Less than a day it took us to sail to Gondor and when we got there, fire rose into the sky like beacons calling for help.
"Gondor is falling!" I said quietly, my voice choked. I took out my bow and arrows, readying them as we all ducked out of sight, pulling into the docks of Gondor, where enemies were waiting.
"Late as usual, pirate scum!" An orc cried out as he walked through the lines. "There's knife work here needs doing. Come on you sea rats! Get off your ships!" I exchanged glances with Aragorn and Legolas... and we jumped over the side of the ship, landing nimbly on our feet. The orcs stood mockingly looking at us as if thinking only three of them...
"There's plenty for the both of us." Gimli said.
"The three of us." I corrected him. Gimli looked over at me.
"You're not playing again are you?" He asked. I smiled.
"Are you afraid I'll beat you again?" I asked. Gimli scowled.
"Never!" he cried, "May the best Dwarf win!" Then, as we passed through the army appeared behind us.
We were the last thing they saw in this world.
Our army plowed through, killing everything within sight.
"Fifteen! Sixteen!" I could hear Legolas yell.
"Seventeen!" Gimli called and I grinned.
"Nineteen!" I cried back, sending another three arrows into three orcs at once.
"That's cheating!" Gimli called and I smiled.
"Work with your advantages!" I called back and smiled, loading another two arrows into my bow. Aragorn killed like a madman, defending his country with all he had.
"Twenty-nine!" Gimli called. I laughed at my feeble twenty-five.
"Legolas! Rhasslairiel!" Aragorn called. The two Elves that were us turned around in alarm, looking at the enormous Oliphant came our way, a luscious looking basket... carrying people on its back in three layers.
"Aim for its head!" I cried at the "oh no" look on Legolas's face. Suddenly, the Elf ran forward and grabbed onto the tusk, holding onto it and riding it up to the top. Aragorn looked at me for a split second.
"I want the next one!" I shouted at him and the three of them smiled at me.
"Thirty-five!" Gimli yelled and I frowned at him. It was certainly to his advantage that we started on the ground this time and not where he could not fight.
I kept one eye on Legolas, climbing up the Oliphant and cutting the people loose from it before shooting it in the head, making it fall as I fought.
"That still only counts as one!" Gimli and I both shouted at the same time. Legolas smiled.
"How many do you have, Rhasslairiel?" he asked, shooting another orc in the head as we got back to the battle at hand.
"Forty-three."
"Ha!" Gimli shouted, "Forty-nine!" Legolas smiled.
"Fifty-one!" he said and I shook my head, turning around to shoot three more orcs in the head, making my way away from my friends, though not for any bad reason.
Aragorn and I stood, after me killing five more orcs, looking around us at the army of the dead, moving through the city and over the battlefield, like ants on a piece of fallen bread.
We looked at each other and I smiled, throwing myself upon my friend, my arms tight around his neck. Aragorn laughed and spun around.
"We did it!"
"Alright Aragorn," Legolas said. "Let Rhasslairiel go and let me kiss her." Aragorn smiled at me, his sister though not in blood but in will and backed away from me. Legolas ran over and held me in his arms, kissing me as he had never done before.
Suddenly, the army of the dead was all around us and Gimli, Legolas, and I stood behind Aragorn, smiling.
"Release us." The King said in his eerie, hoarse, voice. Aragorn looked at the King for a moment, as if contemplating.
"Bad idea." Gimli said, shaking his head. "Very handy in a tight spot these lads, despite the fact they're dead." I agreed with Gimli... though Aragorn did make a promise.
"What if we need them again?" I asked quietly.
"You gave us your word." The King growled through clenched teeth. Aragorn half smiled.
"I hold your oath fulfilled." He said, "Go... be at peace." There was a great sigh and they disappeared, like smoke the wind, leaving us to stare after them. Gandalf looked at Aragorn proudly and I hugged him again. He laughed.
The wounded were cared for, the dead being buried as we stood inside the halls of Gondor, where Denethor once sat. It seemed like forever since I had last stood here, though it had really been no longer than a week. I sighed... so much I had found out.
"Frodo has passed beyond my sight." Gandalf said. "The darkness is deepening." Gimli sat in Denethor's throne, smoking a pipe leisurely. Next to him stood Legolas and Eomer. I sat on the steps leading up to the true King's throne, and Aragorn stood where the sunlight came in.
"If Sauron had the Ring we would know it." Aragorn said, keeping his eyes up and his arms crossed.
"It's only a matter of time." Gandalf said helplessly, "He has suffered a defeat, yes but behind the walls of Mordor our enemy is regrouping."
"Let him stay there." Gimli said, smoke puffing from his lips. "Let him rot! Why should we care?"
"Because ten thousand orcs now stand between Frodo and Mount Doom." I replied, looking from Legolas to Gimli, one leg up on the step just below me, the other hanging freely to the bottom. My arm rested on the former. Gimli looked around in an "oh yeah" kind of way.
"I've sent him to his death..." Gandalf said quietly. I shook my head.
"You did not know, Gandalf." I said, "None of this was supposed to happen. We were supposed to with Frodo, right now! But too many things that we could not control went amiss." Gandalf looked at me.
"I sent him to his death all the same."
"No." Aragorn said, unfolding his arms and turning, "There is still hope for Frodo. He needs time and safe passage across the plains of Gorgoroth... we can give him that."
"How?" Gimli asked suspiciously.
"Draw out Sauron's armies. Empty his lands. Then we gather our full strength and march on the Black Gate." Gimli coughed in astonishment.
"We cannot achieve victory through strength of arms." Eomer protested.
"No," I said, "Not for ourselves we cannot." I stood, "If we can give Frodo enough time to get to Mount Doom and destroy the Ring... Sauron's armies will perish."
"We can give Frodo his chance if we keep Sauron's Eye fixed on us, keep him blind to all else that moves." Aragorn finished.
"A diversion." Legolas said. I looked at him and nodded.
"Sauron will suspect a trap." Gandalf said. "He will not take the bait." There was a pause while we all thought of the idea, not a good one, but it was the best we had.
"Certainty of death..." Gimli exclaimed. I laughed, "Small chance of success... What are we waiting for?"