Divided Hearts (a Legauriel novella) [COMPLETED]

Chapter 5: A Fight in the Night

Tauriel hardly uttered a word as she worked alongside the Dúnedain. When Finradrin taught the villagers fighting in close combat, Tauriel demonstrated the moves with her own weapons. Her face was expressionless, her movements precise. No longer would she step out of her place among the Dúnedain. No longer would she interfere with the affairs of others.

When the villagers squabbled on how to build a barrier around their village, Tauriel turned away, letting someone else handle it. When someone asked her opinion on a task, she'd answer curtly and leave as soon as possible. But with each abrupt dismissal, another twinge of guilt pricked her conscience. These inconveniences became so strong, she honestly considered retreating to the main Dúnedain camp.

But she wouldn't. She was the one who had recommended the Dúnedain and the villagers band together. To abandon her own idea would be too great a blow to her pride. As the night closed in, spirits in the makeshift war camp grew tenser and tenser. The villagers didn't spare an encouraging word for each other, and the Dúnedain's silence was all the more magnified. They stoically melted into the treeline and took up their positions. Tauriel chose to stand alongside the villagers who crouched in darkened doorways and alleyways, clutching their meager weaponry.

Darkness fell.

Tauriel scarcely dared to breathe. Two wide-eyed, young women crouching in the doorway with her trembled. Tauriel's heart softened as she saw her own fear in them. Then her grip tightened on her bow which a Dúnedan soldier had lent her. She would not let the Dark Uruk-hai hurt them. Not while she drew breath.

The night animals hooted, croaked, and chirped, blissfully unaware of the anxiety crammed into the tiny village below them. Then suddenly, their peaceful choruses died off. Tauriel braced her feet, ready to run. The Uruk-hai were coming. 

In place of the animal noises came grunting and snuffling. Tauriel narrowed her eyes.

They were here. 

Tauriel shoved down her fear, her hope, and any other emotion arising within her. She set her face and her mind on the task before her. Keeping her eyes on the darkness beyond the village, she pointed her arrow at the girls. "Light it," she hissed. There! In the dark she spotted movement - the Uruk-hai creeping toward the barrier. 

A woosh came from her left, but Tauriel paused, memorizing her target. Then, in one fluid motion, she stepped out into the street and raised her bow and arrow. Though she couldn't see anything beyond the flaming arrow, Tauriel shot anyway.

Through the air it arced, and for a moment, the arrow illuminated an Uruk's shocked expressions before digging into his collarbone. His comrades gaped as he fell with a squawk. More arrows flew from where the villagers hid along the streets. The flaming weapons fell on the Dark Uruk-hai as well as in the grass. The fire swept across the forest floor and over the injured Uruks.

Immediately, Tauriel sent a deadly volley of arrows into the mob of Uruks. Some arrows hit their marks in the limbs and torsos. Others, to her surprise, were deflected with swift forearms. Quick relfexes, Tauriel thought sardonically. This should be most amusing.

She lowered her bow and watched the Uruks flinch and stagger from a new volley of arrows coming from the Dúnedain on the sides of the clearing. The plan was going well, but it had to keep moving.

"Forward!" she shouted into the night air. "Now!" Throwing aside her bow for her daggers, she sprinted at the barrier on the north side of town. Already two Uruks were pushing through the haphazard wall. Their wide white eyes locked on Tauriel, and they bowled past the remaining debris with throaty roars. 

For a moment, Tauriel felt vulnerable, facing the monsters by herself. Then, she heard a human battle cry. From a side street further ahead on her right, a villager charged and swung his staff. The weapon smacked an Uruk in the face, but the monster quickly tackled the villager to the ground. More villagers swarmed over the Uruk, stabbing and slicing with results. Tauriel's courage grew as she heard more villagers shouting and charging up the street behind her. If mortal beings could face such danger, so could she.