DISCLAIMER – I don't own any of Tolkien's characters or Middle Earth place names etc

'Right,' said Thrrl. They were sitting on the stairs in the tower. They had stayed hidden in the shadows as the two Halflings, disguised in orc armour, slipped past them and out into the night. 'I let you have your way.'

'You did,' agreed Druluk,

'So will you please now reveal whatever the hell it is you've got planned?'

'I…'

'You do have a plan?'

'A plan…?'

'Druluk!'

'Look, only yesterday you were acting like all this was completely out of our hands. The Collective made a decision, remember? It's not up to us to plan…'

'Don't give me that! The Collective didn't tell us to sneak out of those caves…'

'True…'

'Druluk, please. Give me something…'

'What is it that you want to hear?'

'I…'

'You want to run away? Just the two of us?'

'No…'

'You want to fight in this war?'

'No…'

'I don't see any alternatives…'

'I don't want my sisters to die, Druluk.'

'Neither of us wants that.'

They both sat in silence for a moment, Druluk staring at his feet and Thrrl staring at the ceiling.

'You led a rebellion,' said Thrrl, out of the blue, 'Against Saruman. You formed an Orc Republic.'

'So?'

'So do that again.'

'This isn't Isengard, Thrrl.'

'I know,' she said. 'But what have we to lose by trying?'

Druluk could think of no reply.

………………

Ylfronir sat, leaning against a stone wall, outside the Houses of Healing in Minastirith. He stared with unseeing eyes somewhere in the middle distance. Somewhere inside the building, Aragorn was no doubt tending to Nathradril, along with the other wounded.

The hands of a king are the hands of a healer, he thought, and laughed humourlessly to himself at the irony of it. But nothing seemed to matter any more. He was numb. He had felt nothing as he ran towards her, back on the battlefield. He had felt nothing as he stood over her body, fighting off any orcs which approached with a ferocity he had not known himself capable of. But now…now he was beginning to feel something. The edges of the deepest depression he had ever felt.

He became vaguely aware of someone crouching down beside him.

'Ylfronir?'

It was Aragorn.

'Ylfronir, are you alright?'

For a moment, he could not speak a word. Then,

'So much destruction,' he said, his mouth dry, 'so much loss, so many wasted lives…'

'Wasted? A life given for the sake of a cause such as ours is not wasted, Ylfronir,'

'A life needlessly lost is a life wasted, whether given freely or not.'

'True,' Aragorn paused, then continued 'but lives lost today were not lost needlessly.'

'You believe that?'

'You think I could carry on if I didn't?'

The future king sat down to lean against the wall as well.

'Nathradril will be alright,' he said, simply. Ylfronir opened his mouth, but found himself speechless for the second time. He closed his mouth again, and swallowed, resisting the tears which sprang into the corners of his eyes,

'The wound was not serious, but she had been poisoned...'

'…by orcs, in Moria,' Ylfronir blurted out, 'she should never have left Lothlorien, this is all my fault…'

'…but her will to live is incredibly strong,' continued Aragorn, as though Ylfronir had not spoken. 'She will be fine…. Incredibly strong,' he repeated softly, thoughtfully, even remorsefully, to himself. But Ylfronir was not interested in interpreting such subtleties,

'Can I see her?' he asked. Aragorn smiled a tired smile,

'Of course. But she's sleeping…'

'…I won't wake her,' he said, getting to his feet, 'I just…'

'…I know. Go.'

………………..

'Excuse me!' shouted Thrrl, her voice cracking with the strain, 'Um, can I have everyone's attention?'

'It's no good,' muttered Druluk, 'no one's listening,'

'EXCUSE ME!' she shouted again, ignoring him, 'I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY TO YOU ALL!'

Druluk looked around at the crowds of orcs. They had come across this communal canteen area by chance as they made their way back towards where they had left the other Collective Orcs. A few ramshackle stone buildings, probably an old farm of some kind, nestling on the lower slopes of the mountain, had been used to house some big cooking fires, where some dubious looking meat was now in the process of being roasted. It must have been a major food station, since several hundred orcs were milling around, some waiting for food, others gobbling their share down hastily.

'HEY!' yelled Thrrl, not giving up, 'I'M TALKING TO YOU! YES, ALL OF YOU!'

A few faces turned in their direction. Encouraged, Thrrl continued,

'MY FELLOW ORCS, MY ALLIES, MY FRIENDS, PLEASE HEAR ME OUT!'

'Make it snappy,' hissed Druluk, eyeing the crowd, 'they're not in the mood for speeches.'

'I SHALL BE BRIEF,'

'You don't need to shout, I'm right here…oh…'

'…WHAT IS IT THAT YOU MOST DESIRE?'

Most of the crowd seemed to be paying attention now, so Thrrl lowered her voice, which was now hoarse from the shouting,

'Well?' she asked, 'does anyone want anything?'

'How about some food?' came a shout from the back. Druluk grinned, but Thrrl simply glared,

'Does anyone want freedom?' she asked, accusing eyes flicking round at the assembled throng. General foot shuffling ensued.

'No one?' she said, appalled, 'does freedom mean nothing to you?'

'Um,' whispered Druluk, 'this might not be quite how to persuade people…'

'Don't you want the chance to make decisions for yourselves?' she went on, ignoring him.

'Um, you should probably explain what you're asking them…' muttered Druluk, placing a restraining hand on her elbow. She shook him off,

'What are you all doing here?' she asked, flinging her arms wide, 'what are you working towards?'

No one said anything.

'I'll tell you what you're working towards. Fulfilling Sauron's greed. That's all. He's using you. You won't get anything out of this war…'

'We will have Middle Earth!' shouted someone in the crowd

'No! He will! And you will be enslaved, just as you are now…'

'We aren't slaves…'

'Oh!' she cried, mockingly, 'Oh, are you not? Are you not bound to obey Sauron's every command? Are you not expected to labour for nothing? Are you not expected to lay down your lives if that's what he calls for?'

She laughed, slightly hysterically. Druluk tried to grab her arm again, but she pushed him away, and walked towards the cooking fires. One of the walls of the ruined farm building had collapsed into a pile of rubble, which she scrambled up, to better observe the whole crowd. They themselves watched her cautiously, several of them looking more thoughtful than before, but most just looking confused.

'I used to think like you,' she declared, nodding her head to add emphasis, 'I really did. But now I see the truth.'

Druluk stared at her. She directed the next words straight at him, her eyes shining with reflected firelight

'The truth is that we are the ones with the power here. We are the majority here. And if we want to use that power, we…'

Her voice broke off suddenly, as she looked straight up into the sky. Druluk craned his neck, confused, to see what had startled her. And he saw a dark shape, just about visible against the night sky, getting bigger and bigger and…

…the Nazgul dived. For a moment, the crowd stood, stunned, then

'Thrrl!' Druluk choked, dashing forward, as the great winged beast swooped upwards once again.

She was still standing on top of the pile of stones, but as he watched, she swayed on her feet. As he reached the foot of the pile of rubble she dropped to her knees. And as he scrambled to her side she almost collapsed onto her face, but he grabbed her before she fell. He felt the blood leaking from the wound in her chest smother his fingers. He felt her struggling to breathe once, twice, three times…

'This isn't over,' said Druluk desperately, 'this can't be it…'

'It's…not…' she gasped, 'you've got to make them see…'

'Don't try to talk,'

'But…'

'I'll make them see, Thrrl, I will…'

Her breaths were even shallower now. He held onto her, as if he could somehow stop the life escaping. Another breath…another…A sudden shudder ran through her whole body…

…and then she was gone.

…………………..

'Did we win?' murmured Nathradril, looking blearily up at him

'Minastirith is safe,' replied Ylfronir, for now. Thewords hung in the air, unsaid.

She shifted uncomfortably against the pillows.

'Aragorn says you're going to be fine…' said Ylfronir, trying to lighten the mood.

'Well, of course I am!' she exclaimed, 'it was barely a scratch, I don't know why you're being so over dramatic…'

'…Over dramatic! You…' Ylfronir exploded, then bit back his words as he saw her grinning,

'Celidel's here,' he said, changing the subject, 'Aragorn sent a party to go and fetch him from the ships. He was pretty annoyed at having missed all the action.'

'Have you spoken to him, then?'

'Yes. I apologised for stealing the horse.'

'And?'

'And he said that I would never be welcome in Lothlorien again, that I had made a mockery of the Lady Galadriel's hospitality and that I brought disgrace upon all elves by my treacherous dealings with orcs.'

'Oh…'

'Don't worry. I think he's still embarrassed that he fainted when the Nazgul had hold of us.'

He went and sat on the edge of her bed, trying to formulate the words he wanted to say into sentences,

'Are Legolas and Gimli alright?' she asked suddenly

'Er…yes,' he replied shortly, still preoccupied,

'Ylfronir!' she reproached him, 'I don't know what's the matter with you! If it wasn't for Legolas...'

'…Prince Legolas…'

'Ylfronir, it's not his fault he's royalty…'

'Have you forgotten everything we stand for? Or…' he stood up and strode over to the window, not wanting to look at her '…did you never stand for it in the first place?'

'What the hell do you mean by that?' she snapped, 'I care about democracy enough to actually do something about it, unlike some…'

A sudden flood of anger washed over him, and he exclaimed

'…oh don't make this about me! I know, Nathradril, I know about you and Legolas…'

'What? What do you know? Are you still angry about that time when we staged that blockade of the palace and I spoke to him for like a second…?'

'Don't play games, Nathradril. It was the night before I left. I…' he hesitated, 'I heard the pair of you talking, in…'

'…up in that old oak tree,' breathed Nathradril, realisation dawning, 'Ylfronir, it's so not what you think…'

'…what was I supposed to think?' said Ylfronir, bitterly

'Ylfronir, it was an act! It was a plan…'

'…it…what?'

'…the plan was for me to seduce him and then…'

'…I can't believe I'm hearing this…'

'…we were going to blackmail him, and force him to…'

'…why didn't anyone tell me about this so called plan?'

'Because we knew you were too damn principled to approve.' She paused for breath. Ylfronir turned towards her, raging,

'So?'

'So what?'

'So what happened? Did the plan work? Did…'

'…no!'

'What happened then?'

'Nothing happened! You're not the only one with principles, it seems. And I wouldn't have gone through with it anyway, I realised that even as I was standing there…'

'I still can't believe this…' Ylfronir rubbed his forehead with one hand distractedly,

'You could ask him,' said Nathradril, grinning suddenly, 'I'd like to see that conversation…'

'You…' began Ylfronir, having to stifle a smile, 'you…'

'I'm sorry, Ylfronir,' she said, with perfect seriousness, 'I'm sorry that we kept the plan from you. That was wrong of us…And it was a foolish plan anyway…' her voice drifted off, as she looked at him anxiously. And he felt the last vestiges of his anger dissipate, with the sweet relief of knowing all his fears had been unfounded

'More than foolish,' he said, laughing, 'I'm surprised the whole campaign didn't fall apart after I left, if that was the sort of stuff you came up with,'

'Hey! What about my idea to get that ring off Mithrandir's body?'

'That would be Mithrandir who's walking about in Minastirith right now, would it?'

'Are you serious?'

'Never more so.'

Nathradril stared at him incredulously,

'I think you need to fill me in,' she said.

………………………

Druluk heaved Thrrl's body into his arms, and staggered down the pile of stones. As he reached the ground, one of the orcs from the crowd approached him cautiously

'Is she…?'

'What do you think?'

The other orc took a step backwards at the sight of his expression, but did not turn away,

'That was…'

'…terrifying? unbelievable? Wrong?' suggested Druluk, his voice higher pitched than normal,

'She didn't deserve that,'

'No,' agreed Druluk, 'she didn't.' His arm muscles were beginning to burn.

'What she was saying…'

'…she was trying to help you. She was trying to make you see that you don't have to put up with the way things are. She was…' he choked, as he fought not to let himself sob, 'she was trying to show you that this life you lead is barely a life at all…And you know what?' Druluk stared questioningly at the orc, demanding a response,

'What?'

'She made her point. She's made the ultimate point. And if you can't see it now then you never will.'

Druluk shifted Thrrl slightly in his arms, and began to walk away. Scurrying steps behind him made him turn. It was the same orc,

'Where are you going?'

'To see what the rest of her people have to say about this.'

'Who?'

'The Orc Collective of Moria.'

'Where?'

'Back in the caves.'

'You'll never carry her alone…'

'…your opinion has been noted…'

'…let me help you,' said the orc, simply

'What?' Druluk could hardly believe his ears,

'I said…'

'…I heard what you said, but…why?'

'Because she didn't deserve to die like that.'

Druluk stared at the orc's earnest expression.

'OK,' he said, 'you can help me.' The orc took a step forward, and Druluk continued 'But be warned that I intend to carry on what she started.'

The other orc merely nodded, and Druluk smiled a bleak smile

'So,' he said, 'I'm Druluk, what's your name?'

'Tlox.'

'OK, Tlox.'
He started to walk away slowly, beckoning Tlox to follow with a jerk of his head. 'This is…was…Thrrl,' he said, his voice subdued. 'And what she was trying to say was…'