(author : jennzah)
Sunset loomed on the horizon, its last warm rays spraying Jairah's face,
rousing her out of her deep
slumber. She'd dreamt of the hobbits, and the strange Elf Siendar.
She was troubled by the thought of him,
there was something suspicious about him. something she did not trust.
She shook herself internally, allowing herself time to wake up fully.
Legolas had allowed her to sleep for
many hours, and she cursed herself secretly for it. She had not intended
to fall asleep at all, but she had
become so very tired. She pushed the thoughts of the hobbits and the
strange elf out of her mind, she could
do nothing for them, but hope. Mordor was leagues away, and she had
to focus her thoughts here, on
Isengard.
She sat up straight, pulling away from Legolas as she did. He felt her
move and looked over at her, and
smiled. "maer aduial, melethril.." he whispered. She smiled back at
him as he leaned down to kiss her, just
a little small kiss. Then she stood up, pulling him up with her by
his hands, and brushed herself off.
She looked disgustedly at her dress, her hands. They were all dirty.
The dress in fact was torn in spots,
though she'd been able to makeshiftly fix the tear that had been put
in the dress when she'd been slashed by
the Orc blade. But even that had gaps in it, and her white Elf skin
was showing through.She reached up to
touch her hair, it was tangled and dirty. She sighed, and for a moment
let herself think of times before all this
mayhem. Her home in Mirkwood, their home. She missed it there, missed
the green woods and the peace.
She missed King Thranduil, who had become very much like her father.
She missed clean clothes, and
sleeping in her own bed with Legolas by her side. She missed whiling
away the days just walking in the
woods, or long hours encased, alone, in the arms of her lover.
it had been ever so long since they'd been
alone together, and....
She stopped thinking. She shook herself again. She had to keep focused,
she had to. If she didnt keep
focused on the matter at hand, she might never be alone with Legolas
again. Isengard could win, Mordor
could win. And she couldn't let that happen.
She released Legolas' hand and walked over to Gandalf, who was talking
with Aragorn. Legolas remained
behind, talking to Gimli.
"Gandalf," she said, as she walked up to him. "It is nearly sundown. What is our plan?"
"We will go through the gates," he said. "Whatever comes out at us,
we fight. We will seek out Saruman,
destroy him if need be."
Jairah looked past him where the tall Orthanc was looming over the Gates.
She shuddered at the sight of it,
and looked at Gandalf and Aragorn.
"Right then," she said. "I will be ready at sundown." She turned away
from them, and they continued talking.
She headed off away from the Gate, running quickly towards the west.
Leila was the only one who saw her
as she ran.
"Where is she going?" she wondered aloud, but nobody heard her.
Jairah knew where she was going, and she quickened her pace as she ran.
She had seen a small river
running through here, on their way from Rohan, and she was bound for
it.
She reached the banks and stopped. The water ran clear, untouched by
Orcs. She bent down and rested on
her knees before the slowly running water, and leaned over it. Her
reflection caught in the water, and she
closed her eyes, saddened by what she saw.
Her face was dirty, and despite her Elven nature, she looked tired.
Her hair was in disarray, and for the first
time, since she'd started out on this journey, her heart felt heavy
and weary, and she wanted to quit. She
hated the way she looked. But it was the price of being a warrior,
she reminded herself, even as she sighed.
It was the price she was willing to pay for her love.
She dipped her hands into the cool water, and washed them off, untill
her skin was clean, then splashed the
water on her face, again and again, untill she was certain her face
was clean. She knew that if battle was
coming, she would not stay clean for long, but she was still a girl,
she wasn't all warrior. She wanted to be
clean, in some sort of order. She stood up from the bank and reached
back, and released her hair from the
restraints it was in, and shook it out, furiously, untill the dirt
and had been shaken out, and she combed her
fingers through it till there were no tangles, and it fell down her
shoulders, and past the middle of her back.
She looked down into the water again, and was happier with what she
saw this time. The shadows of who
she was before this all started stared back at her, and she smiled,
in a bit of relief. Then she heard footsteps
behind her, and her hand went immedately went to the dagger she carried,
hidden on her side.
As the footsteps made their way closer to her, she turned in a flash
of long blonde hair and had the dagger at
the throat of the assailant behind her in a instant. But the eyes that
met hers were familiar, those crystal
blue orbs that she knew so well. The one she held captive was her very
own Legolas.
His eyes twinkled at her. "Quick, you are, with that dagger my father
gave you," he chuckled softly. He
moved his hand up and placed it over the hand that held the dagger
fast to his throat, and he closed his hand
over hers. "But you dont want to kill me..." he said softly.
Tears sprang into her eyes as he looked at her, and again she felt the
toil pull on her heart. She pulled her
hand away, and placed the dagger back at her side, and stood looking
at him. Neither moved for a moment,
and then he stepped up to her, and brushed a stray lock of her hair
away from her face. She cast her eyes
down, away from his piercing gaze, and felt ashamed once again for
the toil in her heart. She was here for
him, for the most part, and she had let herself be drawn away from
it. Tears slipped down her nose and onto
her love's hand as he stroked her cheek gently.
"Why do you cry, Jairah?" he asked, though he knew the pain inside of
her. She looked up at him, and she
smiled through the tears, but did not speak, just closed her eyes,
and tried to collect herself. She had to be
strong, she told herself.
no. his voice came into her head, winding its way between her ears.
you dont have to be strong. and you
dont have to hide from me, my love. i know the pain inside of you.
it is inside of me as well. She looked up
at him again, and he was peering at her, his eyes kind, and full of
love.
It was enough to make her burst into tears. He pulled her into his arms,
and they embraced fiercely. "I
know..." he whispered into her ear, as she cried. "I know you are tired.
I know. It is alright.." he kissed the
top of her head as she cowered in his arms, her body wracked with sobs.
She pulled a little aways from him, his arms moving down to hold her
around the small of her back. "No,
Legolas," she hiccuped. "It is not alright. My heart... it wants to
give up." Her pretty eyes were clouded with
tears as she looked at him.
He smiled a little and bent his forehead to hers. of course it does.
he said to her in her head again. it has
been a long, and perilous journey, and hard on the hearts of all who
took it. every one of the Company has
thought, at one time or another, of giving up.
Jairah shook her head, though her forehead was still pressed to Legolas'.
"Mine has not. Not untill this very
day has it wanted to. Not untill today have i felt the full strain
of this whole ordeal on my heart. Now, when
the battle looms so close, does my heart want to give in to its selfish
desire to give up." She closed her
eyes, in shame.
you do not have to be strong, Jairah. his voice repeated. you have been
strong enough for so long. right now
you do not have to be strong. tell me what is troubling you. his hands
were on her ears as he spoke to her,
softly touching her hair. her arms were on his shoulders, and words
failed her as she fought to keep from
crying again.
i miss our home, she said to him, using her mind for the first time.
i thought of it, the peace we had before
all of this. i miss the time we used to spend together, alone, whether
it be walking, in the wood, or it be in
our room. i miss it, all of it. i am tired of fighting, tired of running.
i saw my reflection in the water, and i hated
it. i saw the warrior that i have become, and i hated what i saw. i
am afraid that i am no longer the elf i used
to be. No longer Jairah, the one you fell in love with, long ago, but
Jairah, the fighter, the one who kills. Not
the lover, just the fighter. i feel hard on the inside, Legolas, and
i do not like it. I am afraid i will never be the
same.
she surprised even herself as the words were spoken in their minds.
she was unaware of these fears she had
inside. she shuddered again, and he rubbed her arms.
"thats where you are wrong, my love," he whispered into her ear, as
he kissed her cheek again. "That Jairah
you will always be, the lover. Always." She looked up at him, her eyes
wide, wet with tears. he smiled at
her. "Yes," he said, as if she didnt believe him. "Because thats the
part of you that belongs to me, and that
part of you that i refuse to let go. so you see, you will always be
that Jairah, no matter how long you fight.
The warrior you are now, but the lover you always have been, and will
be forever."
Jairah didn't believe her ears. She had not heard him speak this way
to her in a long time, not since before
they'd come on this journey. There had been no time, so few moments.
Her eyes teared up again, and she
pressed herself to him once again, and he hugged her tightly.
do you remember, Jairah, what we promised to eachother, so long ago?
his voice rang through her brain. that
night, in midsummer, when i asked you to be mine? what we swore over
our own blood?
her mind flashed back to that night, the woods, the stars. it had been
over half a century ago, that night, she
supposed. she had worn white, she recalled, and he had worn blue. his
hair shining in the moonlight as they
walked. she remembered feeling suspicious and excited, something had
been looming in the air. and then
he'd asked her, and it felt as though several fireworks had gone off
in her heart. but it had been her idea, the
blood, the promise. with her fathers silver dagger, she'd taken their
hands and cut them open, and they'd
grasped their palms together, letting their blood mix, and sworn to
bind themselves to the other, to make the
other happy, and to never let them lose heart. and above all, love
eachother against all odds.
yes. he said again. and i will not let you lose heart, nor give up.
because i love you, Jairah. the blood bound
us together, we have been wed since that night, many years ago.
Jairah nodded, she knew. Thats why there had been no talk of a ceremony
for them, ever. They didnt need
one. And now with this recollection, and realization, she felt her
heart grow light again. She drew away from
him, and put a hand on his face.
"Your love makes me strong," she said. " And my love for you fuels me.
I would fight for that. It is what i have
been fighting for, through all of this. so that our love could go on."
Her tears had stopped now, and she
leaned in and kissed him, on the lips, gently, and for a long moment.
Then she broke away, and went to pick up her quiver from the side of
the river. "We have faced nearly
everything on this trip, even the possiblity of my death, and being
seperated. We can endure this, I can
endure it. And we will come out victorious," she said, as she slung
the quiver onto her back. She looked up
at the sky, and the sun was close to being all the way down, the night
starting to prick through.
Quickly she started to pull her hair up and out of her face, securing
the front of it behind her head, twisting it
every which way, untill she had it back. Legolas watched her admiringly.
When she was finished, she picked
up her bow from the ground next to her and took his hand. "The sun
has nearly set. We will be crossing the
gates very soon. Come!"
She grasped his hand and they took off running back towards the gates
of Isengard. Fast they ran, for the
sun was trying to beat them, her dying embers fading as they ran. Before
they reached the Company,
however, Legolas stopped her, and took both her hands in his, a serious
look on his face.
"What is it?" Jairah asked, looking to the gates, seeing their friends
readying themselves for the possiblity of
battle.
"I want you to be careful, Jairah." Legolas said, looking at her with
his words. "I do not think i could bear it if
something happened to you, in fact i know i could not. The last time,
when i thought i lost you for those few
moments, i thought i would go mad. Please, use caution. Do not get
hurt. I know you are capable, but
please. Just be careful." He looked at her pleadingly.
She smiled, and leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Of course."
she said. "But the same to you.
Now, lets go!" They ran again untill they were next to Gandalf and
Aragorn, who were staring grimly at the
gate. They did not seem surprised to see the elves just appear at their
sides.
"It is time," Gandalf announced, and all gathered around the gates door.
Boromir and Leila stood next to
eachother, with Pippin, Merry, and Gimli lined up next to them.
"We will go through the gates," Gandalf said. "Do not rule out the possiblity
of Orcs beyond the wall, hold
fast to your weapons. Saruman could very well send something we are
not expecting. I will make my way to
the Orthanc. If battle ensues, do not worry about me. My only target
is Saruman, and the Orthanc. Fight as
many as you can. If i do not return after the battle is over, return
to Fangorn, to Treebeard. I will meet you
there!"
Leila exchanged a scared look with the hobbits, then looked at Boromir,
who gave her an encouraging look
and kissed the top of her head. She fingered the blade at her side,
and felt a bit comforted by it. Then she
watched as Gandalf started towards the door of the Gate, and pushed
at it with his staff. "By the Order of
Gandalf, wielder of the Ancient Fire, i command you to open!" he bellowed,
and the gates opened, creaking
and hissing as they did.
Nothing lay beyond the gates, as far as they could tell. Gandalf stepped
over the threshold, and beckoned for
the rest to follow. They did, warily, not trusting the ground they
walked on. It was black, and even more evil
-looking now that the moon shined down on them, illuminating the holes
in the ground, the demise.
They had gone about fifty feet from the gates when an arrow sailed past
Jairah's ear and sunk itself into the
ground. She pulled her bow immedately, and aimed an arrow at the direction
it had come from, when another
sailed past her from the opposite direction. Legolas pulled his bow
out as well, and they stood, side by side,
an arrow aimed in either direction, and when Jairah saw something move,
she shot and hit it in the face. The
orc fell screeching out of a battlement, down into one of the deep
trenches that was dug in the ground.
Legolas let his arrow go as well, another one fell out of a window
and into the ground.
It was silent for a moment, but the elves heard the stomping of feet
coming. They loaded their bows again,
and everyone pulled out their weapons, for they trusted the elves judgement.
And then they came, a score of
Orcs, screaming and barreling towards the Company, coming out of the
holes in the ground and from all
sides.
Gandalf ran at them, his sword drawn, and started fighting them off,
making his way towards the tall black
tower in the center of Isengard. The Company surged forth, beginning
to follow Gandalf's lead. The only ones
who remained behind were the elves, who were shooting at all the Orc
archers hidden within the walls of
Isengard. One by one they shot them down. Jairah shot her last one,
and as it fell out of the wall, she pulled
her sword and jumped in to the fight, watching as Gandalf disappeared
into the tower. She barely had time to
utter a prayer for him, as an Orc came and tried to swipe at her with
his curved sword.
Legolas kept shooting arrows at the ones in the mix, felling as many
as he could. His bow was faster, better
than Jairah's. It had been given to him in Lothlorien and had been
strung with Jairah's hair, so it might serve
him better. She'd left her quiver behind, dropping it from her back
so he could have the arrows, as she'd run
into the battle. He could see her blonde head, in between the ugliness
of the Orcs, and hoped she'd heed his
word.
Leila, despite the fact that they were fighting, felt a thrill go through
her heart. Everytime she killed one of the
Orcs, she felt the thrill surge through her whole body. She looked
over and saw Boromir decapitate one of
the foul creatures, and she smiled. But her smile faded from her face
as she felt a sharp CRUNCH on her
shoulder, and she screamed in pain. One of the Orcs had jumped on her
back and bitten her shoulder. She
yelled and turned about wildly, throwing him off of her, and she leaned
forward and stabbed him several
times.
"Leila!" Boromir yelled, as he'd seen it happen. He fought his way through
the Orcs untill he got to her. "Are
you alright?" he asked frantically. He touched the bite, it was not
too deep, but vicious looking nonetheless.
Leila nodded, though she winced in pain. "I will be alright." she smiled
at him despite the pain. "Come! Lets
kill these things!"
And so the Company fought, their battle raged in Isengard, untill there
were no more Orcs left to be slain.
Boromir went over to Leila and picked her up and took her over the
wall, and inspected the bite that she'd
sustained. Aragorn located the hobbits, then looked over to Legolas,
who was surveying the black land for
Jairah, who nobody could seem to find.
"Jairah!" he called, panic running through his heart. He'd told her
to be careful, and now she was nowhere to
be found. "meleth!, can heltha enni!" (love, call to me). He started
running through the orc corpses nimbly,
searching for her. he looked between the bodies, but there was no sign
of her.
then he heard her, in his mind. "thar si, legolas.." he looked to right,
and there she was, sitting between two
Orc corpses, that she'd obviously slain. He hurried to her, afraid
she was hurt. She had her head between
her knees, and was crying, tears running in rivulets through her blood-stained
face. She was covered in the
Orc blood, and as he reached her, he touched her head. "Are you hurt?"
he asked urgently.
she shook her head, and looked up at him. She'd cast her sword aside,
and just was hugging herself on the
ground. She'd had enough, whatever strength she'd had before, it had
left her. He could feel her thoughts in
her mind again, the inner battle, wondering if she was ever going to
be able to be a lover again.
Aragorn came up to them. "We must go!" he said. "Gandalf will come to
us when he is through with
Saruman. We cannot help him." he looked down at the crying elf, and
compassion flooded his face. "Come,
we must go!" he turned and pulled up the hobbits and started to run
towards Fangorn.
Legolas knelt next to Jairah. "Come, love. We must go!" She looked at
him blankly, tears running down her
face, and his heart strained him. He grasped her by her small shoulders
and lifted her into his arms, and
took off running after Boromir and Leila, who were following the hobbits
and Aragorn.