"Here they come!" the lookout called down to the group in the main courtyard. It was almost noon the following day. Iasyn was the first to get up and run to the gates. Two horses were galloping down the hill, toward the main gates.
"Open the gates!" the tower guard called. They backed up to let the huge gates slide open. Faramir rode in first and jumped off his horse. Eowyn wasn't far behind.
"What news is there that you send a rider to summon me from my post?" he asked.
"We have reason to believe there is an army of Uruk-hai marching on Minas Tirith. They are no more than two days away. We came to warn you and to aid you in the battle, if we could," Iasyn said.
"And who are you who is so knowing?" he asked, stepping closer to her.
"I am Iasyn Haldiryn, but some call me Lordess of the Naz-gul," she said. "You may call me 'my lady'."
"Well then, my lady, why are you so concerned with the affairs of Gondor?" he questioned. Aragorn stepped between them.
"Unless something has changed, Rohan and Gondor are allies. We come to honor that agreement," he said.
"How is it you know the Uruks march on Minas Tirith?"
"Our spies saw them readying," Eomer said. Faramir thought about it for a moment.
"I have five hundred men at Minas Tirith. How many are in your company?"
"Two thousand," Iasyn replied.
"Accept our help. Gondor is not capable of standing up against three thousand Uruk-hai," Aragorn said. It was obvious Faramir was offended, but he didn't say anything.
"Boromir would have accepted our offer," Aragorn prodded. No one could believe he just said that. He might as well have cut Faramir's legs out from under him.
"Ready your forces. We ride to Minas Tirith," he said. He went up to the tower to talk to the guards. Iasyn looked over at Aragorn.
"Your negotiation skills are slipping," she said.
"I did what I had to do," he said.
"You may have gotten us into more trouble than you think," she said. She met up with Eomer and walked down to the stables to get their horses.
They rode to Minas Tirith quietly. Iasyn had deliberately put Aragorn and Faramir on opposite sides of the column. Eowyn rode next to Iasyn and they ambled west.
"You look troubled," Eowyn said.
"It's nothing. I have a lot on my mind," she replied.
"You think too much for your own good. Your mind is always busy," she said.
"It's the elf in me. My father was always thinking, always making sure everything was in order," she said.
"I never met your father, but I heard he was a good man," Eowyn said. Iasyn sighed.
"He was," she said.
"No sad faces, ladies. We're off to kill some orc," Gimli said from behind Legolas.
"If they don't kill us first," Legolas mumbled.
"Did you say something?" Iasyn asked.
"No," he said. She chose to let it go. They came through the gates of Minas Tirith and the Horn of Gondor echoed through the land.
"The lords of Gondor have returned," Aragorn said.
"What was that?" Eomer asked.
"Something Boromir said to me at Lothlorien. He said when the war was over, we would ride into Gondor and the horn would sound proclaiming 'the lords of Gondor have returned'," he said.
"Boromir was to succeed his father, was he not?" Eomer said.
"If his father died before he did," Aragorn replied.
"Naturally," he said. One of the riders from the back of the group came galloping up.
"The Uruks are right behind us! Turn around!" he yelled. Iasyn spun Tally around and looked out the gates. Sure enough, a sea of black was spilling over the mountains. They would reach the gates in less than an hour.
"Captain! Get your archers up on the wall! Everyone else to the gates!" she yelled. Faramir ran up to the towers to ready his archers. The rest of the group turned around and rode back out in front of the gates. The archers milled around on top of the wall as Iasyn, Eomer, Aragorn, Faramir, Legolas, Gimli, and Eowyn lined up their horses on the front line. Iasyn pulled up her hood and drew her sword.
"Bring your worst," she said. They slowed and finally stopped about thirty yards out from the Roharrim.
"Charge!" Eomer yelled. They raced forward straight at the Uruks, hacking and slashing as they went. Iasyn spun her sword in her hand and took off two or three heads. Legolas was riding full speed, picking off the ones in the distance. Faramir and Eowyn were circling and slicing the fringe forces. The Uruk crossbowmen hadn't fired yet and the Gondoran archers were waiting for Faramir's command. They'd pushed the Uruks back about 100 more yards when they brought out their archers. Iasyn and Eomer found themselves ducking and skittering to avoid being hit.
"Tell your archers to loose!" Aragorn yelled.
"I command my forces, not you!" Faramir snapped back.
"Take out their crossbows!" Aragorn prodded.
"You do your duty and I will do mine," he replied. The infantry on the Uruk side was dwindling, while the Roharrim were still largely intact. Aragorn knew the archers were more of a threat. They were trained to have good aim.
"Give your men the signal, or we'll be as good as dead," Eowyn said. Faramir wheeled his horse around and bellowed.
"Archers loose!" They fired and about a dozen Uruks went down. That still left about thirty standing.
"Legolas! Take out the crossbows!" Aragorn yelled. Legolas nodded and shifted his assault to the remaining crossbowmen.
Down the field, Iasyn had chased down more of the orcs and made small work of them.
"Scum," she spat as she pranced Tally around the corpses. The Lordess of the Naz-gul was still exacting revenge for her father. She swung her sword again and rode back to the fray. As she was about to hit the last pocket with the others, she felt a sharp burning pain in her lower abdomen. An orc arrow was lodged in her right side, just above her pelvic bone. A moment later, another landed on her left side between two ribs. She felt the air being forced out of her lungs.
Aragorn and Faramir saw her fall. She slid off of Tally as if she no longer had control of her body.
"Iasyn!" Aragorn yelled. They rode over to her. Legolas saw their frenzied pace and Tally standing riderless. He knew something was wrong and he had to see what it was.
Iasyn lay in the grass, gasping for air like a fish out of water.
"Get her inside, away from the battle," Faramir said.
"She cannot survive here. She needs elvish medicine. I can keep her alive for no more than three days with what I have here," Aragorn said.
"We have no choice but to take her to Lord Elrond. He can help her," Legolas said.
"We're five days from Rivendell. We'll never make it in time," Gimli said.
"I will see that she gets there alive. Do what you must, then I will take her. You can follow when it's safe," Eomer said. They stood inside the gates, deciding what to do. Iasyn grunted in pain.
"Then to work," Aragorn said. He snapped off the arrows at their halfway point and rubbed a salve around each of the wounds to slow the bleeding. With Legolas's help, he pushed her up on Eomer's horse.
"Take care. The chain mail stopped the arrow from killing her, but they can still be pushed in far enough to kill her yet," he said.
"I will see that she lives through the journey. Ride well," he said.
"Ride true," Aragorn finished as Eomer rode off to Rivendell, Iasyn's limp body swaying with the horse's even gallop.