Title: Through The Fire And Flames [24/?]
Genre: Romance/Adventure/Fantasy/Angst
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 - For mild language, violence, abuse, slight crude humor, and uh...more violence.
Story So Far: The Fellowship has been broken, losing two of the members in its trek to Mordor. Merry and Pippin are taken hostage by a troop of Uruk-hai, Frodo and Sam continue on to the awaited destination in Mordor, and Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, Aspen, and Damocles track the Uruk-hai for their two Hobbit comrades. Tári, Idril, and Linwë have their own plans. As the rigorous journey continues in pieces, Frodo and Sam stumble upon a familiar woman who should be in Rohan at the moment. While Aspen struggles with her feelings with a certain Elf, what would be his own thoughts on the girl? He hadn’t really experienced much emotions like these before, though it appears that she may have opened up his eyes to many things that he hadn’t seen before.
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters except for those who are unfamiliar to the LOTR books and/or movie. The rest belong to J.R.R. Tolkein. Tenthwalker fic.
Chapter Warnings: Violence/cursing. The usual :D

WHEE! 8D






Book Two - Scroll Eleven: Battle In Helm’s Deep Part II - Singing Fire




The awaited hour had finally arrived, much to everyone’s horror. Elves stood with Men at the walls, looking down at hell’s army itself: thousands of them...Uruk-hai holding torches made the sight even more horrific; there were so many that it made. The stomping...the roaring...the burning...it hurt Aspen’s ears, she wasn’t touching any earth but she could feel it in the rock, it sounded terrible. Aspen stuck close to Legolas while Gimli stood on the other side of the prince.

“Argh. You could have picked a better spot.” Gimli complained, unable to see due to his height.

Aspen felt a grin forming, even when staring into chaos. Idril, Tári, and Linwë stood not too far from the girl, and her father was right behind her. Tári stayed close to Haldir, though. Aragorn soon came around to look at the army approaching them, lightning rumbling through the sky.

“Well lad, the luck you live by, let’s hope it lasts the night.” Gimli said to Aragorn.

“Your friends are with you, Aragorn.” Legolas said, clutching his bow to his chest.

Gimli sideglanced at him. “Let’s hope they last the night...”

Aspen rolled her eyes and shook her head, grinning. “Shut up, Gimli. We’re not gonna die.” She replied obviously.

Aragorn nodded and patted Legolas on the shoulder, knowing what he meant, and then he left for his own post on the wall, leaving the three to themselves. Lightning crackled through the sky again, and this time, Aspen was thankful that she wasn’t the cause of it. The army was getting closer, and Aspen’s heart was beginning to race enough to where she swore she thought she was going to have a heart-attack. What if she couldn’t do this?

What would happen if she ran in cowardice? She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, her body soon trembling with fright. The numbers were infinite...the army itself looked as if it went on for miles on end. Aspen swallowed hard, tasting iron in her mouth from her lip. She had to keep stable. She had everyone here: Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, Haldir, Amrod, Linwë, Idril, and Tári. She had to keep herself from breaking. She had her friends with her, and that’s all that mattered.

“Legolas.” Aspen spoke, gaining his attention. “...What...what will...” She stammered, trying to find the right words. “...what would you do...if I died tonight?”

Rain soon poured down upon them mercilessly, drenching them all and washing away their sweat. Well...there came Aspen’s awaited ‘shower’.

Unbelieving of her words, Legolas turned to face the side of her own, which was staring into oblivion just ahead of them. “I would follow you.” He said, simply.

Surprising her, her head snapped around to meet his intense gaze. Rain trickled down his face and his hair was so wet that it was nearly impossible to see the blonde in it anymore. He, just as well as she was, was soaked to the skin.

“What do you mean?” She asked quickly, her brows furrowing. “You’re an Elf, you can’t die!”

“Yes we can.” He replied sternly, making her silence. “The only way for an Elf to die, is to either be killed in battle...” He paused, wishing he didn’t have to tell her, but he never wanted her to speak of her death again. “...or to die of a broken heart.”

Aspen’s eyebrows twisted upwards into a horrid melancholy expression. Was it true? She’d never heard of such a thing before: a person dying of a broken heart? She immediately swallowed those thoughts. Middle Earth was like an opposite to the one she lived in. In this place, there were far more different ways of dying sometimes.

This, although, sparked many other questions inside her mind. What did he mean by what he said? Would he die of a broken heart if something happened to her? Did that mean...that he actually felt something for her?

Breaking the silence, Legolas placed his hand over Aspen’s necklace on his chest and then taking his hand and stroking her cheek gently...too gently, almost as if she would shatter if he touched her any other way. “Lye le cenich i’-ento anoron.” He said.

Aspen let a few tears slip down her cheeks unnoticed due to the rain, taking his hand and kissing his palm lightly before releasing it. He wouldn’t be acting this way for no reason. Aspen could feel it in his fingertips, and it made her absolutely shiver in delight at what she felt.

“I am not leaving this keep without you by my side. Do you understand me?” Legolas demanded calmly, receiving a nod from her into his palm. “Amin vesta. Imya i’ naur ar’ runya, amin vara lle.”

He could tell, now, with how her chin was trembling that she was crying, her gray eyes began to glow and he felt her mystical powers flowing into his skin through his fingertips. From happily crying, Aspen’s expression became stone serious as she nodded against his palm. Realizing they had a battle to fight, both turned their attention back to what lay ahead.

The rumbling and rythmic stomping continued on, as an Uruk thrust its sword into the air and howled out as if it were a horn. The stomping got louder...heavier...so heavy that it sounded like they were right above Aspen’s head. She clamped Agaryulnaer to her chest tightly, trying to still her thrashing heart. She could do this. Whether she was to die here or somewher else, she would not go down without one hell of a fight. She could do this.

Aragorn paced behind them, shouting orders to the soldiers left and right as he passed by Aspen and Legolas. “A Eruchîn, ú-dano i faelas a hyn an uben tanatha le faelas!” He bellowed.

“Amen.” Aspen said quietly.

The Uruks finally came to a stop in front of the keep, making the girl’s heart thrash even more. This was it. There was no turning back, and Aspen didn’t want to. She used her last resort and began thinking of all the things caused by these creatures. Taking Boromir away from her...dragging Merry and Pippin off. Breaking their Fellowship. Ruining her family. Nearly getting herself and Aragorn killed. Everything...it was all working perfectly. A fire was building up inside Aspen’s body and she knew that it would reach its dynamite at any minute now.

She wanted to kill.

Aragorn came forth and stopped, looking down at the massive army, his expression completely unintimidated, only determination lingered on his filth-stained face. An Uruk roared out, bearing its hideous teeth.

“What’s happening out there?” Gimli demanded, hopping up to try to see, but failed.

Legolas grinned. “Shall I describe it to you?” He questioned. The Dwarf looked up at him questioningly, whereas Aspen sideglanced. Legolas looked down at Gimli, still grinning. “Or would you like me to find you a box?”

A moment of silence stretched until Gimli grinned back and laughed deviously, leaving Aspen to giggle at his comment.

Soon, the Uruk-hai began pounding their spears onto the ground and roared out in challenge, the sound beating hard against Aspen’s ear like her microphones would when she had her music turned up full-blast. Seeing their actions, the Men and Elves readied their weapons. Aspen managed to catch a glance of the Elves all pulling out an arrow and notching it onto their bows in beautiful unison, Legolas following suite, and Aspen next, pulling out one of her special silver lined arrows and notching it to Agaryulnaer and aiming.

An evil grin spread across her face with devious ideas dancing around in her mind on how she should blow these creatures up. Should I electrocute them first? Since it’s so wet, there’s no telling how many I’d kill. Fire won’t work in all this moisture... She thought, multitasking. She liked the electrocute part.

Even if she wasn’t shaking in her boots from fright now, Aspen began to speak a prayer to herself, even if she wasn’t religious either.

“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want...he maketh me to lie down in green pasture...” She squinted, her sharp Elven eyes casting an amazing sight ahead of her. Shit, this totally beat high-def back home. “...I fear no evil, for thou art with me...amen.”

As the Uruks continued pounding their spears into the ground, Aspen managed to hear an arrow hiss through the air and she spotted it striking an Uruk, causing her to gasp, startling her. Everything immediately fell silent as the Uruk-hai groaned and fell to the ground in a loud thunk.

“Dartho!” Aragorn snapped.

Then, the Uruks roar and howl out in anger as the captain thrust his sword forward in a commanding manner, and the army charged for the wall as the stomping and pounding continued again, carnage soon to be unleashed.

“So it begins.” Théoden spoke to himself, seeing the army heading straight for them.

Awaiting the order to fire, Legolas let his eyes scan around for any kind of weaknesses. “Faeg i-varv dîn na lanc a nu ranc.” He said.

Aspen grinned. “Quel elee-elea. Let’s make their throats sore.” Legolas grinned back.

As Aspen held her arrow in place, she charged up her energy inside her bow ready to unleash a horrible attack on them. She was growing impatient on waiting to attack, now.

Aragorn glanced over at Aspen and Amrod and held his arm in the air. “Elementals!” Aragorn shouted. Aspen assumed that was her cue. “Fire!”

Finally ecstatic, Aspen released her arrow along with Amrod’s, both their arrows leaving deadly electric trails through the air, crackling towards their targets. Both arrows striking two Uruks, Aspen and Amrod’s arrows exploded on impact, sending a flash of light through the area for a brief second as Uruks were flung backwards into the air, a thoroughly great amount of them were blown to bits as well.

“BOOYAH!!” Aspen shouted, reaching for another arrow.

“Leithio i philinn!” Aragorn bellowed again, thrusting his arm forward as the rest of the elven soldiers fired their shots as the Uruks were showered with arrows.

Thunks and yelps were heard from the creatures as they collapsed to the ground, only more came. This was going to be fun to Aspen. All it gave her was more to blow up. Aragorn called for the elementals again, and Aspen and Amrod released their arrows again, causing another exciting explosion in the field, sending crackling Uruks into the air again. It was almost like tossing a grenade at them; the earth shook and made the walls vibrate with each elemental shot. That only made Aspen even more hyped up.

Enjoying what he was seeing, though his face rendered no expression, Théoden turned to Gamling. “Give them a volley.”

The Man turned to the others beside them and gestured forward. “Fire!”

More arrows were shot down into the horde of beasts, the line of bows seeming endless. Aspen continued firing as well, explosions here and there were heard throughout the normal hissing of arrows. While Aspen was excited on all ends, Amrod kept his expression...expressionless. He did enjoy hearing his daughter having certain fun, however.

“Tangado a chadad!” Aragorn shouted again, thrusting his sword forward as more arrows rained down from behind the wall, striking Uruks perfectly in the neck and under the arms. “Elementals!” He called out again. “Fire elementals!”

Aspen’s brows furrowed angrily. How the hell could she make fire while it was raining? Aragorn was waiting on her, she knew it. And she had to figure out something pretty damn quickly. She glanced left and right. There were torches still lit. But she hadn’t mastered her fire-elemental power yet. What was she to do? Aragorn was waiting.

Anger.

Aspen needed to be pissed in order to make fire.

Really...really pissed.

“Fire elementals!” Aragorn called again.

“IM NO’ TA, DAMN IT!!” The girl shouted back to him, still not knowing any elven curse words. She glanced sharply at Legolas, who was doing the same to her.

“Having trouble making fire?” He asked nonchalantly, still firing his bow.

“Help me out here, and I’ll leave you alone to your own kills.” She asked. “Make me angry.”

Legolas raised a very curious brow at her.

“Make me angry! I need to be pissed off to make fire!”

“Alright,” Legolas said, again, as if there was no problem at all. “how can you not make fire out here? It’s far too simple.” He began. Aspen’s brain clogged up. Was that meant to be an insult?

“Eh?” Was all she could get out.

Legolas notched another arrow and fired. “Perhaps I didn’t teach you well enough, or in fact, Amrod hadn’t taught you enough.” He said. “You’re just a youth. No wonder you cannot master your powers just yet.”

Aspen’s brow twitched.

“Women like you do not belong out here. You’ll run out of energy sooner or later and you will collapse under pressure.”

She notched an arrow, charging her power. She didn’t care if he was insulting her truthfully or not. He was doing a damn good job at pissing her off.

“It makes me wonder how you even survived this far, what with where you came from and all. You belong in the caves, tending to the rest of the vulnerable.”

Aspen stroked the feathers on the arrow, trying to channel her anger into the arrow instead of at the Elf’s face.

Legolas glanced at her bow, seeing a faint red light illuminating it. He grinned, seeing he was doing it right. “You’re irritating, you get in the way, you pronounce Elvish words poorly, you don’t even know how to ride a horse, and you reek of corruption.” Legolas thought a moment, seeing as he’d almost hit home. “Oh...and you’re ugly and your mother dresses you stupidly.”

“FUCK!!”

Aspen shrieked and released the arrow as it howled through the air and struck an Uruk’s head right between the eyes. They waited. Almost like it was nothing they’d seen before, another much larger explosion came, only this time, it set handfulls of Uruks on fire, which in turn, caused others to catch on fire.

“Did they hit anything?!” Gimli demanded, looking up at the Elf.

Breathing heavily, Aspen yanked out another arrow. “Thanks.”

“No need.” Legolas replied. “You’re the most unique woman I’ve met in my days.”

Aspen heaved a blissful breath and fired an arrow directly into the ground. Curious as to what the hell she just did and why, Legolas averted his gaze from the horde of Uruks heading towards them to look at her for a moment. Spotting him looking at her, Aspen gently grabbed the back of his head and turned it back to the action below.

Aspen’s eyebrows twisted upwards, and there was...moss soon to be seen growing on the arrow. Legolas’ brows furrowed at this, though he realized what she was feeling when he spotted a small flower pop out from the grass. Then, Aspen’s heavy breathing came back and she shouted angrily at the top of her lungs, gaining Aragorn’s attention as he flipped around to look at her, afraid something happened.

Instead, what he got was the sight of the earth itself being yanked from the ground and thrust into the air into muddy pillars, sending even more Uruks flying about, wailing as they were tossed around mercilessly with each earthly pillar to pop out of the ground. Aragorn grinned at her.

That’s my girl.

Sitting her bow down a moment, Aspen decided to use her hands. She held her palms out and thrust them forward, causing a domino effect as the pillars broke at the foot and toppled over, crushing many Uruks in their wake. Aspen spun around while balling her hands into fists and slung her arm around in a circular move, slicing a pillar in half and sending it flying into the ground in the opposite direction.

Each move she made, each shout that emitted from her, each breath she took...Legolas knew she would be alright. She was strong. Screaming showed not only utter frustration and anger, but also strength and power. Every move she made was careful and she managed not to hit anyone around her, showing agility and precision. And every breath she heaved showed that she was being careful about her energy, even though it was obvious that she was getting tired.

After running out of energy to use her hands, Aspen retrieved her bow and flipped out another arrow, preparing to fire. Though...she paused before doing so. “Legolas...” She spoke softly. She was thoroughly surprised that he wasn’t irritated with her talking to him so much. “...is that true?”

“Is what true?”

“What you said to me a moment ago...”

Legolas shook his head. “If you mean the things I said in order to get you agitated enough to create fire, it would be absurd for you believe that I would think such things.” He replied, firing an arrow and hitting an Uruk dead in the face. “Although, the last thing I said was true.” He said, more softly that time.

Aspen’s brows twisted upwards. “Right back at ya.”

Legolas looked confused.

“I mean, the same to you.”

He smiled, understanding.

More arrows were shot over their heads, each one shrieking past Aspen’s ear and striking down another line of Uruk-hai. Then, much to their horror, there were a few of the creatures kneeling down and bearing crossbows. This was a bad sign, especially to Aragorn and Legolas since Aspen and her she-elf companions were in the front row firing their own arrows.

Noticing this, Aragorn jerked his head over to where the Elf and girl stood and shouted, “Legolas!”

Understanding immediately, the Elf waved an arm in the air to signal that he was keeping watch. Soon, the Uruk-hai returned fire, showering the people on the wall with their own black arrows, dead men and elves soon tumbling from the wall in a screaming mass. Aspen shrieked in surprise when an arrow flew directly past her ear, barely missing it.

Angered, Legolas caught eye of the Uruk that attempted to impale her and fired an arrow at it, killing it on the spot.

“Come on! Send them to me!” Gimli yelled, shaking his axe.

Much to Aspen’s irritation, she spotted three...no...five ladders being lifted into the air, heading for the wall and one heading directly for where she was standing.

“Pendraid!” Aragorn called out.

Gimli, growing impatient, shook his axe enthusiastically. “Good!”

“Swords! Swords!” Aragorn shouted again, the Elves all swishing out their blades in the same unison as before.

Aspen’s heartbeat was now racing so badly and thumping so loudly that she was certain Legolas could hear it. Now was not the time for dally. Aspen needed to kick some ass and she needed to do it now. So for now, she left her Elven knives alone and whipped out Daeron Séregon as the metal ringed with grace once unsheathed from her scabbard.

She couldn’t use any lightning now, otherwise it would electrocute those around her. She doubted she could use fire either, seeing how once she lit the ones below, she would not want to accidentally kill anyone she didn’t intend to.

And then...the ladders hit the deck. Berserker Uruks were the first to jump in and start attacking, while the rest climbed up and poured in like a broken dam, striking swords with one another. Aspen was determined to stay close to Legolas...or at least one of her comrades during this fight. Getting separated would undoubtedly spell her end.


Aspen soon began hacking away at the Uruk-hai, doing fairly well in decapitating a few. The girl soon went into a fit of rage, swinging her blade madly into the horde of creatures, dodging allies if they got in her way, cutting off arms and heads and slicing two in half. She’d killed seven already, and she was about to kill seventeen more. Gimli had left his post since the area was already scattered and littered with bodies, slashing at the Uruks in fairly uncomfortable places.

Aspen, beginning to become uncaring of the conscequences, began taking count of her kills, just for the hell of it. She wanted to remember how many she’d slain as a victorious reminder of what she’d accomplished. That was it. Being scared half to death would get her nowhere. She was cheating death: she was having fun at the same time.

Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen... She counted, putting a grin on her face.

“Legolas!” The girl flipped around and so did the Elf, hearing the Dwarf calling for him. “Two already!” He said proudly.

Legolas grinned and nodded, looking fairly excited himself. “I’m on seventeen!”

Aspen laughed, gaining both their attention. “You boys are slow.” She said. “I’m on nineteen.”

“Argh! I’ll have no pointy-ear nor female outscoring me!” Gimli bellowed, turning around and smacking a Berserker in an unecessary place with his axe.

“Nineteen!” Legolas said.

“Twenty one!” That was Aspen.

She laughed a little; she was glad that she wasn’t the only one having fun.




---

whew! i'm a little disappointed this is so short but i am SO excited about writing the battle in Helm's Deep, so you'll have to bear with me ^^;

Music inspirations:

Requiem For A Tower - Clint Mansell ('NUFF SAID. BEST FUCKING BACKGROUND MUSIC EVER.)



TRANSLATIONS:

Lye le cenich i’-ento anoron: We will see the next dawn.
Amin vesta. Imya i’ naur ar’ runya, amin vara lle: I promise. Through the fire and the flames, I'll protect you.
A Eruchîn, ú-dano i faelas a hyn an uben tanatha le faelas!: Show them no mercy! For you shall receive none!
Dartho!: Hold!
Faeg i-varv dîn na lanc a nu ranc: Their armor is weak at the neck and under the arms.
Quel elee-elea: Good eyesight.
Leithio i philinn!: Fire!
Tangado a chadad!: Keep firing!
Im no' ta!: I'm working on it!
Pendraid!: Ladders!