A/N: I am still totally amazed by the response I've had to this story! Thank you everyone! I'm rewarding you all with yet another chapter. But the story is drawing near the end.
DISCLAIMER: See Chapter One.
Chapter Four: Friendship Forged In Fire
Gimli picked himself up, shaking his head carefully to try and clear the hollow ringing in his ears. Everything seemed strangely quiet and a putrid mixture of dust and smoke hung heavily in the air.
As the smoke parted, the sight that greeted his eyes caused him to gasp. Only a few feet from where he had lain, a section of the wall some hundred paces in length was missing. Elves---dead, dying, and merely stunned---lay amidst the rubble on the wall. More bodies littered the ground below.
Aragorn struggled to sit up, aware he was wet and every bone in his body ached. He was lying in the courtyard where the wall had once dammed the creek. Several bodies and parts of them lay near him. He looked around and saw a gaping black hole where once there had been wall. And Uruk-Hai warriors were charging through the gap.
"Aragorn!"
The shout seemed to come from far away and he looked around just in time to watch Gimli jump from the top of the wall onto the leading ranks of orcs coming through the gap. Aragorn climbed shakily to his feet and saw the Elves in the courtyard, bows drawn and ready. An orc knocked Gimli to the ground and raised his scimitar.
"Hado i philinn!" commanded Aragorn.
Dozens of arrows flew past him to find targets, piling Uruk-Hai deep in the gap. More pushed past them, but by then Aragorn had regained his equillibrium and found his sword again. His next command sent the Elves of Lothlorien charging into combat with him at the fore.
Gimli sputtered and spat water as someone pulled him out of the water and set him on his feet. He looked up into the concerned face of Legolas. Blood trickled down the Elf's face from a laceration near his hairline and he held his left arm protectively over his ribs. Then Legolas was gone again, moving to attack an Uruk-Hai trying to come up behind him.
Aragorn fought hard but was aware of the Elves dying around him. Less than a hundred Elves had survived the destruction of the wall and now it seemed as though the entire army of orcs was trying to come through the gap. The Elves would sell their lives for a high price but they could not stop the black tide now.
"Aragorn!" This call did come from afar and he looked toward the central tower, quickly locating Theoden. The king shouted, "Get your people out of there!"
Aragorn nodded and turned. "Nan barad!" he shouted, gesturing toward the main keep. "Nan barad!" He searched the walls and located Haldir, a rapidly moving figure in red and gold. "Nan barad, Haldir!"
The Elf turned and nodded, pushing Elves toward the stairs leading to the main keep's outer defenses. He spun to meet an Uruk-Hai, raising his own sword to attack, but the enemy slashed its black weapon across his ribs before falling to the Elf's sword. Haldir staggered back, staring at his own blood as it spread across the arm he pressed to the wound. He failed to see a white-painted orc behind him with its scimitar raised high.
"Haldir!"
Legolas' anguished cry brought Aragorn spinning around in time to see the marchwarden fall. Legolas charged up the stairs, shoving past retreating allies and attacking any orcs he encountered. Aragorn swore and followed. By the time he reached them, Legolas had his held Haldir's body. Rain mixed with tears on his bruised face.
"Legolas, we have to go," he said as gently as he could.
Legolas raised his head and looked at him, then lowered Haldir's body. Three orcs charged up the stairs toward them but were quickly cut down. Aragorn looked around desperately---besides themselves, the only living creatures on the walls were orcs and more filled the courtyard. He was tiring fast and could see the awkward way Legolas moved. Orcs charged up the stairs toward them.
Aragorn looked at Legolas and saw the anger and determination in his eyes. The ranger nodded at the Elf prince and raised his sword in salute. Legolas nodded. And they both leaped off the wall into a mass of orcs.
The tactic caught the Uruk-Hai off-guard. Man and Elf fought back-to-back as they made their way through the Uruk-Hai between them and the keep. Gimli and a handful men were holding the top of the stairs leading to the central wall. With the arrival of Aragorn and Legolas, they retreated to the central wall.
With the momentary respite from battle, Aragorn leaned over and rested his hands on his knees as he drew breath into his heaving lungs. Nearby, Legolas also seemed to be short of breath and continued to hold his arm against his ribs. Aragorn straightened and went to his side.
"Are you wounded?" he asked, concerned.
Legolas shook his head. "Broken ribs," he said. "I landed badly on part of the wall."
Aragorn moved Legolas' arm aside. His shirt was torn and bruises covered the exposed flesh but there was no blood. "You'll need to have those bound," he said. "I fear this fight is far from over."
Shouting and a great deal of activity could be heard from the direction of the gatehouse. Theoden's strong voice rang out, ordering troops to draw their swords and head for the gate. Aragorn took a deep breath and turned to leave, but Legolas touched his arm.
"Aragorn, I ask for your forgiveness," he said in a rush of Elvish. "I was wrong to despair. I realized when Haldir showed up with the Lothlorien archers that this war belongs to all of us. If Rohan falls, we all fall."
Aragorn reached out and firmly clasped his shoulder, his expression a mixture of gratitude and sorrow. "U-moe edaved, Legolas. In fact, I should beg your forgiveness. I shouldn't have struck you."
Legolas smiled slightly. "Perhaps I wouldn't have listened otherwise."
"If you two have finished saying whatever you're saying," Gimli interrupted, "we're needed at the main gate."
"See to your injuries," Aragorn told his old friend. "Let's go, Gimli."
Aragorn and Gimli ran to the nearest stairs that led to the innermost courtyard and made their way through the press of bodies to the gate. The Uruk-Hai had already broken part-way through with a battering ram and several men, Theoden King included, were battling to keep the orcs out.
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to be continued