An Acceptance

“Pull back! Pull back!” Aragorn roared, riding back to the small army with the others.

As soon as they rejoined the army, Raina jumped down from the horse, as well as everyone else who had been riding, except for Aragorn. He rode in front of all of them, his sword raised.

“Hold your ground! Hold your ground!” he commanded, riding back and forth in front of the Men.

“Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.”

Raina watched him. Even he had changed so much in this past year. When she had met him, he was a Ranger, unable to bring himself to command a nation, or an army. Now look where he was.

“A day may come when the courage of Men fails. When we forsake or friends, and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day!”

“An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day, we fight!”

“By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!”

Everyone around them drew their swords, and Raina drew hers slowly.

All around them, the orcs were surrounding them, creating a target-circle. And the army of Men was the bull’s eye.

Aragorn stepped off his horse in front of Raina and the rest of the Fellowship. He turned around to Raina.

“For Frodo.”

Raina nodded, and with a war like cry, he ran out to meet the orcs. Right behind him ran Raina, Merry, and Pippin, all yelling, “FOR FRODO!”

Legolas, Gimli, and Gandalf followed behind, with the rest of the army behind them.

They were locked in battle for many minutes, from all sides. It was very apparent that they would not last much longer, especially when the cries of the Nazgûl could be heard. But there was one less than usual, Raina thought with a grin.

But as soon as she heard the Nazgûl, she also heard Pippin. “Eagles! The Eagles are coming!”

And, sure enough, she looked up into the dreary sky and saw the great figures of the golden Eagles flying overhead, attacking the Nazgûl.

Every so often, Raina would glance around for her friends, but the masses of orcs made it impossible to see. They were everywhere, and even more of them just waiting, unable to get close enough to fight.

Always, Legolas was near her, always watching out for her. And she had his back as well, and soon enough they just fought back to back, taking each other’s blind spot.

Raina watched herself during this battle, unlike the last few. Her motions were fluid and strong, like her friend’s. She shocked herself with how easily it felt to kill her enemies, how she looked like Legolas -- almost. Not quite that good, she reminded herself. She couldn’t get too cocky.

The Nazgûl screamed from overhead, all flying into Mordor. The Men around her seemed to think that they were retreating, but Raina didn’t think so. She had heard that scream before, and it was when they knew where the Ring was.

“Oh, Frodo,” she groaned before throwing herself back into the fight.

A short distance away, a troll could be heard fighting some poor fellow. Raina turned around to see who, and her eyes widened as she saw it was Aragorn. He was thrown to the ground by the troll, and Legolas turned around next to her, watching in horror.

They didn’t need to look at each other to understand what to do. They both fought their way through the orcs and Men to get to their friend, to help him. But too soon, Raina knew they could never get there. She lifted her bow, and aimed at the troll as it stomped down on Aragorn. With a snarl of hatred, she fired into its brain, but it did not even notice.

But miraculously, there was a space of no fighting, and Legolas fought their way to it. As soon as he had, Raina drew her blades, and she and Legolas threw themselves at the beast, causing it to stumble back and off of Aragorn.

“This is what you get for messing with my family, fucking bastard!” Raina screamed insensibly, digging her blades into its neck one and a time, back and forth, over an over again, until it lay dead.

Raina picked herself up, ready to fight. But all around her, Mordor’s troops looked to Mount Doom fearfully, and as one, all fled back into the Gates.