The four of us stood on the shores, watching the black ships sail closer to us. The Dead army was now with us, but they made themselves invisible to our enemy.
As the sailors neared, I noticed there were Orcs on board. Many more than I had expected there to be.
When they caught sight of us, they started to growl and shake their weapons threateningly.
"You may go no farther!" Aragorn called out to them. "You will not enter Gondor!"
The Orcs heard him and started to laugh.
"Who are you to stop our entry?"
Their captain called back in a throaty growl. They kept laughing, thinking the idea of us stopping them was ridiculous.
Aragorn turned his head slightly and looked at me. He didn't have to say a word for me to know what he wanted.
Quickly, I pulled an arrow from my quiver and nocked it to my bow, aiming it at the captain.
All the Orcs on board stopped laughing instantly and stared at me.
The captain looked down at me and smirked. "What are you going to do, she-elf?" He said tauntingly. "Shoot me?" He turned back to his crew and said loudly, "as if she could hit me!"
They all started laughing again, making my blood boil. No one insults an Elf and comes away without at least one injury.
Without waiting for Aragorn's command, I fired my arrow towards the captain, hitting him in the back, stopping his laugh short.
He fell on his face, blood dripping down his body. The crew stopped laughing again and looked at me, horrified. I didn't say anything, just glared at them menacingly.
Gimli laughed from behind me. "That's it!" He called to the sailors. "Prepare to be boarded!"
Again, the Orcs laughed at our threat.
"Boarded by you and whose army?" One called out to us.
As he said this, out of the corner of my eye, I saw the green, hazy figures of the Dead Army materialize behind and around us. "This army." Aragorn said calmly.
I heard the King of the Dead draw his sword with a loud ring, and he charged through Aragorn.
His Army followed, all running through us, making me feel chilled to the bone.
But I ignored the slight discomfort and watched as the Dead slaughtered the Orcs on the ship. In less than two minutes, they were all dead and unmoving.
We waded out to the ship, the cold water coming up to my waist, and started to climb aboard. Aragorn got in first, then helped Gimli up, who was having a hard time.
Legolas and I got up with less difficulty. We were Elves, short and lightweight. Well, I was short.
As I landed on deck, we all looked to Aragorn for further directions.
"To Minas Tirith." He told us.
And our boat continued upriver to Gondor, where we would reach open war.
His words gave me a slight chill the way he said them, but I was ready. As always.
Our ship sailed towards Minas Tirith with haste and we waited nervously on board.
As we neared the battle ground, I crouched down below the deck rail, hiding from the sight of the Orcs we were sailing towards.
Aragorn noticed what I was doing and motioned for the rest of us to do the same. Legolas hid right by me and drew an arrow to his bow. I did the same.
We only had to wait like this for a short while, and as we neared the shore, Orcs began to yell at us, not noticing the absence of some of their men.
"Late as usual! Pirate scum! Come on sea rats, get of your ships!"
We all looked at Aragorn to make the next move, and he did. Without a word in response to the yelling Orcs, he jumped up and flung himself over the edge of the ship and landed on the dock.
The rest of us followed, wielding our drawn weapons, prepared for battle.
Legolas and I shot our arrows everywhere, each one hitting it's victim exactly where intended.
Gimli swung his axe, and began to shout out kill numbers to Legolas, who increased his shooting speed to out-do his Dwarf friend.
Frowning, I too sped up my fighting, determined not to come in last to them again.
"Twenty one, twenty two!" Legolas shouted at a constant rate from my left.
Gimli growled, still on thirteen.
"Twenty four, twenty five!" I was only a few in front of the other Elf, and I cherished the small look of surprise on his face.
The wind shifted and I knew that the Dead Army had appeared around us, scaring the rest of the life out of the Orcs we were fighting.
They charged, some flying through me, giving me the same cold feeling, with weapons drawn and slaughtered the Orcs by the shore.
Their army began to disperse and Orcs began to flee, and we chased after them, knowing there would be more coming to kill.
And there were. Hundreds of Orcs met us out on the plains, already engaged in battle with Théoden and men.
I looked around for Éowyn, but didn't find her. I hoped the she hadn't been forced to stay with Merry.
Breaking into a faster run, I charged into the battle, Legolas on my left, Gimli, my right.
We shouted out our kill numbers as we slew Orc after Orc.
Blood had gotten everywhere on my clothing, and bodies were pulling up around us, as we spun around, killing more and more of our enemy.
But after a while, I begun to tire, and even a few Orcs were able to scratch me, some more severely than others.
I had a long gash running down my right cheek, and another cutting my left arm open from my shoulder to elbow.
I was loosing blood, but they clotted soon enough, and my dizziness went away after a while.
Killing all the Orcs had begun to get easier as I switched to my swords, occasionally throwing my daggers as unexpected enemies.
I had just retrieved one of my red blades when I heard Aragorn shout at me and Legolas.
"RYANNE! LEGOLAS!"
We whirled and looked at him, but he wasn't in peril.
He pointed behind us, slightly up to the sky. I looked behind me, and my jaw dropped.
There were huge animals lumbering into battle against us with huge trunks that were flying everywhere and knocking people hundreds of feet into the air. They had tusks that had to me twenty times my length that were sharpened at the end.
On top of the Elephants were people, some sitting, some standing, all were shooting below them at our men who were falling by the second.
Looking at Legolas, I saw in his eyes what he wanted to do. I hoped my looked showed the same.
Then the corner of his mouth twitched upwards slightly as he said "Race you to the top."
I smiled as well. "It's on."
And we shot through the battle ground, killing everyone who stood in our paths, towards the largest of the lethal creatures.
As we got closer, we had to swerve to avoid it's trunk and the people sitting on the back of it, looking down.
Once we reached the leg of it, we didn't hesitate to each pull out two arrows and start to climb up, up towards another fight waiting to happen.
It's skin was tough, but we were able to pierce through it without the Elephant noticing us.
Legolas was a foot or two ahead of me, and I grit my teeth, my arms burning, and sped up.
I tried not to look down, I was deathly afraid of heights, and I remembered in the Mines how I was faced with the trial if having to jump staircases over a black abyss.
This was no different.
I reached Legolas's shoulder and he turned to look at me.
"It's alright." He told me.
"We are just a couple hundred feet in the air. Don't fall."
I felt my face pale. Only a couple hundred feet?
I looked up and realized that the Elephant's back was twenty or thirty feet above me. Trying to ignore Legolas's statement, I pulled an arrow out of the tough skin and stabbed it in above my head.
Doing the same with the other one, I passed Legolas, who was only one arrow behind me.
Ten feet to go, an arrow shot into the skin a foot from my face. Looking over at Legolas, who seemed just as surprised, I knew it wasn't him.
His eyes flicked towards the ground, three hundred feet below us and he eyes widened.
"Keep going!" He told me, and I realized the Orcs on the ground were trying to shoot us.
Wondering how in Middle Earth they had that long of a distance range, I kept climbing.
A breeze blew by us, making my hair sway, almost bringing my body with it.
But I ignored it, and kept climbing.
Seven feet from the top, another arrow hit the Elephant's skin near my leg. I was thankful that the riders on top of the beast hasn't noticed us, and I sped up, knowing Legolas was right besides me.
Four feet later, an arrow flew by my arm, taking a good chunk of my flesh with it. I screamed through gritted teeth, trying not to draw attention to us.
"Come on." Legolas said encouragingly and I was only seconds behind him in getting to the top.
Once at the top, we both immediately took out our swords and started killing the riders. They fought back, harder then the Orcs on the ground, but they were still no match for us.
We pushed the dying men off of the creature we were on, and they fell, screaming, to the ground.
As soon as most of the men were killed, Legolas ran over to stand on the neck of the Elephant.
Pulling out his bow again, he nocked three arrows and fired them at almost point-blank into the creature's neck.
The Elephant let out a terrible roar that made me flinch, it hurt my ears.
Then slowly, it stopped moving and started leaning towards the ground, gathering speed quickly.
Realizing that Legolas had killed it, I felt a slight wave of panic overcome me. I had no idea how to get back on the ground. But Legolas apparently did.
Grabbing my arm, he pulled me with him towards the head of the Elephant. Leading me, he jumped down it's trunk, sliding down it until he jumped off onto the ground.
I followed suit, finding it was easier then it looked.
We landed on the ground in front of Gimli, who looked surprised that we were even alive.
Stuttering for words, he said "That still only counts as one!" I laughed out loud at this, as my score was now fifty three.
I doubted the Dwarf's was any higher, him having been confined to the ground.
But we couldn't talk for long, a battle still had to be won.
I reached back for my bow and an arrow and once again started firing them off at every Orc I could see.
I could still see some green images of the men from the Dead Army, but I figured most of them had gone to the city of Gondor, as we were still in the plains.
Looking around, there were less men then I realized.
Shooting each one in range of my bow, they soon fell one after the other with the help of Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli.
The whole plain was covered with bodies of men, Orcs and horses alike.
Some men were still alive, and they quickly ran towards the city of Gondor, hoping to seek refuge. But they would just be plummeting into another battlefield.
In the distance, I saw the city, men were still fighting, but not as much as they had been an hour ago. From the distance I couldn't tell how many standing men belonged to us.
Hearing a soft neighing sound, I looked up, startled. Rhea stood a few feet away from me, and tossed her mane. I smiled. "Rhea!' I cried, "You brave girl! Did you fight well?" She nickered softly and stepped towards me.
I went up to her petted her neck, holding her close to me. I had forgotten about her during the battle, and I was glad she was safe and well.
But it was still hard to believe that the war was over. I knew that it wasn't the last war we would have to fight, but I was relieved we had all made it to here.
I had stopped moving at high speeds for the first time in a very long time, and it was now that I realized how much blood I had lost. Many of my wounds had reopened due to more injuries or my fast pace that didn't allow them to heal.
My head began to spin slightly, and I grabbed Rhea's reins for support. Breathing heavily, I looked down at my body. My eyes opened slightly wider when I saw all the injuries I hadn't noticed I had.
My arms were bloody, but mostly not from my blood, and there were scratches and some deeper cuts lining them. The cut from my shoulder to elbow was slowly bleeding again and my right shoulder was still stinging where I had gotten shot, the blood blood soaking my shirt.
My legs also had blood soaking my pants, and I just now noticed a huge gash on my right thigh that cut through my pants and my skin, and blood was dripping down my leg.
I knew I had some injuries to my face, but not as bad. My vision began to get blurry and my head kept spinning. Rhea whinnied nervously, sensing something was wrong, and I held tighter to her reins.
"Ry?" A voice asked me. I recognized it, but my head was pounding, and I let out a groan of pain. "Ryanne?" I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I tensed up.
"It's fine, it's just me." It suddenly clicked that it was Legolas and I relaxed. "My head...." I whispered, trying not to move it.
He came closer, now supporting me as I began to lose my sight. Black spots appeared on my vision and I tried to shake them away, but let out a cry of pain when I moved my head.
"Don't move." Legolas told me. "Stay still, it's going to be okay. We need to get you inside the city, you're going to be fine."
But my wounds were not bound and I was still losing blood, fast. The black spots on my vision grew larger, the pounding in my head got harder.
Wincing, I stopped fighting the darkness and let it come over me as I lost consciousness and fell back into Legolas's arms.
<<<~~~>>>~~~<<<~~~>>>~~~<<
"Sshh! Or you will wake her! She needs her rest, after that bloody battle she fought in!"
"Why was she even allowed to fight? The poor girl!"
"Ssshhhh!"
Voices were softly speaking to each other all around me as I became aware of a bright light above me.
Squinting, I lifted my eyelids but quickly shut them again.
The light was blinding white, but I was soon able to open my eyes without any pain.
I was laying in a soft bed with soft sheets tucked up to my neck. My hair was down and obviously someone had washed and brushed it. Looking around me, I realized I was in some sort of healing wing of Gondor.
There were other men in beds to either side of me, in rows of five down to the walls. There were nurses bustling about, checking on people, treating them, helping the wake up.
"Oh! The dear's awake!"
I looked up and saw a nurse by my side, leaning over me. "How are you feeling sweetheart?"
I smiled as best I could. "Just fine." she nodded.
"Your wounds were treated to the best of our ability. Some were worse then others, but they should all be fine."
"Thank you." I really meant it too. I probably wouldn't have made it if I hadn't been treated.
Then I lifted the blankets that were on top of me and examined my wounds.
The small scratches weren't even visible anymore and the larger ones, such as the one on my thigh and my arm, were only bruised.
The nurse next to me reached down and pulled to covers up to my chin again.
"You need to rest dear." She told me. "The war was won, so rest on that good thought. And it has only been a matter of hours. Sleep for now."
And I did.
Sleep overcame me in seconds and I fell into it with a soft smile on my lips.
~~~<<<~~~>>>~~~>>>~~~<<<~~
I awoke to the small clatter of a food tray being set down on my bedside table. But I kept my eyes closed, having missed the warm feeling of a soft bed.
When I did lift my eyes, I first noticed the food that had been placed next to me.
There was soup and a cup of something hot that made me feel very hungry.
"Go ahead and eat, you need it."
The nurse from before handed me the tray and I realized I hadn't eaten in a few days.
I started to eat to soup so fast that it burned my mouth, but that didn't slow me. When I was finished with it, the nurse gave me some more which I allowed to pass through me more slowly, and I enjoyed it.
Then she handed me the cup of still-warm liquid.
"Drink this, it will help get your strength back and help clear your wounds."
I did, sipping it carefully, noting its slightly bitter taste. But it seemed to work, my muscles felt more relaxed and less pained.
When I was finished with my food, the nurse took the tray and hustled away.
She appeared a few minutes later, holding my clean clothes. She drew curtains around my bed for privacy and started to help me dress.
My pants had been sewn up and I slipped them on easily, then tugged my shirt on too.
But I noticed something was missing and turned to the nurse, who had started braiding my hair back.
"Excuse me, where are my weapons?"
She looked slightly horrified at the idea of weapons, but I was used to that reaction from people.
"They were taken by King Aragorn. He acts like he knows you."
I nodded. "He does." She looked impressed, and I had almost forgotten that Aragorn was now King of Gondor.
That made me happier.
She continued braiding my hair, and after a while, she said "You have an odd group of visitors."
That caught me slightly off-guard.
"What do you mean?"
"The King, an Elf and a Dwarf come multiple times a day to ask to see you. We, of course, had to say no as you needed to rest."
At this, my heart sped up. I missed my friends, seeing that I was out for at least a day.
"When will I be able to see them?"
"They have been notified that you are well now, they should be coming soon."
She tied my French braid back and took the curtains around my bed down.
I looked in a small mirror above my bed and smiled a little.
There were no bruises on my face at all, nor where there scratches.
Sometimes, it was helpful being an Elf.
"Oh! Here they are now!" The nurse exclaimed.
A second later, I heard three pairs of quick footsteps running towards me on my right.
Turning from the mirror, I saw Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli coming towards me, smiled on their faces.
Legolas reached me first, and he grabbed my waist and held me close.
I hugged him back, smiling broadly. "I'm fine." I assured him. He pulled away and kissed me quickly, making the nurse behind me giggle. Then I hugged Aragorn as well and patted Gimli's shoulder.
They talked to me, making sure I was fine. It took a lot of convincing that I was, and the nurses let me leave after making sure as well.
"Aragorn, they told me you have my weapons."
He nodded.
"They are with Lady Éowyn, do you know where to find her?"
"Yes, is she alright?"
"She is. She fought bravely yesterday."
That I was glad for. I was glad that she was allowed to fight alongside us as she so desperately wanted to do.
I left the others after thy told me where thy would be, and started walking towards the room Éowyn was staying in. It took me a good part of ten minutes to find it, as I kept making wrong turns.
As I turned the corner of a large hallway, I found her dark oak door with a brass handle.
I knocked twice on the door and it was opened almost instantly.
Éowyn looked at me, and then smiled.
"Ryanne! I'm so glad you are better, we were so worried!" I smiled back at her. "I'm fine Éowyn, I promise."
She nodded, looking very relieved.
"Come in, I'm sure you are looking for your weapons?" I laughed.
"That I am."
I entered her room, and saw my bow and quiver resting by her bed. My swords and knives were laying in her sheets, which looked untouched.
"So, you fought with us yesterday?"
"I did. Merry did too. He was very brave, fighting for his friends."
I smiled at this, but was also very glad that none of them got hurt.
"What were you fighting for?" I asked her quietly.
She stopped walking and looked at the ground. Then she slowly turned to look at me, sadness in her eyes.
"My family, my friends, my home."
I nodded, wondering why she looked so sad.
"Why are you upset? What is it?"
"The whole war....that wasn't the end of all this. The Hobbits still haven't reached the mountain, Sarumon is growing in strength...."
"I know." I told her.
"But we are going to get to that mountain." I said this with courage, with hope.
"And we are going to win."
---///---///---///---///---///---///---/
A/N: I tried to make this one longer, did it work?
Hopefully.
Anyway, comment a smile and what you think, and a little vote never hurt anyone, right?
Right.
Thanks for all the support!!! You guys are THE best!!!!
Bullseyes,
XXbowandarrowsXX