WE FISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS! And, if you are actually reading this on December 25th, which is unlikely, a happy seventh day of Hanukkah! My present to all my wonderful reviewers, although it wasn't technically possible to gift-wrap. ^_^

Just saw ROTK for the second time. Will not spoil... will not spoil... all I'll say is damn, I love that movie to tiny tiny pieces.

A big thank you to Isis, and my loverly newbies, BoromirDefender and Ashes Kittyhawk!

And Diz - if there was any way I could possibly fit hobbit slash into the story, I would do it, just for you. :P PIPPINXMERRY!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter Twelve: Of Battle and Spilt Blood

Saali's entire body tensed, and she clutched at the tree, pressing her head against the rough bark and closing her eyes. I am not here... you do not see me... go AWAY...

She did not see the Ranger scan the leaves with his piercing gray eyes, and she did not see him as he turned those eyes away from her tree and back to his companion. She did, however, hear him say "Nothing here," and she could have cried with relief.

"I know I heard something," his companion insisted stubbornly. "Check the rest of the trees. I will check the ground."

Grumbling, the first man did as he was told, and slowly. Saali's whole body had begun to ache from keeping herself balanced on her branch.

They did not, of course, find anything, and they met up again, scowling. "Someone was shouting for help," said Ranger Number One, and Ranger Number Two replied, "Perhaps it was just the wind."

"I know what I heard," One asserted, although he sounded less sure than his words made him out to be.

"Trick of the Enemy," growled Two, and kicked a rock. Saali felt it bounce off the tree trunk. "Let us leave this trap," Two added, and Saali heard his booted footsteps receding into the woods beyond.

There was a short pause before One followed. Saali listened until she could just barely hear their feet crush the leaves on the ground. Then she slid down off her branch and descended, slowly but surely, to the ground. She paused a moment to gather her nerves, then crept off after the two men, silent as the grave. It was actually rather funny how she had tricked them, she realized, and gave a tiny whuff of laughter before she could restrain herself.

She followed their grayish-green-cloaked backs for what seemed an eternity, without their noticing her footsteps even once. But then she stepped on a fallen branch, and SNAP -

One whirled around, eyes darting left and right. Saali bit her tongue to keep from crying out and ducked behind a nearby bush. She could just barely see the top of his head, moving left and right. Not now... not after all this...

But One, true to form thus far, turned around, discouraged, and continued on. Saali let out a shuddering breath and stood up with shaky knees. You can do this. You WILL do this.

Creeping silently after One once more, she saw his back, then his head disappear suddenly as he descended, presumably, a steep ridge. Cautiously, she tiptoed up to the edge, slinking behind a tree like a fox and peering out from behind the trunk with wide eyes.

Yes.

There, in the valley below, were many more Rangers, all of them looking somewhat like One and Two to Saali's untrained eyes. Ragtag tents were haphazardly pitched amongst the leaves on the ground, and Saali thought they must not intend to stay there long. She watched, still somewhat in shock that her idea had worked, as One and Two wove their ways through the smattering of tents, talking nervously with the other men.

Well.

I did it.

With that thought, Saali spun on her heel and tiptoed away. Now, I was going east, then I turned a bit north... so I should go... this way?

She nodded, agreeing with herself, and began to head in the direction she had chosen. She supposed once she returned to camp, she would lead Sir and that Ylaasa man and the troops to the Ranger camp, and they would set upon it like wildcats upon a kill. She shuddered at that image and tried to block it out of her mind.

It soon became apparent that Saali was still lost. She was not finding the Big Rock, and the weak Northern sun was getting low in the west. All sorts of woodland noises were all around her now, unfamiliar noises coming from strange animals. She swallowed heavily and tried to calm herself.

It didn't work. She began to run, jogging at first, eyes darting nervously left and right, then sprinting, tripping on rocks, leaping over shrubbery and low-slung branches, tearing through the underbrush like a tornado. Have to get back... do not have food... cannot sleep out here, for certain... have to get BACK...

It was this panicked state of mind that caused her to slam headlong into something and collapse on the forest floor with a little shriek.

The something sighed heavily and pulled her to her feet rather rudely. Somehow, through her dizziness and lack of breath, she saw that it was a Haradic soldier, one she did not know. She could have fainted right there with gratitude, and due to the fact that her heart was pounding so hard her whole body shook.

The soldier spoke one word: "Come." He turned and began to march off, and Saali stumbled dizzily after him, mumbling thank-you's.

Somehow, the soldier got her back to the Big Rock, down through the tunnel, and into the caves, where Sir was waiting near the cave-mouth.

"So?" was all he said. He looked rather irritated, as if he had been waiting for quite a while.

Saali remembered and swelled with pride. "I found them," she announced.

"Good," Sir said curtly, without so much as a word of thanks. He then blew two piercing notes on his gold horn, and the whole camp sprang into action.

Before long, there were two full companies of soldiers waiting by the tunnel-mouth, and Reni, the other regiment's mumak-man, and their mumaks waiting by a large mumak-sized side door.

"We march," Captain Ylaasa shouted, and that was all that was necessary.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I am going to ask you one more time, Tasaali," said Sir with strained patience. "Do you know where the Rangers' camp is?"

Saali was miserable. They had been marching, then walking, then stumbling about and complaining about the cold, for at least an hour and a half, and still she could not seem to find the tark camp. And if there are any Rangers within two miles, they will hear these mumaks for certain, she thought pessimistically, glancing at the huge beasts lumbering through the brush with much cracking and rustling.

"Are you listening to me, Tasaali?" Sir barked. "Answer me!"

"I told you," Saali said stiffly, her face a rigid mask of calm. "I found it. I just need to find it again."

"You did not even mark your trail, or anything to that effect?" Sir snapped.

"I did not think to," Saali mumbled. So much for hero of the army.

Sir growled deep in his throat. Someone shouted something that sounded very rude. The mumaks trampled a log, which crunched unpleasantly. Some animal of Ithilien chittered in the gathering dusk of the tree branches.

A few strange bird-calls pierced the air, but Saali paid them no more heed than any of the other noises.

Cursing and muttering preceded Kentai as he shoved his way through the ranks. "Saali? Are we there yet?" he grinned. "We sure have been marching a long -"

"Do not even start," she hissed at her friend. She could not tolerate his excess cheer at a time like this.

"Hey, I did not mean it that way," Tai said more quietly. "I just think we might want to call it a day..."

Sir glared at him. "We shall call it a day when -"

But he was interrupted by a scream of pain from somewhere on the edges of the ranks. There was an outcry and a hubbub as all the soldiers whirled around to see what happened. A man, clutching at an arrow that protruded from his shoulder, keeled over, and then all chaos broke loose.

A rain of arrows erupted from the trees, bouncing off helmets and mail and thudding as they sank into the flesh they were seeking. There was an ear-shattering ring of metal as swords were drawn. Saali whipped out her own sword and shoved her father's helm onto her head, whirling around frantically, trying to find some enemy she could fight in the utter confusion of men running, yelling, dropping to the ground.

"GET OUT OF RANGE!" Sir roared, and Saali now saw the use of his rough voice, as it carried easily over the screams and shouts. Most of the men were already doing so, but those who were not ran, yelling and shouting just for the sake of yelling and shouting. Saali found herself screaming nonsense, just to get the fear out.

Somehow, the soldiers regrouped in a clearing not far away. The arrows the Rangers shot now hit the ground harmlessly just a few inches from where they stood. The mumaks reared, trumpeting in terror, and Saali caught a brief flash of Reni, stroking one's trunk, trying to calm it down.

Sir took control. "YLAASA! STAY WITH THESE MEN! MUMAK-MEN, HOLD THEM, DAMN IT! ARCHERS, TO ME! TO ME!"

Various soldiers shoved through the crowd, bending bows and seizing arrows from quivers. Following Sir, they charged back into the fray, shooting at the trees and hoping for a lucky shot. Rangers dropped from the branches, hitting the ground with loud thumps. A few Haradic archers hit the ground as well. Saali cringed as her stomach clenched, wiping panic-sweat from her brow.

That was when the foot-soldiers arrived. And there were many, pale men in green who seemed to be born from the very bushes that surrounded the remainder of the troops. Their captain, a young, tall man who seemed rather hesitant about the battle, shouted, "ATTACK!" And the men fell upon each other in a deadly chaos of slashing blades and clashing steel. Ylaasa shouted something incomprehensible; Reni let go of the mumaks and they charged, trampling Rangers and spearing them with razor-sharp metal-tipped tusks; Saali stood, too stunned and paralyzed with horror to do anything as the swinging swords around her glistened a morbid red.

A Ranger approached her suddenly, raising his sword, and Saali just barely blocked his downward blow before falling to her knees. The man went in for the kill, but Saali's dark eyes met his gray, and he hesitated. Was he sparing her? But suddenly, as soon as he had torn his eyes from her face and raised his sword again, someone else's was dragged across his throat and he hit the ground with a thud, staining the leaves a deep red.

Saali looked up, eyes wide, to see her savior, and Panim nodded briefly to her, then sprang away to cross swords with another Ranger.

Before Saali could process that, she heard an unmistakable voice from somewhere in the symphony of screams, crying out in pain. "DIE!" it wailed. "Oh, please, I cannot -"

Fire raged in her mind. Kentai. She charged through the mass of soldiers, slashing aimlessly with her sword, screaming something she did not understand - perhaps it was the number 127 in Common? Who knew - until she came to where Kentai stood, slumped against a tree trunk with his sword at his feet, clutching his upper arm as blood seeped out between his fingers and shone against his beautiful golden bracelets. A Ranger stood before him, sword to his throat - to her best friend's throat -

Tasaali, daughter of Eishali, had never been sure she would actually be able to kill someone in battle if the time ever came. How could she simply end someone's life, perhaps an innocent person's? But now she did not think, and all she saw was the sheen of that steel blade, held to her best friend's neck, and anger seized her. And she leapt forward, slamming her sword into the man's back, impaling him.

The man let out one last choking breath, dropped his sword with a clatter against Tai's, and fell, sliding off of Saali's sword and taking his final rest in the leaves underneath the great tree, whose branches swayed in the evening breeze.

Saali looked at him, lying there as if sleeping, face-down with blood soaking through his gray-green cloak, and then at her sword, as his life flowed down and off the blade through the groove in the middle and dripped to the ground. And she was numb.

Kentai staggered forward. "Saali," he choked hoarsely, and without thinking she threw an arm around his neck, and he clasped her shoulder with his good hand, and they clutched each other for a moment in a sort of a strange embrace, overwhelmed and wild with emotion.

"Are you hurt badly?" she managed to ask as they broke their hold, though her voice cracked with the effort. His hand had left a crimson stain on the shoulder of her tunic.

Tai looked at his bloodied hand strangely, as though it were someone else's. "I do not think - " he began, but was interrupted by Sir's roar: "RETREAT! RETREAT!"

"Go! GO!" some soldier cried, running past them, and they looked at each other for a moment, then sprang away after him.

After a moment, Tai stopped, cursed, and charged back to pick up his sword. Saali sheathed her own, and they ran together, being jostled by the tide of retreating Haradic soldiers and surrounded by indiscernible shouts. Saali had almost become used to the constant noise by then. The mumaks shook the ground as they galloped, and Saali caught sight of Reni, riding quite calmly on a tusk with the skill of experience.

The men ran until their lungs threatened to implode. At first, the stragglers in the back had been forced to fight off the Rangers who had followed, but now someone shouted in an out-of-breath sort of way that they were all gone, and could they PLEASE stop now and get some rest?

"YOU CAN GET SOME REST WHEN YOU ARE DEAD, NOW MOVE!" Sir made it quite clear that the man's suggestion was not appreciated.

And so they ran until they came back to the Big Rock, and by that time Saali and Kentai were leaning on each other, staggering and gasping for breath. Someone heaved aside the rock, and the men poured into the cave like ants into an anthill.

As Saali stopped running, the thoughts that had been nipping at the edges of her mind came back into order. She looked at Kentai, who had gone unpleasantly pale and was clutching his wounded arm with blood-soaked fingers. His breathing was harsh and ragged, and she worried for him - breathing. The man. The man she had killed. His blood on her sword - his blood in the leaves - he would breathe no more -

Saali's stomach lurched. "I think I am going to be sick," she croaked.

Tai's tight, pained smile mocked her. "Oh, come on. We did not run for that long -"

"No, I am, I really am going to be sick," Saali spluttered, and with that she stumbled away from the group and retched violently into the bushes. I killed him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The harried-looking healer examined Kentai's arm grimly. He made a few tsk-ing noises, many throat-clearing ones, and quite a few hmmm-ing ones. Finally, Saali interrupted his drawn-out examination.

"Is it... bad, sir?" she inquired nervously.

"No," Kentai said before the healer could reply. "This is all an overreaction, honestly..."

The healer ignored him, and gave Saali the feeling that he was used to rebellious patients. "It may be infected, but I doubt it will cause any permanent damage. I will put a salve on it, and bandage it, and you, Private, will not overuse that arm for at least a few days, is that clear?" His voice was nasal and rather irritating.

Tai muttered something rude.

The healer ignored him again and began to smear something oily-looking on his wound. Tai gasped and stiffened as the salve touched his flesh. As the healer continued to apply the substance, he squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth as beads of sweat flourished across his forehead. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, and, with a cry of pain, his whole body convulsed; he gave a sigh, his eyes closed and he was still.

"Kentai!" Saali gasped, and terror sliced into her gut. "TAI!"

"He has only fainted," the healer sighed quite calmly in his irritating voice. "Sometimes the salve hurts a bit."

Relief flooded Saali's body for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, and with it came annoyance. "A bit?" she demanded incredulously.

The healer finished wrapping Tai's arm, leaving it very neatly bandaged. "He will stay here until he comes to," he droned, letting her comment fly right over his head. "You had better go."

She nodded, suddenly exhausted. "Thank you," she murmured, and tried not to look at the other patients in the healer's tent as she left.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I killed him.

Saali wished Tai would hurry up and come to, so he could make some joke and make her forget about the Ranger, about his blood that was still on her sword.

She glanced almost fearfully at the sword in the corner of the tent. Its jewels gleamed mockingly at her, taunting her for being so weak, so... feminine. Such a bad soldier. Poor little Tasaali, she cannot even clean her own sword after battle, cannot even kill an enemy without throwing up...

Besides, the battle was all her fault... if only she had remembered where the camp was, none of this would have happened... such a bad spy...

That was the last straw. Her sword was talking to her. She needed to get out. She lurched to her feet and stumbled out of the tent, shoving aside the flaps rudely and nearly tripping on the rocks outside.

She had no clear idea of where she was going, but somehow she ended up outside Sir's tent. She pulled the flap open without knocking or calling out, not thinking of protocol.

Sir sat with his head in one hand, brooding. A small knife-cut traced its way across his forehead. He looked up, startled, as the widow stumbled in, and as he saw who it was, he clenched his jaw and looked at the ground.

"Tasaali."

Saali just stared at him for a moment. She had let him down hard. Everyone would doubt his judgment on everything now, and it was all because of one bloody loss and her lack of a marked trail.

"I -" She cleared her throat. "I am sorry, sir."

He raised his eyes to meet hers, and she saw the feeling in them - he wanted to forgive her, but he would not let himself. She saw his fatigue, and his pain at the loss. Her throat constricted, and she spun on her heel and fled the tent before he could say anything.

Calls of "Tasaali!" followed her, but she did not look back.

I killed him.

War was so different than she had expected. She had expected some sort of order, something more than two teaspoons of strategy mixed with a pound of chance. She had dreamed up heroics, of a mood of accomplishment after battle, not this, this melancholy tension that dominated the camp. She had never imagined the blood. Always the idealistic teamwork came to mind, always the feeling of striving for a greater goal - never the death, never the killing. Never his blood on her sword.

She almost tripped over Reni's foot - she had made her way to the part of the cave where the mumaks lazed, some still with blood caked on their metal-plated tusks. Her silent friend looked up at her questioningly.

She sighed and dropped to her knees as she took in the scene. Reni knelt by the side of a mumak that lay sprawled out on the ground. Its great leathery sides were barely moving, its legs riddled with green-fletched arrows. A great sword-slash stretched across its chest.

"It is... dying?" she asked timidly, and Reni nodded grimly. He looked the great beast over, and his eyes were sorrowful. And Saali remembered that the mumaks were all he had, and she pitied him.

Reni looked at her with a sudden fury in his eyes and clenched teeth.

"Cursed tarks," she agreed. She stretched her legs out in front of her and was quiet for just a minute, and the only sound was the rasping breath of the dying mumak. Reni sat motionless, almost meditative in his silent deathbed vigil, and suddenly Saali realized they were surrounded by death, and she was at peace with it. But just for a moment.

"I killed him," she said softly, and Reni looked at her calmly. "I ended his life - I never thought it would hurt so much, to kill. But it does. And I do not know why. He was the enemy, right? I was supposed to kill him. We are all supposed to. But even that seems wrong. And I do not know why. I do not know anything. It was all my fault, you know that? I was supposed to lead us to them, and I could not even do that. And then... him. His blood. I cannot forget it." Her voice grew louder as she talked, and she ached with the tears she would not release.

Reni was a good person to talk to, as all he did was listen. And as she stopped rambling, he took her hand and held it in his in a firm grasp, and looked at her with a strength in his eyes that steadied her like a lifeboat to a drowning person. And with that calm, she let her thoughts drift away, and the tears that throbbed in her throat disappeared like morning mist, and she gripped his hand back, and together they sat by the side of the mumak as it let loose its last breath.