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I began to pick up on faint noises. What sounded like far away screaming and the stamping of feet. Then, the screaming grew louder, and I realized it was coming from everywhere. The soldiers on the ground and walls were shouting, as Uruk-Hai soldiers poured in through the newly-made hole in the outer walls.
"Elena!" came a faraway voice, "My Lady! Elena!"
I shook my head, trying to get rid of the ringing and fogginess. And in an instant I was tuned back into the battle, my senses fully functional. I realized Ailen had been calling me. Uruk-Hai stormed past us, likely brushing us off as dead. I looked around, my eyes narrowing in on Ailen's blade, a few feet away. I looked back at Ailen, who in turn, watched me with wide, terrified eyes.
"Okay," I nodded, sheathing my dagger, and taking his hand, "I'm going to fight us out, do you understand, Ailen? You must stay behind me at all times, no matter what. When we pass your blade, you will pick it up as fast as you can manage, then follow me out of the fray."
Ailen nodded rapidly, his eyes scanning the endless stream of charging Uruk-Hai. Fighters from the walls made their way down to face them, some completely abandoning the ladders that were still being used as points of entry.
"On my count. And do not let go of my hand," I said, "One... Two... Now!"
I sprung to my feet and made for the inner walls out of the fray, Ailen following my lead, our hands still joint. Uruk-Hai attacked from all sides, swinging their weapons at me, which I deflected just long enough for Ailen and I to slip by uninjured. When we passed his sword, the boy did just I'd instructed, stooping to collect his weapon and returning to my side with seconds.
We pressed on, and I counted under my breath as I downed our enemies, "Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen..."
"Brace the gate!" I could hear Théoden command over his army.
Moments later a heavy thud resounded through the fortress. They were breaking in the gates,
Ignoring the distress that came from this revelation, I urged Ailen along. At last, we made it to the innermost walls, where the battle had yet to grow too severe. Here, I stooped to speak with Ailen, who appeared terrified as I scanned the battle around us.
"Stay safe," I said, clapping him on the shoulder, "And stay within shouting distance of me."
He nodded, and I handed him the shield as I'd done Gimli. He accepted it, holding it in his left hand, and his blade in his right. Another sonorous thud sounded from the causeway. I offered Ailen an encouraging smile, before turning back into the fray.
Uruk-Hai continued to pour through the hole in the wall, and were met in equal force by terror-driven fighters, under threat of their wives, sisters, mothers, and children being slaughtered by the Uruk-Hai who came ever-closer to the caves.
As I re-entered the chaos of battle, my eyes found Aragorn in the crowd, who continued to launch commands at his fighters. Then, I saw Gimli, who spluttered in the drainage water, his axe flying around in a flurry at the oncoming Uruk-Hai.
"Gimli!" I cried, racing to the aid of my friend.
With my free hand, I pulled a spear from an Uruk-Hai corpse, launching it at the Uruk-Hai standing menacingly over Gimli. It fell on its side, the spear having pierced directly through its scull. I unsheathed my dagger once I'd reach Gimli, slicing open the neck of an approaching Uruk-Hai. With my long sword, I expertly decapitated another. Gimli was on his feet at this point, grumbling in frustration.
"I don't need your help, lass!" he shouted, swinging his axe into the gut of an Uruk-Hai.
"What is your score, Gimli?" I asked, as I disembowelled another.
Gimli swept the legs out from beneath an Uruk-Hai, before bringing his axe down on its head.
"That makes twenty five," Gimli said, with a hint of boastfulness.
"Then don't consider it help, but rather, me surpassing you," I taunted, slashing the throat of another and smiling at him, "That's twenty six."
Suddenly a rattling sound drew our attention to the stairs, where Legolas stood upon a shield that glided down them, loosing arrows as he went. Each arrow met its mark with fatal accuracy, and complete his show of expertise, he launched the shield out beneath him at the base of the stairs, embedding it in the chest of an Uruk-Hai.
"Gimli," I said thoughtfully, piercing my dagger into the chest of an Uruk-Hai, "I propose a truce. Whether its you or I who win, let us both just ensure it isn't the elf. I'm afraid it would inflate his ego to the point of bursting."
Gimli gave a hearty laugh, knocking an Uruk-Hai off its feet with his axe.
"We've reached a truce, then," he chuckled, downing another.
Still more Uruk-Hai poured through the gape in the wall, and my spirits sunk with each new snarling and unfriendly face that came around the wall. I looked back at our own army. There wasn't enough. That fact became ever clearer as more and more Uruk-Hai stormed the outer walls and barrelled towards the inner ones. Towards the keep, and the caves.
Gimli and I fell back, out of the knee-deep drainage water and into the fray of battle. Legolas had abandoned his bow for his dual wielding blades, and Aragorn swung his own sword with trained precision at the onslaught of Uruk-Hai. But no matter our skill, no matter how many Uruk-Hai we downed, it was not enough.
"Aragorn!" King Théoden's voice echoed across the fortress, "Fall back to the keep! Get your men out of there!"
"Am Marad! Am Marad!" Aragorn called out.
"Fall back! To the keep, fall back!" I shouted in warning, as I ran with the rest to the keep, pulling fighters with me.
"What are you doing? What are you all stopping for!" Gimli shouted angrily, as Legolas and another elf carried him by the arms back to the keep.
"Haldir, am Marad!" Aragorn called to Haldir, who I saw was on top of the outer walls with his archers.
Haldir commanded his men to fall back, and they began to stream along the walls and down the stairs, as all of Rohan's fighters and allies fled for the keep.
"Haldir!" Aragorn shouted, and my eyes flew back to the elf, whose acquaintance I'd made all the way back in Rivendell.
Who had helped my kingdom through the war, when it seemed almost no one would.
"No!" I cried, as I registered the elf, who clutched desperately at a wound in his stomach.
The Uruk-Hai who'd inflicted it was quick to follow up with a blow to his back. Haldir fell to his knees. Suddenly, Aragorn broke for the outer wall, racing to the stairs. I made the split-second decision to follow, and help Aragorn to rescue him. I owed the elf that much for helping to save my people. I at last made it to the stairs, stepping over corpses as I went.
"Aragorn!" I called desperately, as I fell to my knees before them.
Aragorn held Haldir's body in his lap, looking down on him with unmoving eyes.
"He is dead," he said stiffly, before pushing himself up to his feet, and bellowing a war cry louder than any before, charging at the Uruk-Hai who still climbed the ladders.
I turned to Haldir's corpse, rigid with the still grip of death, eye wide and lifeless. I closed his eye lids gently with my fingertips.
"Thank you, my friend," I whispered softly, "May you find peace in the realm beyond this one."
I bowed my head softly, before following Aragorn's lead, charging into the Uruk-Hai with my blade held high. I pushed an Uruk-Hai from a ladder, sending the entire ladder down with him. It crashed down upon the remaining army outside with a heavy thud, crushing those below it. I swung my blade into the neck of another, pushing him off the wall and down to the ground below. I swung at another. He blocked the blow with his shield, pushing me back into a pile of corpses. I tripped over my feet, narrowly rolling out of the way of the Uruk-Hai's blade. Coming around its side, I stabbed it in the gut with my dagger.
I chanced a glance at the elves and men that fought with us. They had nearly reached the keep
"Elena!" Aragorn's voice alerted me to the edge of the wall, where he gripped a ladder by the topmost rung, "With me!"
I raced to his side, quickly clueing in on his plan. I sheathed my dagger, latching on to the second to top rung as Aragorn pushed off from the wall. My stomach dropped as we sailed towards the ground and into the tumult of Uruk-Hai soldiers. I barrelled into one of them.
"They've breached the gate!" a voice called over the fighters, and panicked screams rang out in response.
I met the eyes of Aragorn, who nodded in my direction. We both broke for the stairs leading to the walkway that connected the outer and inner walls, making for the gates to the causeway. At the top of the stairs, I froze, looking back for Ailen. I spotted him further down the wall, Legolas' hand on his back as he guided him up the stairs and to the keep on the opposite side of us. I breathed a sigh of relief, turning and following Aragorn to the gates.
Inside, was a scene of pure chaos.
Rohan fighters fought with all their might to push Uruk-Hai back, taking spears to the chest and arms in their strife. I noticed King Théoden leaning against the wall for support, clutching at a wound on his chest.
"You're alright?" I placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm the least of our worries right now, Elena," he responded with a wince, unsheathing his blade, before turning to Aragorn, "Hold them!"
"How long do you need?" Aragorn shouted back.
"As long as you can give me!" Théoden answered.
Aragorn nodded, grabbing me by the arm, then scanning the crowd. His eyes landed on Gimli, who'd just arrived ahead of Legolas and Ailen.
"Gimli!" Aragorn bellowed.
"Timbers! Brace the gates!" I heard Théoden command, as Aragorn pulled me through a secluded doorway, Gimli following on my heels.
The passage was so narrow that Gimli was made to walk sideways. The light had forsaken us within seconds, and soon it was too dark to see at all. It was made worse by the fact that every few moments a stair would appear, and Aragorn would trip over it, followed by me, and topped by Gimli. At the end of the short corridor, Aragorn pushed open a heavy stone door, introducing the pale moonlight and warm torchlight once again.
It let out onto a narrow ledge along the mountain, likely level with the causeway. The three of us inched slowly along, until the causeway came into view behind a jut in the mountain. Aragorn peered cautiously around it. I leaned over Aragorn's shoulder, and Gimli over mine, as the three of us sized up our enemy.
"Oh, come on, we can take 'em!" Gimli whisper-shouted, an eager smile stealing across his face.
Aragorn looked at me for a moment, then Gimli.
"It's a long way," he said.
I peered again over Aragorn's chest, gauging the distance.
"Aragorn and I, most likely," I remarked, looking down at Gimli, "I don't think you can clear it, my friend."
Gimli looked conflicted at my words, looking between the enemy, Aragorn, me, and the ground below. He seemed to settle on something, looking back up at Aragorn and I fixedly.
"Toss me."
"What?" Aragorn frowned, his lip twitching in amusement.
I had to muffle a chuckle.
"I cannot jump the distance!" Gimli argued defensively, "You'll have to toss me."
Aragorn nodded slowly, his brow quirked as he looked up at me. I shrugged.
"Help me around?" I asked him, extending my hand.
Aragorn took it, and he set his weight against mine as I stepped around Gimli, my feet coming dangerously close to the very edge of the overhang so that pebbles and dirt slid out from under me. But with Aragorn's help, I managed to get Gimli between he and I. Aragorn looked down to Gimli for comfirmation. The Dwarf gave him a curt nod. Aragorn made to toss him, but Gimli threw up his hands.
"Ah..! Don't tell the Elf..." Gimli between Aragorn and I, for the first time since I'd known him, with pleading eyes.
"Not a word," Aragorn complied, before tossing Gimli across the gap between the overhand and the causeway.
He looked back at me with a quirked brow.
"After you," I unsheathed my dagger, and gestured ahead.
He nodded, following after Gimli and clearing the gap with ease. I came next, the jump posing no problem at all to me. I barrelled into the Uruk-Hai on the causeway, watching as those closest to the edge tumbled over the side and plummeted to the ground below. With the three of us having cleared the jump and displaced the Uruk-Hai closest to the gate, we had only to hold our ground in front of the gates, slaughtering Uruk-Hai and sending them over the side as they came.
I drove my dagger into the skull of a charging Uruk-Hai, slashing the legs of another with my long sword. Both I kicked over the edge, one already dead, the other on its way.
Another Uruk-Hai charged from the ranks at me, swinging his axe madly. I thwarted the blow, slashing at him with my dagger. I just grazed his gut, and he swung at me with his shield, striking me across the head and sending me sprawling dangerously close to the edge of the causeway. I was immensely thankful in that moment for the helmet Ailen had provided me with, as I forced myself to my feet, ignoring the shocks of pain that split through my head. The Uruk-Hai took another swing at me, and I blocked his axe with my dagger.
The blade of the axe caught my dagger, prying it from my hands and sending it plummeting over the edge of the causeway. I swung with my long sword, but he parried with his shield. Suddenly, another axe flew at the Uruk-Hai's skull, and he was sent sprawling over the causeway, to reveal a very proud Gimli.
"Ha! That's thirty one, Miss Elena!" he flaunted.
"That was my kill!" I gaped, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.
"Gonna have to be faster than that to-" Gimli stopped short as I launched my sword past his head.
It planted itself in the chest of an Uruk-Hai who'd been raising his sword to strike at Gimli from behind.
"Get that for me, will you?" I asked nonchalantly, and Gimli, eyes wide in disbelief, complied, extricating my sword from the Uruk-Hai's chest seconds before it spilled over the edge of the causeway.
"That puts me at a lofty thirty two," I smirked.
Gimli chuckled heartily, shaking his head, before swinging his axe into the gut of another Uruk-Hai.
"Make way!" a voice came from behind the gates, "Follow me to the barricade!"
I spared a glance behind me, finding that the gate was being boarded up with whatever the fighters could find. I spotted Ailen through one of the gaps in the gate. He supported the end of a beam being carried to the gate. I turned my attention back to the oncoming Uruk-Hai. But my eye was quickly caught by something that stole my breath.
"Aragorn," I rasped, "Gimli."
They followed my gaze to the right of us, where large grappling hooks and wide ladders were being used to scale the wall of the entrance gates. The three of us exchanged worried looks. I spotted Legolas defending the walls of the entrance gates, loosing arrows where the ladders and grappling hooks had latched on to the wall. One met its mark with remarkable accuracy, downing one of the ladders with a resounding crash.
"Elena!" I heard Théoden call from behind the gate, "Gimli, Aragorn! Get out of there!"
Our attention having been occupied by Théoden, we didn't notice the Uruk-Hai that crept up behind us, wrapping us in a bear hug from behind.
"Elena!" I could hear Legolas call me from above.
I fought against the Uruk-Hai, who was struggling to restrain the wrath of all three of us at once. I, being in the middle, was able to slip out from the Uruk-Hai's hold, running my sword up through the Uruk-Hai's skull. Aragorn and Gimli were immediately freed, as a rope was tossed down for us by Legolas. We raced to it, and Aragorn grasped it tightly. Looking between the two of us.
"Gimli, you first," he said, "Elena, with me."
"Does it not make more sense to save two first? You go with Gimli."
"I'm sure I'm not wrong in believing that you might risk a heroic sacrifice in my absence," he said, as Gimli was hauled up by Legolas and some others, "Besides," he went on, "You're much lighter."
The Uruk-Hai were more preoccupied with the door than us, but Aragorn and I still had to fight a number off before the rope was tossed down again. Aragorn wrapped an arm around my waist, and with his other hand clutched the rope. Legolas and whomever helped him began to haul the rope, our feet just missing the blade of an Uruk-Hai. We swung dangerously close to an Uruk-Hai ladder, but Aragorn directed us away by kicking off the wall. A moment later, we'd reached the top. Legolas pulled us over, and Gimli clapped him on the shoulder, out of breath.
I surveyed the area. It appeared worse, even, then when the Uruk-Hai had blown the drainage tunnel. Men and elves alike were forced to take on at least three Uruk-Hai to themselves, while ensuring no others scaled the wall.
"Fall back!" the voice of Gamling echoed through the walls of Helm's Deep, "Fall back!"
The four of us shared a look, as a thud like thunder sounded. And I knew it had to be the gate. And sure enough, came Théoden's voice;
"They have broken through! The castle is breached! Retreat!"
My mind went instantly to Ailen, who, last I'd seen, had been helping to man the barricade. My heart hammered anxiously.
"Come," Legolas urged us, and the four of us broke into a run towards the doors to the inner most walls as cries and orders sounded out among the fighters.
"Hurry! Inside! Get them inside!" Aragorn said, leading soldiers to the doors of the keep.
"Legolas!" I drew his attention as we ran, "Ailen? Where is he?"
"At the barricade, the last I saw of him," Legolas answered.
My pace slowed, as my gaze fell towards the stairway the barricade men were using to get to the keep. I recognized the face of Éodrid amongst those who fled. I ran to meet him, placing a hand on his shoulder as he keeled over, out of breath.
"Have you seen a young boy? His name is Ailen, he was helping carry beams," I explained hastily.
"The young boy... Yes... He may still be down there..." nausea boiled in my throat, as I urged the Éodrid over to Legolas.
"Get him to the keep," I asked Legolas, who'd remained behind with me as others poured through the doors of the keep, "Please."
With that, I turned and pushed past the men still fleeing from the barricade. I could hear the sounds of Legolas calling my name grow faint as I slipped down the stairs and through the archway to the keep. The Uruk-Hai paid no attention to me as I slipped between them. They were more focused on those fleeing the gates and making for the castle.
Soon, I was standing before the smashed barricade, debris covering nearly very inch of the ground. I continued to shrink along the wall, out of the way of the passing Uruk-Hai. My eyes roved the room, searching for any remaining fighters. But the only Rohan fighters that lingered before the barricade were corpses. My heart sunk. Ailen could not be among them.
I continued to scan the room, until my eyes landed on a large pile of debris by the open gates, stacked against the wall across from me. A gap in the rubble revealed a pair of frightened brown eyes frantically watching the blur of charging Uruk-Hai soldiers. They were still pouring through the gate in great numbers, which did not seem as though they would let up. I would have to make my move. Before one of them spotted Ailen among them debris.
Just before I broke from the safety of the wall, my eye froze on an Uruk-Hai corpse at my side, and an idea crossed my mind. I removed the ragged and torn cloak around the Uruk-Hai's shoulders, slipping it over mine instead. I then pulled off its helmet, which, like the others, was marked with the White Hand of Saruman, swapping it with mine. Finally, I exchanged my blade with its jagged spear, praying I would not arouse too much suspicion as I cut through them.
Approaching it at a walk, I slipped through the charging Uruk-Hai. Any of them who bothered enough to spare me any notice took a single look at my dark cloak and my marked helmet, and dismissed me as one of them. I was able to quickly forge through them, coming to a halt at the gap in the debris, which I knelt down to be eye-level with. Ailen's eyes widened in fear, before narrowing in recognition as he met my gaze.
"My Lady!" he said in surprise, "You must go to the keep! Before they see you?"
"And leave you?" I questioned.
"I'm afraid you've no other choice," he said, and I notice his eyes flicker downwards, "There's nothing you can do for me, I was caught beneath the rubble and it'll take a team to free me. Not to mention safer surroundings."
His eyes flickered down again, and I noticed him wince slightly.
"Were you injured?" I asked.
"It doesn't matter, like I've said, there's nothing you can do. Please, get to safety, My Lady, don't endanger yourself on my account."
"Ailen, you must know I can't leave-" I froze as I felt every single muscle in my body seize up and contract painfully.
My jaw clamped and I bit down on my tongue hard enough to draw blood. It was all I could do to keep from screaming and drawing attention to Ailen and I. Across from me, Ailen's eyes grew closer to the gap, his brows furrowed in concern. I felt fire crawl up my skin, and lifted a gloved hand to my eyes. I slipped the glove off, watching as my runes flowed seamlessly from an inky and fathomless black, to a stark white. Each rune felt like searing, white-hot metal pressed into my skin. I tore my gaze away from my skin, peering out the open gates and beyond the causeway, my eye fixed on the horizon. My breath stopped, as a glint of sunlight pierced my vision, as the sun began to break over the horizon.
It was time.
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