((LOOOONG POST! a fair few S-words and a HEAP TON of action acTION ACTION!!!! i hope it makes up for how long it took me to get around to it! do enjoy "the long dark of moria" in this chapter
))
"GET HIM!" screeched the goblin only a brief moment before the foul thing was skewered and dead upon the end of Edan's halberd. A pitiful monstrosity to the Man who casually strolled through the long dark of Khazad-dum as if he were taking a break in Galadriel's Garden.
"Stupid meat," Edan spat at the Goblin corspe as he kicked it off the head of his halberd and just left it there, continuing on his path as if it were nothing more than a minor nuissance- a gnat gnawing on a mighty auroch.
In sooth it was. It barely took Edan but a few seconds to throw his halberd in front of the lone Goblin that had charged him. He didn't even break his stride since the Goblin had deigned to attack him head on as well. The bravado of such insignificant life astounded him, yet he could not blame the Goblins, and this attack only caused Edan to hurry his pace more and stick ever deeper in the shadows- where there was one Goblin, there was hundreds, and they may be naught but gnats to him one on one, but a horde of them would be some trouble he wished to avoid.
"Good luck with that," he whispered to himself as he ducked into a crevice just in time as a small band of Goblins came screeching and running from around a bend up ahead. he stilled his breath and body and stayed as slunked back into the crevice of the wall as he could. Only his one good eye moved, following the movement of the group as they passed by and out of sight.
He followed them with his ears then, closing his eyes to focus himself and attune his hearing to the clangy, echoey depths of the dark halls of Khazad-dum. It wasn't long before he heard the responsive screeching of Goblin speech as the group discovered their dead comrade and set about a search for the perpetrator.
With a stillness only an experienced warrior could muster, Edan's hands moved so silently and slowly along the shaft of his halberd, his hips turned as did his head and feet- aligning himself properly for an attack. His good eye scoured the shifting darkness of the tunnel and watched for the emerging blobs of goblins as some of them returned his way. Two passed by and he waited, when the next two came but a span of two heartbeats behind the others, he jumped out.
One goblin was dead before it even knew they had been attacked, falling slump on the ground, it's head rolling off some distance away into shadow. The one next to it was dead before it could react but to screech out a warning as Edan's halberd arched around and cleaved it in two from shoulder to stomach.
The two Goblins that had passed first turned at the screech of the second Goblins death, one was dead from a halberd to the stomach before it could finish drawing its weapon, and the other turned back to run away, only to die a few steps later to a halberd thrown in the back.
The business of throwing a halberd to spear a fleeing enemy was a feat in and of itself worthy of Legend. There were few who could muster the strength and skill required for such, but Edan, as he had always known and more recently had confirmed, was no ordinary Man. Such a feat was a skill he had mastered many years ago, to his much often advantage.
But the deed was far from done, the screeching of the dead Goblins still echoed off the walls of the tunnel as Edan ran forward, yanked his halberd from the back of the last Goblin and took off at a mad dash. There had been more than 4 Goblins in that group that had passed, the others would not be far behind when they heard the screams and turned to seek prey.
He ran as hard as he could through the twisting tunnel, his halberd tucked along his arm and under his armpit, at the ready and as well supported for a run as he could manage. Nothing in front of him would get the better of him, even if it caught him by surprise, but it wasn't what was in front of him that worried him.
The horrid screeches of the remaining Goblins finding their dead comrades caught up to him as he already started to heave slightly for breath. They were onto him now and they knew which way to go. He wanted to go faster, but he was already running out of breath, so he knew he must go slower if he were to make it farther.
It had been almost 2 years since he last braved the deep dark of Khazad-dum, he barely recognized where he was, and his pace was sure to get him lost. As long as he kept his head about him though, he knew he could manage it on his own.
Just don't panic fool! Just don't panic!And then he heard them, drums in the deep, and he started to panic.
"SHIT!" he gasped and heaved himself into a right turn without slowing down. He smashed up against one side of the branching tunnel he entered, dropped his halberd and fell. He cringed at the echoing clang of his weapon hitting the cold stone floor, he seethed at the bruise upon his shoulder. Gasping he grabbed his halberd back in his hand and got back up and took off at a mad run again. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" he gasped between breaths.
Edan was not normally a Man to panic, certainly not easily so, and it may have been nigh on 2 years since he was last here, but he remembered vividly the kinds of horrors that lurked in the deep dark of Khazad-dum, and he understood the message those drums rang out.
The hordes would be out in force now, seeking some malicious prey. Goblins were a pitiful monstrosity of a race, and anything that could defeat a handful or more of them at once was worthy of bringing out their entire army upon to handle the score. Edan had given himself no choice now, he had to run and run and run, and hope that he could outrun an entire horde. At least, until he could find a proper hiding space or point of refuge...
The Twenty-first Hall came flickering through his mind. The expedition of Dwarves that had settled there would be, potentially enough, to rescue him from a horde of Goblins. But as quickly as the thought flickered into his mind, it flickered right back out like a candle in the wind. He was too far from the Twenty-first Hall to ever make it at this pace, and that right turn he'd taken in haste and panic had cost him his bearings.
He didn't worry about being lost, there was no sense in worrying about that. He could find his way out again, but that would take time- time to regain his bearings and find the proper path. Time he no longer had.
He whipped around a bend in the path and came out in wide opening along a platform that immediately dropped off in front of him. His panicy pace, however, did not give him enough time to stop himself before the edge of the platform. As he flew over the edge, cursing his luck, he saw the floor of the area he was falling into naught but a few feet below him. And he saw the group of Uruks gathered around the fire.
What was the White Hand doing this deep in Khazad-dum? The thought rang through his mind as panic melted into the warrior's state of clarity. In the span of heartbeats he calculated as he drew in a deep breath and fell upon them. Three Uruks around a small bonfire within a large carved out cavern.
Edan used his momentum to throw his halberd directly into the back of the nearest Uruk to him, he calculated their reactions- the farthest one facing his direction saw him as he came flying over the edge of the platform above them. The look on its face as it brought its arm up to point at him was absurd. At least he had surprise on his side in this fight if nothing else.
His halberd thunked into the back of the first Uruk and its impact sent it reeling into the bonfire, scattering flaming logs, ash and cinder as it thrashed for its last brief moment of life. Edan tucked his good shoulder down just in time as he crashed into the ground and managed to flip himself onto his back as he hit, in a less than graceful kind of roll that saved him a good brunt of the impact with the ground, but still nearly took the wind out of him.
He gasped and rolled as the nearest living Uruk lunged at him with a crude sword. The Uruk bent over him, its sword barely missing Edan as he rolled away, but its angle, bent forward, only helped Edan as he thrust his legs between and around one of the Uruk's legs. He pulled hard with his legs as he rolled and the Uruk came toppling down beside Edan.
In a flash he jumped atop it, fist flying into ugly face, and in an instinctive flash he continued his roll onto the Uruk into a roll right back off of it- remembering the third Uruk and that it was only a few steps behind the second. As he rolled off the second one Edan flipped himself just time to see the third Uruk's sword skewer its companion's stomach where Edan had just been but the moment before!
He thrust himself up onto his feet and assumed a defensive crouch with his arms wide open, as he cursed his situation. Sure he'd manage to take out the first Uruk completely by surprise, and with a little luck had gotten the third Uruk to take out the second one for him so that it was now only one on one- odds he could easily handle against an Uruk in a fair fight.
This was no such fight however. He faced an impressively large, maddened and armed Uruk one on one, unarmed himself and the Uruk he faced now stood between him and both choices of weapons Edan could use- the second Uruk's sword on the floor next to it, and his own halberd burning in the back of the now burning first Uruk.
"Lucky Man-flesh! Now you die!" The Uruk grated at him in a barely passable common tongue. It licked it's lips as it assumed an aggressive stance and started towards Edan.
Uruks are a much more impressive monstronsity than Goblins- larger, heartier, smarter and overall far more dangerous. But they were still a monstrosity and inferior- a wasp over a gnat. So Edan was slower and more cautious in his game planning as he circled away from the Uruk, trying to lure far enough to one side that he could get passed it and even the playing field with a weapon.
But this Uruk had an uncommon gleam in its eye and it circled with Edan, keeping itself between the Man and the bulk of the remaining fire. Edan snarled and cursed under his breath. Then the Uruk stopped and backstepped toward the fire.
"You want this?" it asked with a malicious toothy grin as it grabbed Edan's halberd and yanked it from the burning body of its comrade.
"Bastidge!" Edan hissed, then laughed as he lunged at the Uruk wincing in pain at the heated arm of the halberd before promptly dropping the weapon on the ground in front of it.
One, two, three, four strides and Edan flung himself at Uruk with an almost maniacal laugh just as it was recovering from the burn. It whipped its swordarm out at Edan at the last second, but the Man had calculated that response and was already spinning passed the swing as it came towards him.
Uruk arm and sword whizzed just passed the side of his face as Edan slammed into the Uruk's stomach back-first and reached out with both arms and grabbed the Ururk's swordarm in a tight lock. Edan had no hope of wresting the blade free from the Uruk's superior grip, and what hope he had of knocking it over quickly died when the Uruk barely budged backward a step upon Edan's impact with it.
"Stupid Man-flesh," grated the Uruk in Edan's ear as it grabbed his forehead with it's free arm and began to pull on Edan's head, trying to snap his neck while its sword arm dropped its sword on the ground and wrestled within Edan's arms to wrap itself around his chest. "Gangarr kill you with own hands now!"
A roar bellowed out then, just as Edan quickly gasped what he thought was going to be his last breath, and the Uruk eased its grip on him though it didn't let go.
Atop the platform Edan had come flying over but a few minutes before stood a team of Goblins with a large cave Troll. The Uruk, still tight-gripped on Edan roared back at them. Clearly there was no love between the parties present, but there was only one hope for Edan at this point.
He went slack in the Uruk's grip and tried to weasle his way out of this with words. "Listen, there's been a mistake, and I'm not your enemy, I am theirs."
"What mistake Man-flesh?" Gangarr hissed in Edan's ear, "You killed two of my warriors!"
"I didn't see the White Hand when I came over the ledge at you at first. I am an agent of Saruman, also called Sharku. I am on my way to Dol Goldur, on a mission of utmost importance," Edan spoke quickly as he watched the Goblins disappearing on the ledge and reappearing further back and to the side. "You're outnumbered against these ilk, Gangarr, but I have great skill, put me down and together we can survive this."
"Proof it!" hissed Gangarr.
But the Troll and Goblins were beginning a thunderous charge at them and there was only seconds left.
"Survival now! Proof later!" yelled Edan as he slipped out of Gangarr's loosened grip, bent down, yanked up his halberd- which was perfectly cool to his touch, and charged into the fray of Goblins straight for the Troll, Gangarr was only two steps behind him, sword in hand.
Edan bounded into the teaming mass of Goblins with great leaping strides, whirling his halberd in great fast arcs he counted them as they dropped to its mighty blade. One, two, three, four, five, six, and he was through the first wall of them. He heard Gangarr's battle roar as the Goblins he hadn't killed circled around the Uruk. Edan's target was the Troll however. He knew from experience that the cave Trolls of Khazad-dum were a malicious sort that required immediate attention. So he slew only those Goblins that got in his way, leaving the rest for the Uruk to handle.
Eight, nine, ten, eleven, and he was through the second line of Goblins with only the Troll left in front of him. Edan bounded his strides again, he faked right then left then dove between the Troll's legs and rolled to a thumping stop against a Goblin behind the Troll, leading it by a great length of chain.
Shit!His momemtum was great enough though, that when Edan hit the Goblin, he straight knocked it on its ass. Without hesitation he whipped his halberd up and into the Goblin's neck, killing it nigh-instantly. But it was too late, for what the unexpected Troll-herding Goblin had cost Edan was just enough time for the Troll to turn around. As its massive arm swung around and connected with Edan to send him flying across the cavern, he had just enough instinct to grab at the swinging chain tied to a collar around the Troll's neck.
It only kept him from flying clear across the room, however, Edan still went flying once his grip was yanked loose of the massive chain, but only a few feet away. He hit hard on the ground and gasped for breath. A Goblin loomed over him cackling out of nowhere. Edan thrust his boot up into its chest and thrust himself back to his feet immediately. He lunged forward at the staggering Goblin and ripped its sword out of its hand with a growling snarl. It cowered before him as he lopped its head off with its own weapon and a roar.
Then he turned back to the Troll lumbering after him just in time to duck beneath another swing of one of its massive arms. He stood back up promptly and thrust the Goblin blade into the Troll's thick hide. The inferior craftsmanship of the Goblin blade allowed it to sink into the Troll hide about an inch before the blade snapped in his hand. Edan fumed and kicked the Troll in the groin uselessly with a growl before diving between its legs again and racing back to his halberd.
Instinct was a fierce ally to Edan, it drove him to do some pretty crazy and wild things, but always did it serve him well. Those who knew him best, such as Anoth, would tell you to always trust Edan unquestioningly when his instincts were involved- the Man simply had an uncanny ability to know when to duck, dive, dodge or run.
So he did as his instincts guided him and he dove at his halberd from two strides away, feeling the breeze of a massive chain whipping overhead as he landed just close enough to get his hand around the arm of his weapon. Once secured in his grip, Edan flipped over and thrust it straight up into soft underside of the Troll's foot as it was coming, stomping down, onto Edan.
Unlike the piece of shit Goblin swords, Edan's halberd was of far superior craftsmanship. An ancient blade, originally forged during the Second Age, Anoth had had it reforged by the Master Smiths of Caras Galadhon and gifted it to Edan upon their emergence from their original trek through Khazad-dum. So it was when the Troll foot connected with the tip of Edan's halberd, it sliced through the thick hide almost as easily as a hot knife through butter.
The troll bellowed and stumbled back in agony, falling over with a great thrashing thump! Edan was swift to follow it, jumping up and onto the Troll's belly, he thrust his halberd down full force through it's stomach. The Troll roared and thrashed and knocked Edan away, but he twisted his halberd as he went flying and yanked out the Troll's guts caught around his weapon's blade head.
It was a much softer tether that his halberd sliced through when it got taught enough, and so it didn't keep Edan from flying back as far as the chain had, but it was enough damage to so thoroughly disembowel the Troll that it did not get back up, though it thrashed about in agony for several minutes taking out a few of the remaining Goblins that got to close to it's dying thrashes.
Edan bounced and skidded to a halt a few yards from the Troll, he took a few deep gasps of breath as he got up and surveyed and calculated.
Amazingly, Gangarr was still going strong, a small pile of Goblins lay dead around his feet, a half dozen more encircling him, trying to get the best of him. Edan guessed that they had been trying that the entire fight, but the Uruk outsized the Goblins by almost 3 to 1 in terms of height advantage, and his sword had a far greater length and, while still far inferior to Edan's weaponry, it was superior to the Goblins'.
Being careful to avoid the dying thrashes of the Troll, Edan circled around and helped Gangarr clean up the rest of the remaining Goblins. When the last of them dropped, Man and Uruk stood there facing each other, both slightly panting for breath, matching feral grins upon their faces.
"Good fight," breathed Edan, the tips of his teeth showing through his grin.
"You fight good," returned Gangarr, his lips bared back enough to show all his pointy teeth. "Now proof Gangarr you work for Sharku, or I kill you and eat your Man-flesh!"
Edan burst out in a raucous laughter at the Uruk. Gangarr snarled and raised his sword at Edan. Edan stopped laughing and readied his halberd, but he spoke first. "I just slew 14 Goblins AND a Troll, and I have my weapon back... and you think
you can kill me?" Edan relaxed in a show of haughty superiority and scoffed at the Uruk with his eye as he rested the butt of his halberd on the floor and reached into a pocket of his hauberk. He dug deep for the heavy coin that always found its way to the bottom of wherever Edan chose to keep it, pulled it out and flung it at the Uruk with a show of moderate disdain. "Well here's as much proof as you'll get for now."
He watched the Uruk catch the coin easily, to Edan's surprise, and gauged its reaction as it turned it over in hand and hefted it, noting the weight and the stamp of the White Hand upon it. It was a coin Edan had looted off an Uruk during a raid in Tham Mirdain, and he'd chosen to keep as a good luck token- though this Uruk needn't know that. Edan grinned fiercely as the Uruk looked back to him in response.
"There is more proof?" Gangarr asked.
"If you'll help me to reach Mirkwood and Dol Guldor in great haste Gangarr, my friend," Edan spoke with a toothy-ish grin at the blatant lie he told so easily, "I've a whole pouch full of proof just like it you can have."
Gangarr grinned ferally at Edan, "I could help you, and then kill you in your sleep for your gold."
Edan grinned back equally as ferally, "And risk the wrath of Sharku? I think not. Besides, I intend no more sleep until I reach the shores of Mirkwood- at which point, you will get your pouch of gold without need of killing me."
"No sleep til Mirkwood?" Gangarr questioned Edan, looking at the Man as if he were mad. When Edan kept his gaze locked with the Uruk, unflinchingly, Gangarr laughed a gargally laugh before speaking again, "Gangarr know a way, but it will cost you, Man."
Edan smiled and patted his pocket hard enough to make it jingle. "A whole pouch of proof for ya when we get there."
Gangarr grinned and turned away, speaking "Follow Gangarr, know fastest ways out of here."
Good luck coin indeed, thought Edan as he followed the Uruk deeper into darkness.