DISCLAIMER: Do I look like Tolkien to you? Nope! That means that I do not own Lord of the Rings! I am the proud owner of Gwen, that hot elf Maedron, and Nirod, Gwen's new giant horse! And Toryn, Maedron's horse, who is only mentioned, like, once.
Aragorn led the army to Osgiliath. As they rode through, Gwen watched the people of the city repairing destroyed parts. After passing through the city and crossing the River, they rode five miles more, then stopped to make camp. Gwen pulled the saddle off Nirod and tied him to a tree near Maedron's horse, Toryn. She walked over to the campfire to see Gimli stooping about, a handful of plants in his hand.
" Oh, no," she mumbled just loud enough for Legolas and Maedron to hear. They turned and watched Gimli.
" One guess as to what that is all for," said Legolas. They all knew before Maedron spoke the chilling words.
" Gimli's soup," he stated. Gwen turned to him.
" Oh, Maedron, you should eat some just to prove how good it is to me so I will eat it," she said in imitation of Maedron's last encounter with the dreaded soup. He scowled at her.
" Oh, yes, I would certainly love that," he said sarcastically. Gwen laughed at the surly elf. She turned and opened her pack to see what Nori had put in it. Much to her delight, she found and assortment of pastries, rolls, pieces of dried meat, and a few apples. Leisurely, she pulled out one frosted pastry and began to chew it slowly. Maedron was the first to notice.
" Where did you get that?" he asked as he scooted closer to her. Legolas did the same on her other side, eyeing the pastry hungrily.
" Oh, just on the ground," she said with a shrug as she finished it.
" Come on, Gwen. You aren't cruel enough to leave us to eat Gimli's stew now, are you?" Maedron pleaded. Gwen looked at him incredulously.
" I wouldn't be surprised. She would just do it to watch us starve or die of food poisoning," voiced Legolas. Gwen laughed at the elf.
" Oh, here you are," she said as she tossed her food pack at them, " but don't scarf it all down, you hear?" They fell upon it eagerly. Gimli, upon seeing them filling their stomachs, gave up on his stew and joined them.
" Hey, pointy ears, give me that roll!" he said gruffly to Maedron. He threw the roll to Gimli. After they were done eating, they dozed off with full bellies.
A few days later, they reached the Black Gate. They had marched on foot from Osgiliath, leaving the horses. Gwen stared at the foreboding structure. The Ringwraiths hovered about it on their frightful steeds. Gwen was more afraid now than she had ever been during her entire life. More than when she had gone back to her home on that far away day and found all she had ever known was dead or burned. More than when she had been trapped in Moria, or when Eowyn and her had snuck away to Pelennor Fields. All those times, she had been able to dismiss her fear by simply not thinking about it. The only problem was that this time, fear was all she could think about. Unconsciously, her hand wandered up to her throat, where her mother's black stone hung around her neck. Galadriel's words came back to her, Wherever you go, your mother will go with you. Gwen had forgotten them, yet now they came to her in a rush. She closed her eyes and let images of her mother and Galadriel come back to her from the depths of her memories, causing her eyes to brim up with tears. More images from her past came back with them, ones of her father and mother together, and more recent ones of the Shire and the Gamgees. Gwen drew her breath in sharply as a tear seeped out of her closed eye. Then a strange thing happened. Strong arms went around Gwen's waist, and she felt herself being pulled close to someone. She opened her eyes and looked into Maedron's. He held her tightly against himself as she put her head against his shoulder. Her tears disappeared as he ran his hand through her hair. Gently, he kissed her soft cheek as she put her arms around his neck. They held each other for a long moment, then let go.
" Stay near me, Gwen," Maedron said as he grasped her hand. Gwen smiled, happiness welling up in her heart, despite the looming possibility of death. She turned and saw that Legolas and Gimli stood next to her. They appeared to be oblivious to what had just happened between Gwen and Maedron, but Gimli was trying to hide a smile.
" I never thought I would die standing next to an elf," remarked Gimli, looking up at Legolas.
" How about next to a friend?" Legolas asked. Gimli smiled and nodded. Legolas turned and placed a hand on Gwen's shoulder.
" You too, you know," he said.
" I know," she said, patting his hand.
" Well, missy, let's hope your luck holds out. Last time I watched you fight, I swear you could have been killed ten times!" exclaimed Gimli. Gwen laughed at the dwarf. Yes, let's hope it does, she thought.
" You best watch yourself instead of me, Master Dwarf. You yourself had some pretty close calls last time," she laughed. Gimli looked at her in indignation.
" Come! Let us go challenge Sauron!" said Aragorn. Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, Gwen, and Maedron followed him to the Gate.
" The King Elessar comes to reclaim his lands! Come out and fight, lord of the Black Land!" he shouted. Gwen heard the gate begin to creak and watched as it slowly swung outward. Aragorn and the rest of the company turned and ran back to the front of the army. The Gate opened all the way to reveal a huge horde of orcs and trolls. Aragorn turned to them, what remained of the Fellowship.
" For Frodo!" he cried, then turned and charged. Pippin charged right along with him, waving his sword about in the air.
" Yagh!" Gwen yelled as she whipped out her sword and began to run towards the orc army. The two armies clashed and the sound of swords meeting rang through he air. Gwen hewed at an orc, killing it. Another came up on her right, bringing it's sword above it's head for the kill. Gwen parried the blow, kicked the orc low in the stomach, and finished it off with a quick thrust of her sword. Gwen turned and threw herself sideways as a monstrous troll slammed it's club into the ground where she had stood. Gwen pulled out one of her daggers and, taking aim, threw it at the troll with all her strength. The creature fell, her knife buried in it's throat. Gwen retrieved her knife and, putting her sword back in it's sheath, pulled out her other knife and began whirling about, her blades flashing in a wheel of death. A great force hit her from behind, knocking her to the ground. She glared up at an orc.
" Well, what 'ave we got here?" the foul creature hissed as he ran his blade lightly across Gwen's smooth neck, leaving a thin line of blood. She recklessly hit his blade aside with one of her knives, then drove the other through his heart. With a yell of disgust, Gwen threw the corpse aside and fought off another orc. Maedron fought his way toward her.
" Gwen!" he yelled when he saw the blood on her throat. She put her hand to her neck and drew it back, a thin line of blood on her palm.
" It's nothing! The orc didn't cut deep!" she yelled back. He nodded and put his back to her. She turned and together they fought, back to back, a circle of death. Gwen could hear Gimli over to her left.
" Thirty-three, thirty-four'" he was saying. Gwen laughed at the dwarf and looked for Legolas. He appeared on her right. Gwen then turned and saw a troll thundering toward Aragorn.
" Aragorn!" she yelled and broke away from Maedron, fighting her way toward him.
"Gwen?!" yelled Maedron as he watched her run off. Aragorn was fighting off an orc, unaware of the danger behind him. Gwen ran up behind the troll and leapt onto it's back, driving her knives into it's hide to pull herself up. The beast cried out and slowed down, alerting Aragorn to it's presence. Gwen continued to climb up it's back, up towards the head. Aragorn turned and brought his sword up, but he knew he could not fight the beast off.
" Gwen, what are you doing?!" he yelled upon seeing her scaling the troll's back.
" Saving the king of Gondor!" she yelled as she pulled both her knives up and delivered the killing blow to the troll. The troll let out a howl and, before he died, grabbed Gwen and flung her from his back. Aragorn watched in horror as Gwen slammed and skidded into the ground a few feet away from him. Before he could go to her, another orc set himself upon him.
Gwen groaned as she struggled to push her throbbing body up off the ground. She could tell immediately that the troll had broken some of her ribs with the strength of it's grasp. Struggling for air, she rolled over onto her back so she could breathe better. When she looked up, she was horrified to see the Nazgul wheeling above her. The Wraiths were flying their fearsome steeds low to the ground, bowling men over.
" Maedron!" Gwen gasped, remembering where she had left him. Before she could get up, one of the Nazgul's mounts swooped down over her, it's razor sharp teeth hovering a foot over her body. It sniffed her and, finding her to be a satisfactory meal, brought it's head down to tear into her. Gwen shut her eyes, anticipating the moment of the first bite. It never came. Instead, an eagle swooped down from the sky and slammed full force into the foul beast. The two creatures proceeded to fight in the air until the eagle was joined by another and, between the two of them, they killed the Nazgul's mount. More eagles wheeled above her, doing battle with the other Wraith's mounts.
" The eagles have come!" shouted Gandalf.
Gwen began to breathe again, though painfully. She struggled to push herself up, but was knocked to her feet as the earth below her heaved.
" It is done! The Ring of Power has been destroyed!" she heard Gandalf shouting.
" Gwen!" yelled Maedron as he fell to his knees next to her.
" Maedron, pull me up! I want to see!" she pleaded desperately. He nodded and gently put his arms underneath her aching body and lifted. She stood to her feet and looked on into Mordor. Mount Doom was spewing lava and Minas Morgul was collapsing. Gwen watched in fascination as the Eye of Sauron looked about itself spastically, as if it couldn't believe what was happening.
" Look at him! My goodness, I have never seen an eye look so funny!" Gwen laughed, then winced. Maedron held her up as he watched. When the tower hit the ground, a wave was set out from it, knocking Gwen and Maedron backwards, along with all the other men. The earth began to split, forming a great chasm around Mordor. It continued to go around the army, and the horde of orcs and trolls fell into oblivion. Gwen looked around in amazement. Men were beginning to stand to their feet. Maedron pushed himself up, then bent over and lifted Gwen up into his arms.
" Oh, put me down! Agh!" she cried. He dropped her feet and looked at her, concern filling his eyes.
" Gwen, are you going to be alright?" he asked anxiously.
" Yes! As long as you don't go picking me up like that!" she said. Gimli and Legolas walked over to hear them.
" Are you sure?" asked Maedron.
" Maedron, it's just a couple of broken ribs! It's happened before. Probably the same ones too," she said in mock exasperation. Gimli laughed.
" Yes. Like when we lost you in Moria!" he said. Gwen smiled. Aragorn walked over to them.
" It is finished!" he exclaimed as he held his sword aloft. All them men started cheering.
" What about Frodo and Sam? I miss his cooking!" Gwen asked.
" I have sent Gwaihir to fetch them," said Gandalf, referring to the eagle lord. Gwen smiled, happy to know that the hobbits would be back.
" Come, let us go back to Gondor," said Aragorn. Thus the weary army began the long march home.
Oh yeah! Uh huh! It is OVER! O - V - E - R!!!! Well, not my story, there is still at least one chapter left. But the War of the Ring!! OMIGOSH!!! What am I going to write about? Hmm maybe I should move on to Pirates of the Caribbean, which, at the moment, by brother is watching. Will Turner!! YOWZA!! Hey, now that you have read this chapter, go click the review button and review it!!
Pandagrrl: No, that just means that Skeet is tormenting some poor stable boy back in Rohan. I don't know why I emailed that to you! I forgot that I could respond right here!