A Burden

Down below, a few of the Uruk’s started carrying ladders up to the fort. Raina focused on their fast moving bodies, and shot as many down as she could. On her other side, Legolas did as well, but a bystander always took up the dead orc’s place.

“Pendraid!” Aragorn yelled before joining his friends. (Ladders!)

“Good,” Gimli growled, raising his axe.

Quickly, Raina grabbed her two blades strapped onto her back, holding them out and poised to fight as a ladder rose from the depths of Helm’s Deep in front of them. As the first of the orcs rose, Raina got the pleasure of slicing its head off and seeing its body fall and knock two other orcs off the ladder to their certain deaths.

It was only a few moments later did Raina hear her friends speaking once more.

“Legolas, two already!” Gimli bragged from several yards to her left.

To her immediate right, where Legolas was fighting to her back, the Elf laughed.

“I’m on seventeen!” he called back.

“Six!” Raina called out with a laugh before sticking one of the dwindling orcs in the stomach. They seemed to be more interested in climbing the ladders with the Men on the other side rather than the ones around them. Raina wiped the bit of sweat off her brow and replaced her blades for her sword, hoping she would be good enough with the weapon do to some more damage.

Gimli cried out in frustration. “I’ll have no pointy-ears outscoring me!” And the Dwarf threw himself back into the battle.

“Nineteen!” Legolas called.

“Oh, don’t be a show-off!” Raina chided with a laugh before swinging about and having her sword meet an orcs weapon. She brought her face close to the creatures on the other side of the crossed swords and grinned in its face before swinging her sword off, ducking her opponents blow, and cutting the creature’s sword-arm off. In another moment, she had stabbed its heart.

Ladders continued to be pulled up with every minute, and Raina fought her hardest to keep the masses down. It was easy to stand by one ladder and cut down most of the semi-defenseless Uruk’s climbing, but every few minutes one would catch her off guard and she would have to fight it one-on-one.

Behind her, Gimli stood on the wall and hacked down all the Uruk’s that came near.

“Seventeen,” he counted, taking a breath before swinging his axe around some more. “Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty. Twenty-one. Twenty-two.”

From the Keep behind them, some of the Elves were still in formation, and Aragorn still had them shooting in unison. Every few moments a cloud of arrows would soar overhead, and after another second, the sound of flesh being punctured could be hear from the Uruk’s army.

“Twenty-eight!” Legolas called.

“Twenty-three!”

“Eighteen!” Raina chimed in.

Gimli scoffed from behind her. “Amateur!”

Raina threw her head back and laughed, but only for a moment. When she looked back around again, Gimli had his axe over his head, about to swing down on an Uruk.

Stealing the opportunity, Raina threw her sword back and stabbed the Uruk through the back and into its heart.

Gimli stared at her in shock for a moment before Raina spoke.

“Oops!” she said in her girliest voice before turning around and locking swords with another Uruk.

From there on out, the battle was long and gruesome. The cries of Men and Uruks became louder and more desperate as the night went on, but Raina’s mind kept going back to Eowyn. If Raina died that night, would everyone remember her as a whore?

Down below, an uproar of Uruk roars could be hear. Raina had a break of charging Uruks and took a moment to look over the edge of the wall. After a second, Aragorn ran up beside her, also looking to see what was going on.

A single Uruk was running with a flame in his hand, heading straight for the drainage.

“Togo hon dad, Legolas! Raina, dago hon!” Aragorn cried, realizing what it was planning on doing. Raina sheathed her sword for the moment, and lifted her bow off her shoulder, On the other side of the wall, she could see Legolas aiming at it with his eyes narrowed. She notched her own arrow and followed the Uruk with its point, waiting for Legolas to take the first shot.

He did, but the creature did not fall. She growled at shot next, but still the Uruk ran on, until he fell into the drain.

There was a short moment of silence between Raina and Aragorn as they looked at each other in shock. Because Raina was looking at Aragorn, she did not see the explosion, but was thrown to the ground from its energy.

She gasped, covering her ears desperately. But still, she heard the screams of Men and Uruks as at least a hundred lives were taken. Just in that instant. It seemed so horrendous to Raina, she couldn’t understand how such a thing could happen.

When she stood up, she saw Legolas looking at her from the other side of the huge gap. Tears formed in her eyes as she realized that she could have stopped that, she could have saved them.

“Don’t think that,” Aragorn growled, and Raina turned around in surprise. “I know you think it’s your fault.”

He paused as a stray Uruk came up behind him and he stabbed it quickly.

He let out his breath, but then turned back to face Raina.

“Legolas couldn’t get it either. And even it you had-” this time Raina had to turn to kill an orc. “They would have just lit another match.”

Raina shrugged. He had a good point. But they both needed to get back to where they were needed, and they both knew this. So without words of farewell, they both dashed in different directions.