Disclaimer: I'll let you figure this out on your own.
Heh…yeah I'm a horrible person who does not update. Sorry about that everyone. School interferes sometimes with the things I'd rather do. And discovering that anime is cool did not help me be productive in regards to this story! I've written the ending already though so I'm going to go back and fill things in. I've also shortened it up because I think it will increase the chances of me finishing it! I hope you are still reading and will enjoy the coming conclusion!
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Gimli slammed his fist down on the table, "We know they are holding the babe somewhere behind the army. How can we get through them all? Not even a dwarf can fight so many!"
Legolas nodded from where he leaned against the thick pillars that lined the hall, "We could use stealth. With armor from a few Uruks we could reach their leader's lair without being noticed."
Gimli growled, "Too dangerous, if we're caught there will be no way out."
"But what other choice do we have?" Inara's voice was quiet from where she sat at the table. "I want my child back; I do not care about any danger."
Gimli sighed, "Perhaps the elf is right, but I would prefer that we take care in what we do."
"We shall." Inara's voice would allow no dissent, "This is a task at which we cannot fail. I will not leave my son in the hands of those creatures."
Unconsciously Gimli's hand sought the young woman's, she gripped it tightly as if she feared to let go.
"I will get us the disguises we need," Legolas told them with a smile, "A few Uruk's will not awake from this night I think."
"Do not let them guess at what you do!" Gimli called after him as he strode from the hall, relieved at his friend's sudden return to good humor.
"An elf would never be so clumsy as to allow that!" Legolas called back to him.
Gimli turned to the young woman beside him, his rough hand coming up to her face, "Inara…"
She lifted her other hand, seeking his, "I know, you need not say it. I understand and I accept it, we live as we can, Gimli."
She smiled slightly, leaning against the dwarf, "Nothing in this world is easy or perfect."
Gimli nodded content to simply sit beside her in silence, though joy filled his heart at her words. It would not be an easy path, but at least he would not be walking it alone.
Legolas ducked out a small door in the side of the hall, latching it carefully behind him, and concealing it once again with brush. They would have to barricade it later, but for now it was a convenient exit. Not even the Uruks carefully watching the front gate would know what he was about.
For once the nearness of the Uruk-hai camp was an advantage. The elf unslung his bow from his back, carefully stringing it and drawing an arrow from his quiver. Their deaths would have to be silent. A single mistake and he would be surrounded by very angry, very hungry Uruks.
Ragk rolled over his nose twitching as a thin breeze wound its way through the camp. He smelled something…something that might taste good. His brow furrowed in concentration. Over his life Ragk had eaten a great many things, and smelled even more he would have liked to have eaten. So what was this?
Thinking was a rather difficult thing for Ragk. He sighed, about to go back to sleep when it came to him, an elf. The first thought that entered his head, was who had caught an elf and why weren't they sharing? The second was how unfair the world was as an arrow pierced his skull, ending his dreams of an elven dinner.
Legolas notched a second arrow letting it fly into the other Uruk at the campfire. Only one more to go, he thought, putting a third arrow against his bowstring. It amazed him how easy this was. Then again, Uruks weren't terribly intelligent to begin with and these were more interested in eating and sleeping than in keeping a close watch on intruders. After all who would disturb such a mighty army?
Legolas waited for sometime as the sky began to show the first signs of an approaching dawn. He shifted uneasily, and as he did so, a third Uruk came to the campsite Legolas had chosen to watch.
The elf's bow snapped up, the arrow taking the Uruk in the throat, dropping him with a gurgling sound. Legolas cursed, scrambling to his feet. He raced to the campsite, grimacing at having to touch the Uruks. They weren't known for their cleanliness.
Legolas hurriedly stripped what he needed, then kicked over the carefully balanced logs in the fire pit over. The greedy flames quickly caught the dry grass, forcing the elf to jump away as they began to spread. Soon there would be no way to tell how the Uruks had died and what was missing. In all likelihood it would be ascribed to their own clumsiness.
As he carried the rank smelling armor back with him, he smiled remembering Frodo and Sam describing using a similar trick to walk through Mordor. Now he could truly sympathize with them, over the foul smelling disguises he and his companions would soon be donning as well.
Gimli passed back and forth anxiously. The elf had been gone some time now. And if they did not hurry there would be no time to attempt a rescue before the battle began.
Finally, unable to wait any longer he spun towards the door. At that moment though it flew open, revealing the missing elf. Gimli stopped where he stood, glaring at the elf.
"Where have you been? I was about to go searching for you."
Legolas dropped the burdens he carried, "You should be more thankful. I had to be careful not to be seen. It was you after all that warned me so thoroughly to be cautious."
Gimli just snorted, reaching down to take one of the bundles from the elf. He wrinkled his nose though at the smell that rose off of them.
"Did you manage to find the most disgusting Uruks in that mass on the fields? Or was it just on accident that these smell this bad."
The elf folded his arms, "It would not have been my choice, I had to carry those back here you know, and I did not think a Dwarf would mind the smell."
Gimli growled, but restrained himself from continuing the argument; they had no time for this now. He hefted a piece of the armor, muttering about the shoddy workmanship that had gone into its creation. Legolas followed his actions, but the elf moved with an obvious reluctance.
As Inara approached the door opened a second time. This time it was Marja who stood framed in the entryway.
She nodded to the two, before turning to Inara, "I know you fear for your child. But I hope that I may ask something of you."
Inara hesitated, but nodded slowly.
"I stand alone with my people and they fear what is coming, rightly so that they should, for it will not be a clean battle. I hoped that one of you might ride to King Éomer for aid, once your task is complete and that you could help me rally my people while your companions go to rescue your son."
Inara shook her head angrily, "We would be more than happy to help you once I have my son safe once more, but until then there is nothing I can do."
But Marja stood firm, "My people are paralyzed by fear. I need help. My husband lies dead by my hand, awaiting burial and they do not know where to turn. I cannot do this alone."
"And what can I do to aid you in this?"
"They see you have no fear of the Uruk-hai who stand outside our gates. They see that you travel in the company of a dwarf and an elf and would not fear to fight the army that surrounds us to rescue your son. You they will believe in."
Inara opened her mouth for another furious retort, but something about the bitterness in Marja's voice held back her words. This woman had sacrificed much for her people and they feared her for it. They feared the blood that was on her hands, whether it was there by her choice or not.
"I will help you in any way that I can." She smiled as she heard the surprised intake of breath from her two companions.
"I am not so stubborn that I cannot change my mind when it is important. But…" She lifted her head, though she could not see them, her hands sought Gimli's face, "I am trusting you with the life of my son. Do not fail me."
Gimli gripped her hand, "Do not fear, we will bring him back to you."
Inara's fingers tightened, and then she slipped free, reaching out for Marja. The young noblewoman took her hand, pausing once before leading the other woman from the room, "You all have my thanks, and I hope that one day I will be able to repay you for this."
Legolas glanced at his friend, "Was this your doing?"
Gimli glared at him, then snorted, "No, and don't go giving her any ideas. If I thought I could have convinced her to stay where it was safe I would have. But she makes her own choices."
Legolas smiled, but it faded as he looked out over the dark hills, "I do not know that she will be much safer here than with us, my friend."
"Then let us hurry." Gimli pulled the reeking Uruk armor over his head.
The two figures skirted the edge of the Uruk camp. One tall, the other short and stout. At first glance they seemed little different from the hoards massed about the low hills, but that was before you were close enough to hear the mutterings of the short one.
Legolas glanced at Gimli, pitching his voice so only the disguised dwarf could hear him, "The Uruk-hai may understand no more of the tongue of the dwarves than I, but there may be some with enough of a mind to know the words you speak are not of their tongue."
Gimli snorted, "What Uruk is there that could string so many thoughts together as that?" But he ceased his muttering all the same. Something about the camp left him uneasy. Something here was not as it should be. He glanced up at the cave opening high up above the camp. It was not hard at least to determine where Virag, the leader of this rabble had made his camp.
As they made their way carefully towards the dark opening they avoided the flickering fires of the Uruks. Gimli's eyes swept over the hoard. It was by no means the size of the armies of Sauron and Sauramon but all the same, there was no way the small village could defeat so many.
It was then he realized what had been bothering him. The campfires were spread across the low rolling hills but the Uruks who circled them were few and were smaller than the ones they had fought before.
His hand tightened on his weapon. They were missing. The true warriors of this mixed and ragged army. The sick feeling that he had been trying to ignore threatened to choke him. He knew where they would be.
Ahead of him the elf glanced back near the crest of the hill. On the other side lay a long flat stretch of land between them and the large upshot of stone and dirt in which the cave lay.
Gimli steeled himself and continued making his way up the hill. The elf looked at him strangely as he passed, but shrugged. Their progress towards the crest of the hill seemed agonizingly slow. And then they passed it, revealing the low flat land below.
And revealing the army of Uruk-hai gathered before their leader, an immense warrior who held a tiny bundle.
The elf's eyes widened and his hand went for the blade sheathed at his waist. But Gimli caught his hand before he could draw it.
The dwarf shook his head, not trusting himself to speak. The Uruk-hai spread across the field below. They would have to find someway around them if they were to reach the leader and the child he held.
Gimli turned to the elf, to suggest an alternate route when a roar rose out of the basin. He froze, as the sound washed up and over, out into the still air. The Uruk high on the hill across from them raised the bundle he held. Gimli could feel the elf tense beside him. He knew what the elf had seen. A tiny face or hand perhaps. The Uruk held the child high, calling out over the roar in the foul tongue of its kind.
And then it began. The dark mass below began to surge and flow out up and over the hills. It was not the organized march of an army, but rather the uncontrolled and unstoppable wave of a flood. It rose up over the hill swallowing Uruk and child and hiding them from view.
Gimli watched helplessly as the tiny child disappeared among the flood of Uruk-hai that spread outwards from the basin, turning in the direction of the small village.
Gimli slammed his fist into the earth.
"The village cannot hold for long against this." Legolas voice was quiet.
Gimli shook his head angrily, "I cannot fail her. I gave her my word."
Legolas felt for his friend, hearing the pain in his voice, and with it the unquestioning rage. But they had little time, "If you still wish to save both Inara and the child, then we must defeat this army and Marja cannot do that alone."
Gimli nodded, "Aye, they need the King and his horsemen."
"I can reach the Golden Hall in a few days time. I will bring Éomer and aid."
"And I will see that the village still stands." He paused, "I will save him Legolas."
The elf gripped his friend's shoulder, "You will." Then he scrambled to his feet disappearing among the hills, already running to where he had hid a horse given to them for this purpose by lady Marja.
Gimli's fist tightened, remembering Inara's desperate plea. He would save Nodin, he had given his word, and he could not break it, especially because he had sworn to her he would do this thing.
