Chapter 16

They stood on the embankment, shrouded by the darkness. Skyler felt Ashlocke shifted slightly.

"I'm sorry." Her mother said softly.

Skyler glanced at her in surprise: "What for?"

"For not being able to understand your pain, and for not being there when you needed me. For not being able to keep you save today."

Skyler reached over and held Ash's hand tightly: "You need not be sorry for anything. Fate dealt us different hands, and nothing can be changed now. The only thing we can do today is to live and find meaning in that life to survive tomorrow. You taught me that."

Skyler heard a quiet sniff, and when her mother spoke again her voice was thick and low: "I…see I did a good job in…raising you then."

"That you did; that you did. Until tomorrow." Skyler said lightly as a moving mass appeared in the dark distance.

"Until tomorrow."

Battle raged around her. Going with her expectation, the Urukai breached the wall within minutes of their arrival. There was simply too many of them, and too much strength. These beings were not mere monsters, they were killing machines designed to destroy mankind.

Skyler had lost count of how many of these machines she fell, but she had a feeling that she was getting up to the hundreds. She heard Aragorn yelled something frantically behind her. With a push and a stab, she defeated the monster in front of her and glanced over at Aragorn. He was shouting and pointing something at the base of the wall. Skyler leaped nimbly over to the edge and glanced down. It was a Urukai…except there was something different about this one. Skyler stared at it; the being was carrying something flickering and bright.

It clicked within her brain. She screamed, trying to warn the people on that wall of the incoming danger. However, her scream was lost in the clash and clang of the battle. A few seconds later, the wall exploded. The stonework trembled beneath her feet, as the shockwaves came towards her from the adjacent wall.

She looked down again, the Urukai were flooding into the fort from the gap in the wall. No, that could not happen; she could not allow that to happen. There were women and children within those walls. She glanced around for a rope as the fastest way to go down the wall. However, she saw nothing except for a metal fallen shield. Well, that'll have to do.

She grabbed the shield and rushed past Legolas who had tried, vainly, to shoot down the Urukai that carried the bomb.

(Sky!) Legolas yelled in confusion as she stood on the top of the wall. Skyler ignored the Mirkwood elf and flung the shield out in front of her before leaping on it, sliding her way down to the bottom of the wall.

She faintly heard Gimli making a gruff comment: "Well, that's convenient."

At the bottom of the wall, she found herself faced with hordes of Urukai, hungry for human blood. She lost no time in throwing herself at them, cutting down as many as she could.

Two Urukai came at her at once. She blocked both of them with all of her strength, and threw them back. At the same time she heard two loud thuds behind her; however, it wasn't until she slashed down the two in front her that she turned around to see a Urukai on the ground with an arrow in its head and another one with a nasty gash across its neck.

Skyler glanced up and saw Gimli and Legolas standing there. Gimli grinned broadly: "Think you can get all the credit, lass?"

Legolas merely smiled gently.

Skyler snorted as she batted away an incoming sword with hers before she said: "Really Gimli, if I joined in on that competition between you and Legolas you two would be so far behind, there'd be no second place."

Gimli grunted as he swung his large double edge axe around and chopped down one as well: "Big words for a small lady, I'm at ninety already."

"I'm at 120." Legolas said, a hint of smirk in his smooth elven voice.

"WHAT?!" Gimli growled as he renewed his fervor in chopping down the incoming Urukai.

Skyler snorted again: "Honestly, boys and their pride."

They held on as best as they could, but there were simply too many of them. It was not long before Legolas, being the sensible one, said: "We must fall back."

As if on cue, Aragorn yelled down to them: "Legolas, fall back!"

Skyler nodded, and glanced around the walls above them, trying vainly to find a particular silver head: "You guys go up first; I will shield and follow you."

Legolas nodded as he retreated into the walls with Gimli.

She soon found Haldir, he was meters away from Aragorn, retreating into the fort as well. An Urukai was right behind him.

On reflex, her hand shot to her back and grabbed the crossbow. It was a long distance, but she'll be damned if she missed. Cocking an arrow into the shaft, she let lose before aiming; there was no time.

The arrow found its mark, along with a second one that followed. The Urukai fell with a shriek. Haldir turned sharply around and saw the fallen Urukai. He glanced down the wall, and Skyler saw his eyes widened in fear when he saw her there.

"GO!" Skyler yelled, "I will be fine! Aragorn, take Haldir and GO!" She screamed as she let lose another arrow and another Urukai fell on the wall.

Aragorn nodded at her before he grabbed the Marchwarden's arm and forcefully pulled him inside the fort. Skyler glanced around her warily; there were still a few Urukai down here, while the rest were up on the embankment. A few…meant about thirty.

She glanced at them warily as she slowly backed, into the hole that the blast had created. She quickly studied her surrounding and saw that the wall was in a precarious condition. The blast had unhinged most of the base, and the top was about to fall in any second. She studied the wall carefully out of the corner of her eyes while keeping her attention on the Urukai that leered at her as they closed in.

There…the last stone.

She swung her sword upward in a feint, causing the first Urukai to dodged to the side.

"Sucker." Skyler smirked as she slammed the hilt of the sword up at the loose stone. There was a loud rumble, and the wall trembled about her before it collapsed right on top of the Urukai…and her.

The last thing that swum into her mind before darkness overtook her was… "Haldir," She whispered, "Goodbye, my love."

The stones fell and soon she disappeared beneath the pile of rubble.