After a few days in the dwarven land of Erebor, Roland left contentedly with his upgraded light infantry and dozens of carts of supplies. Thorin had learned of the orcs' movements and generously gifted them to Roland, who was, after all, the most important barrier to the south of Erebor. Thorin knew what was important, as the two orc leaders had fled after the previous battle at Lonely Mountain. After lying dormant for a few days, they were ready to move again.
"I hope nothing goes wrong in the north..." Roland glanced worriedly at Dale and Erebor. Although many of the wandering dwarves from the Blue Mountains had returned, Erebor still only had fewer than 5,000 dwarves. Winter had prevented most of them from returning home, but these dwarves were still too few. The orcs from Gangbadal would surely come out in full force next time! And Azog, having learned from his mistakes, would definitely bring a heavy crossbow, so that Kaslo wouldn't be able to slaughter orcs with impunity... Roland didn't even want to talk about the woodland elves in Mirkwood. It was a strange thing that old Thranduil would take the initiative to help humans and dwarves! Didn't you see the defense of Dale that broke out in the north during the War of the Ring? King Bard's grandson died outside Erebor along with the Dwarf King Dain... Where were the elves?
The elves are unreliable. Thorin and Bard will be dragged into the north, and only the White Wing King and I will be left in the south. Perhaps it’s time to pay the White Wing King a visit! Roland thought to himself.
After Roland turned around and saw the recruited light infantry who had been upgraded to more powerful ones, he felt a little more at ease. Even if things were really impossible, Roland would lead the soldiers to cover their retreat and send the people to the west of the Misty Mountains. He would decisively abandon Riverstorm. After all, the king's crown was crowned by his people. Is a king still a king without his people?
Looking at the innocent faces of the conscripted light infantry behind him, Roland felt a pang of pity. These armed civilians were all young children, no more than seventeen or eighteen years old, and he was about to lead them to death... At that moment, Roland seemed to see the torrent infantry swimming upstream... At that moment, they must have wanted to live too...
"Caslo, go back and train them well. I don't expect them to be able to take the lead, but I hope they can protect themselves when defending." Roland glanced at these young faces and said softly to Caslo.
"Don't worry, sir! They will grow up!" Caslo promised.
"But there's no time for them to grow up..." Roland lowered his head.
…
"King, the White Wing King across the street invites you to be his guest. He said he wants to discuss a matter of life and death concerning the two cities!" Roland, who had just returned, was stopped by Renault.
"Did they say what happened?" Roland asked curiously.
"It seems they had a fight with the orcs!" Renault replied after thinking for a moment.
"Okay, prepare the boats and we'll cross the river!" Roland became alert as soon as the orcs heard this.
…
Accompanied by the rangers Renault and Elnino, Roland set foot on the land on the west coast. After walking for a few minutes, his attention was attracted by the wooden and stone wall in the distance.
"Are they so fast?" Roland turned his head and exclaimed in surprise at Renault.
"Well, King, it's easy to build a wall made of wood and stone. With so many people, they can just cut down a few trees and build it quickly." Renault explained. After all, the wall here doesn't require much technical skills. After all, the wall in the magical world can be built by wizards. There is no need to ram the earth like on the Blue Star where Roland is. You can just cut down a piece of tall tree in the dark forest, sharpen one end and stick it into the soil, then weave all the wooden stakes together with ropes, and finally cover the outside with mud and dry it. The outer wall is ready, and you can immediately put up some wooden frames and lay wooden boards on them. This is the simplest wall.
"Oh! So that's it!" Roland felt balanced immediately when he thought of the thick walls of his own City of Swiftwater, which were built with magic-patterned stone bricks. The defense was there, so he could just go slow.
"Boom!" The soldiers standing guard at the city gate immediately beat their chests and saluted when they saw the royal flag fluttering in the wind behind Roland.
"Welcome, King Roland! I'm sorry that I can't come to greet you in person because of something else." A man who looked like a butler immediately came forward.
"Sorry for the wait." Roland bowed.
"It's my honor to serve you!" said the welcoming butler with a bow.
"Take me to see the White Wing King! I want to know what happened!" Roland's eyes flashed with solemnity. He had just clearly sensed the smell of blood in the air... human blood! Only when there were large numbers of wounded could there be such a strong smell of blood.
"Hello! King Roland, I'm sorry I can't entertain you now!" Bai Yi saw Roland approaching out of the corner of his eye, but his hands did not stop moving at all.
"Dragon God! What happened!" Renault widened his eyes. There were more than a hundred wounded soldiers of various kinds lying under the wooden shed in front of him. Bai Yi and others were changing their bandages and carrying the treated wounded into tents or wooden houses.
"What happened?" Roland narrowed his eyes, feeling uneasy.
"Our cavalry going south for reconnaissance came under attack! Thousands of orcs ambushed us on a large scale! We lost more than a hundred people!" Bai Yi gritted his teeth. He didn't have many cavalry to begin with, and now a small half of them were lost.
"Impossible! The orcs of Dol Guldur are no longer capable of launching large-scale attacks!" Roland asserted. After all, the orcs of Dol Guldur were the only army that was completely wiped out during the Battle of Lonely Mountain, with nearly 20,000 men killed on the battlefield. Roland didn't believe that the orcs would have the strength to attack right away. How could their scars heal after only a few days of healing?
"King! You should see this!" Renault casually pulled over a piece of rag beside him, which was covered with the orcs' scribbles-like totems.
"This was brought back by my soldiers!" Bai Yi said casually after taking a look.
"Is there a problem?" In Roland's eyes, all the orcs' flags looked the same.
"It's a big problem! No! It's a big trouble!" Renault swallowed.
"This isn't the totem of the Orcs of Dol Guldur! I've never seen these symbols before! They come from Orcs further south..."
"Mordor!" Renault and Roland looked up at the same time and shuddered at the same time.
"Is it urgent to move now?" Roland asked weakly.
"Damn it! Why would Mordor care about this place! We are in the north!" Renault said madly.
"Damn..." Roland cursed inwardly. The orcs of Dol Guldur were Sauron's lackeys. He and his men had broken Sauron's plan, so how could Sauron not react? These thousands of orcs must be reinforcements from Mordor, and there was a high probability that there were more orcs behind.
"Have the orcs from the south extended their claws?" Bai Yi's face was frosty.
"Well, darkness is about to cover the north, and we are the last defenders..." Roland took a deep breath.
"I will wait for them here! Right here! This is the city of Losenniel of the Carden tribe! This is our home! We will fight to the death until the last moment!" Bai Yi roared angrily. His people had nowhere to go if they left here. In winter, they would be either mentally retarded or mentally paralyzed if they had to migrate across the Misty Mountains. They could not go far carrying baggage, old and young, and would be separated, surrounded and swallowed up by the orcs.
"Then be careful! I will light the beacon if anything happens! My soldiers will come to support you. I am going to Lonely Mountain to find the dwarves and inform them of this news!" Roland gave White Wing some instructions and left Lorthaënir. He now needed to quickly tell Bard, Thorin, Dain and Thranduil the news!
The entire north is in danger!
