Children of the Stars

"There's big trouble in the north! What did tiny Erebor ever do to deserve Sauron personally taking an interest in it? The Mordor Army is already lining up!" Roland sat on Caslo's back, his mind filled with thoughts.

"My lord, take heart. Everything will pass! May Lagrange's glorious blessing be upon us!" Caslo turned his head and consoled him.

"Sigh... Even if the Elves join the war, our chances of winning still aren't great," Roland said after pondering for a while.

"Why?" Caslo did not understand. Roland could currently muster a force of eight hundred men, Bai Yi could scrape together five hundred, the Iron Hills could field more than a thousand soldiers, Thorin could raise nearly two thousand Dwarven warriors, and Bard of River Valley City could grit his teeth and produce five hundred men. The Elves had at least another thirty-five hundred troops. By that count, they could gather an allied army of over eight thousand. With proper arrangements, defeating the Orcs was not impossible.

"We have to fight on two fronts! The only one who can support the south is the king of the Iron Hills, Dain Ironfoot!" Roland explained.

"The Elves will certainly intercept the Orcs from Fortress of Gundabad heading south. Bard and Thorin will spare no effort for their homelands. The only ones free to move are the Iron Hills Dwarves led by Dain Ironfoot! And we're facing Azog of Dol Guldur, reinforced by the Mordor Army!" Roland said with a headache.

"Wait! Take me back! You go north and deliver the news!" Roland suddenly seemed to recall something, and delight appeared on his face.

"...Understood." Though Caslo did not understand his king's order, he obeyed.

Had Roland thought of a way to break the deadlock? He really had. This Middle-earth closely resembled the Middle-earth from the One Ring game Roland had played. If so, did all those hidden factions throughout Middle-earth truly exist as well? Roland intended to verify it. If they did, then he could say he had already won half the battle for Erebor.

After quietly giving Ladyl a few instructions with Reno, Roland hurriedly rode toward the docks. As it happened, there really was a hidden faction of the order camp in Mirkwood: the Star Elves, known as the Children of the Stars. They lived in Singri, a hidden realm within Mirkwood, directly north of Dol Guldur. With a powerful forbidden stellar spell formation, they had concealed their entire kingdom. If Roland remembered correctly, the Singri Kingdom should have Dragon Knights! When players accidentally entered it, they discovered an old dragon—but that had been the Fifth Age. This was only the Third Age, so it should have been a young Star Dragon. Its formidable barrier abilities had forged the Star Barrier of the Singri Elves, separating them from the outside world and allowing them to avoid the chaos of the age. The ancestors of these Elves seemed to have been a group of refugee High Elves. In the end, their faith in the Star Goddess led them to call themselves Star Elves.

Roland felt that he ought to seek out this reclusive kingdom. If he could persuade those Elves to join the war, then he would not have to fear the Orc army in the south at all. He might even be able to push back and strike Dol Guldur. That way, there would be no need to trouble the Elves of the Golden Forest and Rivendell to attack that fortress.

"Your Majesty! Where are we going?" Seeing Roland preparing to head into the forest, Reno immediately grabbed him. That direction led to Dol Guldur! Surely his king had not gone mad? Was he planning for two Paladins to flatten a fortress all the way through? Let alone two Paladins—even two Dragon Knights would be stumped for quite a while against a well-manned, fully equipped fortress.

"We're going to find someone who can break this deadlock." Roland smiled mysteriously.

"Don't! King! We can't break anything! One sliding kick from the two of us wouldn't even be enough to feed the Wargs in Dol Guldur! Isn't this gift of delivering ourselves to the enemy a little too generous?" Reno clung directly to Roland. He was terrified that Roland intended to lead him in a forced assault on Dol Guldur. Before such an overwhelming difference in numbers, even two heroic Knights had no chance of survival.

"What? Dol Guldur? Get off me! Who the hell said we were going there? I'm not crazy! I can't beat Azog!" Roland irritably kicked Reno away.

Instead of getting angry, Reno grinned. "Good! Your Highness, that kick was excellent!" Roland's still-normal train of thought made Reno breathe a sigh of relief.

"We're going to look for the legendary Star Elves! If they're willing to join the war, we still have a chance of winning!" Roland said irritably as he adjusted his plate armor.

"Yes! Your Highness's lesson is well received!" Reno answered with a smile.

"Let's go! We need to get moving early, and we must avoid the Orcs' scouts!" Roland said.

"Then we can't ride horses!" Reno said solemnly.

"Not ride horses? How many days will it take us to get there?" Roland was stunned.

"Your Highness, hoofprints will expose our trail, hoofbeats will reveal our position, and riding through the forest is not a good choice..." Reno patiently explained.

"Uh... That makes a lot of sense." Thinking it over, Roland realized that he had indeed been foolish. He had only cared about convenience and had not considered the series of serious consequences that came with riding horses.

"Your Highness, we should leave quickly, while it's still light..." Reno glanced at the sky.

"Let's go!" Roland took one final look toward Flowing City, then turned and left with Reno.

"What? Orcs from Mordor?" Thranduil stared at Caslo beneath the steps in shock.

"Yes! Our allies were ambushed by them and suffered heavy casualties!" Caslo replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.

"How could they have come to the north?" Thranduil still could not believe it.

"But that is indeed the truth!" Caslo pulled out the totem banner from his clothes.

"This totem does not belong to the Orcs of the Misty Mountains, nor does it match the banners of the Orcs in Dol Guldur! Our allies were ambushed while scouting southward. So tell me, honored King of the Woodland Realm, what other Orc forces are there in the south?" Caslo raised his eyelids and asked coldly.

"Damn it!" The muscles on Thranduil's face twitched. He was clearly enraged. During the War of the Last Alliance, before the allied armies of Men and Elves attacked the Black Gate of Mordor, two forces had already clashed with the Orcs: the Woodland Elves led by Thranduil's father and the Elves of the Golden Forest. The two Elven armies had been ambushed in the Dead Marshes. Oropher, king of the Woodland Realm and Thranduil's father, had fallen in that battle. What was even more ironic was that Dol Guldur, the old fortress now occupied by Orcs, had once been the old capital of the Woodland Elves...

Even Caslo could not help complaining inwardly. Why had they left without tearing the city down? Was magic too expensive? Or had all the Elf Mages died? They had left behind such a massive disaster for everyone else to deal with...

"I understand why you have come. Tell king Roland that if the Orcs of Mordor arrive, I will lead my army to support you! Light the signal fires to show us the way!" Hatred flickered in Thranduil's eyes.

"No, Elf King. I think you need to understand one thing: once Mordor's great army arrives, the Orcs of Gundabad will certainly pour out in full force as well! You are needed to hold the northern line!" Caslo looked at Thranduil gravely.

Second update. Readers can join the discussion group: 620680901. Everyone is welcome to chat.