Hello everyone! Here is the next chapter! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it! First off, I own nothing but Mayleea! Second, I would like to thank all my reviewers. Thank yous to NeverLetMeDown, djinnia, eternalenergy, Pagan Twylight, FrankieDaBombWithCowboyBoots, Cetacea-of=Time and Cooky Crumbla. Love you all! Ok enjoy!
The minute the orc hit the ground, the battle had started. The Uruki began running at a surprising pace toward the wall.
"Prepare to fire!" Aragorn said to the Lorian warriors.
They strung their bows and held it as the Uruki got closer. Mayleea could hardly stand it. It was so against her nature to wait to attack.
"The armor is weak at the neck and beneath the arm," Legolas said too quietly to be to anyone but himself.
"Fire!" Aragorn shouted.
Four hundred Lorian arrows flew simultaneously into the crowd of enemy warriors, all hitting their marks. Théoden commanded his army to fire as well. Those, being shot by civilians were not quite as accurate, but the occasional one managed to hit something. They were all firing at will now, and Mayleea realized it would be stupid to go down there now. The Lorian warriors would not hit her, but the civilians were not that good at aiming. She was forced to watch row after row of the enemy fall without her doing anything. She stood on the edge of the wall, praying one of them would choose to come up right in front of her. She kneaded the rock below her, creating long scratch marks on the stone.
Suddenly an arrow flew past her head. She ducked and roared a warning to the Elves around her. She entered their minds all at once.
"They are in range!"
The Elves knew what that meant and they took precautions not to get shot with their crossbows. Even with a warning, many of them fell. The ladders came next. Big, heavy things no normal man could lift, or push off the wall. Mayleea, on the other hand, was no man. As the first one crashed to rest in front of her, she grew large and easily picked it up. With an angry roar, she broke it in half and threw it back at the Uruki. They had not seen her up until that point and were surprised at her appearance.
"Cease fire!" Haldir cried to his men as a dozen Lorian arrows bounced off Mayleea's chest plates.
She nodded to him then swooped up over the battle field, flew to one end and dove. Uruki ran for their lives thinking she was going to crush them, but she pulled up at the last second and flew against the wall knocking the ladders off and throwing them into the air. A cheer rose up from the wall as Mayleea flew under the bridge and up against the opposite wall. She pulled up above the cliff and roared. Fire erupted from her mouth and she dove again, setting the first twelve rows of Uruki on fire. Their screams did not deter the others from running forward, but Mayleea sent several more jets upon the army. It seemed Rohan's savior had four legs and wings. Mayleea flew past Legolas and Gimli as she took more ladders out. She roared to them and as she flew back around, she stopped by Legolas, who jumped on.
Being as large as she could get, Legolas was about as big as one of her toes and therefore sat in the middle of her back. It was a new experience for the Elf, and since he was used to being able to hold on with his legs more than anything, it proved hard to stay on. Although, being an Elf, he was nimble enough to stay on just about anything. It also helped that he could sense what she was going to do a second before she did it. He would think about it later and not be able to describe the feeling, or how he did it, but he enjoyed it. As she banked over the crowd of Uruki to get Legolas a good shot at them, the enemy in the back began to cheer. Mayleea looked toward them, trying to see what was making them so happy.
"What is it?" Legolas asked.
"I do not know," Mayleea answered.
She had a sudden feeling something was wrong. The feeling persisted until panic had all but overtaken her. She did what she could to keep it from spilling into Legolas' mind, but it was not working.
"Mayleea what is it?" Legolas asked.
She didn't answer only flew back to the wall and deposited him safely on it. She tried to quell the rising fear, but despite her efforts it was beginning to reach hysteria. She almost could not function. Suddenly everything began to move slower, even the beating of her own wings. Something was about to happen, but she didn't know what. She didn't have to wait long to find out. It seemed like all the living creatures in the valley took a collective breath half a second before it happened. Something heavy and sharp dropped on Mayleea from the cliff above.
Its sudden weight made Mayleea plummet to earth. She managed to roll in the air so whatever was on her back cushioned her fall. Unfortunately it wasn't very cushiony. In fact it was sharp and pierced her unprotected back. She rolled off of it and into a crowd of Uruki. They ran for it, creating a large circle around her. She got up quickly and roared spinning on the spot, looking for what had knocked her out of the sky. She found it easily. The Uruki had given it a wide birth as well, and Mayleea instantly knew why.
The creature she was staring down reminded her of a snake. It was as big as she was, but long and thin. She couldn't tell quite how long because it was curled around itself, but it had to be at least the length of the wall of Helms Deep. Perhaps longer. Its head was slim and its mouth filled with huge teeth. It had a long, pointed spike jutting out from its chin, and long horns extending from the back of its head. Its entire, green body was covered in large plates and spikes. It reminded her strikingly of a porcupine. From its nose to the end of its long tail, it was protected. Its underbelly was covered with sharp, fine spines while its back had long, thick, deadly looking spines and shiny armor. Its claws on its feet were long and thick and just as deadly looking as the rest of it. The only thing it seemed to be lacking was wings. Instantly Mayleea realized that was her only escape.
Before it could get its feet under it, Mayleea jumped away from the ground, climbing high into the sky. It jumped after her, climbing the cliff walls just as fast as she could climb into the air. When it reached the top, it launched itself into the air with surprisingly muscular back legs, but Mayleea was just out of reach. It opened its mouth and let out a horrible screaming noise. It seemed to stab through Mayleea's consciousness and right into her mind. She cried out and began to lose altitude. She was almost within the monster's reach when Legolas' voice crashed through the pain in her mind. It was one simple word.
"Mayleea!"
Her eyes shot open and she flapped away. The monster growled and whipped its head around to look in the direction of the Elf. It seemed to know how she had broken away from its hold. Before Mayleea could blink, it was across the cliff and down onto the wall. She roared and dove after it. When she got there, it was chasing Legolas across the wall. She grabbed the end of its tail in her jaws and flew up into the sky. It clawed the wall, trying to stay on, but Mayleea had to good of a grip on it. She ripped it off the ground and continued to fly up. It rolled over in the air and looked at her, then climbed up its own body and grabbed her. She roared, surprised and kicked at it.
Mayleea was dimly aware that in the event of the distraction, the Uruki had gotten their ladders back against the wall and were now assaulting the men there, but she couldn't concern herself with that at the moment. The creature was snapping at her neck while they were both plummeting toward the ground. Mayleea could not keep them both airborne, the creature was too big. She was paying more attention to where the many spines and spikes of the monster were rather than where she was falling, and that, she realized later, was a problem. They hit the cliff wall and rolled off into the Uruki, who were ready with their spears. Besides the pointy creature on Mayleea, the Uruki around her were jumping in with their spears and poking her. That really wasn't hurting her, but it was just another thing she had to worry about.
As the creature opened its mouth to bite at her neck, she spit a jet of fire into its mouth. It did not like that. It jumped off her and shook its head back and forth roaring. Mayleea took the opportunity to jump up and step on a few of the Uruki who had been poking her. The creature was back up, but Mayleea was ready. She put all her energy behind the next jet of fire and caught the monster in the side of the face. The fire bounced harmlessly off the hard plate on its face, but it burned its eyes. It cried out and fell back, clawing at its face.
While the monster was busy, Mayleea jumped into the sky and looked over the battle field, just in time to see a large Uruk carrying a torch running as fast as he could with two arrows sticking out of his chest. She tuned out all of the battle din and listened for Aragorn's voice. She heard it instantly.
"Legolas, shoot him! Bring him down!"
Mayleea realized too late what was happening and all of a sudden, the whole portion of the wall over the drain exploded sending rocks, men and dust 50 feet into the air. The explosion surprised everyone. Rocks came crashing down around Mayleea and she gained some altitude and looked for the monster. It was gone. She growled and looked around frantically. Once again, she didn't have to look long. She found it getting ready to jump at her from the top of the cliff. It launched at her half a second too late. She managed to get out of its reach and it fell back to earth, although it wasn't hurt at all. Mayleea had just enough time to extend her mind out and touch those she cared about. Legolas, Haldir, Gimli and Aragorn. The first three were fine, but Aragorn was unconscious. She tried to find him, but spiny was back. It jumped and caught her back foot with one claw. She roared as she was dragged to the top of the cliff. It rolled her across the hard ground. Mayleea groaned and pulled herself up. She glared into the small blue eyes of the monster and pushed herself into its mind.
"You and I do not have to be enemies."
"Oh but we do," came the voice.
It was a female.
"You would rather be a pet to the Uruki?" Mayleea asked as she began to circle the creature.
She matched Mayleea's steps.
"I am no pet," she spat. "I am a goddess."
"The Uruki answer to no one but Saruman," Mayleea said.
"You know nothing do you?" she asked.
"I know enough," Mayleea answered dropping her head.
"Obviously, you do not."
"Tell me then," Mayleea challenged.
The spiny dragon thought for a moment, never taking her eyes from Mayleea.
"You know you are an Elemental."
"Yes," Mayleea agreed.
She still couldn't believe she was having a semi civilized conversation with a spiky dragon she didn't know existed half an hour earlier.
"But you think you are the last one left."
"Yes," Mayleea agreed again.
"You are not."
Mayleea's eyes widened.
"You lie," she hissed narrowing her eyes.
"Why would I lie?" she asked.
"Why wouldn't you?"
"Good point," the other dragon answered. "But I'm not. You are not even close to the only one."
Mayleea frowned but didn't say anything. She dimly registered Aragorn yelling for the Lorian Elves to pull back to the keep. The other dragon continued.
"Saruman has them all in his prisons," she said.
"How many?" Mayleea asked.
"Hundreds."
Mayleea almost fainted on the spot. There were hundreds of dragons out there? Maybe a few of them were Elementals. Maybe she could bring her race back from extinction. The other dragon was smiling.
"Why did you tell me?" Mayleea asked.
"Because I'm going to kill you," she said, her grin getting wider.
Then it was Mayleea's turn to smile.
"I wouldn't count on that."
Mayleea dove at the green dragon, catching her under the jaw with a quick blow from her front foot. It did little more than annoy the green dragon. Mayleea was setting up for another strike when a stabbing pain ripped through her stomach. She roared and staggered back. She knew instantly that it wasn't her who had been injured. She sent out her mind, finding Legolas first, then Aragorn and Gimli then finally Haldir. Haldir. She extended a tendril of her mind to meet his. When she entered, all there was, was pain and fear.
"Haldir," she said quietly.
"Mayleea," he answered. "I –"
But he was cut off. Mayleea screamed as Haldir got cut down by an orc blade in his back. Mayleea heard Aragorn shouting his name and fighting to get to him. Mayleea felt Haldir slipping away and she was determined not to let him die alone, but the green dragon was making it hard to concentrate on anything else. She was literally pinning her to the ground with a spike through the back of her shoulder.
"Haldir!" she cried. "I'm here with you!"
As she said it though, she felt Aragorn's arms around him and she knew he wouldn't be alone. At the same time, she sensed the Uruki break through the gate and the King go down and join the fight. She roared and threw her tail around and caught the green dragon's snout. She pulled her head back and yanked the spike out of her shoulder. The pain drew a roar from deep in her chest then she jumped up and backhanded the green dragon. She flew backward and sprawled across the dirt. Mayleea dove at her and tried to rip the spikes on her throat out. It would be slow going, but it was doable, but not if the green dragon was awake. She got her back feet under Mayleea's chest and pushed back with every bit of strength she had. Mayleea flew back into the air and over the cliff. She landed inside the lowest part of Helms Deep. All the Uruki flooding into the city ran for cover when she came crashing down. The green dragon was not far behind. She dove from the cliff and Mayleea saw her just in time. She rolled away, but almost too late. The green dragon's claws caught her hip and opened three long gashes in her muscle.
She howled as blood splattered across the ground. Mayleea stood, holding her back leg in the air, but faced the green dragon.
"Why do you fight for them?" she asked sauntering forward.
"Because I am good," Mayleea said noticing the Uruki surrounding her.
The green dragon snickered.
"No dragon is inherently good."
"Are they inherently bad then?"
"Yes," the green dragon answered.
"Maybe your race is. Not mine."
"You will be like me and I will enjoy watching you rip that Elf's windpipe out," she said then growled to the Uruki.
They threw their spears tied to thick ropes over Mayleea who was almost too tired to try and get away. The green dragon whipped her tail around and hooked Mayleea's front foot opposite the injured one and pulled it out from under from her. She landed with a grunt, making a splash in the soft mud. The rain was still pouring and washing her blood down the hill under the pounding feet of the Uruki. Mayleea growled as the Uruki tightened the ropes over her body, but the green dragon just laughed. Mayleea waited until the green dragon was standing right over her until she made her move.
She sat up, ripping the ropes and grabbing a mouthful of the green dragon's spikes on her neck. She yanked them out and dug her sharp snout into the green dragon's neck, right into her windpipe. Mayleea clamped down on it and tore it from the dragon's throat. She stood panting as the green dragon whimpered and writhed, rasping at her neck and finally lay still. Mayleea turned to the nearest Uruki and was about ready to kill him when she heard the whoosh of a harpoon. She pushed off the ground only gaining enough altitude to get over the wall into the keep. She landed hard among the soldiers. For a moment they thought she was the green dragon, but the seemed to recognize her when she bit an Uruk's head off.
As she was fighting her way up to the gate, she saw the source of the harpoon noise. The Uruki were raising extra tall ladders to get over the tallest wall. There were already two against the wall, and the third was in the process of being raised, when suddenly the rope broke. Mayleea knew it was not a faulty rope. She looked for the source of the arrow and found the fair haired Elf on the top of the wall looking over the causeway. He tossed a rope over to the elevated walkway and Mayleea frowned until she saw Aragorn and Gimli in front of the gate fighting the Uruki. She wasn't sure she had enough strength to lift the two to safety, but she could heat things up for the enemy.
The Uruki were close to grabbing the man and dwarf when Mayleea swooped down and sent a jet of fire their way. There was surprisingly little fire despite her best efforts, but it was enough to hold them back while Aragorn and Gimli got to safety. Mayleea half flew, half clawed her way up the wall to where Legolas was pulling the two up. Mayleea pulled herself up on the wall next to Legolas, who shot her a worried glance. She didn't answer it, only sat panting until suddenly the order to fall back came.
Whatever amounts of people were left, fought their way back to the inner most part of the castle. Mayleea had the strength to do little more than push one or two Uruki back with what little fire she could muster. Finally she soared into the throne room over Aragorn's head and the doors were bolted shut. Mayleea crash landed by the throne and elected to just lay there. Legolas noticed her and ran over.
"Are you alright?" he asked kneeling.
"I will be fine," she panted. "Help the men."
Legolas nodded reluctantly and went to help Aragorn and the two dozen men barricade the door. The King was standing against the far wall with his 2nd and he glanced at her as she stood uneasily. She ignored him and took stock of her wounds. She didn't realize how much blood was covering her body until she looked. The many small puncture wounds on her back from the initial attack of the green dragon were seeping blood. Her most pressing concern was the stab wound that in the back of her shoulder. The green dragon's spike had gone through the soft flesh on the back of her shoulder and come all the way through to the back of one of the plates on her chest. She had to find a way to stop the bleeding quickly. She already had an idea, but it wasn't something she wanted to do. Not that she really had a choice. After assessing the cuts on her hip, she came to the conclusion that she had to do it. She took a deep breath and summoned all the strength she had left. She breathed a small stream of fire into the wound on her shoulder. She growled against the pain, but sustained the flame until the blood had ceased.
Finally she leaned back against the cold wall and closed her eyes. She tested the range of her front arm and its weight bearing capability. She quickly and painfully found out that it would be less than useless if she had to fight again, but she could stand on her three good legs. Besides having to hop to keep the front foot off the ground, she was forced to limp because of the deep gashes in the muscle over her hip in the back. Flying used up far too much energy, but she couldn't just sit back and let everyone die. Haldir, an Elf she had known for the better part of her life, was already gone, and she had been kept from doing anything about that. Even being there when he died would have been better than nothing, but no. She growled at the thought of that green dragon. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli were injured as well and they were still helping. Finally she decided what she had to do.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on her being a human. It was harder than she remembered changing. The newly burned skin pulled as it changed, and the deeper wounds opened up and began to bleed more. After an agonizing minute and a half she was standing on two uneasy Elf legs. No one had seen her change so she limped over to a table a soldier was struggling to lift on his own. Even being injured she was stronger than the normal man and easily hoisted it onto her uninjured shoulder. The soldier looked startled to see her, but happily took the help. As Aragorn turned to grab a table he frowned at her.
"Mayleea, you are injured."
She looked down at her pants where blood was slowly seeping through the waistband.
"I'm fine," she said, her voice laced with pain. "I can help."
Aragorn and Legolas exchanged a glance. Neither of them liked to be told what they could and couldn't do, so instead of telling her she was too hurt to help, they just stayed by her side, ready to catch her if she fell. Suddenly a crushing weight smashed against the door from the other side.
"They have gotten the battering ram up here!" a soldier cried, throwing himself at the door.
"The fortress is taken," Théoden said tiredly. "It is over."
"You said this fortress would never fall while your men defend it!" Aragorn shouted turning to him. "They still defend it! They have died defending it!"
Aragorn turned back to look at the door then back to the king.
"Is there no way for the women and children to get out of the caves?"
The king said nothing, only looked off into the distance, in some kind of trance. Realizing the king would be no help, Aragorn looked to his 2nd.
"Is there no other way?"
"There is one passage," he said looking at Aragorn. "It leads into the mountains. But they will not get far. The Uruki are too many."
The door exploded in again and began to splinter in the center.
"Send word for the women and children to make for the mountain pass, and barricade the entrance!" Aragorn shouted.
"So much death," Théoden said sorrowfully. "What can men do against such reckless hate?"
Mayleea could hardly stand the king at that moment, but suddenly she had an idea.
"Ride out and meet them," she said stepping forward.
Aragorn met her gaze and nodded.
"Ride out and meet them," he said turning to Théoden.
"For death and glory?" Théoden asked.
"For Rohan," Aragorn said. "For your people."
"The sun is rising," Gimli said.
Aragorn looked at the small window in the top of the tower then looked at Mayleea. Gandalf's words echoed in their minds.
"Look to my coming. At first light on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the east."
"Yes," Théoden said. "Yes. The Horn shall sound in the deep, one last time!"
Théoden approached Aragorn and Mayleea.
"Let this be the time that we draw swords together."
He looked between them and they nodded. Horses were brought out of the caves and everyone mounted. All but Mayleea. She didn't like riding. Legolas trotted his horse to her side and put a hand down. She gulped but took his hand. He pulled her up in front of him.
"Are you afraid?" he asked in her pointy ear.
"Yes," she confessed easily.
"Don't be." He paused. "And draw your sword."
She nodded once and did with unsteady hands as Théoden began to speak.
"Now for wrath, now for ruin, and for the red dawn!"
Just as the horn could be heard above them, the doors came down and the Uruki spilled in. Théoden shouted the charge and the horses charged forward. Mayleea was thrown back into Legolas as their horse jumped forward. He snickered in her ear and slid his arm under hers to effectively hold her in place.
"Hold on with your legs," Legolas advised as they broke past the Uruki and followed Théoden through the door.
Mayleea tried, but still felt like she was going to fall off so she elected to hold onto Legolas' arm that was holding the reigns. Now that she felt more secure, she was free to battle with the Uruki. As they road through the throngs of black, smelly bodies and cut them down, Mayleea thought about how easy it would be to jump off the horse, turn into a dragon and set all of the enemy on fire. Then she was reminded painfully of her many wounds and was content with killing them from the back of a horse. They made their way down the many levels of the city and Mayleea began to think this should have been the plan all along. Everyone was still alive anyway.
Legolas steered the horse following the King down to the gate and out onto the causeway. The raised walkway was covered in lines of Uruki. They were swarming the riders like ants swarming a crumb of bread, and it was slow going. The horses had to ride in two. Aragorn and the king were first, then Legolas, Mayleea and another soldier. Legolas' horse was tripping over all the dead Uruki who went down under Théoden's horse. Mayleea almost dropped her sword four times because the horse miss stepped. When they reached the bottom of the causeway, they ran in circles fighting and stabbing. Mayleea had just stabbed through an Uruki's neck when a big, ugly monster grabbed her by the arm and yanked her from the saddle.
"Mayleea!" Legolas shouted, but he was too late.
The Uruki drug her into the sea of enemy and she disappeared. Legolas urged his horse forward through the crowd, but it was no use.
"Aragorn!" Legolas yelled to his friend.
He turned and looked at the Elf.
"They have taken her!"
Aragorn felt his lungs constrict as he scanned the black bodies.
"Mayleea!" Legolas shouted in his mind. "Mayleea answer me!"
His answer came in four Uruk's flying into the air and Mayleea appearing in her Dragon form. She roared and smacked an Uruk sending him through a crowd of his brothers and into the cliff side. She growled and charged to Legolas' side.
"Are you alright?" he yelled to her.
She growled in response and picked up an Uruk between her teeth and crushed him. She suddenly had an amazing amount of energy and she was killing the big beasts with a new veracity, although she didn't have to for much longer. She sensed the White Wizard before anyone else and looked up at the top of a hill leading up into the mountain. She smiled. It was Gandalf. She roared to alert the others. Enemy and comrade alike looked up the hill. They watched as another rider joined Gandalf on the crest of the hill. He raised his sword and more riders appeared.
"To the King!" the first rider shouted.
He was echoed by the rest of the company as they charged down the hill. Mayleea roared and continued her assault on the now preoccupied Uruki. As they came down the hill, it was clear the Rohirrim's numbered 500 strong at least. The appearance of the riders sparked more life into Mayleea and she jumped from the ground and sprayed fire into the enemy. The riders were upon the Uruki now, their horses crashing through and creating lines. It seemed that all the fight had left the enemy as suddenly as energy had come into Mayleea. Within a few minutes the new warriors had the Uruki on the retreat.
"Victory!" the king shouted. "We have victory!"
Mayleea felt the energy leaving her and she floated down to the ground. When she felt the rocks under her she let herself phase back to an Elf. She was too numb to feel any pain, but she was very close to just laying down and going to sleep. She hadn't been in a battle like that in just under a century, and she didn't want to be in another one for another hundred years. She found Legolas with her mind, and made sure he was ok, then Gimli and Aragorn. Legolas rode up and extended his hand. She took it gratefully and he pulled her on his horse. They joined in the chase to the hill above the tree line where the captain stopped them.
They watched as the Uruki fled into the tree line. A few seconds later the tree tops began moving and the Uruki began screaming and crying. A few of them even came back out of the forest, but were drug back in by what looked like tree roots. Mayleea had only ever heard of trees coming to life and defending themselves, but never just killing anything without being provoked.
"Perhaps they saw what the Uruki did to us," she said aloud.
"Perhaps," Legolas agreed as she leaned back into him.
She took a long breath and was about to close her eyes when a voice broke through her consciousness. It was one that she didn't recognize, but she felt a complete sense of calm while listening to him. Without realizing she began to quietly repeat his words out loud.
"By rights we shouldn't even be here," she began slowly.
"What?" Legolas asked leaning around her shoulder to look at her face.
"It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo."
"Is she talking about Frodo?" Gandalf asked curiously.
"The ones that really mattered," Mayleea continued, now closing her eyes. "Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end, because how could the end be happy? How could you go back to the way it was when so much bad ha happened?"
By now she had caught the attention of their whole company and they were listening closely.
"But in the end, its only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think I do understand. I know now."
Everyone held their breath, waiting for her to continue.
"Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn't. Because they were holding onto something."
"What are we holding onto Mayleea?" Legolas asked.
Mayleea opened her eyes and met his.
"That there is some good in this world Legolas, and it's worth fighting for."
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