The horn sounded again. Tanlóm knew what it meant. A legion of elves was marching out of the Mirkwood. Tanlóm had known for some time that his people were going to march on an Uruk-hai camp on Sea of Rhûn.

These orc-men, under the control of Saruman, were preparing for a covert attack on the dwarves of the Lonely Mountain. Thranduil had been preparing the Mirkwood elves for two weeks to stop the Uruk force before it could get out of Dorwinion to the River Celduin. When spies of Thranduil had found out the plans for the attack, he know that the small number of dwarves in the Lonely Mountain did not stand a chance against the strong and elite Uruk-hai.

Saruman had bred this Uruk-hai, half-orc and half-man, to be unstoppable fighting machines. They had already proven loyal to Saruman by protecting his fortress, Isenguard. He was using them now to retrieve something very important from the depths of the Lonely Mountain.

Tanlóm grabbed his bow and headed to the back door of the caverns. Tanlóm knew that Thranduil, the king of the elves in Mirkwood, hoped to get the elves to the crossing of the Celduin and River Carnen before nightfall, so he did not want to be late.

When Tanlóm got outside the caverns his attack group was already assembled. He got into his position behind Noviâth and prepared to march as Thranduil rose to speak.

"Fair elves of Mirkwood, today we march against the orc-men of Saruman. We are going to defend our dwarf friends, who were once our prisoners, the sons of Thorin! When we defeat these foes of all, we also be winning against the Dark Lord of Mordor, Sauron. Let us go forth and win this battle for the Dwarves, for the Elves, and for all the free peoples of Middle Earth. Now, let us march!"

Tanlóm and all the other elves yelled with honor as they began their march across the horrible, bare Wilderland. They marched steadily for two hours. Two hours of seeing nothing but bare nothingness. Following Thranduil across the barren Wilderland.

After two hours of marching, the elves suddenly stopped. Thranduil assembled the warriors so he could speak with them. "Some scouts have gone ahead. Saruman’s man-orcs are gone. They appear to have started towards the Lonely Mountain sooner than we expected. We must give chase!"

Instantly all of the elves were on their feet, running swiftly and nimbly along the eastern side of the River Running. The Uruk-hai were fast, but were no match in speed for elves. Within three hours of chase, the wood elves could see that they were only a league behind the fierce orcs. They braced themselves for a fight as they drew closer and closer.

The Uruk-hai suddenly turned around and charged at the elves. Tanlóm stopped and waited for orders from Thranduil. "Position for battle", yelled Thranduil and the elves flawlessly aligned themselves in the battle formation that had practiced so much in recent weeks.

"Fire", ordered Thranduil and the elven bows quickly released a barrage of arrows on the charging Uruk-hai. Saruman’s minions were no match for the flow of elven arrows. Many Uruk-hai fell quickly, but they seemed to keep coming.

As the orc-men pushed closer to the elves, arrows were not effective enough. Tanlóm pulled Nefsarn, his elven sword off his back and ran to the front line. "For the Mirkwood and our dwarven brothers in the Lonely Mountain," yelled Tanlóm as he slayed an Uruk with Nefsarn. Soon all the elves were all fighting with swords and knives.

The fighting went on for hours, the elves had greatly miscalculated the number of orc-men they would be fighting. Tanlóm and the other elves were beginning to think that the attack was futile and the Uruk-hai would destroy the Lonely Mountain.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a small army of dwarves began to fight along side the elves. The same dwarves who were the prisoners of the elves during the adventure of Bilbo, were now fighting hand in hand with Thranduil’s people.

Suddenly one of the Mirkwood elves yelled, "For the dwarves". A dwarf returned, "For the elves!"

The battle now in their hands, the elves and dwarves quickly defeated the remaining Uruk-hai. Thranduil approached the dwarven king and expressed his thanks.

"We are eternally in your debt. You must join us in Mirkwood once again, this time as honored guests, for a elven feast to overcome all others."

The dwarf king bowed low. "Fair elf, you protected our home from these evil creature of Saruman, you own us nothing."

So the elves and dwarves journeyed together to the Caverns of Thranduil in Mirkwood and had a feast greater than any feast since the first age. And the elves and dwarves laughed and drank and sang together unlike elves and dwarves had ever done before.

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