The Lady of Rivendell

Chapter 20

All of Helm's Deep shook as a portion of the wall was blown skyward. Elves, stone, men and smoke flew high into the night before they came crashing down, the force of the explosion knocking several dozen others off their feet.

Allora and her compatriots were some of those knocked down as their ears began to ring and debris rained down as the surviving army stormed through the hole that was flooding with drain water.

As for the causeway, some of the Orcs soldiers were trampled and knocked over as something moved under the shield cover like a snake under a carpet before the wall shook again as a battering ram slammed into the wooden door.

"Brace the gate!" Theoden king called as his men tried their best to deter their attacks, but they were fading fast. "Hold them! Stand firm!"

"Aragorn!" Gimli called as he saw the fallen man only begin to stir from where he'd been knocked off the wall, landing metres away from the hole that had been blown into the stone structure. And the Dwarf went leaping off the wall and he began cleaving into the Orcs with his axe. And though he was small, he was definitely mighty.

"Gimli!" Aragorn called worriedly as he got to his feet, but the Dwarf was still standing and fighting as Legolas finally found who he was searching for.

While the blast had only knocked him off his feet, Allora was unmoving, Orothel still gripped in her hand as she was covered in stone dust and blood trickled from her eyebrow, her hairline and a cut on her cheek. Her crown was slightly dented and had left a nasty bruise on her usually flawless skin.

"Allora?! Allora, hear me! Allora wake! Please! I beg of you!" he pleaded as he brushed some of the dust from her face and she began to cough. "That's it! I have you! You are ok," he promised as he hurriedly got her to her feet, the Elvish Lady still dazed as Legolas' eyes widened and he grabbed a sword from her hip and he ran it through a charging Orc. "Are you alright? Come! Come quickly! We must help the others!" he urged as he sliced through another, and Allora tried to shake the dizzy feeling from her head.

"Legolas," she called as he felled a third beast before turning to his Lady.

"Are you alright?" he asked as Gimli was knocked to the ground below them and Aragorn bellowed, "FIRE!"

And hundreds of arrows flew as the Elves that stood behind him obeyed the order, Gimli safely out of their distance on the ground, well, in water technically as he lay in the emptied drain water.

Meanwhile, Allora simply pulled Legolas' to her by the fabric of his tunic as their lips met for a brief second, not caring who was seeing. "For luck," she explained when she pulled away, her head already feeling clearer as the dizzy feeling was replaced with a giddy feeling.

And then she went running before she leapt off the wall, letting out a battle cry as she landed on an Orc and sliced through his neck before waving her sword in a circle around her to create some distance as she plunged into battle before Allora raised her sword into the air as she looked to her people who stood beside Aragorn. "CHARGE!"

And her people came rushing to her aid whilst Legolas took a more dramatic approach to his Lady's side, because rather than jumping after her, he had found a shield. And the Elf slid down the stairs as if on a surfboard as he fired arrow after arrow, Allora's sword tucked into his belt. And it was that sword he drew to fight with as he fought his way to Allora's side.

Aragorn yanked Gimli out of the water and back onto his feet as the battle raged on. And eventually, the Orcs were too close at all for Legolas to use his bow as he secured it and reached over to pull its twin out of the other sheath on Allora's hip as he surged through the sea of enemies, as skilled with those blades as she was.

Body after body they dropped, Orc after Orc they killed, but it wasn't enough for there were still too many of them and too few to fight them off.

"Aragorn!" echoed Theoden's voice. "Fall back to the keep! Get your men out of there!"

And you could tell they were losing the fight and losing steam as Aragorn and Allora tried to usher their troops to fall back, what was left of their troops anyway.

Haldir still stood atop the wall as he fought, nodding at Aragorn's message as Legolas ordered two guards to carry Gimli back.

"What about you?" one of the warriors asked and his answered expression was full of determination.

"I must get Lady Allora," he replied before he went running back into the thick of the battle and his arms wrapped around Allora's waist. He did not bother asking for he knew what was to happen if he did. If they were a stubborn people, their future High Lady was the most stubborn of all and she would rather fight and die with her people than retreat, a fact Legolas knew most of all.

And he also knew what the look Gandalf gave him when he said that the defences must hold till dawn meant.

Allora was the key to winning this battle and she had to survive till the dawn, until the time came when she could avenge her people. And it was Legolas' job to ensure that she lived to see the sunrise. Not just for Gandalf and not just for Elrond, but for himself and for the way he felt about her.

"NO! Legolas, no! Unhand me! NO!" she screamed as she protested, and Legolas lifted her off the ground as he began running with the rest of the retreating troops.

"Get the Lady Allora to safety!"

"Hold the line!"

"Hold them! The Lady Allora must retreat!"

"Hold them for the Lady Allora!"

"For the Lady Allora!"

"For the Lady Allora!" Her people called as they fought, and they fell and tears began leaking from Allora's eyes as the male she cared for forced her to leave them to die. And as they moved, she heard Aragorn's voice bellow, "HALDIR!" And she looked to the top of the wall where she watched the Elf collapse into Aragorn's arms as he died.

And Allora broke free of Legolas' arms. 

"Allora, no!" he called out as he lost her in the crowd and she ran for the causeway, eager to add more blood to the edge of her blade.