Once more the forces of Gondor and Rohan came together to face the threat to their world, this time with the full confidence that success would soon be at hand.
The family of Imrahil of Dol Amroth had been both surprised and frightened to learn their country was again going to war on the very day they arrived to Minas Tirith. They had made the three day journey from the southern borders of Gondor in hopes of staying with the royal family to discuss the current goings on in their territory. Aragorn and Arwen knew of Amina's hesitance where it concerned the noble family. Not of any fault of their own, but when she shared what she learned from Galadriel's mirror they understood. That and both had already known that her childhood was spent near Dol Amroth and that the whole experience had been truly unpleasant. So it was of no surprise when she spoke nothing to them upon their arrival.
She had already been on horseback between Faramir and Dorian when they set foot on the large courtyard. Legolas seemed to sense her unease at the foul memories of her childhood in the coastal village just outside of Dol Amroth beat at her. With Gimli riding behind him, they strode forward and blocked her view from them as the family shared words with Aragorn and Eomer. Amina sent them a thankful smile as she listened in.
Imrahil himself didn't seem so bad, nor his three sons and young daughter, but his lady wife was very obviously snobbish. None of them were envious of Arwen's task in keeping that woman occupied while they rode out to battle. The lady was rude and openly scolded her sons when they offered their arms to join the war against the orcs. Aragorn welcomed them immediately as they already had their own horses and were dressed in their soldier gear. The woman had severely frowned at her husband and sons, blubbering to herself that they had come to visit, not risk their lives in war.
Breaking Amina's inner thoughts, Faramir nudged her with his elbow and nodded towards the young girl. All the while whispering to her, "The look on her face reminds me of two others I have come to greatly admire."
Perplexed over his words the princess glanced to the fair girl immediately noticing the familiar look on her face. She held the desire within her to join her brothers in battle. It was a look she'd seen on Eowyn several times before the woman eventually rode beside her towards war on the Pellenor fields. And surely Faramir had meant that she herself carried that look while they fought side by side several times already. Something then caught her attention and with a sudden grin, she whispered back, "Would you look at that," she nodded to Rohan's king, "seems we're not the only ones to have noticed."
Faramir shared a chuckle with her as he watched his brother-in-law openly stare at the girl with an odd look upon his face. Though it was Gimli who snorted; he and Legolas had of course heard the whole thing, and the dwarf told them, "The two of you are impossible."
As for the elf, his own gaze watched as the young king of Rohan stared at the mortal girl with an obvious interest. It brought about some relief to his heart after the bit of news that he was keen on marrying Amina. "And you are no better dwarf," he teased his companion.
"Oh now don't get me started ya pointy-ear," Gimli growled, "I could always run my axe through your back."
"And run the risk of a princess's revenge?" Amina asked tartly though she had a smirk on her lips, "you would get blood on the horse and it would be a pain to remove the stains."
The dwarf laughed rather loudly as Legolas eyed her with mock sadness in his eyes, "I feel utterly betrayed."
Faramir and Dorian were openly amused as they laughed at the on goings of the three familiar friends. Amina simply shook her head and told them plainly, "As if I would allow my two friends to harm one another."
"My lady," Legolas delved into her eyes with a heated gaze, "you are as brave and loyal as you are beautiful."
A small blush came across her cheeks as Gimli groaned at their banter. Faramir, Dorian and a few of the men that overheard the compliment raised a brow in recognition of the light flirting. Before their princess could respond to him they all took notice of the snobbish woman snapping her eyes at them for their insolence. Apparently they had begun getting a bit too loud for the lady's liking.
Taking his cue, Aragorn strode forward with Eomer and the noble family following behind to make introductions. First he nodded forward to the lone female among his company of men, "This is my heiress Amina, the princess of these lands. Beside her are our good captains Faramir and Dorian and their platoons."
Imrahil and his children made it a point to step up to her and bow. The men each kissed her hand while the rather pretty young lady bowed and curtsied perfectly. Amina nodded her acknowledgement of them and was cut off from saying anything by that cursed woman, "You allow your princess to fight alongside men?" she said disdainfully, somehow managing to look down her nose while actually looking up at the girl in question as she sat upon her noble horse.
Both Aragorn and Legolas could tell that Amina was displeased over the woman's words, and it was the elf who managed to speak first in her defense, "Lady Amina is a fierce warrior, she is one of the few I have trusted to guard my back during battle."
"Yet you trust a dwarf," she noted to herself despite the fact everyone could overhear her.
"With my life," he adamantly stated the fact.
"My lady," Aragorn severely frowned at her all the while the woman's husband and children looked utterly ashamed, "I will not listen while you degrade my family and close friends. Their skills and sacrifice are what helped save this world. Do you even know to whom you are speaking? This is Gimli, son of Gloin, part of the line of the royal family of dwarves. And this is Prince Legolas Greenleaf, son of Thranduil, elven king of Mirkwood."
A new light of interest shrouded the lady's eyes at the announcement. She eyed the elven prince hungrily before grabbing her daughter's hand and thrusting it towards him, "Please do accept my apologies. Oh, this is my daughter Lothiriel, pretty thing isn't she?"
Amina raised her hand to her mouth in an effort to silence the giggles that bubbled up at the look on her love's face, especially when his eyes darted to hers as he could clearly sense her amusement. Yet like a true elf with bred with etiquette he took the noble young lady's hand and shook it once before quickly releasing it, "Good to make your acquaintance."
"And yours," the girl said with a furious blush, more so over her mother's actions than the words of the handsome elf. Then she turned to Gimli and gave him the same practiced curtsy awarded to Amina, "And you as well, master dwarf."
Well, at least one of the women in the noble family knew their manners. The older woman was about to speak again, but was silenced by a firm grip on her arm along with a stern look from her husband. Arwen then intervened and politely led them into the great hall. The three sons remained with Aragorn and the others, apologizing profusely for their mother's behavior. The king waved them off stating it was of no fault of their own.
Now that the awkward tension had been broken thanks to the lovely Arwen, Aragorn took the lead and while at Eomer's side led the combined armies through the long, winding stone streets of Minas Tirith.
It took longer than usual for the large company to make their way to the Brown Lands. Days longer in fact, but the time did not prove wasteful. The different areas of offense and defense had been instructed on how to proceed once they confronted the vile orcs. Eomer took over most of the control since he knew where most of the orc packs had come from when they attacked his people and lands. The Rohan king was very grateful to the helpful tips from Legolas, Gimli, and Amina. He had been told of how they recently came to war with the lorien and wood-elves in Dol Guldor.
When they finally reached the Brown Lands and the orcs, they found that they had been amassing themselves in preparation to attack Rohan full on. The battle that ensued was as rough as the landscape. The terrain was nothing but dry, flat dirt with no trees around for long miles. The army of men definitely had the advantage of being on horseback as they quickly trampled through the first few lines of the enemy.
While at war the day bled into night and the following morning had risen over the battle that was still raging on. At some time throughout the night Amina was pulled off of Senna as the beautiful mare began to race back to safer lands. Gimli had fallen also long ago but he always seemed to fair better with solid ground beneath his feet. Dwarves were not meant for fighting while riding horse-back. Now that it was morning very few of the men remained on horses; Eomer, Legolas, Aragorn, and a few of the captains being among that group.
Mid-day had rolled around and Amina was beginning to feel the fatigue in her muscles from nonstop movement. A full day of constantly running and using her immense flexibility was beginning to tax her body, despite the elven blood she was growing to more appreciate each day. Luckily, she'd only been cut only once so far, a spot on the back of her thigh. It wasn't deep and had stopped bleeding before the night was washed away by the sun. And the heat of the day wasn't helping matters; it only drove exhaustion throughout the Rohan and Gondor armies. It made them tired and miserable as sweat drenched their bodies under the heavy armor.
Amina turned and found herself at the mercy of three uruks. Ducking low she swung her blades around and managed to strike at two while the third backed away. He threw a spear at her from a short distance with exceptional power and she somehow moved to the side just in time. The uruk was then chasing after her and she swung the swords in her hands waiting for him to come to her; only for an arrow to rip through his thick chest five feet before he would have met the end of her blade. Glancing around she let out a yelp as she was hauled upwards and suddenly found herself riding behind Legolas on Arod.
"Rest for a moment," he told her. The handsome elf had noticed she was looking rather weary from afar and began to make his way towards her, "here, take the reigns."
She did as he asked, but not before leaning forward and out of the saddle to give him a quick kiss on the cheek in appreciation. Taking the reigns, she watched as he shot down any enemy that came within fifteen feet of them. His efforts left behind a trail of dead orcs and uruks. "Legolas you have only two arrows left."
He nodded at her warning. In reality, he had run out of his own arrows long ago, these were the remaining arrows of two men who had fallen in the war throughout the night. Legolas then noticed she was leading Arod slightly away from the battle and chanced a glance back at her. Her arms were around his waist as she handled the horse's reigns, and she tightened her hold on him as he looked at her. Given the small amount of time they had before getting back into the thick of fighting, he pulled up a skin of water fastened to the saddle. Then he took the reigns from her in one hand as he gave the water to her so that she could drink first. Ever thankful she took two long gulps, wiping her mouth as she handed it back to him to finish off the replenishing liquid.
"How is your chest and shoulder?" she asked and gently placed her hand over his right shoulder.
"I will not lie, it aches," he told her, "but as I have told you before, I will not leave you to fight in this battle alone."
She frowned from behind him in concern. They'd been having the same circular conversation since even before they left Minas Tirith for war in these lands. Amina could see that he was fully healed, but knew that the strength of his aim came from the injured side of his body. Luckily she still had some of the healing salve given to them by Haldir. Feeling his surprise at her hand steadily lifting up his green and then silver tunic, she reached up under his shirts to slather some of the thick salve on the back side of his wound.
When she reached down to replace his tunic and overcoat he turned over his right shoulder to stare at her. Her throat closed at the raw look of want on his face. She had tried to not get too excited at touching the bare skin of his back but it had become impossible. And now that she could clearly see the desire reflected back in his gaze as he locked his eyes on her she had to swallow down her feelings to keep focused. With more of the thick cream on her hand, she could feel his intense eyes studying her as she leaned up in the saddle and slowly shifted his inner tunic aside to give her hand room to reach in and caress his chest. Finding the still healing scar of the wound, she massaged the healing balm into his skin, her eyes now returned to his face.
Just as she was about to pull her hand away from him, his own hand reached up and pressed her palm back onto his bare chest. Two layers of cloth were between their hands as their gaze only continued to grow more tender.
This was not the time or place! So he let go of her but smirked as he felt her hug him from behind and kissed the back of his neck and hair. As Legolas led them back into the fray, the battle was finally nearing an end. With one of his long knives in his hand and the reigns in the other and Amina had both of her own blades at the ready, they dove into the center of the battle, beheading the enemies as they went along.
In a brief moment of no orcs surrounding them Amina saw to her horror that Eomer had just been sliced open along his back with a single determined orc quickly running to him from behind without notice, a sickle raised high in the air with the intention to cut him down forever. Legolas felt her grab the bow on his back and then she took an arrow from the quiver. He slowed the movements of Arod to allow her a more steady shot, not yet seeing what had alarmed her. When she released the arrow he followed its path until it went through the side of an orc's head that had been ready to kill Eomer.
"That was well aimed," he complimented, "must have been training while Gimli and I were in Fangorn."
She was breathing rather hard as Arod began galloping harder towards Rohan's king as he had fallen to his hands and knees in pain. "Thank you, and yes, I had been training with Faramir and Dorian."
He nodded and kept his pace headed towards the fallen king. She dismounted from behind him, making sure the bow was secure on his back before she did so. Then she rushed to Eomer as he fell forward into the hot dirt. "Eomer," she kneeled beside him, feeling Legolas remain close by guarding them, "come on, let's get you standing."
He groaned and was slightly delirious but took her hand and arm as she helped him on his feet. With the elf's help they managed to get the king saddled on Arod's back. Before Legolas could take the king away from the war, Amina quickly searched and tossed him a half-empty quiver of arrows from a soldier of Gondor. The prince nodded to her then snapped the reigns, his eyes telling her to be careful.
Observing her surroundings she was lucky to find Gimli not far off fighting fairly close to Dorian. Running to the side of the fiercely battling dwarf, they shared a look and a welcoming grin as they laid waste to what was left of the quickly thinning army of orcs alongside the good captain.
By the time night was beginning to fall Aragorn had announced they had victory. And finally…after so long, the final threat to the great countries of Middle-earth was gone. From hence forth true peace could be had in these lands.