The Dame of Dúnedain

Fallen Brother

Two of the leading guards went ahead on their horses, past Aragorn and Alaina who walked with their horses. Legolas stood on the hill ahead of the people, where the guards rode up to. Legolas watching as then went towards the near ridge, over the hill he was standing on.

Alaina watched Legolas closely, looking for signs of what was going on. Then a yell was heard, the people stopped moving. A clashing of swords rang throughout the air. Legolas looked back at Alaina before running ahead, to where the guards went. 

Aragorn and Alaina ran after him, leaving their horses with Éowyn, they got there in time to watch Legolas cut an orc's throat. Its dead warg was on the ground next to it. "A scout!" Legolas yelled back to them.

Alaina and Aragorn both turned back to alert the people. The king rode up to them, "What is it? What do you see?!"

"Orcs! We're under attack!" Aragorn yelled as Alaina harshly grabbed the reigns of her horse from Éowyn and jumped on her horse. "Get them out of here!" Aragorn told Éowyn.

"All riders to the head of the column!" The king demanded, walking his horse over to Éowyn, "You must lead the people to Helm's Deep, and make haste."

"I can fight!" Éowyn protested, Alaina stopped her horse next to the king, waiting for Gimli and Aragorn to get on their horses.

"No!" The king yelled at her, "You must do this, for me." And then he turned his horse around, "Follow me!" He yelled to the riders.

Alaina watched the disappointment appear on Éowyn's face, "You'll get your chance to fight someday, but if I were you, I wouldn't want it," Alaina said to her before following the rest of the riders up the hill, Aragorn and Gimli right behind her.

On the very top of the hill stood Legolas, firing arrows at the charging wargs and their orc leaders. The horses ran straight towards Legolas, Alaina's horse went directly at him but he grabbed onto it as she passed by and hopped into the space in front of Alaina.

There were a lot of wargs and orcs, Alaina was excited. The men all drew their swords when the king at the front did, Alaina drew both of her ringed blades. It was like it took forever for the warg army to hit theirs but then one it did, it's like everything sped up. Horses and wargs both fell, Legolas drove the horse into a gap, taking out his bow and shooting at an orc as they passed by one and Alaina used her blade to cut through it.

"Take the reigns!" Legolas told her causing Alaina to spin and sheathe both her blades and reach around Legolas, securing him and grabbing the reigns.

He aimed at an orc and shot it, and then another one. Him and Alaina worked seamlessly as an amazing team. They watched as Gimli fell off his horse so Alaina turned the horse around and they charged passed a warg about to kill Gimli. Legolas shot it before it could reach the dwarf.

Alaina then saw that the king was in trouble and jumped off the horse, leaving Legolas and rolling on the ground to save her fall. She took out a throwing knife and threw it directly at the orcs head, quickly taking out another one and throwing it at the orc's warg. The king looked at her and gave her a small nod, thanking her.

She quickly looked around for her brother, only to see him being dragged by an orc and its warg. Directly towards a cliff. He stabbed the orc but the orc attached his arm to the warg before it got dragged off. Alaina ran in from the side, attempting to make it to the cliff before him. But the warg ran straight off. Alaina reach for the falling Aragorn but his hand slipped through hers and she got pulled down as well. Alaina caught herself on the cliff, holding on by one hand but as she looked down at the river that was a hundred feet below, she watched as Aragorn's body crashed into the water. 

Alaina let out an ear-splitting scream, pulling her other hand up and grabbing onto the rock. She didn't even try to pull herself up, she just sat there shaking her head, "no no no.."

Alaina looked back down at the river again, as the battles on the ground above became silent. All she saw was Aragorn's body floating downstream, surrounded by blood. He was gone. 

Legolas looked around and began to panic when he didn't see Aragorn or Alaina. It was when he heard a deafening scream come from the cliff, it was Alaina, screaming out Aragorn's name. His eyes widened and he ran over along with a few guards. 

One of her hands slipped as Legolas got to the cliff, looking down at her, "Alaina, give me your hand!"

Alaina just shook her head, "I can't.. I can't.." she said over. She felt as though she couldn't move.

Legolas clenched his jaw as he commanded two guards to grab her hand that was holding on. And once he could, he grabbed onto Alaina's waist and pulled her onto the ground. As soon as he did she dropped to the ground, Legolas caught her, falling onto his knees, "Are you hurt? What is it?"

Alaina put her head into the crook of his neck, her breathing slowing, "Aragorn..." she choked out, "he fell." She paused again, swallowing and taking deep breaths, "he's gone."

A group had formed around them, Gimli looked stunned and Legolas simply nodded, not saying anything except wrapping his arms around her. The king was the first to speak after a moment of silence for Aragorn, "We need to get back to Helm's Deep, the wolves will return."

Legolas nodded, his instinct to put duty and Alaina first took over. He helped Alaina up, "I need you to stand."

She only nodded, standing up with him and wiping off any tears she had. She had many men watching her and she didn't want to look weak. Alaina simply followed Legolas back to their horse but stopped when something caught her eye.

She bent down next to a dead orc and took Aragorn's necklace out of its hand. That's when the orc jumped up, trying to bite at her. Legolas caught her as she stumbled back but she just reached for one the blades on Legolas' back, unsheathing it and stabbing it into the orc, for sure killing it this time.

Alaina turned around with blood splattered on her face, she spun the blade around so the hilt was facing Legolas, "Let's go save Rohan."