I own nothing but the OC's, everything else belongs to Tolkien. And I don't own any of that. I am not making any money off of this story. Enjoy!
60 Years before the destruction of the One Ring
On the borders of Rohan
Sarwyn rode on her chestnut brown horse from one end of a line of soldiers to the other end. The sun was just starting to peak it's way over the horizon and bringing day with it. The woman was roughly 5'6 in height and had hair the color of gold, her eyes were a stunning bright blue. Her sun kissed face studied every person as she passed by each man. Everything was silent as Sarwyn checked every person was ready for the battle quickly approaching the medium sized group of men who had thrown themselves together and made what could have been called an army if the had more training. When she reached the end of the long line of soldiers she rode at a trot towards the middle. When she came to a stop, two men who helped lead a part of the army each rode up, one on each side, and they sat quietly waiting to see what Sarwyn would do next.
"Good men of Rohan!" Sarwyn yelled in an extremely calm voice, seeing as the rather frightening spot they were in. "We are now ready! As you know, some of us will not return. But do not let these words make you lose heart, with every death we face shows our foes just how much we truly care for our homes, our families, and our king!" She paused a moment as she tried to think of some else to say as fast as she could. "Good soldiers, even when the battle begins and you see things that no man should have to see in their life time, do not forget who and what we fight for!" She raised her hand and when she did a loud cheering from the throats of the men in front of her.
Sarwyn brought her steed around facing her back towards the line of men. The man to her right, Brondolf, was the first to speak of the two men. "Nice speech, it was much better then the last one you gave Sarwyn." Brondolf smiled at himself, he knew he was going to get the answer he wanted from when he said that kind of thing to her.
"You just say in jest." Sarwyn spoke as she gave a laugh, a small one, but never the less and a laugh. "You know that I can't give a good speech even if my life was at stake." The only woman, in site of a few miles, face went from being full of laughter to much more tacticful. "Brondolf, take your men and flank to enemy from the right." She turned towards the other man, Hallvard, then continued speaking. "Hallvard, you will flank the left with your while my men and I will take them straight on." She knew that her two lieutenants knew the plan, and knew it well, she didn't want to have to deal with vain deaths.
"Goldie" Brondolf spoke his nickname for the woman, it was some what in mockery of her golden blonde hair. She shot him a look, as if to say 'not right now you idiot'. He quickly dismissed his her threatening look by speaking farther. "Our men, and the two of us." He pointed to himself then at Hallvard. "Already know the plan, in fact we know it so well we could do it in our sleep." Hallvard nodded his head in agreement with Brondolf, for once.
"I am sorry, I just want to win with a little blood as possible... Though I doubt that will happen, we have come to far." Her face was greatly sadden. She was rather glad that her back was to the soldiers, she would never had heard the end of the story of the great leader looking really sad.
Brondolf placed his left hand on her arm and said softly, "Don't worry about it, everything will work out, in my heart I know we will win the battle against the foe."
"You are right" Sarwyn smiled briefly before she turned in her saddle and yelled loud enough for everyone to hear. "Let us march! To VICTORY!" Once more a large cheering erupted from the men who would soon find themselves in battle. She firmly kicked the side of her horse and they started into a walk. There were only three people of horses and those were, Sarwyn, Hallvard, and Brondolf, so the army moved at a somewhat slow pace. When the sun was at in the middle of the sky, the platoon of orcs were within running distance of the army. Instantly Brondolf led his group of men to the right, and Hallvard did the same, only he went to the left. Sarwyn called out to her men and they started running as her horse moved much faster then it had been. The cloud of dust from behind the soldiers was getting bigger by the second.
Sarwyn was the first person to attack the orcs, but was soon followed by the army behind her. The battle dragged on as both Men and Orcs alike fell dead in puddles of blood together. With the first thirty minutes the horse under Sarwyn was killed right from beneath her body. She was forced to fight on her feet, which wasn't all that bad, she had always been better at fighting on the ground, unlike Brondolf. As she fought killing orcs left and right, she quickly became covered in orc filth and blood, the smell made her stomach turn and she wanted to throw up.
Just within the forest of Lorien
Hadir had been enjoying watching three of his men playing a nice game of cards, when a clash of swords began not overly far from the borders of the old forest. He heard the screams of pain coming from orc and man alike. When he heard the sounds of battle so did the others six men in his patrol. All seven tall elves moved silently through the trees to get a better look at the battle before them.
"Glamdor, ride. inform and ask the Lord and Lady what is to be done about this." Haldir ordered one of his men. Glamdor took off running towards the very heart of Lorien to speak with the ruling couple. Knowing that traveling to the city in the woods would take some time, even for an elf, he sat down on a thick tree branch where he was just out of site but could cleanly see the battle.
While Sarwyn was fighting an orc that was two feet taller then herself she was knocked in the left shoulder sending her flying into another large orc. The second orc grabbed her already hurt shoulder and flung her into the ground hard, the wind had been knocked out of her. Just as the second orc went to bring down his huge mace on her head, he fell over dead. Sarwyn eyes darted to see who was her savior and she found it was non other then Brondolf himself. He reached down and helped Sarwyn to her feet, she nodded in thanks and grabbed her sword that had fallen a few feet from her.
"Be very careful of your arm Sarwyn." Brondolf ordered her, he knew that if she was hit hard enough on her arm again it could shatter the bone in the shoulder rendering it useless for the rest of her life.
"I know that" She wasn't in the mood to be told what to do. When she was in a fighting mode it wasn't that wise to give her orders, Brondolf was one of the few people who could tell her what to do at any point in time. "I can feel the pain, I think I would know whether or not to let some one hit it." Sarwyn snapped at the taller man as she stabbed an orc who had charged at them.
Brondolf sighed, it was quite normal for her to react like that, she was quite known for her temper as scary as it was. In fact she was scary enough that no one in the army the led even dared to disobey her orders as they might if Hallvard or Brondolf was the one in charged.
The two stepped apart as they fought off the orcs constantly towards them. Sarwyn fought very carefully to make sure her arm wasn't hurt again. Even without letting it be hit once more it still hurt grealty. Just a few minutes later she heard a loud gasp of pain from behind her. When she glanced towards the sound she found a sword protruding from Brondolf's back. Sarwyn gasped as her brain made the connection with the sword and the word 'death' was made. She quickly killed with the orc in front of her with much anger in her movements. Within seconds she was on her knees next to Brondolf's side. Looking down into his eyes she saw him giving her a smile, that was before his eyes glazed and rolled into the back of his head.
She sat there stunned, the lose of a true friend is not something you could quickly get over. Sarwyn would have been crying her heart out if she could cry. As she sat there in grief a few of the men close by surrounded her to keep her from being killed as she sat on her knees. The woman would have stayed there for quite some time had not Hallvard grabbed her good shoulder and awaken her from her daze.
Sarwyn looked up in shock when he had firmly place a hand on her shoulder. "Sarwyn" He said shortly, for once Hallvard left off the 'My lady' he always said when addressing Sarwyn. "You need to lead both Brondolf's men and yours into the forest. My men and I will stay here and hold back the orcs long enough for you to retreat."
Her eye brows formed into a frown as she thought about his words, she quietly went from being in grief to being back into battle mode. "No" She replied. "I refused to leave you behind. If anyone has to stay then let it be me." Sarwyn had made a vow many years ago that she would never leave some one behind, especially with the mercy of the orcs. She knew all to well what would happen if she did. Even now she would everything she could to never that something like that again, a small shudder went down her spine as she thought of those horrible memories from her past.
"This is not a time for your stubbornness Sarwyn." Hallvard knew the woman would not easily leave someone behind, even if it was just one man. Getting her to agree to this would be some what of a challenge for him.
"You know very well why I say no."
"Yes I do, but you know I am right. Most of my men have already fallen, leaving Brondolf and your two groups with most of the men. If I lead my group to keep back the orcs long enough for you to get the rest of the men to the forest then you could have a chance of living through this."
Sarwyn let out a huff. "Yes you are right. But that doesn't I will say yes." When her mind was set on something it was not easily changed.
Before Hallvard had a chance to reply one of the men, who was keeping the orcs away from Sarwyn and Hallard, was killed by a massive orc with a huge mace. Sarwyn jumped up and went to block the mace that was aimed to crush her whole body. When she pulled up her sword as the chunk of medal hit the sword the sword was shattered into a hundred pieces. She quickly shut her eyes hard and turned away her face to try and shield it from the mace and the shards of medal.
Sarwyn waited for what felt like forever, as the mace came closer, for it to crush her scull. But, it never came. Sarwyn opened her eyes to see that Hallvard had body slammed the beast and had killed him as well. Now she was quite tired of people having to save her, this was twice now that if not for someone else she would have been dead by now. She was done with being saved.
"Are you alright?" Hallvard asked his leader.
"Yes, I just have a few more cuts thanks to my... My now bladeless sword." She said holding up the hilt of the what had once been a long sword.
"That's good..." Hallvard muttered to himself out loud. He bent down and pick up another sword, this wasn't just another sword though. It had belonged to Brondolf for many years. Hallvard held it out for Sarwyn to take and said, "Take this one instead, he would have want it no other way."
Sarwyn knew what Hallvard said was true, about Brondolf would have wanted her to have it, but even knowing that it didn't make taking it even easier. Carefully she took the sword which was a couple of inches longer then the one she had before, but three inches wasn't that bad. "I still will not retreat without everyone."
Instead of replying with words Hallvard place a object into Sarwyn's left hand, the one that didn't hold a sword. She opened up her hand to see what was just placed there. Upon seeing it, and knowing exactly what it was, she shot her eyes up and locked on to the man in front of her. "This was your mother's. Why are you giving it to me?" This locket in her hand was the most precious thing to Hallvard, except for the ring on his left hand. In her heart Sarwyn knew why he had given the locket to her, but she wanted to hear it from him.
"When you get back to the village, give it to my unborn child. So he will always carry a reminder of both his Grandmother and father." Hallvard said without his face showing any emotion at all. For someone who had not known him as long as she did that would have never guessed just how much saying that pained him. Now that he had said that, Sarwyn couldn't find the words to say no to him once more. Slowly she nodded her head, before yelling out orders for their retreat. She pulled the locket over her head and around her neck, a movement she instantly regret, her arm hurt all the more for moving it around that high.
"I will do it my friend." That was the only think that would come to mind that would sound right if she were to say them out loud so she did. She turned on her heels, without her horse she would have to run. Loudly she yelled orders of retreat, her men and Brondolf's men all fell behind her as she stared running towards the infamous forest before them.
Haldir watched the battle move along for sometime, where as to begin with the Men look as if they could really win, but now the Orcs were over powering them. He saw the Men becoming scattered about and once that happened they were being picked off one by one by orcs. The elf wasn't quite sure how this would all end, but he did guess it would end very badly for the Men. Just as he saw that there was no way for anyone of them to live; he witnessed the soldiers of Men start gathering into two groups, the largest one started running towards the very forest he was sitting in, and the other group fought ever so bravely against the orcs to keep them from following the retreating group. Though he wanted to help, he would not do anything to help them till he got orders from his Lord and Lady.
He shifted from where he was sitting, as he did he saw Glamdor returning. When the elf jumped to Haldir's side he informed the March warden the orders given by their leaders.
Sarwyn lead her group of men into the forest, unknowingly under nether the small elf patrol. Once she reached the forest she stopped running, she waited for everyone in her group to pass before following them. Just as she was about to run farther into the forest she too one last look at the group of men holding back the orcs that was quickly growing smaller. The last she ever saw of her friend Hallvard, was an ugly black sword sticking through his back. She left her spot knowing all to well that the orcs would be following them all to soon. Sarwyn called out an order to her men "Get in the trees!" That would be the best way for them to stay alive and away for the orcs.
She knew that she would not be able to climb up a tree because of her arm. So what she choose to do instead, was to wait for the orcs and lead them away from the men in the trees. Sarwyn moved behind a large tree and waited till she could hear the leafs and sticks just a few trees away crack and brake. Pray silently prayer to Ilúvatar, she darted off to her right. Most of her men were on her left and in front of where she had been. As she ran, without having to look behind her, she knew the orcs were following her, fairly close. After running a hundred yards she took a sharp left turn leading them deeper into the woods. It was completely unknown to Sarwyn that a small group of elves were jumping through the trees shooting orcs alone the edges of the hoard of vile creatures. Though Sarwyn was very nimble, and had a fair amount of stamina, she could feel herself starting to get tired and slow down a little. She mentally coursed herself for slowing down so much, though she knew it wasn't the fault of her self or any one person.
Just then she felt a piercing pain course throughout her right thigh, it burned like hell in her veins.
For the first time, she looked over the back of her shoulder to see just how close the orcs were to getting her. In the corner of her eye she saw an ugly, vile, looking black arrow sticking out of the back of her right leg. Sarwyn pushed herself forward with one last burst of speed, doing her best to forget about the burning pain in her leg and the crushed feeling in her left shoulder. At this point she wasn't really watching where she was running; and the fact that she was headed straight for a line of trees. When she did look up she came to a sudden halt, there was a line of trees with a thick wall of ivy growing in between the trees. She spun around knowing she would have to stand and fight, even with her injuries. The orcs then charge with all the more force. Gripping her sword tightly she waited for them in that slit second they came closer.
Just as she was about to cut off the head of the closest orc, an arm rapped around her waist. Then she was being pulled into the air, her heart was pounding when her feet were no longer touching the ground. Slightly panicked, she tried to look at whom ever was holing on to her with such a strong grasp. Her head hit a chest that was hard from muscle build up that could only come from years of training and a thick something that looked like a rope. Grabbing the rope thing was a hand of light pale. Sarwyn could feel it was a man, do to the fact that there was no woman's breasts on the person holding her, and a rather strong man to be able to hold her weight and his own with one hand.
Before Sarwyn had any longer time to thing on it she was set down on some platform that was a bluish grey color. As soon as she was firmly on the platform she struggled and forced her way out of his grasp, though she didn't know that he had let go of her. She turned to face whom ever was the one to grab her and pull her up to who knows where. When she looked she saw a man dressed in a grey cloak that come down to the back of his knees, his clothes look simple but it was made combat ready. The man had the whitest hair she had ever seen, though he was the first person she had ever seen with white hair. His eyes where a deep black and eye brows that matched his eyes. He was taller then her by a good four inches, she wasn't short at 5'7 but he was just taller. When she laid eyes on his pointed ears she took a quick step back and pulled up her sword ready to fight.
When Haldir had reached the platform he released the woman in his arms. He wasn't sure how much longer she was going to be able to stand on her own feet, she had lost a lot of blood and even now her face look paler then it should have been. Just as she looked him over, he looked over her. She was wearing tights of brown, she had on a pair of dark leather boots that ended just before her knee caps. The tan colored shirt she had on come down to her mid thighs, giving it a look of a short shirt. A faded gray cloak that once had been rapped around her shoulders now the only reason it wasn't totally on the ground was thanks to the silver clasp on her collarbone, it was her only fancy adornment. On her waist there was a leather belt with a sheath, the sheath was obviously not for the sword in her hand. Her hair was pulled back into what used to be a tight braid, but was loosened a great deal, do to fighting for some time. The woman's left arm hung limply at her side, he could only guess that it had been injured in the battle.
As she tensed and pulled up her sword ready to fight, her eyes flashed with anger and utter hate. He wasn't quite sure what he had done to make her look at him in such a way, all he knew was now she look like she was going to kill him. Haldir calmly spoke to her, saying, "My lady, I mean you no harm, you are very safe up here." With his left hand he motioned towards the ground, on the two other platforms in site there were several elves raining arrows down on the orcs trying, and failing, to get up the tree.
"I will be the judge of that." She replied sharply. "I demand to be put back on the ground."
"I apologies, but, I can not. If you were to go down there, you would be torn to pieces in a matter of seconds."
"I would rather that fate, then to be murdered by your kind." Her eyes became totally filled with hate of the elves.
Haldir became very confused at that statement, there was no reason for her to be harmed by the elves, She had done no wrong. "At least me, or one of the others, clean you wound. If it is not taken care of, you could get an infection, and if it get bad enough you could die from it." He didn't like seeing people in pain, even if it was quite clear she really didn't care for him that much.
"It's fine, I can take care of myself thank you." In no way did she sound grateful, but instead she sound very annoyed with him. Sarwyn could feel the edges of her vision turning to black. She needed to get down fast, there was no way she was going to show any weakness to this elf. But, that didn't happen, she fell unconscious much faster than she thought she would.
Haldir watched the woman's eyes roll into her head and she dropped her sword. As she started to fall Haldir slipped behind her and caught her from falling. He gently rolled her over in her arms. Then he laid her on her front, with her head facing to the side. "Talagamen" A black haired stopped shooting arrows and looked towards Haldir who called to him. "Come over here and help please." The elf nodded and gracefully, but quickly, came to the March warden's side.
The two work wordlessly and yet in perfect harmony. Within a few minutes the arrow in Sarwyn's leg was removed, the wound cleaned, dressed, and bandaged. Haldir nodded in thanks to Talagamen. "I will take her to Caras Galadhon." The white haired elf informed the other. Talagamen nodded and stood up; as he went back to the edge of the platform Haldir noticed that his patrol had been joined by at least two other patrols. He gave a small smiling knowing that now it wouldn't take long for all the orcs to be dead. Haldir soundlessly walked to the edge in time to see the last of the ocrs being shot, there was quite a lot before they rest ran away. All the other elves climbed down the trees, with sword out in case of any orcs hiding, and started to make sure all they orcs were dead.
Haldir knew he was going to have to walk, but thankfully she didn't look that heavy. He grabbed her around the waist and placed her top half over his left shoulder. Then he quickly climbed down a ladder that had been lowered. As soon as they were on the ground he moved into a much moved comfortable position, he put her into bridal style in his arms. Just as he finished moving her an Elf came down on the same ladder that Haldir used, in the other Elves hand was Sarwyn's sword. "Haldir, I am coming with you." The new comer told Haldir.
The march warden looked up at the voice, and realized it was one of his younger brothers, Rumil was standing in front of him. Haldir nodded agreeing with his youngest brother.
Together the pair walked to Caras Galadhon. Once they got there Haldir and Rumil brought Sarwyn to an extra room in the royal tree. They also got a healer to come and take care of her wound more thoroughly then Haldir and Talagamen could, and also look at her arm. At one point when the healer had been working on Sarwyn she had woken fighting against the healer so they had to give her sleeping herbs, enough to take down an Elf had to be used on her for her to fall asleep.
So, here in the first Chapter... This is my first LOTR fanfic, I hope you enjoyed it! Please feel free to ask any questions about my story.
I love any criticism you are willing to give. It helps me improve my writing and it gives me ideas for stories!Thank you so much!
-Delenn