Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own any of the character, places, names, or anything associated with the works of J.R.R Tolkien or the Lord of the Rings (books or movie, whatever). My characters are Anita, Leila, and Arlandria and that is all.
Chapter 46: Anthem of Our Dying Day
Of all the ways that Anita imagined a reunion between her and Legolas would have gone, what actually happened was far removed from anything the girl saw in her mind. By the time the two elves had locked eyes, Legolas had already traversed half the distance between them. It wasn't like she could have been mistaken for anyone else, she stuck out a bit amongst the Lorien Elves. By the time Ani realized that Legolas was furious at seeing her, the elven prince had viciously gripped her arm and yanked her out of formation, and the only thing she could do was let out a yelp of protest and surprise. Legolas didn't say a word as he dragged her away from where the elves were standing, the humans watching on in thinly veiled interest.
"Ow Legolas! Ow! You are hurting me!" The pain from how hard he was gripping her arms was helping to push aside the shock of his actions. The elf was leading, against her wishes, down a walkway that curved around into the face of the mountain leading to what Ani assumed was the mouth of a cave which was block by two massive doors. Digging her heels in to the stone floor, she pulled back harshly on her arm, freeing it from his death grip. The prince whirled on her once her arm was free, his eyes, so dark they appeared black, narrowed at her.
"Of all the stupid things you have ever done, Anita, this is by far the worst you arrogant foolhardy child!" The girl reeled back from his verbal assault as surely as if he had struck her, the ache in her arm from where he had held her paled now in comparison to the tongue lashing she had just taken.
"Legolas…" Both Ani and Legolas turned in the direction of Glorfindel's voice as the older elf approached the couple. Ani cast a helpless and confused look at her mentor as Legolas turned his fury on him. The prince snapped at him using the same tone that had been used against Ani, Glo however was the picture of calm and collected as the prince railed at him. As curious as Anita was, Legolas was speaking too fast in Sindarin for her to keep up with what he was saying, her flimsy grasp on conversational vocabulary getting her nowhere in this situation. Glorfindel cut Legolas off at one point to answer him back, which only infuriated the prince more. In the time the elleth had known Legolas she had never seen him lose his temper this way, wasn't she supposed to be the unstable one in the relationship? The two elves bickered back and forth for a bit, Ani's head swiveling between them as they spoke, becoming more irritated by the second, since she was certain the topic of this argument was none other than herself.
"Yo!" She finally said, her irritation boiling over, " I am standing right here!"
"And you should not be." Legolas' voice had dropped from a yell to a low grumble, "You should be in Rivendell where you would be safe. You're duty," His eyes swung back to look at Glo, " was to take her back to Rivendell."
Glo shrugged in a nonchalant way before calmly replying to Legolas' accusation. "Have you ever tried to stop her from doing something once she had set her mind to it?"
Legolas chose to ignore Glorfindel's question and turned his attention back to Anita. "You will hide in the caves with the woman and children. You do not belong amongst the soldiers."
"I will do no such thing!" Her reply was instant, it wouldn't have mattered who ordered her to hide away with the weak and helpless, her response would have been the exact same thing. The two stared at each other hard for a moment, tense silence building between them as their eyes remained locked. There was something in Legolas' expression that she wasn't familiar with, something that she couldn't read that was peeking out from behind his anger. Never taking his eyes off her, Legolas addressed Glorfindel in their native tongue again before angrily stomping off in the direction they had come from. Ani followed him with her dark eyes, her hand massaging the spot on her arm where his fingers had dug into her.
"What crawled up his ass?" The elleth desperately hoped that the sneer in her voice covered the hurt and embarrassment that overwhelmed her at the way the prince had treated her. She didn't know who that was, but it certainly wasn't the same man she had snuck out of her home for and professed her love. Glorfindel's eyes had remained steadfastly staring at a spot on the rocky wall surrounding them, ingesting what the prince had muttered before leaving them alone.
"How often have you thought about your death?" The bizarre nature of the question caused Anita's head to jerk around and stare at her mentor with large round eyes, her mind buzzing trying to understand where this line of questioning was going.
"Every day." Ani hadn't needed to think about that answer for longer than it took to blink. Despite the changes she had undergone since coming to Middle Earth which would return her to full elven form, therefore granting her thousands of years of life; her life as a human had been like a long game of beat the clock, every second counting down to her inevitable expiration date…a fact she had been morbidly aware of. It took more than seven years to erase the fear of mortality.
Glo turned his wise eyes to meet hers. "I can promise you that up until this very night, the thought had never once crossed Legolas' mind." The girl opened her mouth to ask her teacher what he was talking about, but before she uttered a sound he continued, "There are ten thousand uruk-hai from Isengard coming here, and there are less than five hundred men from Rohan here to defend the keep."
Like a light bulb had instantly come on, Ani understood all too quickly. The expression that she hadn't recognized on Legolas face was the same emotion slowly clawing up her spine; cold hard fear. "We brought a battalion of two hundred with us…" Her voice trailed off as she did some very easy and very terrifying math. "Where the fuck is Rohan's army?!"
Glo didn't even flinch at the shrill tone her voice had, he far too calmly replied, " Dismissed by their king in a fit of madness."
Anita went cold all over. Suddenly it wasn't too hard to understand Legolas' fury at seeing her here, fear of death wasn't something that too many Elves had to cope with much less learn how to express. The sounds of the army moving around, the sounds of the night, the sound of her own breathing faded out to absolute silence as one thought pushed its way to the forethought of her consciousness. I am going to die tonight. The reality of the situation sank in hard, consuming all of her senses. For the second time that day her mind went to a place far removed from reality; and she was assaulted with images of her and Legolas' life together. Getting married in a beautiful, if not a bit overdramatic, traditional Elven ceremony, raising a couple of children together, the thousands of years they would spend happily at each other's side…and she wiped them from existence never to be thought of again. Balling her hands into fists, she blinked back the tears that had formed in her eyes unbidden, and stubbornly set her jaw.
"I always figured I would die doing something stupid, may as well die doing something right in my life." And within the course of a few seconds, she went from being paralyzed by fear of it ,to owning it, to resolving to it. Just because the cost of her convictions may demand payment by way of her life didn't mean the stark line between right and wrong blurred any. She was going to die tonight, and she was going to take as many of those orc fuckers with her as she could.
"Strategically the humans are in a good spot, they have the defensive high ground…" Glorfindel's voice faded out as he looked around at the mighty mountain fortress. Ani shook her head, dismissing her mentor's attempt to instill her with hope, it would do her no good in the hours to come to rely on hope. The only thing she had to rely on was the blade in her hand, the years of training she had undergone, and the soldiers that stood with her. All else was nonsense.
"Just show me where to stand, I'll figure out the rest." Lightly she patted the short sword at her side which had been given to her by Haldir. Glo cocked an eyebrow as he stared at her, and Anita stared back with what she hoped was a steely gaze. She knew Glorfindel had to be thinking about the choices he had made that led them here, no doubt second guessing listening to her strange logic instead of taking her back to her family. Her family…No! She wasn't going to let herself stray into that line of thinking, and pushed thoughts of her family in Rivendell to the far back of her mind locking them up tight for the remainder of the night.
Anita and Glorfindel walked back to join the rest of the elves and saw Aragorn and Haldir conferring with each other and an older man with dusty blonde hair and trimmed beard to match, dressed in extravagantly decorated armor. At their return, Aragorn turned a disappointed look upon the girl. "You should not have come here."
"I have as much right to die for what I believe in as you do." She snapped back, understanding more and more that everyone's disapproval of her being there stemmed solely from the fact that she was female. Her snarky comment earned her a once over from the man she didn't know, and after he had studied he thoroughly it didn't appear that he knew what to make of her.
"Our archers will stand on the Deeping Wall and loose wave after wave of arrows upon the approaching hordes of Uruks,"Haldir continued the conversation the trio had been having before Ani and Glorfindel had shown up and interrupted by way of their presence. "We will have a smaller contingency posted below in the yard to volley arrows as needed. If the King's men will guard the causeway and door I believe we will hold off the attack. "
Ani turned her head just slightly to address her mentor who stood behind her in a hushed voice, "Without a bow I guess that means we stand in the yard." Neither of the Rivendell elves had a selected a bow as part of their arsenal; Ani for lack of skill, Glorfindel because he would not want to be separated from his student.
The man that Anita figured must be the King of Rohan turned his inquiring gaze back on the girl and her teacher, "No bows? I thought all Elves were archers?"
Ani didn't turn to look at the man but kept her eyes focused on Glo, she did however point her thumb at the King over her shoulder, "That felt racist." The older elf didn't respond but his mouth twitched and there was a clear glint of amusement in his eye that most people that didn't know him so well would have easily missed.
"I believe the yard is the best position for you to assume, "Aragorn addressed the young elleth and her teacher, choosing to ignore the exchange between her and the King. "If any orcs manage to break our defenses and get over the wall we will need you there." The ranger had said that as diplomatically as possible but Ani had read between the lines of what he was saying. It's not on the front line. She tried very hard not to be irritated by the fact that she was being shoved to the back of the battlefield, but try as she might there was a familiar sense of agitation burning her brain. Ani opened her mouth to demand being placed on the wall like most of the Lorien elves would be but a firm hand on her back shoved her away from the group.
"Then we will take our positions." Glorfindel kept pressure on her back even as he spoke to the three other men in the group, pushing her to keep moving. They walked together, his guiding hand remaining on her back until they were a safe distance away for him to speak to her in a low tone. "There will be plenty of blood to spill tonight, do not be so eager."
Glumly, the girl nodded her head. All around the two elves there was a flurry of movement as commands were shouted and men took their new positions to defend. The few men that Rohan had were moved to the Inner Keep, there they could defend the walkway leading to the door and the doors themselves. It would also give them a safe vantage point to watch over the Deeping Wall if additional help was required there. The battalion of Elves were stationed along the wall just as Haldir had volunteered them to be, a much smaller contingent taking position in the yard directly behind the wall in case, heaven forbid, the invading army managed to breach the outer defenses.
Walking together silently, Anita's eyes scanned back and forth across the Keep, trying to commit as much of the fortresses layout to memory as she could in such a limited span of time. There were many walkways, and doors, and tunnels…it would be very easy to get turned around and walk in circles. There were however only two ways to access the yard that Glo had committed themselves to; one way from the Keep itself, a large staircase led down into the confined dirt area, the top of the stairs was closed off by a massive door. The second way to get into the yard was from the Deeping Wall itself, there were two separate smaller stairways that connected the wall to the yard below it, offering easy access for soldiers who were watching the Outer Keep. It was the along the Deeping Wall that Glorfindel and Anita walked silently, warily looking out over the wall at the dark landscape below searching for the lights of the approaching army. The occasional low rumble of thunder paired with a quick flash of lightning offered the only way to see beyond the very Wall they were trying to defend.
The faces of the Elves they walked past were a far cry from the men they had seen when they entered the mountain fortress; instead of fear there was resolve, in place of panic there was calm, and if there was any tension or apprehension about the fight to come, it couldn't be seen on the faces of her Elven kin. The dark haired girl was so busy watching the expressions of the soldiers that swirled around her that she very clumsily walked right into a person. Startled she stepped back, mouth open to apologize, until she saw it was none other than Legolas. Her muscles stiffened with anxiety about his mood. Would this be the same prince that was so pissed at her earlier? No, it was plain to see on his face that there were no traces of his earlier tantrum.
Their eyes fastened on each other, silently trying to discern the other's mood as they stood perhaps six inches apart. As Anita looked up into his handsome face, it was hard to stay mad at him. Though he said nothing, there was a plea for forgiveness swimming in his blue eyes. Without a word, the elven prince reached over and took her left hand in his, his eyes moving to glance at the ring that was on her hand even as his thumb traced the outline of the silver band on her finger. Implicitly the girl understood through this action what had spurred his sour and explosive mood earlier…and it made her heart swell with love for the blonde warrior in front of her. Stepping forward to close the distance between them, she took her hand out of Legolas' grasp to wrap her arms around him in a hug which he wholeheartedly returned. Anita placed her head against his chest as her hands came to rest on Legolas' shoulder blades, Legolas in turn pressed his cheek to the top of her head. They held each other for a moment, not caring who witnessed the intimate moment between them.
"My one hope," Legolas finally spoke, his voice hoarse with the effort of keeping it steady, "My only hope, the very force compelling me to survive this night was the knowledge that I would see you again if I lived." Anita didn't respond except to heave a great sigh. In her heart she wished they could return to that summer seven years ago when everything had been about their whirlwind and rebellious romance. There hadn't been any evil dark lord, there hadn't been any army hell bent on their destruction, and most of all….there hadn't been any last goodbyes. For this it what it truly was, Legolas trying to find a way to say goodbye. There was a stinging sensation in Anita's eyes and throat as tears burned to be let free when she understood that Legolas, her lover and friend, was terrified to die tonight. "I wish…"
Legolas had started to express his final regret, but Anita removed one hand from their hug to place it gently over his mouth and stop him from continuing. "Tell me about it tomorrow." She said gently, giving him a small smile of reassurance. Ani didn't believe for even one second that any one of them was going to make it out of this alive, but unlike her male counterpart, the thought of dying didn't scare her. Legolas however was suddenly dealt a reality he didn't know how to handle, and Anita was determined to instill the elf with hope. Even if it was hope she herself didn't believe in. "We'll make it through this together, and in a couple of years the two of us will look back on this whole night and laugh about it, 'hey remember that time we faced overwhelming odds and kicked those orcs asses?'. It's a story we will tell our children, and they will tell their children. Someone will make a movie about it."
No sooner had she finished speaking than a voice from one of the lookout sentries hailed the sighting of the first of the approaching army's torches. Legolas' eyes flickered quickly in the direction the voice had come from, and that was the only acknowledgement he gave that he had heard the call. He crushed the smaller elleth to himself in a tight embrace.
"Glorfindel…" While he held her close, the prince spoke to the girl's mentor who had stood by soundlessly and watched the exchange between lovers.
"I will look over her." Glo answered Legolas' unexpressed request. The prince released his hold on her and stepped back, and Anita could see a new determined set to his jaw and shoulders. She could only hope that her words had inspired this new determination in the man she loved. Wordlessly they parted ways, Anita with her mentor down the stairs to the yard and Legolas to take up his position as an archer on the wall. The entire exchange taking no more than a moment or two. There were perhaps fifty more Elves that were already stationed and waiting in the empty lot between the Keep and the Wall, Glorfindel and Anita moved to join them.
There was an unsettling quiet that overcame the whole fortress all at once as everyone found their positions. Tension in the air was so thick it was palpable. The only other sound besides the random shuffling of human feet was the more constant crack of thunder overhead. Beneath her feet Anita could feel the consistent vibrations of the approaching army as it shook the dirt and gravel. The girl couldn't imagine the sight that the men on the wall were seeing; an army of ten thousand bearing down on them with the single intent of death and destruction. A sharp clap of thunder overhead was followed by the sudden downpour of rain, the threat having lingered all evening finally coming to fruition. Glaring up at the sky with agitation Ani could only shake her head, "Really?!" She demanded of whatever deity was listening, not expecting an answer.
With trembling fingers, the girl nervously reached up to ensure her long dark tresses were firmly secured in the leather strap she had used to tie her hair back. Satisfied with the result, she then moved her bangs which had plastered themselves to her forehead with the rain, out of her eyes. They had gotten too long, her bangs had. When she got back to Rivendell she would have to use some small shears to cut them back down to the right size and shape. Then just as suddenly Anita reminded herself that she was never going back to Rivendell, she was never going to cut her hair again, she was never going to see her family again, her life was ending here tonight. She let out a humorless bark of laughter to think that her hair was the thing that bothered her the most about that thought.
The sound of her laugh drew Glorfindel's attention and he turned to look at his student. Anita jumped a little when she felt his strong finger trace along her jaw. There was a very tiny scar there, perhaps an inch long, almost invisible to the eye unless one knew what to look for. The scar had been put there by Glorfindel himself in a training bout, in fact the very first training bout that Anita and the older warrior ever had. It had taught her two very important lessons, the scar was the permanent reminder of those lessons that had come on the tip of Glo's sword. The first lesson was that no matter how much Anita thought she knew, no matter her skill mastery, there was always someone who knew more or was more skilled. The second important lesson that scar taught her, probably the more important lesson, was that arrogance could get her killed. Glorfindel had taught her hundreds of things in their time together, but no lesson would stick with her more than the one that had left a lifelong memento on her skin.
Glancing at him, Ani was struck by the look of tenderness on the older man's face as his finger lingered on the marred skin. Glo was nothing if not the epitome of Elven control, so it startled the girl to see such obvious emotions and feelings of caring that he held for her. She wondered if the scar brought back years of memories they had training together, or even if it brought about the memory of that first fateful sparring match that led them here; student and mentor. Friends. His hand dropped back to his side and grasped the hilt of his sword, his eyes however stayed on her face, the look of affection still plain to see.
"You think of your sword and your opponent's sword, and nothing else you understand me?" Those were the last words of advice she got before a great roar went up from the other side of the wall beyond where Ani could see, and the roar was joined by thousands of others until it became a cacophonous wave that rattled the girl's very core. Very clearly the girl could hear spears and shields being pounded like a great big war drum. There was a familiar twang of an arrow being loosed and then shouts from the wall. A collective breath was drawn in by everyone in the Keep…and without very much preamble at all it began.
War.
Anthem of Our Dying Day- Story of the Year