Caburnat seated himself on the chair that someone had brought along for him and watched as Savina lead the prisoners onto the open part of floor before him.
They stood side by side, their weapons in their sheaths where they belonged and their hands folded together before them.
A flash of brilliant red caught the Dark Lord's eye and he noticed the Dungeon Master and his red-haired son standing a ways away against the wall. He shrugged and returned his attention to Savina and the dark-haired servant he had assigned to attend her.
Savina approached him, bowed, then straightened and turned to face the prisoners, "one of you may have the chance to make it out of here alive and unharmed."
The Dark Lord snickered, intending to make them fight each other to the death, then throw anyone who remained alive into the heart of Mount Doom. He burst out laughing in his horrible, high-pitched laugh, then dissolved into painful sounding, hacking coughing that seemed to rip through his wasted body.
Savina cleared her throat and continued, "you will fight each other, whoever remains alive will be set free."
No one moved, there was no sound except for the sound of the Dark Lord's labored breathing; even the volcano was silent for a moment.
There was heavy silence for a moment, then Caburnat, in his impatience, spoke, "if they aren't going to fight throw them in the volcano right now."
Savina's heart leapt into her throat, "no! I have a better idea," She walked out to the edge of the chasm and looked around at the soldier lining the walls, "are there any brave enough to challenge our warriors of good?"
A roar arose from the walls and about a hundred orcs, zombies, and humans rushed foreword, swords drawn.
Savina glanced at Aragorn, their eyes met briefly, she hoped he knew she was trying to stall and find a way to get them all the hell out of there. She yelled to Aragorn, "do you except this challenge?"
Instead of answering, Aragorn drew his sword and the seven others drew their swords and formed a circle, back to back as the enemy closed over them.
It was amazing the skill that came from necessity. After only a few minutes of this new game, a hundred minions of darkness lay dead around the circle.
Savina strode forward, "stop!" The remaining orcs and zombies retreated backward and Savina stepped over the corpses, noticing Ian, the zombie who had found her outside the Dark Tower, standing against the wall, watching with his arms across his chest. She drew her sword and approached Frodo, "give me the ring."
The Dark Lord, his face slicked with sweat and fever and pale with excitement, sucked in his breath and hissed, "yes…bring me the ring, daughter."
Frodo didn't move, even when she stuck the end of her sword in his face, he didn't even blink.
Savina had to commend the little guy's bravery. She leaned forward and whispered, "you must trust me now. I would not have Sauron triumph anymore than you would."
He hesitated, then pulled the ring, which was attached to a silver chain, out of his pocket and held it up.
Again, dead silence.
Looking into Frodo' blue eyes and trying to assure him that her intentions were good, she took it from him and held it up.
Sauron, in the MoonElf's body, leaned forward in his chair, "bring it to me daughter!"
She was about to hurl it into the heart of Mount Doom, where it could be destroyed, but something stopped her arm. What was so wrong with power? Who really knew what good and evil were anyway?
Her eyes fell on the man that had once been her father. Shriveled, helpless, dying. But powerful beyond anything she could ever hope to believe. Together they would rule. She would be the Master of all things.
Something in her knew it wouldn't be at all that pleasant. Sauron would take her body and throw her soul to the side, and use her body to rule for all time. But she chose to ignore this fact.
But yet, her eyes turned back to the chasm, only a few feet away from her, all of Middle-Earth depended upon her. She couldn't just…
She had waited too long.
With a cry, Olivia drew a dagger from inside her shirt and rushed from her place against the wall toward Savina.
Savina saw her coming and stepped back involuntarily, toward the edge.
The two girls collided and wrestled.
Olivia twisted her fingers through the chain that held the ring and tried to yank it from Savina's grasp, at the same time bringing the dagger perilously close to her face.
Savina knocked her hands away and pushed her back with her sword arm, trying not to impale her on Raliayatau, which was still in her right hand.
Olivia stumbled backward, then teetered on the edge, slipped, and lost her footing. She crumpled and fell backward into the flames.
"No!" Savina dropped her sword, sending it clattering across the floor, and lunged forward, grabbing Olivia by her hand and falling to her knees trying to hold the girl's weight. She hadn't thought to drop the ring and now it was clasped between the two girls' hands. Savina thought she was going to lose her footing and send them both to their deaths when she felt strong arms around her waist and realized someone was pulling her, and Olivia, back to safety.
Then the Dark Lord, recovering from his shock, rose from his seat and cast a magic spell whose words cracked like lightening through the air and hit Aragorn in his back. It wasn't a strong spell, due to the Dark Lord's decreasing energy, but it was enough to stun him. "Forget the girl, daughter! Bring me the ring!" He shrieked.
Savina gritted her teeth and tried to fight her way back from the edge, but she was being slowly pulled forward.
Olivia remained quite calm, she wasn't struggling or crying, she merely looked up at Savina and said quietly, "I'll take it."
"What?" Savina said through clenched teeth and tugged at the girl's arm.
Olivia's dark eyes fell on their clasped hands, where the ring was, "I'll take the ring." When she saw the look on Savina's face, she continued, "let go, Savina, let go of all of it. I have nothing to return to." With that, she began wiggling her hand out of Savina's.
Tears rising in Savina's eyes, she fought to maintain her grip, "I can't drop you!"
Both their hands were slick with sweat. Savina felt the girl's hand close over the ring, then slide out of Savina's grip.
"No!" Savina tried to grab her again, but all she saw was Olivia's dark hair and her face, calm and peaceful, as she disappeared into the sea of fire below them. Savina collapsed for a moment, sobbing, then crawled back from the ledge and rose to her feet.
The Dark Lord was staring at her, "where is the ring?"
Savina spotted her sword lying at his feet and started forward, keeping her hand closed into a fist, "I have it, the chain broke when the girl fell, but I have it."
Caburnat's face relaxed and he sat back down, relieved, "good, good, bring it here."
From her right, Legolas, who was supporting a recovering Aragorn, gave a cry.
She ignored him and made her way to her father. She stooped low, in the pretense of bowing and retrieved her sword. When she straightened up, she raised her sword and got one look at his fading smile before the plunged the sword straight down into his chest.
Her father writhed beneath her sword, screaming, then he gave a ragged gasp and died, slumped over her sword.
No one moved for a long time.
Savina pulled her sword out and wiped it off of the cloak of one of the dead zombies. She glanced back at her father's body and gasped.
Greenish smoke was swirling from it, collecting above it and swirling in a spiral above his head. Then it moved slowly, almost hesitantly, toward her.
Her mouth was hanging partially open. Before she knew what was happening, the greenish vapor was flowing into her mouth and her body was going numb.
The Dark Lord was going to have her body after all.
Choking and trying to keep control of herself, she stumbled forward and fell to her knees, her hands grasping at nothing. Then her right hand closed over something.
Through the chaos in her mind, she glanced down and saw Gimli's comb held tightly in her hand…where had it come from?
Memories of what had happened in the last few weeks poured through her and through the green haze she saw Legolas, Aragorn, Gimli, and the others watching her, their eyes filled with tears.
They loved her. And she loved them.
Strength surged though her, and her mind cleared…slightly.
She noticed her father's sword and realized that it had fulfilled it's name, "Evil will fall before the hand of the daughter." She wondered if her father had known somehow that this was going to happen or if it was just one of those coincidences that ended up saving the world.
Then everything went black.