Daughter of Arathorn

The Journey to Helm's Deep

They were awake early the next morning, once she knew Eothain and Freda would be alright with the other villagers, she walked ahead with Legolas. As amusing as it was for her husband to see his wife try to keep a lookout with him. "My eyes see a bit more than yours, meleth nin," he quipped.

"You still do not have eyes on the back of your head," she answered.

They climbed a hill, but then Elia frowned when they reached the top. "What is it?" he asked.

"It's quiet," she replied. Legolas listened closer, but then he had to agree. There wasn't even a bird chirping in the distance.

Two of Theoden's men rode ahead, and Legolas watched them. "Stay here," he told her. Elia raised her brow and he looked back at her. "Please?" She gave him a slight nod as he carefully followed the men.

What happened next made the blood in Elia's veins run ice cold. An orc riding a warg jumped down from the rocks and attacked both men. The shouting and the warg's roars caught Aragorn's attention as he ran up to his sister's side. Legolas jumped from his hiding place, shooting an arrow into the warg before taking a dagger to the orc's neck. He looked up towards Elia and Aragorn. "A SCOUT!" he shouted towards them before kicking the dead orc away from him.

Elia and Aragorn ran back down the hill. "What is it? What do you see?" Theoden asked.

"Wargs! We're under attack!" Aragorn called out. The villagers started to panic at the idea of wargs attacking them. "Get them out of here!" Aragorn exclaimed as he grabbed his horse.

Elia looked back up to see Legolas on the rocks again, this time shooting arrows into the air. "Eothain! Freda!" Elia called out to the children.

"Here!" Eothain answered. Elia lifted the children onto their horse before climbing onto her own. "Lady Eowyn!" she called out, "I will stay towards the back if you will lead the front." Eowyn reluctantly nodded as she handed her horse off to another villager.

Elia looked towards the hill one more time to see Aragorn riding up with Gimli on his and Legolas's shared horse. As she rode by the hill, she was able to see Legolas quickly grabbing the front halter to his horse, swinging himself up into the saddle and rode with the rest of what was left of Theoden's army.

Hanging towards the back of the refugees, Elia looked over her shoulder as a warg broke off from its pack, chasing them. She removed her bow and an arrow. She fired the arrow at the orc's head, but then silently cursed as it ducked from her arrow. With a frustrated growl, she fired another arrow and the orc shrieked when it flew into its shoulder. Grabbing her sword, Elia slowed her horse down. "ELIA!" Freda shouted in fear.

"GO!" Elia answered. She rode her horse towards the warg, making it circle the beast and its handler. The orc swung its sword out, Elia's sword collided with his and the warg attempted to swipe at her horse's feet. Elia took her newly returned dagger out of its sheath. She broke her horse away from the warg as it tried to bite at her. She held the blade between her fingers and threw it at the warg. The warg shrieked with pain as it dropped dead on the ground. The orc flew off and Elia took its distraction to fire an arrow into its head. She rode her horse back towards the dead warg. She got off the saddle, but she held onto the front of it as she pulled herself as low as she could go, holding her hand out. She grabbed the hilt to her dagger, pulling it from the dead warg's head. She swung herself back up into the saddle, riding after the refugees.

The travel to Helm's Deep was long, but once they saw the stonewall sanctuary, Elia felt relief as she looked over at the children. They would finally be safe.