Chronicle 8
Nienna pulled the straps around her armour down sharply, tightening them. Lifting her blades, she twirled them through her fingers easily and slid them into place at her sides.
"Nienna?" Legolas entered the room.
She turned and smiled at him, "Yes?"
"I must ask something of you," he looked down at his feet.
Nienna stepped towards him and tried to get a look at his face, "What is it?"
Legolas looked up at her, "Don't go into battle this night."
"What!" Nienna exploded in anger, "How dare you ask me that? Why would you even contemplate…"
Legolas silenced her with a finger to her lips, "Please… stay in the fortress, protect the women and children. I need to know that you are safe. I don't know if I can protect you if you fight."
"Protect me? Legolas, we have been through this. I do not need protecting; I can take care of myself."
"If anything was to happen to you…"
"Nothing will happen."
Legolas placed a hand on her cheek, "Please." He looked down into her eyes and she felt her resolve crumble.
"As you wish…" Nienna took his hand in her own, "But this is the last time Legolas." She placed her hand on his chest and murmured, "Be careful."
Legolas leant towards her just as a horn sounded. He looked up, "It is time." Taking her hand they walked out onto the walls.
She turned to him, ran a hand down the side of his face, "Watch over Gimli and Aragorn… bring them back safe."
"I give you my word."
She looked at the dwarf readying himself for battle and rushed awaytowards the fortress.
"A Eruchîn, ú-dano i faelas a hyn an uben tanatha le faelas! (Show them no mercy, for you shall receive none!)" Nienna hid in the shadows and listened to Aragorn's words. From where she stood she could see and hear her three friends. She knew that Legolas would be angered by her deceit but she also knew there was no other way; she had to fight.
She smiled to herself as she listened to the elf and dwarf's bantering. Suddenly, as though attacking her from the night, the realisation of the danger and finality of this battle hit her. She realised that this could be the last time she saw any of them alive; by the end of this battle she could be alone. She looked out at the advancing army and for the first time in her life she was afraid. Not for herself, but for her friends; for their lives.
She closed her eyes and murmured Vara tel' Seldarine; an ancient Elvish spell for protection. She opened her eyes just in time to see the arrow slide from the bow and whistle through the air, landing squarely in an Orc. If it wasn't for the timing it would have been a great shot.
"DARTHO! (Hold!)" Aragorn called out, trying to wait the army out.
In a moment of silence everything was still. Then came the roar of the Uruk-hai. The battle had begun.
Nienna readied her arrows.
"Faeg i-varv dîn na lanc a nu ranc (Their armour is weak at the neck and under the arms)!" Legolas yelled advice to the other archers.
Nienna realigned her bow; if she was to fire, she would fire a killing blow. Aragorn ordered the strike and she felt the arrow slip between her fingers and out into the night. Order after order came to fire.
Then it happened; the first of them fell. An elf just a metre from her fell from the walls. Nienna watched his body slump. The sound of wood hitting the wall brought her back.
"Pendraid (ladders)!" Aragorn warned.
Nienna pulled her broadsword from its sheath and sliced the chest of the first Uruk across the wall. She jumped back as another came at her, its weapon hitting the stone where she had stood. She kicked it swiftly, knocking it backwards into another. Both fell backwards off the wall.
She heard Gimli's voice, "Argh! I'll have no pointy-ear outscoring me." She smiled and continued fighting, removing the sword arm of an Orc, who looked at it in shock and fell back, causing an Uruk to trip. She took the opportunity to look over the edge, the army swarming below. "May the gods help us." She murmured before plunging her sword into another.
Aragorn's voice sounded in the chaos, "Togo hon dad, Legolas! Dago hon (Stop him Legolas! Kill him)!"
She rushed back to edge to see an Uruk with a torch. She looked down the wall to Legolas who was furiously firing arrow after arrow. It was too late; the Uruk was out of sight. The wall exploded and she felt herself being flung backwards.
She felt the air leaving her body as she hit the ground hard. She tried to catch her breath and pulled herself to her feet. An Uruk charged at her and she reached for her sword, finding an empty sheath. She ducked and punched the Uruk soundly in the stomach. As she did so, she scanned the ground for her sword, finding nothing.
Standing straight, she pulled out her twin blades and slashed the Uruk across the throat. Instinct made her twisted her other blade backwards. She felt it slide easily in the stomach of an Orc.
She heard Aragorn once more, "Nan barad! Haldir! Nan barad (Pull back to the keep, Haldir)!" She looked to him and then up at Haldir. The elf called out to his men, not seeing the Uruk behind him.
"Haldir!" Nienna screamed his name in warning as the blade came down into his back. She ran towards him, massacring those in her way. Another struck him and Aragorn called out to him.
Aragorn reached the elf before she did and held him in his arms. Nienna knelt beside them, the tears running down her face. Haldir looked up at her and an understanding passed between. Finally they were at peace. He took his last breath and slipped away. Visions of chaos were all around them but the only sound she could hear was her own crying.
More Uruk-hai approached and Aragorn sprung to his feet, and pushed them back. He turned and, grabbing her wrist, pulled Nienna up from the ground. "He is dead," he said fiercely in her ear, "And unless you want to join him, you need to fight."
With that he left her and ran to the gates. The anger at Haldir's murder renewed the spirit in her and she spun, landing a kick to an Orc's jaw. She lifted her blades once more and spun them between her fingers. She used one to stop the blow of a broadsword and slid the other easily across her attacker's chest. The Orc slumped down in front of her and she moved to the next.
One after the other Nienna's strength carried across the fortress and back up onto the walls. She reached for a ladder and pushed it backwards onto the army below. Above the din she heard Théoden call out, "Gimli! Aragorn! Get out of there!"
She looked over to the outside of the gates where the man and dwarf were pushing back the advancing army. Legolas called out to them and threw down a rope. She rushed to help as he struggled to pull their friends up. For a moment he was caught off guard and looked at her in disbelief. She looked into his eyes defiantly and continued to pull at the rope.
As Aragorn and Gimli clambered over the edge, Théoden called for their retreat. Nienna looked around at the massacre and back at Legolas. He grabbed her arm and dragged her behind him into the fortress, Aragorn yelling out, "Hurry! Get them inside! Come, to the keep!"
"You promised you would stay inside!"
"I never promised you anything. I didn't say that I promised."
The two elves stood face-to-face in the inner fortress glaring at one another.
"This is no time for petty arguments!" Aragorn scolded them both, "What is done is done. We must concentrate on winning this war."
"The fortress is taken. --It is over." Théoden's shoulders slumped, his body weary and deflated.
"You said this fortress would never fall while your men defend it. They still defend it.
They have died defending it!" Aragorn replied.
"It is not over until the last of us fails." Nienna told the king.
Banging reached the inner doors, and distant cries of fear were heard from the caves. Éowyn appeared, "My lord, the women and children…"
Aragorn turned to the king, "Is there no other way for the women and children to get out of the caves?"
The king and his men remained silent.
"Is there no other way?" Aragorn demanded an answer.
"There is one passage. It leads into the mountains. But they will not get far. The Uruk-hai are too many." Gamling told him.
Aragorn turned to Éowyn, "Send word for the women and children to make for the mountain pass." He turned to the men, "And barricade the entrance!"
"They will not survive." Gambling told him.
"Yes, they will." Nienna stepped up, "Give me a broadsword and I will protect them for as long as I can."
"I will also." Éowyn added.
"So much death. What can men do against such reckless hate." Théoden said to no one in particular.
The Uruk continued to hammer at the doors. Aragorn looked to the door and turned to the king, "Ride out with me."
Théoden turned to look at him.
"Ride out and meet them."
A triumphant smile played on the kings lips, "For death and glory?"
Aragorn gripped his shoulder, "For Rohan. For your people."
"The sun is rising." Gimli called out.
The four friends looked at each other, remembering Gandalf's words; "Look to my coming at first light on the fifth day. At dawn look to the East."
"Yes…" Théoden looked to the doors again, "Yes! The horn of Helm Hammerhand shall sound in the deep one last time."
"Yes!" Gimli cried out, exalted. He rushed from the room towards the horn tower.
"Let this be the hour when we draw swords together." Théoden swung himself onto a horse, "Fell deeds awake. Now for wrath. Now for ruin. And the red dawn!"
The others followed suit. Nienna looked up at Legolas on his steed, and handed him her last arrows, knowing he would use them better. She turned on her heel and ran into the caves, helping Éowyn barricade the entrance before running down into the caves.
"We must leave!" she called out to the people, "Take nothing with you and flee to the mountains."
She lifted the broadsword and looked to Éowyn who did the same, "Ready?"
Éowyn looked back, smiled and nodded.
"Let them come."