Aragorn had fortunately survived his leap of death as he had attempted to protect the fortress by jumping into the hoard of Uruk-Hai. It was of no use, though, for the Uruks were too many and had managed to take most of Helm's Deep and forced most troops back into the keep. There they now hid and tried to come up with a plan, but there was not much left to do but to wait for the Urusk to break in and finish them all.

There was a constant loud bang toward the last gate that the Uruk-hai had yet not breached through. But eventually, the Uruks would break in, they had already advanced much and so many had been killed. Míriel watched, and helped, as the last men of Rohan tried barricading the doors for as long as possible with anything they could find. Legolas helped too, but Míriel could not see how this would ever play out well.

"The fortress is taken," Théoden said and shook his head, while Gamling tended to a wound that the King had on his arm. "It is over."

For the King to say this in front of all his men was disappointing. If anyone should have kept strong it was Théoden, but it seemed like the King had finally given up. His men had not, though, and they kept going no matter how tired their arms and legs were, carrying everything they could find to stop the Uruks from breaking through the gate.

"You said this fortress would never fall while your men defended it!" Aragorn yelled as he and Legolas grabbed a bench that they used against the gate. "They still defend it; they have died defending it!"

Théoden merely shook his head again, and another loud bang indicated that the Uruk-hai were almost inside. Míriel frowned and hurried toward the door with other things to barricade it.

"Is there no other way for the women and children to get out of the caves?" Aragorn asked Théoden's men, stared intensely at them. Both Gamling and Théoden were very quiet, did not answer Aragorn's question. "Is there no other way?"

"There is one passage," Gamling finally said and turned toward Aragorn. "It leads into the mountains, but they will not get far the Uruk-hai are too many."

"Send word to the women and children to make for the mountain pass!" Aragorn demanded impatiently and placed his hand on Gamling's shoulder. He started moving Gamling away toward the caves, but Gamling did not want to go. "And barricade the entrance!"

"So much death," Théoden murmured quietly. "What can men do against such reckless hate?"

The men turned their heads toward their leader and their eyes did not show fear anymore, but a realisation that they may not survive.

"Ride out with me," Aragorn suddenly said. Míriel turned around to face him, saw him staring at Théoden with a proud look in his eyes. "Ride out and meet them."

It was a terrible idea, one that would only lead to certain death. But still, it was the only thing left to do, because instead of waiting for the Uruk-hai to come and kill them, they would make a last stand and show that there was strength left in them.

"For death and glory," said Théoden and nodded, he seemed keen on the idea of doing this indeed as he stepped closer to Aragorn.

"For Rohan," Aragorn said. "For your people."

This was going to be the last attack, the last chance. If they were going to die, they were not going to do it hiding in the keep like rats. They were going to fight until the end and try to give the women and children a chance of survival in the caves. No one was stupid enough to think that they would win against the thousands of Orcs that were still keen on fighting outside, but they could at least try.

"The sun is rising," Gimli said and made them turn their eyes toward the small window by the gate, letting the sun's rays shine into the keep and giving them some light.

The Fellowship knew what this light meant, and it lifted their spirits slightly. Soon they would be out there, feeling the sun on their skin as they fought for the last time. More than that though, they would finally be reunited with Gandalf again for he had told them before he left that he was going to come back to them. His words were still clear inside their minds: 'Look to my coming at first light on the fifth day, at dawn look to the east'. Perhaps they had a chance after all if the Wizard brought with him a miracle.

"Yes," Théoden said quietly and nodded as he walked toward his men. "Yes. The horn of Hammerhand shall sound in the deep. One last time!"

"Yes!" Gimli said and grinned.

"Let this be the hour when we draw swords together," Théoden said and placed his hand on Aragorn's shoulder.

Within minutes, Gimli hurried up toward the towers to blow the horn of Hammerhand while all the men brought their horses. Míriel received Windfola back to her while Legolas mounted Arod and Aragorn used Brego. There they sat in their saddles right behind the King who would ride in the front, until the horn was heard and made the ground vibrate underneath them. Gimli had strong lungs indeed for the horn was blown in for very long, and they all took strength from it as Théoden opened his mouth to speak for the last time.

"Foul deeds awake. Now for wrath, now for ruin, and the red dawn! Forth Eorlingas!"

Legolas smiled toward Míriel as they took off to the sound of the horn of the Hammerhand. The door had been broken into, but they were ready to fight until the end. They rode out, pushed all the Uruks away as they broke through their lines. They fought with their swords upon horseback and yes, it did seem as they could do this. They managed to ride through the keep and they broke through to the bridge, leading them to the massive numbers of the Uruk-hai who were still there on the fields not expecting an attack. As Míriel let her blade swing across all the Uruk-hai she could find, she thought that since Gimli was not there, Legolas would maybe be able to catch up to the Dwarf in their competition.

There was a sound of a horn again, this time from up the steep hill. Míriel raised her gaze and saw an old man sitting proudly upon a white horse fairer than any other. No mere man though for it was a Wizard - it was Gandalf. Beside him was another man that Míriel recognised as the rider they had met in the Riddermark. It was Éomer, Éowyn's brother, and it brought Míriel much joy to see that he was well.

Behind Éomer came hundreds of his men for his Éored had accompanied him home after the King's return. The Éored was the reason that Gandalf had left them - he had gone to search for them since Théoden would not. The arrival of the Rohirrim distracted the Uruks that rearranged themselves to meet the Rohirrim instead of the soldiers in the helm. As they rode down the hill towards the battle, Gandalf's staff lit up and blinded the Uruks with its white light; amazing them all with his power. Míriel knew at that moment that they were going to win; the Uruks were tired and new strength from the Rohirrim had arrived for their aid.

It was not long until the battle was won and the Uruks fled as fast as they could as they realised that the power of the true White Wizard was greater than their master's. Gandalf had not only brought hope to the people of Rohan who still fought, but he had also given them the last push to finally win the battle. Rohan had won, and Míriel allowed herself to smile and share the joy with Legolas and all her companions. She felt peace in her heart for they had finally made some progress and showed Sauron and Saruman that the race of men was not as weak as they thought. It had begun with 300 men against ten thousand, and now they were there, smiling smiles of victory.

Even though the battle was won, the Men wanted to follow the Uruks to where they fled. The Orcs had taken the road toward the forest which was connected to Fangorn. Míriel only had to ride a couple of yards away to see the Uruks flee into the forest. Éomer stopped all his men from going further than they were, rode in front of them while shouting warnings. They waited until all the Uruks were in the forest, then Míriel saw something that she had not expected. The forest had given a loud growl and the trees had started moving around. All the orcs were destroyed for the forest was alive once more.

*

"Final count..." said Legolas smugly to Gimli who was sitting on an Uruk with his axe bored into its skull.

The Elf prince was pretty sure that he had won the competition for the second time in a row. The Elf was much faster than Gimli, even if the Dwarf was quite the skilled fighter too. To be fair Legolas did not have as much against him like he had done to his father and his friends because Gimli had turned out to be a quite a nice fellow as Legolas had gotten to know him. This was something he did not like to admit, but Míriel had been right to like Dwarves for whatever odd reason she did so. They were kind, a little blunt perhaps since they did not think before they spoke, but their hearts were made of gold. Most importantly, though, Legolas found it very amusing to compete with Gimli to show that Elves were indeed the better race. It was something that had turned out to be a little difficult to prove.

"42," Legolas said proudly and smiled at his number.

To him, there was no chance that Gimli had managed to kill more Uruk-hai than what Legolas did since his number was impressive. Legolas had heard, though, that Míriel said to Éowyn that she had managed to get her numbers above fifty but she was not in the competition so it counted not. Legolas had to remind himself later to never let Míriel join.

"42?" Gimli said with amusement and chuckled. Legolas looked confused at his Dwarf friend. Whatever he was going to say it could not be good for Gimli seemed pleased with his result. That could only mean that Gimli's score was higher than his, but how could that be possible?

"That's not bad for a pointy-eared Elvish princeling. I myself am sitting great at 43."

Gimli smiled contentedly. Legolas looked amused at Gimli because he called him 'princeling' even if Legolas was nearly 2000 years older than the Dwarf. Just because he looked younger it did not mean that he was younger. Gimli seemed to forget this all the time and behaved like he was the oldest one only because he was hundred and something years old which was nothing in the eyes of Elves. Legolas did not want to lose to a child, so he pulled out his bow and shot an arrow in the twitching Orc's head.

"43," said Legolas with content in his voice and smiled. Gimli looked glum and shook his head, blew some smoke out of his mouth.

"It was already dead," he muttered and shook his head again. "That doesn't count."

"It was twitching," said Legolas and shrugged at Gimli. It was true that the Orc was dead already and that it should not count at all, but Legolas only wanted to tease the Dwarf a little since it was so easy to anger him.

"It was twitching because it has my axe bored into his nervous system!" laughed Gimli and bored his axe further into the Orc's skull. Legolas laughed softly and took a seat next to his friend on the Orc's back.

It was in that moment that Míriel walked past them, hurrying into the keep alone. Míriel had expressed urgency to take all the dead Elves from Rivendell and Lórien back to their homes, and she said that she would take care of the identification of them all. Legolas had left her to mourn her dear friend Haldir alone since she had been so sad. Her pain was understandable though, for it was truly horrible to see so many injured. Legolas had tried not to look upon the Elves that laid dead on the ground as he had walked back to Helm's deep. Never had he seen so many of his own slain, and it hurt him greatly.

"She is a strong Elf," Gimli said as they watched Míriel. "I mean... she's not really an Elf is she? She's a Maiar..."

"She is indeed," Legolas mumbled. "I hope we will be able to see her true powers one day; it would be a blessing."

"You know what?" Gimli said. "I am sick and tired of seeing the two of you being so careful and polite around each other; just go to her and tell her you love her! I care about Míriel and the lass is in love with you as much as you are in love with her. I know I'm not supposed to tell you this, but if she doesn't I'm not sure you'll ever end up together again."

"What do you mean by again?" Legolas asked Gimli confused and frowned.

"Did I say again?" Gimli said and cleared his throat. "I meant..."

"Gimli," Legolas said sternly. "What did you mean by again?"

"Laddie, it's not in my place," Gimli explained and Legolas had never seen him act in this way.

Gimli could be whiny, outright annoying and blunt, but he was no liar and he knew what was right and what was wrong. Legolas knew that he shouldn't have pressured the Dwarf to speak any more of the matter, but since he was certain that the secret was about Míriel, he had to know. So Gimli told him everything from the beginning and Legolas could not believe his ears.

The evil sorceress that he had been told about for eighty years, was in fact, Míriel. She was the one who had cursed him, accidentally according to Gimli, at the Battle of the Five Armies after they had spent much time in each other's company. Míriel had been apart of Thorin Oakenshield's cause and stood at the Dwarves side. She knew his father and everyone had lied to him for years. It was a betrayal, deceit, and Legolas had never felt angrier or sadder in his life. The greatest adventure of his life had been erased from his memory because of Míriel, and suddenly everything made sense. The reason why she knew so much about him, why she spoke as if they had known each other for years, was because they had. The fact that he had not realised before, not even when it had been revealed that she was indeed a Maiar, capable of extraordinary power. Legolas had not forgotten that not all Maiar were like Gandalf, but some were like Saruman, the Balrogs and even Sauron...

"You said that we would end up together 'again'," Legolas mumbled and glared at Gimli. "What do you mean by again?"

Gimli gulped and sighed deeply. "From what I've heard and understood, the two of you were madly in love."

It felt as though someone had pierced him through his heart and Legolas wanted to kick the ground. Was the only reason he seemed to fall for Míriel now because he was cursed to love her, or because he had fallen for her again? What if it had all just been a lie and Míriel truly was evil? No, he could not think in that way of her, she who was the very definition of beauty, and kindness and love itself. Despite knowing that nothing should change in regards to what Legolas felt for her, it did.