Final Battle for Middle-Earth
Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR.
She woke up, disappointed that her dream hadn't continued this time. She found that as they got closer to the war, her dreams became more pleasant. Sleepily, she looked up. She was sitting on a boat, and it felt like they were moving quickly. As she became more aware of her surroundings, she lifted her head. She had been asleep on Legolas' shoulder. He was also asleep, and she tensed up.
By this point she knew the battle was drawing closer and closer. This would be the big climax of the Third Age of Middle-Earth, and she couldn't help but wonder how things would work out. Sensing movement, she looked up again to see Aragorn. She wanted to call out his name, but the look on his face was twisted with so much agony that she was forced to swallow her words. Biting her lip, she tried to remember the song that floated about in her dream. Nothing came to her, and she sighed dejectedly.
Aragorn heard her and turned his head away from whatever horizon he'd been looking at. "We are almost at the Southern Gate."
"Good, I wanna get this over with," she said. Hearing her voice so close to his ears, Legolas stirred. He stood up, fully alert. He leaned over the side of the ship, obviously finding some kind of ease about this journey.
She approached Aragorn, keeping her voice as low as possible. She knew that he hadn't slept in days. Seeing Elrond and hearing about Arwen had renewed his intensity for the battle, and was wearing him down before it even began. "Hey. Are you okay?" she asked.
He looked at her wearily and shook his head. This surprised her, because she never expected Aragorn to see her as anything more than that girl that followed the Fellowship around. Admitting this to her was a big thing. "The weight is on my shoulders, and it will not be taken off for a very long time to come."
"You know, for being the heir of Gondor, you're pretty pessimistic. You've gotta learn to relax. It's just another battle."
He sighed. "Indeed. More bloodshed, more men lost. More taken by Sauron."
"AND one more victory. Cheer up, dude," she said, looking at him tiredly. She wanted to scream until her throat gave out. The intensity of all this had just been building up in her. She wanted to see the Hobbits, she wanted to see Gandalf and Arwen and Galadriel and Elrond again. She just wanted all of this to be over, and she wanted Sauron defeated. She could see a tip of land coming into view. "Is that it? Is that Gondor?" she asked.
"It is. Now get down, we are on enemy ships," Aragorn explained.
She ducked. "Are we? I must have missed that part." She tried not to grunt as the ship was docked. She could hear some Orcs talking grumpily to whom they took to be their mates. Aragorn made a gesture with his hand, and the three of them jumped over the side, all of them landing gracefully.
The Orcs looked confused, and as the three of them and the army of the dead charged, the looks turned to pure terror. Laura swung her sword back and forth. Finally, some room to stretch and run around! She focused intensely on the battle, knowing that if they won she would get a tour of Gondor then. She hadn't even kept track of how long it had been, but she felt something wasn't right.
She heard Aragorn shout something, and looked behind her. "Elephants?" she cried. There were monstrous looking elephants coming towards her, each with a little rider on top blowing a horn. The horns sounded kind of cool, but as they got closer she could see the enormous tusks.
"Oliphaunts!" Aragorn cried, warning them. Oliphaunts? Laura aimed her arrow at the dozen or so riders on one of them, bringing as many down as she could when Orcs weren't flying at her from all directions. She watched as a rider went right beneath the beast, slicing at its heels. Inspired, she did the same with several of the beasts. "87, 88, 89, 90..." she continued counting.
If she hadn't already been completely taken away by Legolas, his next trick would have certainly done it. As she watched, he proceeded to climb up the spears that were in the beast. Like a monkey, he swung from one to the other, climbing up the side and killing Orcs on the way up. Were they Orcs? She squinted. They looked more like Easterlings to her. Legolas cut the strap the held the little fortlike object on top, and all of the riders fell off. After defeating anyone who was left, he then made his way to the head and shot two arrows into the creature. As it fell, he slid down the trunk like a pro snowboarder, hopping gracefully off and looking at her.
Regaining her speech, she looked at the heap. "I am so going to marry you," she said in awe.
Smiling, he patted her on the shoulder. The battle wasn't over yet. "Laura!" a voice cried inside of her head. Falling to her knees, she put her hands over her ears. It was Frodo!
As more cries erupted from the men, she heard something else. It was a screeching sound. One of the Ringwraiths was circling her. Knocking over one last Orc, she could see that the field was clearing. There wasn't very much commotion left going on anymore. Had she really been present for the whole thing? She hated to think that killing creatures was her engrossing hobby where she lost track of time.
But Frodo? What about him? She clutched her painful shoulder. He was weakening, she could feel his lifeline. It was like a thin little thread. She stood her ground as the evil creature landed, and the wraith dismounted. She smiled. All of a sudden there was a power in her; a confidence. Putting her sword away, she could see Legolas, Aragorn, Gandalf and Eomer out of the corner of her eye. They were trying to approach the scene amidst what was left of the waning battle.
The wraith was on her now, making those horrible shrieking noises that had at one point mad her blood run cold. Now she reached for her side, lit her saber and in one liquid movement, the creatures was simply a pile of black robes. Putting her saber back at her side, she stared at the evil winged creature.
As the men approached, the creature was squealing in agony as she fought to control it mentally. It was never hard to push dark, shallow thoughts aside. Laura looked back, still maintaining her concentration. "You were right, Gandalf; I have too much hope. And Frodo still needs us," she told him as he approached.
"Nay child, the Battle is over," Eomer said desperately.
Legolas approached her. "You are a Jedi. What do you see?" he asked, putting his hand on her shoulder.
Now that she no longer had to hide the fact that she was a Jedi, she could see clearly an image of two worn-looking, tired, weak Hobbits trekking in Orc armor over the dry and crusted terrain of Moria. "They are making their way slowly to Mount Doom. But they need more time. An army's separating them from that mountain."
Legolas looked at her seriously, then at Gandalf. The group stood there for a moment. Aragorn looked like he was concocting a plan.
