Author's Notes: This is the last chapter to my Helm's Deep story as seen through Haldir's eyes (movie based, of course). In preparation to writing this I listened to my TTT soundtrack (particualry the songs, The Hornburg and Isenguard Unleashed) for insparation. I hope you enjoy this. Please read and review as always!
Requiem
And So it Begins, and So it Ends
by Celebrían
The rain went ever on and the air was chilled-a horrible combination for mortals. My Elves stood tall and proud, even through the elements awaiting whatever was to come. My eyes squinted through the rain, watching the men huddle closely next to each other. If only it would stop raining but I doubted that we'd be given that kind of advantage. Out of the corner of my eyes, movement from out across the plains caught my eye. I turned my head and strained my eyesight as hard as I could.
Thousands of lit torches burned with hate and destruction. Growling...snarling...howling buzzed in my ears like millions of wasps.
They had come.
Saruman's Army.
Ten thousand Uruk Hai armed and ready for war. When they moved the earth shook, the walls of Helm's Deep quaked, but it held and did not give way. They were coming into view now. I could see their hideous, mutilated faces. They stopped a short distance from the wall, lined up and ready to siege the fortress. My troop and I perfectly still and alert. There was an eerie silence between the Uruk Hai and us. A silence that was making the men of Rohan anxious and nervous.
"Daer ú-o chyn, Ú-danno i failad a thi; an úben tannatha le failad." Lord Aragorn said as he walked behind the Elven Army and I. Show them no mercy for you shall receive none. An unsettling thought but Aragorn was right. We needed to show no remorse and no sympathy. We needed to fight just as those did at Amon Amarth.
The rains continued to beat down on us, the men of Rohan shivering where they stood. It was either from the cold of the rain, fear, or both. "Hain 'war di na lanc a nu ranc!" The Prince of Mirkwood shouted to his kin. Telling us where the weak spots in the Uruk Hai's armor was. My eyesight shifted to the level below, they fell particularly on one elderly man with a bow. His arrow fitted to the string and he was breathing unsteadily. I knew that he was going to be the one to make the first advance. Slowly I shut my eyes and I could hear the arrow leave his bow and cut through the air. Just as I opened my eyes, I saw it plunge into one of the Uruk Hai in the front lines. The monster toppled over and fell face down in the mud. The King shouted to 'hold fire' before anyone else made an advance. Saruman's Army howled fiercely into the storm and they began to quickly move to the walls. Aragorn yelled 'hado i philinn!' And my troop along with Theoden's let out a barrage of arrows, striking down many Uruk Hai. They retaliated back, taking down some of our own. The war had begun.
It moved quickly and before we knew it they had ladders, ascending the wall. Arrows are good for long range attacks but swords and pikes are better for close range. As soon as the Uruk Hai set their feet onto the wall, we cut through them with our weapons. I tried to close my ears and eyes to those that were dying that I was fighting along side. I switched off my emotions, as I had tendencies of doing. It helped me concentrate and focus, which was needed at the present. One mistake could get me injured.
As the night moved on, the rain subsided, but the war raged on stronger than ever. I had lost count of how many Uruk Hai I had slaughtered. My troops where scattered about, I presumed all still alive, as I was. I had drove my sword through another and pushed him over the side. Looking down, I caught sight of an Uruk Hai running towards Helm's Deep with a lighted torch. I could hear Aragorn shouting for Legolas to kill it. Legolas was able to take two shots and landed both his arrows in the Uruk's neck, but it pressed on towards the wall until it was out of sight. For a moment silence and then a great explosion. It knocked me off my feet, a body of a dead Rohirrim man fell upon me and I quickly rolled him off. I staggered up to my feet grabbing a hold of the wall. Chunks of stone, men, and most likely Elves were thrown into the sky by the blast. Rock fell on top of many Uruk Hai below, crushing them to death, but it was not to our advantage really. The beasts came through the gaping hole in the wall, water pushed them back but they moved through it and started into the Hornburg. Aragorn and a host of my Elves warded them off as best as they could before they got any father inside.
But they had breeched the wall and poured inside, and even Aragorn, the Elves, and the Rohirrim could not keep them out. Still we did not give up, we did not lose hope, and we went on...Fighting for hours, until men began to folly and tire.
Between swings of my sword, I looked for my kin but saw few. The through all the noise and chaos, I heard a faint "Nan barad! Nan barad, Haldir, Nan Barad!" I turned to see Aragorn waving me in. "Retreat! Retreat!" He yelled. This was it. We could do more out here; we needed to get inside. I nodded to Aragorn and then turned around. "Nan Barad!" I yelled in Elvish "Retreat!" I shouted in the Common Language. Then I felt a sensation I had never felt before. My flesh began to tear and I felt the pain of a cold metal blade going into my back. I turned to see my attacker, an Uruk Hai, seething at me. My eyes widened and I began to fall. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as I dropped to my knees. For the first time in my life I felt real fear. I was dying. I was becoming mortal. This is what it was like to have your life end... To cease to exist. My vision began to cloud but I could now see my kin laying about, bloodied.... Dismembered. This shouldn't be happening to us...we are not supposed to end up this way.... Though we did.... And this was our fate, to die alongside men as we did so long ago. Another blow came to me from behind the head and I felt my heart slow down...my breathing shallow. "a Galad ven i reniar hi 'aladhremmin ennorath. A Elbereth Gilthoniel ithil nâ thûl, ithil lîn hen..." I sang in my head. I had no vision left but I could feel a presence over me, lifting me up, and placing his hand on my chest as I took my last breath.
"a Galad ven i reniar hi 'aladhremmin ennorath. A Elbereth Gilthoniel ithil"