The Lord of the Rings: Lords of Middle-earth.

Chapter 64 The Horns of the North
"Woo~ woo~" The dwarves' horns rang out loudly throughout the entire city of Irubor.

"War is coming!" King Bard of River Valley frowned. Among these northern forces, Bard was the weakest. With his population, he would have a hard time even gathering three hundred human soldiers. He was definitely the one who least wanted war to happen.

"Bain! You stay in the city to take care of your mother and the others. I'm going to Irubb now." Bard packed his things, hurriedly mounted his horse, and headed towards Irubb.

……

"Thorin! What happened? Why did the Lonely Mountain Horn sound?" Bard, led by the dwarven guards, met Thorin Oakenshield, who was standing on the city wall gazing into the distance.

"The orcs are here!" Thorin sighed.

"Wandering orcs from the north?" Bard asked, puzzled.

“It’s still unclear. Our soldiers have only detected a large army of northern orcs heading towards Irubor, and it’s not yet certain if they are orcs from Gombada,” Thorin said, looking troubled.

"Didn't you try to identify their totems?" Bard couldn't help but ask.

"They've put away their totems and flags, leaving no clues. You know Roland and his men just fought a battle with the Wildlands Orcs in the East, so we can't be sure if this group of Orcs is from the Wildlands in the North or the Orcs from Gombada Fortress." Thorin sighed. Now the Orcs are even calling for reinforcements. If the Orcs had come out in full force during the first Battle of Lonely Mountain, Thorin and Roland wouldn't be able to get anywhere in the North now.

"What do we do?" Bard asked after a moment of silence.

“I’ve already sent a message to Dain in Ironhill for help; they should be able to get there before the orcs,” Thorin said, glancing at Bard.

"And what about the woodland elves?" Bard couldn't help but ask.

“Bard…you should understand the conflict between the Woodland Elves and the Lonely Mountain Dwarves…” Thorin sighed helplessly. The sensitive Dwarf King simply couldn’t bring himself to ask his former enemy for reinforcements.

“My God! Thorin, you’re ruining the whole battle! If you’re not willing to go to the elves, then I will!” Bard was incredulous. He had a deeper understanding of the dwarves’ stubbornness; even at this point, they were as inflexible as rocks in a cesspool.

After Bard finished speaking, he hurriedly descended the city wall without waiting for Thorin to reply, mounted his skinny horse, and left Irubb.

"Ballin! Go and explain the situation to Roland." Thorin guessed that Roland had also heard the horn of Lonely Mountain and decided to go and inform Roland. If Roland was caught off guard and ambushed by the orcs, things would get really messy.

“Oh! Your Highness, I think we don’t need to go looking for Roland anymore.” Balin raised his eyes, glanced at the sky, and immediately spoke.

"Ok?"

“He’s already come looking for us!” Bahrain gestured for Sorin to look up at the sky.

"Roar!" The low roar of the dragon rolled over as Caslo, riding the healed Kaldo and Roland, landed on the city wall of Irubor.

"Hey! Thorin! Balin!" Before the dragon had even come to a complete stop, the skilled and daring Roland jumped off its back.

"Oh! It's so good to see you, King Roland!" Thorin smiled and opened his arms.

"Your Majesty King Lagrang, Bahrain pays its respects!" Bahrain bowed in greeting.

"It's so good to see you all!" Roland smiled, bent down and hugged Thorin, then helped Balin up. "Now tell me why the Lonely Mountain Horn was sounded? Don't you know that the sound startled me, the Whitewing King, and the King of Iovia? Were the orcs attacking?" Roland's mouth was like a machine gun.

“It’s about the orcs. We’ve already started preparing for war.” Thorin pulled Roland to a map.

“This is the Grey Mountains! A large orc army has marched south from here! They've put away their flags and insignia, and we don't know if they are the orcs from Gombad Fortress.” Thorin was very troubled by the identity of this orc army.

"What about their weapons and equipment?" Roland asked after carefully examining the map.

"You know, the Orcs of the North are well-equipped!" Thorin shrugged helplessly, indicating that judging the Orcs of the North by their equipment was not a reliable method, since the Orcs of the North of Middle-earth still had the advantage.

"Then we can only prepare for battle with all our might," Roland said helplessly.

"Yes, this feeling is really unbearable..." Thorin angrily slammed his fist on the city wall.

"I'm sorry, Thorin, this battle may depend on you. We are not capable of fighting on two fronts..." Although he was reluctant to say this, Roland had to admit that he was not capable of opening up two battlefields. In fact, if it weren't for the arrival of the 1500 Swift Infantry, which gave Roland some confidence, Roland would have even planned to join forces with White Wing and the others to defend a city.

“My friend, I understand your predicament…” Thorin sighed. He knew the situation in the south might be worse, after all, Azog, that pale orc, was not comparable to his son.

"Be careful... I'm heading back to Swiftstream City now." After a moment of silence in the oppressive atmosphere, Roland waved goodbye.

"This battle won't be easy..." Thorin murmured as he watched the dragon disappear into the distance.

……

"So, we're not going to participate in this major battle in the north?" Bai Yi couldn't help but ask.

“Participate! But don’t have the ability to change the situation!” Iovia said, frowning as she thought for a long time.

“It seems we think alike!” Roland looked up and smiled at Iovia.

"So what kind of riddle are you two playing?" Verway sat in his chair, watching them wink and make faces, and couldn't help but complain.

“Iovia and I both intend to send our Sky Knights to fight, so that if anything changes in the south, they can get back quickly, right, Iovia?” Roland glanced at the silent Star Elf King.

“Yes, that’s what I think too. First of all, it wouldn’t be right not to help them, but we don’t have enough troops if we do help them. But dragon knights and wyvern knights are no problem. They are both combat-capable and convenient to send reinforcements.” Iovia was very satisfied with this plan.

"Alright, it's settled then. After all, it's impossible for our soldiers to expose the people to the orcs' attacks in the north. If I dared to issue such an order, the people would overthrow me," White Wing said self-deprecatingly.

"Whatever you say, I don't have any air knights here!" The country bumpkin Verway thought, "You rich lords' forces are all too high-end. Besides rangers, all I have are archers, maybe a few rare assassins at best. What else can I say..."

"That's settled then. Keep a close eye on the northern battlefield. Keep an eye on the orcs at the Togold Fortress." Roland said, looking at White Wing and Iovia.

"Hahaha! Don't worry, I won't let the orcs get close to the foot of Swiftstream City." White Wing laughed heartily.

(End of this chapter)