"Rally to me! To me!"
Around him, Theoden could see the riders suddenly show a level of anxiety that made him slowly turn around. What happened next could only be described in the king's mind as a "fuck me" moment. The Witch-king of Angmar was astride his fell beast and moving in fast. In the swoop down to the earth, the impact threw the king from his horse, only to be pinned by the steed.
Eowyn wasn't far off, frozen in shock and horror at the scene. She heard the Witch-king command the beast, "Feast on his flesh" and dove into action. Coming to a halt in between her uncle and the monster, she drew her sword high and held her shield ready. "I will kill you if you touch him!"
The Witch-king didn't seem affected by the "man's" words of threat. "Do not come between a Nazgûl and his prey."
The Nazgul went to strike, only to miss and leave its long expanse of neck exposed. Eowyn took the opportunity to drive her weapon through its neck in two strokes, beheading it. The head dropped like a stone to the ground, but the body continued to waver with the Witch-king still sitting on top before it finally fell down. The shieldmaiden watched in fear, knowing that she had pissed the Witch-king off with her actions, thereby drawing the attention to herself. The witch-king stood intimidatingly with what looked like a giant mace head attached to a chained staff. He moved swiftly, swinging the terrifying weapon at her. Eowyn had to react quick, ducking and side-stepping the strikes.
Then she wasn't as lucky. The Witch-king landed a hit to her shield, shattering the wood and leaving her on the ground, crying out and clutching the wounded arm. She had crawled back as far as she could go, bumping into the now-dead horse that had pinned her uncle.
At the pier, the black ships were just beginning to arrive, much to the frustration of the orcs that were assigned to wait on their arrivals. "Late as usual, pirate scum! There's knife-work here that needs doing. Come on, ya sea rats! Get off your ships!" The leader bellowed. He expected to see gangly, dirty pirates amble out of the ships. He didn't expect to see a man, a dwarf, and four elves appear instead.
Gimli was muttering to Legolas as they readied their weapons. "There's plenty for the both of us. May the best Dwarf win!"
The small group began to charge the orcs, who looked prepared for the seemingly unimpressive battle. However, when the appearance of the Dead King's army filtered up from behind them, they began to back up and retreat.
In Burgess, Ithilwen woke up later than she expected. The clock read that it was after nine, which was unusual for her. The sun normally woke her up before her alarm clock did, and she realized with regret that she forgot to set it the night before. She climbed from the bed to look out the window, only to see that it was a thoroughly cloudy day. Stupid weatherman said that it was supposed to be a small chance of rain. Those grey clouds looked like the bottom could drop out at any minute.
Moving down the steps slowly, Ithilwen headed to the kitchen for breakfast. Not really in the mood for anything in particular, she considered reheating some leftovers from a previous night's dinner. Fiona heard her open the fridge from the living room, and came running.
"Good! Finally, you're up!"
"Yeah?" Ithilwen looked up from the container of mystery food she held. "I forgot to set my alarm clock last night."
"Thought the sun would be your wake-up call?" Fiona asked. "Anyway, don't spend a lot of time on a big breakfast. We've got a lot of work to do today!"
"What? Why?" the elleth asked suspiciously.
Fiona grinned. "Pictures, baby! Pictures! Besides, it's not like you want to go out in that," gesturing towards the dreary weather outside. She moved back to the doorway. "Don't bother getting dressed; I've got a load of outfits for you to wear. Just bring you and your hairbrush to the studio after you eat!"
As Fiona practically skipped out of the kitchen, Ithilwen groaned, remembering what she agreed to. Still, it would make Fiona happy; she did like taking Ithilwen's pictures, although the girl had a tendency to go over the top with some of her ideas...
Ithilwen sniffed the container of mystery food, only to wrinkle her nose in disgust. Gone bad. Possibly a day or three old. She chucked the contents in the trash bin and ran some water in the container to soak. She selected a bottle of water and a couple snack packs of peanut butter and cheese crackers. It wasn't a great breakfast, but Fiona wanted her to hurry it up.
Her friend would regret that when it came time to apply makeup and Ithilwen would have peanut butter-cracker breath. Ithilwen grinned evilly.
The Witch-king had reached Eowyn by now and had lifted her off the ground by her neck. "You fool. No man can kill me! Die now."
Suddenly, Merry came up from behind and stabbed the Witch-king in the back of his leg. The blade dissolved into nothing from the dark power emanating from the monster, leaving Merry on the ground clutching his arm in pain. The Witch-king shrieked, falling to his knees and releasing his grasp on Eowyn.
Eowyn took this opportunity to set the record straight. Standing tall and proud, she ripped the helmet off and shook her hair loose. "I am no man!" she stated boldy, before letting out a feminine roar and jabbing the blade of her sword into the Witch-king's mask. Like Merry, the dark power brought her to her knees in agony, but her job was done.
Both watched in surprise as the Witch-king shrieked, the helmet, armor, and everything else crumpling into nothingness.
Fiona's 'studio' wasn't so much an actual studio as it was a large room that was added onto the house long ago. When she had decided that photography was her passion, Morwen had surprised the girl on her eighteenth birthday with the space, complete with storage for her equipment. It didn't take the sprite long to have the cabinets filled with replacement parts and rolls of film.
Then, when technology had moved away from developed film rolls and into the digital cards, Fiona began to collect odds and ends. Ithilwen first thought that she was becoming a pack-rat until she became the guinea pig of costume modeling. The girl would search out thrift stores and clearance racks after Halloween for things that could be of future use. When Ithilwen learned how to make some cosplay props, the collection grew for both of their benefits; Ithilwen could clear out her room of unneeded stuff, and Fiona could upcycle it for other projects.
"Could you sit a little straighter? You are an elf for Christ's sake!"
Ithilwen was sitting on a stool off to the side of the room in a plain white tee and jeans, feet curling around the stool rung they rested on. She straightened her back as Fiona had asked, feeling her spine pop from the shift. Fiona had caught onto the cracker-breath attack the elleth had planned, handing her a container of altoids before she started doing her makeup. "Why are we doing this again?"
"To have fun, duh!" Two more quick swipes with the makeup brush, and Fiona set it down on the table beside them, choosing the hairbrush next. She moved around Ithilwen and began to brush her hair back gently. "We haven't really done much together lately-"
"That's not true. The day before yesterday we went to the art store and Radioshack."
"You know what I mean. And that was for work, anyway. I mean that I haven't gotten to do pictures of you in a while. I want more pictures before you and Mom head back to Middle-earth." She set the brush back down and pulled small pieces of hair back with bobbypins.
"You sound like we're leaving in a month!" Ithilwen noted when Fiona came around front to observe her work.
Fiona shrugged. "Well from the sounds of things that Legolas tells you, it might not be much longer. I want something to remember you two by."
"If it makes you feel better, we don't even know how long it will take them to create a portal. He says that the wizard Gandalf has not had the time to research the magic."
"That's a bummer," the sprite pouted. "For you, I mean. Not being able to meet Legolas right away and all that." When she was satisfied with her work, she pulled Ithilwen up and lead her to the center of the room where her camera was set up on its tripod. "Now stand here and stay natural. Keep talking, though," she told her friend before running behind the tripod.
Ithilwen shifted her weight to one hip and crossed her arms, tilting her head to the side as she watched her adjust the camera. "I can still see him in my dreams."
"That's not the same!" Fiona whined. With each little shift, she would press the shutter button. "How are you supposed to hug him or anything if he's in your dreams!" She silently cursed as one of the pins turned loose, letting a piece of hair fall before the elleth's eyes.
From her stance, Ithilwen looked nothing like the elf she was supposed to be, further accentuated by the puffed cheeks as she attempted to blow the offending strand of hair out of her face. "I can hug Legolas in the dreams," she corrected. "It's happened quite a few times already-"
"WHAT?!" echoed throughout the room, making the elleth's ears ring. "Sorry," Fiona muttered. "What do you mean? He's hugged you?!"
"Why are you making such a big deal about this?" Ithilwen shifted again as Fiona continued to snap pictures. She figured it probably wouldn't be wise to tell her that Legolas had also looked under her skirt when she had acquired his bruises from Helms Deep. Or that he had also pulled her into his lap before that.
"Why aren't you?" Fiona countered. "All I've seen of this guy is that drawing, and he's gorgeous! He's getting handsy and you're all blasé about it!"
Ithilwen lost it then, still thinking of the previous encounters. She doubled over laughing, and the remaining pins that hadn't fallen turned loose when she bent forward, spilling the hair around her shoulders. "Handsy?" she quoted between breaths. "Handsy?! It's just a hug, nothing more!" Oh yes, she was definitely not telling of the other encounters.
Fiona hummed "Sure" as she took pictures. She hadn't meant it to be funny, but she was glad to see that her friend was cheering up. She didn't like the idea of Ithilwen feeling down about her appearance. She wanted her to see that she was more than she thought of herself, and Fiona knew just what to do to make that happen. Ithilwen would have to be more awake and loosened up first, but she had it all planned out.
"15, 16…" Legolas was counting off as he ran across the field.
Gimli's pace was slower, but he was keeping up with the elf. "17…" Aragorn was not far away, taking down several orcs before something caught his attention. In the background he could distinctly hear the dwarf's count rising. "…29…"
"Merry!" Eowyn called out, terrified out of her mind. The deformed orc that she had taken the fools-way-out-shot to had gotten back up and was limping her way. Neither one of them was capable of holding a weapon, much less something to go on the defensive with. They were sitting ducks, and the orc knew it. Her arms couldn't stand to bear her weight, so she began to crawl through the blood, dirt, and rock to put distance between them. She figured that she was a goner unless she could get to a sword; she had sworn to protect Merry, and if that meant putting herself as the orcs' target, then so be it. Eowyn made a reach for a sword about a foot from her, but the blade slipped away. She closed her eyes, waiting for the finishing blow.
It never came. Instead, the gurgling sound of the orc choking on its own blood reached her ears. She turned to see the blade of a long sword cut through the orc, and the owner of the sword was…Aragorn! They came! She wanted to cry for joy, to know that all hope wasn't entirely gone, but she could not form words to get his attention. The swift sound of an axe cutting into the beast came from Gimli, who rather enjoyed finishing the orc off. The dwarf took off after some more potential kills, leaving Aragorn to shout for the elf.
"Legolas!"
Said elf turned at the sound of his name to see an Oliphaunt charging in his path. Eyes wide, he decided to rush to meet it, swinging onto its tusk like a monkey in a tree. Then it was from the tusk to the leg, and up the hip by the assistance of arrows that were lodged into the hide. At the top of the creature he was met by several Southron warriors that did not look pleased at the extra company. Legolas didn't waste time and began to shoot them down. "33, 34…" Satisfied that he had killed them all, he reached for the rope holding the platform onto the Oliphaunt's back and swung off. Making a quick cut in the rope, he used the platform's falling to pull himself up onto the creature's back. Once there, he hotfooted it up the spine and to the head, stringing three arrows and setting them in its skull, bringing it down. The Oliphaunt took a few more steps before it came down completely, and Legolas was able to slide down the head and trunk, landing safely on the ground before Gimli.
"That still only counts as one!" was Gimli's only comeback. "Come on, then! Come on!"
Aragorn looked across the battlefield, noticing that most of the enemy was either dead or on its way there. In the distance, a Mumak was overturned by a group of the Dead Army. The remaining supernatural soldiers swarmed the city, killing the remaining Mordor troops. Gimli was still fuming over Legolas' monstrous kill, while the twins and Haldir were returning to join them.
Meanwhile, Eowyn was still crawling across the ground, this time to her uncle's side. Theoden could feel her presence and opened his eyes. "I know your face…Éowyn."
She smiled tearfully at the moment of déjà vu.
"My eyes darken," he told her grimly.
Eowyn stroked her uncle's brow gently. "No. No. I am going to save you." She couldn't let him go, not after the hell that she went through because of Saruman's influence. She couldn't lose the closest thing she had to a father figure now.
Theoden's voice was growing weaker with each breath. He now knew that it was she who had stepped up to help him, before the arrival of the Witch-king… "You already did. Éowyn, my body is broken. You have to let me go." He paused to take slow breaths. He hated to see her so sad, but there was nothing that could be done, and he knew this. He had accepted this. "I go to my fathers, in whose mighty company, I shall not now feel ashamed." He drew one last labored breath, "Eowyn…" The eyes of the king of Rohan closed one final time. The niece that he left behind wept bitterly over his body, feeling like a failure.
The dust had begun to settle across the battlefield, and many soldiers were moving about to see if there were any survivors. Eomer and Pippin were amongst the few. Pippin spotted a familiar cloak and reached to pick it up. "Merry-"
"NO!"
All heads in the surrounding area turned to see Eomer shed his helmet and sword as he broke out into a run. His cries of despair got worse as he got closer to the scene of his perished uncle and sister. "No!" he screamed and cried, not caring for anything else in the world. The scene was truly heartbreaking, for a man his size to become so unhinged.
Of the many that turned to the sounds of his screams, Aragorn noticed for the first time who it was that the captain cradled to his chest. A stabbing pain of fear crossed his mind as he rushed to his side. Looking down at the shieldmaiden's arm, he knew at once what had happened and what to do.
Much later, Aragorn had the young woman laid in a bed in the Houses of Healing. Eomer had ceased his tears, but was watching every move the ranger made with anxiety. He was terrified to see his sister on the battlefield, and the thought that he could have lost her was not something that he would forget anytime soon. Aragorn was speaking in elvish as he bathed the arm that had been struck by the Witch-king's darkness, observing the change of the dark purplish veins disappear to show her fair skin. Both men were able to breathe a sigh of relief as they noticed that she was beginning to breathe normally once more.
In time, she would be able to move about her rooms in the Houses of Healing, though she was required to stay put. After everything that she had been through, she reluctantly agreed, though she wouldn't have been surprised to find guards standing watch outside her door if she looked. Eomer had already told her that when she was well enough that the two were going to have a long discussion about the day's events, which meant that he would play the big brother card and chastise her for acting like a teenager. Eowyn decided to walk to her windows to look out at the night sky. Her gaze caught the sight of a young man looking back at her some rooms away. She wasn't sure who he was, but the warm smile he presented her with showed that he wanted to be restricted about as much as she did.
It had been a couple of hours since Fiona had started her 'Project Ithilwen' photo session and Ithilwen was growing more comfortable with the pictures. She had put her trust in her friend and knew that she would deliver with quality work, even though she was against the idea at first. She had gone through a number of wardrobe changes from casual to cosplay to formal and everything in between. Fiona was nothing if not thorough in her hobby.
"Alright, take of your pants."
"Excuse me?!"
"Take 'em off. And put this on instead of that shirt. No bra either." Fiona tossed a larger shirt at the sputtering elleth.
Ithilwen caught the shirt effortlessly, still trying to figure out Fiona's change in tactics. She unfurled the shirt, which looked oddly familiar... "Isn't this Legolas' tunic?"
"Yeah. I got it off your bed on after lunch. Now take off your bra and pants and put that on."
"You want me to wear Legolas' tunic."
"Uh huh."
"Without my pants."
"Yup."
"Or my bra."
"Good gods, yes! Why are we discussing it?"
"Tell me why."
"Why what?"
"Why am I supposed to wear this?" Ithilwen shook the shirt for emphasis.
"We've done cute, glamorous, casual, and scary, but we haven't gotten any sexy pictures." Fiona reasoned.
"Well I don't want to do any sexy pictures."
"Why not?" The sprite whined.
"Why should I?"
"I can think of one reason," Fiona answered. At the elleth's inquiring look, she replied, "For Legolas." It was hell to keep a straight face when she said his name.
Ithilwen scoffed. "How many times do I have to tell you that we're just friends?"
"Oh come on!" Fiona had to think quick, or Ithilwen would cut out on her, and she would be damned if that happened. "Girls do pinups for their guys all the time! Okay, well it's usually if they're overseas at war, but it happens!"
"Legolas is not overseas. He's in a whole other world."
"But he is fighting in a war." Silence followed, and Fiona knew she had her. "Just do this for me, okay? Think of it like you're doing the pictures for him. Trust me, when you see them you won't regret it."
More silence. Ithilwen knew she was beat. "Fine, you win," she uttered, much to the delight of her friend.
It wasn't like Legolas would be seeing them, anyway.
A/N: Really sorry for the delay – not really something you want to do when you're writing out a battle. I had planned to finish this a week ago, but had some projects for class that took up most of my time. Then I've also been stressed out more so than usual, and my motivation had waned. I'm still stressed but I feel a little better about things, so I'm going to do my best to work on the next chapters when I can. Remember those pictures that Fiona's taking; you'll find out the details in a later chapter. ;)