Authors notes: - Thank you for all the reviews. I have just finished my last exam and I am now happily back online after my weeks self – imposed ban! Rejoice! Hope you enjoy!
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Eomer quickly dismounted his horse allowing the animal a minute to recover. He saw Aeolian and Gimli hurrying towards him and braced himself for another barrage of bad news.
"Change of plan. We are pulling back to the Citadel. A reserve army has shown up and the forest is probably our only hope. Thranduil, Elrond, Aragorn, Gandalf and Kiren are headed towards the tower to try and rescue Azian and Legolas while hopefully defeating Sauron. Any questions?" Aeolian stated calmly as he drew alongside. Eomer just stared at him.
"Turn round. Head to the Citadel." He said again. Eomer remounted with a shake of his head.
"Do not try to understand laddie!" Gimli grumbled.
"I wasn't going to even try. ROHAN WITHDRAW!" he cried and the mounted warriors whirled around, all except the bay that Haran was riding which gamely trotted on oblivious to all attempts to turn and only stopped because Eomer's horse blocked the way. The change in pace nearly unseated the unfortunate Gondorian soldier who yelped and then cursed.
"Bloody horse!" he exclaimed.
"They are all bloody horses!" Gimli agreed and Eomer rolled his eyes. Reaching down he grabbed Haran's horse's reins turning the animal. He then slapped its rump and with a squeal from both horse and rider the animal trotted off in the direction they were going.
"We are splitting into groups to lessen our chances of being slaughtered. We will all meet at the Citadel. Take a division and I will see you there." Aeolian stated.
"Not if we get there first." Eomer challenged with a smile before charging after Haran.
"Men!" Aeolian exclaimed.
"I agree, dwarfs can easily beat men."
Aeolian smiled as Gimli hurried away.
"COMPANY DOUBLE TIME!" he yelled and was nearly drowned out by the cry of Nazgul which fortunately served to enforce his call.
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A battle of an intensity not seen for an age was currently being conducted in front of Azian's eyes. As if from no where Legolas had acquired skills for fighting that out shone any that the elf had seen before.
Legolas ducked a blast of lightening that caused the wall to explode into sharp shards which caused thousands of tiny cuts to mottle his pale skin.
"Missed!" Legolas taunted and ducked as another blast came his way. Azian remembered the way his little brother had taunted his older brothers in a similar fashion, it was disturbing.
"If I was trying to kill you I would have done so by now pet."
Legolas halted and turned to face Sauron.
"I am not your pet and I am not as easy to destroy as you seem to think."
"So the little prince has developed a backbone."
"A backbone? I have developed far more than that." Legolas leapt forward and latched both of his hands onto Sauron. The two froze and the air seemed to darken around the pair. Azian gasped. Something was wrong. He took a tentative step forward ready to duck at any possible burst of power from Sauron. Nothing happened the two did not even move. Azian stopped next to them and studied them. They seemed frozen as if turned to stone.
"This cannot be good." He muttered resisting the urge to touch them in case he did something.
Before he could begin to panic further on this situation the doors opened to reveal a Nazgul with the wizard they had knocked out looking remarkably mobile. Both halted as they took in the situation. Azian decided that a tactical retreat was in order and he hurried backwards. He would take Legolas's advice and try not to draw any attention to himself.
"What is going on?" the wizard questioned surprised but the Nazgul ignored him. Gliding forward it halted by the pair of them. Suddenly it flung out an arm and the doors slammed shut right in front of the wizard's nose who had been attempting to sneak out.
"My lord ordered you to be killed and I fully intend to fulfil his wishes. And you…" the creature hissed at Azian. "I will deal with you later." The cloaked head moved to face Azian and suddenly the elf was unable to move. Paralysed.
"Just so you don't have any ideas."
The Nazgul turned and then all Azian could hear was agonising screams knowing full well that it would be him next.
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Legolas drew his pair of knives and dropped into his familiar battle stance as he watched Sauron, clad in full armour, drew his sword as black as night. There was only the two of them wherever they were. It was dark all around apart from the circle in which they stood.
"Where are we? My mind or yours?"
Legolas stepped forward and twirled his knives.
"Can't talk and fight at the same time?" Legolas taunted. "You need to learn to multitask."
The elf smiled and darted in to begin the fight.
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Thranduil urged his horse faster desperate to reach his two youngest sons. Kahari's death had almost struck him a mortal blow but to lose two more sons would surely be the death of him.
They swiftly swept past the army as it was not as great in number as it appeared from the forest. In addition it seemed that the rear of the ranks was made up primarily of unsteady and wounded wild men. If those within the forest could break the front ranks they should be able to cause a rout. The Nazgul would be the ones causing the greatest of problems and defeating them would not be at all easy. Muttering a quick prayer for the safety of Aeolian and all behind them Thranduil urged his horse faster.
The tower grew more menacing dominating the horizon the nearer they got and the darkness in the air grew oppressive. The riders slowed as they entered the approaches and they drew to halt next to the path that led to the gates.
"That's Azian's horse." Kiren pointed at a body of a grey stallion sprawled on the path.
"Azian?" Thranduil whispered concerned.
"I can't see a body near the horse. The animal still lives." Elrond replied trying to sooth the elf king's heart.
"Well then he is in the tower." Aragorn commented.
"Any sign of any scouts?"
"Eleven. Four guarding the path and seven near the gate." Kiren stated quickly.
"We need a distraction." Thranduil said looking at Gandalf, the wizard in turn looked thoughtfully at Kiren and Aragorn.
"How would you two like to be copied?" he asked. The two looked warily at each other dreading the explanation of Gandalf's plan.
"Do we have a choice?" Kiren questioned looking as though he expected to be in a considerably more uncomfortable situation very shortly.
"Yes."
"Which means yes if you want us to all die in a horrible slaughter so essentially no." Aragorn replied sarcastically.
"Fine do your worst." Kiren muttered like a martyr.
"I shall try to better than that young elf."
"Now don't move." Gandalf warned and the two froze looking terrified.
After a few seconds Gandalf announced he was done. Kiren frantically felt his body for any missing parts and stopped when he heard laughter. Raising his head suspiciously he saw that Thranduil and Elrond were chuckling and Gandalf looked amused. Glancing towards Aragorn his mouth dropped open in shock.
"By the Valor."
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