The Lonely Mountain stood very close to the Northern Wastes, and the land was bitterly cold even at the best of times.
The previous night had been colder still. In a single night, the piercing chill had frozen the Running River before Dale into solid ice.
That morning, several humans were pulling small carts out onto the Running River to cut through the ice for water, but a steadily rising noise interrupted their work.
At that moment, the humans and Elves stationed in Dale, as well as the Dwarves who had returned to the Kingdom under the Mountain, all stirred.
The ever-closer rumbling alarmed them all, and everyone turned toward its source.
Then, before their eyes, four Were-worms made a spectacular appearance south of the Lonely Mountain, shaking the earth and mountains.
In that instant, their arrival drove countless hearts to despair. Fortunately, they immediately withdrew underground.
As the Were-worms disappeared, everyone heard the deep blast of a horn from Ravenhill.
To the sound of the horn, masses of Half-orcs in crude black armor marched out of the tunnels in orderly formations.
On Ravenhill, Azog used his flags and the low blasts of his horns to order his entire army to attack.
He paid little heed to the humans and Elves holding Dale.
Azog had brought more than fifteen thousand Uruk soldiers from Dol Guldur.
His orders sent some of the first troops out of the tunnels to attack Dale Town and tie down the humans and Elves.
The remaining Uruk, accompanied by more than a dozen Trolls emerging from the tunnels, ran straight toward the gates of the Lonely Mountain.
Azog intended to overwhelm the gates with sheer numbers, slaughter the Dwarves inside, then turn back to deal with the humans and Elves stationed in Dale.
At the time,