The three stare up at the armoured figure, Billana is accustomed to being around beings who are taller than she is, she has been travelling with dwarves through the lands of Men and elves. Even the shortest member of the Company is taller that she is, and she has spent much of her life with the twins who are both well over six feet tall. Even with the odd perspective that comes from being in the form of a wolf she suspects that this being is over eight feet tall. Malice rolls off him in waves, causing Billana to shrink back into the coat that she still wears having not taken a form small enough to break free of it during the fighting. She hears Fili mutter something, a name she thinks, and hears Kili shriek before he takes flight. She watches her raven shaped husband as he swoops down on the hand she had severed from the orc, shudders as something like a scream comes from the figure when Kili manages to dislodge the ring on one of the fingers. He carries it back as the large figure drags a foot free of the shifting pool, reaches a hand for the raven that barely misses Kili's tail feathers.

The fall of that foot seems to make the world shudder beneath them.

Billana shudders and feels her grip on her wolf form slip and falter, Kili tumbles from the air beside her, changing back in the same moment that she does and coughing on the ring that he had stolen. It falls to the floor with a clunk and Billana snatches it up. Whispering fills her mind, promises that will be fulfilled if she only hands over the ring and swears to serve the great being before her. She clutches the ring more tightly to her, though it makes her nauseous just to touch it, exhaustion tugging at her and making her wonder whether the coming fight will be worth it. She has nothing left to give, and even as she backs against Fili, who holds Kili slumped against him, she knows that they are all going to die. The whispers change, become dark and threatening, but still she clutches the ring, not willing to simply give it up. Fili wraps his free arm around her, whispering a quiet plea that she hand him the ring and run, assuring her that he will hold off this threat for as long as he can. She shakes her head. She told him months ago that she would only leave him if she left with Kili if there wasn't any hope for him, she told him that she would never leave both of them to their fates if it meant living however many decades she has left without them. She means to keep to that and the sigh he gives when she shakes her head shows it. Still, he clutches her tighter and Kili's hand comes up to take her free one.

The figure's other foot has emerged from the pool now, bringing him a step closer as waves of malice roll over them all. Billana is shaking, and she can feel her husbands trembling as well, there is no where to go, no where to run, no where to hide.

"You cannot stand against me," the being says, the sound of his voice is agonising. "Return what is mine."

"No," Billana gasps, not sure how she knows it but absolutely certain that if she hands over this ring everything will be lost.

He reaches for her, only to pause and turns to look at the sky as he lets out a roar of utter fury. Billan looks up, eyes going wide as she sees five of the great eagles approaching. It isn't until they get closer that she can see that every eagle is carrying a passenger. Two of them Billana recognises instantly, she would know Gandalf's hat anywhere and Radagast appears much the same as he was when they met so many months before. The two of them arrive first, sliding from their eagles and the grey wizard immediately rushes towards the two dwarves and their hobbit as another of the wizards slides from the back of his eagle white robes billowing around his ankles. He speaks a word and the armoured figure falls back slightly as another two slide from the last of the eagles.

These two are dressed differently from the other wizards. They wear hoods of a brilliant blue rather than the hats that Gandalf and Radagast prefer. They also wear tunics and trousers under their cloaks instead of robes, with mud spotted boots and carrying staffs that are polished from use. They join the others, along with Gandalf who turns towards the dark figure after making sure that Billana and the princes are alright, and the five raise their staffs. Light shines from the crystals to form a sphere around the dark figure. The speak another word and the world seems to shudder, for a moment the dark figure shrinks in upon himself and Billana hopes that he will be this easily stopped.

Nothing about this quest has been easy.

Not even this.

The wizards fall back when a wave of energy comes from the centre of the sphere and Billana hears herself scream, the sound raw and terrified. Fili pulls her closer still, his arm tight around her.

"It isn't enough!" She hears Radagast shout.

"Without the anchor we cannot hold him," one of the ones in blue agrees, "and without the anchor They will not lend Their aid." The light from their staffs intensifies and the air around them begins to stir and race, becoming a great wind which drags against cloaks and robes.

"We cannot break the circle to search it out," Gandalf calls. "We must seal him first."

He sounds exhausted, Billana thinks, but he was tired before the battle began. Still they push at the dark figure, who seems to be fighting back with everything he has. He is not restrained as the wizards seem to be, lashing out at them individually and all at once, and the ring in her hand begins to burn. She looks down at it, seeing its glow between her fingers and she opens her fist to see that words have begun to form on the surface, words that shift and dance and that are beautiful in form in a way that the creature who desires it is not.

"The anchor," she breathes as the creature lashes out towards Gandalf with a particularly vicious attack.

"Billana?" Fili whispers.

"I think this is what they need," she replies. "Help me get to them?"

Alone she will not be able to withstand this wind. Dwarves are heavier than hobbits, Fili and Kili are buffeted by it but she doubts that they feel like they'll be swept away if it catches them right. Indeed, when she struggles onto her exhausted feet she staggers and that is all the prompting that they need to stand as well. They protect her from the magical storm as best they can. Fili being the only one of them with any magical reserves left raises one of his glittering shields of gold and the way that the magic that surrounds them rushes over it and makes it shine would be beautiful under any other circumstances. Her focus, however, it not on the beauty that surrounds her, or on the comforting warmth of her husbands. Her focus is on Gandalf and she clings to his robes when she gets close enough.

"I have it," she breathes, not certain that he will hear her over the roar of the wind.

The wizard glances down, face a mask of drawn concentration that softens into clear relief when he sees what she's holding. He isn't the only one to notice and the dark figure races towards them, though that movement seems to need to cross an impossible distance, a great sword in hand that seems to have been moulded from its own limbs and Billana lets out a cry as Fili casts a shield in front of it. The shield shatters instantly, if the wizards cannot hold his creature then Fili had no chance, and he cries out as the spell is broken, falling to his knees with sweat pouring down his face and blood trickling from his nose. It is enough, however, to cause Gandalf to strengthen his side of the flickering sphere as he calls something in a language that Billana both cannot identify and yet seems to echo in every tongue at once.

"No!" The dark figure cries shrinking back.

Time stills.

The wind dies.

The sphere solidifies into something that shimmers with rainbows.

The ring in Billana's palm goes cold.

The tower shifts, becoming surrounded by nothing but white as fourteen indistinct lights of varying colours gradually take form. Their features manifest into distinct appearances, seven male and seven female, even though there is still a shimmer about Them that makes it seem like They are not truly present. Perhaps They aren't, she thinks a little hysterically as the reality of what she might be seeing begins to sink in. After all, the Valar swore that They would never set foot upon this part of the world again after the War of Wrath. Even the dark figure who now cowers in the centre of the glowing sphere now makes sense, now has a name. She can hardly believe that she had not made the connection before between the otherworldly and impossible monster from the histories she had studied as a child and the great being who had demanded the return of this ring, save for the fact that she is exhausted and terrified. She wants this to end so that she can return to the mountain, curl up between her husbands and sleep for a year. Nothing that Gandalf had told her when he asked her to join this ill-fated quest had indicated that she would be dealing with the terrors of legend.

Nothing had prepared her to look up the worldly form of Sauron and hear the call of his voice.

"What are we to do with you?" The one who stands behind the white wizard asks.

Fili and Kili stare upon Him in awe, their eyes wide and reverent. His thick beard and heavily muscled arms are a clue to His identity, but even Billana can hear the deep echos of the forge in His voice. Aulë. Mahal.

"Clearly," another says, His voice sounding like the whisper of a pleasant dream, "shutting him away is not enough."

"We have his anchor to this realm," and this can only be Manwë, for His voice is like a gale. "Perhaps this time we should sever the link entirely."

"You would kill me!" Sauron screams. "You would slaughter me in cold blood!"

"We would do no such thing," another continues, Her voice so gentle and loving that this can only be Estë. "You would be rendered little more than a shade without form or power."

"A cold wind that can do nothing but bite and discomfort only to be chased away by the warmth of spring," this is Vairë, the Weaver of Fates, Her voice joined by that of Her husband, Mandos, Their hands clasped as They pronounce the future that They see for this creature who cringes away from them.

"So be it," Manwë declares. "We had hoped, Sauron, that you would learn from the fate of your Master. Clearly, though you are a talented craftsman, your capacity for learning from your mistakes and misdeeds is lacking. This fate is, perhaps, kinder than any other. Aulë? I feel the final judgement should lie with You."

"And it shall be done," He replies, breaking the circle of fourteen to approach Billana and her husbands. "You have done well," He tells them as he accepts the ring. "It is time this was ended." He adds, going to retake his place.

The wizards withdraw, obviously aware that they are no longer needed, and form a ring around the three onlookers. A shield comes into place as the Valar raise their arms, lifting the ring above the shining sphere as Aulë bellows a single word that is so loud it makes her ears ring, and so soft that it wraps around her like a blanket. The ring begins to glow, gradually growing brighter and brighter as the fourteen echo the word spoken by the Smith until the three of them are forced to look away and hide their faces in each other. The sounds of Sauron's screaming filling the air around them until finally there is an explosion without sound and the air falls still.

When Billana dares to look the sphere is empty and the Valar are lowering their arms.

"Well, my daughter," a voice says, "you have certainly achieved far more than I had ever dared to hope."


A.N: I knew how I wanted this to go, but it's taken me days to get it written down the way that I want it. Sometimes getting things from my head onto the screen is a lot harder than I would like, especially as this was so clearly the goal at the start.

Butchered Quenya (if you believe the song I pinched it from)

Lasto Belain: Valar, answer me.