As his hand came up to touch her face she bit down hard and with all the venom she could muster. He staggered back and cried out in alarm and agony as the poison found it's was through his system. He convulsed on the floor as he died, twitching when Kali poked his with her foot. Whenever she moved she hissed in pain, on her shoulder a huge cut going from her shoulder to her shoulder blade throbbed. Kali inched her way across the floor, still in her bonds; her hands were tied behind her back and her feet bound together. Once she had reached her weapons she did her best to try to unsheathe one of her knives, but it didn't work. She fumbled with it behind her back and dropped it; it was useless. She squirmed her way out and looked around carefully; no other raiders appeared to be near at the moment. She saw an axe stuck in the wall of an empty house; flopping towards it, she leaned against the wall and propped herself up. Standing now, she felt for the edge, once she found it she sawed at the cloth that bound her hands until it snapped. Once she had her hands free, she pulled the axe from the wall to cut the rope binding her feet. And as soon as she finished cutting them gruff voices of men could be heard from just down the road. In her mind she thought; right about now Gimli would say, 'bring your pretty face to my axe!' I never thought I'd be saying it… Wheeling out from behind the building she glared at the barbarians and lifted the axe, "Bring your pretty face to my axe!" doing her best Gimli imitation. That sucked. They stopped in their tracks and realized that they now faced a woman, whose cloths were a bit torn, shoulder and thigh bloody, and with glowing golden eyes. And she looked downright murderous. The few villagers who had survived the attack were bound by their hands in a line and being pushed by one of the Barbarians. Kali decided she would take his out first. Screaming in fury, she charged and smashed right into him; baffled by her head-on attack the Raider failed to defend himself properly. Normally I would hate to have the blood of a human on my hands… but these men are an exception. She cut through the man's neck and turned to the next one. They have destroyed homes, she slashed at the man, lives, she cut one leg out from under him, and love. And I cannot abide that! She killed the second one and licked the blood off her hands; learn your place! She helped the other hostages cut through their bonds,

"Thank you my lady!"

"Many thanks!"

"I thought we were going to die!"

Many cries of relief came from the freed as they hugged one-another in the very joy of being alive. Kali went and retrieved her weapons from the first house. "We cannot stay here; they will be back, and stronger. We must make for Helms Deep, they will protect us there." The people shuddered and agreed; they didn't want to fall victim to another raid.

"What is your name?"

"Kali."

"Thank you Lady Kali!"

Soon everyone was calling out their thanks to her, Kali smiled gratefully.

"Can the children walk until daybreak? We have a lot of ground to cover before we get there." The sleepy children staggered on their feet, barely awake and looking very hungry "Forget that. Is there a horse and cart around here?" One of the men went into one of the barns and a horse was hitched to a cart and brought forward. "Good, put the children in there. I promise we will stop at daybreak to eat and rest, but for now we must move as quickly as possible." The townspeople followed her out of the deserted town and into the countryside.

Kali figured the blade that had cut her shoulder must have been poisoned because it was taking a long time to heal and it still hurt like crap. Nevertheless she walked, leading the way to the other survivors. Once the sun had started to come up over the hills, the other camp was in sight. Everyone looked relived and they hurried to meet their neighbors. There was much celebration for those who lived, and a mournful silence for those who had died. They all sat around the camp fire together in silence, listening to the grumbling bellies of the children. Kali sighed and stood, going to go look for some prey. She came back with seven rabbits; she had drained the blood from them and was still feeling hungry thanks to the blood loss from her shoulder wound. She had heard somewhere that sleep helps regenerate blood so she lie down and tried to get some sleep. I wish Legolas was here, I miss him.

When she woke it was midday and all the people had eaten and rested enough; they piled the children into the wagon again and started off towards Helms Deep once more. As they walked they sometimes heard the calls and hoots of goblins or orcs echoing across the plains. Kali had to stop and listen sometimes in case there actually was a band of orcs or goblins coming too close to them. By nightfall the sounds had gotten louder, the children were more scared, the men and women more tense. As they got closer to the mountains the sounds got louder and louder. When they stopped to rest that night everyone felt uneasy and had trouble going to sleep. As she was closing her eyes Kali smelled goblin, and very close. She bolted upright and grabbed her knives, jumping to her feet and scanning the area. Her shoulder ached but she ignored it, heading for the cluster of bushes where she smelled goblin. As she expected, a goblin sprung out, but she didn't expect twenty of them. They came out from all directions, completely surrounding the group. "Everyone, we are under attack! Go to the mountains!" Kali cried. The men and women started upwards and grabbed the children and dragged them as best they could through the goblins. Kali killed all of the small green nuisances that were in her way but they just kept coming. Racing to the mountain, the company halted when they realized it was a dead end. Goblins were coming at them from higher up on the mountain, down in the forest, and from the foot of the mountain. Kali felt her back press up against the mountain and she thought; there is no way I am going down against these failures! She was about to charge forward, but felt someone grab her cloths from behind and pull her back. To her surprise she fell through the mountain along with all the humans. She landed on something hard and winced, rolling off and looking around. They appeared to be in some sort of giant cave; and dwarves stood around with hammers and axes looking at them. One of them stepped forward,

"My name is Halem son of Kjack and you are my cousin's friend, are you not?"

Kali was confused, "Should I know you?"

The dwarf seemed amused by this, "Gimli has spoken of you to one of our scouts this past day, Kali is it?" She nodded eyes wide. Another dwarf stepped forward; he was dressed in furs from head to toe and carried a crossbow.

"I was the scout that spoke with Lord Gimli, and he said that you were out in the countryside somewhere, and that if we could give you and whatever companions may be with you shelter for the night, he would be very grateful. While I spoke to him though, I noticed that there was an elf next to him, I can't believe that he became friends with an elf!..." The dwarf trailed off into mutters of why elves were bad.

"We can get you to Helms Deep very quickly, we have a secret passage that leads through the mountains, it can get you there in a matter of hours." The first dwarf said. Kali looked relived, and breathed a sigh of relief. Halem the dwarf came up to her and clapped her on the shoulder causing her to squeak in pain. "For now you shall stay with us, and when you go back to your human city, tell all of the hospitality of the dwarves. Oh and eh… rub it in to the elf's face, will ya?" Kali grinned and relaxed, everything is going to be alright…

Her shirt was very torn from the barbarian incident, so she was given a new tunic to wear. It was for a male dwarf so it did hang a little loose, but it felt better than having her wound exposed. In the dining hall breakfast was served; the humans ate as much as they could of the roasted meat, the mountain berries, and the Dwarven ale. Kali sat back and watched with a contented smile on her face.

"Are you not going to eat lass?" Asked Halem, coming up to where she sat.

"I do not eat food." She said, trying to avoid the subject of blood.

"Ah yes, now I remember. Cousin Gimli said that you are one of the dead! I thought he was joking, but here you are. You might like the blood that was drained from the stag, it's in the kitchen in the bleeding bowl, over there." He pointed to a room off to the left.

Kali stood up and curtsied, "Thank you for everything Lord Halem." The dwarf stammered and blushed, not knowing what to say. With one last smile she went into the kitchen.

Later that morning they all went through the passage through the mountains, it took them about three hours to get all the way out. Once they came to the exit, Kali once more turned to the dwarf lord, "Thank you, this was much appreciated. I know you have your hands full with the goblins, so this was more than I could have hoped for."

"Could you do me one small favor?" Halem asked,

"Of course," Kali answered. The dwarf gave her a small axe,

"Give this to Cousin Gimli with my greetings."

Kali nodded and took it; the dwarves called their farewells and retreated once more into the mountain pass. Helms Deep stood in the side of the mountain next to the one they were on, so they climbed down carefully and made the final walk to the gates. They stumbled through and were relived at the sight of many people there already; Kali hoped that Legolas, Aragorn, and Gimli were there already but was disappointed when a guard told her that they were not expected to arrive until another hour. So she waited inside the gate for her friends impatiently. After about an hour women and children began to pour in to Helms Deep, Eowen leading them. Kali stumbled through the crowd to get to her and finally got there,

"Eowen!"

"Kali!"

They hugged and laughed, relived to see each other. Kali drew back and looked through the crowd.

"Where are Legolas, Gimli, and Aragorn?" She asked.

Eowen's face grew dark, "We were attacked by waargs and they rode out to fight them."

Kali didn't really know what a waarg was, but she did know that if all the men had gone to fight them, it must mean serious business. "They will come back, I know it!" Kali said and took Eowen's arm. Together they helped families find each other and get settled; Kali got to watch as all these people found their loved ones and cried for joy, she loved being able to do this.

"Make way! Make way for the King!" came a cry from the first floor. Kali and Eowen race down to see the men ride in on horses. Kali searched the riders for Legolas but didn't see him, panic arose in her chest and she forced it down. Gimli saw Kali and Eowen and went over to them,

""Lord Aragorn, where is he?" Eowen asked with something in her voice that made Kali's jaw drop, Eowen is… in love with Aragorn? Wow, I have missed a lot…

"He fell," Gimli choked, looking down at the ground in sorrow.

"He fell… of his horse?" Kali asked, hoping that that was the case. When no one answered Kali felt like she had been hit by two trucks simultaneously. "Are you saying he's dead?" She said softly, looking down at Gimli. Eowen could not take much more of this, she spun around and headed for the place where she was staying, leaving Kali in shock and disbelief that her friend was gone.

Legolas came through the gate, having spent as much time as he could to search for Aragorn, he had been the last rider to come in. He dismounted and saw Kali standing next to Gimli a little ways away. He wanted to go to her instantly and hold her tight to see if she was alright, but something inside his heart had been dampened by Aragorn's death. He walked slowly over to them and stopped beside Gimli, Kali looked up at him in hope,

"Aragorn isn't really-" She started, seeing his downcast expression she stopped. "Oh," was all she could say. She tried to accept that her companion, who was almost like a brother to her, had passed. But she just couldn't, something inside her told her that he was still alive. She tried to remember all that her father had read to her about Aragorn. Didn't he become the King of Gondor? He has to live if he's going to become the King! "He is still alive," she said. The two looked at her,

"That is not possible Kali," Legolas said softly, finally putting his arms around her comfortingly. She whimpered before she could stop herself, he pulled back and frowned, "You are hurt." Kali shook her head and looked down, determined not to let him see her pain, she had to be strong. "Where?" he asked softly, tipping her chin up and looking her in the eyes, seeing nothing on the face, he inspected her neck. The Dwarven tunic was a little big on her so it drooped at the shoulder, letting him see the beginning of the scar on her shoulder. When he touched it she gasped and hissed out air, it burned and stung. "How did you get this?" he asked.

"One of the Raiders had a poisoned knife…" she said softly.

Legolas looked worried then tired, "I am going to go get some rest," he excused himself and went away quickly.

Kali felt crushed by his lack of warmth and just let him go, turning to Gimli, she handed him the axe. "Your cousin told me to give this to you with his greetings," she said flatly. The Dwarf took it and sadly moved away, leaving Kali alone as she stood facing the great wooden doors, waiting alone for Aragorn to come back.