[piosenniel]

‘By the One!’ she swore, as she hauled Mithadan close in beside her. ‘You have come through the foemen safely this far, I will not lose you to our allies!’ She peered closely at him. ‘Where is the red band you were to wear about your neck?’ she asked him. He reached into the collar of his shirt. The band had come unbound, and now hung loosely beneath his shirt. She reached for it and tied it high on his neck. ‘You look much like the prize turkey.’ she whispered to him, her expression of amusement lost in the smoky haze as she turned and led him down the tunnel eastward to the Locks.

Bird and the two Hobbits had joined the fray at the northern entrance to the main cave. Many who saw Gamba and Azraph thought them wraiths in the smoke, come back to give aid. But a firm touch of Gamba’s hand brought the assurance of their reality and a renewed hope to the Hobbit troops. Bird, by this time had pulled out her sling, and was finding the candlestones to be excellent missiles. The satisfying thunk! of rock hitting the guardsmens’ flesh spurred her on. Anee made quick work of the downed guards with her knife. Daisy and Kali also stood with the Hobbits, their swords flashing red as the dim lights of the fires caught them.

The Elf and man went carefully down the dim corridor, lit by the occasional guttering candle in the lamps along the walls. Most of them had been put out by the Hobbits who had scouted out this passage. To their right were the entrances to the Old tombs. As they passed them, Mithadan paused briefly, as if in salute, and then walked on.

Just a little further on, they met a sentry from the Hobbits who had secured the smithy. Pio stepped forward, showing herself, at his challenge and he led them to where Phura had deployed his troops. She and Mithadan spoke quietly with him. ‘You will soon be needed back in the main caves.’ Mithadan told him. ‘The fighting there is escalating as more of the Hobbit groups make for the river tunnel. We will secure this tunnel for you. Take your troops and head back to join the others.’ Pio put her arm on his shoulder and drew the Hobbit close. ‘Gamba and Azraph have been rescued. They are fighting at the north entrance to the main cave, as is Daisy.’ He looked at her in astonishment, and closed his eyes briefly his lips murmuring words unheard. His eyes were filled with a clear light when he opened them, and he bowed to both the Man and Elf. Then he motioned to his group and they followed swiftly after him, down the tunnel, heading west.

It was just past the entry to the smithy where they first encountered guards heading west. Six of them, swords drawn, and only thirty feet away. She could just make out their feral eyes as they brightened at the easy prospect of killing them both. She pushed Mithadan back down the tunnel, not taking her eyes from the advancing Men. The Elf sheathed her long knife as she stopped at one of the spluttering candles. Both she and Mithadan pulled out one of the smaller dragon-fires and lit it, quickly hurling them before the feet of the first three guards. The pots exploded on impact with a white hot flame. Pitch and resin spattered upward and stuck to the clothes and skin of the first four Men. They screamed and tore at their attire, slapping at the areas where the burning goo clung to them and would not be put out.

The guards who had been most at the rear now pushed their comrades aside and rushed, swords raised, at the Elf and Man. One of them lunged at Pio, and she leapt back from him, thought not before his blade cut her deeply down the left forearm. A gasp escaped her as the pain of it shot up her arm. Then, ignoring it, Pio drew her long knife, laying it across the flat of her sword just ahead of the guard. She caught the guard’s blade as it slashed down again at her, turning it roughly aside with the flat of her sword, and stepping in close to drive her long knife into his throat. Mithadan had by then skewered the other guard, who dropped heavily at his feet. The other four had by now fallen dead, overcome by the burning.

‘There is no point in going any further, Mithadan. There will be more coming now who will seek entrance to the other parts of the caverns through this tunnel.’ He helped her stack the six bodies across the narrow tunnel. Then she placed two of the large dragon-fires among them and lit them, pulling Mithadan quickly back down the tunnel toward the main cavern.

The nauseating, flaming heap would burn for a long time, and prove a grisly and effective barrier to any who sought entrance from that direction.

[ October 31, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]