~ On the March ~

Aragorn sat awake, leaning against Brego's saddle, smoking quietly on his pipe in Gandalf's quiet Gandalf, when Legolas and Aerlaer returned to the camp. Everyone else had retired top their bedrolls for the night.

"Kissed and made up, have we?" Gandalf asked, blowing out a ring of smoke, causing Aragorn to nearly choke at the look of guilt which briefly crossed Legolas's face. Aerlaer suddenly seemed to have dirt beneath her clean nails to dexterously remove.

"We have discussed things." Legolas muttered in response, causing Aragorn to grin. Discussing. Is that what he calls it.

"You must have had a lot to discuss; you have been gone near on two hours." He said, seeing how much he could Legolas's eyes narrowed.

"We did." He replied as Aerlaer excused herself to seek out a water-skin. Aragorn wished more than ever he had Arwen by his side to share in this teasing. He was sure she would find it as amusing as he. Just to have Arwen by his side, it was all he wished for, but she was dying and surely she had reached the sea by now and would be leaving if she had not already to preserve what life which still remained within her.

Gandalf murmured it was time he retired for the eve and departed, leaving him alone with Legolas. The elf chose to sit down beside him and studied him, brows drawn. Aragorn gazed back at his friend, there was no use hiding from him by the look he was receiving. Legolas placed a comforting hand upon his shoulder.

"Have faith, mellon nin, she will never be lost to you for she loves you." He said. Aragorn shook his head.

"And when did you become an expert on the subject of love?" He teased, trying to find a less solemn conversation. Legolas grinned at him.

"I am far from that. I am the expert in making blunders regarding such subjects, but thankfully and for some strange reason I am forgiven for them." His dark eyes sparkled in the moonlight and Aragorn chuckled at that.

"We should take some rest; I think Aerlaer has already settled." He motioned towards the resting forms of the three elves and Legolas nodded.

"Yes, the next few days will be trying ones for all." He sighed and together they rose to their feet.

"Until morning, my friend." Aragorn bid him goodnight and watched as he walked softly over the earth to lie down next to Aerlaer, who immediately drew him into her arms, burrowing her head into his chest. Aragorn turned away, an ache in his heart for that which, no matter what Legolas had said, was lost to him.

…

They did not move out the next morning until the greater part of the army on foot had caught up to them. Again, the going was slow for those who travelled by horse.

While they had waited, the soldiers of Gondor had, with great effort, pulled down the orc head which had adorned the shoulders of the statue of the King, and replaced it with his noble head. In their minds it was a symbol that the true King had returned, The King to be who was immediately to Aerlaer's left as she trotted between Brego and Arod. Everyone was in a quiet and contemplating mood, even the two hobbits. Even Legolas was quieter than usual which worried Aerlaer and she looked up to him often.

"What is it that sits so heavily on your mind?" She eventually asked, and he seemed to snap from his thoughts almost sheepishly and gaze down at her.

"It is nothing really."

"Are you sure?" She pressed uncertainly and he nodded, reaching across to rest a reassuring hand on her mane.

"I am. It is a slow journey is it not? No wonder orcs are so angry if they must march to-and-fro from Mordor at the whim of Sauron." Aerlaer laughed at his quip, but she was sure something bothered him There was no use pestering him over it just yet, she supposed.

"Yes, but the trees are still abundant and for that I am grateful, although the further we go the quieter even they become. I do wish to run properly. I am fed up with this all this trotting!" She huffed through her nostrils and shook her mane.

"Well at least your rump is not bruised and battered by sitting to such a tedious pace hour after hour!" Gimli piped up.

"I did offer to teach you how to ride properly."

"And I did decline thank you very much." Gimli grumbled back at her.

"Then do not complain." Legolas turned back to smirk at his friend who only grunted at him.

"Halt here!" Aragorn cried back with a raised hand. Aerlaer stopped beside him and shifted back to elf form, a hand on her bow, unsure why he had called a sudden cease of movement. There were quiet murmurs amongst the men behind and soon Imrahil, Éomer and Halbarad rode up the line.

"What ails us, Lord Aragorn?" Imrahil spoke up for them all. Even Gandalf looked confused to Aerlaer. Something was not right, yet she had failed to feel anything different amongst the trees they passed. She looked up at Legolas, but he simply shrugged his brown eyes wary and his hand resting on his own bow.

"So far, we have travelled safely, but we move nearer to Minas Morgul. I think we should send a guard ahead primarily of strong archers on the off chance the enemy has sent a force over the Pass to intercept us." Aragorn explained, and the other commanders nodded in agreement. He turned to Legolas.

"Will you lead them?" He asked softly and Legolas inclined his head.

"My men have much respect for you after your duel yesterday eve." Imrahil added kindly and a smile flickered across Aerlaer's face. So they should be, he even bested me!

"A group of fifty skilled archers should be enough." Legolas decided as he dismounted from Arod and came to stand beside her.

"Will you come with me?" He asked quietly and she was surprised he even asked.

"Of course, I will go with you anywhere." Aerlaer replied, gazing steadily into his eyes and for a moment she hoped he would embrace her, but instead he looked wistfully at her and gently touched her cheek. "Elflike." She whispered in understanding and he gave her a wry smile and nodded.

It does not take long until a group of Ranger, Gondor and Rohirrim archers are assembled, including, to Aerlaer's delight; the twins and Taurorn.

"Do we address that Sinda as Captain Obvious, or Lord Legolas?" Elrohir whispered loudly to Elladan. Aerlaer held in a laugh as Legolas shot them a look that could pierce armor.

"My name will suffice." He replied curtly to which the twins snickered.

"Which part? Green or Leaf?" Elrohir inquired innocently but Legolas chose to ignore him, addressing the men now gathered before him.

"We will move as a spread-out group before the vanguard of main soldiers. Our aim is to be quiet and keep eyes open for the enemy if he should have been sent out from the Morgul Pass to meet us. No heroics, I do not want anyone getting themselves killed. We do not know what awaits us as we draw closer to Minas Morgul."

"Easy for an elf to say no heroics when he is untouchable." Aerlaer heard one of the Gondor men mutter and her eyes sought him out.

"Hardly easy if you had seen a century's worth of needless blood spilt." She retorted with narrowed eyes. The soldier had the decency to bow his head down shamefully as Legolas continued.

"I do not wish to offend, but if you will allow the three others of my kin here to lead you, and report any findings back to them, we are able to hear one another and speak quietly so that our enemy will have less chance of hearing us." Legolas explained quietly and to Aerlaer it seemed he had the men who would follow him enraptured with his calm yet commanding manner. Kind, yet not to be trifled with. Imrahil had been correct correct, his men gave Legolas their undivided attention and respect as he continued with his strategy.

"My Lord Legolas, how do we tell the two darker haired elven Lords apart?" One of the younger Gondor archers ask worriedly as he looks apologetically at the twins. Legolas smirked and indicated to Elrohir.

"Elrohir is the one who is like a thorn in my boot." He declared and there was a ripple of laughter amongst the men, as Elrohir smirked back.

"He lies, I am delightful." He retorted.

"No, that would be Elladan." Legolas's smirk grew further as Aerlaer laughed. "Let us move on now and not waste a moment longer." He commanded in a friendly tone and the men nodded, moving to spread out ahead of the army, silent amongst the trees.

…

All seemed well as Legolas moved his archers forward. Aerlaer was further along the line, twenty meters from him, but close enough he felt content with her safety. She glanced his way every now and then, seeking his position out. It warmed his heart. The trees told him no danger lurked nearby, but there were more miles between them and the fringes of the forest to where the fields before Minas Morgul would begin.

This kind of approach reminded him of leading patrols through the Greenwood. Something he had done so many times, yet, it felt so long ago. Another life. How could that be when it had not even been a century ago? Much had happened since he had left his father's lands. The Legolas he once was, he barely knew anymore.

He was proud of what he had become. Respected for himself, not his rank, and loved for those same reasons. He glanced again across to Aerlaer, who stalked gracefully though the undergrowth, alert to her surroundings ahead. Her head turned and their eyes met. She flashed him a smile, bright as the sun. Legolas had much to think about regarding Aerlaer, but now was not exactly the time.

The soldiers, true to their word, relied on the twins and Aerlaer as their leaders. It meant they moved swiftly through the trees until they were but two hundred feet from the edge of the thinning forest. Observing the fields before them, Legolas signaled for the archers to halt and wait for the rest of the army to catch up.

When the army caught up, Legolas signaled his party of fifty, now including Gandalf and Aragorn, to move onto the fields, towards Minus Morgul.

"What do you see?" Aragorn asked.

"It is more what we feel." Elladan spoke for them all, for the impeding city was shrouded in a dark evil akin to that of Dol Guldur. Legolas did not like it at all.

"This place is full of dark sorcery and death and despair." He said quietly.

"I can see the enemy moving behind their bridged gates, but they are disorganized." Aerlaer noted. Her voice lacked any form of joy or warmth which further disheartened him as they moved closer to the horrible place. The scent of putrefied and stagnant water met him, and his nose rankled as did the noses of the twins, Aerlaer, Shadowfax and the other horses as they came upon the scent.

"It is as if the very river here has died and decayed." Taurorn muttered from behind him to which many nearby riders agreed as the cantered forward.

"We will destroy their bridge and set fire to the plains to hold them in their accursed fortress." Aragorn called out just loud enough for the frontrunners to hear. The main army, led by Imrahil, were making a course towards the Morannon, along the stronghold range of the Ephel Dúath.

The riders reached the gate and Gandalf raised his staff. From its tip a blast of fire shot out and engulfed the bridge, consuming the wooden structures and causing stone to fall to rubble into the slime slickened waters bellow.

The orcs within the fortress rushed to arms but by the time they had assembled any of their own archers, the group of riders were out of range as they raced back towards the main army. Aragorn and Gandalf left a trail of fire in their wake which caught swiftly in the dry yellow field grasses, and carried towards the fortress on the breeze, leaving the way clear for the riders to meet back up to the vanguard of soldiers.

The horses, Legolas noted, seemed happy to finally stretch their legs some, especially Shadowfax and Aerlaer who ran ahead of the others, beside Brego.

Legolas was glad to put the evil of the fortress behind him, but now they marched directly below the mountains of shadow and what evil lay ahead of them now or in the darkness of the foothills, none of them could tell.

…

Long hours passed and soon night began to creep towards them; the sun setting in the west, scaring back the shadows from the foothills for a while longer. At Aragorn's direction, the army set camp in the open. Trees were sparse and a strong guard was set to keep watch, which changed at three hourly intervals to ensure all men received some rest.

Legolas kept his sword free at his right hip, and Aerlaer close, where she slept soundly by his side. Sleep evaded him, mind dwelling in the past, only to wander into the future, and to what awaited them at the Black Gate. The stars waned, giving way to a grey sky.

As they set out for the day's march, the entire army was downcast as if the very mountains pressed down upon them. Aerlaer was uncharacteristically quiet and her ears moved back and forth warily as she trotted beside Arod. All were heedful, and a guard had been set up to scout ahead and to flank their right where the enemy might be lurking in the foothills in wait.

After a couple hours of this, Aragorn and Imrahil called a change of the scouts and deep in his own thoughts, Legolas did not realize Aerlaer had volunteered herself along with Elladan and Elrohir, until she was nudging him from astride Elladan's mare playfully with the end of her bow.

"Wake up, sluggard." She grinned at him.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he watched her and Elrohir warily.

"Off to scout. We are bored." Her older cousin declared with a smirk. "Have fun daydreaming or whatever it is you are doing."

"I'm coming too."

"Nay Laddy, did you not here Aragorn, he does not want extra scouts, he has enough." Dismayed, he glanced across to the Ranger questioningly.

"Head out in the next group, Legolas." Aragorn said kindly and then he must have caught the look of worry upon his friend's face for he silently mouthed; "She will be fine Legolas; she is with her cousins." Reluctantly he nodded but he was not happy with the sudden separation. He turned back to Aerlaer.

"Don't do anything reckless. Be safe." He warned and received two sets of rolling eyes from both her and Elrohir.

"Oh Legolas, we will be fine." She replied breezily before she and Elrohir rode out ahead with the other scouts. All he could do was hope she and the others truly would be.

…

They had been scouting a mile ahead for easily over an hour, passing the time, sharing jokes and stories between Mablung, and his men from Henneth Annûn. The men from Ithilien were familiar with elves and even knew a little Sindarin much to the delight of the twins, and they easily understood some of their elvish jokes.

"What do you call your elf friends who live by the sea?" Sethdir, a younger Ithilien ranger who Aerlaer had been conversing with, asked her serenely. She thought carefully, unsure if it were a riddle or joke but nothing came to her and she gave up after five minutes, eager to hear the answer.

"I give in, what?" She asked and he gave her a deadpan stare.

"Watermellons."

"Sorry, what?"

"Watermellons." He said again and she let that sink in and shook her head, a smirk playing on her lips.

"That is terrible."

"Then why are you grinning?"

"I'm not."

"Oh, you are."

"Fine I am. It was cleverly terrible."

Ahead, Elladan raised his arm to stop. "We've got company." He called back as a mass of large orcs emerged from the shadows of the foothills. Aerlaer caught sight of the dull glint of their weapons under the overcast sky. She estimated at least two hundred of them. Their scouting party consisted of only fifty.

"Mablung barked out orders and two of his men spun their horses around to race back and warn the others as the remaining forty-eight called to ranks under his command.

"This should be some fun to break up the day." Elladan grinned over to Elrohir who turned back to Aerlaer, who rode behind him.

"By Eru, do not do anything utterly stupid or that Sinda Prince will have my head!"

"I am not an elfling, you know." Aerlaer retorted, fitting an arrow to her bow. The orcs came within range and she released, watching the shaft head sink into one of their thick necks, eliciting a cry of outrage from the enemy. "Game on." She muttered knocking another arrow with a smirk, a smirk which faltered as a further two hundred odd orcs appeared out of the shadows of the foothills directly beside them, rushing the scouts.

…

Elrohir cursed, wheeling his mare around as Mablung shouted to the scouts to retreat. Thankfully none were archers and although the four hundred odd orcs were no match for the entire army, the forty-eight scouts were in very real danger. Elrohir sensed the fear rolling in waves from some of the younger Gondor soldiers. This was not a good predicament. His brother raced ahead of him, turned in the saddle, shooting back at as many of their approaching enemy as he too was, along with Aerlaer.

Suddenly Elrohir heard a cry out of fear from behind.

"Sethdir!" Aerlaer called as he glanced back to see the young Ithilien ranger's horse falling, his grey legs tangled in rope.

"They've got coronrapha!" He shouted towards the others u and suddenly the presence of the one behind him vanished. He ripped his head around again to see Aerlaer racing, sword blazing, towards the fray and the fallen man.

"Aerlaer!" He screamed back at her and cursed angrily as he leapt from his mare and slapped her on the rump, sending her back towards the army to avoid the same fate of Sethdir's horse, before charging after his stupid little cousin.

…

The sound of warning horns struck pure dread into Legolas's heart as he saw the figures of two riders racing back towards them. He looked further, towards the small group over a mile ahead of them and let out a strangled cry of horror. Orcs were pouring from the foothills ahead. There were so many. Too many for just fifty scouts, no, forty-eight. Aragorn looked at him in pure shock, but before the ranger could stop him, Legolas shoved Gimli from the saddle and urged Arod swiftly forward.

"Legolas!" Gimli roared, but he was not stopping as he pushed Arod faster, nor was he going to endanger his friend on a possible suicide mission to reach Aerlaer.

…

Sethdir had been stabbed and was bleeding heavily, but there was a chance she could save the quiet yet funny young man she had become friends with. Aerlaer kept her blade whirring about her, fighting off orcs angrily. How did we miss the second part of the enemy group until it was nearly too late?

"Are you mad!" Elrohir's voice shouted suddenly next to her as he blocked the advance of an orc, swiftly beheading it to only block another.

"Possibly." She knocked down another of the enemy before slashing the neck of a second.

"If you die, Legolas will kill me!" Elrohir snapped as he spun around beside her to parry off another which growled at him.

"Elves, we like elves." It exclaimed in glee, only to gasp and choke as a sword tip suddenly protruded from its torso.

"Filth." Sethdir groaned from the ground as he slumped against his dead horse, his sword retracting as the orc fell away from the blade.

"Elrohir, heal him please! I'll fend them off."

"There's too many!"

"Maybe for two but not for three of us!" Elladan called as he ducked and weaved through the enemy towards them. He sported a gash upon his cheek but was otherwise unscathed. He took down a further three orcs as Aerlaer took out two more. They were now in the midst of the enemy forces as they moved towards the scouts who shot back at them from a safe distance, slowly retreating back to the main army.

"He's been stabbed by a tipped blade." Elrohir said as he took a moment to assess the fallen man. "I am sorry my friend." He said sadly as he leapt up again to fight off the onslaught of orcs.

Aerlaer felt sickened by Elrohir's words. They were in no position to save her friend; he would die anyway and possibly at the cost of her cousins lives too.

"We've got to get out of here!" Elladan called over the harsh screeches and cries of the orcs. Aerlaer glanced down at Sethdir, but it was only his damaged body which remained. He was dead. She bit the inside of her cheek hard and nodded as she parried off and beheaded another orc.

"We'll seek refuge in the foothills." Elrohir called back and together, the three of them raced; ducking and weaving, parrying and slashing the eight hundred meters towards the rocky foothills.

…

Legolas met up with the scouts and instantly began firing off arrows into the mass of orcs. A large group of riders was not far behind him.

"Beware they have coronrapha!" Mablung called out to him. Nodding, he kept Arod at a safe distance.

"Where are the other elves?" He called to the man desperately.

"In there somewhere, if they live." Legolas's heart twisted in pure fear. Where are they? Where is she?

"Aerlaer!" He called out but there was no answering call over the sound of the orcs. Suddenly the great sounding of horns and the unmistakable cry of the Rohirrim came from close behind him. The orcs screamed and reeled in terror, as the army of horsemen swept down on them. Some horses fell as the stone weighted ropes thrown by some of the orcs entangled their legs, but their riders leapt up and continued fighting viciously until many of the remaining orcs, turned and fled screaming back into their shadowy mountains.

…

"Aerlaer!" Elladan screamed out as he realised they had arrived at the safety of the foothills without their cousin, who had been with them only moments earlier.

"Eru, where is she?" Elrohir cursed as he scanned the mass of orcs they had just escaped from.

"I can't see her." Elladan fretted as he made to head back out into the fray. Elrohir grabbed him.

"No! I will not potentially lose you too, brother!" He cried out to his twin and hauled him back behind the rock they had taken refuge behind.

"But we can't leave Aerlaer out there!"

"Brother, if she did not make it here with us, she probably has not made it at all." Elrohir said quietly but his voice shook and Elladan gasped as the pain of the loss fully hit him.

…

The orcs had fled, and Legolas ran through their fallen bodies, searching. There were no elves among the dead, and the noose about his heart loosened a little. Wait, his heart leapt into his throat as he noticed a circle of carnage some sixteen hundred feet before him and the pale body of a fallen horse.

Terrified, he sprinted towards the fallen creature. It wasn't her, and he could breathe again, but there had been a skirmish here for near sixty orcs lay dead around him, hewn down by blades. Beside the horse lay a single young man, dead, his bloodied sword still in hand. He raced about searching swiftly through the crumpled bodies but there were no elves. Dotted here and there was a trail of orc bodies and he followed it towards the foothills.

The pounding of hoofbeats behind caused him to spin in hope, but it was only Aragorn, Merry seated ashen faced before him.

Movement caught his eye and he stared towards the beginning of the foothills to see Elrohir and Elladan come racing out. From the distance he could discern anguish on their faces as they too glanced around. Where is she? He refused to think the worst, she had to be here. Hadn't she? He raced up to the twins.

"Aerlaer?" He forced himself to ask, the look of pain he received from the twins was akin to a blade carving out his heart.

"We don't know. She was right behind us, but we don't know." Elrohir whispered, his face pale and drawn as Aragorn too reached them.

"Aerlaer!" Legolas called out, hoping beyond all hope he would be answered as he scanned the rocky terrain for her body, afraid of what he might find. There was no answer and instant panic took hold of him. He raced about in earnest, leaping from rock to rock looking for her, calling out her name but no one answered. No elleth appeared, no creamy horse with an autumn mane. No gold scintillated against the mournful grey sky.

Oh, oops, did something bad happen to Aerlaer? Hehehe!

Okay, the majority have spoken, which I am super excited about! While you are all fuming over this lil' cliff hanger, go check it out! The Witcher fic: Heart of Gold, and tell me what you think! :D

blasttyrant - Yes, the sword fight! I loved tidying that up and re-reading it while I edited! Nice, I'm not a gamer, but damn tempted now, haha! I have the Last Wish coming in the mail. Had to do a Witcher Crash course, and then devise a shitload of canon related back story, so hopefully it reads like I know what I'm writing about! :D

CrazyCherryBomb - There Were Ten is priority no.1, so no problems there! Heart of Gold will be short and sweet, well hopefully!

zikashigaku - Thanks! Yeah he might have had a lil tantrum there, haha!

Katara Melody Cullen - Thank you! I love writing fight scenes, especially if it involves flirting!

mystarlight - Thanks! No, Crown of Conspiracy was written by a lovely author by the name of Kara S Weaver.

I go under Jessa Pearl for my original work, and I am not going to have anything resembling a published book until late this year at the earliest.

Silvers Ashe - Thank you, that means so much! Witcher fic is posted! Yay! it is called Heart of Gold. :)

Happy reading, peeps!

A xx