We were nearing the end of our quest. The time had come to finally know the
outcome of the past months of struggle and torments. Would it of all been
worth it? Or were we fighting an already losing battle? We had no idea
whether Frodo and Sam had even got to Mordor!
No one had made any pretense that we were going to survive this battle,
every last man in the army knew that the fighting would most likely be the
last thing they would see.
The black gates were in my sight and beyond them I could see an army
forming. The eye of Sauron had seen us but little did he know that was the
intention. Gandalf had formed a plan that would almost certainly send many
men to their death but it was the only plan that had the slightest chance
of working. I kept what I had seen to myself. What would be the point of
terrifying the men more than was necessary? They would find out soon enough
what lay before them.
Idril had not said more than a few words all day, I think that the thought
that this could be it was really sinking in for the first time. I was also
contemplating my mortality. Before I had met Idril I had been so much more
complacent about my life. I had known exactly how my life was going to
unfold but now everything was so uncertain and unpredictable.
Idril turned to face me. She stared deep in to my eyes and then slowly
studied my face.
"What are you doing?" I asked softly.
"It's just in case, it's silly really. I was trying to memorize your face."
"Why?" She looked away. "Because if I die the last thing I want to think about is your face, that's the last thing I want to take with me." I couldn't speak, how do you convey probably the most powerful emotions of your life through mere words? I just held her against me and hoped that she understood that I loved her and would always. The hours past so quickly that they flew by like minutes and before we knew it we were assembling our army outside the gates. The silence that met my ears was deafening and the tension was crushing me. I almost wanted to meet the end, however horrible. I know that some people would say that it is foolish to wish for an end but unless you have been put through the agonies that we all had been through fighting this war then you can not know how good an end to it sounds! Gandalf rode forward, "We are ready. This is the last stand of the good peoples of middle earth! Come forth and meet us! Bring forth your armies and meet us!" There was still the silence for a few moments more, we waited holding our breath for some sign that something was to happen. I strained my ears to listen for movement of some kind, but there was nothing. Then suddenly we were thrown in to battle.
The gates of Mordor flew open and the thousand upon thousands of Orcs streamed out towards our small army of inured and terrified men. Most of them were frozen to the spot watching the evil monsters come towards them, confident that they would kill us! You may wonder why we were there at all. Most of our men were not completely over the last battle and the balance of the armies was worse than it had been last time but Gandalf had a plan. I suppose it sounds like a suicide march. We did not know where Frodo and Sam were but we knew that we had to take the attention away from them to give them a fighting chance of destroying the cursed ring. We had to lull Sauron in to a false sense of security to move his eye from the real battle. The wave of Orcs hit us with full force. Everywhere I looked I could see their gleaming teeth and fouls skin. The laughter and cackles of the orcs rang through the air barely masking the terrified screams that some of the men let ring in to the air as the orcs came upon them. They swarmed on to us slicing through the men with their blades and just as quickly moving on to the next one. I quickly shot a look at Gandalf, Gimli and Aragorn before charging forward in to the battle with Idril.
The battle waged on and on and I watched as row after row of men fell. Even those who were lucky enough to escape death were injured. I could read all of the remaining men easily, they all said "This is the end" to me and I knew I was probably giving off that same appearance. More and more orcs seemed to come out of the gates in an almost never-ending stream. Our horse was attacked by a good number of them and Idril and I were pulled down in to a crowd of orcs. We were just about holding ground by staying back to back and fighting the orcs directly in front of us. I was worried for her, she couldn't keep up the fighting much longer and the likelihood would be that I would soon follow!
The men nearest the sea at the edge of the country started shouting and yelling even louder than before, I thought it was a fresh attack by the orc army and my heart grew heavy. Idril and I started circling defending ourselves and trying to move back towards Aragorn. As I turned further around, I saw in the distance on the sea a familiar and beautiful sight.
The cries of the men were becoming more clear to my ears, "The elves of Mirkwood! It's the elves!"
"Why?" She looked away. "Because if I die the last thing I want to think about is your face, that's the last thing I want to take with me." I couldn't speak, how do you convey probably the most powerful emotions of your life through mere words? I just held her against me and hoped that she understood that I loved her and would always. The hours past so quickly that they flew by like minutes and before we knew it we were assembling our army outside the gates. The silence that met my ears was deafening and the tension was crushing me. I almost wanted to meet the end, however horrible. I know that some people would say that it is foolish to wish for an end but unless you have been put through the agonies that we all had been through fighting this war then you can not know how good an end to it sounds! Gandalf rode forward, "We are ready. This is the last stand of the good peoples of middle earth! Come forth and meet us! Bring forth your armies and meet us!" There was still the silence for a few moments more, we waited holding our breath for some sign that something was to happen. I strained my ears to listen for movement of some kind, but there was nothing. Then suddenly we were thrown in to battle.
The gates of Mordor flew open and the thousand upon thousands of Orcs streamed out towards our small army of inured and terrified men. Most of them were frozen to the spot watching the evil monsters come towards them, confident that they would kill us! You may wonder why we were there at all. Most of our men were not completely over the last battle and the balance of the armies was worse than it had been last time but Gandalf had a plan. I suppose it sounds like a suicide march. We did not know where Frodo and Sam were but we knew that we had to take the attention away from them to give them a fighting chance of destroying the cursed ring. We had to lull Sauron in to a false sense of security to move his eye from the real battle. The wave of Orcs hit us with full force. Everywhere I looked I could see their gleaming teeth and fouls skin. The laughter and cackles of the orcs rang through the air barely masking the terrified screams that some of the men let ring in to the air as the orcs came upon them. They swarmed on to us slicing through the men with their blades and just as quickly moving on to the next one. I quickly shot a look at Gandalf, Gimli and Aragorn before charging forward in to the battle with Idril.
The battle waged on and on and I watched as row after row of men fell. Even those who were lucky enough to escape death were injured. I could read all of the remaining men easily, they all said "This is the end" to me and I knew I was probably giving off that same appearance. More and more orcs seemed to come out of the gates in an almost never-ending stream. Our horse was attacked by a good number of them and Idril and I were pulled down in to a crowd of orcs. We were just about holding ground by staying back to back and fighting the orcs directly in front of us. I was worried for her, she couldn't keep up the fighting much longer and the likelihood would be that I would soon follow!
The men nearest the sea at the edge of the country started shouting and yelling even louder than before, I thought it was a fresh attack by the orc army and my heart grew heavy. Idril and I started circling defending ourselves and trying to move back towards Aragorn. As I turned further around, I saw in the distance on the sea a familiar and beautiful sight.
The cries of the men were becoming more clear to my ears, "The elves of Mirkwood! It's the elves!"