Hello all!
I own nothing, so please don't take my fun away.
I made a promise to myself to finish these fanfics, starting with "Origins of Fate," so here we go!
Cries of alarm rang out around her. Order was quickly restored as Calin reigned in his horse and turned to the south. The implication was clear. Within moments, all of his eored had followed his example and were lined up behind Serein.
Smiling at her younger brother, she nudged Govannen into a canter, leading the way to Helm's Deep.
So far, the race to Helm's Deep had gone smoothly. Barring Gandalf abruptly riding off into the sunset with a promise to return, nothing unusual happened. Aragorn was speaking with Eomer about fortifying defenses along the northern wall when an outrider came, announcing the first signs of the Uruk army.
Eomer paled noticeably. "No sign of Calin's eored?"
"None, my lord. Shall I send out a rider?"
"No, we need as many men as we have."
Aragorn gently clapped Eomer on the shoulder. "I am sure both the Lady Serein and Calin will be here soon. They still have time."
Eomer shook his head but didn't reply.
Serein nudged Govannen into a slow gallop, the men behind her following suit. Darkness was falling, and none of them wanted to spend another night undefended on the plains, especially because they were so close to Helm's Deep.
"It's another two leagues from here, brother!" Serein cried. "Night is falling-we must make haste!"
Calin nodded. "Sister, perhaps you should ride ahead and inform the others of our arrival?"
"Per-" Serein was interrupted when one of the men whistled all the horses to a halt.
"Do you hear that?" He whispered. "Marching. They're marching on Helm's Deep, on Theoden King. We must hurry!"
Serein nodded. "As quickly as we can, but stay in a group. Goodness knows what we'll find."
With a general murmur of assent, the eored began moving again, rapidly picking up speed. As the sun began to fall beyond the horizon, Serein couldn't help but shiver slightly. 'How many more sunrises will there be on this land?'
Helm's Deep was less than one league away when the sounds of frightened horses and clashing swords reached their ears. Drawing swords and readying spears, Calin's eored charged into the open plain below Helm's Deep. Chaos had erupted here with another eored fighting a running battle to the gates. One of the lookouts sent out the cry that another eored had arrived and a strange silence came over the area.
However, the eored didn't stop but trampled several Uruk-hai, shattering the silence. War cries were suddenly surrounding them from all sides. Several men cried out and were struck down by knives or spears. As they fell, their horses split from the eored and ran into the fading light. Serein bit back a cry as a knife narrowly missed imbedding itself in her arm. She couldn't stop her scream as she saw Calin slump over his saddle.
Without their leader, the men were uncertain of how to act. After quickly checking her brother, Serein turned and began to issue short commands.
"Seosar, guard your captain! Men, form a ring around them. We're going to have to fight our way to the gate. Prepare yourselves!"
They had reached the sloping path to the gate and-Serein noticed-members of the other eored were attempting to keep the gate clear for them. The pitched battle continued to escalate both in bloodshed and in brutality.
For every one Rohirrim cut down, they took no less than six Uruk-hai with them. The blood flowed everywhere. As the gate came closer and closer, Serein ran her sword through a particularly vicious looking Uruk. She'd long since lost count of how many Uruk-hai there were. Her only though was getting the eored into the safety of Helm's Deep as quickly and safely as possible.
When one man's horse reared up and jostled Govannen, things became infinitely more dangerous. Govannen responded in her own way and Serein was thrown off her horse. Rolling to the side, she only narrowly missed the hooves of the next horse. Ignoring the blood streaming from her right leg, she began to run with the eored. Their progress was just slow enough that she could keep up easily. Govannen had been lost in the mishmash of horses all around her, and with few options, Serein did what she had to do.
The gate was less than twenty meters away now. Several men of the earlier eored had been clearing a path so that the Uruk army fell away swiftly. Serein recognized Mablung and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. As soon as they retreated into Helm's Deep, the gates were forced shut and King Theoden gave the order to fire.
Serein ran forward to check on her brother as Seosar eased him from his horse. Seeing the look on her face, he swiftly eased her fears, "He's all right, my lady. It looks as though he was hit in the head and lost consciousness. I shall retreat with him to the caves and guard him."
Relief coursed through her. Calin would be all right. Now to find Eomer.
Before she could even think about starting to search, one of Gandalf's companions, Legolas-if she remembered correctly-appeared by her side as if by magic. He inclined his head to her and turned to lead her to Eomer. Gratefully, she followed without a word.
Mounting the balustrade, Serein quickly caught Eomer's attention. After a short embrace, she surveyed the scene.
"There must be thousands of Uruk-hai!" She exclaimed in surprise.
"Ten thousand strong." He replied grimly. "Serein, can you aid the archers until you run out of arrows?"
"Of course." She replied, reaching for her bow and quiver. "I'll see you when this is all over. I love you."
"And I you." Eomer replied quietly, turning to give yet another order to rain death upon the Uruk army.
Serein knocked an arrow, took aim and let fly. She smirked in satisfaction when the arrow found its mark. Firing several more into the crowd below, she made her way over to Legolas and Gimli, who looked as though they were arguing a point.
"I tell you I can kill more of them than you ever will!" Gimli roared.
"Perhaps we should keep score?" Legolas suggested, amused.
Nodding to Serein, he knocked an arrow and fired it down into the beastly swarm. "That makes seven for me, zero for you."
Gimli grumbled but replied, "May the best dwarf win."
A cry of "ladders!" ended the friendly rivalry.
Considering the difference in numbers, Serein felt she and her people had done rather well. Pausing to catch her breath, she shoved another ladder, causing it to topple over. Angry shrieks reached her ears, followed by two arrows. Leaping backwards, she looked around. Two men were lying dead, both killed by an Uruk-hai that had managed to climb a ladder. Another man was lying on his side, breathing weakly. An arrow protruded from his left side.
"You're just a child!" Serein gasped. "Listen to me, this may hurt, but I must take the arrow out."
He moaned in pain as the pried the arrow from his body. Tearing a piece of her tunic, she was in the process of staunching the bloodflow when the world went a blinding white and the stone beneath her erupted.
A wave of heat followed the light so that Serein felt unable to draw any breath. Realizing she was sailing through the air, she understood the Uruk army had blown Helm's Deep in half. Before she could prepare herself, she hit the ground and any air left in her lungs was pushed painfully out.
Fighting the darkness, she rolled over, gasping for breath. Completely disoriented, she looked around. She had been thrown well over twenty meters! Several stunned men were around her, attempting to save the wounded. Getting to her feet, her vision blurred slightly. Shaking her head, she realized she couldn't make out any Uruk-hai.
"My lady, what happened?"
Serein realized with a start that Seosen was speaking to her. "They must have blown Helm's Deep in half. Saruman's magic, I suppose."
The men nodded. "The Uruk army will come quickly. We cannot possibly make it to the caves in time. What should be done?"
Serein thought fast. "We'll need to create a ring of defense that can refresh itself. How many of you are able to fight?" Twenty-one, including herself. "Ten of us will fight at a time, unless the army begins to overwhelm us. When one of us becomes injured or too tired to hold a sword properly, one of the others will switch with us. I can fight now. We'll need nine other volunteers."
Silently, nine men stepped forward. They were all young and strong-hearty fighters. Because of this, Serein nodded in silent approval. The first of the Uruk battle cries drew their attention. 'This won't be easy,' was the last thought of all the warriors before the battle began.
It was official. Eomer was going to lose his mind. He had lost sight of Serein some time ago, at the beginning of the battle. Having no idea where she was was, unfortunately, extremely distracting. Thankfully, Aragorn had taken pity on him and shoved him into the citadel ahead of him.
The door slammed shut and the Rohirrim barred it as best they could. King Theoden looked around with hope. They had survived this far. Who was to say they couldn't survive the rest of the night?
"Is Serein here, uncle?"
"I thought she was with you, Eomer. But fear not, she is probably in the caves. Perhaps with the Master Gimli, who is also strangely absent."
Aragorn couldn't help but want to laugh at the slight streak of worry that passed through Legolas' eyes. "My friend, he will be fine," Aragorn murmured in Elvish, consoling one of his closest companions.
Legolas nodded quietly. "I'm more worried about ourselves. How long until dawn?"
"About two hours," Aragorn replied thoughtfully.
Legolas nodded but didn't reply.
At the first sign of dawn, Aragorn had warned the Uruk army to depart. Not one of them had listened. 'Fools.' Aragorn thought contemptuously, returning down the stairs. The clear note of a horn made him pause for a moment and whirl around. Theoden had decided to charge the Uruk army after all.
Cursing, Aragorn ran down the stairs and leapt for the horse Legolas was holding for him. Several men pulled the bars of the gate aside and Theoden rode into the sun with the remainder of his guard. Stunned as they were by the reckless display, the Uruks failed to respond in time.
Add to this the abrupt notes of a horn from the far slope and the steadily rising war song and the Uruk army fell quickly into disarray.
Letting out a whoop of delight, Eomer watched as the army retreated to a wooded section of land that hadn't been there the night before. Gandalf's voice was suddenly booming, "Don't go near the trees!" in Rohirric.
Tears came to Theoden's eyes as he realized his people would not be destroyed by Saruman's army. Allowing his tears to fall, he joined in the song for his people. The tide had turned and the battle was abruptly over.
Eomer clapped Aragorn on the upper arm then turned to ride back into Helm's Deep.
Gimli returned quietly to the citadel where he and Legolas quietly exchanged numbers. Gimli-47, Legolas-46 (AN: I think). Gimli won this match.
Eomer hadn't been so lucky. Serein hadn't been in the caves and, he shuddered, her body hadn't been found anywhere. Rubbing a hand over his eyes, he asked himself what could have happened. As the reports continued to come in, one caught his attention.
"What did you say?" He interrupted quietly, dangerously.
"The Lady Serein fought with us much of the night, my lord, but our numbers were overwhelmed (there were only twenty-one of us, you see), and I believe two of the Uruk-hai took her."
"What!"
That's enough for one night. Bon appetit!
