Raskinoth Forest , 20 miles south of Dain's Halls
King Dain had always been known as good ruler , but more importantly a brilliant commander , especialy against the orcs or more specificly the Goblin Caste , who had destroyed most his kin's lands.
But now here he was along with a great host of 13.000 Dwarves , gathered from Erebor and the Iron Hills to retake back their native soil , they had come with confidence , for the dwarves had defeated goblin armies even greatly outnumbered , so the march to Dain Halls had been filled with excitement .
What fools they had been , they had reached the great fortress without encountering the enemy , and when they did begin to siege it they found it the goblins only numbered around 6.000 inside , a crushing victory.
But it was not to last , for after a few weeks of siege a gigantic army of goblins had come from the north , so he had been forced to pull back , here to Raskinoth , his scouts had reported the total size of enemy was now 52.000 , four times his force , but he would not retreat further for that would mean the lands of Erebor would be sacked and he could not afford that , especialy now with the rebuilding.
"My king!" came a panicked voice near him "you need to leave this place , if you fall then the dwarf nation will fall!"
As Dain turned he saw that the voice belonged to none other then Lafor , a minor noble , but he was one of the most competent of the dwarf soldiers and commanders , and thus had served so far as his second in command , he had a rich black beard , long hair and brown eyes , he bore a giant scar on his face from when he had face five goblins alone and killed em all.
"My friend , I will not abbandon others to die so that I might live , that would be a disgrace on my honor that would never be forgotten." replied the king cooly
"To hell with honor! Our people need your leadership , you know very well that Thorin is..." he was stopped from finishing as a young dwarf , with a barely a 30 Cm long bear fell down on a knee in front of em , he was dead tired it seemed , but his armor marked him as one of the fearsome axethrowers , one of their scouts.
"My king , Lord Lafor " said the dwarf betwen breaths "the enemy is almost upon us , we also have deduced the exact compostion of their army : their mostly javelinmen with no armor , barely bred it seems , but there are some elite fighting goblins , around 2.000."
Dain turned to his thoughts and dismised the young dwarf , most of his force was made up of Dwarven Warriors with their shields and one handed axes and dwarven axethrowers , two hundred royal guards , and eight balistas , maybe if he planned this well he COULD win . After a few minutes he had decided on a plan .
Lafor , take half my royal guard with you and half of the balistas and place em on the right flank , I will do the same for the left , the dwarf nodded reluctantly but went to do his duty , Dain turned to his messangers : "Send word to all company commanders , I want all their units set up in a single clean line , in shield wall formation and I want it done within the hour!"
"Yes my king." they replied as one and went off
One hour later the dwarven army was assembled before him and he prepared to speak : "Lads , we stand in a dangerous situation , the enemy greatly outnumbers out , but it IS weaker ! Let them come so we can send em off to a early grave !"
The dwarves cheered but he raised his hand and they stopped : "And lads , for each kill of these vile beats when we get home each of you will get two pints of lagger!" , the dwarves cheered again , this time more wildly then went to their positions.
Minutes passed as seconds , as they saw fires appear in the distance , which where getting closser , they could even hear the vile goblin drums , on the right flank Lafor kept the balista from firring while Dain did the same on the left , timing was essential here .
"Wait for it!" he kept yelling as the engineers where getting trigger happy , but they did obey , as the goblins passed through the woods and got in the open he heard a horn blow , the signal , and he yelled : "NOW LADS!" and the eight balistas unleashed their deadly payload on the goblins , killing many as they tried getting out of the woods to get a clear shot on the dwarves , but the balistas keept firing , killing dozens , it would not stop the beasts however who moved on.
As they did get through the woods , the dwarven axethrowers launched fire on the armorless goblins , the goblins respondes with javelins but most could not get through the heavy dwarven chain mail , however some did and the axethrowers could not hope to match the sheer numbers arrayed against em .
Nor did they have to , for a second horn sounded , wich only meant one thing: All out attack , the warriors along with the royal guard charged the goblins head on , while the balistas and axethrowers stopped firing and also joined the fray , in the centre and left flank the goblins simply desintegrated , having no means to defend themselves from the dwarven axes , but on the right the goblin commander had place his elite 2.000 soldiers , hopping to crush and encircle his enemy , the six hundred dwarves who had charged found themselves hopelessly outmatched but they fought , for they knew if they retreated then the center and left flank would be destroyed .
Lafor sent a kick to the groin to the goblin he was fighting who releed from the blow , giving him the time to bring his axe down on the beast and cutting it neatly it two , freeing his weapon quickly he parried the blows of the three goblins who charged him at the same , while grabbin the shield of the one he had just killed , using it to block the blows he was free to use his axe to chop the head of his enemies , dozens fell to his wrath until one lucky goblin was able to break the shield and his army with a blow , while another threw his spear at the dwarf's neck , but it was not the end for Lofar , grabbing the spear the yanked it from his neck and impaled the one who had broke his shield and with his axe he slashed the second one across the torso , as they fell so did Lofar , who the last thing he heard where the horns of victory.
Two hours later King Dain was looking at the pyres that now burned hundreds of his warriors , one thousand three hundred and twenty four of his men had died , but so had almost thirty four thousand of the goblins , the few who had survived where now being put to cleaning up the dead , a heroic victory , but as he looked at the pyres of Lafor and his one hundred royal guards wich had died on the right wing he wondered : Was it worth it?
Battle of Raskinoth Forest
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