Author's Note:
i am a Fire-jay - D'awww your review about made me cry! I will do my best to make sure he does not die, and please don't cry! Because then I'll start crying, and we'll both be crying messes. Anyway, thanks for the wonderful review, I can't wait till your next review, lol. :)
BrownEyedGirl87 - Thank you so much! I am glad to hear that! I love Haldir too ;). Thanks for the amazing review, I am looking forward to your next review! :)
Fellowship of Avengers - Yes, he is so in love with her, lol. We will have to see if he will carry through with his plans. Thanks for the fantastic review, I cannot wait till your next review! :)
Rorythedragon - Haha yep, the battle is here! Ok, I'll try not to kill Haldir off, lol, I don't want a grumpy reviewer. :) Besides, I don't think I could live with myself if I did. Well that and I don't really want cheese cakes to haunt me, that sounds really scary. Thanks for the hilarious review, I can't wait till your next one! :)
sheepfluff1 - OMG, wow, thanks for following and favoriting my story, and following and favoriting me as an author, that is awesome! Thank you so much! :)
wonderpanda10 - D'awwww don't worry about it, you will see what will happen to them. Hahaha thanks, they really like being together too, lol. Thanks, heres the update. Thanks for the amazing review, I cannot wait till your next one! :)
Marizhka18 - Thanks for following my story! :)
Yuuki-Hime 2097 - Thanks for following my story! :)
Allisond68 - Awwwww thanks, I'm so happy that you're in love with my story, lol. Omg, you think there should be mermaids in Middle Earth too? I'm not the only one! :) I am glad you like the way I added them into my story, I was a little worried about that. Thanks for the wonderful review, and thanks for following my story. I am looking forward to your next review! :)
freudianprincess - Hahaha, good. I'm glad you think my story is lovely and well written, that is so nice of you! :)
xuanny - Thanks for following my story! :)
g0thiCkUr0cHo69 - Thanks for following my story! :)
Calaereth awoke at sunset the next day, she was surprised when she first woke up, that she had been asleep for so long. In the horizon, Calaereth saw what she knew had to be Helms deep. The fortress was built into the side of a mountain. The walls looked tall and strong, even from a distance. But something was telling Calaereth that the walls would not hold up, not this time. Something was going to be different about this battle, and Calaereth knew it. She looked at the sun, it was quickly setting, within the hour it would disappear. Calaereth frowned, they would most likely be at the fortress in four or five hours. Calaereth's heart immediately sank at that thought, and her mood worsened. Calaereth glanced up at Haldir to find he was analyzing the fortress very carefully. Calaereth hated to see the frown that appeared on his lips, it was not a fitting look for him. But Calaereth understood why he would wear it now, and she was certain she had one on her face as well.
Finally the cloak of darkness fell upon the land, and yet Calaereth was not tired, not this time. She had rested long enough. Calaereth wiggled in Haldir's arms, "I think I can walk now, Haldir." Calaereth looked up at him, pleading with him.
Haldir raised an eyebrow, he readied himself to argue with her but Calaereth quickly spoke again.
"I need to stretch my legs. I fear I would not do well in battle with numb legs." Calaereth used as an excuse.
Haldir thought about it for a moment, she had been asleep for long. But he would hate for her to tire out from the walk as well. Haldir hoped she had enough endurance and rest. Haldir finally nodded in agreement, and put her down. But he did eye her carefully for the rest of the dark trip to Helms Deep to watch for any signs of fatigue.
Once they were close to the fortress, the elven horn was sounded. Calaereth watched with keen eyes as the men seemed unsure at first of what to do, but then they quickly opened the gates. As they marched inside, Calaereth moved even closer to Haldir when the eyes of many men looked upon her. Calaereth quickly became uncomfortable as she met some of their eyes and identified their looks. Some were of confusion, others of anger, but what frightened her the most were the looks of lust. Calaereth immediately decided she did not like those men, that they to be avoided at all costs.
As Haldir and Calaereth rounded a corner, Haldir glanced at her assuringly before stepping forward to talk with and older man dressed in armour, with blonde hair and a beard. Haldir knew him as King Théoden, but Calaereth did not. Théoden looked absolutely amazed and puzzled at the same time. Haldir resisted the urge to smirk in amusement, instead he gave a small bow.
"How is this possible?" King Théoden asked, completely shocked.
"I bring word, from Elrond of Rivendell. An alliance once existed between Elves and Men. Long ago we fought and died together." Haldir began his very impressive speech but stopped when he saw movement above. Haldir quickly identified the three figures as Aragorn, Legolas, and that dwarf he had met on the borders of Lothlórien, that had been quite rude as he remembered. "We've come to honor that allegiance." Haldir finished proudly.
Calaereth recognized the three figures as well, they were part of the fellowship from what she remembered. Calaereth wondered where the rest of the fellowship was. She did not know they had long ago, split up. Calaereth quite missed the joyful little hobbits that she had met. Calaereth looked back up as Aragorn quickly descended the steps towards Haldir.
"Mae Govannen Haldir." Aragorn grinned and did a small elven gesture of greeting before reaching forward and hugging Haldir. Which caught Haldir by surprise, Calaereth nearly giggled at how awkward of a hugger he looked. Truly though, he gave great hugs, to Calaereth at least.
Haldir eventually relaxed and gave Aragorn a small pat on the back before pulling away.
"You are most welcome." Aragorn moved aside and then met Calaereth's eyes. Calaereth wondered if he would even recognize her. To her great surprise, Aragorn did.
"You have changed much, since I last met you, Calaereth." Aragorn grinned at her, his blue eyes twinkling.
"I'm afraid I cannot say the same for you, Aragorn." Calaereth smiled in humor, and gave him a small hug.
Then Legolas moved forward and grabbed the top of Haldir's arms, and Haldir did the same in elven greeting. Right at that moment, the elven army shifted and turned left in a very swift and graceful movement.
"We are proud to fight alongside men once more." Haldir said with a very kind face, despite the small jealousy he had felt when he had saw Aragorn hug Calaereth. Haldir wasn't sure what had caused it, Aragorn was a very moral man and his heart already belonged to Arwen. But something about seeing Aragorn hug her irritated him greatly. He had nearly reached over and pulled Aragorn off of her. But somehow he had restrained himself. Haldir looked behind his shoulder and glanced at Calaereth, she met his eyes, and a smile appeared on her face.
Haldir gave a half-hearted smile back before turning away and following Théoden up the steps to discuss battle positions.
Calaereth stood beside Haldir at the front of the Deeping Wall. She looked behind her to see all the other elves on the wall, they all stood so rigid and solemn as if they knew they were facing death. Some distance down the wall there was Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli together, talking. The night was cool and dark, Calaereth could see her breath in the air. Calaereth could nearly smell the rain in the air. She sensed a great storm was coming. The entire fortress was decorated with torches, to provide some light in the darkness. Calaereth turned towards the view in front of her. She could see many lights, the light of torches that the enemy carried to light their way. Calaereth had overheard Aragorn talking to Haldir, about the size of the army that was coming. At least ten thousand strong, Aragorn had said. The total of the fighters here were six hundred, at the most.
A cold breeze brushed through Calaereth's golden hair, and greatly unsettled her. Lightning suddenly lit up the sky and a loud crack of thunder rumbled through the air. Calaereth shrunk back slightly, and grabbed for Haldir's hand. Haldir looked down at her in surprise but the smiled softly at the fear in Calaereth's large brown eyes. Haldir's thumb caressed her palm trying to reassure her as another flash of lightning brightened the dark sky and was followed by a louder crack of thunder.
Then, it began to rain. Calaereth looked up at the sky and nearly started crying, it was just like her dream. What if it was too late? Calaereth's grip on his hand instantly tightened, no she was not too late. She just needed to remember what Haldir had told her, what ever it was. Calaereth watched with dread as the Uruk-Hai, as Haldir had called them, marched closer and closer. Calaereth knew there was much more on the line here than just Haldir's life. There was the lives of the elves, and the women, the children, and the elderly that hid in the caves, awaiting their fate. Calaereth swallowed hard, she had to focus. She wanted to make Haldir proud of her, now was not the time to be afraid. Now was the time to be strong, and to prove her worth amongst the great elven warriors beside her.
Calaereth heard Aragorn shout words of advice in elvish.
A loud yell from an Uruk-Hai startled Calaereth, she turned to see the owner of the voice standing on the top of a rock, he looked to be a leader. This was proved correct as the entire army halted. For a moment they stood silent, staring at both armies staring at each other. Some growls and huffs filled the air. Then the leader let out another order in the form of a yell and the army began stomping and pounding their spears. A form of intimidation from what Calaereth could tell. She turned her head to the left to see the men draw their arrows in a form of defense. After a few moments of the stomps and yells an arrow flew from the men's side, and pierced an Uruk-Hai right in between the armour. Killing it instantly. Calaereth couldn't help but grin as the Uruk-Hai let out a noise, and then faceplanted into the ground.
"Nice shot." Calaereth muttered, and Haldir turned towards her with a corner of his lips upturned at her comment.
For a moment everything was silent. All the Uruk-Hai stared at their dead comrade, then they turned towards the army of men and elves, and started growling. The leader extended his sword and let out a yell, an obvious way of saying, charge. The Battle of Helms Deep had begun.
"Prepare to fire!" Aragorn yelled over the storm. Calaereth felt elegant as she and Haldir grabbed an arrow and put it into the bow at the same time. Calaereth quickly picked a target. As she picked a large and rather slow target, she heard Legolas advice them to aim either at the neck or the arm, where the armour was weak. "Release the arrows!" Aragorn ordered.
The arrows flew through the air at the command and nailed their targets. Calaereth watched with satisfaction as her target fell. The the arrows from the men began to fly as well. Then Aragorn ordered for the elves behind him to begin shooting.
Then the Uruk-Hai started pulling out cross bows and began fire back. They became Calaereth's targets, for she was angered when the elves around her were killed. The same rage she had felt when her fellow mermaid people were being killed in a battle. Calaereth watched as ladders were being put up, and Aragorn ordered them to pull out their swords. Calaereth put her bow away and grabbed her daggers that were strapped to her waist.
She heard the sheath of a sword beside her, and Calaereth turned to see Haldir pulling out his sword. It was a beautiful sword, and was obviously of elven make. Calaereth was certain that it had seen many battles before this one. Calaereth observed him, his silver eyes were narrowed in concentration and were as stormy grey as the storm that raged before them. The rain had long since drenched his hair, but Calaereth could see it had not dampened his soul. Calaereth turned back towards the battle, finding the strength from Haldir's appearance.
"Just remember Calaereth." Haldir paused, waiting for the enemies to come patiently. His voice catching Calaereth's attention. "Life is always about sacrifices, it is the sacrifices that bring peace. The young hobbit Frodo has sacrificed his peaceful life in the Shire, to go to the chaos to destroy the one ring. We also, must sacrifice." Then an Uruk-Hai appeared and Haldir cut it down as more appeared. Calaereth instantly knew the moment was lost, but his words still echoed in her ears.
As Calaereth fought back against the Uruk-Hai she dwelled on his words. Calaereth had not predicted that he would give such words of wisdom and encouragement right before going into battle. As Calaereth defeated Uruk-Hai after Uruk-Hai, she still found her thoughts on Haldir's words. Calaereth knew she should have a clear head when fighting, but something about Haldir's words kept her thinking.
"A she-elf?" Calaereth turned behind her to look at an Uruk-Hai that cackled at her. "How desperate are the elves that they would bring a female into the fighting?" The Uruk-Hai asked snarkily, his yellow teeth grinning at her. Calaereth snarled at the insult and lunged forward with her daggers to kill him for his insult to the elves. Whom she greatly admired. Only to find Haldir had beat her to the offending Uruk-Hai. A sneer was on Haldir's face as he killed the orc, then moved onto another without even a glance at Calaereth.
Calaereth turned back to the fight in front of her, as she pushed a ladder backwards into the large army of orcs waiting outside the walls, she saw what looked to be some kind of explosive being carried. No, two explosives, heading for the middle of the wall, where there was an opening for drainage in the fortress. Not to far away an Uruk-Hai carrying a torch followed. Calaereth nearly cursed, they were going to blow up the wall.
Without a second thought, Calaereth ran towards that section of the wall dodging the blows aimed for her by Uruk-Hai. "Get off of the wall!" Calaereth screamed in Elvish, pushing surprised elves in two different directions to get them off of that section of the wall. "They are going to blow up the wall!" Calaereth explained, and to her great relief, they listened. Just as that section of the wall cleared, and Calaereth got back to Haldir, the wall exploded, just as she had predicted. Calaereth's quick reactions had saved lives, just as prophesied. Whether Calaereth realized it or not, she had fulfilled part of her prophecy. Calaereth could not believe that she had managed to get them off of the wall, and that they had believed her.
Haldir nearly jumped at the loud explosion that sounded in his ears and shook the wall he stood on. Haldir was certain many of his comrades had perished in the explosion, but instead of seeing them being killed by the explosion, he saw that they were crammed on both sides of the wall and looked at the explosion in disbelief as well. Haldir wondered how this was even possible, had they spotted the threat ahead of time?
Calaereth watched in amazement as large blocks of the wall flew up into the air, propelled by the force of the great explosion. Some of the chunks of the wall hit the Uruk-Hai, but not as many as Calaereth had hoped for. Calaereth looked up at the large cloud of smoke that rose in the air. Once the dust settled, the large amount of water that had been held behind the wall came down upon the Uruk-Hai who tried to come through. The water was deep and of great force, it knocked many of them back, but not for long. Soon enough they surged forward and Calaereth noticed that Aragorn lay on the ground.
Calaereth was going to yell for Aragorn but a certain dwarf beat her to it, and Calaereth watched on in true astonishment as the dwarf leaped off of the wall and attacked the Uruk-Hai. Taking them on all by himself. Aragorn had the elves behind him shoot a volley of arrows, before charging forward to fight the Uruk-Hai, to save Gimli.
Before Calaereth could watch the fight below any longer, she heard heavy steps come up behind her. Calaereth turned her head to identify her enemy, who had sneaked up on her.
"You're mine!" The Uruk-Hai declared.
Calaereth smirked and ducked at his swing for her head and kicked his feet out from him. The Uruk-Hai fell with a loud thud, and Calaereth finished him off.
"Aragorn! Fall back to the Keep!" Calaereth heard a loud male voice order. Calaereth ran towards Haldir, they needed to go back together, so nothing could harm him.
Calaereth heard Aragorn order them to the Keep, but Calaereth refused to go on her own, she would not abandon Haldir. Just as Calaereth reached Haldir, Aragorn ordered for Haldir to retreat back to the Keep. Haldir looked over at Calaereth and gestured her to go on. Calaereth stopped when she got in front of him, and shook her head at his demand to go on.
"I am not leaving without you." Calaereth breathed heavily, never had she run so hard in her life.
"But you must!" Haldir reasoned, "You must and you will!"
Calaereth glared at him and opened her mouth to argue when two Uruk-Hai charged them. Calaereth easily killed one, and she saw Haldir do so as well. Haldir turned back towards her, his silver eyes raging. How dare she defy him, and at a time like this?
"There are too many, you must go now Calaereth." Haldir ordered.
"And leave you here to die? Absolutely unthinkable!" Calaereth scolded him.
That was when the same Uruk-Hai from her dream appeared behind Haldir, catching him off guard once again. The Uruk-Hai's arms were raised up to swing his axe down upon Haldir. Sacrifice, Calaereth suddenly thought, and things instantly clicked for her. That was what Galadriel had wanted her to remember, to sacrifice. She needed to sacrifice, for Haldir to live.
Calaereth pushed Haldir out of the way, and drew her daggers catching the Uruk-Hai's swing. But Calaereth had miscalculated, and had not anticipated the Uruk-Hai to be very strong. The Uruk-Hai hit her daggers hard, and Calaereth's hands were pushed down at the force and she felt her right arm break under the pressure. A loud snap gave further evidence to her injury. Calaereth let out a small cry at the pain, but before she had time to react, the Uruk-Hai lunged forward and knocked her over, his blade slicing deeply into her already injured right arm, causing her to let out a howl of pain. Suddenly, the Uruk-Hai was gone, and all that Calaereth had been able to register was a flash of silver-blonde that tackled the Uruk-Hai on top of her.
Calaereth found her vision was beginning to blur, and quickly. Calaereth immediately decided it had to be from blood loss, the Uruk-Hai had cut deep into her arm. Haldir's face came back into view, and Calaereth blinked back the tears and stared at him. Expecting him to say something comforting.
"Foolish woman." Was all that Haldir said before picking her up and heading quickly for the Keep. Great emotions raged within Haldir as he carried her back as quickly as he could, fighting off the Uruk-Hai while retreating. Calaereth had been foolish to stay and fight rather than leave, but she had saved his life. Haldir knew this, but it had come at a great cost. Haldir glanced down to see her becoming pale, he needed to do something about that arm wound and fast. Haldir wanted to yell at her for her stupid decision, but he found that he could not. All he could find was gratefulness for her. Haldir owed her his life. Haldir quickly entered the Keep, as did a few of his comrades who looked at Calaereth with great concern. Their eyes asked him silent questions.
Haldir gently sat Calaereth down against the cold wall, and ripped off a large piece of his red cloak. He wrapped it tightly around her wound, to serve as a tourniquet for the time being. Haldir looked up into Calaereth's eyes to find them teary and sad.
"You're mad at me aren't you?" Calaereth sobbed softly.
"I am." Haldir stated truthfully, "But I find that I cannot blame you for what you did." Haldir sighed, "For I would have done the same."
"You would?" Calaereth asked in disbelief, her brown eyes wide.
"Of course." Haldir nodded, wiping at her tears.
Calaereth closed her eyes feeling dizzy for a moment, even though she was sitting still. She felt horrible.
"The fortress is taken. It is over." King Théoden said with finality as the men and some remaining elves braced the door. Haldir turned towards Théoden, irritated at his easy defeat.
"You said this fortress would never fall while your men defended it. They still defend it! They have died defending it!" Aragorn yelled.
Then there was a loud pound on the doors of the Keep. The Uruk-Hai were trying to break inside. Calaereth let out a small groan, catching Haldir's attention as Théoden and Aragorn talked amongst each other. Their talk did not last long and soon enough Calaereth found herself being lifted up by Haldir again and being put on a white horse. Haldir mounted behind her, and held the reins of the horse in one hand, and his sword in another. Calaereth could no longer really discern what the men were saying and she felt her body becoming slack and relaxing against Haldir. Haldir turned his head to look at her in concern. His silver eyes were the only thing Calaereth could focus on. A loud horn sounded and the Uruk-Hai broke through the doors, Calaereth felt Haldir give the horse a nudge and they charge forward with the group, fighting their way out of Helms Deep. Calaereth looked around dazed, ignoring the growls of the Uruk-Hai around her, it was dawn, of a new day.
A loud whinny of a horse caught Haldir's and Calaereth's attention. They both turned to see a white horse, and on the top of the horse, Haldir recognized Gandalf. Suddenly the fighting ceased and the Uruk-Hai turned to see what had caught everyone's attention.
A man came forward beside Gandalf, and yelled, "Rohirrim!" Haldir was relieved to see the Riders of Rohan arrive. After a loud yell of, "FOR THE KING!" The large group of men charged down the hill and the Uruk-Hai were no longer concerned about the survivors of the Battle of Helms Deep. But the Riders of Rohan.
Calaereth watched in awe as the great army charged down the hill, as they came to conflict the sun bore down on the Uruk-Hai. Blinding them. Calaereth knew that the Uruk-Hai were no match for the Rohirrim, and that the battle had ended, in their victory. Calaereth smiled, and then her world went dark.
CLIFFHANGER! Sorry guys, I just had to end there, I couldn't help myself. Please don't kill me though. But I would like to hear about what you thought about this chapter, what do you think will happen next? O.O Thanks for reading guys, I cannot till I see your reviews! :)
-Garnette