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Body Saved, Spirit Fades
"Drifter!" Aragorn suddenly cried, gently laying Haldir's limp body on the ground. Though she had been wallowing in her grief, Drifter was still aware of the Uruks close behind her. She almost wanted to die, just to let the swinging blade hit her once and her agony would be over. But, then again, if she died, all those deaths would be for nothing. At the last minute, the woman dropped to ground and rolled towards Aragorn as one of the orcs' strange swords whistled by right where her head had just been.
"Come on, Drifter!" Aragorn once more insisted after he had cut down a few enemies. He unexpectedly grabbed his shocked companion by the waist and jumped onto the nearest ladder with her in tow, causing the ladder to lose its balance and fall backwards into the mass of orcs below. As she landed on her feet, Drifter called to the Man,
"What did you do that for?! I was perfectly fine on my own, thank you very much!"
Aragorn simply grasped the girl's arm, dragging her back towards the sanctuary of the keep. As soon as they were in a relatively safe place, the Man pushed Drifter against the wall and pinned her there.
"Drifter, we need you now! Mourning is for another time!"
That was the last straw.
"That is almost exactly what Théoden said when I thought you were dead and I was blaming myself for it! Aragorn, you have the perfect lover, who stays safe and faithful. You don't know what it's like to lose five people you care about and almost two more! Arathorn, my mother, Legolas, Boromir, Haldir, I've lost them all! You weren't there, Aragorn, when your father lay dying…I was. He told me to protect you and see you to the throne. I have lost everything to keep that promise! I thought I lost you, you came back…but Haldir! If you could only fathom what I have gone through for your sake, Aragorn, perhaps I would not be against a wall and you would not be judging me for my lifestyle: suffering." Aragorn was glaring at Drifter. "You don't understand! I knew that all of this would happen. Years ago, I looked into Galadriel's Mirror and saw the deaths of almost all the Men I cared about." That did the trick. Aragorn released his hold, allowing the woman to race the rest of the way to the breaching gate. Because of the oncoming flow of Uruks, the Men of Rohan were unable to bar the gate. A moment later, Théoden requested from nearby,
"Hold them!"
"How long do you need?" Aragorn asked.
"As long as you can give me!" Drifter began following other ranger, but he turned to her.
"Drifter, please stay here and help bar the gate."
"I may look younger than you, but that does not mean that I am." Reluctantly letting the woman come, Aragorn led the way to a secret passage which in turn led to a ledge just outside the main gate.
"Come on! We can take 'em!" Gimli urged.
"It's a long way," the Man pointed out.
"Toss me."
"What?"
"I cannot jump the distance! You'll have to toss me! Oh…don't tell the elf."
"Not a word." At that, the dwarf was hurled into a clump of orcs on the bridge.
"A little help might be nice," Drifter stated with sarcasm. Once on the ramp, the woman furiously killed the Uruks around her, giving Théoden the chance to block the entrance.
"Gimli! Aragorn! Falathiel! Get out of there!" the king called.
Aragorn grabbed a hold of the rope flung down by Legolas. After dragging Gimli from the fighting, he looked at the still-fighting woman.
"Drifter, come on!" The female ranger in turn looked up to see that Legolas was the only one prepared to hoist her companions to safety. Aragorn must have noticed her misgivings. "Drifter, don't…" He was cut off as the girl hurled herself into the Man, causing him swing away from the ramp and forcing Legolas to pull on the rope. The least she could do was to hold the Uruks back but a moment longer. As soon as she noticed that her friends were safe, Drifter reached into the bag on her back which she had stubbornly kept on and took out the Mythril rope.
"Legolas!" she yelled. When the elf popped his head over the side, the woman tossed an end of the rope to him. After killing a few more of her foes, she tightened her hold on the rope and let Legolas pull her up.
"Mythril rope?" the elf lightly queried as she dropped to the safe side of the battlement. "Never heard of that before," he finished.
"When you travel as much as me, you never know when you're going to need it."
After getting as many of the survivors as possible into the keep, the remaining Fellowship rushed into the large stone room just as the Men began securing the door. As benches and tables were carried to block the gate, Théoden despairingly howled,
"The fortress is taken. It is over."
"You said this fortress would never fall while your Men defend it! They still defend it! They have died defending it!" Aragorn countered while Drifter warily eyed the door when the Uruks on the other side began using their battering ram. "Is there no other way for the women and children to get out of the caves? Is there not other way?"
"There is one passage," Gamling replied. "It leads into the mountains. But they will not get far. The Uruk-hai are too many."
"Send word for the women and children to make for the mountain pass. And barricade the entrance."
"So much death," the king said. "What can Men do against such reckless hate?"
"Ride out with me. Ride out and meet them."
"For death and glory."
"For Rohan. For your people."
"The sun is rising," Gimli noted as the sun peeked through a window.
"Yes. Yes! The horn of Helm Hammerhand shall sound in the deep one last time! Let this be the hour when we draw swords together. Fell deeds awake. Now for wrath! Now for ruin! And a red dawn!"
"Oh, please," Drifter grumbled while mounting Aragorn's horse behind him. "Enough of the drama. Aragorn, if I happen to disappear from this spot at some point, it is because there is no way I am going to risk stabbing you in the back."
"Forth Eorlingas!" As the Uruk-hai broke down the door, the riders charged down the ramp, killing as they went.
"Gandalf," the girl heard Aragorn whisper after she had slipped off of the horse and looked up the hill to see Gandalf at the top, soon joined by an army of the Riders of Rohan. When the reinforcements joined the fight, the orc numbers were greatly reduced. Upon seeing that victory was imminent, Drifter felt a new wave of anger erupt within her, causing her to charge into one of the few still-standing clumps of Uruks.
(Éomer)
Most of the remaining Uruk-hai were rushing into the nearby forest which was normally not there, closely followed by the Riders.
"Stay out of the forest!" Éomer called. "Keep away from the trees!" As the last of the Uruks disappeared, the trees began groaning and shaking and the enemies could be could screaming for their lives, though not one made it out. Éomer then turned to finish off the last orcs; however, when he reached the spot, he noticed that all of the creatures were dead, although none of the soldiers paid them any heed. Dismounting from his steed, a movement on the stairs at his right caught his eye. The movement turned out to be a battle-worn maiden, but he was unable to identify her further as she disappeared to the other side of the battlement. Curious, he followed her. Knowing his uncle, why would Théoden let a woman fight?
"Tae o thol vaeli ail paer, tia mela (May you find peace in death, my love)," the woman was whispering to a prostrate elf on the ground with her back turned to Éomer. It was not until she turned to face him that he recognized her as the woman from several days before. The woman who had seemed familiar, yet not: Drifter.
"I apologize, my lady. My curiosity got the better of me." Drifter's eyes beheld tears which were threatening to fall, but she was clearly refusing to let them do so.
"It's alright, my lord," she replied. "If you will excuse me." After Drifter had walked away, the Man realized why she seemed familiar, although it was a foolish thought.
(Drifter)
-First, he eyes me…now, he's following me!-
The woman was tired…mentally, physically, and every other way. After that day, there was nothing left of her heart. It felt as if the last of it had died with Haldir. Rounding a corner, she found Legolas and Gimli talking.
"Final count…forty-two," the elf bragged, checking his bow.
"Forty-two?" the dwarf queried, smoking his pipe and sitting on dead orc with his ax sticking out of its skull. "Oh, that's not bad for a pointy-eared elvish princeling. I myself am sitting pretty on forty-three." Suddenly, Legolas shot an arrow into the orc between Gimli's legs.
"Forty-three."
"He was already dead."
"He was twitching."
"He was twitching because he's got my ax embedded in his nervous system!" Drifter laughed as Gimli wiggled his weapon around and made the orc underneath him twitch furiously, causing the two friends to look at her.
"Do you care to add your count to the tally?"
"Oh, I don't want to brag," the girl stated, though her smile was a dead giveaway, "but, I suppose…fifty-one."
"Why you little…" Gimli growled, making the other two laugh at his frustration.
"Come, let us go find Gandalf," Legolas suggested.
After wandering around for some time, the group finally met up with Gandalf, Aragorn, Théoden, and Éomer. The wizard told them to mount horses and follow him up the hill. Éomer offered a place for Drifter on his horse, but she pointedly hopped up behind Aragorn, to the other Man's clear disappointment. Once on top of the hill, facing east, the light of Mount Doom in Mordor could be seen in the distance.
"Sauron's wrath will be terrible, his retribution swift," Gandalf stated. "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. Well! Shall we go complete this victory, Théoden?"
"Yes," the king replied. "I have put Éowyn in charge for their journey home, so we can head directly back to Edoras after this venture."
As the group began the short trip to Isengard, Drifter rested her head against Aragorn's back and closed her eyes.
"Alright, child, try aiming for the target on the right this time."
As soon as the words were out of the ranger's mouth, the twelve-year-old girl quickly nocked an arrow and released it, precisely hitting the mark twenty-five feet away.
"Perfect!" Arathorn praised.
"Arathorn?" Gilraen softly queried, coming out of the nearby house with a small, brown-haired boy in her arms. "I need to speak with you." The smile faded from the Man's face before he replied,
"What is it, darling?"
The couple quickly walked into the house, leaving the girl to unstring her bow, using the action as a hideaway for the worry she felt. Arathorn soon came out, carrying a full saddle-bag, and trotted to the stables.
"What is going on?" the girl asked with innocent curiosity. Her charge did not answer. Instead, he began saddling his wife's horse. "Please, tell me." The ranger finally stopped what he was doing, tears evident in his eyes.
"She senses evil nearby, child. We discussed it and decided that the safest place for Aragorn would be in Imladris."
Minutes later, the trained and the trainer were watching Gilraen ride off into the forest.
"Drifter," Aragorn addressed the woman behind him, who shook her head to eliminate the slight exhaustion which had crept over her. "This carving," the Man went on, "it is indeed a puzzle. I recognize Poraes (Drifter) and Falathiel (Huntress), which gives me reason to believe that all of these inscriptions are your names and titles."
"Aside from my real one, yes."
"What do the rest mean?"
"Parn os Tael (Dawn of Men) and Vaelor Baerdaer os Tael (Precious Jewel of Men) are the titles I acquired while living among the rangers along with your father. Anoron tuulo' i' mori en' 'ksh (Dawn from the dark of evil) is the inscription on my sword. Thas salaelaes (far traveler) is a name I gained in Gondor. And Minuialwen, my elvish name, in a roundabout way, means Dawn."
"I noticed that you dislike it when people call you by that name."
"It simply reminds me of what I am, as if I don't think about it every single day. Lord Elrond gave it to me when I was a small child of probably five years, the first time I visited Rivendell with my parents. I thought you weren't going to ask questions any more?"
"Sorry…" Drifter smiled, but she did not feel happy in any way. Part of her was beginning to fade and she could feel it.
Thanks for reading! Ok…for anyone that doesn't have an account, but still wants to vote in my poll…I have made it so that those of you without accounts can review my story. If you want, you can simply tell me in a review what you want to vote for, and I can put the vote on for you. I've never done it that way, so I'm not completely sure if it will work. Either way, please review! The next chapter will start at the beginning of Return of the King.