Chapter 214: Ambush

Whether it is work, gaming, or handling daily affairs, when people are focused and busy, time always passes especially quickly.

Days rise and set, stars flicker and the moon grows cold; Middle-earth has once again entered the Frost Moon, which is the month of December each year.

This season is always cold in the north, but compared to the heavy snow of last year, this year is indeed much warmer; the cold air did not travel south along Mirkwood, but instead stopped its advance near the Lonely Mountain.

In fact, for most of the past years, the climate of Rhovanion has been like this.

Because whether it is the towering Misty Mountains or the Grey Mountains where a Cold Dragon might be coiled, they intercept most of the cold air on the other side of the mountains.

A cold climate like last year's is truly a once-in-a-century occurrence.

The Running River, nearly a thousand kilometers long, flows endlessly from north to south toward the Sea of Rhun, and on the river, one can see cargo ships of various sizes from time to time, fully loaded with goods sailing downstream.

At this moment, most merchants have already sold out their goods at nearby Human settlements and instead need to purchase many of Rhovanion's specialties to sell in the south.

This situation will continue until next summer, at which point some merchants will return here again, carrying goods produced elsewhere.

Sometimes, commodity trading is like one repeating circle after another; there will always be people exhausted from running in this circle because they are chasing wealth.

Most of the time, this is a good thing, but at certain times, it is also a bad thing, because commerce knows no borders.

On a morning with overcast skies, several sailboats flying the flag of the King of Rhovanion were heading north along the Running River.

Although the ships were sailing against the current, through the sailors' efforts at rowing, they could still maintain a fairly good speed on this relatively calm river.

Allen, who had been invited to Long Lake Town, stood at the bow of the ship.

At this moment, he was wearing a luxurious white robe embroidered with gold thread, a scabbard decorated with magnificent gems hung at his waist, and the Noldor Rune Longsword rested quietly inside.

Amidst his short, pitch-black hair sat a slender crown, with three shining White Gems embedded in the three stars at the center of the crown.

At this time, Allen was smiling and chatting with Yamila, who was snuggled up beside him, telling her about his pursuit of Bolg, the son of Azog.

The Twilight Knights who had completed the pursuit with him stood at other positions on the sailboat, observing their surroundings with vigilance.

Yamila, wearing a beautiful long dress, nodded with a smile while listening to Allen "brag" about how he had taken twelve of his Captain of the Personal Guard and wiped out hundreds of Wolf Riders.

No matter what her lover was saying, being able to come out with Allen to take a boat, look at the scenery, and take a rare short vacation was, in Yamila's view, a very good thing.

Of course, this was also thanks to Allen's help; otherwise, during the end-of-year period, it would have been very difficult for Yamila, who bore the responsibilities of Prime Minister, to spare nearly a month to make a round trip to Long Lake Town.

The total distance from Long Lake Town to Fislate, by water and land, is about four hundred kilometers.

If the military situation were urgent, the time to cover these four hundred kilometers would be shortened to the limit.

A messenger could depart from Long Lake Town by boat, sailing downstream with the help of the north wind blowing in winter, and reach Heidelberg in half a day.

Then, sparing no horse, they could ride fast and change horses at several stations along Mirkwood Road, reaching Fislate in just three or four days.

Of course, Allen's party would naturally not do that.

Before departing, besides being accompanied by Yamila, Allen only brought the Twilight Knights and the Girl Rangers.

As for the other members of the Personal Guard, they had put in a great deal of hard work due to this war in the south in Gondor.

Therefore, Allen gave them a long vacation; by the time these guards returned to work, it would likely be after the New Year, and these bachelors needed to live their own lives too.

Allen's hope for them was likewise that they could establish their own families here.

Moreover, within his own territory, Allen did not feel he would encounter much trouble; to the west of the Running River was the territory of his ally, the Silvan Elf, upstream was his directly administered territory of Long Lake Town, and downstream was his loyal Vassal, Alayen.

Could it be that two thousand Orcish could really emerge from the forest in such a situation to ambush him?

That should be an impossible thing.

And if there were any small-scale attacks, relying on the combat power of Allen and his personal guards, they could handle the vast majority of situations.

He still had this bit of self-confidence.

It was just that the Dark Lord, who had been frequently casting his gaze northward recently, perhaps could not stand this self-confidence of Allen's, or perhaps it was because of the hatred filling his heart, mixed with a probe of some sort.

Therefore, Allen's life was destined not to remain stable for long; when he stepped out of his heavily guarded palace, darkness would follow like a shadow.

On the wide, calm river, seven or eight merchant ships flying Dwarf flags began to intentionally or unintentionally surround Allen's fleet.

Those were not the Durin Dwarf from the Lonely Mountain; the flag on the bow, with a black background and a fiery red Steel Axe painted on it, should have belonged to a Dwarf tribe from the Far East.

Holimion, who was standing behind Allen acting as a guard, sensed that something was wrong at the first moment, and amidst his shouts, three massive Noldor Enchanted Shield blocked the front of Allen and Yamila.

Because according to the regulations of the Kingdom of Rhovanion, all ships departing from Long Lake Town heading from north to south should sail along the east side of the river.

Those Dwarf ships were occupying far too much of the river channel at this moment; it was obvious they wanted to do something.

As Allen's Captain of the Personal Guard, Holimion felt that in the face of such an unusual situation, being cautious was always the right thing to do.

Even if it were a misunderstanding, the two sides about to meet would lose nothing; in this seemingly calm but crisis-ridden era, carelessness was the one mindset one could not afford.

Just a short moment later, Allen, who was holding Yamila, immediately understood Holimion's meaning.

Before this, Allen had been chatting with Yamila about the past, so his gaze had been fixed on the west bank and he had not noticed the situation on the river, but this did not affect his thinking and reaction.

The moment the Twilight Knights staring at the shields stood in front of him, Allen knew that things had changed; reacting, he immediately shielded Yamila with his body and began to retreat toward the center of the ship.

That area was larger and more conducive to using shields to defend against attacks from all directions.

Moreover, the bow was the position closest to the enemy, and Allen and Yamila, who were not wearing any armor, were still somewhat in danger standing there.

When hundreds of black arrows whistled through the air and flew toward the sailboat from all directions, the caution of Allen and Holimion proved to be incomparably correct.

Of course, for the warriors on the ship, this situation was at most a drizzle; Allen had seen scenes hundreds of times larger than this.

So, the moment he learned of the enemy's ambush, Allen did not give the order to retreat; on one hand, he was indeed full of confidence in his men.

On the other hand, he wanted to see exactly which blind fellow was disturbing him while he was showing off, and in front of his woman, no less.

Allen's confidence was, of course, not without reason.

At this moment, every arrow flying toward Allen and Yamila was intercepted by silver shields.

As for the Twilight Knights under the rain of arrows, they used their arms, which were equipped with silver gauntlets, to protect their faces and then ignored the enemy's shooting.

Because the Ancient Plate Armor they were equipped with simply did not fear arrow fire; unless they were facing a large Ballista, the Twilight Knights would not make any evasive movements at this moment.

Because the space on the ship was too small, and they still had to protect the King and Queen behind them.

Of course, siege weapons like large Ballista were impossible to appear on the river.

The laws Allen established did not prohibit merchant caravans from carrying weapons; after all, this was a dangerous continent, and prohibiting them from carrying weapons on the river and in the Wilderness would be no different from robbery and murder.

However, it certainly would not allow anyone to carry siege equipment; not even any similar parts were allowed to pass through the checkpoint.

At this moment, a rain of arrows as dense as hail in the sky continuously struck the sailing ship where Allen was, emitting "ding-ding-dang-dang" and "duo-duo-duo" sounds, while shrill screams could be heard from the opposite side from time to time.

Standing on another sailing ship, the Girl Rangers began to counterattack against the enemy the moment the black rain of arrows flew up, with Cone-headed Arrows like shooting stars constantly nailing into the enemies' bearded faces.

Before long, the sailing ship where Allen was was covered in black arrows, and the enemy had also paid the price of over a dozen lives in a short time.

As for the small boat following at the very end of Allen's fleet, it quickly turned its bow and sped toward Heidelberg in the south; the figures of Malherbe and Desaiwei sitting on the boat grew smaller and smaller, and soon they disappeared on the river.

Meanwhile, the two ships sailing on the river were getting closer and closer, and through the gaps in the Shield, Allen could already clearly see the enemy's beard, which was as messy as weeds.

Even though no one explained the enemy's identity to Allen, he had already guessed the origin of the other party.

"I just wanted to go to Long Lake Town to relax and visit an old friend by the way. Sauron, you damn well don't miss any opportunity to strike at an enemy, do you?"

Filled with fury in his heart, Allen's left hand had long since begun to flicker with crackling electric light.

As early as the end of the Second Age when the Last Alliance took place, a portion of the Dwarf living in the Far East began to serve Sauron in dark Mordor.

And when the allied forces of Humans and Elf left the Black Gate, the vengeful and petty-minded Sauron believed that he should spend more energy dealing with this new force of Allen's rising in the north.

Moreover, the flashes of white light outside the Black Gate indeed made the Dark Lord particularly concerned.

Therefore, sending spies to gather information naturally became a very good choice.

But under Sauron's command, there were very few subordinates who could successfully take on this responsibility.

Because most of the Humans who pledged allegiance to him had extremely distinct features, which was that they were particularly ugly.

And the Easterling and Harad who were slightly better-looking were also unable to complete this mission, because Rhovanion did not welcome these two peoples to trade here.

Even without resorting to weapons, Allen did not allow any Easterling to cross the Redwater River.

And regarding this point, Baal, who once entrenched himself in Red River Town, tested it personally, and then he was quickly driven out of Rhovanion by Fatis leading a large army.

A year ago, he slunk back to Rhun with his subordinates.

As for the Harad, the place where they lived was simply too far from Rhovanion, so this was simply unrealistic.

So, with no other choice, Sauron set his sights on some Dwarf who had submitted to him; for him, this was a good choice.

Although these Dwarf served him, their appearance had not changed much, except that they were a bit unhygienic, unlike other Dwarf who regarded their beards as sacred and precious things and kept them very neat.

And this slight difference would not arouse much suspicion from the Free Peoples; they just didn't like to groom their beards, would one expel them just because of this?

That would be too unreasonable.

And in order to obtain the help of these Dwarf, Sauron also paid a not-insignificant price.

He bestowed a Ring that once belonged to a Dwarf king upon the leader of this Dwarf tribe, letting them help him accomplish some ulterior secrets.

In fact, when Allen returned to Rhovanion, these Dwarf had already appeared in Long Lake Town.

And as for the Dwarf living in the Far East, Rhovanion actually did not exclude them, because the king who once controlled this place had received their help, and Sauron happened to know this piece of information.

So when Allen recognized the identity of the Dwarf, he figured all of this out in a very short time.

While filled with anger, Allen also had to admit that Sauron was indeed a meticulous enemy who would stop at nothing.

"Charge, kill all the Elf and Humans present."

A voice like rocks colliding reached Allen's ears at this moment.

And following this order from the enemy leader, sturdy figures wearing black Leather Armor and holding small shields and axes also let out roars before the battle.

The enemy's carefully planned ambush began its full-scale attack at this moment.