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Ally Layne.
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It was just like we rammed right into a rotting fence, and as the steely ice ran through my veins at the sound of the slaughter, I immediately started my death vigil.
I see Glorfindel from the corner of my eye, still atop Asfaloth as he swung his sword and decapitated an orc then quickly moved to avoid being stabbed from the side. Elrohir was using his bow and decimating all orcs in his path as his horse reared to kick down an orc that dared get too close.
I was impressed by the elvish horses- they certainly knew how to hold their composure while ugly creatures with sprouts of hair growing out of dark skulls ran at them.
The fighting circled on around me, and I felt like we were being completely overrun by the orcs that kept coming in our direction. Elrond's group must be really drawing the lines back, which led them straight to us.
This meant I got to see the majority of the orcs in close-battle, and a lot of them were already pissed that their plans were being ruined.
Gods, it would have been nice to have Annabeth, Jason, Nico, Reyna, or even Thalia here to help keep my side covered instead of having to keep feigning back to protect myself. I have to admit it was difficult to fight without having the knowledge that they were there to back me up, but I was making due.
"Persie, duck!'
I immediately tucked and rolled off Bud just in time to avoid being skewered by a sword.
I turned quickly to see Geoffry, one sword down, checking over to see if he hit me or not. "Thanks for the warning!" I called over to him and saw his smile in response before turning around to slice a few more orcs out of my way.
Milady, I will cover you!
I stabbed another orc with by giving Riptide a quick jab through its neck. I made sure my mouth was closed as the black blood of the orcs, which smells just as bad as that monster dust, immediately spewed out of the wound and spattered across my face.
"Thank you, Bud!" I told my horse, then swung through a few more orcs to try and get closer to his side.
The dark horse was easily plowing through the orcs with his mighty kicks and easily was able to make sure my side was covered during the height of the battle. However, there was only so much help a horse was able to give.
"Persephone!"
I felt a blade slash through my left arm and cried out in blatant shock. I was too slow to hold up riptide to block the orc's next swing and stumbled back in shock. "No!" a familiar voice yelled, which was all I needed to be kicked into gear.
The stumbling legs beneath me immediately crouched, and I used my momentum to force myself back into a tuck and roll. I ignored the pain that rushed through my arm, and immediately whipped Riptide up and got into a stance to fight for my life.
The orc swung its sword again toward my left, and I met the blade with some force of my own. I quickly stopped its motion and kicked out my leg to get more space between us and started doing some attacking of my own.
I swiped low, going for its belly or what would have been an equivalent of a belly had the thing not been so disfigured and gross, and wasn't surprised when it blocked my strike. However, what I knew the creature wasn't expecting was a punch to the face, which left it stunned and I made a move to behead the damn thing.
I didn't stand long enough to watch its head hit the ground, but from the two thumps I heard come from behind me I knew it was dead enough.
Two hands grabbed my shoulders, but I didn't even try fighting back as I already knew who it was. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
Trying to get some control over my quickened breathing, I did my best to ignore the look of horror and something else that I couldn't quite identify swirling along Glorfindel's face as he took me in and immediately went to look at the wound on my arm.
I slapped him away. "There'll be time for that later," I told him. "I was fine, it was just a bit overwhelming for a second, there."
Glorfindel's eyes looked down at me once more before turning to something coming from behind me. He quickly shoved me behind him to behead another orc with two quick and precise moves.
If we weren't in the middle of a battle I probably would have been drooling at how majestic he was while beheading orcs. Goldilocks made it look like an art.
I was starting to see why exactly he was as famed as he was. The elf's steely cold gaze remained as the head of the orc hit the ground next to the head I had taken just moments before.
"I think there is plenty of time to tell you that you are being absolutely careless on the field!" Goldilocks snapped at me.
I rolled my eyes as I noticed a dark figure coming up behind him. "You can speak for yourself."
I immediately pushed him to the side and attacked the orc that had been cowardly enough to try and take him out from the back.
It was a quick takedown- three strikes, two blocks, and then a swing along the gut and the throat, spraying its black blood along my armor. "You're welcome, Goldilocks," I sassed, turning back to face the elf in question.
He was watching from where I left him, but his eyes darkened. "I did not need you to kill that orc for me-"
"You didn't see him coming!" I exclaimed before breaking away quickly to help another elf who had been targeted by three orcs at once.
I didn't recognize who it was, but the two of us were soon able to make fast work of the creatures. "Thank you, Lady Persephone," the elf gasped out with a quick nod, before taking off in another direction.
I didn't waste my time to ask his name, even though it felt weird that our acquaintanceship was one-sided.
"Why do you always run away like that?"
I quickly turned to see Glorfindel take out another orc with his mighty sword in one powerful downward slash. I wouldn't be surprised if he had cut the thing in half, but I don't think his swing went that deep.
"I was not running away!"
"Yes you were-"
"Duck!" I dropped to the ground, just as three consecutive arrows killed three oncoming orcs that threatened to shroud both I and Glorfindel. I looked in front of me to see that Glorfindel had done the same thing, and we were both lying on the battlefield just fingertips apart.
"Goldilocks-"
"What are you both doing?" Aldarian's voice chirped from behind, and I immediately went to stand up but was quickly caught off guard as Glorfindel came to help me.
If he wasn't as good looking as he is I probably would've helped myself. Alas, I am a warm-blooded female who is sometimes weak for the opposite sex. I'm so not sorry.
"We just decided to take a nap!" I called out to my friend, who was just as covered in orc blood as I was. "Care to join?"
He threw me one of those luxurious smirks that only some men can pull off while fighting these nasty-ass orcs, but once again I was stunned by the hotness of the males in my line of sight. "Maybe next time, love."
I didn't miss the annoyance on Goldilocks's face as he turned away from us to ward off a few more orcs. "Why are there so many?" I asked, still quite frankly amazed that we hadn't reached the end of them yet.
"The intel we received was not correct," Aldarian told us both as he used his bow to shoot at some more orcs. "Lord Elrond discovered that the pack we discovered originally had grouped together with a few others."
"That would have been nice to know," Glorfindel grunted, just as he beheaded yet another orc and was immediately met with another who seemed to be pissed that he had taken another one of their soldiers.
I quickly went to help and took it down from the back. "You're wel-"
"If you say you're welcome one more time, Persephone, I will-"
Aldarian's bark of laughter cut Goldilocks's tirade off. "Will you both stop flirting and help us win this fight? I have plans later this evening-"
"Shut up!" We yelled at him, and I didn't dare look at Glorfindel after our speaking at the same time. That was a bit awkward.
"Awe and you speak in unison, too!"
Goldilocks let out a growl. "Aldarian, that is enough."
That shut him up. Well, it shut him up for now, anyway.
I turned back to Glorfindel, who had started firing off some of his own arrows at the orcs who had now become distant. The number of orcs was soon waning, and I assumed a lot of it had to do with the fact that Elrond's group had reached us.
However, the signs of peace were soon blown to bits as an explosion from a nearby home rocked the battlefield.
"Amad!
My head whipped around to try and find the source of the scream.
"Amad, no!"
I squinted until I could get a view of two figures being pulled apart by orcs, and one figure was fighting and squirming with everything they had to get to the other. The piercing shrieks and cries scattered throughout the battlefield; many others were screaming in pain or crying out for help, but something was different with these two people.
It was as if the gods here were beckoning me to go and help them.
So I did.
I felt a faint tug in my gut as I sprinted away from Glorfindel's cover, and immediately used my control over water to pull from any water source available in this village. I felt a pool in a well just outside of the home the figures were in front of and started to use that source to surge toward the orcs.
"Persephone! Stop!"
"Persie! Get back here!"
I ignored both Glorfindel and Aldarian's shouts and continued on in full force, quickly making it to where two females who were short and stout were being dragged away from each other.
I realized one of the women wasn't conscious, and quickly used a powerful surge of water to blow out the orcs surrounding her. It didn't take much time until I was in front of the woman still being held by two orcs and quickly dispatched of the creatures with Riptide.
I laid her down onto the ground, guiding her by the neck and shoulders to make sure I wouldn't do any more damage than the orcs already did. The screams from the other woman quickly made me turn around and finish off the other orcs, but I used the water around me to drown them in a grim death.
Their grip tightened on the other woman, but I had another stream of water rip her away from their claws and to where I was trying to feel for a pulse.
"Amad, ama please wake up!" She immediately started crying, wrapping her arms around the small, frail form. I placed a hand on her back, and looked up to try and find the elf I needed for this.
"Glorfindel!"
The blonde elf was fighting his way over to us, and immediately met my eyes when I called his name. The initial worry and fear that clouded his gaze were washed away when he saw I was alright, but he looked down and saw the prone form of the woman before me and turned grim.
He started moving even quicker than he had before, and in no time he was before us and started administering first aid on the small form before him.
"What is her name, dwarrowdam?" his steely calm voice asked the sobbing woman at my side, who shuddered at the elf's voice.
Her vibrant red hair was pulling out of the single french braid down her skull, and her hands pulled at the pieces as she frantically tried to gather her bearings. It was then that I first noticed a light dusting of a beard along her jaw, which did little to alter her beauty.
"Her-her name is Maris," the woman choked out. "She-she's my Amad."
He nodded to the woman and went back to place an ear to Maris's chest. I had no idea what Goldilocks took from that- I knew that Amad wasn't elvish, at least, the elvish that I have learned so far.
But instead of being an ass and asking what the poor woman meant, I continued to comfort her silently. I looked down at her arms to do my own assessment of her health, knowing just how firmly those orcs had her in their claws.
"Are you hurt?" I asked her and nearly couldn't contain my flinch at the sight of her turning those fearful, wild eyes on me. "Did you get hit by anything?"
Her eyes were the deep green of a forest, but at the moment they looked to be on fire. "I am not hurt, miss, please, just help my Ama, she is all I have left!"
I nodded to the small woman, or dwarrowdam, as what Glorfindel called her, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It will be okay, you will see."
She sniffed in response, and we turned back to see Goldilocks sitting over Maris with his grim expression back in place.
"She is gone, I am sorry," he gritted out, clenching his fists at his side. "I was too late."
She started to shake her head stubbornly at my side, and my eyes locked with his to see the look of pain evident in his orbs. It was then I realized how much this elf feels for not just himself and his kin- but for all of Arda.
I was sad for the girl but proud to call him a friend.
"You are wrong, elf," she told him, raising her chin defiantly. "She is not gone- she cannot be."
Glorfindel waved a hand over Maris sadly. "There is nothing more we can do for her, I am sorry. Her spirit has passed on to Aulë's halls."
Aulë? Where have I heard that name?
The woman at my side obviously knew what he meant, and immediately started to weep deeply and lunged to hold onto Maris's still form. All breath had left her, and now all that was left was her body.
I looked up at Glorfindel, who looked on at the two sadly with his ancient gaze. "Cover my back, I will try to help her," I told him. "She cannot stay here."
The dwarrowdam looked up at me fiercely. "I am not leaving her!"
I tried to place my hand back on her shoulder but she shrugged it off. "You are not safe here, Maris would not want you-"
"You do not know what she would want!"
I looked back to Glorfindel firmly. "Cover us."
He nodded. "With pleasure, Gwingil."
I watched as he got up and started to fight the orcs that were closing in past the other elven soldiers who had covered for us, almost wishing that he had decided to stay. Surely in all of his years, he would be more suited to helping someone grieve.
Quite frankly, I can barely grieve my own losses let alone help someone do the same.
"Gwingil?" The redheaded woman sniffed, rubbing her pointed nose with the back of her hand. "Is that your name?"
I shook my head. "No, and don't ask me what it means."
She looked at me awkwardly, most likely feeling the same amount of unease as I felt. "Why should I not?"
I sighed, rubbing a hand painted in orc blood on the back of my neck. "I have no clue as to what it means."
Her sniffles and sobs ripping through her chest started to subside as her eyebrows furrowed. Her mouth opened once, letting out a quaking breath, but closed. It was quite obvious the poor woman didn't know what to say to that.
"That is... nice?"
I shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know yet."
She nodded, rubbing a hand down her Amad's still cheek. "I have no one left."
I pursed my lips and felt my own chest tighten in response. What does one even say to that? I don't even know her-
"What is your name?"
Her green eyes snapped to mine. "What?"
I shrugged again. "It seems like the proper time to ask you what your name is, during a battle and all."
She stared at me incredulously for a moment before opening her mouth to respond, "My name is Varis, daughter of Maris, at your service."
The sides of my mouth quirked up slowly. "It is nice to meet you, Varis. My name is Persephone, but call me Persie. I guess I am also at your service too?"
Varis huffed out a breath, and I supposed if her Amad hadn't just died it would have been a laugh. "She is your mother?"
She swallowed. "She was my mother."
I let out a breath and wrapped an arm around her small form. "What little comfort I can offer you, I will, Varis. She is in a better place now."
Varis sniffled again as tears swarmed down her cheeks. "I am all alone."
I squeezed her shoulders. "No, you're not." I turned to face her, taking in the redness of her eyes. "Trust me. If I know anything, it is that you are never alone, not really."
Her eyes closed and squeezed out more tears.
The sounds of the battle continued to rage, and soon I found myself snapped out of the little bubble we had created and into reality. "Come, we need to get out of here."
"My ama-"
"We will bring her body with us, but right now we need to get you to a safe place."
I stood up, bringing her into a standing position with me. Gods, she was short. Her head barely surpassed my waist, and sometimes I thought I was short. Varis seemed to think the same thing as she looked up at me for a moment before we turned down to Maris on the ground.
"The inn across the street, it will be safe there," Varis spoke shakily. The orcs were continuing to disintegrate by the second. The battle would end soon, that much was sure.
"I can bring her there-"
I cut myself off, just as something in my gut pulled at the rest of me. Move, it said. Get out of the way-
"Watch out!"
I whirled around and held my arms up, keeping my body in front of Varis, who squealed in shock.
There, in front of my face, was a black arrow in the middle of a water bubble.
I grinned to myself happily. Go me! Look at me saving myself again!
"Persie, we should go," Varis said warily, and I dropped the bubble to let the arrow fall to the ground with a dull thud.
"Agreed."
Before turning to pick up Maris, I was met with the sheer terror in Glorfindel's eyes, as he stood still in shock with a hand outreached toward me. I winked, hoping to break whatever still-life he had become apart of.
He blinked, let out a breath, and turned to continue the good fight.
I had a feeling we would be discussing that later.
But for right now, I turned to grab my new friend's dead mom and brought them across the street to a place where they would wait out the rest of the battle. Never quite thought I would ever say something like that, but look at me now.
Fighting battles, befriending orphans. Whoop, whoop.
After leaving Varis and the body of Maris at the Inn, and dealing with trying to convince the other villagers in the inn that all was going to be well, I quickly went out to finish the battle.
Unfortunately for me, I was left with finding that the battle was over and the orcs were being piled up and burned. I totally felt left out- killing orcs was soon becoming a fun pastime. I started to go try and find an elf I knew, when a worried (what a shocker, am I right?) Glorfindel rushed over and grabbed me into a hug.
"I thought you were going to die," he rasped into my hair.
Okay, maybe I was wrong before. Hugging Goldilocks was my new favorite pastime. "I'm okay, Goldilocks. Can't get rid of me that easily."
"Neneth!" I was immediately torn out of Glorfindel's arms, who grunted loudly in protest, and wrapped into an embrace by Elrohir. "I am happy to see you are all in one piece!"
"I told you she was fine, Elrohir," Aldarian's voice said from behind me. I felt someone else wrap me into their arms from behind and smelled the familiar scent of Alma's brother. "It is nice to see that you both are still friends after your constant bickering on the field, Lord Glorfindel. I thought you were going to skewer her for a moment there."
Poor Goldilocks only crossed his arms with a huff. "I would not be so affronted to skewer you right now, Lord Aldarian. Perhaps we should see, hm?"
Aldarian and Elrohir backed away from me slowly, and I laughed when I saw the dangerous look in Glorfindel's eye masking his internal amusement. "Yeah, I would be careful if I were you, Darian."
"It is nice to see you are well, Lady Persephone," another voice chimed in from my right.
I smiled when I met Lord Elrond's gaze, but internally pouted when I realized I never actually got to see him fight. "Same here, Lord Elrond."
I punched Elrohir's shoulder when he snickered at my side. "Shut up, you."
Lord Elrond and Glorfindel immediately started to discuss what happened during the fight and talked of how the intel they received was actually incorrect. "I will see to correct those reports, Lord Elrond," Glorfindel assured him. "We will make sure to not do so again."
"And I have heard that you have acquired a new friend, Lady Persephone?" Elrond directed to me after conversing. "I shall like to meet this dwarrowdam you met."
I looked at Glorfindel, who was leading a few other officers in a debriefing. His eyes met mine and I swear I saw him wink. "Did Goldilocks tell you?"
Elrond smiled. "Lord Glorfindel tells me of many things, Persephone. But this meeting was preordained by something far greater than my war general."
I gulped, not really liking the sound of that. "Sure, I can introduce you to her."
He nodded to me gratefully, and we headed off toward the Inn where Varis was waiting.