Ch. 10: The Valley of the Hornburg

Kylie opened her eyes. Did she actually black out? If she did, it was impossible to tell for sure. There was still a fierce battle going on around her. She pulled the arrow out of her arm and stood up to shoot as many Uruk-hai as possible. With luck, nobody would notice her. She ran closer to the stairs and pulled her bowstring back. The shot went out, and it looked like it hit an orc. She fired again. Still, the Uruk-hai seemed to not notice her.

"Kylie!" She turned to see Aragorn running towards the stairs frantically. He was covered in dust and his lip was bleeding. "Come with me, I need your help."

Kylie nodded and sprinted after him. "What's the deal? What happened?"

"The enemy is on the causeway! It is bad enough that they have created an entrance through the wall, but they absolutely must not win the causeway! We would lose all advantage we have!"

"What do you mean?"

"Even when they are down there, we possess the high ground. We can shoot them and keep them from entering the deep part of the Hornburg. But if they enter through the main gates…" Aragorn shook his head and they continued running.

For some reason, Kylie thought the chaos would die down once she and Aragorn reached the upper levels. She was wrong. Sure, there were no orcs, but soldiers and other men were sprinting to the gates. They were shaking. As they got closer, Kylie could hear the gate rumbling and harsh voices on the other side.

"Cover us if they break through," said Aragorn as he ran to support the door.

Kylie took the orcish arrow out of her quiver and notched it onto her bow. Right now, there was nothing to shoot at. They still hadn't broken into the door.

"Lord Aragorn, how holds the valley?" asked King Théoden.

"If we can hold the door we may hold the valley," he said shortly. "Do we have anything else to secure this?"

"Not that I can see. We can perhaps use rubble from the valley," said Éomer.

"Nay, perhaps we ought to use that to refill that part of the wall. Master Gimli, would you be of any assistance?"

Gimli grunted. "We dwarves do not shape our great halls with battle axes and fingernails! Still, I will do what I can."

Théoden nodded. "Do that! The door will hold for moments longer. Where is your elf friend? It would be better if they have some sort of cover."

"He is still calling shots from the wall," said Kylie. "I can do it!"
"I would prefer you to stay here," said Aragorn.

"Yet she is right. You do have skill with a bow," Théoden addressed her. "Go now!"

"Kylie, try to find Boromir there if you can. He can be of help!"

"Sure thing!" she nodded and followed Gimli and Éomer back down the flight of stairs. She thought about shooting an orc or two on the way, but she just couldn't. Her arms were tired enough as it was, and she was dangerously low on arrows. She just tried grabbing arrows off the ground while avoiding the trampling Uruk-hai, their swords, their projectiles, and any sort of friendly fire.

It was much easier said than done.

Thankfully, it helped her run into Boromir. Literally.

"Umph!" he cried as they were knocked to the ground.

"Boromir! We need your help to fix the wall!"

He looked curiously at her, but nodded and began to follow. They ducked behind a large boulder with Éomer and Gimli.

"Argh! These rocks have been blown good," said Gimli. "Still, this explosion could have been much worse."

"In what way?" cried Boromir, rubbing his side. "It nearly blew me off the wall!"

"Look," pointed Gimli. "There are remains of five separate barrels. The force of that sort of explosion should have blown you straight to the heavens."

Boromir nodded slowly.

"Hurry, we must work quickly if we want to do any good here," said Éomer.

Gimli responded by choosing a particularly large boulder and rolling it towards the base of the wall.

"Cover us. If the Uruks try to give us trouble, give them trouble," said Boromir. With that, he started to work on a boulder close by.

Kylie did. She climbed on top of the largest boulder she could find and kept her eyes on the other three. Her arrow was notched and she was ready to fire. A few minutes and two arrows later, and everybody had been successfully defended. Only a few stray Uruks had come by, but Kylie saw them soon enough to shoot them without any trouble. She almost thought her job would be easy.

How wrong she was.

Almost as soon as she shot that third orc, it seemed like all of the others in the entire battle realized exactly what they were doing. Before she realized what was going on, Boromir was attacked viciously by three Uruks.

"BOROMIR!" she screamed, trying to fire an arrow. But she just could not get a clear shot. Kylie tried to shoot at an orc coming towards Gimli, but she barely missed the dwarf's head. It was almost as if every Uruk-hai warrior not already inside the walls was attempting to thwart their last attempts at some kind of defense. And the orcs were doing a very good job. Many men came to help them, but the orcs kept pouring in. Kylie tried frantically to defend everybody, but it was completely useless. She put her bow away and pushed at the rocks herself.

"No!" cried Éomer. "Fall back! The wall is lost! To the causeway!"

Boromir took off sprinting, but Gimli stayed where he was. "No Uruk-hai will cross this lane while I have a say!"

"No Gimli, that's suicide! We need you!" cried Kylie, who tried to drag the dwarf back. Gimli stood firm in his position. In any other situation, it all would have looked quite hilarious.

"Leave me be!"
"No Master dwarf, she is right!" cried Éomer. "Better to fall back and live to defend but a little longer! Come!" Gimli growled, but turned to run back to the stairs.

They were too late. There was a sea of orcs between them and the stairs to the upper part of the keep.

"What now?" cried Kylie, unsheathing her dagger and picking up a few more arrows.
"To the caves! There is a door off in the corner. From there we can circle to the keep. Come!" cried Éomer, "With me! Fall back with me!"

Every human (and unfortunately a few Uruks) followed the Captain of Rohan, racing to a door that was hiding in the back of the cliff. Kylie positioned herself at the frame of the door to shoot a few last arrows to take out a few of the orcs that were following them. She pulled back and released an arrow that miraculously hit an orc square in the face. She pulled back on her bow again and hit another. She tried a third time, but pulled back too quickly. The arrow went flying, but pain coursed through her arm. It felt like she tore a muscle or something. Thankfully, a few men beyond the door turned and started to fight the Uruk-hai.

"In! Now!" Éomer grabbed the girl, pulling her inside just as they shut the door.

"Wait! What about everybody else?" she cried as the wooden door slammed shut.

Éomer shook his head solemnly. "You saw. The Uruks were coming too close. Any closer and our only means of defense would be gone."

"But…."

"They knew they were not going to make it. Why do you think they turned to fight?" said another man solemnly.

"Aye, they gave everything they had to this fight. All I can hope is that it is not all for naught," grunted Gimli.

"What do you mean?" asked Kylie slowly, massaging her arm.

The dwarf sighed. "The Uruk-hai will make quick work of that wooden door and we will be sitting ducks, along with the women and children further down the tunnels."

Éomer cursed.

"Then what are we waiting for?" said a boy about Kylie's age. "We need to barricade the door! Come Master dwarf, help me move this rock."