Chapter 23 - Tears Through The Dirt
Everything seemed muted, like she was hearing something that was happening from miles away but she was aware of it happening around her. She did not know where she was but she could see the sky above her. A perfectly clear blue with a few birds that darted in and out of the overhanging branches. Branches. She had not noticed them a moment before , but now there was branches framing that small area of sky and they kept fanning out as she could see more and more of her surroundings.
It was then that she realised there was something pressing on her chest, heavy, firm and un-moving. Just her woolen blanket she thought closing her dry eyes for a moment.
How many times had she stared up at the sky like this in the morning after spending most of the night on her guard taking watch. Countless.
"Arwen" She heard her name being called but it did not seem urgent she thought, blinking some of the fogginess away. They could afford to give her a few more minutes anyway.
Her body ached, she had rested uncomfortably it seemed. Usually she was good at picking the most spongy part of the forest floor to rest her weary bones but it appeared she may have lost her knack.
Her mouth felt parched, she should probably reach out to grab her waterskin nearby but the blanket was pinning her in place like a newborn swaddled so tight.
"Arwen!" someone shouted again, a different voice this time, gruff and gravelly. What did they want? Was she supposed to be doing something?
He disjointed thoughts were interrupted when something wet and warm trickled into her palm. She winced, she knew the feeling, it was not something that you would forget. The thought conjured up a sting in her nostrils and the metallic taste in her mouth. Blood.
Panic began to rise up in her instantly and time seemed to speed up the fog of sleep escaping her.
"Arwen get up!" the first voice screamed again from her right, which was the first time she could distinguish a direction.
Tearing her eyes away from the sky overhead she rolled her head painstakingly towards the voice.
Legolas at this present moment was fighting three Uruks simultaneously whilst trying his best to see past his attackers to where she was currently sprawled on the floor.
A wave of dread and nausea swept through her as the memory of what was happening flooded back to her.
Frodo, Uruks, the horn, Aragorn. She had to get up, had to help them. But this damned blanket was keeping her in place. She struggled against it as a pain in her head thudded to a rhythmic beat.
Rolling her head back so it rested on the crown she peered down to look at the rest of her body,
A scream escaped her lips before she could hold it in and she thrashed about frantically to dislodge herself from her unlikely cover.
An Uruk lay stretched over her. His yellowed eyes peering up at her still locked on it's target even in death. Its mouth was agape, the jaw angled in an unnatural way over to the left. The beasts humongous arms lay down either side of her, pinning her to the floor like a cage.
Another Uruk hurtled past her and she stilled for a moment. Trapped like this she would be easy pickings. She had to keep quiet and calm, hopefully the approaching Uruks would think her already dead at a quick glance.
If only she could move one of his arms then perhaps she would be able slide out. As it was the body seemed to be getting heavier if that were possible, and she now felt claustrophobic and her constricted chest making it difficult to breathe.
In a way it seemed odd, not two minutes before she had thought it a blanket, now it appeared to be squeezing the very life from her.
Stretching her arm out to the left she tried to lift the dead limb, but it would not budge. The dead fingers still grasped a mace it had struck her with earlier in a vice like grip. Therefore weighting the whole arm more than was natural. There was no way that she could manage to prise the fingers open from this position with her arms still trapped beside her.
Before she could focus her attention on the other arm another Uruk emerged from the treeline brandishing a huge hooked blade and staring straight her. It paused for a moment before it started to run full pelt in her direction. Her calm resolved abandoned her instantly and she shook as violently under the weight as she could, urging, willing for it to move. But it was no good.
The oncoming Uruk lifted its arm high above its head as it ran. Ready to cleave her head clean off from where it stuck out under the body. There was nothing that she could do, she was completely helpless.
She let out a long piercing scream, something that she had never heard come from her before. She closed her eyes tight, waiting for it to all be over.
But it never came.
Instead she heard a second pair of heavy feet running in her direction and then with a guttural scream of its own and a clashing of blades the first set of feet stopped.
She opened her clenched eyes slowly at first, but quick enough that she managed to see the torso, arms and head section of the Uruk fall away from the groin,legs and feet. It had been sliced completely in two.
Gimli stood in its wake, panting hard, his axe still dripping with fresh Uruk blood.
As though he could feel her staring at him he turned suddenly towards her, his cheeks flushed and his brow laden with sweat.
"Now, now lass stop your screaming, we will get this monster off of you in no time" he said as calmly as if it were no more than a spider. She knew that he was trying to keep her calm and if she was honest it did help.
Still with axe in hand he hurried over to her, his tough leather boots thudding on the hard floor. He slowed slightly and looked at the treeline at the sound of snapping twigs but nothing appeared and he continued. They were safe for now at least.
Legolas was taking Uruks down in a steady stream from his elevated position on top of the ruins, but he would not be able to hold them at bay on his own for much longer.
Gimli heaved at the fallen Uruk, moving it so that its metal armour dug into her chest on one side, but lifting it on the other. With their combined strength the were able to push it up high enough that she was able to squeeze herself out of the gap they had created.
She was free.
She lay their for a moment raking in a large breath. They cool air felt sweet on her tongue.
"Come on now, no time for sleeping" Gimli joked, holding out a hand to her.
She took it eagerly, using it to scramble to her feet ungracefully. As soon as she stood upright however she felt sick, her head seemed to be liquid and her vision swam. It seemed she had not felt the force of the blow when she was still lying.
Deep breaths, deep breaths she told herself. she could not afford to go back into this any less than one hundred percent.
Looking back at the Uruk she noticed three arrows sticking out of him. Legolas had been the one to take him down and by the looks of it without one second to spare.
Hadafang. Where was it? She had it before, it could not have gone far.
Legolas jumped down from the ruins, his feet making no more sound on the earth than if he had been a mouse. Two of the Uruks had gotten two close for comfort and he had retreated back to ground level. This was where Gimli took his leave.
She had not spoken to him at all since her endeavor, she had meant to say thank you. But he had already run back into the fray, hacking through the leg of one unsuspecting Uruk in a shower of splintered bone and blood. She knew however that he would not be offended by her lack of voice and that she must make a mental note to thank him for it once all this was over.
She spied her sword sticking out from underneath the leg of the Uruk, shining silver against the dark waxy flesh. She bent down and managed to pull it free in one heave. It felt good to have it back in her hand, like it was an extension of herself. They had already faced so much on this journey together. Although it seemed such a long time ago that she brandished it in front of the wraiths with Frodo in her arms.
Her head still pounded in time to the beating of her heart but the nausea and dizziness had subsided. She needed to get back into the thick of things, although looking more carefully at the ensuing battle she noticed that the Uruk numbers were dwindling. Perhaps they could do this afterall, or was it that the main force of the troop had realised that what they were seeking was not here with two elves and a dwarf.
They needed to regroup with the others, she needed to know that they were alright.
Tightening her grip on the hilt she willed her feet to move and obediently they carried her back towards the area of danger.
She sliced the back of one of the closest Uruks necks, deep, exposing a torrent of dark blood and muscle.
It dropped to its knees fast with a scream of pain. The were a well oiled machine . Legolas keeping them covered from a distance and Arwen and Gimli attacking from the thick of it.
They worked methodically with an array of arrows and well struck blows until there was only the three of them and a pile of dead Uruks in the clearing.
She let out a large breath, her chest heaving as though the air could not come quickly enough.
She wanted to cheer. Wanted to hug the others , for they had survived and accomplished something she had thought impossible. But there was no time, Legolas had already turned back to the trees, plucking a few arrows that he could reuse from the littered corpses and shoving hem back into his quiver. His blonde hair was in disarray, some of it plastered to his neck and forehead in sweat.
"Come this way" he called back to them, disappearing into the brush.
She followed instantly, not wishing to become left behind again.
She wondered why he had picked this direction but soon heard the clash of steel in the distance. She only prayed that they were not too late.
There were a few straggler Uruks along their path, but Legolas dispatched them quickly and quietly, not slowing down his momentum as he did so. The clashes were getting louder now, echoing out so that any birds that had not already fled, escaped their perches in a hurry.
Then silence.
There was nothing.
Just the sounds of their combined breathing, ragged and fast.
Somehow the silence was more unbearable than the sounds of battle. At least the clang of swords allowed them the hope that they had arrived in time. The silence however lay thick in the air with a sense of finality.
They crashed through a dense patch of trees one after the other into another clearing. This was clearly the location of the battle as there were at least three dozen Dead Uruks lying in some form of dismemberment on the ground.
There was however no sign of the other members of the fellowship.
They spread out slowly amongst the dead, staring , searching for any signs of life or any clue to the whereabouts of the others .
The walked for a few moments , Gimli burying his axe into the skull of an Uruk that twitched as he passed. Then Legolas said solemnly "There".
She looked up to him , then followed his gaze over to two figures that were crouched down under a large tree.
The figure that was kneeling was Aragorn, and she almost ran to him instantly , wanting nothing more than to wrap her arms around him. But then her gaze moved to the other figure. One who was deathly white. One who had three arrows protruding from his chest.
She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes before she even knew the answer.
"Oh Boromir" she said quietly to herself as the tears began to streak through the dirt.