What took me so long?! I'm sure y'all are thinking the exact same thing. I know, I'm a terrible person. Here's todays verse since I have no excuses:
2 Timothy 1:7
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
So, had this idea while writing, whoever can find all the nerdy fandom stuff gets a prize :D A sneak peek to which ever one of my stories you want! I'm bad at prizes...
And the chapter!
Annabeth's POV
An arrow went flying toward the orc army and landed in an orcs eye, killing it instantly. There was an angry cry then they started to charge the fort. Arrows flew over our heads as we unsheathed our weapons and prepared for battle.
"Same deal as last time." I asked Legolas and Gimli.
"You're on, las." Gimli replied. Legolas nodded in agreement. Then the orc ladders started being lifted onto the wall. We went in different directions, Legolas to the right, Gimli the left, and I started hacking at one of the ropes with my knife and managed to cut through one and watched as it fell back, crushing the orcs that had been climbing on it.
"That's 2 already!" I heard Gimli shout somewhere to my left.
"I have 8!" I reply. "I'm at 17!" Legolas says.
"Eh?! I'll have no pointy ear or human girl beating me!" Gimli said.
We stopped all conversation after that... For awhile at least. I tried to keep all focus on the battle, but Gimli would occasionally yell out a number and I would try not to laugh, which wasn't difficult. I had only brought my knife, every other weapon was to large to simplely fit in my pocket... Pockets are really useful most of the times though, everything should have a pocket of some sort. Sports gear, wedding dresses-ANNABETH, Focus! Anyway, I kept cutting down ladders but it felt that with each I cut down, it seemed like 2 more came, and then I got an idea so crazy, that it just might work. I started cutting another rope, but rather then cutting it off at the grappling hook, I cut it as far out as I could (about 4 feet of rope,) I wrapped it around my right arm a few times, a lowered myself onto the other side of the wall. I knew they'd start shooting at me as soon as they saw me, so I immediately started swinging back and forth, and as I swung, I cut the ropes holding up the ladders. I had briefly forgotten about my shoulder injury and grit my teeth at the strain on that arm, but in a few seconds the rest of the ladders were out of my reach, so I started climbing back up the rope. Then I looked up, and if you could see a worse sight, I'd call you a lier. An orc, at that EXACT moment noticed me from the top of the wall, and started cutting the rope. The wall wasn't smooth, it was very rough, and possible to climb, exceedingly difficult, but possible, so I grabbed the wall and hoped for the best. The rope fell past me, and un-wound itself from my arm, there goes my relatively easy way up. I looked up again, and saw the orc aiming a bow directly at me, there was no way I could dodge it if he fired, so we just stared at each other, then he was stabbed through the back. After he fell I saw Legolas standing behind where the orc had been, and sighed with relief. I crawled a little higher, and only almost died once, (my fingers on my left hand slipped!) Then Legolas grabbed my arm and hauled me up.
"What do you think you were doing?!" He said as we returned to our fighting stances.
"There are fewer ladders now, aren't there?" I retaliated.
"That was very unwise!" He yelled over the clash of swords.
"I try!" I couldn't help but respond sarcastically.
I heard him sigh, and I grinned (it was getting difficult to antagonize him.) It's lucky that orcs have such a unique look, because after awhile, I just swung my knife at anything funny looking (no humans or elves were harmed by my hand in battle.) At one point I looked around and saw Legolas grab a shield, step on it, surf down a staircase while shooting, and jumping off it at the last second, where it flew out from under his feet, impaling another orc. I could have stood there gaping at him for quite awhile, but the sound of approaching orcs brought me back to reality. After what felt like hours I heard the order to fall back to the keep, and then once everyone was inside, people started to blockade the doors. I joined Legolas on top of the inner wall, and we fought side by side.
"Have you seen Aragorn or Gimli?!" I yelled over the sound of clashing swords.
"They were helping Theodin on the bridge." He responded.
"And they didn't invite me. You good up here?" I had said that first part mainly to myself, but I forgot about the ears.
He grinned slightly and said, "I can take care of up here." I nodded, and ran to the bridge, well, the wall above the bridge, they were directly below me. Since I was pressing my luck tonight, I decided to press a bit more. I ran, jumped over the side of the wall, and landed in a somersault.
"I suppose that's one way to jump in, las." Gimli said.
"It's the only fun way!" I shouted in reply. We cut through the orcs as they charged us, and some were pushed off the side of the bridge, it was almost too easy. The I heard the order to get out of there, and a rope was lowered down. I climbed up and helped Legolas pull Gimli and Aragorn up. We ran to the keeps' castle where the rest of the soldiers had retreated to. We were the last 4 in, so as soon as we were inside, the door was shut and started to be barricaded.
"It is no use, the fortress is taken." Theodin said.
I slapped him square across the face, "Pull yourself together, now is no time for surrender!" At this point, I was exhausted, weak, and frankly, kinda grumpy, so I acted a little rashly with the slap, but I didn't care.
"You said this fortress would never fall while your men defended it, they still defend it, they have died defending it!" Aragorn said. "Is there no other way for the woman and children to get out of the caves?" He continued... "Is there no other way?" He asked again.
The kings guard was the one to reply, "There is one path, it leads through the mountains. But they will not get far, the orcs are too many."
"Send word that the woman and children are to make for the mountain pass, and barricade the entrance." Aragorn ordered.
"So much death, what can men do against such reckless hate?" Theodin said.
Aragorn looked at him, "Ride out with me. Ride out and meet them."
"For death and glory." Thodin said.
"For Rohan, for your people." Aragorn corrected.
"The sun is rising." Gimli said. And it was, the first light of dawn shown through a window. I tried to remember what Gandalf had said while Thodin spoke. 'On the 5th day at dawn, look to the east.' He had said.
We mounted horses (I was on my own next to Legolas) and waited.
"Now for wrath, now for ruin, and for the red dawn." Thodin said.
Legolas leaned over and said into my ear, "Amin mela lle." (In english: I love you)
"I know." I said back as we started to charge forward as the door was broken down. We slashed at any orc we saw, or trampled them under hoof, which was much easier at the bridge. And then, Gandalf. He stood on a hill with thousands of soldiers on horseback, and then they charged, trampling, stabbing, and slashing at any orc in sight. With the backup, victory was in sight, we killed every last orc, all 10,000, and now the fun part, clean-up. I walked around helm's deep, looking for Legolas and Gimli, not having seen them since we rode out. I saw Gimli smoking a pipe sitting on an orc body with his ax in it's head a little ways away, and Legolas approaching him. Gimli saw me first, and jerked his head in my direction, making Legolas turn and look at me. I smiled and ran to him, and he picked me up, spun me around, and kissed me.
I whispered in his ear, "I love you."
"I am aware." He said smiling. Gimli groaned and we turned to him.
"Final count, 42." Legolas said.
"Why that's not bad for a pointy eared princeling, well I myself am sitting proudly on number 43." Gimli said, I think he smirked but the beard makes it hard to tell.
Legolas drew his bow and fired at the orc before you could say woah. "43." He said.
"He was already dead." Gimli persisted.
"He was twitching."
"He was twitching because he's got my ax buried in his central nervous system!"
"It doesn't really matter because I beat the both of you, 49." I cut in. They looked at me for a second, then we all started laughing, from exhaustion, or relief to be alive, I don't know.
"We should find Aragorn and Gandalf." Legolas said. We nodded and set off to look for them.
Well? Sorry, I'm gonna skip answering reviews tonight so I cam hurry and get this up, but thank you for all your support! (Applejack456, you're hysterical!) Love you guys, Annabeth J C, over and out. ;)