Chapter 20
Skyler would have cried for joy, if the situation was not so dire. After the ghost King's declaration of allegiance, they quickly climbed down the steep cliff and landed on the sandy beach below.
They stood there, with the Army of the Dead invisible behind them. As the ships approach Aragorn held up his sword.
"You may go no further." Aragorn said calmly. The captain of the first ship stood up and came to the ship's starboard as Aragorn continued, "You will not enter Gondor."
The mates on the ship laughed at the sight of five people stopping them.
"Who are you to deny us passage." The captain shouted.
"Legolas, fire a warning shot pass the captain's ear." Aragorn said quietly.
"Mind your aim, lad." Gimli said, his face serious but Skyler could have swear she saw his mouth twitched.
Legolas strewn his bow and prepared to fire, at the last second Gimli lightly pushed the elf's bow with his axe. The arrow flew, true and straight, to the person standing next to the captain. He fell over with the arrow in his chest.
"Ooh." Gimli said innocently as Legolas glared at him while Aragorn all but rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"You know you did that on purpose, you sneaky dwarf." Skyler hissed.
Gimli shrugged: "Well, what do you know. We warned you, prepared to be boarded."
A smile hovered about Haldir's lips at the dwarf's antic.
The people aboard the ship laughed again: "Really, by you and whose army?"
"This army." Aragorn said quietly, and Skyler could feel the ghosts passing through her in cold waves as they swamped towards the ship.
Within a few minutes the entire fleet were emptied out, those who did not died of fright, drowned when they threw themselves overboard in fear.
The five of them easily board the now quiet and empty ship.
They sailed into the Gondor harbor without any distraction.
An army of orcs were there waiting for them. The leader came forward.
"You stinky sea rats! Late as usual!" the orc screeched, "Get off the ship now! There's work here that needs to be done."
Of course, what he got was silence. After a few moments of unease by the orcs, the five of them leaped overboard onto the beach.
The orcs looked unnerved for a second when they came out instead of the pirates. They strode proudly towards the orcs who began to sift forward.
"There's plenty for the both of us, may the best dwarf win." Gimli growled as Aragorn raised his sword.
Skyler rolled her eyes and turned to Haldir with an exasperated sigh. The other elf gave her a small smile as if asking her what she would expect of a dwarf.
They ran at the orcs and the sickly green hue of the ghosts followed them.
It was an easy fight with the ghosts behind them to the Pellinor Field where the main battle was waged. However, when they got to the field the scene was disheartening. Bodies of Gondor and Rohan soldiers were strewn everywhere as well as orcs bodies. However, the most alarming part was the large Oliphants trampling over the field.
At that moment all Skyler could think of was: Ash!
Discarding all thoughts and caution behind her, she broke away from the green ghosts and sprint down the hills towards the Oliphant. She barely heard Haldir calling after her.
Ashlocke, she had to find Ashlocke. She had to find her mother.
The Oliphants were her main target. The ground troops can be taken care of by the ghosts.
She grabbed a hanging tassel on one and easily swung herself up to the Oliphant's back. With a sense of urgency and morbid thoughts running through her mind, she cut down the riders ferociously.
Sheathing her sword after all the riders on the Oliphant were taken care of, she pulled the bow Haldir had brought her from Lorien from her back. Shafting three arrows onto the bow, she aimed at the neck of the Oliphant. Pulling the bow back, she let the arrows fly. The Oliphant let out a groan of agony before slowly collapsing onto the ground. She slid off its trunks and glanced around for her next target.
It wasn't long before the battle was over; they had the Army of the Dead on their side after all, and it was rather hard to kill something that's already dead.
However, Skyler was not in the mood for a victory dance. Thousands lay dead on the battlefield. She prayed to whatever god who listened that Ash was not among them. She walked through the bodies, her heart dropping lower and lower into her stomach as she found no trace of her mother anywhere.
There was a loud anguish roar on the battlefield. Skyler turned to the source and saw Eomer dropping his sword and shield, running towards someone on the ground. Her heart flew back up to her chest when she saw Ash running after him; however, it dropped to the pits when she realized who he was holding: Eowyn.
She ran to them, making her way through the bodies as fast as she could.
She grabbed a limp hand, as Eomer rocked back and forth in agony, holding his only sister tightly.
She glanced up at him, her eyes widened in surprise. It was soft and almost nonexistent, but it was there. A beating of the pulse
"Eomer, get a hold of yourself, Eowyn's alive! She has a pulse!" Skyler shouted at the man.
Eomer stopped his sorrowful mourning and stared at her.
"Quickly, we need to get her inside!" Skyler said standing up.
Eomer nodded and lifted Eowyn up in his arms.
Aragorn came towards them.
"Eowyn's alive!" Skyler said, "But there's something on her arm…I'm not sure…"
Aragorn glanced down at the pale arm that Skyler had exposed while looking for her pulse. There were blue veins going up from Eowyn's hand.
"I can heal her," Aragorn said grimly, "We must get her inside now."
Skyler stood there, stock still, at that point and watched as her mother rushed inside with Eomer, and Aragorn. Tears fell down her face; she did not try to stop them.
A hand fell upon her shoulders. She turned and saw Haldir looking down upon her: "She's alive…"
There was no need to say who; he understood.
Haldir placed an arm around her and pulled her to him. Oh, she felt so safe, and so warmed in his arms. As if everything will be well, and all the anxieties that had haunted her the last few hours disappeared. Her mother was safe, and Haldir was here; that was all that mattered. Haldir was here, with her.