Chapter 9

"Ride out with me." Everyone turned to Aragorn to see a determined look on his face. Arianna sighed and resettled her jacket over the bandage. The king looked like he had finally found a direction. "Ride out and meet them." Her twin finished.

"For death and glory." Théoden said, starting to look like a king again. It was about time, Arianna thought.

"For Rohan."

"For your people." Arianna added.

"The sun is rising." Gimli said softly. The sudden change in the pattern of the conversation startled Arianna into action. She ran to the back of the hall to the door which led to the underground stables. A few of the boys who'd been throwing rocks earlier followed her, including Háleth. They were stable boys anyway; it was what they did best. They hurried to the horses and quickly saddled them all, sending them upstairs to be claimed by their riders. When Arianna saddled Vanya, she led her upstairs, being the last rider to join the group. She jumped up into the saddle and took her place next to Legolas. Then above them, they heard a loud horn call. Arianna realized that someone was blowing the large horn on the statue of Helm Hammerhand, sounding the charge. She also noticed that Gimli wasn't there. She was surprised he'd given up battle to sound the horn, but then he did hate riding.

Then two soldiers pulled the doors open, they would shut and bar them again when they'd all gone. At the sound of the next horn call, Théoden led the group out the doors and down the stairs. They slashed at the surprised Uruk-hai as they went. Through the fortress they rode, none of the enemy prepared enough to defend themselves. When they charged through the gate above the causeway, they were simply bowling them all off the sides.

As they emerged into the large crowd of Uruk-hai, everyone slashed out in every direction. Legolas stayed on Arianna's left side since her left arm was too weak to hold a shield and was mostly unprotected. She cursed the wound, but was very glad that Legolas had opted not to leave her side. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that the hill in the east was starting to glow as if it was on fire. The sun was rising. She looked at it and saw a figure dressed in white, straddling a white horse.

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Marina held a wealth of rocks in the crook of her left arm, and was throwing them with deadly accuracy at the orcs that swarmed the ground. Pippin was doing the same, his shots just as dead on as hers. Marina was having the time of her life. Despite Treebeard's belief that the Ents wouldn't survive this attack, she'd known they had the upper hand. Not even Saruman was going to expect the Ents to fight back. And she'd been right. Now the orcs on the ground fought back in vain. They were too disorganized to have many successful assaults, and the few that were weren't successful for long.

Once the hobbits ran out of ammunition, Treebeard gave the order to break the dam. Saruman had dammed up the river to use its power for his own uses. Now, the Ents easily tore it apart. As the released river thundered down the mountain side, Marina gripped Treebeard's bark tightly.

"Hold on Pip!" she called to him.

"Hold on Little Hobbits!" Treebeard warned them both right before the waters crashed into them. The Ents all braced themselves against it, and Marina and Pippin held on tight so that the sudden force wouldn't knock them loose from their perch. Marina cheered as the water washed away much of Saruman's crude structures. If she was any happier, she was going to explode.

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"Gandalf." Arianna whispered, and then said it again louder so everyone would know. "It's Gandalf! He's returned!" She felt a smile break across her face as she saw another figure come up next to the wizard. He had a long horsetail on his helmet, and she knew it to be Èomer. She fought with new energy, knowing that help was on the way and that they might actually win this battle. Soon Gandalf and Èomer led the riders in a charge right down the steep hill. The enemy nearby got in a line and lowered their pikes, thinking the newcomers were about to practically commit suicide. But just before they reached the prepared Uruks, the sun crested the hill entirely, shining right into their faces. It was bright enough to be painful, and most of the Uruks raised their spears in their hurry to protect their eyes. Soon, they found themselves being torn to shreds by the White Wizard, Èomer and those who followed them. The group Arianna was fighting in charged towards the other group, and they met up in the middle of a panicked enemy. Shortly afterwards the Uruk-hai realized that they were losing and they fled to the entrance to the canyon. Arianna lined up with her fellow protector's of Helm's Deep, and they watched as the Uruks ran in fear into the trees.

"Wait…there wasn't a forest there before, was there?" she asked Legolas who shook his head. She sat up and smirked. "Well then, I guess Marina and Pippen did some good in Fangorn Forest after all." They watched as the last of the enemy ducked under the trees, heedless of their danger. Suddenly the trees started swaying and groaning. Horrible shrieks of pain and terror emerged, and Arianna wished she could cover her ears to block it out. She closed her eyes instead, and felt Legolas take her hand. The sounds faded away and she looked at him. His eyes asked if she was alright.

"It's over then. We won." She said softly. They all turned as one, letting Théoden take the lead back into the fortress. Once they were back they all split up, searching for their loved ones. Gimli came down and found Legolas, patting each other on the back and arguing over who'd gotten the most kills. Èowyn found Aragorn and embraced him tightly. Arianna watched these encounters feeling a bit jealous. But then she heard young voices calling out.

"Aunt Aria!" "Lady Aria!" She smiled and turned, ducking down so that various children she'd met could tackle her at their own level. She was hugged tightly by Freda and Èothain, then Haleth and one of his friends who she'd complimented on his speed at saddling a horse in the stables. They ran off again, back to find their parents. She grinned happily as Erynion landed gently on her shoulder. She had her own friends who cared about her. Legolas came up behind her and snaked his arms around her waist.

"You remember all that rest you said I needed?" she asked him. He nodded. "Well, I think I'm just about ready to pass out now." Legolas chuckled softly. He turned her sideways and picked her up bridal style. She laughed at him as he carried her somewhere where they'd be out of the way. Neither of them noticed the looks they were getting from others, but neither of them would have cared even if they had seen. Finally, Legolas found an empty corner that no one had claimed other than an empty basket that had once held potatoes. It was turned upside down in the corner, and Legolas set Arianna down next to it.

"I'll be right back." He told her, and went to find a blanket or something to hold off the chill. By the time he'd found one and returned, Arianna was fast asleep, leaning on the basket. Slowly and carefully, Legolas maneuvered the sleeping ranger about until he replaced the basket in the corner and she was laying on him. He settled back against the wall and looked down into Arianna's face. Her hair was drying by now, the strands around her face no longer plastered to her skin. Some was still tucked into a braid that still hung down behind her, brushing the ground as they were slouched down. Her eyes were closed, and the worry lines that had been around her eyes were gone in the first peaceful sleep she'd had for days. Legolas shifted a bit in order to drape the blanket over the both of them, and in her sleep, Arianna grabbed the front of his tunic, holding the fabric gently in her fist. He grinned before closing his own eyes. It may be the end of the battle, but this was the beginning of something new.

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Marina wandered about Isengard. The water from the river had finally stopped flowing and become a still lake. It came up over her waist, but she didn't mind. Being dirty had become second nature, and the water wasn't cold enough to bother her after nights of sleeping in the open. She came up behind Pippin who was watching Saruman's tower. The white wizard circled his balcony, overlooking Isengard with a look of disbelief. It seemed the possibility of failure had never occurred to him.

"Well he certainly doesn't look happy does he?" she asked her friend.

"Not to happy at all, Mari." Pippin said, sounding quite happy himself.

"I don't know why he's so upset. The view must be so much nicer now."

"Oh yes, it's a quality establishment." Pippin said professionally. The tone itself almost made Mari burst out laughing, never mind his words. "I hear the staff are very good." Marina looked him up and down. He was no longer taller than her by such a large margin and she grinned. Then she noticed he was watching her watch him and blushed. "What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Oh, nothing. It's just…things are back to normal. That's all." Pippin frowned.

"No it isn't. I'm starving." He complained and she laughed.

"That's not exactly abnormal, is it? You're always starving Pip." She pointed out. When she looked back, Pippin was following a trail of floating apples. He soon abandoned those for a full roast chicken! She hurried after him happily. She was starving herself, and she was sick and tired of lambas bread. She grabbed a carafe of wine. She could tell with a single sniff that it was the expensive stuff. She followed Pippin who was following the trail of food and stopped in astonishment. "Saruman's storeroom!" she exclaimed. "No wonder he's panicking, all the real food is out here!" she said as she inspected the shelves. Pippin splashed over to a large barrel marked 'South Farthing' and just stared at it.

"I don't believe it." He muttered. Marina came over as well to see what he was making such a fuss about.

"Is that…?" she asked softly. Pippin grabbed a barrel and opened it.

"It is! Longbottom Leaf, the finest pipe weed in the south farthing." He muttered, taking a deep breath of the scent of the dry tobacco leaves. Marin laughed at him, munching on a chicken drumstick in one hand and sipping from the carafe of wine in the other. Pippin stuffed his pipe and lit it quickly, but savored the first puff with everything he had. He hopped up onto a counter and leaned back against the wall while Marina just laughed again. "It's just like my dream! Now all you need is a pretty dress and place out of the water to dance!" he teased. Marina smirked and crooked her finger at him. He leaned down, expecting her to whisper something in his ear. Instead, she kissed him on the cheek and spun away again. She grabbed an apple and munched it happily, and when she glanced at Pippin to see his face blushing bright red, her smile only grew. But she just splashed her way out of the store room; the roof looked like it'd be a good place to get out of the water so she could enjoy her food without getting it wet. And the smile never left her face.

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Well that took longer than expected. Well, longer than i thought it would to remember that I hadn;t actually posted the final chapter of this story . I'm sooo sorry about that!

In any case, it's over! And I have to get my btut moving and get some good work done on Part three, which will be titled 'Finally...' Wll, that will have to wait until tomorrow at least, seeing as I have a HUGE midterm tomorrow that I am fully expecting to do badly on. So while i'm studying my butt off, you can settle down to wait for the next part to be written, lucky you! Or not...

Well, I hope you've enjoyed Part Two fo this series, and I hope you're as excited as i am for the next part. Please review and let me kow what you thought! Or you can throw large heavy objects at my head in order to make me hurry with the next part :P Toodles!

Your Humble Authoress,

Whisperwings