were holding on for their lives not to fall. Some of the poor souls were worse off than others.

"I hope you can use your slowing spell again, Míriel," Kíli said and sounded very worried, and he should have been since Míriel wasn't sure if her spell would work at such a great fall.

Míriel glanced around the company and saw that Dori and Ori were hanging from Gandalf's staff, ready to fall at any moment. She started moving toward them to help Gandalf pull them up when suddenly she heard something. It was Thorin that had suddenly stood up from the tree and started walking toward Azog with his sword in his hand, past the burning trees.

Míriel widened her eyes, wondered what on earth he was going to do? He could not fight all the wargs by himself, it was a very foolish thing to do. But they could all see why Oakenshield did what he did -he wanted to finish the pale Orc, fight until his last dying breath. Thorin swung his sword toward Azog but was soon blocked. He picked up a clog as a shield and fought the Orcs by himself, and Míriel had to watch him getting killed slowly while she was dangling on a branch of a tree. Míriel didn't know what to do with herself as Azog's warg grabbed Thorin in his mouth and bit him - hard.

"Thorin!" Dwalin bellowed.

Another Orc walked toward the now thrown out Thorin to have his head off while he laid upon a boulder. When all hope seemed to have run out - Bilbo all of the sudden jumped out of nowhere and killed the Orc quickly. Míriel hadn't even noticed him going and now stood alone against Azog which Míriel would not have. Míriel heaved herself up and stood with firm feet on the ground now. She helped some of the other Dwarves up on their feet too before they started running to fight the Orcs and their wargs. There was a very small chance of success, but better die trying than as a coward falling of a tree.