An- Happy New Year everybody! This is really short, becasue I'm about 10 seconds from going out the door to go to my nan's! Hope everyone had a great holiday, and has a great year to come! Bring on 2007!

Chapter 29

Everyone stared, unable to blink, let alone move as they looked on in horror at Niori's impaled body. No one could speak; they just stared, not believing what they saw in front of them. How could this happen? How could someone as strong, vibrant and beautiful as Niori have been killed in such a grotesque, evil manner?

Legolas was the first to break the paralysis; he walked calmly towards her body. Despite the seemingly controlled way he moved, one look at his face would show that he was fighting hard not to lose it.

When he finally reached her, he had to bit down on his tongue to stop himself from crying out in despair. He felt as though his world had ended as his eyes washed over her wasted body, unable to believe that this was what had become of the woman he loved.

He reached out a trembling hand and stroked the side of her cheek, moving her slumped head back into its upright position.

"Niori…" he moaned, the tears stinging his eyes painfully and the grief making is voice unrecognizable.

Had it been anyone else, they wouldn't have heard the soft moan-like sound that emitted from her parted lips. Yet no matter how low the sound was, Legolas's Elvish ears were able to hear it.

His hand snapped back to his side, his eyes widening into the size of saucers. He stood there a moment, his mouth hanging open in shock, before he found his voice and cried out.

"SHE'S ALIVE!"

There was only a moment of stunned silence, and then one small, authoritarian voice broke through it.

"MOVE!"

Legolas looked up to see Silmarwen pushing her way through the crowd angrily. When the people had finally gotten out of the princess's way, she reached Legolas within seconds, looking over Niori before she turned back to him.

"Get her down!" she commanded.

Despite the fact that it made him feel as though he was going to be sick, Legolas gripped onto the hilt of the sword buried in Niori's shoulder, and with his heart pounding and ringing in his ears, pulled it out of her. He dropped it immediately as though it were on fire, and went to catch her fall…but Silmarwen had already done it.

Sil laid Niori gently on the ground, kneeling beside her. She ripped open the fabric around Niori's shoulder, exposing the gapping wound. She winced when she first saw it, horror rushing onto her face, and then it was completely gone, replaced with the stony face of a healer.

"I need bandages!" she cried, and when no one moved, she turned back to them, her eyes blazing, "NOW!"

The sharp tone of her voice sent a group of men o turn and rush back towards the village in search of wrappings and bandages.

"Legolas!" she spoke next, looking up at him sharply.

He got to his knees beside her, not allowing himself to look down at Niori's bloody body.

"What can I do?" he asked her.

"We need to stop the bleeding," Silmarwen told him, taking his hand and pushing it down hard on the bleeding hole in Niori's shoulder, "keep the pressure."

Legolas nodded, feeling dizzy, and if possible, even more sick as he felt Niori's blood seep through his fingers. He didn't know if he could do this…

"Oh my God," Jane breathed as she rushed up and fell to her knees near Sil, Carla at her heals, "is she going to be okay?!"

"Only if we can stop her bleeding…" Silmarwen mumbled, "Where are those bloody bandages?!"

Jane and Carla stared down, unable to believe that it was Niori they were looking at. She was so different; it went beyond even the blood and the dirt…she had to be at least thirty pounds lighter…

"Sil!" Arien cried out, moving towards them with a bundle of lien secured in her arms.

Sil grabbed them from her sister, moved Legolas's hand, placed some bandages there, and replaced his hand over top of it.

"Eldarion!" she cried out to her brother, who by this time was also coming towards them, "We need to move her! Despite the fact we should wait until the bleeding stops, we can't wait, so we'll have to risk it! I have to stop this bleeding, and the longer she stays here, the less likely she will live. All the healing supplies I need are back at our camp!"

"We'll take her!" Eldarion told her, "We'll leave now and not stop until we reach the village! At a quick pace, it should only take an hour, two at most."

"She'll have to ride with me on my horse, so I may still work on her," Silmarwen continued, more to herself than the others.

Legolas had lifted Niori off the ground the moment he had heard that they were leaving. He stood there, waiting for Silmarwen and Eldarion.

When they opened their mouths in what would have been protest, Legolas shook his head.

"You could not stop me from coming," he told them simply, and no one even began to argue with him.

"You stay and make sure the camp is destroyed, the area scouted for further enemy and the soldiers returned safely to the village," Eldarion told Carla and Jane, and when they began to argue, he cut them off, "the bigger the party, the slower we go and the less chance she will survive. I leave you two in charge!"

"Let's go!" Sil spoke, and the three of them rushed off towards where the horses we tied, Niori safely in Legolas's arms and Silmarwen still putting pressure on her wound.

Jane and Carla watched them disappear, and wondered if they would be able to save her…if Niori would still be alive by the time they got back to the village.

l.l.l.l.l

"Shit. We have to finish these guys off fast. I have to see Niori." Carla said darkly, unsheathing her sword and running back into the throng of fighting men. With a deep, calming breath, Jane ran after her. From where she could see, there was only about 30 Eastern men left, fighting against 45 of Eldarion's men- and of course, two women. It would be an easy victory for them, as long as everything went according to plan.

"You take this side," Jane motioned to her left, " And I'll take this side, and when everyone is- gone- we'll meet back here! Agreed?" Jane yelled, stabbing a man in the throat, and pulling out her sword, kicked his body down.

Carla nodded mutely, and disappeared from view.

Turning back to the battle ahead of her, Jane did her best to push the horrifying image of Niori's shrunken body skewered to a tree out of her mind. Then it hit her with the force of a brick wall; They did this to her. These sons of bitches.

With an angry yell, she plunged her sword into two men as once, showing no mercy towards these cold-blooded bastards, as they hollered in wounded agony.

1.1.1.1.1.

Carla's mind was teeming with thought, but she knew she couldn't think about anything except the battle. She couldn't afford to lose her concentration. She ducked a strike aimed for her neck, and while down, sliced the man in the abdomen. He buckled over in pain, and she hit his neck forcefully with the hilt of her sword.

Grimacing slightly at the crack that came after, she backed up, and felt her back touch someone else's. She whirled around, sword at the ready, ready to strike the person before he could, her.

Then she realized it was Elijah. He was surrounded by three men, much bigger than him, and his upper left arm was bleeding. His face was screwed up with the pain, and his sword arm was almost useless; the shirt was cut open, and a large gash was pouring blood all over him.

"Elijah!" She yelled at him, jumping forward and taking on two of the men at once. They were surprised, but recovered well. They ducked the blows Carla aimed for their vital organs, which surprised her; the men were so dumb around here, they usually didn't have the brains to realize what was coming to them.

Three swords suddenly clashed with Carla's own. It seems that the man Elijah had been fighting had given up on his ailing opponent, and had decided that Carla would be a more enjoyable challenger. Her heart started to pound heavily in her chest as panic began to creep into her mind. This wasn't looking good. She snuck a quick glance over her shoulder; Elijah, who was looking extremely pale, was sinking slowly to the ground, clutching his bleeding arm.

With a yell, Carla stuck her foot out and kicked the first man as hard as she possibly could in the groin area- she knew it was a cheap shot, but she was desperate- the man fell to the ground gasping. The other two came for her with a newfound vengeance. She stepped to the side and tripped up one of them, and swiftly drove her sword into the others' breastbone. The one who had been tripped was pierced through the throat while down, and the man who was kicked in the groin was brutally decapitated.

Breathing heavily, and oddly enough- shivering, even though it wasn't remotely cold, Carla turned to Elijah, who was now sitting on the ground with his eyes closed.

She knelt down beside him. "What happened to you?" She fingered his torn sleeve, but he pulled it away from her.

He was breathing through clenched teeth. "A couple other guys hit me a while back…" he gasped and closed his eyes, clutching his arm, "I'll be alright."

"No, you won't be." Carla smiled humourlessly. "Not with the amount you're bleeding. Here"- she tore off the rest of his tattered sleeve, and tied it tightly around the wound.

"This will do you for a while, just don't leave it on too long- your arm will freeze and turn purple." She nodded as if to say "okay?"

Elijah nodded, although it was evident he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Stop fighting Elijah, you can't do it anymore. Look"- she got an idea. "Why don't you take another man or two, and scout the surrounding area? That would be really helpful."

Elijah nodded and Carla helped him up. "Oh! And, please don't die on me." Carla muttered in his ear. "Jane would kill me."

With a slightly startled and confused look, he nodded slowly, and sprinted away into the throng of fighting men. Carla sighed, aggravated by the sight. Would this fight ever end? She had to get back to the camp!

1.1.1.1.1

Twenty minutes later, Jane was almost able to see the end of the fight; Eastern men were becoming more and more sparse among the crowd. Jane stood on a small hill overlooking the action, and from where she stood, it looked like they had lost at least thirty men. But it was very difficult to say exactly; some of them might have returned to the camp with Silmarwen and Niori.

A random Eastern man ran out of the crowd, towards her. She had to hand it to him; he had lasted this long in battle. He tried to kill her quickly with a hit to the head, but she dodged it and his life was ended quickly by her sword. It frightened her more than anything that she hardly had to think anymore when it came to killing; it came so naturally to her now.

"Jane!"

Carla was running towards her, grinning. "It's practically over!! We've killed nearly all of the Eastern men! And the guys that are still fighting"- she gestured to the small amount of Eastern men left- "They're going to be ambushed in 3..2..1.."

And sure enough, twenty men surrounded the Eastern men, who were finished in seconds. Jane and Carla winced slightly at the sight and looked at each other, each one wondering what to do next.

"I think we need to take the wounded and the dead back with us, we can't leave them here with the dead Easterners." Jane spoke darkly. Carla was about to agree with her when she was interrupted.

"Jane! Carla!" Elijah and ten men appeared suddenly behind him His arm was now resting in a hand-made sling. "I think we can help- we've found a wagon."

Jane and Carla exchanged surprised and relieved glances. "Perfect!" Carla said, throwing her hands up in relief. "Could you get the rest of the guys to please start loading the men who can't walk onto it?"

Elijah began to turn around, but Jane stopped him, her wide eyes on his bloody arm. "What happened to you?" She whispered, her face taught with worry. Elijah calmly explained to her what had happened with him and Carla.

"I have to go help my men. I swear, I'll be careful." He said very quietly. And with a quick reassuring glance at her, he instructed the men who were with him to start loading their fallen comrades onto the wagon they had found.

1.1.1.1.1

With Elijah heading the care of their wounded and dead men, Jane and Carla organized a party to scout the place even more thoroughly than Elijah would have done, and another party to block off all buildings and empty the tents in the area. Once it was made sure that all of the tents were empty, the buildings (vacant or not) were sealed, and all of their own men (dead or alive) were safely on the wagon, Jane ordered for the whole place to be covered with oil and torched. Carla wasn't sure it was the best plan, but she wasn't going to argue with Jane about it. It was easy, and it made sure that everything was destroyed.

Finally, once the last flaming tent was turned to dust, and the last enemy corpse burned beyond recognition, the party proceeded back to camp with Carla, Jane and Elijah in the lead.

1.1.1

It took them over two hours to get back to the camp at top speed, (even though 'top speed' included a wagon being pulled by twenty exhausted men), yet Carla still couldn't get that lurid smell of burning flesh and hair out of her body. Everyone stunk of it. There wasn't much celebration either; the atmosphere was sombre. The men they had lost were covered with a tarp, and the men who had survived were mourning their friends and comrades. The wounded, most of whom had been hit in the non-vitals, were being tended to by friends, while the mortally wounded were simply waiting to die. There was nothing they could do for them without a doctor, or medication.

Carla, Elijah and Jane walked silently the whole way. It wasn't that they weren't happy that they'd won, but there was just so much to be sad about as well. This was possibly the most brutal fight they had ever had against other human beings. The difference between killing an orc and killing a human was surprisingly significant on the mind and body. Carla's limbs felt like lead, and Jane's mind felt like it was buzzing with thought, yet oddly numb.

Once they finally reached the gates, Jane and Carla lost all sense of themselves and ran like madwomen to Eldarion's house, where they figured they would find Niori. They burst through the front door, and sure enough, her tiny, unnaturally frail body was lying on a bed that turned out to be Silmarwen's. She was completely unconscious, with Silmarwen cradling Niori's head in her lap. Her shoulder was heavily bandaged, and her breathing was irregular.

As Jane gazed upon Niori's heart-wrenchingly pathetic form, and looked at the enemy blood that was splattered all over her arms and body, everything came back to her in a rush: the horrifying, bloody battle; the men she had brutally slaughtered, and Niori's tortured body pinned mercilessly to a tree by these very men. She grabbed a nearby bucket and vomited into it, as Carla's body was wracked with silent sobs beside her.

l.l.l.l

Why wasn't there as much pain?

That was the first clear thought that managed to break through Niori's mind after what seemed to be an eternity of darkness.

It wasn't that she felt no pain, because there was plenty of it was throbbing through her body; there just wasn't as much as she was used to, and that shocked her.

Was she dead? Was that why she didn't hurt as much?

But shouldn't death be painless? Wasn't that final resting place -Heaven, Nirvana, the afterlife, whatever- be without pain?…oh great, she had probably landed herself in hell (even if she didn't really believe in the concept of hell)…

There was sure to be plenty of pain there.

Niori moaned, the prospect of eternal damnation not a joyful thought. What had she done to end up in hell?

"Not fair…" she mumbled angrily, royally pissed off that some moron had shoved her in hell.

"Shh…" a soft, beautiful and familiar voice whispered as she felt a slender hand touch the side of her head and begin to stroke her hair.

Niori was intrigued now, knowing for a fact that hell probably didn't have comforting people…so maybe she wasn't in hell after all…maybe she wasn't even dead…

"I kept telling them all you would wake up, but none would really believe me," the voice continued, the stroking of her hair falling into a very content rhythm.

"We knew not to lose faith in you," a new, equally familiar voice spoke gently as Niori felt someone take hold of her limp hand, "You never lost faith in us, so we could never give up on you."

Niori forced her heavy eyelids to open, ignoring how much it seemed to hurt. She glanced around her, fighting against the blinding bright light.

And then she saw the angels.

There were two of them leaning above her, one holding her hand and one stroking her hair. They were so radiant and beautiful in long, white dresses with their dark hair flowing down around their face.

"Hmm…" Niori moaned, trying to reach out and touch one of them but finding her arm too weak.

"Don't Niori," one of the angels spoke, sitting down on the bed beside her, "just rest…that is what you need now."

Niori squinted, knowing that she knew these angels. They were so familiar, and yet so different from anyone she could remember…

They were so beautiful, just like-

"ArieSil…" Niori murmured, the two names merging together as she tried to say them.

A brilliant smile broke out on Arien's lips as she sat beside her. Niori couldn't see 100, but she was sure she saw tears in her eyes too.

Arien laid down beside her, smiling directly into her face and wrapping her arms around her gently, and holding her in a comforting hug.

Niori tried to hug her back, but already her exhausted mind was pulling her back inward. She was struggling to keep her eyes open and stay awake.

"Just sleep Niori," Silmarwen told her, lying down on the opposite side of her, putting her arms around her in the same manner of Arien, "let us take care of you now, just like you took care of us."

"We'll keep away the nightmares," Arien promised her, and finally Niori closed her eyes, a small smile on her lips .

And that's how she fell asleep; with her sisters' arms wrapped around her, feeling safe for the first time in what seemed like forever.

l.l.l.l.l.l

An- Tat's all for now folks! Hopefully we'll get back with another chapter soon, since we have another week of vacation left, but maybe not, since exams are coming up rather quickly! Again, Happy New Year!