A/N: Woo! New chapter! We're coming up quickly on the end of this story, guys! But I have a feeling that this won't be the only LotR fanfic I write. I absolutely love this series, so I might either do another story with Íverin and Legolas having some new adventure in Mirkwood, or make up a new OC...possibly a hobbit OC. I dunno. Anyways, happy reading! :D

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing but Íverin, I swear! D-don't hurt me... ;A;

The four of us stood alongside the shore, side by side, waiting. Every second that passed, my heart grew heavier as the flames that had consumed Osgiliath flickered in the distance. After what seemed like an eternity, the group of black corsair ships finally made their way up to where we stood, their sleek hulls slowly cutting through the water. Each one of them was filled with a dirty, filthy looking crew of cold-hearted men.

"You may go no further!" Aragorn commanded loudly. "You will not enter Gondor."

The pirates, upon seeing us and hearing Aragorn's voice, laughed harshly at us. One man, who I presumed to be the captain, strode to the edge of the boat and glared at him. "Who are you to deny us passage?"

"Legolas! Fire a warning shot past the bosun's ear." The blonde prince quickly drew his bow.

"Mind your aim!" Gimli whispered. At the last second, he nudged the bow with his axe, bumping Legolas's arrow slightly off course. The sleek shaft of wood drilled deep into the bosun's chest, and with a yelp of pain, the man fell over dead.

Gimli gasped and covered his mouth in fake shock. The rest of us shot him a glare, but he continued on with his act. "That's right, we warned ya! Prepare to be boarded!"

The pirates laughed again, especially the captain. "Boarded? By you and whose army?"

Aragorn gave him a confident smirk. "This army."

From behind us, the ghosts emerged from their invisible forms and charged forward with great battle cries, passing through us, and easily overwhelming the crew on board. They screamed in terror, much to our pleasure. As our new friends did their job, I noticed the captain scurry off towards his cabin in the back of the ship, equally terrified as the rest of his men. I quickly backed up, took a running jump, and safely grabbed onto the railing of the boat, easily lifting myself over. Since the ghosts were keeping all the others at bay, I had no trouble sauntering across the deck in his direction.

I pivoted on my right foot and gave the door to his cabin a good, solid roundhouse kick, then another, popping it open. I stepped inside and walked coolly over to the captain, who was busy cowering in the corner, and pressed the tip of my sword to his back. "What are you, afraid of ghosts?" Not giving him a chance to respond, I plunged the blade into his flesh, then removed it. "You should be more afraid of me." He dropped lifelessly to the floor. I wiped my bloody knife on his jacket and walked out.

When I emerged back onto the deck, I watched as he ghosts dispersed and moved on to the next boat, then the next one, and the next. Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli had climbed aboard also, and I smiled when I saw them, sheathing my sword. "That was easy."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

As soon as we had all the boats under control, we set to work on continuing the scheduled course. As we drew closer to our destination, I sat down on one of the crates and stared out at the horizon at the sparkling White City in the distance, with smoke floating up from the Pelennor Fields around it.

I must have looked as distressed as I felt, because after awhile, Legolas came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. "You do not need to worry about going back there, Íverin. You will be fine."

I sighed. "I believe that...somewhat, but...I just...I don't know if I can bear to walk in the streets of Minas Tirith again. I feel so out of place."

He drew up his own crate and sat next to me. "Whatever happens, I assure you I will not let them take you away. Not while I am there, at least."

I smiled. "Thank you. But I fear that they would not even listen to a prince like yourself when it comes to me. Perhaps if I stay out of sight of the officials and the steward, Denethor, I will be alright. But one can never be sure."

Just then, Aragorn hissed a command for us to get down. We were approaching our stop, and a large group of Orcs was there to greet us. The ghosts immediately hid themselves with invisibility, and Legolas gave my hand a reassuring squeeze before we jumped off our crates and crawled over to the edge of the boat with Aragorn, who was crouching, sword in hand. "Be prepared to jump," he whispered.

A moment later, one of the Orcs from the shore spoke up. "Late! As usual!"

"Pirate scum!" shouted another.

"There's enough work that need doing!" Still, we waited.

"Come on, ya sea rats! Get off your ship!"

"Now!" With a grunt, Aragorn jumped off the side of the ship and landed on his feet, followed by myself, Gimli, and Legolas. I unsheathed my sword. The Orcs looked shocked for a moment, but that was quickly replaced by malicious smirks. They could take down four of us easily. But we all strode confidently forward, knowing that they had fallen for the same trap that the pirates had.

"Are we still keeping that counting game going?" I asked Gimli.

He nodded. "There's plenty for the both of us, and may the best Dwarf win!"

With that, the ghost army proceeded to reveal themselves, much to the terror of the Orcs. I ran forward, hitting the first one I saw with a deadly blow to the shoulder, and then sliced off the arm of another one. Ghosts were pouring into the city around me, a blur of green as they passed. Their speed was simply incredible. Hearing a growl behind me, I jerked my arm back, catching one in the face with my elbow, then spun on my heel and hit him in the neck with my sword. I continued on, cutting through the Orcs with a passion I'd never felt in myself before.

As I spun and slashed across the stomachs of two of the mangy beasts, Gimli called for me. "Íverin! How many?"

Despite the horrible warfare surrounding me, I smiled. "Twenty-nine...make that thirty!" I replied as I stuck my blade into another's gut.

"Ah! I'm only on a dozen!"

"I am beating both of you!" Legolas said from somewhere nearby. "Thirty-eight!"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aragorn bring another Orc down. "Gentlemen!...and lady! Can we please focus?"

I took his advice and returned to killing, swinging my blade up high and bringing it down hard on the shoulder of another. I pushed even harder through the broken stone city, glad for the fighting, as it was a distraction from thinking about my parents and how my hometown was falling apart.

When we finally managed to take down the greeting party, I stepped up onto a large chunk of fallen stone to observe the battle, and my jaw dropped in shock at what I saw. Minas Tirith burned badly. Huge sections of the white walls were shattered and missing, and the light of the day brought to my eyes the huge, flaming rocks that were scattered throughout its streets.

The Pelennor Fields were no better. Much of the grass was charred and burnt. Smoke and dust was being blown everywhere. Bodies, and corpses of both noble Men and foul Orcs and other beasts littered the ground. Several huge Oliphaunts, towering at least fifty feet high, were rampaging across the plains. I was shocked. I had not even imagined that the damage would be this bad.

I looked over at my companions, who had equally horrified looks on their faces. I cleared my throat, drawing their eyes towards me. "...We've got a lot of work to do." With that, I hefted my sword, checked to make sure I still had a full quiver of arrows, and jumped down, running off into the embrace of death.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The Battle of the Pelennor was by far the worst one I had ever been in, or even seen for that matter. Legolas and I managed to stay fairly close together through the massacre, though it was indeed a tough thing to do. Orcs came at me from all sides, many of them coming very close to killing me.

One Orc in particular gave me some trouble. It started with me swinging my blade up to behead him, but he brought his up to meet mine, and viciously shoved me back. I stumbled, but quickly regained my balance, and ran at him again, this time trying to nick him on the side. Again he dodged my blow. I growled in frustration . I shifted my sword into my right hand, tensed my muscles, and ran at him again. The Orc scowled and darted to the left.

Just as I had hoped for. Moving as fast as I could, I shifted my weight and used my momentum to follow him, then switched my sword over to my left hand, twisted right slightly, and slashed down, smiling as I heard my enemy's roar of displeasure as blade met flesh.

Once he was gone, I paused for a split second to catch my breath, but suddenly, a huge Orc tackled me from behind, knocking me down. I winced as my chin scraped the rough ground, and a flash of pain burst in my left shoulder. His weight was crushing me, but I still was able to grab my knife and stab him in the side, over and over again. Finally, he went limp and fell off of me. I stood up and touched my chin, cursing when I pulled my fingers back to find them sticky with blood.

I sensed another enemy approaching from behind, and turned to see two men of the Haradrim army advancing towards me. I quickly fit an arrow to my bow and shot one down. The other one narrowed his eyes and threw a knife directly at my head. I ducked, narrowly missing the blow, and shot him as well.

I started running around on the fields, shooting at any enemy that came within sight. "Eighty-four...eighty-five...eighty-six..." I turned around, and almost screamed when I saw another warrior from the south standing directly behind be, raising a knife to stab me. On instinct, I ducked, and wrapped my arms around his legs, and with a cry he fell over. Placing a boot atop his chest, I pinned him down and slit his throat.

With my sword still out, I decided to go back to close combat. I slung my bow across my back again and met the first Orc I saw with a punch to the face, and a slice across the stomach. Another charged at me, and there was a clash as my weapon collided with his, but I quickly gained the upper hand by bringing my knee up and hitting him in his most vulnerable spot. He whimpered and fell to the ground.

I smirked. "One of the many wonderful things about being a girl," I said before I stuck a blade in his gut.

Suddenly, there was a shout, then a sharp twang, and a cry of pain from just behind me. I turned around to see an Orc standing over me, with an arrow embedded into the side of his head. I quickly pushed him down and ran over to Legolas, my savior. "Thank you," I said.

He smiled. "Not a problem."

From several feet away, Aragorn called for him. "Legolas!"

We both looked up to see a giant Oliphaunt headed our way, carrying a huge wooden tower filled with Haradrim men on its back, its great tusks sweeping across the grass, flinging Men everywhere. "Take it down!" Aragorn cried.

Legolas made a move to do so, but I grabbed him arm to stop him. "You might need some help with that," I said with a smile. He nodded, and we ran towards it side by side.

Legolas smoothly jumped on to one of the beast's huge tusks, and swung down, now standing on the spiked bands around its ankle. I went a different route by climbing onto its other tusk, and quickly running across it and up onto the head of the Oliphaunt when it reared its head back to emit a ferocious roar. I got my feet under me on the much smaller side-tusk sticking out of its skin, and jumped, holding on to the creature's large ear, which was almost as big as me. Not only did it give me a way to climb on the Oliphaunt's back, it also hid me from the Haradrim archers riding on top of it.

But to my dismay, the beast began swinging its head around quite a bit, and I struggled to keep my grip on its ear while being jerked around in midair. Looking around desperately for something to put my feet on to, I noticed a thick metal ring that served as a connector between a large leather harness and a rope that tied the harness to the Oliphaunt's body. Swinging my legs, I flew off of the ear and landed on the ring, now clinging to the leather strap tightly and pressing my body to the animal to try and hide myself from the Men. After looking around for a moment, I saw Legolas climbing up the side of the huge beast.

From above me, the men started shouting to one another. I looked up to see a couple of them reaching for their bows and looking right at me. I had been spotted.

I silently cursed myself. But perhaps that could be a good thing. I could buy Legolas some time. However, that meant that I was now on my own to keep myself from getting killed. How wonderful.

Not knowing what else to do, I whipped out my knife and plunged it deep into the Oliphant's shoulder, piercing its thick hide. With all my strength, I dragged the blade down, carving a deep gash into it. The Oliphaunt roared in pain.

Two arrows flew narrowly past my head, just barely missing because of the Oliphaunt's walking swaying me back and forth. I did not dare to look back at Legolas, or cry out for help. That would expose both of us. I decided that the best thing to do was climb, and try and start taking down the warriors shooting at me.

That did not go so well.

I had gotten about two feet from my starting position when I felt it. An arrow lodged itself into my right shoulder, tearing through flesh. As much as I tried to stop it, a strangled cry of pain escaped my lips. I clung desperately to the Oliphaunt's harness, biting my lip in pain. My shoulder burned. Blood seeped from the wound and trailed down my shirt.

I looked up and locked eyes with Legolas. He had heard me cry out, and had stopped climbing, his blue eyes filled with fear and worry for me. The Haradrim must have assumed that they had killed me, for the shooting ceased.

I blinked and looked down at the passing ground below me. It would be so easy to just let go and fall...embrace the pain...and not have to deal with any of this anymore.

But that was the easy way out. That was failure. And failure, for me, is never an option. I could not let myself fall. I mustn't falter now. So I reached up with what strength I had left in my right arm, and carefully snapped the arrow in half, wincing in pain as the arrowhead moved inside of me. The shorter the shaft, the less it would get in my way.

I set my jaw and looked back at Legolas. "Keep going," I mouthed. "I will be fine." He nodded and continued climbing, but the worry was still present on his face.

With all the strength I had left in me, I slowly resumed climbing up the harness. Every time I moved my right arm, pain shocked me, but I gritted my teeth and ignored it as best as I could. Once I got to the to of the Oliphaunt, I unsheathed my sword with my good hand and took down two of the men. The others looked surprised to see me, and fumbled with their knives, giving me the split second I needed to easily get rid of three more.

By this point, Legolas had also made it onto the beast's back, and was shooting as many enemies as he could, counting as he went. "Ninety-three...ninety-four.."

I stuck my knife into a man's leg, and he tumbled to the ground. "Legolas!" I shouted. "What exactly do you plan on doing?"

He pushed another warrior off the Oliphaunt. "This!" With that, he grabbed onto a thick rope that was nearby and jumped, swinging down. I remained on the Oliphaunt, but followed him, pushing my opponents out of my way. After giving a few solid punches to a few, I looked down and gasped. Legolas was dangling from the end of the rope, struggling to hang on, and desperately trying to find something else to grab on to. "Legolas!" I screamed. "Don't you dare let go!" I jerked back and socked another Haradrim fighter in the gut, sending him flying. Another tried to shoot Legolas, and I quickly pushed him off as well.

"Not planning on it!" Legolas responded, but he sounded strained.

I turned around and whipped out my sword again, stabbing another man. Suddenly, I jerked forward, and the entire tower began to slide away, taking me with it.

"Íverin!" Legolas shouted.

I killed off one last warrior, then turned back towards Legolas and jumped, just as the tower fell off of the Oliphaunt, with the remaining men on it screaming in terror. Legolas let the tower pull himself up, and then finally let go of the rope once he had gained his footing, now standing proudly on the animal's back. He caught me as I landed in front of him.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

A sudden roar filled the air, and I shook my head, remembering that we had not defeated our opponent quite yet. "Not now! Finish the job!" I said.

He nodded, and we ran up onto the beast's neck, standing just behind its head. Legolas whipped out three arrows and shot them down into the monster, while I plunged my sword deep into its skull. That was the final blow. The Oliphaunt roared in pain and stumbled once, then fell. Legolas grabbed my hand, and together we slid down the trunk of the fallen beast, landing expertly on our feet. There we stood, catching out breath. My heart raced, and I turned to face him.

Gimli walked up after witnessing our stunt. "That still only counts as one!" he said.

But Legolas ignored him, now fully focused on me. "Are you all right?" he asked again.

I winced and shook my head, drawing my hand up to my wound. That last bit of fighting had not done me well.

Gimli's mouth dropped in shock as he noticed my wound. "Aye, lassie! What happened to ya?"

"Let me see it," Legolas said firmly. Knowing it would be foolish to resist him, I dropped my hand, breathing hard.

From a few feet away, I heard Aragorn shouted a warning. "Legolas!"

Out of nowhere, a massive force slammed into me, knocking me down. I felt an iron-clad fist dig deep into my stomach, and, weak as I was, fell back. There was a loud bang as my head connected with the thick metal helmet of a fallen Orc, and the world started spinning before my eyes. An Orc grinned, leaning over me, blade drawn, about to end my life for good. I could not fight back. I couldn't ever breathe at the moment. Faintly, I heard shouts from behind my attacker, and two seconds later, a golden-feathered arrow hit him in the back. He grunted and fell to the ground, dead.

With the weight of the Orc now lifted off of me, I gasped, then coughed fiercely, sucking in air, but the dizziness did not go away. Pain now racked my body. I weakly lifted my head to see Legolas run over and grab my arms as I tried to sit up. His lips moved, but I heard no sound. Aragorn came up behind him...and then Gimli...

I blinked slowly, hearing nothing but the pounding of my own heartbeat loud in my ears, bringing pain with every pulse. This was too much. But I could not fall...not now...I could not...falter...