Wayfarer of dawn

XVI. In which there is agitation and trust

It was silent as the barrels rushed through open air. And for five full seconds, Eleniel held her breath. And then she hit the water with a loud splash.
And as if the splash had triggered something, the Dwarves all started shouting.

"Shut up! All of you!" Eleniel immediately countered. "We need to stay silent," she continued, breaking the happy spirit of the company in half. "We are not out of these woods yet, not by far - we need to stay as silent as possible to keep my kin off our backs."
Eleniel's words had been nothing but the truth, whether nice or not.

And then she noticed the poor Hobbit, clamping onto Kili's barrel for his life. "Bilbo," she muttered as she drifted past - snatching a handful of his cardigan. "Here," she told him as she clambered out of the barrel, pushing him up and in before letting go.
She was familiar with these waters, having swum them before, and had quickly realised the Hobbit needed the barrel more than she did. The Hobbit would have been dragged away for sure.

Swimming besides the barrels, she slowly found herself wondering whether Legolas had noticed her disappearance yet. And whether he was bothered about it. Not that that should have mattered, it had not mattered for years after all, but somehow it did. Which was rather peculiar, and quickly, as if the thought alone was a poison, she shook it away.

"Elf!" Thorin called. "Call me whichever name you wish to call me, Thorin," Eleniel called back as she swum up to him. "No! I mean-" he started and grabbed her by the shoulders to turn her around. "Elf!" He shouted again. And this time Eleniel understood, their disappearance had been very much noted.

On a tree branch, not far off the river banks, there was an elf, and another, and another. "By the Valar," Eleniel muttered in disbelief. "Duck!" she then called out as the arrows started raining down on them. Quickly, she ducked under water and started to swim with the stream - hiding behind barrels at times to avoid being punctured by arrows. "Ràna!" she heard a desperate voice cry out, and immediately her eyes tried to find the source - Fili. And as they locked eyes she noticed how desperate he looked. "The gate!" Kili called out, and Eleniel noticed the cause of their desperation - the gate was closing.

Eleniel swum to the shore, hands finding holdfast on the mossy ground just beyond the river's side, and then she clambered up. Only to come face to face with Legolas. "Eleniel," he muttered and tightened his grip on his swords as he watched her tense. "Caun Legolas -" "Orcs!" Thorin's cry interrupted her sentence, and she whirled around to see what he meant. And as she was about to run off, Legolas grabbed her arm. "Legolas," she softly said. "Take a sword, Eleniel," he said with a soft smile - sword handle presented to her. "But -" Legolas shook his head. "Take it Eleniel, I wish to see you again - alive," she smiled and took his sword, knowing he'd still have his two short swords.

And then their paths separated. Eleniel dashed off along the river bank, and Legolas started jumping over the Dwarves' heads - making Eleniel snicker. "Thorin! You need to arm yourselves!" She called out as she ran up a set of stairs, towards the lever. "With what?!" was the incredulous response she got, from an obviously agitated Dwarf king. Eleniel ducked to avoid her head being severed from her shoulders by an Orc, stabbed said Orc in the gut and pushed him down the wall he had previously climbed up, before tossing a few swords she'd robbed off of corpses down. "With those!" she yelled in response as she started running for the lever again. And there she ran into Kili. "Get down in the barrel," she hissed as she stabbed an Orc near to chopping Kili's hand off. "But -" "No buts! I'll get the lever!" she snarled and gave Kili a little shove as a dark black arrow slammed into the spot where he'd been previously standing. Kili looked doubtful for a few seconds, and Eleniel just pushed him over the edge and into the water - near his barrel. "Get in you idiot!" She yelled down as she grabbed the lever with both hands, her sword resting against the wall. And then she pulled, as hard as she could. And slowly, the lever gave way.

And as the gates opened, allowing the Dwarves in their barrels to rush through, Eleniel climbed atop the wall - sword in her hand again. She stared down, Orcs swarming the ground beside the wall - some dead, some living. And she grinned, before firing herself down. She'd landed atop a few Orc corpses, and stabbed her sword deep into the neck of another as she rose again. And then she noticed most Orcs were running. Which was odd, because Orcs were trained not to know fear.
A frown flitted across her features and she shook her shoulders, hand tightening around her sword, and she took off again. She knew the Elves would be ahead too, but she cared little - getting to her friends was a priority now. Rushing over branches and grass, undergrowth and little streams, Eleniel dashed through the forest-like landscape. Her hands and face were scraped by the branches hitting home, and her sword was slowly looking like it had cut more green than Orc.

A few minutes later she had caught up again, noticing that Legolas was once again balancing on the top of a Dwarf's head - bow at the ready. She smiled. "Legolas, at your left!" Eleniel yelled as she noticed an Orc archer sneaking up on the prince. And Legolas whirled and shot, not even looking - trusting Eleniel completely. She quickly followed the Prince's example, jumping on the shoulders of an unsuspecting Dwalin. "'Ello lass," he murmured grumpily. "Hello Dwalin, when I jump off you might want to duck, it can get a little rowdy here with multiple archers," she told him with a cheeky grin. And then she jumped, landing on a rather thick branch right above the stream they were rushing down. "Thorin!" she yelled to the Dwarf a few strides, or strokes, away. "Cut the next branch! They'll use it!" And then she was running again, hoping the Dwarf had understood her rather cryptic message.

And, judging by the loud splash and Orcish gurble of words, he had. Smiling softly Eleniel made her way across the little hilly landscape besides the river, here and there sliding to gain speed.

A rather nasty, ugly Orc had found his way to her. And even though she should have been on high alert, he managed to sneak up on her. And Eleniel did not notice him until they were face to face. Making an abrupt stop saved Eleniel from plunging into the blade the Orc was holding, but it also made her loose her balance. And the Orc took that to his advantage, raising his blade for the killing blow.