[piosenniel]

The two Wargs drove the Wolves hard against the two-leggeds; the wolves responded in a frenzy. Biting, slashing, cutting the two leggeds off from their fellows, killing them.

Together Carchmoroth and Dúrel advanced into the fray, one challenging a 'hunter' from before, the other taking him from behind.

Now they faced the man and woman who called for the hunters to unite for their defense. 'To me Hobbits.' Carchmoroth heard the male call.

Carchmoroth feinted in toward the two, drawing their attention, staying well out of range of their biting blades. Dúrel flew from behind at the male, but the woman turned swiftly, dealing him a burning slash across his right flank.

The weight of the Warg's body bore down the male, snapping his left arm beneath him as he hit the ground. Mad with the pain from the sword cut, Dúrel stood up, over the male, intending to snap his neck with a bite from his massive jaws. Again the woman's blade slashed at him, sending him in retreat.

Carchmoroth, moving behind her as she swung, slashed her deeply with his teeth in the right calf. She fell with a scream of pain, beside the male . . .

The Warg moved on, satisfied that they would cause no more trouble, and went to find Dúrel.

Their next target was the Dwarf and his deadly axes. Dúrel, his blood now clotting along the ragged gash on his side, watched as the Dwarf threw out his two smaller axes, driving off one of the Wolves. Still he held that deadly walking axe with its sharp edges and its long reach.

The two Wargs circled the Dwarf and the boy which stood with him. Dúrel feinted in, and Carchmoroth ran swiftly against the duo, knocking them both flat. The boy scrambled to his feet and beat the Warg off with his thick, blackthorn walking stick, driving him with blows to the head, away from the fallen Dwarf . . .

'Come, Dúrel!' growled Carchmoroth. 'Leave these two. We need to bring down the one who leads this pack, and that one, over there, who is all too sure with her bow.' He motioned toward the woman who stood, back against a tree, firing her deadly arrows into the Wolves. They called to the pack, and five Wolves came at a run.

Three of them they sent against Gaddy. They ringed him, their terrible eyes fixed on his moving figure, lips curled back from their sharp, yellowed fangs. Two of them leaped at him, and he swung his blade in a mighty arc, knocking them away from their intended target. They landed stunned against the trunks of two trees at the edge of the road. The third Wolf, who had moved to the rear of the man, now charged him, sinking his teeth into the back of the man's left knee, bringing him down . . .

The woman with the bow, fired an arrow at the Wolf attacking Gaddy, killing him with a sure shot to the base of his skull.

Now she faced her own attackers, two Wargs and two Wolves, at very close range. Her arrows now were perilously low in number . . .

[ January 09, 2003: Message edited by: piosenniel ]