A/N: After the last sappy chapter I owe you guys a good action packed one. Oh and the two songs in the last chapter where "Remember" by Josh Groban, and "Dreams" by the Corrs.

NORTHERN BORDER

Haldir stood on the guard talan his hands crossed over his chest staring intently into the forest. The trees were uneasy, soundless. No breeze blew between the trees. Rumil and Orophin sensing this unease, parted to separate corners of the talan and sat down scanning the ground.

Soundless footsteps ran up the hidden steps of the guard talan and finally emerged on the talan looking at the three brothers. Haldir turned to face Earlinde then turned back to the forest.

She hadn't spoken since he told him her body wasn't breeched. He sadly noted that elves that have experience what she had usually fade. But her way of healing was losing her voice, or deciding not to speak.

She walked over to the unoccupied corner of the talan, by Orophin and stood facing the forest, her bow loaded, and pulled taut, ready to fire. She bobbed her head silently to a song she could only gear in her mind, but contrasted sharply with the look of a sentinel on her face.

Hours passed on end as the four silent companions stood still and quiet. Earlinde lowered her bow. She turned and darted down the steps and raced to the East. Soon her ears picked up the sound of a scuffle and she unsheathed her sword. She merged into the battle with a slash of an advancing orc.

Soon a smile graced her lips as she turned and severed heads. She stabbed and orc in the stomach kicked him in the head, he fell backwards, then she turned her sword above her head and pressed downwards, driving it into an orc head. The involuntary shudder the orc gave moved its armed hand to slash her across her left shoulder.

She turned to face it and blood sloshed her appearance. She turned and flung a dagger into one's eyes, spun pulled it out and repeated. The scuffle soon died out and she stood smiling as thick blood ungracefully slid down her face. She left her sword and drove it through the last orc within her proximity and then kissed the blade, smearing more blood on her face. When she was done, she walked over to the Anduin banks and looked in, her hair was sweat drenched, bloody and her arm looked horrible. She smiled, she loved the feel of orc blood sopping through her body, especially after she dealt with emotional problems. The elves that remained standing she helped in loading the dead orc bodies into their boats, and burned them. She helped carry the wounded to Caras Galadhon and then returned with the able bodied to the East. After hours of quiet she moved into the Southern border to watch the finish off a small party of orcs scaling the cliffs to the City. She sighed as she pulled free the rope bridge and tied it around her waist jumping of the cliff.

She swung there pushing from one cliff to the other shooting arrows at stray orcs for a few minutes until one guard pulled her up and thanked her. She nodded and circled over to the west and stood among the sitting guard.

"Nothing here?" she asked

"Nay my lady, not even a fish." Was her only answer, so she nodded and called out an order.

"Switch with the guards on the Eastern Border! Now!" She was followed by half the men, and when they finally reached the East she took half of the exhausted teetered guard to the West. She repeated the trip again, taking refreshed soldiers then tired, then returned to the North.

Haldir was leaning on a low branch facing the inside of the talan. Rumil and Orophin were making a meal of out some lembas and berries.

Earlinde stepped onto the platform and turned grinning to the brothers. Blood ran down her face, and eyes, and she didn't wipe it off, looking disheveled. Her hair was in a state of particular disarray but caked down none the less. She reached up and wiped her face, only smearing it deeper into her skin.

Haldir looked disgusted at her and then strode forward to meet her in the middle of the talan.

-Eew, this is the elleth of your dreams? - His mind screamed.

-yes! – His heart called.

-She'd rather roll around in the mud, look at her Haldir! –

She grinned at him and saluted. He put his hand on her shoulder, the pulled it back and grimaced as orc blood coated his hand.

She tilted her head at him and placed a hand on the hilt of her sword, still smiling. He turned around and wiped the blood on the inside of his cloak, and then turned to face her again.

"Sir, a report…" She whispered her voice raspy from silence for a few days.

He nodded and leaned his head down and strained to listen.

"Eastern border, 400 orcs, killed, 7 casualties, 9 fatalities, I switched them with the western patrol, and they have had nothing all day. The orcs were burned in their ships. The Southern border had a small band of orc trying to scale the cliffs, but that was put down. The bodies were passed to the west to be burned. All of the Lorien guard is now on patrol. There will be no refreshment soldiers now." Her voice cracked and her eyes saddened at the last sentence.

She stood on her toe tips and leaned up, "We have everyone stationed somewhere and we have to work with what we have now."

She turned from his and retreated to her corner, tapping her foot to the platform in a familiar rhythm though Haldir did not know what.

Haldir knew it, this was going to happen, they were going to run out of reinforcement guards and then they were going to slowly lose the numbers.

It could only get worse for them. Haldir feared more than the worse, but he never expected what did happen.

He looked at Earlinde who was half standing have tap dancing. He walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder.

"It is time for you to return to your room, you have seen more action than we have. It is time to shower, and eat." He smiled brief before she picked him up and tossed him to the ground.

He got up and grabbed her left shoulder and squeezed tightly until she yelped.

"Great March Warden!" he gritted, "You are injured you should really see that you clean off before you get an infection, that's how you get all though scars that so haphazardly grace you mangled body!" She gasped, not from pain, but from hurt.

She had trusted him, he had saved her! She thought they had made a beautiful connection, and had anticipated more, but all those thoughts crumbled before eyes. She took a step away from him and shook off her hurt and her eyes showed anger, she swung her fist back and it collided squarely with Haldir's chin.

Her raspy voice sounded in the talan, scaring everyone, "You have no authority over me Haldir Storm Crow! Burn in orc blood!" she spat as she sped down the stairs before he could answer her.

Only moments after her footsteps faded into the forest did he regret sending her away, and longed to hold her again.

Earlinde raced to the city and into the healers talan. She sat in the chair unflinching, drowned in sorrow as the needle that stitched her pierced in and out of her torn flesh. She slowly dragged herself to her room and kicked the rocking chair into the wall and drew a hot bath and held her head under the water.

A few minutes later she had on fresh clothes and cleaner her weapons. Fastening her cloak about her, she walked out and stood outside her door.

-To the left for food, or the right back to patrol the eastern border?-

NORTHERN GUARD TALAN

Haldir fired another two arms before jumping down and joining his brothers with the oncoming wave of orcs. The Western Patrol had joined the small number of the North Patrol in fighting the army of orcs that fought them. Once the East and South hear the bird calls, they sent half there numbers. The Northern border was swarming with orcs.

Even with joined forces they could not hold them back. It was thousands of orcs swarming the border against only 400 sentinels. Haldir fought hard, keeping a spare eye on his brothers. He watched as elves fell, but he couldn't help them for he too was surrounded by orcs.

They came with fire and burned down trees; they came with grime and dirtied his beautiful home. One of his men lost hope and started to scream while retreating, "Lorien is besieged! Lorien has fallen!! Lorien has been taken!!" He fell with a thud to the ground when a goblin arrow hit him.

Haldir got cut on the small of his back and dropped to his knees. He bravely stood up again and killed his attacker. Orcs kept coming. Arrows ran low, and guards fell like flies.

Then on a spin to kill the orc behind him, he saw her. She came charging from the trees and landed on her knee driving her sword deep into the gut of an orc a few feet from him. He wanted to call out to her, to apologize, but he never would. Another Orc blade smashed down over his arms, and he winced in pain, cradling his arm to his chest and switching his sword to the other hand and killing his aggressor.

Earlinde closed her eyes tightly and started to imagine her guard here. The reason she had them do that dance once a year, it because if you add a sword to each hand, it becomes a deadly dance. They had perfected it in their alliance with Mirkwood, though no other Elven city picked it up. They thought that it was shaming of a respectful guard to participate. She smiled as a song came to her mind. She opened her eyes and ripped an Elven blade from a dead orc, and closed her eyes once more holding one sword over her head, and another outstretched shoulder length to her side.

-One, two, three… Go!-

The remaining standing elves looked over to see Earlinde gracefully slicing orcs in half. She danced with the utmost grace, her balance on one foot then the other never tipped, and the force of her blows getting stronger with every turn and whirl.

She jumped in the air in a split and severed another head. The guards returned to their onslaught, and Earlinde kept her eyes closed and continued to severe heads.

-Left, bow, right, jump, turn jab, kick, hit, swing, flip, flick- Never repeating the same step twice she went through the three hour dance.

But it didn't help; the numbers of the orcs still outnumbered the elves. Though several hundred now remained, only a handful of elves remained, and they were slowly weakening.

Just when Rumil was struck over the shoulder, he landed on his knees, Orophin was thrown to the ground with a blade protruding threw his arm next this brother. Rumil looked down at his brother and opened his mouth to say something, but his blood curdled down his mouth to his brother's face. Haldir turned to see his brothers' fall, and raced to their side. Orcs stood in the way and blocked him, as his screams were lost among the orc rabble.

3 hours passed as Earlinde slowed her dance to a stop. Exhausted she opened her eyes, and gasped to see little to no elves around her and mindless orcs.

She despaired as she launched into battle, and was pushed about to back with a person she hated most, Haldir.

She fought to get away from him, and in the process felt her fresh stitched rip from her shoulder. The open flesh bled profusely. She was shocked when and orc arrow imbedded itself in her leg. Another two imbedded in her chest. She stumbled back, eyes wide in horror and another one shot into her open wound. She screamed and fell to her knees. Tired she stayed on her knees and swung at one orc, severing his legs from the knee down. Once she was eye level with him she drove her sword into his throat and screamed along with him when he drove his sword into her side.

She shakily pulled her sword from him and leaned on him as tears intermixed with blood to stand. She got up and fell back down. She sat on his dead body and took his bow and arrow and fired at passerby orcs.

Orophin was the first to recover and rise to his feet; he looked up as he raised his sword to defend his twin and screamed. The 20 elves left looked up and shouts of relief were echoed as they fought.

Earlinde's foggy eyes strained to see what could possibly be cause to rejoice. Her eyes didn't see it, but her ears heard it.

The thundering of footfalls and the beautiful song she sang with them. Her eyes caught beautiful Elven arrows fire into the heads of orcs, and then she turned back to the song. Her song… A band of heavenly male Elven voices thundered in the deep.

"As long as I can reach out and touch you

Then I will never die…"

Then song faded into the war cry of the Imladris guard.

"IMLADRIS!!! HAIL!!!"

With that deadly dances erupted everywhere around her, and she found the energy to get up and fight again.

She stumbled into an orc, and leaned her weight on her sword; it drove into him as she fell to the ground. She repeated that until the song of sword on flesh faded from her ears. So much pain in her body, she couldn't think straight. Her eyes darted to Haldir who lay on the ground cradling his arm to his chest, hold up a sword that was kicked from his grasp, by and orc. She stood up and staggered toward him with a bow and orc arrow, and fired it. The beast fell over him, and he grimaced at the pressure on his arm. She walked slowly toward him, and then screamed when the remaining 15 orcs picked him up and raced off with him in their mist. She hated him, and wanted to see him dead, but he was a comrade of arms, so she couldn't let him die. She willed herself to move toward him and cried out when her feet no longer supported her and she fell to her knees, and black out.

Hours Later

Earlinde sat up as Fervor pulled her to her feet. She was a quick healer, and was smiling at the Imladris guard lounging around the burnt pile of orcs and trees. She stood up, as the Lorien guard formed at attention behind her and raised her sword.

Quickly the Imladris Guard assembled in front of her and she raised her sword to the air.

"HAIL IMLADRIS!!!" she called to her guard.

"IMLADRIS, HAIL!!" echoed her men, the call and answer of a March Warden to her troops.

She stood over the pile of bodies of the fallen elves, some so mangled they couldn't identify, and looked into it.

"Death comes to all! Man! Hobbit! Orc! Warg! And Dwarf! We elves, immortal beings that we are, also meet death! May the Valar guide the souls of our fallen comrades, both Imladris elf, and Lothlorien elf, BRETHREN OF THE ALLIANCE!!" she called as the Imladris guard converged with the remaining Lorien guard. They watched their brothers burn and the white smoke rise into the air, to travel to Mandos.

Earlinde turned around cradling her arm to her chest and looked over at Rumil and Orophin who were on their knees holding each other. She walked briskly over to the two elves and dropped to a crouch in front of them and put her hand on Rumil's shoulder.

"What ails you so, comrade?" she said looking sincerely into his eyes.

"Haldir, we cannot find him. We scourged the dead bodies but all we found was this." Rumil pulled from his side Haldir's sword, tears cascading from his eyes. Orophin sobbing uncontrollably in his shoulders.

Earlinde's eyes widened. This whole time she was wondering where he was, then she remember. The arrow, the band of orcs, and his matted down blonde mane as he was carried away… she let out a cry of pain and tears came to her eyes.

She got up and barked for the Imladris guard to hold down the borders and trooped the Lorien guard into the city. With Rumil and Orophin in her hands she went to see the lady.

A/N: ahhh, much better!! No mushy stuff here. Well what's gonna happen? Any suggestions? R/R!