Element of the Heart - A Lord of the Rings/Legolas Fanfiction

Chapter 30: Flames of War

How could this happen? It was more than maddening. Her curled fists rested against the boulder blocking her from the battle. She could hear the metal! The cries! The demonic bellows! But she could do nothing. They were all on the other side.

The darkness was unusually soothing, and she wanted to bury her mind, her anger, and her distress into it. But it the darkness could not silence the rain.

Is nature also mocking my agony? Wait... Her head snapped up.

Reaching out with her power, Estelwen sensed small water droplets seeping in the minor cracks beneath the stone. She touched the bottom of the rock and pulled with her energy. A thin ribbon of water snaked its way through the dirt. More water gathered and spread underneath the rock. It ate away at the ground beneath, creating a ditch under the boulder.

Estelwen held the water together, preventing the molecules from parting and allowing the boulder to sinking through and touch the ground. Her hands were shaking. Once the boulder was a centimeter off the ground, Estelwen slammed her shoulder against it.

The boulder dropped back with audible thud. Estelwen smiled for the first time in days. There was a gap between the boulder and the wall of the cave. She had moved it just enough. She squeezed through, and felt the rain, which had slowed to a drizzle. The war was not on these grounds. The orcs had not broken through the thick walls of the fortress. The night lacked the usual comfort of starlight. Not even the moon was visible. The cries of men and the bellows of orcs were Estelwen's trail. It led straight to the border walls, the top lined with men and orcs alike. The rain faded away altogether, so Estelwen looked for where most of the water might have gathered. A small stream flowed from the caged drain in the wall. She ran to it and stopped. Orcs were placing heavy iron containers next to the drain. This is the only opening into Rohan, she realized. They will find a way to open it, with whatever these black spheres are carrying. She looked beyond the orcs and involuntarily stepped back. Amassed was a sea of orcs and torches. There were glimpses of catapults in the back and ladders that were being used to scale the main wall. An orc snarled at her and placed the last spiked container down. Her small view of the monstrosity they faced was now blocked off completely.

Estelwen created a small battering ram of ice and smashed it through a gap in the drain. A few of the iron cases flew forward, creating enough room for her to see. Running towards the containers on the opposite side of the drain was an orc with a torch. Before she could gather her wits, an arrow whizzed through the air and struck its neck. Ice exploded, as did the orc, and the torch fell into the water.

Legolas! Estelwen stared in wonder at the ice fragments littering the ground. So that is what it does.

­*****

Aragorn was shouting with all of his energy. "Legolas! Bring him down! Bring him down!"

The orcs had cleared a path from the orc with a torch to the drain in the wall. Legolas sent an arrow straight into its neck. It jerked to the side out of pain, but kept running. The wall was only a few dozen feet from it. Legolas snatched the ice arrow from his pack and sent it flying. It exploded upon impact, sending its target and the torch back into the dark. Legolas' eyes widened. Even after the arrow, shards of ice were flying from inside the fortress and into the orcs right outside the drain. "Estelwen!"

*****

Estelwen threw spikes of ice through the drain, eliminating those who blocked her sight. Since Legolas had used her gift to prevent the torch from touching the iron cases, she would ensure that the fire stayed away.

Towards the back of Isengard's army, one of the catapults was loaded and released. Estelwen looked up just in time to see the ball of fire blazing towards her. Unlike most things that were large and fast, this one provoked a different response from her. She ran.