Kíli and Rhonwen stood, still stunned by the news they had heard from Dwalin. Then they were met by a excited Fíli, running past them while adjusting the last straps on his armour. He saw them and yelled to Kíli, "Come on! What are you waiting for?" before dashing down the hall to the entrance.

Kíli looked at Rhonwen. "Go with the women and children," he said, before running off in the direction of his room where his armour and weapons were. Rhonwen watched him leave, a shocked look on her face. Then she followed, going to her own room. If he can believe that I made it through the wild alone, then why can't he believe that I can fight?  she thought fiercely. She stomped the rest of the way there, an idea forming in her head. The rest of the male dwarves would assemble in the main hall just inside the entrance to the mountain city. Hurriedly, she pull a light, yet extremely tough mail coat over one of her tunics and then pulled another tunic over that one. After strapping her sword to her side, she picked up her quiver and strung her bow.

She opened the door and peered out. No one paid attention to her. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her face and ran the rest of the way to the main hall, dodging dwarves on her way. Quickly, she found her place beside Kíli and Fíli, standing stiff while the rest of the dwarves were assembling. Kíli and Fíli paid no attention to the dwarf beside them. Good, she thought. The sooner I'm recognized, the less of a chance I can fight.

Finally, they were assembled. Thorin strode to the front and began to speak. "Dwarves, decendents of Durin, and others, we are beset by the trolls of the mountains who threaten to destroy the city which we have spent many hard years of blood, sweat, and toil to build. Must we then, the third time we've been threatened with the possibility of being totally annihilated, shrink back, hoping vainly that the mountains will provide for us a better hiding place? Must we surrender to these hideous beasts, knowing that they will give no mercy to us, our wives and children, only save us for later meals? Instead, I bid you stand against them! Whether we live or die today, we will know that it wasn't in vain! Whether you chose to fight alongside me, or protect the young and old, I will go out there, and I will kill and kill till they either lay dead, their blood staining the ground, or my blood spills out upon the white snow. Will you join me?"

The rest of them, yelled, "Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!" ("Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!"), many raising their weapons and shaking them violently. Then they formed ranks, and headed for the gate.

Kíli and a few others, Rhonwen included, were at the front and raced to the top of the gate, able to shoot. They held their arrows as the rest opened the great double doors reinforced with steel. The battle cry was heard again, this time their voices in unison, sounding horrendous and throwing terror into every soul, "Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!"

Rhonwen shuddered and was quite grateful that she wasn't facing these dwarves. At the given signal, "Khazâd!" (dwarves), their arrows flew and many found their mark, falling with a thump upon the trolls' thick hide, though unfortunately failing in felling the creatures.

When their arrows were spent, they ran down the staircase and rushed out to join the others. However, Kíli grabbed Rhonwen's wrist and pulled back the hood that had previously obscured her face. "I knew it!" he muttered before continuing louder, "What are you doing here?"

"Whatever I'm doing here, it's too late for me to go back," she argued.

Kíli rolled his eyes, let go of her, and ran to join the rest. Rhonwen pulled her hood up once more, yanked her sword from its sheath and ran after him. She was nearly knocked down by a falling troll and scampered out of the way.

Then she thrust her sword into the leg of one of the horrible things, who was stepping backward, trying to avoid the flying axes of the dwarves. It let out a cry of pain as she swung the sword again at the leg, slicing it near partway through. Blood splattered out onto the snow and the beast lunged around, looking for the person who had caused so much pain. But Rhonwen had wisely side-stepped to the other side and sliced the other leg of the creature. It fell and the rest of the dwarves finished him off with many a cut.

She ran off to somewhere else where help was needed. Several other dwarves were crowding one who was obviously the leader by his tough armour made of hardened leather. It successfully managed time and time again to avoid the strokes of the dwarves and knocking them out of its way. Rhonwen recognized three of the combatants almost immediately and called two of their names, "Kíli! Fíli!" They turned and Fíli said something to Kíli, but then they had to block another blow the troll struck who nearly succeeding in severing their bodies.

Rhonwen's attention was drawn to danger that was closer to her. A lumbering troll, seizing the opportunity to enter the gates, walked over to the mountain as no other dwarves were assailing him. He was cut off by a scream of "Khazâd ai-mênu!" (the dwarves are upon you). He turned in surprise and was met by a sword landing right in his eye. Rhonwen had scrambled to the top of the gate where she had shot from recently and seizing a loose rope, swung right into the beast, her drawn sword slicing his main point of vision. His hands flew to his face as he yelped in pain. Rhonwen leaped down and tried to cut his enormous leg, but failed. For just then he spotted her and kicked her hard, causing her to fly into the air and land somewhere faraway from the gate. Her head hit stone and her vision blurred.

She got up, her ears ringing, and looked around her. Kíli, Fíli, Thorin, and the others were still trying to bring down the leader. She scrambled to feet and ran to them, driving her sword straight in front of her. It delved deep into the troll's flesh and he screamed. The other dwarves, taking the cue, yelled "Baruk Khazâd!" (The axes of the dwarves) and flailed their axes whirling into the troll, the sudden attack causing him to fall to his feet.

However, some of the dwarves had been fighting behind the troll and now were in great danger of being crushed. Rhonwen yelled and most of them managed to get out of the way. Thorin turned around and his eyes opened wide with fear as the troll descended upon him.

Suddenly, he was spared a gruesome death as he was knocked out of the way by a running object to safety. Though not without its consequences, for being knocked so hard, he hit the ground with a loud thump, someone landing on top of him. That someone crawled off almost immediately and Thorin blinked rapidly, sitting up and brushing his dark locks out of his face.  He looked in surprise at the tall erect figure standing in front of him. "Rhonwen?" he asked puzzled. She reached down a hand and pulled him to his feet and handed him his sword before dashing off to find the other two.

She found them, standing back, almost leaning against their swords. "What do you think you're doing? There is a battle going on you know." She said accusingly.

Fíli and Kíli looked casually at her and smirked, Kíli saying, "The battle is over," while gesturing with his hand on the ground where they stood. Fíli started laughing and Kíli joined him. Rhonwen looked around the place. The trolls were dead, lying on the ground. There was about thirteen that had fallen. Just as many or more, she couldn't tell, of dwarves lay dead as well, victims of the gruesome battle that had been pitched so violently before. The sun was begining to set in the west, sending scarlet fingers over the quiet battlefield. Rhonwen turned to the laughing brothers.

"Aye, the battle's over, but that doesn't mean the work is. The trolls need to be burned and the dead dwarves buried, their families informed of their loss."

They sobered down quite a bit and helped with the others disposing of the dead. When all had been accomplished, the sun had set and darks clouds creeping over the eastern horizon. A strong breeze blew, sending the columns of smoke sprawling across the plain. The living returned to the mountain. Kíli and Fíli were counting how many they had killed. Rhonwen was silent, a scowl on her face. Soon, she ran up to her room and cleaned her sword till it gleamed in the dim lamplight in her room.

She laid it in its sheath, and put it down. Just then, a knock on the door interrupted her. She calle, and the door burst open as Kíli and Fíli bounced in. "Where have you been?" Fíli asked. Kíli elbowed him.

"Busy. First, Coriann wanted to talk to me, and then the battle started."

Fíli and Kíli raised their eyebrows and looked at each other. "Oh," they both said.

"Are you coming to the feast tonight?" Kíli asked.

Rhonwen looked up and smiled, "Aye, I'm getting ready if you'll ever leave."

They left the room and as soon as the door was closed, Rhonwen pulled of her hooded tunic and chain mail before changing into something else. Then she made her way downstairs.