A/N: Hey, all. Not a long Author's Note here; we all know what's about to happen. Enjoy my attempt at writing action from the point of view of a girl in a cave! R&R, please! And enjoy.

Disclaimer:I own nothing except Kayla Harris. All rights for Lord of the Rings belong to J.R.R. Tolkien and his family. I also do not own any other references made throughout this story.

Journey to a Curious Place

Chapter Thirteen:

Playing Battleship is easier than sitting in a Cave

Waiting for a battle to start is like waiting for The Ball to drop in Times Square on New Year's Eve. At the last second, everything can fall apart, and someone could end up getting squished. At least, that's how I always viewed it. The point is: it's stressful, not fun, and I hated it. I'm not sure if comparing someone getting squished by the New Year's Eve ball is even remotely close to someone dying in battle, with a sword through their gut, but I didn't care at this point. If I was going to die tonight, dammit, I would compare battle to whatever the hell I wanted to.

Word had come not long after we had descended into the caves, that some of the elves of Lórien had shown up to help defend the people of Rohan – Aragorn's doing, no doubt. I had breathed a sigh of relief when I heard, since that meant at least Helm's Deep had a few more reinforcements, and perhaps a smaller chance and surviving a little longer. At this point, I wasn't counting on Gandalf returning with the Rohirrim, or at all for that matter. I was too superstitious that I had royally screwed up all of this to even begin to imagine a world where everything was sunshine and rainbows, and no one important to me died or got hurt.

Despite the underground caverns beneath Helm's Deep being so vast and empty, no sound echoed within them. There was only the soft drip, drip of water on the stalagmites and stalactites that surrounded us. I could hear a child, perhaps a baby, crying somewhere within the caves, and the only other sound was the rustling and shuffling of those within the caves. Everyone was still and silent as the grave, awaiting what could be our demise, or victory.

Bera was sitting with me, her golden head in her hands, and her skin nearly as pale as mine. She looked as awful as I felt. We had already been down here for over an hour, and couldn't hear anything from above us. The only thing I could hear, if I strained my ears enough, was the distant sound of rain and, once every few minutes, the rumbles of thunder. I knew it wouldn't be long before the sounds of battle, death, and destruction made their way to us.

We had brought what we could down into the caves with us – food, water, blankets, and even a wagon or two so the more severely injured could lay down and rest. We had even managed to grab a few weapons, just in case things went from bad to worse really quickly. There were a few swords, daggers, and a few dozen arrows, complete with bows to fire said arrows. It wasn't much, but in the thick of fear and demise, we needed a means to fight until we could fight no longer.

It was into the second hour of sitting in the damp, cold, and miserable cave that we heard it. The shouting and, not long after, clanging of metal on metal.

Each bang and clang from above us sent wave after wave of fear rushing through me. I didn't know if each shout of pain I heard, or each roar from one of the beasts up there, or even the clashing or swords and shields, meant someone I knew had died. I prayed every time I heard a dying yell from a man or elf above us, that it wasn't one of the Fellowship, or Théoden.

It was the waiting that caused the most agony for me. It was sitting there, knowing that, at any moment, it could all be over. I had no idea what was going to happen, and it was slowly making me go insane. In fact, it was starting to get to me so much, that my lower abdomen was starting to hurt, almost like an ache –

Wait a second.

Oh, hell no.

It hadn't really occurred to me until now that, during the entire month-and-a-bit that I had been here, I hadn't once, not once, had a certain… Shall we say, "Visit"? I mean, when one is put under a shit ton of stress, both physically and mentally, in this case from being thrown into a world that was not only not mine, but fictional, one's body can react badly. Something my body did sometimes was make me "late", despite that fact that I took precautions to make my "lateness" not a thing. My body liked to hate me, and make me suffer for either twice the amount of time I usually had to, or make me wait a week longer than I needed to, and then surprise me. I suppose seeing as how much stress I had been under lately, it made sense that it would come late.

But now? Why the hell now?

Fuck.

I excused myself to Bera, and grabbed my pack, which lay next to me on the ground. As I scurried away to hide behind a stalagmite, I frantically searched inside for a, well, a-you-know-what. Thankfully, and I mean thank-fuck-fully, I found that I had three, actually. This wouldn't help me tomorrow, but at least for now, I had something. I made myself decent, and scurried back to my spot next to Bera. She raised a questioning eyebrow, but said nothing, and went back to looking melancholy, and I went back to being broody.

I mean, it made sense as to why I had been more emotional than usual in these last few days. Hell, it explained why I'd been nicer to Boromir, too. Not that I was mean to him (not intentionally, anyway. [Okay, maybe a little, sometimes.]) But normally, I wouldn't be so "I want to listen to your problems" or "HUG ME". I would be kind, of course, but I had been more emotionally distraught than I think I normally would have been had my body not been hating on me. It made more sense now – how I had been feeling lately could be linked to this, and only this. Right? But still, why did it have to happen now? As if the universe wasn't be shitty enough as it was. I pitied whoever had to deal with me with my emotions went from sad to horrifying.

BOOM!

My head shot up, and for a moment I was distracted from the ache in my abdomen as the cave shook around us. It had sounded like an explosion. Had the walls already been breached? My eyes flew to Éowyn, who stood nearby. Her gaze fell on Bera and I, and I saw her normally pale skin had lost even more of its colour.

She approached us slowly, taking care to keep her voice down. "We must move further into the caves." Her tone was grave, and I felt fear tug at my heart.

"What do you mean, my Lady?" Bera asked, her voice barely above a whisper, and her young face terrified.

Éowyn was about to respond, when another distant blast echoed throughout our stone prison. This time however, I heard another noise coupled with the ringing of the explosion. It sounded like scurrying, or perhaps the sound of…

Voices.

I froze, and my head whipped to face Éowyn, and the terror I saw in her eyes confirmed my fears. Not only had the army of Uruk-hai, orcs, and goblins, breached the walls of Helm's Deep…

They had also gotten into the caves.

No sooner had we all registered what we had heard, did Éowyn begin moving from group to group within the cave, telling everyone she could to pack up, and move out. She kept her voice level and calm, as to not worry her people any more than necessary. Bera was right behind her, doing exactly the same thing and, within a few moments, we were all moving again, deeper into the caves.

I only had two thoughts on my mind: one, we were only delaying what would be a blood bath by only an hour at the most, and two, if these monsters had reached the caves, what did that mean for the men fighting on the surface?

We'd only made about twenty minutes of progress, and down a particularly narrow and tunnel-ish part of the caves, when I heard that sound again. The same sound from earlier: the sound of voices that were not, but perhaps had once been, human.

And they were getting closer.

We had come to, what I would consider, a "clearing" in the caves. Basically it was a large chamber that opened up when we all exited the marrow pathways we had been taking. It meant that, if these creatures were stalking us within what we had hoped was a safe haven, then maybe, just maybe, we could actually get a sneak attack in. Provided that someone of us actually knew how to use weapons, which I did not.

I think Éowyn had the same idea I did, because as we herded everyone into the chamber, she began approaching a few women, and speaking with them. As she spoke with them, they each moved away from her, and began to gather weapons into their arms. A few grabbed swords, others shields, some daggers, and a couple took bows. Much like Théoden had done above us, Éowyn was gathering together as many able bodied women she could, who knew how to hold to a weapon. If we were going die, we weren't going to die without a fight.

Suddenly, one of the women Éowyn had spoken to, and who had, I guessed (I hadn't been looking), scouted to the edge of the tunnel, came rushing back into the chamber, looking scared. She ran up to Éowyn, and whispered something in her ear. Éowyn paled at whatever the woman had said, and immediately approached Bera and I.

"Esme has told me that she has seen some of the creatures in the tunnels. They are approaching, and will be upon us at any moment." She pointed around us; there were three entrances into the chamber, through all of which I was certain these monsters could come through. "We must position ourselves at the entrances to each tunnel, and be ready to fight." Without a word, Bera was away from my side in a flash, rushing to grab a short-sword from our measly pile of weapons. It took me a second to realize that Éowyn was looking at me, as well, and, upon understanding that she also expected me to grab a weapon, I panicked.

She was walking away before I could say anything, so I was left standing there, staring after her, my heart pounding against my rib cage. Bera came back up to me, shoved something into my hands, and hurried away after Éowyn. I looked down, and found myself holding a bow, and a few arrows. I hadn't used a bow and arrow since I was about thirteen, when I went away to camp one summer. Even then, I had barely been able to hit the damn target. I had almost shot my own camp counsellor, for God's sake.

I didn't really have any more time to react, when Éowyn was motioning for me to follow her and Bera into the tunnel. I hurried after them into the darkness, and nearly tripped over Bera when I walked into her back. She had stopped, stock still, with Éowyn standing in front of her.

"What is it?" I hissed, trying to keep my voice down. Bera put a finger to her lips, and pointed ahead of us. I squinted into the darkness, and I think my heart stopped.

There, at the end of the tunnel, unable to see us, thank God, since we were hidden in the shadows, and around the bend in the tunnel was, what I assumed to be, an orc.

It was clad in black armor, and had a sharp, black metal helmet on its head. It carried what looked like a huge, black claymore in one hand, which terrified because those things are huge, and a nasty looking shield in the other. It was chattering to what I prayed was itself, but most likely another creature like it.

It was also coming right for us.

Éowyn suddenly reached for the dagger she had strapped to her belt. I mentally thanked whatever God was out there that we had at least made sure to grab a few weapons before descending into the caves. I watched in amazement as she then stepped out from behind our hiding place, and proceeded to hurl the dagger through the air. I stared, my mouth hanging open slightly, as it twirled over and over, spinning like the blades of a fan, and embedded itself within the gap in the armour of the Orc. The creature let out a single shriek, and keeled over backwards, as black blood began to pool beneath it where the dagger was now lodged in its breastplate.

I turned to stare at Éowyn. "Holy shit!" My voice rang throughout the tunnel, as I stared at her in awe. "That was amazing!"

She gave me a wry smile. "It is nothing, really. All women of Rohan should know how to wield a weapon. We are a land at war."

I was about to reply, when several shadows appeared down the tunnel, and we all froze. Crap, they were coming for us. Éowyn readied her sword when, suddenly, there were screams from behind us, down the hall. I whirled around, and I heard Éowyn curse.

They had made it to the others.

We all turned and took off down the tunnel, sprinting back towards the chamber, knowing full well that behind us, there were at least two more Orcs or Uruk-hai following hot on your trail.

We skidded into the chamber, and the sight that met our eyes was utter chaos.

The elderly, the women, and the children, were being forced backwards through the chamber, towards what looked like a slight groove in the walls of stone. It made the perfect place to corner them all… And tear them apart. They were huddling together like caged animals, and screaming and throwing anything and everything they could at the approaching creatures. I could see two of the monsters had already been killed, but nearby I noticed the body of an elderly woman, and beside her, the body of a younger one.

My stomach churned; this was going to be a blood bath if we didn't do something soon. There weren't many of the monsters down here, which was a good sign, but still dangerous for us. From what I could see as we had run into the "clearing", there were four in here, advancing on the others, the two following behind Bera, Éowyn, and I, and I saw one more coming in from across the chamber, one of them clutching a young girl by her hair, and brandishing her body like a weapon. She was screaming so loudly.

That made seven in total – oops make that six. I saw one go down with an arrow in its chest, as a young woman with pale blonde lowered her bow. Beside me, I felt Éowyn shift, before taking off at a run towards them, her sword held high, and with ta cry of, "For Rohan!" She was upon them.

I think it actually surprised the monsters when Éowyn attacked. They probably hadn't expected us to have weapons, let alone know how to use them. All at once, other women who held weapons started forward, including Bera. The girl stopped short a few feet away, and threw her dagger, much like Éowyn had. While it didn't kill the orc she was aiming at, it did imbed itself in its arm. It shrieked, and rounded on Bera, baring its black teeth.

"Maggoty little wench," is voice was ten times worse than its face, if that was even possible. "I'll feast upon your flesh!" It began to run towards Bera and I, and Bera began to backtrack towards me.

Everything happened very quickly, and yet it felt like I was moving underwater, my limbs felt so sluggish. Bera was stumbling backwards towards me, and as she was I thought I heard a distant sound of the voices of men above us, but I couldn't be certain if my ears weren't making me hear things, given how terrified I was. I didn't even realize I was raising the bow until I had notched the arrow and was aiming for the orc. I had forgotten how difficult it was so pull back an arrow in a bow; my almost certainly bloody fingers would cause me to suffer later, I was sure of it.

I pulled back the arrow was tightly as I could in the bow, and let it fly without even a second thought. To my amazement, and let me stress that, because there is no way in Hell I'll ever be able to do it again, the arrow actually hit my target.

Right in the face.

Blood spurted everywhere, and I actually screamed when it did. The orc made this awful gasping, and choking sound, as blood poured from its mouth, where the arrow had lodged itself. It gurgled a few times, grabbing blindly at its throat, before collapsing on the ground, dead.

No sooner had it done so, did I drop the bow. I stared at the dead thing; the thing I had killed. I had taken something's life that wasn't a spider or a bug. I also felt weirdly good about it, albeit I also wanted to either faint or throw up. Again, I stress that that was most likely a onetime thing, and I will never again have such fluke aim. That was fluke, not luck. Also, bows were hard to use. Bera whirled to face me, a huge grin on her face. I felt my own face curve in a smile as she did, though I'm certain it looked sickly or pained as all hell.

Suddenly the girl's face paled to the colour of fresh snow, and her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. Behind me, I heard something move. As I began to turn, I heard Bera scream from behind me now.

"Kayla, look out!"

I felt something slam into me, and I hadn't even realized she had begun to run towards me as she had cried out. All I had seen was the two orcs that had been following us out of the cave, and the one with the bow aiming straight at me. Just as it had let the arrow fly, I had felt something hard knock me off my feet, and I was falling. My body slammed into the ground, and I felt my left arm make contact with stone, and a searing pain shot straight up to my shoulder as I did. The pain was so great I couldn't even scream.

I lay there gasping, as I struggled to raise my head. Fuck, fuck, FUCK, my arm hurt! I managed to open my eyes against the pain, but they were watering like crazy. I was dimly aware of the sounds of battle still going on around me, as I tried to turn my head. I saw the orc who had tried to shoot me suddenly go down, and arrow protruding from it, and I saw the same woman who had shot the orc from earlier race by, along with another middle aged woman, to deal with the other one. The gurgle I heard suggested that the two women had won.

By now the shock had lessened, but the pain hadn't. I managed to sit up, cradling what I was almost one hundred percent sure was a broken wrist in my good arm, and look around. Two of the creatures were still alive, and I saw a few more bodies of the innocent nearby. I kept my eyes on the ground so I wouldn't vomit. The sight of the bodies made me want to scream. Instead, I looked towards where the two orcs had just come running out, trying to focus on something else while my head swam with pain.

What my eyes came to rest on made me want to vomit, scream, swear, and die.

It was Bera – except it couldn't be. The Bera I knew was alive, and moving, and proper and ridiculing of my behavior sometimes. The Bera I knew was loyal to Éowyn. The Bera I knew wasn't covered in her own blood, and laying on the floor of the chamber, with an arrow sticking out of her chest.

All the sound seemed to leave the world. I struggled to get to my feet, and it was hard seeing as only one of my arms was working. I managed to hobble over to her, praying with all of my heart and soul that my mind was just playing tricks on me from being in pain. That, at many moment, she would open her eyes, and the arrow would just fall away, or it would have missed a major part of her body, as Boromir's had, and she would be alright.

"Bera?" I whispered, and my legs gave out, as I fell to my knees beside her. My fingers were as white at her face as I slowly reached out, shaking all over, to touch her face gently. There were flecks of blood on her cheeks, and I wiped them away as best I could. "Bera?" I repeated, my voice sounding so small, and so young.

She stirred suddenly, and my heart leapt up in to my throat. When she opened her eyes, I saw they were cloudy with something, and I felt my chest constrict. "Kayla?" She whispered, and I saw blood was covering her teeth. I reached for her hand, taking it in mine – it was so cold, and felt so small. Her eyes widened once more, as they had the last time she had looked at me, before pushing me out of the way, and sacrificing herself. "Kayla?" She sounded so scared. The hand in mine went limp suddenly, and I saw whatever had been clouding her eyes suddenly vanished, and her lips parted slightly, as though she were about to take a breath.

Except she didn't.

My whole body felt like it was trapped in an earthquake. I was dimly aware that the sounds of battle had dissipated behind us. All I was able to do was sit there with her, holding her hand, even though it felt like lead, and was as cold as snow in mine, which felt like magma. It angered me; why did my skin feel like fire when hers felt like ice?

I squeezed her hand once more. "Bera?" I whispered, my voice breaking horribly. "Bera?"

I don't know how long I sat with Bera. Minutes, maybe hours, maybe even days. All I knew was that, when the time did come that I had to move, it felt like I hadn't in an age. All I could do was stare down at her face – so pale and calm. Her eyes were still open, and I couldn't' stop staring at them. They looked so betrayed, so confused. She hadn't understood why she had died. I didn't understand why she had died. I didn't understand why she had pushed me. Why had she -

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I started, turning around. I found Éowyn standing behind me, and I saw tears swam in her eyes. I felt my heart break further. "Éowyn?" I managed to utter.

She White Lady of Rohan looked passed me, and down at her handmaiden, whose hand I still gripped like a lifeline. Finally, after a moment of silence, she spoke. "It is over, Kayla."

I felt numb – all the sounds around me seemed to take an eternity to actually make it to my ears. "What do you mean?"

I saw the ghost of a smile pass along her face. "There has been word from the surface," she paused, looking down at Bera again. "We have won."

She didn't let me say much else. It took some effort from a few other people down there with us, one of them actually being Aedre, but eventually I had my fingers pried away from Bera's hand, and I was led to one of the carts that would lead us back to the surface. It appeared that, despite a few of us fighting, I had been one of the only ones to sustain any injuries. Aedre would spend the entire ride back to Helm's Deep bandaging my arm, and telling me it only looked like a sprain, rather than anything broken. She said I was lucky. She said it could have been worse.

The dead were piled into another cart. Out of the dozens of us who had entered into the caves, only eight had been killed. Most of them had been elderly, but there were a few young women and, of course, Bera. No children had been slain, something Aedre told me was also lucky, but I barely paid attention. The cart with the dead went last as we made our way to the surface. It took a good half an hour before we finally broke into the sunlight. Sunlight; so the battle had lasted all night. I shielded my eyes against the blast, trying to see what the aftermath looked like. Once my eyes had adjusted, I could see how everything looked.

There were bodies everywhere.

Men, elves, orcs, and Uruk-hai. Bodies littered the ground, and the smell of death was everywhere. There was also a clean smell, as well. It appeared that it had rained during the battle, which left a smoky, rain scent in the air, a stark contrast to all the carnage around us. As we approached Helm's Deep again (the caves were slightly away from the actual Keep), I noticed a group of elves standing on the battlements. These must have been the ones that Aragorn had mentioned. As we passed by, I heard them speaking to one another in Elvish, a language I didn't understand. Just as we were entering into the Keep, I saw another elf walk up, clad in golden armor, and his white-blonde gleaming in the early morning sun. The elves greeted him in Elvish, but it was the one word that caused my heart to skip a beat.

"Haldir," said one.

Haldir.

Oh my God.

He had survived.

But why? Why had he survived? What had changed? We had still won the battle, and yet Haldir was still alive? What the fuck –

The wagon stopped, and those who could walk were ushered off. I stepped off, doing my best to avoid looking at the cart with the dead in it. I could feel my body wanting to start sobbing, but I knew that now was not the time to have a full-fledged break down. The first thing I had to do was see if anyone else I knew had died or see if any of them were severely injured. I knew that, if I was going to survive this, I had to distract myself.

I hurried up the steps and into Helm's Deep, wondering where the surviving soldiers had gathered. As I ascended the stairs, I noticed a large cluster had gathered by the steps that led up to the hall where Théoden typically was.

I saw Legolas and Gimli first. Despite all that had happened, I felt a rush of relief pass through me, and I hurried passed the other soldiers and citizens who were mingling, tending to wounds, and returning, to greet them.

As I hurried up to them, I felt so many different emotions running through me: grief, anger, relief, joy, and also a slight numbness. I was glad they were alright, but still positively traumatized over Bera. I didn't know what the appropriate response would be upon seeing my friends alive, so I just went with what felt right. I was a clusterfuck of emotion right now, and I didn't give a single flying fuck how it made me look. I went with my gut, which said "take joy when you can; you're hurting, so take joy if it is given to you".

I nearly knocked Gimli over when I hugged him, his face getting jammed into my bruised abdomen, which almost winded me. When I pulled back, I turned to Legolas, and gently placed my good hand on his arm, and the elf gave me a small smile. Both look tired and a little worse for wear, but otherwise unscathed.

I regarded them both, my face forming a tired, and somewhat pained, smile. "I'm so glad you're both alright," I meant it, too. I had known these people for over a month now and, though we didn't spend much time together, I really did care about their well-being, and see them as friends; friends who I was glad were still alive.

Gimli gave me a toothy grin, "Aye, lass, as are we." He threw Legolas a look, "We showed the dark beasties what happened when you cross paths with a dwarf and an elf!" Legolas gave his friend a wry smile as the dwarf clapped a hand on his arm. I looked between them, trying to keep my smile fixed, but my mind was elsewhere. It kept drifting back to Bera, and my lower lip trembled when it did, but I had to keep it together. First things first: find out who's dead, if anyone else is. Mourning comes after. I had to be strong. My anxiety wanted otherwise but, for once, I shoved it face first into the dirt under my shoes.

Was everyone else alright? I craned my neck to try and see anyone else, but my efforts were in vain. I felt a knot of dread begin to develop, and the threat of agonized tears was beginning to come back. Where were they?

Almost as soon as I thought this, I saw Aragorn and Théoden appear through the gates, both looking no better off than Legolas and Gimli, but also showing no signs of any major damage. They ascended the stairs to where we were, and Aragorn and Legolas grasped each other's shoulders as a greeting, before saying something in Elvish to one another. They then all (Gimli included) began to ascend the steps to the top of the Keep. Aragorn caught my eye as they passed us, and we exchanged a brief look. I couldn't bring myself to ask him what I was thinking now, having seen almost everyone, but I think he could tell. I saw a small smile pass across his face, and he glanced back slightly behind him, and I followed his gaze. I felt my heart beat loudly, just once. The final group from the battle was returning through the wreckage of Helm's Deep. Leading them was Gandalf, followed by Éomer, Éowyn's brother, and his Rohirrim, and beside them...

I felt relief hit me like a tidal wave; I felt momentarily dizzy. Thank God.

Boromir looked a little banged up, and he was limping slightly, possibly from his still healing ribs, but otherwise he was very much alive. When he saw me standing at the top of the stairs, his own face formed a tired smile, and he made his way up towards me, followed by Gandalf and Éomer, who were no doubt heading for the top to meet with Théoden, as well. I approached him, keeping my movements calm and collected, even though I was sure that now, at any moment, I would break down – but from grief or joy, I did now know.

"You're alive," I said, and my voice sounded so weak. I found my good hand reaching toward him, and it gripped his arm, almost for dear life.

Boromir let out a tired chuckle at my words, and possibly my reaction. "I said I would return, Lady Kayla, and I have." There was a pause, and I found myself at a loss for words. I let go of his arm, and looked down at my feet. So much had happened in the last twenty-four hours. I didn't know what I wanted to say, or what I should say. After a moment of neither of us saying anything, he spoke again. "Your arm," he said lamely, gesturing to my sling.

I glanced down, and back up at him. "Oh, that's nothing, I just fell on it. I think it's sprained." I felt stab of pain shoot through me, but it wasn't from my arm. It was how I had gotten the injury that caused me pain now. Bera…

Boromir seemed to sense my apparent distress, but he also looked a little rushed. "Are you alright, other than your arm?"

I wanted to start crying right then. I wanted to fling myself into his arms and sob. Hell, I would fling myself into Théoden's arms at this point if someone would just hold me and tell me that it was all going to be okay. I wanted to break down, and scream, and swear, and blame someone, anyone.

But I didn't.

I wasn't the only one who had seen death today. Sure, it was my first time seeing death like that, and I was pretty sure that the people here had seen death many times over, but today we were all one in the same. We had all suffered, fought, and seen darkness approaching. I couldn't let myself break down now. There would be time to discuss it all later. For now, I had to be strong.

For Bera.

I forced myself to remain calm, "I'm fine." I said, my voice a little more shaky than I intended. When he raised a brow, I added, "So, we won. What happens now? You all look rushed."

Boromir looked so tired – but I was still relishing in how alive he also looked; how alive they all looked. "We may have won the battle this day, but there is still something left to be done." His grey eyes were steely, and I felt a tug of worry.

"What do you mean?" I asked, though I felt I knew what he was going to say.

He looked passed me, towards the Keep, where the others were gathering. He turned his gaze back down to me once more, before he spoke. "We ride for Isengard within the hour; we take the fight to Saruman."

A/N: That took a lot longer than I care to admit. My hands hurt. I also may have teared up while writing Bera's death. I wanted there to be a bit more, "Take care of Éowyn, you are my friend, blah, blah, blah", but I felt it would add to the pain, and character development for Kayla if Bera just died. I am a terrible person; I'm sorry (not really). I hope you all enjoyed my attempt at action! The next chapter will tie up loose ends in the (what I feel) may have been a rushed ending to this chapter. Mostly because I am emotionally compromised at the murder of my own character. Either way, R&R, and I hope you all enjoyed this!