The Road Goes Ever On And On

Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than Tithenwen and the plot!

Chapter Eighteen: Showdown

Tithenwen raced from the battle and rushed to her room. She quickly changed out of her Ranger clothes and into her favorite dress. It was the same dress that she had worn to Aragorn's Coronation and it was the dress that she always had seen herself wearing in her dreams. Tithenwen belted Anduril and her dagger around her waist once more and held the Evenstar for a second and whispered a prayer.

"This is for you ada," she whispered as she left the room.

Saruman was already waiting in the courtyard when she entered. He turned to see her and gasped and he looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"Ah, so you do remember me," Tithenwen said with a smile.

"This is not possible! You were dead! You were stabbed, fatally!" he said in horrified disbelief.

"Nope. I was stabbed, but not killed."

"You lead the people against me! How dare you!"

"How dare you kill people that I love? How dare you mess with my family?" countered Tithenwen.

"What are you talking about?" asked Saruman confused.

"You know what I'm talking about. Remember Nicholas? You killed him, you bastard! And my ada! You killed him too!"

Saruman laughed and Tithenwen sent him a death glare.

"I do admit to killing an old stubborn Ranger, but I don't know who you are talking about. And why can't you just die?"

"Because my destiny is to kill you!"

"Just as stubborn as your father! But he died too in the end! Why don't you just give up already! You aren't going to win!"

"There is always hope!"

"Prepare to die, Ranger's brat!" hissed Saruman as flame shot up all around the courtyard, allowing for no escape as he drew his sword.

Tithenwen glared at him and unsheathed Anduril in a flash. After touching her forehead with the blade, she swung the powerful sword to block an attack from the wizard. The wizard glared at her and she glared back. Parry, parry, attack, attack, went the sword fight, both evenly matched and both waiting for the other to make a mistake.

Saruman soon tired of the sword fighting and blasted a shot of wizard fire that Tithenwen quickly blocked with Anduril. But then Tithenwen made her mistake and when she attacked with Anduril, Saruman locked his sword against hers. Tithenwen tried to free Anduril, but she couldn't move it at all.

"Are you finally ready to give up? Are you ready to join your father?" asked Saruman in a voice akin to a hiss.

"You may have killed him but you will not kill me!" cried Tithenwen as she whipped out her dagger.

Saruman sent an evil smile straight at Tithenwen before sending another blast of wizard fire at her. Tithenwen managed to block most of the wizard fire with her dagger but the force of the blast knocked her to the ground and Anduril out of her hand. Tithenwen reached her hand towards Anduril, but it was just out of her reach. And Saruman rushed in with his sword.

Tithenwen dodged the blow and hopped off the ground and tried to move out of the way of the sword. But the smoke was quickly affecting the asthmatic Ranger and she was quickly dying. And she knew it. She had known all along. She had foreseen her death in the courtyard and knew that it had to happen. But she wasn't ready to die yet. She hadn't destroyed Saruman.

Choking, Tithenwen collapsed to the ground, dropping her dagger and she cried out, "Ada! Forgive me!"

A triumphant look appeared on Saruman's face as he brought his down to deliver a final blow to the dying Ranger. But his sword was met in midair with a clash of steel coming from Anduril. Saruman looked up and saw Aragorn who had Anduril. He sneered and Aragorn glared at him.

"Come to join the party?" asked Saruman.

"You wish!" he said angrily.

Tithenwen looked up from the ground and saw Aragorn. She quickly looked around and saw her dagger. Picking it up, she crawled towards Saruman and waited for the right moment. When both men lowered their swords, Tithenwen jumped, knocking Saruman to the ground and she stabbed the evil wizard in the heart.

"That was for Nicholas!" she hissed as the wizard, while a startled look on his face, died.

Tithenwen wanted to a happy/victory dance but the familiar burning returned to her and she fell backwards and hit her head on the cement and her eyes closed. Aragorn didn't notice her for a moment because he was so happy. He was dancing around and singing, "We won! Yeah we won! We took that wizard down!"

Then he realized that Tithenwen had passed out and he broke down into his whiny voice and started to cry. "Why does everyone always have to leave me?"

A moment later, Tithenwen blinked her eyes open and replied, "That would be because you never seem to bathe…"

"Tithenwen!" cried Aragorn joyfully as he hugged his daughter tightly.

"Ada, are you trying to kill me?" Tithenwen choked out. "Too tight!"

"Oh sorry!" cried Aragorn. "My mistake!"

Tithenwen rolled her eyes and went to stand up. She groaned in pain and Aragorn helped her off the ground. As soon as she was off the ground, she grumbled, "I don't need any help! I'm fine!" and Aragorn backed off, scared about what kind of mood she might be in.

Tithenwen then sighed and suddenly, the fire that Saruman had started, disappeared. Tithenwen looked around, puzzled, then shaking her head, walked out of the courtyard. Leading the way back to the fight, Tithenwen carefully looked around and noticed that all of Saruman's men were dead. The battle was over and they had won.

Author's Notes:

Double post! Yay! Chapter 19 will be up over the weekend! Enjoy!