"A diversion,"
"Certainty of death, small chance of success, what are we waiting for?"
"Sauron will suspect a trap; he will not take the bait."
"Oh, I think he will,"
Aragorn turned to the door just as Kali walked in, pale and distant. They all looked at her expectantly; Legolas frowned slightly, she looked so fragile, as if she would drift away if you so much as breathed on her. She glided into the room, her near translucent white dress drifting vaguely around her slender frame, and looked at her friend's faces with hopeless amber eyes. Aragorn walked over and gently took her limp hands in his, "I have a favor to ask of you," he started, she stayed silent, her eyes cast on the floor. "You can if you want to, I know it hurt you the last time, but we need you to put your hands on the stone that showed us the white tree burning. Can you do that for us?"
Legolas shot forward, "But it hurt her last time! You cannot ask her to do it again!"
"This is Kali's choice," Aragorn exclaimed, whipping around to face the elf, "You do not make her decisions for her, do you?"
"But-!"
"But nothing Legolas," A faint voice strained at their ears, they looked to see Kali drifting towards the pedestal which had on it the stone. "I came here to tell you that I want to do something, anything, to help this war end. I can't stand to see one more person die!" They were all silent as they watched her approach the pedestal. She put her hand on the stone, but this time she didn't flinch away; it glowed with power and took hold of her mind. The presence in her mind that once scared her, Sauron, she now ignored. Despite the stability of her mind, her face went pale and her hands shook; Legolas felt a surge of protective concern for her. He was not the only one; Eomir too, stood on edge as he watched her.
Dark light spilled from the globe as she gripped it tightly in her hands and willed herself to think only the words; Lord Sauron, I am at your command. I will bring the King of Gondor to you, to Mordor. He thinks he can win, but it will be a trap; victory is the bait. One last strike to the world of men and it is yours; do we have a deal?
The voice came in a dead rasp that shook her to her core; and you will receive reward for aiding the darkness in its cause… and where is the Ring?
I have it. I stole it from that stupid Halfling and killed the pathetic thing, she lied.
Does anyone know?
They think the Ring to be lost.
Good work my servant; I will await you beyond the black gates.
And then it was over, whatever connection was shattered, and the stone went blank. Kali staggered backwards and fell hard on her backside, stunned and almost motionless. Legolas and Eomer ran forward and knelt at her side.
"Kali," they both said, worry in their voices. Her eyes looked blank and dark; not quite amber, not quite brown. She didn't stir, nor blink; everyone in the room held their breath with her subconsciously. A second later she breathed, then moved her wrist, blinked, and looked at their faces,
"Don't touch me,"
Legolas and Eomer both recoiled as if she had struck them; in a way, she had. Her voice was as hard as iron but as delicate as crystal. She stood on her shaky legs and walked unsteadily to the door, "He knows you're coming, I told him that much. He looks forward to it." And she left.
Kali walked down the hallway back to the sick rooms, to Eowen. The medicine woman had kicked her out when Eowen suddenly got worse, making Kali snap at her and all the people that she had passed in the hallway. When she had gotten to the Great Hall she was so mad that she had wanted to slap just about anyone, but seeing Legolas there calmed her, she had felt her anger drift away and leave depression in its place. When she left the Hall to go back to the sick rooms she realized how Legolas must have felt when she acted cold and distant to him; she wanted to go back to tell him she was sorry, she wanted to go see if Eowen was alright.
She stopped dead in the corridor, looking out of the arced window at the gardens. A stormy sky still rumbled a rolled over the city and plains, a hailed to times when the sounds of war would sweep the land. The courtyard stood pale, set in stone; but even stone may crumble. Like the pale beauty of Eowen's face, crumbling; all the life in it fading. Tears stung Kali's eyes, when the blur of tears was gone she once more looked out into the courtyard, and saw the unbelievable. Eowen. It would be alright, everything would be alright.
Kali sat on a bench, holding her knives and bow in her hands, waiting for the troops to leave, and thinking softly to herself. Out of the shadows on the walkway came Legolas, already dressed for battle; watching her. She looked up, her hunter senses picking up his presence and scent, she smiled lightly and stood. "Eowen recovered, but she is not well enough to fight yet. Isn't that wonderful?" He did not speak nor look her in the eyes; worry crept into her heart and mind, was he upset about her acting rudely to him? Kali opened her mouth to say- but he interrupted.
"Women do not belong in battle. Elves are different, Eowen is not an elf. She should stay here where she belongs. In the future I would advise you not to encourage her to so easily abandon her duty and rush off into battle." His eyes met hers, his a cold blue, hers startling amber. She couldn't process his words; this wasn't the elf she knew, not the one she loved. "It made you upset to see her almost on the brink of death; what made you more upset then seeing her like that was that you knew it was your fault." A sneer from him as he turned to go, "You are worthless,"
No, no, no, no! This was wrong! Her mind screamed, her hands over her mouth keeping her from shouting it aloud. She looked at him again as he walked away, he was about to go back down the path he had been on when she noticed it; a faint glow around him like the one she saw around the tower. And that had shattered when I used my knives to- My knives! She picked them up from the bench and went after Legolas. I hope this works… She unsheathed her weapons; he turned around, hearing the noise. Seeing her with her knives in hand he smirked in haughtiness, something Kali knew Legolas wouldn't do,
"You want to fight me? For what purpose?"
"You aren't Legolas, are you?" Kali pronounced; brandishing her knives, keeping a good three feet distance between him and her. He twitched and blanched, turning to get away, but she was too fast; she whirled her knives in the air quickly and brought it down on the shimmering curtain. It shattered, like before at the tower. Before her now stood, instead of Legolas, a goblin in leather armor; it was hissing and spitting though pointed teeth at her, its greedy pig-eyes blinking. Hesitating no more she sliced through it with her knives, it fell to the ground spurting blackish blood. She stood there breathing hard, knives in both hands, black blood dripping form the edges, looking down at the body of the Goblin that had almost tricked her. Why?...
Kali walked with the foot soldiers to the Black Gate of Mordor; thinking to herself about the events that had taken place a half hour ago. That goblin had magic cast on it by someone powerful, and that meant someone wanted to come between her and Legolas, or to place doubt in her heart. It had to be one of those reasons; and as for who… Sauron. Most likely. Was he testing her loyalty?
They halted, she could see the menacing despair of the Gate from where she stood, its dark sides reaching up high, so no one could see over it but the great eye and the birds of the sky. She looked up and saw circling high above were a flock of eagles, spiraling far above the battle in the blue sky. The horses were skittish, the men muttering, the rumble of Mordor increasing; it all blended together into a hum until,
"Kali?"
She looked up, Legolas had gotten off his horse and was now looking at her with a subtle longing; as if he wanted to talk to her in private, but now didn't have the time or place. He reached down and tenderly cupped her face in his hands, he brought his face down to hers, his gentle breath on her cheeks making her blush softly, his mouth open not forming the question he wanted to ask, instead leaving him speechless and spellbound. Kali didn't know quite what to say either, so she stood on tiptoe and pressed her mouth to his. He, totally unprepared for this, took a moment to realize that she was kissing him. Aragorn and Gimli smiled widely at seeing their friend overpowered by a girl, but were even more surprised when the elf grabbed Kali by the waist and drew her more firmly to him, deepening the kiss.
The dead rasp of the gate opening drew them apart; they watched as a single messenger came through the gate and rode over to Aragorn.
"My master, Sauron the Great bids thee welcome. Has anyone in your party come to treat with me?" it gasped and growled.
Gandalf spoke, "We did not come to treat with Sauron, faithless, and the cursed." The thing growled; showing blood and grime stained teeth. "But tell you master this," The wizard continued. "The armies of Mordor must disband; they must depart these lands never to return."
The thing smirked open-mouthed, "Oh, Old grey beard. I have a token I was bidden to show thee," He pulled out something shiny and threw it at the man. Gandalf caught it, the Hobbits stared at it in horror.
"Frodo!" exclaimed Merry,
"No!" cried Pippin.
"The Halfling was dear to you I see," Snarled the thing, "Know that he suffered greatly at the hands of his host." The metal-clad messenger tilted his head to the side and regarded another; Kali. "Thee, pretty girl," Kali and Legolas tensed as he rode forward slightly. "My master bid me deliver something to you," A blur of black so quick everyone missed it until it tore through Kali's neck. The small crossbow bolt had torn through her throat and lay there on the ground covered in blood.
Her heart beat slowed, time seemed to move like tree sap, Kali wanted to scream, but the air and thought wouldn't come. She struggled to regain her breath but wind wheezed and blew through her neck like a pipe with a too big hole. Legolas knelt down next to her quickly; watching in horror as blood slowly trickled out of the corner of her mouth, her face pale with death. Never had he ever been this scared of losing her, not even at Helm's Deep.
The others watched in muted shock at the sight of the girl on the ground, dead, without hope. The thing that shot her sneered and chuckled. Aragorn walked up to the messenger so that they were side by side, and swung his sword and severed the thing's head from the body. It fell to the ground with a metal clank and a wet thump. He turned back to his comrades; two scared, smaller faces looked up at him, an old, wise face with too many worry lines, a shocked dwarf, an grief-stricken elf, and a bloodstained body that lay beyond repair.
At the death of the messenger thousands, tens of thousands, came pouring out of the Black gate. Orcs, goblins, trolls, and any creature the world of light and love despises; came running out, surrounding the army of men. The Great Eye of Sauron glared at them from the peak of the tower in Mordor, the rock-strewn wasteland. Turning to his friends, Aragorn looked at them and whispered. "For Frodo," then he turned and charged headlong at the enemy. Pippin and Merry took up the call and charged, soon followed by Gimli and the army.
As the two opposing forces met, one figure ran with a body in his arms to the edge of the battle. His horse stood surrounded by trolls, whinnying and neighing in panic. Legolas cut through the brutes with his knives as he swung Kali's body around to his back. Keeping her from slipping off or getting grabbed by an orc while defending himself was one of the hardest things that the elf ever had to do; never in his many years of practice, had he ever been trained to fight while protecting a corpse.
Finally managing to cut through the Trolls he lifted Kali unto his horse and strapped her body on the saddle as best he could, and as fast; he had to get her away from the fight. Calling for the horse to break into a gallop, he cleared a path through the orcs momentarily and watched as the white horse galloped past, and away to Gondor. The inky darkness of snarling teeth and pointed metal brought him back to the fight. And he continued to attack the enemy, the darkness that had destroyed his beloved.
Spoiler alert; the story isn't over yet. Don't hate me yet...