I'M SORRY, SO SORRY, SO SORRY! I'm a horrible updater, I know, don't rub it in! Here we are;
Guest- thanks. I love that I'm not alone in this!
Finalfan21- thanks. I like it too.
ShadowRealmTriforce- yeah, he really is….
*L*
The marching and thumping grew louder and louder with the oncoming of Saurman's army. Lightning flashed and it began to rain. Just our luck, Gwen thought exasperatedly. While the Uruk-Hai army continued to march at the fortress, an Uruk-Hai leader stepped on a rock outcrop. He was just as ugly as the ones Gwen remembered, but with so much more war paint. The mere sight of the creatures sent slight shiver down the elf lady's back.
Aragorn meanwhile had taken it upon himself to give commands to the Elf Warriors, since he knew what to expect better that almost anyone, besides maybe Legolas. "A Eruchîn, ú-dano i faelas a hyn an uben tanatha le faelas! (Show them no mercy! For you shall receive none!)" Every one of the elves nodded in grim understanding; they knew the risks, and they knew that most of them might not survive the intense battle sure to come. It is a sad sort of feeling, knowing you are staring your own death in its face, defying it. It has a sinking and tightening grip on you, but you do it anyways. What is a cause if not worth dying for?
Out in the fields the Uruk-Hai leader raised his swords and commanded his army to stop with a terrifying animalistic cry. The Uruks stopped and growled in anticipation of the upcoming battle and slaughter. The sound was like a knife grating across stone.
The walling of Helm's Deep was a little too high for Gimli, who was anxiously jumping and straining to see the events presiding below. "What's happening out there?" He growled, hopping on one foot and then the other in anticipation. Legolas laughed and smiled down at the dwarf. "Shall I describe it to you?" The prince then smirked. "Or would you like me to find you a box?" Gimli laughed good naturedly and did not replied.
Suddenly the Uruk's Leader cried out once, encouraging the Uruk-Hai to start roaring and thumping their spears furiously. At the sound Gwen imagined the women and children in the caves huddling together in fear, what she might've done if she wasn't where she was now. After a bit the roaring quieted at last and eerie calmness reigned. Everyone at some point, elves included, shifted around uncomfortably. Who would strike first?
They found out quickly. Aldor, the old man next to Haleth (the boy Aragorn and Gwen had spoken to earlier), lost his grip and released his arrow prematurely, shooting an Uruk-Hai in the neck. The disgusting creature squealed in pain. If it had been in open battle and Aldor been younger than he was now it would've been hailed a good shot, but not today. Every man within the Deep cringed and cowered in fear of retaliation from Saurman's army. The elves had, for lack of a better word, more self-control, but they too grimaced. "No," Gwen murmured softly to herself, not caring who heard her. "Now we're in for it."
"Dartho! (Hold!)" Aragorn commanded in Elvish. No one dared disobey. All thoughts were on the Uruk-Hai, whose black, beady, soulless eyes gleamed with open malice. The Uruk-Hai army stopped their roaring and thumping which had begun at the fall of their comrade. With a hollow groan, the Uruk that was shot collapsed to the ground. The other Uruk-Hai bared their teeth and roared with anger (Gwen was getting tired of all their pointless sound making). With a cry, the Uruk-Hai leader thrust his weapon in the air and the Uruk-Hai army started the charge.
"Tangado halad! (Prepare to fire!)" Aragorn shouted amidst the war cries, brandishing his sword. The Elves notched their arrow and aimed. He turned to face Legolas. "Get ready, they're coming!" Legolas rolled his eyes and did as instructed. "As f I didn't know." He looked over at Gwen, who'd also drawn her blades. "Where's your bow and arrows?"
Gwen bit her lip. "Archery wasn't really my strong suit when I was training," she told him over the howling winds. Legolas snatched a bow and a full quiver and thrust them into her hands. "Well then, now's a good time to re-learn. I'll talk you through it-"
"Are you insane?"
The elf grinned slightly and he took aim, winking at her. "The insane, Gwen, on occasion, are not without their charms." Gwen rolled her eyes but loaded the bow anyways. "Aright, how do I do this?"
"Ok, so draw the arrow back behind your ear, maybe an inch or so. Got it?"
Gwen nodded and pulled back. "Yes, now what?"
"Aim it at your target. This time around find a standstill, something not likely to move for a bit. Later we'll move towards moving targets."
"Found one."
"Good. Where are you aiming the tip of your arrow at?"
"What?"
"Which part of the body?"
"The head."
"Aim lower."
"But won't it hit the chest instead? You don't stand a chance of killing someone from this range with a single arrow to the chest! Breastplates, remember?"
"You want to hit the head, right?"
"Well yes-"
"Then aim lower! Trust me, a beginner's aim is always higher than the tip of the arrow. If you want the arrow to go through the head you aim lower than you mean! Faeg i-varv dîn na lanc a nu ranc. (Their armor is weak at the neck and beneath the arms.)"
Gwen rolled her eyes but aimed at the neck. "Fine! Now what?"
Around that time Aragorn decided to give his next orders. "Leithio i philinn! (Release the arrows!)" Legolas didn't have time to instruct Gwen any longer, however inexperience she was. "Fire, Gwen! Fire now!" Arrows rained down on the Uruk-Hai below, killing many. From amidst the bellows of the dying creatures the elf heard Gwen groan. "Missed!"
"Try again!" he commanded, firing two at one time in opposite directions. "You'll get better, I promise!" Gwen mumbled her annoyance but did as instructed. She released several more, some hitting and some not, before Legolas lost count and focused on his own scoring.
"Did they hit any?" Gimli asked in concern, talking about the arrows they'd just released. "I hope so," Legolas replied, casting an already-broken arrow aside and searching for another one. "We're lost without them!"
From across the way Theoden was commanding his own battalion of archer, most of them underage and scared half to death. The fact that they were in the presence of a very angry king made it even harder. "Give them a volley!" he commanded. Gamling motioned at his men, shouting "Fire!" and they did so. Most missed their marks. More arrows were released. They were many, but the Uruk-Hai army keep advancing, with more replacing those fallen.
"Fire!" Aragorn commanded for the umpteenth time. The elves raised their bows and shot their arrows high into the sky. More cries of pain and death. Gimli roared and banged his shield and axe together. "C'mon, send em' to me!" he growled impatiently.
It seemed the Uruk-Hai heard his wish, because almost immediately after he said so they started to load ladders onto the walls, pushing them up with their long spears and hammering them into the wall. "Pendraid! (Ladders!)" Aragorn shouted at the elves in warning. At once Gwen dropped her bow and quiver in favor of her blades. Gimli laughed gruffly in delight. The two made eye contact and drew their weapons.
"Now we'll see a real fight, eh M'Lady?" Gimli asked in excitement. Gwen laughed as well, her gray eyes on the approaching creatures. "Indeed. We shall share many a fine tale of victory after this battle- if we don't die in the process, that is."
The dwarf just laughed again, but his eyes shone with uncertainty. "I hope not. For both our sakes."
Meanwhile the Elves behind them had drawn their blades in preparation for combat. The first ladders were almost reaching the walls, with big nasty Uruk Berserkers on top of them. Gwen shuddered inwardly. The memories of late were always unpleasant, especially involving Saurman and his army.
"Swords, swords!" Aragorn could be heard screaming.
"Good!" Gimli chanted. Both voices were already raw, Legolas could tell. He fired another arrow, favoring his trusty bow to all else, but still kept his long knives close. He'd be needing them, he could tell.
Moments later close combat began as the Uruk-Hai scaled over the wall. They came in waves, some faster than others, some uglier than most, but all with the same intention- to kill men. Hatred was in the creature's hearts- fear terrorized man's. With hundreds of hasty, vicious cries the Uruk-Hai lunged at the Rohirrim and elven warriors and the battle began.
Gimli started hacking away at the ugly beings the moment one came at him. He swung his axe at all sides, hollering war cries only he himself could understand. Had the situation had better Legolas might've found it comical. "Take that you measly grubs! You wart-infested swine! Come and yet me, let me avenge my fallen brethren with the spilling of your blood!" No one knew that Gimli had still kept a grudge against Saurman's army for their deeds back in Moria.
Gwen had been pushed back towards the far eastern wall, within sight of Legolas's eye but not completely distinguishable. Her sword and dagger were a swirl of gold and silver, slicing up enemy personage with no mercy. She was backed, in turn, by several elves from Lothlorien. Despite their brief companionship they seemed to work well together, shouting words of encouragement or impaling an Uruk who got too close to a fellow comrade. Haldir had saved Gwen's neck several times in the past hour alone.
"Legolas, two already!" Gimli shouted above the battle's noise, referring to their competition. He held up two fingers proudly. Legolas laughed and couldn't help but puff himself up as well. "I'm on seventeen!
The poor dwarf, was outraged. "Argh! I'll have no pointy-ear outscoring me!" He turned to an Uruk just climbing over the wall, whacking it in the groin with his axe and killing it as it fell. It wasn't pleasant to watch. "There!" he applauded himself. "Long range weaponry my arse!"
Legolas fired two more arrows. "Nineteen!" Gimli roared in frustration again and dove back into the fray. He clambered up onto the outer wall beside him and started to tear across it, decapitating the enemy as he went using his own axe and one he had 'borrowed' from a fallen soldier. He kept gleefully calling out his score as he went. "Seventeen! Eighteen! Nineteen! Twenty! Twenty-one! Twenty-two!"
Below him the Uruk-Hai were still attempting to break into the fortress via the Causeway. A group of Uruk-Hai was quickly advancing on the road towards the gate in tortoise formation, using their broad shields to block off attacks. Aragorn caught it and scanned the area around him for Legolas, Gwen or any other elf. "Na fennas! (Causeway!)" he bellowed into the fighting. He directed them towards the Causeway, to aim at the Uruk-Hai column.
Any free Elven archer was at his side in an instant. The archers drew back, smooth as a breeze, and released their arrows. The Uruk-Hai at the sides were pinned down and fell down the Causeway or off the sides, screaming all the way to their deaths. Many were killed. The elves were excellent shots, but the column kept advancing. At the bottom of the Deeping Wall, two spiky bombs lodged in the sluice gate. The rest opened up a path and an Uruk-Hai carrying a torch started to run towards the gateway. Aragorn immediately recognized the Uruk-Hai's threat and found Legolas, who was over across the way slaughtering a quad of enemy soldiers with his two long knives.
"Togo hon dad, Legolas! (Bring him down, Legolas!)" the Gondorian heir ordered, shouting at his Fellowship companion. Legolas snapped his head over at see him, copied once and took aim at the creature. He shot with perfect aim and precision. The arrow pierced the Uruk-Hai in the shoulder, to which it cried out in pain, but the latter kept going. "Dago hon! Dago hon! (Kill him! Kill him!)" Aragorn continued shouting, but to no extant avail.
This time Legolas was furious. He shot the Uruk again. It stumbled and then threw itself at the target with its dying breath. The torch rolled across the ground, directly at the bombs. For a split second the earth stood still as all around watched it tumble across the stones-
BOOM!
An enormous explosion was set off upon impact, blowing away a large part of the wall. Rock, debris and bodies were thrown up and rained down upon all, grotesque and intrinsic. Aragorn was also thrown back by the force of the explosion and on the ground, knocked out. Théoden, just finished slaying an Uruk, looked on in shock as the Uruk-Hai streamed in past the Deeping Walls. The beholding on his face was that of shock and –he'd never admit it- fear. This had not been done in hundreds of years.
"Brace the gate!" the king of Rohan ordered, pointing at the gaping hole in his city. "Hold them! Stand firm!" The remainder of his free guards did as instructed and rushed at the walls, knowing full well it was suicide and praying for a swift and merciful death. Meanwhile Gimli spotted the Uruk-Hai charging in, with Aragorn in their path. With a cry of monstrosity, he jumped down from the wall and landed on the Uruk-Hai army, taking them out as he stood and hacked away at their onslaught. But they kept coming.
Though he fought bravely, he was soon overpowered. Aragorn got back up, drenched in sweat, water, blood and tears just in time to see Gimli falling. "Gimli!" He yelled to the Elves behind him "Hado i philinn! (Hurl the arrows!)" The darts took out the first group of Uruk-Hai coming through the hole in the wall. "Herio! (Charge!)"
Aragorn led the Elves in a charge towards the Uruk-Hai streaming in the wall. They were overrunning the city. He rushed to Gimli's side and scooped him up, hoping, no, praying, that the dwarf was still alive. At the top of the battlements, Legolas grabbed a shield and sent it sliding across the ground and down the stairs. He then hopped onto it and surfed down the steps, releasing three arrows as he went. He stopped at the bottom briefly and expertly kicked the shield to stab an Uruk-Hai as he landed at the bottom. It went down without a peep.
Gwen was watching from above with Haldir, who was standing behind her fending off a trio of Uruks with little difficulty. "You've done this before, Haldir?" she asked as she fought, stabbing a creature with her knife before slitting it's throat.
"It has been a while," the elf admitted. "Many years since I last laid eyes on a fight like this. I pity the poor souls." "Why do you say that?" Gwen asked the Silvan elf curiously, breaking an Uruk's arm before sending it over the edge with another one of its friends. Haldir shrugged and stabbed two more in the gut. "War is not necessary. If only man could understand that, he would be totally free." Gwen nodded wholeheartedly. "We are in complete agreement there."
Suddenly a cry rang out above all the rest, almost inaudible to those farther away but completely distinct to Elven ears. "Na Barad! Na Baraad! Haldir, Camaessel, na Barad! (To the Keep! Pull back to the Keep! Haldir, Camaessel, to the Keep!)" It was Aragorn's voice, filled with regret but clear as day. Haldir's eyes darted to Aragorn's position and nodded before turning back to Gwen.
"Lady Camaessel, we must go! We will die if we don't!" Gwen seemed hesitant to retreat- it was not in her pride-driven nature- but she followed him always, darting in front of him and bounding as swift as a deer towards the inner Keep. Haldir turned to finish off the last few Uruk-Hai. In the distance Gimli's voice could be heard protesting to Aragorn "What are you doing? Argh! What are you stopping for?" The marchwarden pivoted to the side, cleaved two more creatures in equal cuts and turned back to follow Gwen to the gate. She was standing well out of anyone's line of fire, frantically beckoning him forward. "Come Haldir! What are you waiting for?" He started to run, but at the last second a knifepoint penetrated his flesh and cut deep into his arm.
With a grimace, he killed the Uruk-Hai and looked down as his wound in seeming disbelief. Gwen's voice now seemed so far away, her screaming barely jolting him back to reality. Far too late, he looked up to see an Uruk-Hai come up from behind him unnoticed and slit his throat. Blood surged out the deep wound in his neck. The elf's knees gave way and his vision blurred. As Haldir went down he looked around him and saw his kin fallen among dead Uruk-Hai.
Aragorn heard Gwen's cries and turned just in time to see Haldir fall to the ground. "HALDIR!" He ran up the steps to Haldir's side and caught him as he collapsed. Haldir's head rolled back, his eyes gazing over, empty and unseeing. Aragorn bows his head in grief. His eyesight went red as rage pumped through his veins. Then, with a cry, he jumped onto a ladder and swung down to the ground, killing as many Uruks as he went. There was no battle now- just him and the murderers.
*L*
Gwen bounded over and knelt Haldir's side as soon as Aragorn had gone, tears streaming down her face. She bent over and grasped his shoulders, desperately trying to shake away a dead man. "Haldir!" she kept screaming, trembling herself and jostling the body with no avail. She even snatched up his wrist to feel for a pulse. Legolas found her side and tried taking her hand to pull her away. "He's dead Gwen; he's gone. There's nothing you can do. We've got to go-"
"No!" she shrieked, gripping Haldir's hand even tighter. "He deserves better! He needs a proper-"The rest of her sentence was cut off as another Uruk charged at them. Legolas swiftly and with no hesitation threw his knife and buried it deep inside its skull. Then he grabbed Gwen's arms, both this time, and forced her to run. "Get to the gate! Get to the gate!"
And then they ran.
Again, terribly sorry I haven't updated in a bit. Testing's the worst- but I guess you don't want excuses. I hope I'm not too condemned to ask for reviews, am I?
BTW, if you would be so kind as to check out Poof double poof's story 'Elven Attractions' that'd be really cool. I read it, and it's very intriguing!
TBC…
