The Warg Riders break out of the trees, attacking the Dwarves

For twelve long days the Orcs have tracked the dwarvish company, fearing to attack them because of hidden power of the grey wizard, but now they are within the shadow of the Misty Mountains and must be stopped.

Azog the defiler ordered that the dwarves must NOT reach the mountains… the time to attack had come.

Yazneg wanted to wait until the cover of darkness to attack the company of dwarves, but even now they were crossing the ford over the river that would take them to the hills at the feet of the mountain pass, he could wait no longer.

(NOTE: In the film trilogy, Yazneg chases the Dwarves to Rivendell on the same morning the trolls are turned to stone. In the book, the dwarves travel for 12 more days before reaching Rivendell. Here we are trying to bridge the gap between events in the films and events in the book and so we are charting new territory in Middle-earth.)

The late afternoon sun drew long shadow from the Misty Mountains, which loomed over the orcs. The dwarves had crossed the ford of Bruinen and were entering the first of hills that led to the feet of the mountains. Yazneg gathered his warg riders and raised his scimitar into the air calling for them to attack. They broke from the cover of the trees along the rivers edge, crossing the ford. The baying of the wargs filled the small vale at the river’s edge as they came on like a storm.

The warg riders reached the slopes of the first hill, just as the dwarves slipped into a grove of black pines. Yazneg and the uruks under his command screamed with their lust for blood as they made for the top of the tree line. Yazneg drove his warg riders forward under the darkness of the trees, in the direction the dwarves had taken. The last tracking warg sniffed at the ground under the gloom of the black pines and then rushed forward, disappearing into the darkness of the wood.

Yazneg and his riders gave chase, but when they broke from the trees into a clearing, they did not find the dwarves helpless and caught at unawares. Instead they come upon a line of elves upon horseback rushing towards them, swords drawn and bows fitted. Rather than tasking down the line of Durin and tearing them to shreds, the orcs found that they had become the hunted, rather the the hunters. The sound of steel meeting steel, the twang of bow strings and the cries of battle filled the air.

The fight soon became a rout, as the outnumbered warg riders were pushed back into the trees by the forward momentum of the filthy elves. Yazneg called for retreat and the remaining orcs fled down over the hills and back across the ford of Bruinen into the west, their wargs howling in defeated rage.

The Uruks road for several miles westward, until they were sure they were not being followed. Finally Yazneg called for a rest under cover of a grove of trees on a hill beside the road. Fimbul came up behind Yazneg, dismounting from his warg.

“We must return to the Master, tell him that the dwarves are now under the protection of the elves.”

Yazneg looked down at the orc before him and was tempted to remove his head, but he dared not return with even fewer orcs then were already left among their numbers. Yazneg looked up at the moon, that was just tuning to full. He knew that Fimbul was right, they must return to Azog and he must admit his failure. Yazneg looked down at the curve of his scimitar, there was no blood upon the blade. He sheathed the weapon and called for the orcs to following him into the darkness.

“We ride now to the hill of Amon Sûl and to the fate of the Master’s hand!”

Yazneg lept forward upon his warg, hoping that this would not be the last ride of his life.

The Mordor Appendices ~ The Time Line of the Year 2941 ~ 2942