Chapter Eight

Disclaimer--I don't own anything, but borrow obsessively. I try to adhere to canon as much as possible, so if any players are out of character or anything is truly, horridly wrong, please let me know.

Rating--Pg-13 usually, though this chapter might be considered R, because of bloody battles, swearing, and naked elves at the end (are you intrigued yet? LOL).

Chapter Eight

My worst fears were confirmed as we quickly sped through the dark, covering the miles between our camps as quickly as our legs would carry us. Nurhoth silently placed us in a circular rotation in the highest trees surrounding their camp. I frantically searched the ground for the Lady, amidst the smoke wafting high into the sky, the shouts of the dwarves as they tried to figure out what was going on, and the death screams of dwarves and orcs alike.

Finally I located her cowering in front of an old oak tree, away from the others as if they had tried to hide her. She was holding onto her arm and sobbing as if her heart would break. Her face was a mask of terror, pale and contorted into a grimace that made her appear almost ferocious. In fact, she looked as if she desperately wanted to bolt, but the combination of her bulky armor and the paralysis of her sheer terror were apparently preventing her from doing so.

Her son was standing in front of her, doing his best to protect her against several orcs who had found their hiding place. Gimli was like a machine, hewing and chopping in all directions with his enormous axe, chopping off limbs and decapitating the monsters left and right. He was shouting in dwarvish to his naneth--what he was saying I did not know. Never once did he allow an orc to touch her, nor himself. I found myself developing much respect for the young dwarf; respect of course for his formidable fighting skills, but even more for the fierce protection and loyalty he had for his nana. I knew in that split second that he would not stop fighting until he dropped. He would die before he let anything happen to Glís.

Nurhoth surveyed the scene in a quick moment, then motioned for us to spread out in the trees. He raised his right hand, and as one we raised our bows. He sighted down his own bow and said softly, " Nauro! "

His voice was much too low for the orcs to hear, but we elves had no problem at all. As one we loosed our arrows into the thick mass of orcs, our nine arrows felling nine of the foul creatures. It took them completely by surprise; they scrambled to launch a counterattack, firing haphazardly into the trees from where our attack had come. Of course we were no longer there--their arrows hit only dead air split seconds before we let fly from our new positions.

We kept this up for some time, moving from tree to tree, never stopping for more than a moment, felling orc after orc. We moved too quickly for them to see us--it was dark; our green and brown clothing blended effortlessly into the foliage. Chaos and confusion reigned; their ranks began to fall apart as more and more of their comrades were slain.

The dwarves took heart from this, redoubling their efforts to drive back the marauders. With dismay I saw that several of them lay dead or dying. I could not see Gloin anywhere among the fracas and found myself hoping that he was unharmed.

An elvish cry of pain and dismay snapped my attention back to my companions. Instantly my husband's name came to my lips; he gave a quick passing thought to let me know he was all right.

Gloriavas had ended up closest to me. "I think that was Lalaithion," he whispered dejectedly, squinting to see in the gloom. We watched as Nurhoth and Galenparth reached down to grab Lalaithion, pulling the injured elf higher into the trees.

I began to offer a silent prayer to Elbereth for the injury to be slight, but my words were interrupted by a muffled scream. I spun around to see that Glís's hiding place had been breached. Gimli was locked in combat with an orc three times his size, frantically trying to get away from it to stop the other one that was advancing on his mother.

I could take it no longer. I ran through the treetops, with Gloriavas close on my heels. I got close enough to the two dwarves, put away my bow and leaped from the tree, reaching into my quiver to retrieve my long-knives as I did so.

"Milady!" Gloriavas whispered severely, jumping out of the tree after me. He still had his bow and shot through several orcs as I sliced my way to the dwarves' hiding place.

I advanced upon the one whom by now had caught Glís and was straddling her on the ground. Gimli screamed as the orc viciously attacked his mother's face, breathing its foul hot breath on her skin whilst trying to strip her armor off with one hand. The other hand pinned her arms to the ground. It said something to her in the horrid black speech of Mordor, something I did not understand and did not wish to. She screamed and kicked frantically, but the monster was too much for her. If I did not reach her right now, the disgusting yrch would rape her right in front of her son.

My mind flashed instantly to Lord Elrond's wife, Lady Celebrìan. Was this what it had been like for her in the attack? The look on Glís's face told me that just the touch of the creature's skin was repulsive. Celebrìan's attack had been so severe that she had gone almost immediately to Valinor, as she simply could not live with the pain and memories of her violation. What would it do to Lady Glís, whose spirit and stamina, as a dwarf, were even weaker?

I would not find out, especially since my next thoughts were of my naneth. I did not know what the orcs had done to her on the day of her death so many years ago, nor did I want to know. Rage welled up in me like a foul black demon, filling up my head with enough darkness and blood-lust as to startle Legolas, across the camp. I rudely and forcibly pushed his consciousness aside in my brain and concentrated all of my thoughts and energy into helping the dwarf woman. As a warrior and especially as a woman, I would not, could not let this happen to her.

I rode the wave of anger, feeding upon the wrath like a vampire as I quickly and quietly crept up behind the evil creature--I had absolutely no qualms about attacking the bastard from behind; in fact I thought he rather deserved to die such a dishonorable death. My seething rage came to a boil as I grabbed the orc around the shoulders with my left arm. I held his head in a vice-grip and before he could even react, my right hand sliced his throat so deeply that I almost severed his head from his neck.

I could not help it; I let out an instinctively guttural and decidedly un-elf like grunt of satisfaction as the foul thing's steaming blood splattered across my face and tunic. I looked up to see Gloriavas staring at me wide-eyed and surprised, and realized that I must have looked utterly mad. I did not care. I completely ignored him as I kicked the slumping orc as hard as I could, knocking the corpse off of Glís.

"My Lady, are you all right?" I asked as I knelt beside her.

For a moment she only sobbed, then nodded. "My son?"

In my wrath I had completely forgotten about Gimli. I looked up just as he finally slew the massive beast he had been fighting, chopping an expansive blow to the creature's chest whilst bellowing dwarvish words of triumph. As soon as he had discerned that the creature was dead, he wrenched his axe from its chest, sending chunks of gore flying in all directions, including into his beard.

"I think he is all right," Gloriavas said, clearing his throat, as Gimli rushed over to us.

Glís grasped my hands. "T-thank you," she said simply. "Thank you."

I squeezed her hands back. "Do not think on it, mellon nîn . Are you injured?"

I looked up to see Gloriavas with a smile in his eyes. He was amused about something, that was clear, but what it was I did not know. Was he still chuckling at Gimli, or was it because I had referred to the dwarf as my friend?

"I think that I am all right," Glís answered. I helped her to sit up as Gimli reached us. She winced. "I fell down earlier and hurt my arm."

"It is all that damned armor," Gimli said. "It weighs you down too much." He knelt beside his mother and removed her giant helmet and breastplate, tossing them aside. He looked at her for a moment, then wrapped his arms around her in a fierce embrace. He looked at me over the top of her head, saying nothing. His tears said everything. I smiled at him.

"Let us get her out of here," Gloriavas said as another loud boom resounded through the forest.

Something suddenly burst through the trees to my right. Gloriavas stiffened and would have shot at it had it not shouted to us first. " Cauneth !" It was Tasarë. "We need help!" He jumped into a tree.

"We are coming," I replied. I helped Gimli get Glís up into the oak tree, then began to follow Tasarë. "Stay close," I said to the dwarves.

I heard Glís whisper, "I told you they would come to help us!" followed by a grunt from Gimli.

We jumped from tree to tree, helping the dwarves along until we got back to our companions on the other side of the encampment. Galenparth was putting a salve on Lalaithion's arm whilst trying to prevent him from jumping back down into the fray. The others were on the ground, knives and swords out, making a stand beside the remaining dwarves and their axes. I was surprised to see Legolas fighting alongside Gloin, shouting encouragement as Gloin's axe found an orc's face. My husband spun around quickly to dispel another whilst yet another came up behind him. Gloriavas took aim and fired, taking it through the neck.

"We are still completely outnumbered," he said disdainfully.

"Well then, let us help our comrades!" Gimli exclaimed, jumping from the tree to crush two orcs below. He rebounded swiftly and began to chop through them.

Tasarë had already rejoined the battle; Gloriavas jumped down as well. "Glís, stay here with Lalaithion," I said. "You will be safe--"

"I am not staying here," Lalaithion snapped.

"Yes, you are," Galenparth said firmly. "You were lucky that the arrow only grazed you, but you need to rest that arm."

"No, I do not!" he cried, indignantly, wincing in pain even as he did so. "I am fine!"

We did not have time for this. "No, you are not. You will sit here with the Lady until we can get away from here safely," I said sternly.

"I am not a novice!" he said angrily. "I can handle myself! I will not stay up here with this-this dwarf !" he spat.

The anger welled up in me again, frightening me this time with its intensity. I would not tolerate this insubordination, nor did I have the time or patience to deal with his prejudices. I counted to three, trying to get myself under control, to no avail. "You will do as I say," I said, my voice deepening, though I did not raise it.

He must have seen something in my eyes, or perhaps my gruesome appearance frightened him, because he immediately backed down. "I will stay here," he said dejectedly. "But I must insist that she be given a weapon."

A reasonable request, one that did nothing to soothe my ire. I did reach into my boot to retrieve my dagger, handing it to Glís hilt-first. "Kill anything that does not identify itself," I said, in the same frightening tone I had used before. I nodded to Galenparth, who was staring at me with widened eyes. He nodded back to me quickly and jumped from the tree. I followed right after him.

I jumped directly down into a mass of orcs and realized immediately that Gloriavas was right. My knives flashed in every direction; I killed one, two, five, ten, yet they still kept coming. I did not even have time to wipe the blood from my eyes as it sprayed on me.

I soon found myself back-to-back with my husband. There was dark blood in his disheveled golden hair and a long streak of it down his face; his tunic was also torn but he looked nowhere near as grisly as I did. His eyebrow flickered with amusement--was he actually enjoying all of this?--but he knew better than to say anything to me.

" What are we going to do ?" I thought, in between blows.

He slashed and parried. " I know not. There are far too many of them for us to defeat ."

Nurhoth was suddenly beside us, decapitating an orc easily with his sword. "Highness, we must get out of here!" he shouted. "The dwarves have suffered losses and Lalaithion and Fânwen are injured."

Alarms went off in my head as the rage, which had never really left me, flared up to the boiling point again. I knew Lalaithion would be fine, but what had happened to Fânwen? The fury overtook me again. " I will kill them all ," I thought madly, " if they touched her ."

Legolas stared at me. "Calm down, meleth ," he said softly. It scared me, because I knew that he was alarmed and trying to downplay it.

Nurhoth must have seen the look on my face, though his own was impassive. "She is all right," he said. "Menellion got her out."

I was relieved but still angry and concerned. I knew Fânwen would be upset, and I hoped that the progress we had made with her would not now be undone.

I did not have much time to think on this as we were assailed again. I deflected an attack to my right as Legolas buried his knife in an orc's head, to my left. They were closing in on us. Soon all the elves and dwarves stood back-to-back, fighting desperately, running out of room to move.

Arrows suddenly flew from a tree behind me. "Ai, Lalaithion!" I heard Galenparth mutter with dismay.

The orcs reacted immediately to this distraction, quickly firing a volley of arrows at the tree. "The fool!" Galenparth spat. My heart sank; I prayed that they had not been hit, but knew it was unlikely.

For a moment I was just as confused as the orcs when a flood of arrows flew at them from the other side of the clearing. Literally hundreds of them hit, sending the orcs flying into a scattering panic, now allowing us room to move. A horn sounded loudly. At last the unadulterated fire that had consumed my soul fled my body and was replaced by a surge of joy.

"What is that?" a grey-haired dwarf asked.

" That is a Rivendell elf-host, and a rather large one, by the sound of it," Gloriavas answered, happily.

 Something happened then, as elves leapt from the trees and rode in on dark horses, something that I never thought would happen between edhil and nogothrim : the dwarves cheered and shouted words of welcome--and were answered with cries of "Mae govannen !" and kind words of greeting. It was the greatest and most encouraging sight I had ever seen.

A dark-haired rider on a speckled horse sliced and chopped his way over to us with his sword. I recognized his handsome features even before the broad smile lit up his face all the way to his grey eyes. " Suilad , Elladan!" I exclaimed as he dismounted.

" Mae govannen, mellonath nîn !" he cried, embracing me heartily. "We thought perhaps you could use some help." He looked me up and down with an arched brow. "You certainly look it."

All around us orcs were meeting grisly ends as Elladan's company of seventy quickly dispatched them. The ones who remained began to flee, pursued ardently by archers on horseback. Another loud cheer arose from all the company.

Legolas stepped forward to greet Elladan. "Where is your twin?" he asked, as they embraced.

"Oh he is around somewhere," the son of Elrond replied with a smirk.

Sure enough, Elrohir emerged a few moments later, escorting Fânwen, Lalaithion, and Glís with him. "I thought I would pick up a few stragglers," he said with a grin. The grin widened as he caught sight of me. "Ho, Lady Greenleaf, you look terrible."

I glared at him. "At least I can wash it off. You do not have that option."

Everyone laughed including Elrohir. We knew that things were much more serious than our lightened moods belied. Thankfully, Fânwen was not hurt too badly, just a small gash on her head and a sprained ankle. To my tremendous relief, she was not even that upset, but still frustratingly remorseful.

"I am sorry," she said. "It was a stupid error in judgment, I--"

"Do not worry," I said, pulling her into a sisterly embrace which she graciously returned. "Do not blame yourself for anything, as you tend to do entirely too much! I am just glad that you are all right."

"It is I who must apologize," Lalaithion said quietly. "I am sorry for my insolence, Lady Sorayaiel, and I am sorry that I disobeyed orders."

"You are forgiven for that, but there is something else you must apologize for," I said, gesturing toward Lady Glís.

For a moment he looked at me as if I had two heads, then realized what I meant. He turned to Glís, who was standing with her husband and son on either side of her, and knelt down in front of her. "I apologize, híril nîn , if I offended you in any way."

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "You are already forgiven," she said with a smile.

Lalaithion hesitated a moment. "It was an honor to fight alongside dwarves," he said, meeting the eyes of Gimli and Gloin. I was instantly proud of him, as was my husband. I knew it had taken a lot for him to say that. We had come to the dwarves' aid without hesitation, but it did not mean that our suspicion or prejudice against them had gone. Lalaithion had proven that. But for him to swallow his pride and admit something like this, it was a big step.

"That it was," Legolas agreed reverently, stepping next to Lalaithion and placing a hand on his shoulder. For a moment everyone was silent, until my husband grinned. "Now, get up, mellon nîn . I have seen enough of this serious side of you and I do not think I like it."

Everyone laughed as Lalaithion rolled his eyes and stood. "Yes, I know what you mean, Prince Legolas. Now that Lords Elladan and Elrohir are here, I have competition, and I must…prepare." He bowed to all and walked away. Now that was the Lalaithion I knew, and I was surely glad he was back.

Plans were made to assess the damages to the dwarf-camp and figure out what to do with the rest of the night. Three of their company had died and the dwarves were devastated. They moved slowly through the camp, picking through orc corpses and debris to find their belongings, as the Imladris elves helped them to sing a lament to their fallen friends.

We Mirkwood elves made plans to go back to our camp and retrieve our horses and supplies, and then we would merge all three camps into one. Before we could leave, however, Glís and a very dour-looking Gloin approached Legolas and me.

Glís nudged her husband, who cleared his throat, looked down and said, "Lady Thranduiliel?"

"Yes, Master Gloin?" I asked.

"I would like-I would like to thank you for saving my wife. I don't know what I would have done if-"

"If she had died?" I replied, raising my eyebrows. "Do you not think that this may have been prevented?" I asked, hoping I was not overstepping my bounds. "By this, I mean that if she had been armed properly, she may not have become stuck in such a compromising position."

"I realize that now," he said gruffly. "From this incident, and by the request of my son, she will begin training in Rivendell."

"Good," I said. "You do not have to say anymore. As for me, I did what anyone would have done. And I-I believe I would now consider your wife a friend. I do not let my friends get hurt."

Glís smiled a tear in her eye. "Thank you, my friend," she said, stepping forward to embrace me. I returned the hug, smiling warmly at her. After a moment she turned, smiling at Legolas, who smiled back at her. She took Gloin's hand and went off to help the others.

I turned to Legolas, who had watched the entire event with a wry grin on his fair face. "Gloin thanked you," he said slowly, counting on his fingers. "You went berserk and slew more orcs than the rest of us combined, and you have befriended an dwarf-maiden. Adar will never believe it."

"No one will," I said, laughing. "Especially the part about Gloin thanking me." I scratched at the dried blood on my face. "Ai, may we find somewhere to wash before we travel back to the camp? I am starting to itch."

"You are starting to smell, too, my love," he said, wrinkling his nose.

I hit him in the arm, evoking light laughter. "You are becoming quite ripe yourself, Greenleaf," I replied, leaning in to sniff at his blood and sweat-stained tunic.

We found some clothes to borrow and made our way to a stream. There were other elves and dwarves in it but we managed to find a secluded spot where we might have some privacy. I did not hesitate, but stripped off my soiled and heavy tunic and leggings and immersed my entire body in the frigid water. When I stood up it came up to my chest, my wet hair flying in all directions. Legolas came in right after me, immersing his face in the water quickly and flattening down his hair with water.

"You know, it is almost a shame," he said, regarding me thoughtfully as I used the soap to scrape the dried blood from my face. "Actually, I rather liked you looking that way."

"What are you talking about?" I asked as I began to lather up my hair.

"When you were fighting. This is the first time I have seen you in such fierce combat, spinning around with your knives flashing in the moonlight. I must say, I found it rather, ah, fetching."

Was he crazy? "Are you sure you were not hit by a poisoned arrow?" I asked, glancing at his bare back.

He chuckled. "No, I was not. I am talking about the way you move. There was so much grace in your step as you parried; it was almost like a dance, and the best part was that you were not even conscious of it. I saw such focus and determination in your face. And your hair was whipping out behind you…Even in the midst of battle I can still find you…exceedingly attractive."

"Even covered in blood and dirt and overcome with murderous rage?" I asked, only half-joking.

"You are quite comely when you are angry, my dear," he said with another grin. "I do not think I have ever noticed it before."

I frowned at him. "That is because I have never been that angry, not ever. I do not know what came over me."

"I know," my husband said softly, taking the soap from me to run it through his hair. "You thought of Celebrìan."

"I did," I confessed. "And my mother. I do not know what was done to her, and I cannot bear to think of it. I could not let it happen to Glís."

He stopped and placed his hands on my now-clean face. "I am proud of you, Celebithil ," he whispered. "You did a noble thing, which was perhaps helped along by what I would call 'righteous anger.' Do not be like Fânwen and deny your emotions. As you have just discovered, they can often be a good thing."

I regarded him warily. I knew he was just saying this to reassure me--he had been alarmed and perhaps even frightened at my odd outburst of anger. I still did not know whether it was a product of the battle, at seeing what could have happened to Glís, but I hoped this was the case. I hoped that it would never happen to me again.

I did not want to fight with him, so I decided to just be quiet and let him comfort me. "Why do you always know the right thing to say?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Because I am perfect in every way?" I glared at him. "Ooh, are you going to get angry? Please, get angry. I want to see it again!" he said laughing, sounding like an excited child.

I hit him again. "No, I am not angry, you silly elfling." I looked at him out of the corner of my eye as he laughed again and bent down to wash his legs. "Perfect in every way, indeed," I muttered.

"Yes, that is me," he said, beaming mischievously as he had done so many times over the years.

I cocked my head and regarded his lithe, graceful form as he bathed. "Well maybe not in every way, but certainly in some ways." He looked up, his mouth open in mock surprise as my own grin widened suggestively and my eyes traveled over his whole body. "Yes, in several ways I would say."

That got the furious blush I had been aiming for to spread over his face. I laughed silently and said, "Come, husband. I think we are clean enough." I began to emerge from the stream. He came out a moment later. We dried and dressed, then met up with the other Mirkwood elves. We found our horses and belongings, then rejoined the others in the combined camp.

I slept like a rock that night on the ground in my bedroll, with my husband's arms around me. I was so grateful to the Valar that we were all alive and unharmed, full of delight in friends new and old, and hopeful that our stay in Imladris would be pleasant and quick. It was a nice way to be.

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Nauro --fire

Mellon nîn- --my friend

Cauneth --princess

Meleth --love

Edhil- --elf

Nogothrim-- dwarves/dwarf-folk

Suilad --greetings, hello

Mae govannen --welcome, well-met

Híril nîn --my lady

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