Welcome back to TBFF! Thanks for joining me once again! Special thanks goes out to soccerchamp13, Addy White, mystarlight, and PrettyRecklessLaura for reviewing the last chapter! I appreciate your comments and support as I work hard to finish this project I started so long ago.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything associated with Lord of the Rings or Tolkien Enterprises.

ooOoo

To Be Forever Faithful

By: Ponytail Goddess

Chapter 48: Evil Schemes

Kryx watched as the elves started to gain the upper hand in the battle once again. It seemed to stem from the appearance of an abnormally loud she-elf, who was shouting commands to the others and helping them succeed once again. Normally, with the large imbalance in numbers, the orcs and uruk-hai would have been winning. However, the appearance of the she-elf had empowered many of the elves to fight harder and smarter than they had before.

His master would not like this. Not at all.

Sauron hated all elves and Kryx knew they were the reason the dark powers had not yet overtaken Helm's Deep. The odds were still in their favor though and Sauron had ways of taking the elves down a few pegs. He had watched them from afar for a long time now and knew intimate details of their lives; it was all too easy for him to use their darkest secrets and fears against them.

Pulling away from the crowd, he turned down a darkened corner and ripped the large pouch from his side. Once he was certain no one was watching him, he pulled the dark cloth off the palantir he was carrying.

Immediately, the grey swirls within the sphere glowed orange and lit into a fiery flame. The great eye flashed into view and Kryx held the palantir as far away from his face as he could. Sauron's dark powers emanated painfully through the vessel and Kryx struggled to hold it up as the dark lord read his mind and interpreted his news. He hissed with displeasure at the turn of events and then showed Kryx precisely what to do to take the she-elf down.

Kryx tied the palantir back inside its pouch and carefully attached it to his belt. He would do as he was told and take down the she-elf before she caused them too much trouble!

ooOoo

"Gilhoth!" Belegwen shouted as she caught sight of his white blonde hair amid the chaos surrounding them. She tugged at Rumil's arm to guide him wordlessly towards the warden who was in a fight for his life near the entryway of the keep. Three orcs were surrounding him at once and Gilhoth moved quickly about, armed with a long knife and sword, to try and stave off the attack. He did not have another elf to fight back to back with though and was struggling to keep the orcs from swiping him with their crude metal weapons.

Rumil and Belegwen were still too far away to easily intervene, but Belegwen could tell that he would not last much longer without help. After stabbing an orc that was trying to claw at her face, Belegwen grabbed her stealth knife and threw it at the orc behind Gilhoth. It hit its mark perfectly and impaled him between his eyes. The foul beast fell against the wall of the keep, hissing for a moment before writhing on the ground until it laid still in death.

Belegwen had hoped her knife would be help enough to assist the greenhorn marchwarden, but it was not. When Gilhoth continued to struggle, Belegwen threw Nimrodel at one of the other orcs and impaled him through the chest. The sharp tip of her sword became forcefully lodged in the wall behind him, leaving the orc pinned to the wall as he screamed until death overtook him.

Though she was now weaponless, there were still orcs approaching Belegwen to fight. She yelled at them and used her elbows and knees to slam them away from her. She punched, kicked, and pulled their hair ferociously, anything to keep them away from her. Rumil also leaned in a couple of times and slashed at the orcs coming after her, but had to concentrate on protecting himself as well because the orcs around them had amassed rapidly.

A minute later, an uruk-hai who had its back to Belegwen was raising a scythe above his head; it dangled within Belegwen's reach. She jumped up and took hold of the weapon, gripping it tightly, then kicked the monster to the ground. She used the scythe to try and behead an orc that was attempting to pull her away from Rumil.

Unfortunately, the crude blade on the scythe was not very sharp and its jagged edge did not behead the creature, but instead made blood gush rapidly from its neck. It screamed and ran its clawed hand down Belegwen's cheek and neck, causing her to cry out in pain. In response, she beat the orc over the head with the scythe until it fell to the ground and grew still.

"I need my sword back!" Belegwen shouted, cursing repeatedly as she broke the useless metal off the scythe and used the splintered wooden pole that remained to pummel the orcs around her as best she could. The pole broke in half again as she brought it down onto the head of an orc who was taunting her with a knife.

She dropped what was left of the pole and grabbed the massive hand holding the knife between both of her own hands. Using all her strength, she jerked the orc's knife into the heart of an unsuspecting neighboring orc first, then kicked the orc who held the knife repeatedly until he cursed and let go, falling to the ground. Belegwen stomped on his face as hard as she could, then jerked the knife out of the other orc and twirled it around in her fingers, before starting to try and clear a pathway to Gilhoth again.

"Heledhril!" Belegwen heard Rumil shout through the snarling, shrieking crowd of orcs. "Grab her sword!"

Belegwen glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of Heledhril's grey eyes immediately. He was fighting right beside her sword and quickly yanked it out of the carcass that was hanging from the wall at the same time as he stabbed another orc, which was heading towards Gilhoth.

"Up high!" He shouted, then pointed to the sky.

Heledhril threw Nimrodel into the air. Belegwen stopped fighting for a second to try and figure out what to do. She did not need to though because a moment later, Belegwen felt Rumil grab her by the hips; his strong arms tossed her up into the air and she attempted to snatch the sword. Belegwen twisted around and screamed with effort as she stretched her arm up as high as she could to grab Nimrodel out of midair. She then whipped around in a circle and used the momentum she had to behead no fewer than five orcs surrounding her on her way back down.

With Nimrodel back in her hand, Belegwen felt her confidence return and without delay, set about clearing a pathway towards Gilhoth. Her fury knew no bounds as she plunged her blade through the exposed throat of an uruk-hai, then turned to defend Rumil by cutting the weapon-bearing arm off an orc who was charging him. A moment later, she found herself face to face with Gilhoth, who looked horrible. The elf was spackled with blue blood and panting from overexertion.

"Rumil, defend us while we speak!" She shouted, then watched as Rumil stepped in front of them and began to deflect incoming attacks.

"I have come to show you how to lead Gilhoth. We are going to call for the elves over here to retreat into the great hall. Once they have retreated, we will have those closer to the great hall retreat, as they have less distance to go. Do you know the whistle command for falling back?" She asked, speaking loudly so he could hear her over the blaring metallic noises of battle.

Belegwen did not get a chance to hear his answer though, as she saw a group of uruk-hai appear on the upper lever with bows. They started to shoot arrows at the remaining elves and men who were on the ground. She cursed and then shouted, "Arrows from on high! Use the orcs as shields! Pull them in front of you for protection!"

Several of the elves did just that and pulled struggling orcs in front of their bodies to block the onslaught of arrows, which were raining down on them. As she watched the uruk-hai start to dispense of their own soldiers, Belegwen caught sight of an elf that might be able to help them. It was a long shot, but she had to try.

"Eregdol! Take them out!" She screamed above the screeching cries of the dying orcs. "Take out the archers!"

Of all the elves available to her now, Eregdol was by far the best archer. In fact, he was considered to be one of the fastest and most accurate archers in all of Lothlorien. However, Eregdol also hated Belegwen and had been the reason she lost her status as marchwarden a month ago. Belegwen was uncertain whether or not he would obey her command, as he was certainly aware that she was not supposed to be leading the ranks right now.

Eregdol must have sensed the urgency of the situation though. Much to the awe of Belegwen, she watched as he immediately pulled his bow off his back and started to make quick work out of the uruk-hai archers. He repeatedly shot three arrows at a time into their midst, impaling them and sending the uruk-hai falling from the balcony and into the ranks of orcs that were fighting below them.

"Defend Eregdol! Give him your arrows!" Belegwen bellowed and watched as three elves surrounded him and started fighting off the orcs so Eregdol could shoot even faster. They also stuffed their arrows into his quiver so he had what he needed. One even started pushing orcs in front of Eregdol to block him from two uruk-hai who were attempting to return fire at him. Within minutes, Eregdol had decimated them all.

"Did you see how I handled the problem?" Belegwen asked Gilhoth, staring into his grey eyes intently. "When I see something happen, I evaluate the talents of those around me and use them to my advantage in order to defend the others. That is what we do Gilhoth—you must think through your actions quickly and decide what will save the most lives in the moment. It is time now—call for them to fall back, using both your voice and the whistle command!" She exclaimed.

"Fall back!" Gilhoth screamed through the ruckus, "Fall back into the great hall!"

"Now we watch and wait. If you see something that needs to be done, call attention to it!" Belegwen exclaimed, then scanned the room for potential problems. "What do you see Gilhoth? What needs to be done?"

He was given extra time to answer, as Belegwen had noticed Rumil was struggling to keep the orcs off of them; immediately, she jumped in to help him. With fury smeared across her face, Belegwen stabbed and slashed at the orcs until there was a more manageable amount.

"Aeldor, take Linros with you!" Belegwen heard Gilhoth shout through the crowd. "Do not leave the injured behind!"

Belegwen saw that Linros was propped up against the far wall with a bloody arm. She watched as an elf she barely knew ran up to him and threw Linros' uninjured arm over his shoulder. He then joined with another soldier to fight side by side and start cutting their way out of the masses of evil.

"Yes," Belegwen murmured to herself, then turned and shouted her praises to Gilhoth. "Yes! Do more! Keep watching!"

Ecstatic with Gilhoth's success, Belegwen felt hope enter her heart as she helped Rumil block Gilhoth from attacks so he could lead. Perhaps they could save some of the elves yet!

"Heledhril, come help us!" Belegwen shouted through the crowd. "We need to start moving towards the great hall as a group! Let us all go together!"

The group waited for Heledhril's powerful form to join them and then the group of four started to move in tandem towards the great hall. Belegwen's back was against Rumil and Heledhril's back was against Gilhoth. They fought in close quarters with one another, being careful not to hit the others as they pushed their way through the group of hissing and spitting orcs. Their movement through the crowd was slow and forced, as they were the only elves remaining close to the entryway at this point and many of the cretins were trying to fell them.

It was a deathtrap; Belegwen had known they would be in danger, but she had also known it was imperative for the other elves to leave before she did. She would not leave any behind willingly, just like Haldir. Though she was now tired, Belegwen fought on, knowing that her life and the life of Haldir's son depended upon it.

Suddenly Belegwen screamed as a massive uruk-hai jumped towards her and forcefully pushed her to the ground. The uruk-hai scrambled against her and tried to grasp at her right arm and leg as the two slid roughly over the uneven cobblestones and away from the safety of the other elves, bumping into several orcs as they skidded across the floor.

Once she was almost stopped, Belegwen quickly clamored to her feet and got her sword ready for action, only to have the uruk-hai grab her sword hand and squeeze her wrist tightly. She screamed as she was forced to drop Nimrodel from the unbearable pressure. Belegwen watched as her sword clanked against the cobblestones and then bounced across the floor until it was out of her reach.

Belegwen punched the uruk-hai in the face with her free hand, but it did not seem to faze the monstrous creature in the slightest. He instantly returned the favor though, pummeling Belegwen right in the eye and causing her head to bang backwards and hit the wall of the keep. She felt faint from the blow, but hastily tried to regain her bearings, meeting his menacing yellow eyes as the world gradually came back into focus.

"A she-elf in battle… How amusing!" The creature exclaimed, then cackled and grasped her wrist even more firmly than before, causing Belegwen to tremble in pain. She feared her wrist could not withstand much more of this treatment. She again tried to pull away from him, but it was useless. He was far too strong for her.

The uruk-hai leaned in so that he was dangerously close to her face. Belegwen almost became sick when she was forced to breathe in the foul breath that was emanating from his sharp, jagged teeth. "My master Sauron sends his greetings to you marchwarden." His low voice growled menacingly into her ear. "It is he who is responsible, you know…"

"Responsible for what?" Belegwen said through her clenched teeth, struggling to try and kick the uruk-hai and pull away from his grip. In response, he pulled her arm up higher, which pulled her feet off the floor. He snatched up her other arm and held it up against the wall as well, pushing his body up against hers so she could not kick him any longer.

His eyes flashed orange and Belegwen's breath suddenly caught in her mouth as she sensed the presence of Sauron himself entering the room. The uruk-hai's voice changed, as though he was possessed by the disgraced maia himself. "Your family's death." He answered in a voice that was unlike his own.

Suddenly, a vision flashed before her eyes…

Belegwen saw her naneth opening the door to their talan. Appearing to be shocked at who was there, she had but a second to react to what was happening before she was immediately impaled with a dagger through her chest. She convulsed as she fell to the floor and began to silently bleed out at the feet of her brother Nenrim, who had followed her to the door. Nenrim screamed and started to back up, only to be stabbed in the same way. He fell heavily to the ground, like a sack of potatoes, right beside her naneth. He bled and gurgled for a few moments, then died.

Belegond was the last to show up to the scene. He ran out of the back room after hearing the scream, but was unprepared for the unexpected scene laid out before him. He was unarmed, and so the three orcs easily cornered him in the kitchen. He fought them valiantly, smashing crystal dinnerware into them and then fighting them hand to hand. He was outnumbered three to one though and it was all over when two of the orcs smashed his face into the corner of the dinner table. Once he fell to the floor, he was stabbed repeatedly with the same dagger the first orc had used on his wife and son.

Belegwen shouted as the fiery eye flashed before her. The presence of great evil was surrounding her and strangling her with its hopelessness. The enormous uruk-hai was not done toying with her yet though. He pushed his head into Belegwen's hair and sniffed her, his nose nuzzling her ear uncomfortably before he whispered to her, "I killed your husband…" With that, another vision flashed before her eyes.

Belegwen saw the very same uruk-hai bringing his weapon down forcefully onto Haldir's back. Haldir's head lifted to sky and he hollered out in pain as a large sword crushed into his back. The rain poured down around him as he was brought to his knees, staring around him in confusion at the elves, men, and orcs that he was about to join in death. He then fell backwards, his eyes unseeing as he stared into the darkness of the cloud-covered sky.

Somehow, Belegwen managed to pull her face away from the uruk-hai for a moment. Her eyes enlarged and her jaw quivered as she stared at the mangled face of the uruk-hai in horror of that revelation. This beast had taken her most cherished husband from this world—Haldir, who had vowed to love her forever.

She shivered as the uruk-hai's eyes met hers once again and flared with bright orange fire, just like the vast eye upon its tower. The air hung heavily around them and Belegwen fretted for her elfling, as she felt certain she was about to endure the black speech of Mordor once more.

Laughing at her fear, the uruk-hai finished his grand speech in a low voice. "…and now, I will kill you."

Just as a whisper of words began to lilt through air, a scream echoed through the entire entryway. Startled, both the uruk-hai and Belegwen turned to look and see what was happening beside them. Heledhril was near them, holding up a hand into the air with his fingers fully extended. A great light started to shine and envelop him, starting from his hand and quickly covering his entire arm and body with a pure, white light.

"Be gone, evil of the void! You have no dominion here!" Heledhril's voice screamed, echoing throughout the entire entryway.

The light, which was full of power, exploded all around them. Belegwen felt the uruk-hai release her arms and she fell to the ground, which shook as if it would give away from the blast of power. She heard the bricks around her start to crack and a couple of the cobblestones beneath her feet crumbled into dust.

Then, as suddenly as the light had appeared, it was gone. Belegwen's eyes met Heledhril's. He had fallen to his knees next to Gilhoth and was breathing heavily; several of the orcs who were previously surrounding him were now dead. The two elves both noticed that Nimrodel was lying next to his feet at the same time. Heledhril said nothing, but when he sliced his arm sharply through the air, the sword slid across the floor and stopped at her feet of its own volition.

With a nod of acknowledgement, Belegwen quickly grabbed up the sword and found her footing, immediately noticing that the uruk-hai who had trapped her was doing the same. She watched as the monstrous figure unsheathed his sword. It was massive, his dark sword, appearing to be even larger and heavier than the one Haldir had carried. One side looked sharp, while the other side had a jagged edge that looked like it could be used as a saw.

Their eyes met, an unlikely union of clear blue and glowing yellow, in a battle of dominion over one another. The uruk-hai moved first, running forward and slashing at her with the jagged edge of the sword. Belegwen dodged left and then jumped up as he swung low.

She noticed the wall next to where they were fighting and quickly ran up it and used her momentum to flip over the uruk-hai so that she landed behind him. Belegwen quickly tried to slash at the backs of his knees as he turned to face her, then slid between his legs just in time to avoid having his sword come down on her head.

"Belegwen, hold on! I'm on my way!" She vaguely heard Rumil shout in the distance, but did not have time to reply as the uruk-hai was surprisingly fast for his large size and was already launching a new offensive against her. Belegwen knew she was no match for his strength, but was able to continue dodging his attacks repeatedly and then finally landed a nasty slash across his eye, which made the beast screech in pain.

"YOU'RE DEAD, SHE-ELF!" He bellowed at the top of his lungs, then came at her more angrily than before. Blue blood gushed from his forehead and eye as he lashed out at Belegwen wildly. His fury was clouding his mind and judgment as he swung at Belegwen repeatedly.

This should have been to Belegwen's advantage, but the more blows she dodged, the slower her body seemed to be moving. She had pushed herself far beyond her capabilities as a pregnant elleth at this point and it was starting to show.

Belegwen yelped as his sword knicked her upper arm when she stepped back to dodge his sudden lunge towards her. Pushing through the pain, Belegwen spun around him and tried to behead the beast, but he was too fast. Before her sword could meet his neck, he turned and parried her blow from above his head. Immediately, he pushed down on his sword using all of his brute strength and started to push her sword back down towards her own head.

Belegwen reinforced her grip on the sword by bracing her other hand carefully on the sharpened edge of the blade, trying her best not to cut herself on Nimrodel's razor-sharp edge. She pushed up on her sword to try and prevent the uruk-hai from bringing his own sword down on her.

They struggled in a battle of wills, Belegwen's arms shaking with effort and her neck so tense that her corded muscles showed painfully through her skin. Her body smarted with effort, but still she pushed on, ignoring how her feet were starting to slide against the cobblestones from the unrelenting press of her enemy's sword.

"Heledhril, try and get to Belegwen! Now!" She heard Rumil gruffly shouting through the noise. Things had not calmed down around them and Belegwen knew the soldiers wanted to help her, but were being prevented by the hoards that were swarming around them.

The weight of the uruk-hai's sword was grating against her muscles, testing every reserve of strength that Belegwen had. She felt her knees start to buckle underneath the agonizing pressure. She then thought of what would happen to her elfling if she lost and screamed as she put forth even more effort. Her knees locked back into a standing position and she started to push the sword away from its dangerous position near her face. She would win against this uruk-hai, even if it was the last thing she ever did!

ooOoo

Heledhril swung his knife and sword expertly, doing his best to defend himself and Gilhoth, who was still fighting back to back with him. They were stuck dangerously in the middle of a swarm of orcs, waiting for Rumil to bring Belegwen back so they could use the safety of numbers to plow through the masses in the best way possible.

Rumil had went after Belegwen right after a malicious uruk-hai had pushed her out of their group, but was struggling to make it over to her on his own. Even though Heledhril had blasted several of the orcs with his power, there were many orcs surrounding all of them. Though Rumil was holding his own somehow, he was not progressing through the crowd very well.

Rumil had called for Heledhril to follow and assist, but he too was struggling to move through the horde at this point. Heledhril knew Gilhoth was not a strong enough fighter to be left on his own in this situation and so the two were trying to traverse the crowd together, but it was slow going. They were not making progress any more quickly than Rumil.

All the while, a bad omen seemed to be mounting within his mind. Something was wrong, but Heledhril was uncertain about what it was. He tried to visually search for the problem, but kept getting distracted by orc after hissing orc. He turned behind him to slash at the eyes of an orc that was starting to get the better of Gilhoth and that was when he saw it.

Erthalion was coming. For a brief moment, Heledhril thought it was like old times and that his friend, who was a very strong fighter, was coming to their aid as he plowed a path through the orcs. It was not so though, for Heledhril soon saw precisely where his eyes were trained. He was not coming to help…

He was coming to attack Belegwen.

"Gilhoth, we must hurry to Belegwen! There is not much time!" He shouted over the shrieks of the orcs surrounding them. They were trying to claw at them and hit them with weapons. It was nearly all he could do just to keep them from injuring him and Gilhoth.

Still, it was Heledhril's duty to protect Belegwen and he would see it done. Working harder than before, Heledhril started to lead Gilhoth back towards the entryway where Belegwen was battling a massive uruk-hai for her life. The uruk-hai was trying to force his sword down upon her head, but Belegwen was adamantly holding it off with her own sword, although it was not without struggle. She looked exhausted underneath the pressure of the monster's strength and was barely keeping the serrated edge of his sword away from her face.

Heledhril's eyes swung back to Erthalion, who was somehow making much quicker progress through the orcs. He was fighting like an elf who had nothing left to lose, which made him even more dangerous than before. The treacherous glint in his eyes told Heledhril that he would stop at nothing to complete his task.

Heledhril knew he had to beat him to Belegwen somehow. Grabbing Gilhoth and holding him against him, he put his arm out once again. The finger that held the source of his power lit up first, which was followed by his whole hand glowing. Energy filled the air and crackled around him; unnatural winds blew his dark gold hair back as he accessed all the extra power he could muster and shouted confidently, "Evils of Mordor, remove yourselves from my path!"

White light shot from his hand and pushed the screaming orcs out of his way, instantly killing several who were within his direct line of fire. He shivered from exertion, but pushed ahead while dragging Gilhoth awkwardly behind him, all while maintaining the power exuding from his hand. Heledhril could barely see what was happening in front of him as he pushed closer to Belegwen, moving as quickly as he could.

As the light from his hand died down, he saw the uruk-hai had been distracted by his power and Belegwen had used the diversion to push his sword away from her. She was now gripping her sword with two hands and was about to lodge it into the uruk-hai's exposed neck.

The orcs around her had been decimated by Heledhril's power though, which created a clear pathway for Erthalion. He was now running at full speed towards her with his sword poised to strike.

As Belegwen mercilessly plunged her sword into the uruk-hai, Heledhril started to run towards Erthalion and shouted at the top of his lungs, "BELEGWEN, LOOK OUT!"

It all happened so fast.

Belegwen saw Erthalion's attack coming towards her. He was aiming for the spot where her armor's bodice was perilously hanging open. Holding onto Nimrodel, which she had just thrust deeply into the uruk-hai's neck, she jumped backward to avoid the blow.

She did not jump far enough though.

Heledhril reached Erthalion just as he sank his sword through her middle. Her high-pitched scream reverberated through the corridor as all of the elves stopped to stare at the sight. Erthalion screamed as well and when Heledhril looked down, he was shocked to find that his own sword had reflexively pierced through the weak point in Erthalion's armor. He had involuntarily run him through!

He had killed his friend.

He had killed another elf.

And without his guidance this time, the ring on his little finger lit up once again and sent the brightest of lights cascading down his sword and into Erthalion. At once, the dead body was obliterated.

The will of the Valar was complete.

Shocked by what had happened, Heledhril froze while he watched Rumil drop his sword and run up to Belegwen, who had fallen to her knees with the sword still sticking out of her torso. His ears could not hear any sounds in his distressed state, but he could see that Rumil was screaming. His hands were clenching his head in horror of what had happened to his best friend.

All feeling left Heledhril's body as he watched Rumil lift up the flap to her bodice, revealing the secret Belegwen had somehow managed to keep from him…

She was pregnant.

"No," he whispered, still frozen in place. He distantly felt Gilhoth grabbing at his arm to pull him somewhere, but he could not move, so great was his mental turmoil.

"I caused this," he thought to himself as he vaguely realized that more orcs were starting to run towards them, poised for attack. "I am the reason Belegwen is out here! I have failed her! It is all my fault!"

Heledhril had tried to carry out the lady's will, but he had failed. He was no hero… Oh no.

If anything, Heledhril was now a murderer.

ooOoo

Remember: The story is not over yet. There are still several chapters to come. Hang in there, the worst of the battle is almost over.

Do I dare ask for reviews after leaving what seems like the meanest cliffhanger ever? Originally, I thought I'd be leaving us in a better place today, but the content ended up being more extensive than I anticipated, so I've chosen to break it into two chapters instead of just one. Sorry for getting your hopes up. I will do my best to update soon!

-P.G.