We rode swiftly; the sky had already darkened and looked foreboding. But was little of no concern to us. Our only real concern was to get there with plenty of time to spare before the Uruk-Hai arrived with their killing machine. Haldir and I were in the front of our elven brethren. We had two riders at our flanks holding flags. All were armed to the teeth; bows and plenty of arrows to spare, swords, plus rope for a later plan that I had foreseen myself and the sword wielding elves using. I also had my shurikin; lots of them tucked into a satchel at my back. Haldir stole glances my way as we rode towards Helm's Deep and battle. Finally, I caught him looking and asked him:

"What is it? Did you see something?" He shook his head.

"It is just that I have never seen you look so fierce before, you are totally immersed in the upcoming fight. I can see it in your eyes, in every movement your body makes; the fluidity of it. Just something new to me is all." He said with a small smile. I smiled back remembering that he was never with me in the battle a century ago.

"Well brother mine, you have not seen anything yet. Now we do as we agreed. You taking front flanking positions and I with the more trained sword wielding elves will take the back?" He nodded; we had already worked out our strategic stances.

As we approached the mighty fortress of Helm's Deep from the mountain side, we found the area we had located on the map where we could hide our steeds until after the battle. We would march the rest of the way on foot. We had done just that with Sunset being particularly unhappy with the situation, and my soothing and having him promise he had to stay put until I called him; no matter how much he disagreed he also knew he could not disobey so he just neighed unhappily.

We lined up, with Haldir at the front and me hidden amongst the archer elves as a bit of an added surprise to my beloved Legolas as well as the other fighters. The princess had come to fight alongside men and her true love. I was ready to show once again my skills as a warrior. As we approached Helm's Deep, one of the elves sounded our horn and we marched up the front toward the gate which was promptly opened for us. We marched through it and toward where Haldir saw King Théoden; the latter looked stunned as Haldir bowed and spoke:

"I bring word from Elrond of Rivendell. An alliance once existed between elves and men. Long ago we fought and died together. We have come to honor that allegiance. We are proud to fight alongside men once more."

As Aragorn embraced Haldir welcoming him warmly, Legolas came down and did the same as the Galadhrim turned uniformly toward them. These were highly skilled regimented elves and then as Haldir finished speaking he looked Legolas straight in the eyes and moved his head to the left with a smile. Legolas followed his gaze as did the others as slowly the elves parted and I stepped forward and took the hood of my cloak off to reveal my face and then pushed the cloak behind myself so that I could reveal myself entirely.

All the humans in attendance gasped, Aragorn and Gimli bowed formerly to me and Legolas stepped forward toward me as his eyes searched mine. He put his arms around me then and whispered in my ear:

"Are you ready for this, my beloved?" I smiled as his breath tickled but I did not break concentration as I answered him.

"I was born ready."

Very quickly, without any pretense, Aragorn explained who I was to King Théoden who nodded but one could see he was hesitant yet it was not his place to contradict me nor to tell me whether or not I could fight this war. He was just glad he was getting more help. Finally, the time had come to prepare for battle; Haldir, Aragorn, and I discussed our battle stances and we were just fine taking orders from him; meaning Aragorn.

Without furthermore ado, we spread out to our designated spots with Haldir and the more efficient bowmen on the wall while the long shot elves who were also more sword proficient were behind the wall waiting for the inevitable onslaught. I put my hand on the handle of Altherial and I could tell she was ready for whatever was in store. Prior to us leaving, I had made her extra sharp so she could penetrate the toughest of metal and iron; but no one knew that. Before we went to our places, Haldir and I looked at each other one last time.

"Be careful and watch your back. Do not get distracted." I told him wisely as he rolled his eyes.

"I will see you when I see you, Princess. Take them all out." He bowed to me then and it was my turn to roll my eyes. We looked at each other than for a long moment and a look of love between siblings passed between us as we heard the approaching monstrous army. Then we whispered to each other and smiled:

"Showtime."

After that, we all took our places and waited for Aragorn's signal to fire. I knew Legolas was on the wall with Gimli and close to the king. I closed my eyes one last time to say a prayer and then as the loud Uruk-Hai army stampeded to a stop breathing heavily, it started to rain. My royal head-piece kept the water out of my face. Just then I heard from somewhere on the wall:

"Hold your fire!"

Something had happened and it seemed that an arrow from our side had been mistakenly fired at the enemy dropping one of them in its tracks. That was all they needed to charge the stone wall. It had begun. Aragorn called for the first round of arrows that came from the wall. We were next and I lined my first long shot into the sky and launched it. I reloaded in the blink of an eye as Aragorn ordered to fire at will. I saw something in my vision that made me load 3 arrows simultaneously and the elves around me, seeing what I was doing, followed suit. We spread out our shots accordingly and I knew we had taken out a bunch of them. But not enough, never enough. 10,000 against 400 was about as easy as destroying a haystack one twine at a time.

They started coming over the wall and I heard the cries of dying men and elves. But nothing broke my concentration as I shot arrow after arrow into the scrimmage. Just then a big explosion rocked the ground as I looked in horror realizing that the wall had been breached. Aragorn was shouting for everyone to fall back to the Keep. I looked at the elves around me:

"Stand your ground, secure your arrows, and take out your swords. Galadhrim; prepare to show no mercy!" I shouted at my brethren who did exactly as I ordered.

Just then, the biggest Uruk-Hai I could have imagined, marched through the hole in the wall; I figured out that he was the leader of this army. He stomped on the dead, be they his own or ours. Legolas came flying down the stairs on a shield as he counted off the kills he made. I shouted at him then and as he turned toward me, I tossed my remaining arrows to him. I would not need them anymore. Aragorn, watched in horror thinking that I was about to be caught off guard as the large behemoth was approaching me. He kept yelling for everyone to fall back.

At the last possible moment I whirled around holding Altherial and closed my eyes. Her runes started to glow brighter than even I remembered; my eyes were cold when I opened them and in one fell swoop I cut the leader of that malignant army from stem to stern; my sword going through his seemingly impenetrable armor like butter as he was split in half. Aragorn as well as the king had seen this and were stunned into silence. I did not stop but kept hacking away methodically at anything that came near me.

Aragorn joined me then as we both saw the Uruk-Hai army run toward us; we looked at each other and nodded as the elves that were with me followed suit. We ran into the may lay swords swinging, heads flying. They were still gaining the upper hand because of the sheer number they had over us so we were starting to fall back regardless. I did not see where Aragorn had gone but I knew he was pulling everyone back toward the Keep.

Just as I heard him shout something I could not make out in the din and rush up the wall, a pain seized in my chest unlike anything I have ever felt before. I had no idea what it was. But I knew instinctively something was very wrong. I looked around but there was no time to think on it. I had to pull my remaining elves to the mountain to wait until Mithrandir returned to launch our second counter offensive. And still that feeling of raw pain and panic did not leave so I let Altherial do what she did best; heal me and give me the strength I needed to continue fighting.

Being as nimble as we were, we climbed the mountain from the outside using nothing but our bodies to maneuver. The Uruk-Hai that tried to follow slid down the mountain or were brought down by arrows from those elves already securely awaiting daylight on top of a crevasse. When I made it over, I had to sit down a little and actually was brought some water by one of the elves who said that I looked paler than remotely possible. What could possibly have happened to cause my heart to nearly fly out of my chest? Unfortunately, there was no time to think or dwell on that as we were nowhere done with the war.

As I looked down below me and saw the carnage, I knew that the casualties were great especially on our side. I also felt that Legolas was safe with the others in the Keep. When you are that connected to someone you love; your mate, you know what is going on with them every moment. As the sun started to rise, the Horn of Helm Hammerhead was blown in the Deep. I knew it was time to prepare the remaining elves for this final onslaught.

"On my mark, deploy the ropes! As far as you can shoot them. Impale those monsters if you must but make the ropes steady!"

All of a sudden I saw the light of the sun rise in the east and saw Gandalf the White on Shadowfax; behind him was Eomer and the Rohirrim. They had come back to help the king and here were the numbers that were needed to finish this battle in our favor. Just as the Rohirrim rode down the mountain toward the Uruk-Hai:

"NOW!" I yelled.

The ropes came shooting from different sides of the mountain, impaling the monsters 4 and 5 at a time. When I was sure the ropes were steady, I reached for my bow that I had fastened to the rope, took a hand full of shurikin and with the other elves rode down the lines toward the siege. I threw my shurikin strategically at the Uruk-Hai the Rohirrim could not get at and that were still trying to attack the king and his men. My little surprise offensive did exactly as I had hoped it would. With the Rohirrim on one side and the Galadhrim and I on the other, the Uruk-Hai were surrounded.

As I got nearer to the ground I let go of the bow and with Altherial in hand flipped over the heads of many of the beasts and their contraptions. I took off more heads then I thought of counting. Then again I was not Legolas and Gimli who kept track of their kills as a challenge toward each other. As long they were dead, I did not care how many were gone. To the King, Aragorn, and even Mithrandir, I was no longer just a princess but an assassin of evil sent from the heavens. I knew I made my uncle and aunt proud that day.

The Uruk-Hai knew they were now not only outnumbered but they had lost the war they so desperately thought was not for them to lose. So without a second look, they ran back the way they came. But they did not get far before the Ents stomped them into oblivion. Everyone cheered and congratulated each other.

Legolas had seen me on the ground wiping the black blood off of Altherial's blade. He walked over to me and without saying a word, put his arms around me and hugged me tightly. I returned the gesture closing my eyes and taking in his scent that always made my head spin and yet comforted me at the same time. When he let me go, he kissed me softly on the lips, glad that I survived when so many of our own kind did not.

The battle of Helm's Deep was over and now it was time to see what the toll was of this war. Yet things were not over by a long shot. And I still needed to know what that horrific pain in my chest was that I felt.

It would not take long to find out......

To be continued....