Savina looked down at Raliayatau, shining in the night, and sighed, wondering why Aragorn had stopped them, shouldn't they be walking away from the Goblin voices? Why were they still standing in the middle of the path? She noticed a tall boulder a few feet off the path and wondered if anyone would mind if she leaned against it for a moment…she was so tired she thought she might collapse.
Suddenly a queer whistling noise filled the air.
Aragorn drew his sword, "Orcs!"
Legolas shoved Savina hard, sending her flying into the boulder, and stood in front of her, his bow ready.
When the shoulder of Savina's sword-arm slammed into the boulder, she dropped her sword and bit her tongue to keep from crying out. The taste of blood filled her mouth. She bent down and retrieved Raliayatau from the ground and spoke to Legolas in Elvish, "please, let me fight with you."
Legolas ignored her, sending an arrow flying into the woods.
Aragorn looked over his shoulder for a moment, then answered her in Elvish, "don't move from that spot, no matter what happens, don't move unless I tell you to."
An Orc emerged from the darkness, it's blackened, grotesque face contorted in fury as it dove toward Aragorn, screeching in it's unholy language.
With a broad stroke of his sword, Aragorn lopped it's head off and turned to Legolas, "we're lucky, I think there's only ten or so."
Legolas let an arrow fly into the darkness, "maybe nine or so."
There was silence for a moment, then eight Orcs rushed out of the darkness all at once.
Orcs are ferocious fighters and brave, and usually very skilled, but these Orcs were no match for the experienced fighters before them. In a matter of moments all eight Orcs lay dead, some with arrows sticking out of their heads, some with no heads at all.
There was silence.
Aragorn peered into the darkness, wondering if that was the only assault or just the first one.
What he heard next answered his question.
"Glee-uh Com Bartineer!"
Aragorn didn't speak Goblin, but he had been in enough battles to know that that meant something along the lines of "attack!" He turned to Legolas, Gimli and Tas, who was standing next to Legolas, staring down at the dead Orcs with interest, "the Goblins are attacking!"
Savina bit her lip in frustration, "Aragorn, let me fight!"
He didn't have time to answer, eleven Goblins rushed into the clearing.
Aragorn was an excellent fighter, as were Legolas and Gimli, but they could all see that these Goblins had had some special training. They were far more skilled than any Goblins any of the companions had ever fought.
Legolas noticed that they seemed to be trying to make their way around to get to Savina, "don't separate!" he shouted, but there was already a Goblin between him and Aragorn and Legolas himself was nearly surrounded on three sides.
Aragorn stayed calm, systematically trying to find the Goblins' weak points while holding them at bay. He, too, noticed that the companions were being driven apart, but there wasn't much he could do. He saw one of them make its way toward Savina and cried out a warning while simultaneously decapitating one of them.
Tas danced away from a Goblin, slashing at it's face with his small dagger.
Savina saw the Goblin coming. She could see it's round, dark face leering at her as it stepped over the Orcs' bodies toward her. She shrank back against the boulder, knowing that if Aragorn was having trouble with these Goblins, she stood no chance against them.
The Goblin began speaking in Common, "come with me peacefully and your companions will not be harmed."
Savina stared at it, surprised, "why would I go with you?"
The Goblin laughed, "I'm not the one who wants you, my Master requires you." It stepped closer, holding out its hand, "come with me now and your friends will go unmolested."
Suddenly she had an idea; slowly, she lowered her sword, "my friends will not be hurt?"
"Of course not."
Filthy liar, Savina thought, then she stepped forward, "I will go with you."
"No!" Legolas furiously stabbed at a Goblin, "don't touch her!"
Aragorn stabbed a Goblin in its abdomen and kicked it to the ground, "don't go with him!"
"I have to," Savina said loudly, "so that you will go unharmed," she turned to the Goblin, "tell your men to stop and I will go with you."
The Goblin smiled a horrible, triumphant smile and spoke a word in Goblin.
Immediately the Goblins stood still.
Silence.
The Goblin held out his hand, "now you will come with me."
Savina stepped closer to it, "yes…I will follow you…" then she raised her sword and swung it as hard as she could, aiming for the Goblin's neck, "I will follow you to hell!"
The Goblin didn't have time to react, in a matter of seconds its head was gone and it's body, spurting blood, slumped to the ground.
There was dead silence for a moment, then another Goblin leaped toward Aragorn, prompting the others to attack.
Leaderless, the Goblins were weaker, but still worthy adversaries.
Aragorn turned to glance at her for a moment, "stay back!"
Angrily, Savina crossed her arms and slumped back against the boulder, hadn't she proved herself yet? She watched as one by one the Goblins were killed until there were only four left standing. Aragorn was battling one, Gimli and Tas were fighting one of them together, and Legolas was fighting one…Savina straightened up, the last Goblin was sneaking up behind Legolas, drawing a dagger from inside his boot.
As the Goblin raised the dagger and sprang toward Legolas' turned back, Savina pushed herself away from the rock and dove in between them, knocking the dagger out of the Goblin's hand.
She raised her sword to deliver the deathblow, but it never fell.
The Goblin had drawn another dagger from inside his shirt.
An odd feeling crept over her, other than the searing pain in her stomach, a feeling that these next few moments were her last. Her sword fell from her fingers and she collapsed to her knees. She lowered her head and stared down at the dagger buried to the handle in her stomach.
She heard, though it sounded far and distant, Gimli roar in rage as he buried his axe a Goblin's stomach.
The Goblin in front of Savina realized he had disobeyed a direct order. He hadn't meant to kill her, it had been impulse. He gave Savina a look of fear and sorrow and raised the dagger to his own throat. He fell dead in front of Savina, blood spurting from the slice in his throat.
Savina was conscious of Legolas yelling something in Elvish and kneeling down next to her. She could see Aragorn cutting off a Goblin's head and rushing over to her before it's head even touched the ground. She saw Tasselhoff Burrfoot standing a few feet away with tears streaming down his face.
She felt so weak, and she was getting weaker by the second. She looked down at the pool of blood she was lying in, realizing it was all hers. She'd never realized how much blood there was in her body.
Her trembling hands rested on the handle of the dagger, she didn't want to die with a knife sticking out of her. She wrapped her hands around it and yanked it out. She figured that if she wasn't so numb she probably would have screamed in pain, but she couldn't feel anything.
Aragorn pushed her hands out of the way and was pressing his cloak against her stomach, trying to stop the blood, but everyone knew it would do no good.
She reached out and touched Aragorn's cheek, smearing a little bit of blood along his cheekbone, then she collapsed backward.
Legolas was brushing back her hair, touching her face, saying something…
Savina couldn't hear him…she could hardly see him. She squinted, but the darkness was closing in. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't see…
She gave one small, ragged gasp and died.
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NOTE FROM AUTHOR
Ok…I know that a lot of people are mad at me right now, but THIS ISN'T THE END believe it or not. This is just where I'm leaving this chapter because you know how I love cliffhangers. Check back soon and I PROMISE I will make it up to you! Don't give up on me!