The Third Battle

Lorien, March 22nd Third Age 3019

Gildor's POV

The watch on the borders never slacked, still the third attack took us by surprise. The orcs came at night, and it was only when the wolves howled frantically that we realized something was afoot. These were our wolves howling, not the ones of Dol Guldur. Even as we ran from our posts to form lines with the defence, the changewolves and wolves that had remained in the woodland that night came running. Raven skidded into me, furred again, and Faire followed, mercifully not skidding into me as well. Raven had saddled her in haste, probably with someone's help because it would have been impossible to get all the straps and pieces into place alone.

'They come across the river. They swim, they have sent werewolves'

"You stay behind the first line" I ordered the gathered Ashi'kha firmly "If possible, stay even behind the second. You can deal with whatever comes through however you see fit. Saka'nor, you run to Celeborn at the northern marsh, Shand'rel, you to Rhiwalagos at the western edge. Tell them the werewolves might split away from us and go round to attack them"

The wolves took off. I mounted and turned Faire to run along the invisible line where our first defence would be stationed, shouting for archers and spears to align "Spears to the front. Stand close as if you expected cavalry. Kneel and brace the spear-tip at your head's height. They will try to jump you. Longbows, stand back behind the second line. You in the trees, pick off whatever you see, but listen for volley-commands as well"

Despite the haggling about my command in the beginning they obeyed without question. The first of our wolves that had howled far away came flying, near invisible shapes in the meadows between the reduced wood-edge and the river.

'They will shoot them' the wolf danced around Faire's legs in agitation.

"No" I snarled, shouting "Archers, stay. Spears, let them pass. That's our wolves"

From inside the wood the armoured fighters came running, Ivornen leading them towards me. They all had helms as well. I nodded in satisfaction.

"String them out some distance behind the spears" I ordered him "Their armour must stand against teeth first of all"

Faire was running heavily up and down behind the aligned spear-bearers. On arriving here I had added to her light armour to be specially effective against werewolf-attacks. That meant in addition to the leather-guards on her sides and back there was chain-mail protecting her belly, chest and throat. That was laborious to attach and had considerable weight, but there were no such great distances to cross here. To use as armour on a battlefield, this would have been impossible, but I only had Faire running along the eastern section that had been assigned to me.

Our wolves came in, tongues lolling, and were allowed to pass unmolested between the spear-bearers. No one lost nerve and shot at them, either.

I turned to Raven "You, too. Back at once! Behind the second line"

His ears flattened 'No'

I turned Faire on him and drove him back "Now!"

For a moment he stared at me in rage and defiance, flaring his ruff as an angry cat would puff itself up. Then he turned and was gone. Whatever orcs encountered him first would certainly bear the brunt of his frustration. I waited for a breathless, silent moment. Faire paced up and down behind the line of spear-bearers. I saw the werewolves earlier this time. They were as large as changewolves.

"There they come. Longbows!"

A volley hissed over. Many arrows thudded harmlessly into the ground, but a handful of shapes stumbled, going head over heels when their run was broken. Some got up and ran on, and still more were coming "Longbows again!"

The first arrows of the tree-archers took off the nearer wolves with more certain aim as the next volley from the longbows hissed over our heads. In the distance, I saw some werewolves split off in packs to the sides. So Celeborn and Rhiwalagos would have them on their hands. But the main pack still came for my line. The wolves reached the spears, and some ran up on the fence, impaling themselves. Other judged distance and height better, and leaped. Some spear-bearers managed to drive their spears into the leaping wolves, but they stood up for that, which gave them an opening to attack by the incoming wolves.

"Stay down!" I roared. Faire charged into what wolves she could when they came over the spears. A particularly large one vaulted the fence easily and would have crashed into our side had Faire not turned sharply. The wolf smacked against her armoured side and landed beside us, a little dazed. I dealt it a swift stroke with my sword but had no time to see if it was dead.

No more wolves came. About half of them had been able to move on to the second line, though they were still under fire from the archers in the trees.

"Spears, retreat" I shouted "Stand behind the foot-company. Ivornen, lead them all forward if you can. There will surely be orcs after the wolves"

I could not see what was happening behind the second line. Judging by the sounds, werewolves and ours were engaged by now. Ivornen came up with his line, panting "The wolves were intent on passing us. They went straight for the furred ones, but from what I saw, the Ashi'kha hold their own well"

I swore, but then two wolves came towards us from the meadows, yipping. Ashi'kha. Wisely, they ran straight for Faire and did not attempt to enter the forest.

'Orcs' one hissed into my mind 'Rows and rows. This way, not splitting. But no more coming across water yet. No more wolves. Shinosh watches'

I took their news at face-value and organized the fighters I had for a concentrated attack. Soon we saw the lines coming towards us – and the archers highest in the trees set up a howl of their own.

"Fifty rows deep, maybe a hundred long"

I hesitated. With a mounted rhevain force the size of my current one I would have attacked. Leaving behind half of my force we could have driven a breach into a line that was longer than deep, with our remaining force either splitting to engage the two smaller hosts or attacking from the rear if the orcs threatened to surround us. But these were, though armoured, mostly Silvans, and on foot. Also I had been ordered in no uncertain terms that I was not to attack. Sending Ivornen with part of his fighters west I galloped northwards and we arrayed a firm line of defence. Behind that in the thickets the Ashi'kha and wolves stationed themselves, ready to cut off single fighters, pick off strays, and lead strike-and-retreat-attacks out of their cover. Briefly, I saw Raven and Saka'nor, skulking near the last armoured fighters, waiting to be the first to pick off whatever came to them. I sent a swift, wordless prayer to Orome before Faire carried me back to the front. The orcs' armour was black, all metal-pieces dulled. This time, my command to the archers was silent. The first rows of advancing orcs were well within longbow range before I gave the archers freedom to fire to heart's content. A second later, the bowmen in the trees loosened their own arrows. The wolves had attacked far-flung and running like the wind – the orcs advanced in relatively tight ranks. The descent of the first few volleys of longbows and tree-archers cut considerable breaches into their host. But they reformed quickly and stormed on, getting out of longbow-range and clashing with our defence. I wished repeatedly we had cavalry as Faire ploughed through the attackers, her heavy armour giving her impact we had never had before. She practically waded in orcs while I could lop off heads in almost leisurely fashion. We just had to stay in motion. This first wave of orcs was quenched too soon. I heard the wolves howl, and knew more was in store. I wondered how it was going with Raven. Soon word came via the wolves of the next wave of attack. Time dragged on as we re-formed and slew what remained of the first wave. I saw no dead elves, but several were wounded.

The real trouble was that we had no reinforcements and no troops in reserve. Within Lorien we could only shift our forces, but we lost what we lost. If far stronger troops were sent against us, this would become a siege that would drive us into Caras Galadhon with little hope of breaking out. I had no time to ponder either that or Raven's fate. The next wave of orcs was greater, nearly double as much as the first, and swifter. They were accompanied by werewolves as well, and far more came unscathed through the longbows. The fighting turned severe. I lost track of time and reason. Faire was blowing heavily, my arm throbbed painfully and I could feel blood trickle under my left arm-brace. At least it had not been my sword-arm, but it became hard work to lift and strike with my blade one-handed as the fight wore on and on. At one point fires flared up, and they could not be quenched. I sensed blossoming panic among the wood-elves. Most of the longbow-archers had joined the fight with knives and swords, but their armour was light and not made to withstand long hand-to-hand combat. Unwillingly I retreated from the frontline and ordered the archers on foot into a closer body. At least they channelled their threatening fear for their woods into hate. Leading them on with Faire we did much what the wolves did. We ran short attacks into the batches of orcs, and retreated before they could engage us. Wolves and Ashi'kha joined, and now I found myself truly commanding rhevain, as Elrond had said.

Some orcs had axes instead of scimitars, and they used them mostly on the fighters with heavier armour if they could. I caught a numbing blow to my sword-arm and the axe wedged between my arm-guard and the chain-mail beneath. The leather-cinches holding the mail-glove snapped and it slipped so that only the thin leather-glove I wore beneath remained between the axe and my skin. The orc wore no helm, and for a moment we were eye to eye as he tried to pull me off Faire's back while avoiding getting trampled by her. He twisted the axe and wrenched my armguard down so that my sword was twisted from my grip. With my injured arm I pulled my dagger and drove into the orc's eye, snarling as much with rage as with pain. The orc let go, but his axe remained stuck under the metal-plate. I wrenched it out, lost my chain-mail glove completely, and backed Faire towards a tree. Balancing the short axe I wondered if I could continue the battle with it because my sword was nowhere in sight and there was even less hope of retrieving the glove.

"Oi, Gildor!" I turned in surprise at Raven's call, taking a moment to find him in the low branches of the tree beside the one I currently used as shield. He must have changed some time earlier, exchanging fangs for his blade. He looked like a wood-demon crouching there naked and blood-spattered over the battle, grinning "Change of weapons!"

I had not expected him to cast his sword and it nearly fell short of my grasp because Faire was evading and kicking at orcs around us. I caught it by the blade, and the sharp metal slipped painfully through my hand, cutting easily through the thin leather-glove and drawing blood. Grimacing I held on and cast my axe towards Raven's tree, where it snuck firmly in the wood. I saw him stretch forward to pull it out, then Faire reared once more and used her armoured bulk to squash a few orcs out of the way. I transferred my slick grip to the hilt. Raven's blade was unfamiliar and not made for one-handed fighting on horseback. But still better than an axe. I dismounted to fight on foot with Faire acting as my back-guard, and tried to split off a little concentration to stop the blood flowing freely from the deep gash in my hand. I was glad I had both the tree and Faire as temporary shields because as soon as I channelled that little, half unconscious tendril of healing-energy something in the sword answered, coming alive like an uncoiling snake. I almost dropped the blade before the realization snapped into my mind that this was, though foreign, a healing-charm that had responded to my action. But there was no time to hold on to that thought, and fighting on foot was even more exhausting than on horseback. I had to wield Raven's sword two-handed, both for its weight and my injured arm, but to my vague surprise I had little difficulty adjusting to the different blade. I just had to adopt Raven's way of staying in motion and going forward instead of relying on my greater speed and agility. The throbbing pain in my hand and arm dulled and after a while ceased wholly.

Unexpectedly, dawn broke. Through the reek of wet, burning wood it had been hard to see. Gradually, the orcs were forced into retreat. We were near the edge of the eastern march and the woods lightened around us. Then wolves, Ashi'kha and fighters from the other parts came from the sides and the orcs' grudging retreat became a rout. I remounted, and with Faire at the head of our foot-fighters and the wolves harrying the sides of the orc-force we drove them out of the trees and into the meadows.

"Towards the river. Cut them off!" I shouted to the wolves, then remembered to use Ashi'kha "Ma saka! Ma saka!"

And the pack took off, split, running to circle the orcs out of range of their crossbows. Despite that, they still far outpaced them. Before we had reached the river, the orcs were surrounded in the open and caught between wolves and foot-soldiers. Only now I saw how much it shook even orcs to see their supposed allies the wolves standing against them. Some appeared too confused to fight them effectively and went down quickly. Others focused solely and hatefully on the wolves. We crushed that remnant of orcs in the late morning, and just when I thought victorious defence was ours something hit me. Dimly, I first thought it had been an arrow or a glancing blow, but the second of dizziness had nothing to with physical hurt. I could not scream, but I recklessly drove Faire through the pockets of fighting until a moment later I could drop off her back and kneel beside the twisting wolf. Someone moved to give us cover. My hands shook so badly I could hardly hold him. I screamed Raven's name repeatedly, begging him to lie still. The broken top of an orc-spear protruded from his flank, quivering with every breath he sucked in. Wild rage and the desire to kill the responsible orc nearly blinded me. One of the Silvans jerked me around in the sudden lull "Out of here!"

I picked the large wolf up and stumbled where the elf led, striking as he went before us. Faire guarded our other side. Then we were out of the fray. The elf ran back to the fight and Faire was left to stand guard.

"Raven, change" I whispered frantically. He did, barely stifling a scream. I wondered how he managed to cling to consciousness through that. He tried to claw at the broken spear and I caught his hands "I can try, if you give full control to me. If not and I pull that out…"

I needed not finish. He stared at me, very quiet for a moment. This was his decision. Whatever way he chose, I forced myself to realize I would have to accept it. He took a shivering breath "Try our luck" he whispered.

I dropped whatever shields I had, shutting the battle out of my mind. When I reached for Raven's mind, I found no shields, only blinding agony. We completed the link recklessly, and for a moment I thought I would lose this. I had learned but never trained this way of healing. Reaching out further I enveloped his consciousness, his fёa, and took control of his body. There was a sharp shock that sent panic through both of us. I heard Raven gasp painfully, then our heartbeat and breathing rhythm aligned, and all I could do was scrabble for the thin healer's shields so that his pain would not knock me out as well. If he did not survive my pulling out that spear I knew I would probably die with him. Our minds were not linked completely, but the force of our bodies was one. Mine, because I could feel his own was nearly gone. Raven's hands closed over mine as I took hold of the shaft. I felt them clench, and we pulled. I wished he would let go of consciousness, but he clawed his way out of the haze of agony that threatened to overcome us both. Though I knew I did not experience this myself and only felt his pain, my body reacted with the panic I would felt in his stead. I clamped down on it, caught myself on Raven's fёa, and came back into the real world. I pressed my hands on the dreadful wound in his side in an effort to stop the flow of dark red blood. At least I had learned and trained mind-healing. I channelled all my healing-powers into that wound, pouring them out as I had not thought would be possible. My hands prickled, but I could feel it was not enough. He died anyway.

"No" I slammed down the last one shield all my healing trainers had told me to never, never dispose of. Now I would die with him.

For some reason, I didn't. And hence, he did not either. I came back to myself slowly, thinking it was high time some orc saw us mindlessly crouching at the edge of the battle and came to dispose of us. There was silence except the soft rustle of leaves and low voices. I was drained to the point of losing consciousness, and on realizing that I knew I could not have been unconscious before. Someone touched me, and I jerked up, staring at a foreign elf. By the light blue gown he was a trained healer.

"That was unwise" he whispered "But successful"

So Raven lived. My hand lay on his bloody chest and I could feel his shallow breath. I kept staring at the healer while that fact sunk in.

"Faire?" I croaked then. The healer blinked, but then said "Oh. Your horse. Ivornen took her, she is well"

I lay back and stared at the sky for a moment. It was pearly-grey, and bare branches swung slowly in a light breeze. So they had carried us back under the cover of the forest. Smoke hung heavy in the air here.

"How…long?"

"Since the battle? Maybe half a candlemark. Here. Clean your hands" The healer gave me a long, wet rag. I obeyed numbly.

"And try to eat" he pushed something into my hand which I took a moment to define as lembas. I sat up and nibbled at it. The healer had obviously cleaned and wrapped Raven's spear-wound, but not yet had time to see to his other injuries.

"Can you close the bond?" he asked softly "He will live, but if you keep it open, it will drain you continually for as long as he needs to heal"

I shook my head, too weary to snap at him for even suggesting that.

The healer nodded with some resignation "If you can wake him, make him drink as much as he can" he pointed to some water-flasks beside us "He lost so much blood it is only through your bond he survived at all. I must see to the others"

I gave a small nod "Thank you"

I sat and slowly finished the piece of lembas, staring at Raven and shivering. I could feel the thin strain the bond that connected us caused. It seemed difficult to draw breath. The healer had left rags, clean bandages and salves. I fumbled for a water-flask and drenched a piece of cloth, washing the dried blood off Raven's face and hands. The heavy flask slipped my grip and I snatched it up before all water was spilled, swearing under my breath. Before I could see what other wounds he had, I had to get him clean. Whatever the black had done before the spear had got him, he must have been successful. There was as much fresh orc-blood on Raven as his own. He came awake when he felt the cold water on his skin, trying to roll over and get up.

"No, madman" I tried to hold him down without causing him more pain. Raven blinked and abruptly relaxed "Gildor…what-?"

"Lie still" I said, and for once he obeyed.

"Your sword?" he asked with closed eyes.

I shrugged "If it's still there I will find it. Yours was just as good. You won't be happy if I wrap all these?"

Raven smiled weakly "No. Help me…up"

I sat down behind him so he could lean against me and gave him a water-flask. Raven struggled for breath a moment before he took a few sips. Swords…

"Raven!" I snatched Thorn up and pushed it at him, gently closing his fingers on the naked blade. Since we were almost completely unshielded I could use what little healing-powers he had at the moment as my own, and I did not waste a moment to remember that my people considered it wrong. The blade did not either, and Raven would have pushed the sword back at me in fright if he had had the strength.

"What is that?" he gasped when I closed my hands over his, forcing him to hold on to the blade. He stopped trying to push it away and relaxed a little, panting.

"The answer to a long riddle" I said after a moment when I could feel the up to now latent charm wake completely and focus on Raven "The reason I did not like the feel of this sword. I thought it was just dark memories of Gondolin, maybe a touch of its eccentric smith. But it really told us what it was in the very beginning! Do you remember the translation of the inscription? Bound in the darkness, stills the blood that it draws. There is a sort of healing-charm on it, or better in it, that will bind to the bearer. Just you couldn't use it because the way you use healing-energy is not the Eldarin way, to which it responded immediately. And I could not see what it was because it was only a latent charm and had to be awakened. I am surprised that the power of it did not fade over the centuries. It will have made some sort of bond to you, though, I think. You wore it the longest and used it the most. And, what I think is that this bond gave you part of the strength to fight in that reckless way you do. Even latent, that healing-charm was active in some way"

"Oh" Raven stared at the blade, looking a little pole-axed "What…did you do?"

"Focused the awakened charm on you. Keep the sword with you now. Every additional little bit helps. Can you cope for a moment? I must see if I can find my own blade somewhere before we move back"

Raven gave a small nod "Your…glove. The wolves found it before we ran for the…river. They smell through the rubbish…for quite a lot of people. Look for…Shinosh. He may have found your blade, too"

Shinosh had found my blade, and I hastened back to Raven with my armour and weapons nearly complete again. I would have to look for one of the leatherworkers as soon as I could, though. I needed a new glove and the straps of the chain-mail glove were torn beyond repair as well. Shand'rel brought word from Ivornen that he would care for Faire and send on any news or orders. With enormous persuasion I managed to get Raven to drink some more, and then half carried half dragged him to a shelter of oiled cloth the healers had spread and fastened to the lowest branches. I leaned back against a tree-trunk and held Raven against me so he did not have to lie flat. Every move was an incredible exertion. As the healer had said, the only reason Raven still lived was because I did. So I closed my eyes and simply sat there with him, unable to do anything more or to stop my shivering.

Chapter Notes:

Shinosh: storm-bird

Shand'rel: snow-song

Saka'nor: river-chanter

Sakar'niyan: laughing river/water