Tauriel could have been fighting for minutes or hours. There was no way for her to keep track of time when she was only focused on killing every Orc that she saw. She didn't tell Kili, but healing him had drained her of most of her strength. It was becoming a struggle for her to keep herself standing, let alone fighting. She knew she was going to fail eventually, she just hoped that there would be someone to protect her when she did.

She could also do without the distraction of trying to direct children back to Bard's house. The attack had been sudden, and there were many civilians left on the streets as a result. Tauriel feared that many of them would be orphans by morning. She had lost count, but Tauriel hoped that Kili wouldn't be angry that she had sent at least a dozen children for him to care for.

"Tauriel" came a voice. She looked up and saw Bard firing arrows from a nearby roof, "I knew Tilda would find you."

Tauriel quickly defeated her current opponent and joined him for a momentary break/conversation.

"How many are there?" she asked.

"No idea," Bard replied as he loosed another arrow, "But I've slain at least 20 myself."

Tauriel glanced over the makeshift battle field. There were Orcs everywhere she looked, and men being killed trying to fight them.

"How many men do you have?" Tauriel asked. Though she feared the answer, she needed to know their chances of winning.
"Less than 100," he sighed, voicing her worst fear.

"We can't keep this up forever," she said.

"Aye," he agreed, "But we have nowhere to retreat to."

"So we fight this out to the bitter end?" she asked.

"I can't think of a better plan."

"Neither can I," she agreed as she jumped back down from the roof, her knives already pointed outward in attack mode.

If she and Kili survived today, Kili was going to kill her. It was bad enough that he couldn't go out and join her, but she had sent him 14 children. He didn't know the first thing about kids, let alone human kids. The oldest was Tilda, who was trying her best to help Kili, but she couldn't handle a dozen children any better than he could. What had Tauriel been thinking?

"There's another one," Tilda said.

"Dammit," Kili hissed, "We can't fit many more undetected."

"I'll send him back to my room with the little ones."

Kili had decided that those who didn't fully understand the gravity of the situation would try and sleep in the bedroom with Tilda looking after them. The older ones would stay with Kili and try to make themselves useful. They were to take the others and find a new hiding spot if they were attacked. Admittedly, Kili didn't like his odds of facing however many Orcs would eventually come here alone while also trying to protect 16 others, but he had faced worse odds before.

Kili heard a loud, shrill cry from the other room, "Keep them quiet Tilda!"

"I'm trying" she snapped as she took the crying child into her arms. Kili sighed. She couldn't be more than 10, yet she was expected to be the adult here. It wasn't fair.

Kili walked back to the bedroom and took the child from Tilda's arms, "You can watch the older ones for a bit," he said, "I'll take these ones." Tilde looked surprised, but she didn't argue.

The child in Kili's arms looked to be no older than three, "Calm now, child," Kili said as soothingly as he could, "It's alright." The child quieted down in Kili's arms and began to play with the braids in his hair. Kili bit back a groan of pain at the pulling, but this was better than having him screaming.

Kili took a look around. Thankfully, the other 7 or 8 kids appeared to be sound asleep, despite the sounds of war raging outside. Kili wished that he could sleep right now. The child let out a scream of protest when Kili began to set him down. Kili bit back an exasperated sigh as he realized that the child wouldn't stay calm unless he was in Kili's arms. Kili held the child, praying that Tauriel would return soon and in one piece.

Tauriel wasn't sure how much of this she could take. She could feel her attacks getting sloppier. It was only a matter of time before some Orc caught her off guard and that would be the end of her. There seemed to be no end to her enemies, and she could see her allies dwindling.

On top of that, Tauriel had no idea where in Laketown she actually was. She had been so caught up in fighting that she hadn't realized just how far she had strayed from Bard's house. She couldn't even see the roof top he had been on earlier. Even if she could leave the fighting, she had no way of getting back to Kili.

As far as she could tell, most of the defenseless we gone. Safe or slain, she didn't know, but it was easier to fight when she didn't have to worry about the citizens who couldn't. She just prayed that Kili's hiding spot hadn't been discovered yet. Orcs were merciless creatures who wouldn't think twice about killing children.

It seemed that Tauriel was out of Orcs to fight for the moment when she saw one looming over a figure crouched in the dirt. Another child. He looked like he couldn't be more than 8, yet he clung a baby to his chest protectively. Tauriel leapt over the corpses littering the streets and stood between them. Tauriel didn't understand the language of Orcs, but she could imagine that he hadn't just spit words of kindness at her. She clumsily blocked his sword blows with her small knives. She should have found a better weapon than her daggers. They served her well, but they weren't effective until she was dangerously close to her opponent.

"Child," she gasped between blows, "Do you know where Tilda and Sigrid live?"

The boy mustered a terrified, "Yes"

"Run there," she said as she dodged a knife strike aimed for her head, "There is a friend of mine there who will care for you."

Tauriel spent a few more moments defending the child, who still seemed too scared to move. Tauriel knew that whether she saved his life or not, this would be her last fight. Her strength was gone and her attacks were getting slower and slower.

"Tell my friend," Tauriel said, "That I'm sorry I couldn't return like I promised. Go now!"

This finally seemed to spur the child into action and soon he was gone. Tauriel smiled at her foe. Even though she was going to lose, she had saved two more lives. She decided a long time ago that if she died in the service of others, she would die happy.

Tauriel looked around. She could only see three Laketown citizens remaining. There were certainly others elsewhere, but not enough to defeat the remaining Orcs. Tauriel swung her knife out, slashing at the throat of the Orc. It was then that she caught a familiar sight out of the corner of her eye.

"Legolas," she whispered. Legolas and countless other Elven warriors. He had returned to help Laketown. While she was thankful for it, she knew that Thranduil would never approve. Legolas was acting in direct violation of his King and would suffer for it.

The two made eye contact across the battlefield. Legolas shouted a cry of warning, but it was too late. She looked down to see the sword protruding from her side. As her vision began to darken, she saw Legolas fire arrow after arrow into the Orc that stabbed her until he fell at her feet. As Tauriel collapsed against the ground, her last thought was of Kili and how she hoped he knew she was content with her death.

A.N. So I actually really like this chapter, especially the ending. Tell me what you think.