The loss of Haldir had wounded me deep in my heart. The fear was still raw also, so many times my family and friends could have died, a death I was not sure that I could bear. I had been singed, like a wild hawk by the sun, a foreshadowing of the grief I would endure if I lose anyone else.
There were so many dead elves out there in the pitiless daylight, some of them with their heads pillowed on the breasts of slaughtered orc, eyes open but unseeing. As I thought of Haldir I had to close my own eyes or else I might have wept. I ached within and without, for the dead, and my own bruised heart. Everyone knew, I was sure of it.
I remembered Aragorn pressing his lips to Boromir's dead brow, remembered too that brave warrior at a sport with the hobbits, teaching Pippin and Merry to wield a sword, and laughing at their ferocity. The man had sacrificed himself for those two merry-hearted souls in the end and it grieved Legolas greatly not only that it should have happened but that they should have been witnesses to it. That race was not meant to see dark things, they were the happy uncomplicated heart of this land for which the rest of them should make a sacrifice that the hobbits' lives should roll on undisturbed.
The failure of warriors had begun when the Nine had made their way to the Shire, and it had been a sad day indeed when such light-hearted creatures as those should witness the death of such a man as Boromir of Gondor and should be forced to see with their own eyes the light go out of his.
I bowed my head and murmured a brief hope that Boromir had found the peace in death that had eluded him in life. For such a warrior I hoped there had been many trumpets sounded on the other side, and feasting in his honor, for I imagined it a robust place where such souls as his found their final rest, one where heroes could still fight and win and leave all their weaknesses far behind.
What was I if not a protector of those not gifted with elven senses or blessed with magic of that of a god, yet I had done nothing to save Frodo and Sam, who now must be struggling on towards Mordor alone, and though I had run until I had thought my heart would burst, Pippin and Merry had been saved through no efforts of mine. In allowing Aragorn to become more than a friend to me, I had become less than a friend myself.
"The fortress is taken. It is over." I turned to form the window to look at the king, who wore a defeated expression. "You said this fortress would never fall while your men defend it. They still defend it. They have died defending it!" Shouts Aragorn as he helps the others to barricade the door.
"Is there no other way for the women and children to get out of the caves?" Ágo asked the king and his followers, but they remained silent. "Is there no other way??" She asked again. "There is one passage. It leads into the mountains. But they will not get far. The Uruk-hai are too many." Adán said, standing in front of us.
"Aesigir will make sure that they are safe!" Acay assures us and Aragorn grabs Gamling by his shoulder. "Send word for the women and children to make for the mountain pass! And barricade the entrance!" The Uruk-hai keep trying to break the door. "So much death... What can men do against such reckless hate?" My cousins gaze at me with their heads down, but I only close my eyes and turn around to see more Uruk-Hai.
"Ride out with me..." All of us turn to Aragorn with widened eyes. "Ride out and meet them." He whispers again, stepping to the king. "For death and glory?" Aragorn corrects him. "For Rohan. For your people."
"The sun is rising." Gimli says, and all of us turn to the window as the sun rises, I remembered what Gandalf said.
'Look to my coming at first light on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the East.'
I looked down and then back at Aragorn. "Gandalf..." I whispered and he nodded slowly. The heir looked at king Théoden. "Yes. Yes! The horn of Helm Hammerhand shall sound in the deep, one last time."
"Yes!" He says excitedly, I turned to Adán and he sighed deeply, gazing at his guards. "Grab your horses and weapons! We're riding out!" They all stood for a few moments but immediately followed his order. "Acay, Ágo." I called and they stepped to me, resting my hands on their shoulders. "We will live to fight another day."
"Let this be the hour when we draw swords together. Fell deeds awake. Now for wrath. Now for ruin. And the red dawn!" Théoden screams as he puts his helmet on. "For family!" Acay and Ágo say in unison. "For friends!" Screams Adán, and I followed. "For Middle Earth!!" Gimli blows into the horn and the doors finally give in. "Forð Eorlingas!" The King shouts and rides out with Aragorn, Legolas and my cousins by his side as I flew behind them. As Gimli blows the horn, we fight down the causeway into the Uruk army.
I see a light up in the hills, and I flew up to look better, I see Gandalf on the back of Shadowfax. "Gandalf..." I muttered. Everyone on the battlefield turns to look up at the wizard, Éomer rides up alongside Gandalf and draws his sword. "Rohirrim!" He screams, and the Rohirrim appeared from behind them. "To the king!" Gandalf and the Rohirrim charge down the hill to Uruk-hai. Saruman's army point their spears at them as they approach, I looked at the sun being hidden by the hill, and I elevate my arms to make the sun sine over us faster, blinding the Uruks with the sunrise.
Then suddenly, echoes. Echoes of the darkness. Echoes of those who wield the madness in their fingers, closer and closer to me. "Frodo..." I muttered, but only hearing my voice like a broken echo, the light of the necklace was vanishing little by little. And I screamed, the power of madness consuming me faster than it ever did.
'(Y/N)!'
'(Y/N)!!'
"(Y/N)!!!"
And as soon as it came, it was over. Leaving me breathless and able to feel everything but the darkness again. I looked everywhere around me, clouds were vanishing, the ground was half destroyed and some of the Uruk were blind, although all of this, the battle continued.
I kept myself at bay this time while I regained my breath. Frodo and Sam are greatly closer to Mordor than I thought, if they are in danger if Frodo is in danger... Then so am I. Everyone around me is in danger.
// Meanwhile - No POV //
"I can't do this, Sam... I am hurting (Y/N). I am hurting everyone." Frodo says as he falls, letting his sword to the side, Sam gets up slowly, holding his hand on his chest. "I know. It's all wrong... By rights, we shouldn't even be here. But we are."
Sam watches the Nazgûl fly away into the distance. "It's like in the great stories Miss (Y/N) told us, Mister Frodo. The ones that mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened."
The Uruks flee Helm's Deep and the men shout in victory as they kill the last enemies in the area. Aragorn and Èowyn embrace, and you fall on the ground with your wings spread, tears flooding down your terrified expression.
"But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer." Isengard is flooded and Saruman retreats from his balcony.
"Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mister Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn't. Because they were holding on to something."
Frodo is sitting behind Sam, leaning on a wall, with tears in his eyes. "What are we holding on to, Sam?" Sam walks to Frodo and lifts him. "That there's some good in this world, Mister Frodo. And it's worth fighting for."
// Your POV //
"There is no light... Without darkness." I repeated what my grandmother used to say to me when I tried to master the power of darkness. I cannot control it, because I do not possess it.
I looked onwards to the Rohirrim, everyone was looking to the forests, the Fangorn forests. I flew to them and watched as the remaining Uruk-hai enter the ancient woods of the Valar, where no one could get out unless their own trees with it.
I will make sure that the trees do not let them escape. "Brith indo rac a sulca mala, vinë rac gal a lúg occa. Arat varya a lótë faug..." I chanted to them, in no time, the forest was groaning and swaying, fulfilling my wish as screams of terror and pain filled the air as everyone stared in awe.
Someone coughed from beneath me, and I looked down to find Adán staring at me. "You have to stop chanting like that! It makes my spine shiver!" I shrugged. "No can do!" I shouted back, some of the guards, friends and family chuckling lowly as my cousin pursed his lips, trying not to smile but failing.
We have won the battle, but not the war.
// Timeskip //
Éowyn had a kind heart indeed to match her fair face, and I felt for her, that unrequited love for Aragorn one with which I could all too readily empathize. Maybe? Some love made small and narrow, envious and bitter, yet I hoped her heart was too pure and too good for it to work such a weakening upon her. Her love for Aragorn had brought her close to despair, he knew, I knew it, yet still, it could make her stronger, as a storm upon a growing oak.
I wondered that her menfolk should keep her from battle when such light of courage shone in her eyes, and I hoped her love for Aragorn should not undo her at the end, that she could understand, as I understood, that it was not that her light was weak or unworthy of love, but that it had come too late. That she would realize in time for how long had his love for Arwen blazed in Aragorn's heart.
She had never seen Aragorn light up as if a candle had been shone upon his face when Arwen spoke to him, the way he looked when he saw her after an absence, be that absence a month, an hour, or a year. With the light of the Evenstar few could compete, nor would want to compete if they knew the depth of love that Arwen bore for Aragorn. Yet deep as her love was, I did not think my own was shallow.
Éowyn, I hoped, might still be able to make it to the shore, but I had seen at once her heart was passionate, and I know myself how hard it was to retreat from a flame that promised such warmth, even though one knew that, like the wings of some poor moth, shriveling to a blackened cinder must inevitably follow. Aragorn burned too brightly, that was the problem.
I knew I was not the first to be singed by him, and no doubt I would not be the last. I sighed and sat next to Acay and Ágo, who was in front of Gimli, smoking his pipe on a dead Uruk-hai. "Final count: 42." Says Legolas as he approaches. "42?! That's not bad for a pointy-eared Elvish princeling. I myself am sitting pretty on 43." Legolas frowns and draws his bow and shoots Gimli's Uruk. "43." The elf corrects himself. "He was already dead."
"He was twitching." Acay facepalmed slowly, and I snorted, patting his back. "He was twitching because he's got my axe embedded in his nervous system!" Gimli wiggles the axe handle, making the Uruk twitch.
"49." Ágo half mutters, making everyone look at her with widened eyes, she stands and walks away. "Noobs." She mutters again as she jumps happily.
"You will go with them towards Isengard?" Acay asked and I nodded. "I must see that Saruman doesn't hurt anyone ever again."
"I wonder what Sauron promised Saruman for him to change sides..." He says as I stood up. "Power, must of all. But knowing Saruman... Maybe he thought that he was able to replace the dark lord." Acay widened his eyes, sighing deeply. "Should have known." He muttered, Adán comes to us and embraces us tightly.
"God I missed us being like this." Adán said and smiled at us, we returned it. "Yeah, it has been a long time for sure. Enjoying the victory. Together." Said Acay and the both of them hugged, patting each other's arms. "Be careful out there."
"You too..." As they broke the hug, Legolas called us to the main gate, ready to part towards Isengard. "We must go now, we'll meet again in Meduseld." I see Gandalf and the others sitting on their horses. "If you see Haco then tell him the news. He will want to know." Acay nodded and smiled brightly, I could see the sadness in his eyes.
"(Y/N)." Gandalf calls and I look at him, a small smile on my lips. "I'm glad you are alright." I said, and he smiled brightly at me, kissing my forehead. "Did Frodo put on the ring?" I inhaled and exhaled deeply, gulping. "No, but he was about to. I don't know, he's so close to Mordor I felt drained, completely falling into the darkness of the dark lord."
"You did a massive destruction around Helm's Deep, might as well say that king Théoden and Lord Éomer were impressed but very terrified." I chuckled lowly, the wizard walked to his horse, but not before whispering. "There's no courage without fear." I stood there for a few seconds, thinking about that sentence.
I smiled and turned around to meet Éowyn watching me from the stairs of Helm's Deep, and I gave her a small smile as I flew out of the fortified castle, following after my friends and companions. "Sauron's wrath will be terrible, his retribution swift." Gandalf says as we watched Mordor.
"The battle for Helm's Deep is over. The battle for Middle-Earth is about to begin. All our hopes now lie with two little hobbits. Somewhere in the wilderness."
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Brith indo rac- a sulca mala, vinë rac gal- a lúg occa. Arat varya a lótë faug-. = Stones will break and roots will squeeze, vines will grow and bend all knees. Weeds strangle and flowers choke.