(Author : Jennzah)
Leila turned and looked at the shocked faces of the elves who were staring at her. "A book? You read of our account in some book?" Jairah asked quietly.
"Yes." Leila said. "Where i come from, the story of Frodo and the Ring is a old tale. One of my favorites, in fact. I have read it many times. I knew of you all when i arrived here... Gimli, the Dwarf, Gandalf, Aragorn, and you, Legolas. I knew of you all, except for Jairah. I had never read of her, which is why, when we were in Moria, i asked if she was Arwen. I know even of Bilbo and his adventures with Gandalf and the Dragon."
Legolas and Jairah sat silent, taking it in. Jairah went to speak, but then both of the elves turned their heads towards the western bank again. They both felt the impending presence of the Army of Saruman.
"They are getting close," Legolas whispered to Jairah in their Sylvan tongue. She looked back at him, fear in her eyes, and nodded. "I have felt it," she replied, taking his arm. "But i also feel that there is more to what Leila knows, that she is holding back."
Legolas nodded. "There is some turmoil in her heart, that i can feel. You must ask her again." Jairah nodded.
"They cannot attack us while we are on the river," she continued, now in the Common Tongue. "We can stay our fate as long as we remain on the river."
Leila looked at the elves, who were now scanning the western bank with their keen eyes, and closed her own eyes. She felt such guilt.
"Leila," she heard Jairah say. Leila opened her eyes, and saw Jairah's gazed fixed on her. It was that same gaze that she'd given her back in Lothlorien, when Leila had revealed that she had lied.
"Leila," Jairah said again. "I do not understand what you say about the book. But none of that matters now. I feel as though you are hiding something, something that you do not wish to speak for fear of your heart, of its ache. But you must, do you understand? You must. All our lives depend on you, at this very moment."
Leila looked at Jairah in astonishment. How did she know? She had left out the part about Boromir trying to take the Ring from Frodo. She thought it unimportant, actually, she was more focused on keeping him alive. She closed her eyes. The elves knew, or atleast Jairah did.
"What im going to say, you need not repeat to anyone else," Leila said finally. "It makes no difference to the attack, or the fate of Boromir. He will remain true to this company. But before the attack, while we are looking for Frodo, he will try to take the Ring from him. Frodo will protect himself accordingly."
Jairah's eyes had widened. She knew she was right to feel uneasy about the Man. On the Caradhras, he'd picked up the Ring when Frodo had fallen and it had left his neck. Aragorn had to remind him to give it back to Frodo, one hand on his sword. But if what Leila said was true, then she need not worry. Frodo and the Ring would be safe. She had no reason not to believe Leila, because of the accuracy that she'd predicted everything.
Legolas and Jairah exchanged another look. "We cannot tell the Company, she is right." Legolas said. "Only Aragorn knows of the Uruk-Hai, and if we were to tell him of Boromir's betrayal, however brief, it might complicate things later. We must stay the course of what Leila knows."
Jairah agreed with him. "No one must know. We will keep our tongues."
She turned to Leila. "When we go to look for Frodo, you must stay with me, and Legolas. You will be able to help us keep Boromir from perishing. I know that Boromir has taught you some skill with the sword," she said, reaching behind where Legolas was rowing the boat, and pulled out a sword. She held it up, looking at the blade before handing it to Leila. "This belonged to my father. It was one of three swords that he carried at various times. I carry the most prized of all the swords, which my father had named Lumenn Jairah, which in the Common Tongue means "the light of Jairah." because i was precious to my father, and he would wield this sword to protect me over any odds. This one i give to you, however, is the one he held when he fell." Jairah closed her eyes as Leila looked at the sword. Legolas placed a hand on her shoulder, and Jairah opened her eyes and smiled. "It will serve you well if you let it."
Leila couldn't take her eyes off the silver blade, which was etched in the Elvish writing. "What of the third sword, Jairah?" she asked. She couldn't help it, she was curious. Jairah smiled sadly. "The third was laid to rest with my father, for it was named for my mother, who died many years ago, bringing me in to this world. I imagine he loved her greatly." She fell silent for a moment, looking at the boat that Aragorn was guiding to shore. They could stay on the river no more, as there were great falls ahead.
Jairah looked at Legolas quickly. "It is time." She said. Legolas followed Aragorn as the Company made for the shore. Jairah and Legolas could feel footsteps coming nearer to them.
As if on cue, Frodo vanished. Sam panicked and bade everyone to start looking for him. Leila watched in horror as Boromir left in search of firewood, she wanted to go with him but dared not. She trusted the elves judgment.
She followed the elves and Gimli as they began their search for Frodo. She could hear it in her head, the talk that Boromir and Frodo were probably having at this moment, and Boromir trying to take the Ring from Frodo. It wouldn't be long now, and she held fast to the blade now at her side.
Then she heard it. Footsteps, coming closer to them, the pounding of them coming faster than the beating of her heart. Jairah and Legolas stopped, looking off into the trees. For a moment, there was silence. Then a burst of Orcs came through the trees, screeching and bearing weapons. Gimli let out a yell and charged at them, wielding his axe and attacking. The elves started shooting as fast as they could.
Leila couldn't believe what she saw, and for a moment stood stock still untill Legolas yelled at her, "Leila!" An Orc was coming up behind her, and she quickly turned, pulled the sword, and sliced its arm off. It screamed in pain and spat at her, and she stabbed it through the chest. It fell and she pulled her blade out of it, ready for more. She looked over at Jairah, who'd had pulled her sword as well and was fighting with all her might. Orc blood was flying through the air, and there was a smudge of it on Jairah's cheek as she cut the head off of an Orc.
Suddenly, through the air came the call of a horn. "The Horn of Gondor!" cried Legolas. The Orcs were thinning, and Leila ran over to Jairah as she stabbed an Orc. "Jairah! Now! We must go now!"
Jairah nodded and called to Legolas. "To the west!". They all took off running towards the call of the horn.
Leila ran as fast as her legs would take her, though she was not as fast as the elves. She thought of Boromir, and the Uruk-Hai. "NO!" she screamed as she ran.
The elves had skidded to a stop at the top of the hill. They could see down where the Uruk-Hai were, and where Boromir was fighting off scores of Orcs, with Merry and Pippin watching in fear. Legolas pulled his bow out and aimed at one of the huge monsters, and shot it in the back of the head. It fell, and some of the others turned in anger.
"There are too many, " Legolas breathed. "I have never seen such things."
"We must go down there!" Leila said. "The one with the handprint on his face will be the one to kill Boromir!"
Jairah looked at Legolas. "We have enough arrows yet to kill most of them. Your aim is better than mine, here, take most of my arrows. Stay up here as long as you can, shoot them where they cannot see you. Leila, you and Gimli, come with me, we will go down and fight as many as we can. We will provide them a distraction from Boromir. "
Legolas looked at Jairah in fear, and touched her face gently. "Go." he said. Jairah smiled, then looked at Leila and Gimli. "Now!" she said.
They all jumped down the hill, and began their attack. Uruk-Hai began to fall left and right, thanks to the arrows of Legolas. Jairah pulled her bow out and crouched down and shot Orcs as they ran at her, but she had few arrows, and rose again and began to fight them with the sword.
Boromir did not see Leila fighting the Orcs, he was busy combating his own Orcs. But as Leila finished with one, she looked up and saw the huge presence of the Uruk-Hai with the hand print on his face looming beyond Boromir.
"NO!" she screamed, and took off running towards Boromir. He heard her cry.
"Leila! What are you doing here? Get out of here!" he yelled, fighting and killing an Orc.
Leila ignored him. She knew she must if she were to complete her task. She was running for the Uruk-Hai, who did not see her. She darted between the trees so he would not, so she could come up behind him. He was aiming an arrow at Boromir when she lunged and jumped on its back, knocking the arrow out of the bow.
It roared, an awful roar such as she'd never heard before, and grabbed at her. She held fast to its disgusting head, it clawed at her with its hands, cutting her arms that held him fast around the neck. She screamed in pain, but held on. She kicked it with her feet when she could, but she had dropped her sword. It would do no good now, anyways.
Boromir was trying to make his way to Leila, but Orcs kept getting in his way. Legolas had run out of arrows, and had jumped down the hill and was killing Orcs and the remaining Uruk-Hai as fast as he could.
The Uruk-Hai that Leila held on to flipped her over his shoulder and she landed on the ground, hard. Her arms were bleeding from his nails, and he stood over her, growling, dripping onto her. She moved backwards, but he put one of his heavy feet on her chest, and reached for his bow that had fallen.
Leila was pinned down, she couldn't move under the weight of the foot. She could do nothing but breathe heavily in fear as the huge thing pointed an arrow towards her. She closed her eyes. "I am going to die..." she thought. "I am going to die. But he will live."
Boromir was running as fast as he could towards the Uruk-Hai that had Leila pinned down. It was aiming an arrow at her, ready to shoot her where she lay under its foot. Pain flashed through his heart as he ran, screaming, and brought his sword down. He cut off the arm that held the bow, and the monster screamed. Boromir gave it no thought as he stabbed the monster through the chest, pulled out his sword again, then slashed its head off. The body fell on the ground, next to where Leila lay, frightened.
He pulled her up and into his arms, running away from the battle. The remaining troops were retreating, or being killed by the elves and Gimli.
Leila sighed as she was being carried. Boromir was safe, she was safe. Things were going to be alright. She closed her eyes. Then a thought came in her head.
"Merry! Pippin!" she screamed. She'd forgotten that they were to be taken captive, that was why the troops were receding. "Boromir!" she cried. "Stop!"
He stopped, and she wrenched herself out of his arms. "The hobbits..." she said. "We must go back."
"Leila, no! I cannot let you go back there, we cannot. It is too dangerous! We are safe here!"
She shook her head, and kissed him gently. "You are safe, which would be all that matters to me. But Merry and Pippin, they are not. Those beasts have taken them!"
Boromir held her closely, their foreheads touching. "We will find the rest of the Company and see how they fared. Then we will decide what to do."
Leila looked into his eyes, and then took his hand. They got up and ran back to where the battle had been.
All was quiet now, as they reached the site. They approached with some apprehension, and were startled by Gimli.
"You! Come, quickly!" he said, and turned and ran on his stout legs.
They followed him, down in to the valley a little where Aragorn and Legolas was crouched over Jairah, who was laying on the ground, breathing heavily. Legolas, was holding her hand and looking quite scared, and he kept shifting his eyes from Aragorn to Jairah.
"She was harmed," Gimli said, pointing to Jairah's midsection, where sure enough, a long gash had sliced through her dress and made a shallow cut on her white stomach.
"The cut is shallow," Boromir said. "She is an elf, she should be fine."
Aragorn shook his head. "She was cut by an Orc blade." He touched the elf's hair gently, she looked at him, and could not speak.
"I dont understand, why does that matter?" Boromir asked. Leila had taken hold of his arm.
"Orc blades hold poison for elves, as do their arrows." Aragorn said grimly. "The poison will take several days to take her, we must cure her before then."
Leila closed her eyes. She had changed the fate of Boromir, but now she'd endangered the life of Jairah. She had changed the course of the story. Could it be possible that the whole story could be changed now, that she did not know the outcome of every situation?
Jairah had tears in her eyes as she looked from Leila to Boromir, and smiled despite herself. "So we succeeded." she whispered. "And this, this will be fine also. Leila knows what to do."
Leila looked into the eyes of Legolas, who was looking at her, and her heart sank. For she did not know what to do.