Authors notes: Thanks to all my lovely reviewers-)
OO
Azian blinked repeatedly as he took in five Aragorns' looking back at him.
"Um…right." He murmured and then a smile burst across his face as he watched Aragorn tuck a strand of hair behind his ears, well five Aragorns' did. Lifting an arm he watched as his five copies did the same.
"This is fantastic." He said in awe. "Imagine the possibilities." He and Aragorn grinned like small children. The elders laughed at them.
"Unfortunately for you this is only very temporary and you had better move quickly before it wears off." Gandalf said interrupting the moment.
"Well now we know you can do this expect some requests in the future." Aragorn said before he kicked his horse into a canter, Kiren quickly followed.
"When we depart Middle-Earth's future is in their hands!" Elrond pointed out.
"Well I tried." Thranduil said with a sigh.
With two woops the man and elf burst out of the trees with their copies matching their every move. Immediately the orcs stepped forward to challenge them, they engaged all ten foes and were totally befuddled when their weapons passed straight through the copies. Aragorn and Kiren capitalised on this quickly dispatching them. As soon as all the orcs were down the others moved out of the trees. The copies had already begun to fade as they gathered together on the path.
"We had better move quickly before reinforcements come." Aragorn stated quickly.
"Reinforcements are not coming." Thranduil replied.
"What?"
"Sauron would not let us get this close with only a few orc guards. I have sent armies to this place and only had a few survivors return. He is distracted and I fear that Legolas is probably very involved."
Elrond nodded bowing to Thranduil's detailed knowledge of this place and the evil it contained. A sombre mood descended upon the group the darkness affecting their mood as they approached the main gates. Gandalf uttered words of a dark language that made the elves shiver.
"How do you know these things?" Kiren questioned surprised at the depth of knowledge the wizard possessed of the black arts. Gandalf smiled.
"A wizard knows a great many things."
The courtyard was empty, no sentries or guards.
"This is far too easy." Kiren said nervously glancing about. He caught movement in the corner of his eye.
"We've got company!" he called as two figures stepped towards them. Kiren recognised them as the pure ones and immediately he raised his sword.
"Hold Kiren. Their connection to the wizard has been severed because they have served their function. Fortunately for us they have not been dispatched and therefore they can be very useful."
"Are you coming?" Thranduil demanded already at the steps waiting to enter. The others followed leaving Gandalf talking to the pure ones; they then turned to follow as well. Suddenly Gandalf staggered and Elrond immediately grabbed him.
"What's wrong?" he asked concerned.
"Legolas has done something very foolish. We must hurry." With no further explanation the wizard swept past the group.
O
Aeolian swerved his horse trying to keep his movements random to try and prevent the Nazgul from being able to focus its attack. Turning in the saddle he tried to determine the positioning of both his elves and orcs. As it had been theorized the dark army had been unable to maintain its lines and had split into many groups resembling a disorganised rabble. They had not been helped by the damage Aeolian's elves had inflicted by rigging quickly built traps or halting to launch a barrage of arrows with devastating effect. This had caused the orcs to fall back slightly but they were still pressing hard and for them to be able to get to the citadel they needed to stall them further.
"Wynean!" Aeolian called to the elf riding next to him.
"My lord?"
"The clearing ahead. The one with the weeping willows?"
"What about it?" Wynean questioned.
"We need to stall them and give the others a chance to reach the Citadel. At the clearing we stand and hold our position!"
"Yes Sir." He quickly relayed the orders down the line. To give themselves more time they urged their horses faster. As soon as they entered the clearing the elves that had heard the orders executed very sharp and neat turns. Ten elves stood waiting for the orcs to burst through the trees. It did not take long and the elves were quickly engaged.
Aeolian thrust out his sword taking down two orcs with a single blow. Despite the fact they were overwhelmed by orc numbers the elves had halted the forward thrust. The forest was tunnelling the orcs into the clearing and those at the rear were trampling their comrades in front succeeding in aiding the elves in their efforts.
"HOLD THE LINE!" he called as he saw one of the elves fall. He loathed this part of command. Knowing that every moment he told them to hold the line was condemning them to death but at the same time it was saving hundreds.
Another elf fell and suddenly he heard the familiar cry of Rohan. Eomer you idiot! He cursed. Appearing behind them in a thunder of hooves were the horse lords. Aeolian turned his full attention back to the battle but before he could raise his sword for the next blow something grabbed him from behind. He was pulled roughly into position behind Eomer. Before he could demand an explanation Eomer veered his horse around nearly unseating the barely settled elf.
"You elves and your bloody minded heroism." The man spat.
"They needed to be stalled." Aeolian retorted angrily.
"You would have all been slaughtered for the benefit of gaining a brief few seconds. That would have been a terrible waste of life."
Aeolian was prevented from retaliating by the appearance of the Citadel. The horsemen charged towards the main gates and as soon as they were in the gates slammed shut.
"SEARCH THE WHOLE PALACE!" Aeolian commanded as he dismounted. "I want to make sure none of the orcs have remained to cause us trouble. We can't deal with enemy within as well as those without."
"We probably can't deal with those outside anyway." Eomer murmured. Aeolian looked thoughtful.
"Come with me."
OO
Legolas stumbled as Sauron struck him hard across the shoulders but quickly brought his knife back stabbing it into his attacker's leg. Sauron cried his fury and Legolas quickly moved out of the way.
"I suppose despite the fact I despise that wizard I should thank him." He said circling the staggering demon.
"I will still defeat you elfling." Sauron snarled. He was radiating an almost choking evil but Legolas had been surrounded by it for so long that he no longer felt it.
"You made a mistake." Legolas smiled "And you shall regret it."
Almost dancing forward Legolas launched a series of stinging attacks. Coupled with the added power the elf was unstoppable. Sauron turned on the defensive backing away with the intensity of Legolas's blows.
With a powerful thrust Legolas knocked Sauron to the ground.
"Now are you going to beg?"
Sauron lifted his arm and Legolas felt the air being sucked from his lungs. The elf fell to his knees dropping both knives.
"Didn't I teach you anything? You are a fool pet and it shall give me great delight to destroy every last tendril of your very being."
OO
