1

We Fight and Die Together

I wasn't going to let them breach the gate. They could pound at it all they wanted, but they were in for a surprise.

Estel bellowed so loud that the entire complex could hear him, "BRING HIM DOWN, LEGOLAS! KILL HIM!"

"Valor protect all of us," I muttered to myself. I had long sense spent all my arrows and abandoned my bow in favour of Myranaina.

Beside me stood Cassan, with him father on his other side. The old Wolf was determined, but I knew this was to be his last battle. Cassan was ready. Cassan was ready to inherit the pack from Dire, his sire.

On my other side was Silverfang, in all his glory. Shadowpaw was on his other side.

Behind us, in every wing of Helm's Deep, Wolf and Man and Elf stood united against defeat.

And I cried out in my native tongue, "Brothers and sisters, we fight for so much more than revolution! We fight for our families and the freedom of our children and cubs! WE FIGHT! We fight for our homelands, the most noble of all causes!" I raised Myranaina, "WE FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES! WE FIGHT!"

"WE FIGHT!" Cassan roared.

"WE FIGHT!" Dire echoed.

"WE FIGHT FOR PEACE!" I screamed, "AS ONE WE SHALL PREVAIL! FOR PEACE!"

The answering roar was deafening, "FOR PEACE!"

And then the wall—the Deep's one weakness—exploded in a shower of granite and stone.

The front line, consisting of five wolves and ten myraneth, jumped forward into the fire storm. I winced as their pain filtered back to me—but so did their determination.

We are one, and bonded we shall triumph.

This thought came from a pitch black mass of fur. Shadowdancer, the spirit of the first ever myraneth, had joined the fight.

We fight as one. Are you ready, Lady Wolf?

I am, Lord Shadow.

Then join me.

I pushed my conscious at him. In a second, I sat astride the substantial shadow, and we were essentially one being.

My wolves fought as hard as I could bear to ask of them. But in the end, it still was not enough. I prayed for a miracle.

Sometime in the battle, about twenty of the Lothlorien Elves, including Haldir, joined us in the rubble. I caught sight of Aragorn for the first time for hours. Then, just for a moment, it was as if someone had drove a sword through my chest.

A mass of black and silver fur collapsed in front of us. I didn't have to look more than once to confirm that it was Silverfang. But the second look confirmed that he was dead.

For a second, Shadow and I felt nothing at all.

Then pain exploded in our shared being. Turning, I assessed the damage. An arrow had lodged itself in between two of my ribs. It was a fatal blow.

Cassan snarled and jumped at the shaft. He ripped it clean out of my body, and while the pain was almost blinding, he had given me the chance to heal myself.

I used a fraction of precious magical energy to just that.

One pain after another. The pain of losing Silverfang hit me like a wild boar.

Shadowpaw's answering howl was the most longing, desperate, agonizing sound I had ever heard. I would hear more. To me, this battle marked the beginning of the end.

"NO!" I roared. I jumped off of the Shadow, ripping my consciousness away from his. I drove Myranaina into the orc who had just embedded its axe in the back of my cousin's head.

The battle raged around me, but my only priority was Haldir, as he rested in my brother's arms. I stooped beside Aragorn.

He wasn't completely gone yet.

"My bow…" He rasped. Aragorn passed the bleached wood to him.

"Hold still, cousin, I can heal you!"

"No, Myraneth, you must save your strength. It is now time for me to…rest. Myraneth," He said when I ignored him. I looked into his sky-blue eyes.

"There will be many more. You must let me go…it is time."

A tear traced its way down my cheek, "No, not now! I won't let you!"

"You must, Myraneth. Let me go…Estel is so much more important…"

That first traitorous tear was quickly followed by more. I couldn't talk.

"I am pleased to have fought alongside you, Haldir of Lothlorien. May you find peace in death." Aragorn muttered.

I looked one last time into the bright, pain-filled eyes of my cousin, "Rest now, son of Haladan. My kin, my cousin, my brother." Then my cousin's eyes closed forever.