...

~ Battle by the Falls ~

The last night of traveling the river they camped upon Parth Galen. Elraen drew the final watch, and sat gazing east in a foreboding mood as the sun broke red through the distant fire and smoke.

In the morning as the rest of the company sat around chatting she stood apart, by the little stone beach not far from their circle, again staring eastward while they all discussed what to do next. Aragorn thought it might be best if she went onward with Boromir, along with the other hobbits and the elf perhaps, to meet her kin and help as she could.

The complete opposite of her plan. Elraen did not answer, not wishing to argue. In truth she had little desire to go to Gondor without their leader, not knowing quite what help she could give or what sort of welcome she might find there, especially with Boromir in such a strange and distressed state. That's when suddenly Sam noticed the man of Gondor was missing.

At that moment something strange happened. While standing there awake under a bright morning the young maiden felt suddenly as if a deep dream of sleep had overcome her. She stumbled back a bit dizzy, closed her eyes, confused, though the strange feeling brought no vision. She heard Legolas ask if she was unwell, but it sounded distant and muffled. She felt tremendous opposing energies struggling against each other. Then suddenly she heard a strange voice calling out. 'Take it off!' it kept crying. It sounded somehow near and far at the same time. It felt familiar, but hard to remember, like a voice she had not heard in a thousand years. She knew it not but hope leapt in her heart at the sound of it.

The waking dream passed, and Elraen took a few moments to come to as though she had just woken from sleep. As the hobbits were discussing Frodo with Aragorn, she looked up, as if stirring from a trance and taking a moment to remember where she was and turned to the elf. "Something has happened!" she exclaimed in a loud whisper. They all stopped and turned to her, wondering at her words and sudden distress. And the elf looked at her in wonder, curious and confused.

Just then Boromir reappeared. All were wondering, and some suspicious, what that something might be and if it had something to do with him. Elraen's memory now stretched back far enough to know that such powerful and shiny things could inspire a madness of desire in the stoutest hearts even among the Elves.

Aragorn bade him go collect the other hobbits, and Boromir took off after them with great speed. Sam ran off with Aragorn. Legolas and Gimli after them. Elraen was left standing by the little beach alone. She thought she might simply stay there, in case Frodo returned: that might be her opportunity to help him scuttle off. Surely the wizard would have approved such a course. Aragorn would be freed to go off to Gondor to do whatever kingly proving himself he needed to do with war strategizing and battlefield valor, and worry the less for it. Her focus was on laboring to fulfill Gandalf's mission, and she believed accompanying Frodo to be what she must do, even if she could only serve to provide a distraction at a crucial moment. She paced there back and forth for a while, but then in the distance she began to hear a faint clamor. Now she felt conflicted. 'Frodo could be there now in trouble,' she thought. 'Perhaps I should go toward it, or there might be no slipping off at all,' and she started off in the direction of the din.

The commotion grew louder. Then a great blast of noise shook the rocks and trees. Boromir's horn! The enemy strikes! It sounded again, so strongly she stumbled as it shook the inside of her ears - he wasn't far now. The little princess sped up, and donned her shield and pulled out her sword. In a few minutes she came within sight of the mighty warrior, his sword flying and Orcs dropping all around him. Suddenly he faltered. She lost sight of him through the trees for a moment, then sped up, and finding him again threw up her arms to catch him just as he stumbled and fell back. And then she saw it: many arrows sticking from his chest. Her eyes widened and for a moment she was frozen in horror. The tumult roared up around them and shook her out of it, and she helped him pull back to lean against a tree.

Elraen held up her shield, and kneeling down in front of the fallen warrior peeked over the side of it. The Orcs who had backed far away at his attack were starting to step forward again, but a bit slow and nervous after facing his stout defense. She put down her sword by her knee a moment, pulling her dagger to hand it to her injured comrade without taking her eyes off their enemies.

Boromir reached up and took the blade from her hand, and though he lay mortally wounded, in that moment before his eyes flashed like a dream a future full of memories he might have had. He saw things he had never desired, or at least never considered he might have desired: a happy ending, with marriage and children and old age among family and friends, under a king and queen strong and wise, in a peaceful and prosperous country. Then as if woken from sleep or pulled from a trance suddenly he was back in the battle in the woods, leaned against a tree, remembering where he was and what had happened to him. He looked down at the arrows piercing him, and felt his breath weakening.

A moment later Elraen felt some small object pushed into her hand. With no time to stop and look she shoved it into her pocket.

The little shieldmaiden closed her eyes for a half moment and thought of a forgotten age, racing through the labyrinth of deep tunnels alone to confront an ancient foe. Flinging back her cloak she picked up her sword and jumped to attack. Around she danced as the wind whipped about. She felled several Orcs, her sword swinging and armor flashing in the sun's rays streaming through the evergreen trees.

Now the enemies slowed their attack and held back around her several paces. For besides her defenses, and their orders, they could also now see what the Elf mariners had once seen, all the stronger and to their eyes more terrifying. All about her it was almost as a great fire was burning, faint and phantom-like, which somehow felt close and far at the same time, as from the deeps of the earth or the heights of the night sky; but a flame still so bright it made the sun seem dim, and they were struck still, gripped by a panic of being burned up by it.

Boromir from where he lay watching the scene thought of old legends of the shield maidens of the Rohirrim, fighting in last defense of their families when the men had been slain. He let out a weary smile.

The Captain of Gondor blew the horn a few more times but his wind now faltered. Elraen stood, facing down the crowd of enemies, feeling rather a bit pleased with the success of her defenses so far, wondering if the great Tulkas could see her now. Suddenly she felt at the back of her neck a little sting. Her sword dropped, landing by the fallen warrior's feet, and everything went black.

*.*.*

Boromir told Aragorn what he could. "I think they are not dead. Orcs bound them. And the girl. She was struck by a dart and they sacked her." He shoved the dagger into the Ranger's hand, and said no more.

Nearby Aragorn found her sword unharmed where it had fallen. Like the hobbits' weapons the Orcs had feared to touch it. He picked it up and wrapping it in some spare clothes bundled it with his things.

Down by the water he studied the footprints, finding enough clues to inform his final decision. Then after the hasty funeral, they set off.