CHAPTER X: SURPRISE!!!
"I will take you to the western borders of the forest. You can make your way north to your homeland from there." Treebeard told Duri, Merry and Pippin, as they sat sullenly in his branches.
Pippin seemed to be deep in thought, suddenly he yelled, "Stop! Wait! Turn around! Take us south!"
"Why are we going south? What's south?" Duri queried.
"South? But that would…take you past Isenguard." Treebeard realised.
"Exactly! If we go south, we can slip by Isenguard unnoticed. The closer we are to danger, the farther we are from harm, is the last thing he'll expect!" Pippin figured.
"It's the last thing I'd expect too!" Duri said incredulously.
"Hmm," Treebeard seemed to be trying, failing to comprehend, "That doesn't make sense to me…but then again, you are very small. Perhaps you're right. South it is!" Treebeard turned around and headed towards Isenguard, "I always liked going south. It somehow feels like going downhill."
Merry looked furiously at Pippin.
"Are you mad?" he whispered, "We'll be caught!"
"And killed, if I know Ugluk!" Duri said sourly.
"No we won't. Not this time!" said Pippin.
"Oh really? And how do you figure that then, eh?" Duri whispered.
"Never mind! If you're too slow to get it, then you won't!" Pippin stated proudly.
They reached the southern edge of the forest and could clearly see Isenguard ahead.
Treebeard was cut off in mid-sentence as he saw the plain of hacked-down Ents. He gasped, and looked around, "Many of these trees were my friends, Ents I had known from nut and acorn!"
"I'm sorry, Treebeard!" said Pippin.
"They had voices of their own!…Saruman!" he said angrily, looking down at Isenguard, "A wizard should know better!" he then proceeded to roar loudly.
Duri blocked her ears, and scowled, "Thanks Pippin! Thanks a lot! Now not only are we going to have 'slip through Isenguard unnoticed', we're going to have to do it deaf!"
"Shhh!" Pippin shushed her loudly, and she shook her fist at him.
"There is no curse in Elvish, Entish or all the tongues of men for this treachery! My business is with Isenguard tonight, with the rock and stone!"
"That's…very…deep…and…mystical, Treebeard, but seriously, Pippin, I don't see how this helps our…" Duri was shushed by Merry, as they heard a strange sound.
They looked behind them only to see at least 30 different Ents coming out of the forest.
"…Predicament." Duri finished her sentence in awe, as it finally dawned on her what was going on.
"Yes!" said Merry, who had obviously just caught on as well.
"Now do you see my wonderful and immaculately perfectionalised plan?" gloated Pippin.
"Hmmph…" muttered Duri sourly.
"Come, my friends." growled Treebeard to the Ents, "The Ents are going to war. It is likely…that we go to our doom!" he turned and began walking down the hill towards Isenguard. "The last march of the Ents." he said, as the other Ents followed him.
Duri looked up at him strangely.
* * *
A small group of knights and women were desperately barricading the gate to the castle. Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, Oli and Moni were among them.
"Olivia! Help me with this bench!" yelled Aragorn, lifting one end of a large bench up.
Oli ran over and lifted the other end, heaving as they carried it towards the door, which the Orcs were bombarding with a battering ram.
"Too heavy for you?" teased Legolas.
"Shut up and help!" Oli demanded, motioning to a few chairs in the corner.
"The fortress is taken!" grouched Theoden, "It is over!"
"Like hell it is!" Oli yelled, holding her hurt arm, "I'm not giving up! If you want to, then go down to the shelter with the women and children!"
"How dare you!" Theoden roared.
"She is right! You said this fortress would never be taken as long as your men defended it! They have steeled it, they have died defending it!" Aragorn backed her up.
"Speaking of the women and the children, is there no way for them to escape?" Legolas pointed out, eager to get rid of Oli and Moni.
Theoden was silent.
"Is there no other way?" Aragorn prodded.
"There is one way…it leads to the mountains. But they will not get far, the Uruk Hai are too many!" said Glaming.
"Then send word for the women and children to make for the mountain pass, and barricade the exit!" Aragorn stated.
"Oli, Moni, that's your cue to go!" said Legolas happily.
"Dream on! We're staying right here! Don't like it? Shove it!" Moni gave him the finger, then turned to help with the door.
"The sun is rising!" said Gimli.
"Gandalf should be here soon!" thought Oli.
"So much death," whined Theoden, "What can men do against such reckless hate?"
Legolas opened his mouth to say 'Die', when Aragorn came up with an idea.
"Ride out with me! Ride out and meet them!"
"Are you suicidal?" Oli queried, "Or just plain mad?"
"For death, and glory!" Theoden said.
"For Rohan, and your people! You got some screwed up priorities!" Moni stated.
"Yes," said Theoden, "The horn of Helm Hammerhand shall sound in the Deep…one last time."
"…Ok, what?" asked Moni incredulously.
"Y…yes!" said Gimli, shrugging at the glance he received from Legolas, "We may not understand what he's going on about but I get the gist!"
"Let this be the hour when we draw swords together!" Theoden said to Aragorn, who nodded.
"Gimli, blow the horn!" said Legolas.
"What? Me?! You're the lightest of the bunch, why can't you climb up and blow it?" Gimli protested.
"Because Theoden said you're supposed to do it!" lied Legolas.
"Well…why can't we do paper, scissor, rock?" said Gimli in desperation.
"And what in Elendil's name is that?" said Legolas incredulously.
"A game Duri taught me," Gimli said, dismissivley.
"Right then, that's it! I'm not playing it!" Legolas closed his eyes and crossed his arms.
"Oh! Blast it, it's always me who has to do everything!" Gimli grudgingly climbed the tower and sounded the horn.
"Fell deeds awake," said Theoden, "Now for wrath, now for ruin, and the red dawn!"
Oli and Moni looked at each other.
"Why the red dawn?" asked Moni.
"Because…of all…the blood!" Oli said grouchily.
Moni looked at her and they rolled their eyes, "We're all gonna die!"
They got up on their horse and Moni held out her hand as Legolas opened his mouth to protest.
"Save it Elfie!" she said with a relish.
They all mounted their horses just as the Orcs broke through the gate.
"For Theolindil!" yelled Theoden.
"Alright, now he's just being a copycat!" said Legolas sourly.
They charged out of the room, trampling the Uruk Hai in their way as they rode through Helm's Deep, and into the bleak daylight.
Oli and Moni were hacking desperately with their swords, while trying to steer their horse to keep up with the men. They rode down the steps and out through the broken gate onto the Orc-filled ledge, slicing through them like butter on their way down.
As they hit the field, Orcs surrounded them on every side. Moni winced as an Orc sword pierced her leg. It did not get far, as Oli swiftly killed it.
Moni looked down at her calf. Blood was soaking through the hole in her pants. It appeared to be a skin wound.
"I'll be fine!" she assured Oli.
"You'll have to be, like me and my Orc-bite!" Oli replied.
At that moment, a brilliant glow appeared on the horizon at the top of the hill, and they turned to see a white rider gallop up and pull his horse to a halt.
"Gandalf!" said Aragorn.
Most of the Orcs stopped and turned as well.
Legolas was chasing one particularly large Orc who just wouldn't die. He had stabbed him three different times and he was still fine. In fact he was so peachy he had stabbed Legolas back, in the thigh, and Legolas was determined to get revenge. He had just reached him and was about to slice off its head when an arrow hit it in the jugular vein. It gargled blood and fell to the ground dead.
Furious, Legolas looked up in the direction the arrow had come from. He saw the hill, the light, and then the rider, who he recognised as Gandalf. There was a smaller rider who looked similar to an Elf, and was holding a bow.
She looked strangely familiar. She had a big cheeky grin on her face.
"What," yelled Legolas in anger, "is she doing here?"
Heather shrugged at him and then she and her horse were shoved aside for Eomer, who approached Gandalf.
"Theoden king stands alone." said Gandalf.
"Not alone," Eomer corrected. "ROHIRRIM!" He yelled, drawing his sword.
A small line of horsemen was seen behind him.
"Eomer!" Theoden smiled.
"To the King!" he yelled.
"To the king!" they yelled, and then Gandalf charged, followed by Eomer, and at least five thousand horsemen.
The Orcs ran to formation, sticking spears in the ground and growling and drooling.
"Eww," thought Heather, as she struggled to keep her balance on her horse, as the hill was extremely steep.
At that moment, the sun rose, and (combined of course with Gandalf's spells) shone extra brightly and blinded the Orcs who began to howl.
"Ha, ha! Not so tough now, are ya…punk!" Heather yelled, as they clashed with the loosely held spears of the Orcs.
Heather subtly copied Eomer in the hopes of not getting run through, and pulled out her daggers Haldir had given her, slicing through orcs and metal.
"Hey…is that…Heather?!" questioned Aragorn to Legolas incredulously.
"So I'm not just having nightmares! How in Middle Earth did she get back on our tail?" Legolas yelled.