Eomer, Maleth and Eldarion left the room and Ari's body behind them. They made sure Eomer was behind them at all times, with two guards behind; he was still lost in a fog of grief and they were in greater fear of something coming from their front than from the rear.

"Have you found Ari?" Aragorn asked as their two groups met. Eldarion took Aragorn aside as Eomer was still in shock.

"She is dead….they killed her…and as far as we can tell, they tortured her before they did it."

"Eomer knows this?"

"Eomer found her body." Eldarion said softly. "It's all my fault…I should have forced her to get on the horse with me."

"No---do not think that way." Aragorn said instantly. "She knew what she was doing." Aragorn went to Eomer. "Eomer….we will burry her in a place of high honor…no warrior—"

"My king….do not wax poetic. She is dead…." Everyone watched as Eomer turned from the high king and shook his head. "She is dead." Captains came to Aragorn with news of the enemies strength and movements within the halls and Eomer was left to dwell with his dark thoughts.

They cut on her. They tortured her. She is dead. What will you tell her mother? How can you go back? How can you not? How can I live without her?

Eomer turned and watched as the corridor ahead of them filled with light. "I will kill those that did this to her and avenge her..." With an angry roar Eomer charged the oncoming Uruk's.

The first thing Ari felt was an intense burning sensation ripping through her lungs as she got her first inhalation of breath. Her back arched and shoulders stiffened as her body tensed with the sudden regeneration of feeling in her body. Her arm and leg started to bleed faster and she clumsily tied a tourniquet around her thigh. Her head swam with the effort of sitting up. Everything in these first few moments were disjointed and jumbled. She got her breathing under control and let her body come back to the world of the living. Slowly, she swung her legs over the side of the table and nearly crumpled to the floor when she tried to stand. She had to support herself on the tabletop until she could somewhat control her legs.

"Nargrim is so going to have his ass kicked for this!" Ari grunted. She reached over the table and grasped the big knife and wrenched it from the table. "His ass is mine! I will cut off his balls and feed them to a cave troll." It took Ari forever to walk down the corridor using the walls for supports. She left a nice trail of blood behind her as a slow trickle ran its way down her leg and over the heel of her boot. She reached the cross hall and followed the dim sounds of battle. An Uruk came up behind her and she was flung against the opposite wall. The creature growled viciously and held her to the wall.

"Son of a bitch! It's called an altoid….get some." The creature breathed heavily on her again as it snarled at her and Ari moved the blade up to the creature's side and brought it crumpling to the ground before her. "Next time you'll learn to be nicer and not breathe on people." She limped down the corridor a little faster and stood atop a flight of stairs that descended into a room with a dozen men and uruk's fighting hand to hand. Ari watched horror stricken as Nargrim suddenly entered the room and made a sweeping motion with his arm clearing Uruk's and men away before him and flinging them to the walls. He approached the spot where Eomer was killing an Uruk and started to applaud.

"Bravo….I take it you are Eomer." He grinned when Eomer stood to his full height and narrowed his eyes on the man in black. "You were rumored to be quite a hero…nice to see the story tellers didn't exaggerate as much with you as with the others."

"Who are you?"

"Nargrim the Black." Nargrim projected his voice and the words echoed off the stone walls. Men moved away from the wizard and whispered amongst one another. Ari rolled her eyes at the dramatics and searched the room again. Aragorn and Eldarion were not in the room….Ari assumed they must be elsewhere fighting, Nargrim spoke again. "Your woman had much the same reaction…." Nargrim's smile was like that of a hissing snake. "Pity that reaction didn't last."

Ari's knees shook and her head swam. She leaned heavily against the wall and sat down on the top step to wait for her legs to regain strength. She watched as Eomer's sword flashed in the thin yellow light of the torches and Nargrim's sword blocked the blow. He laughed and smiled as he let Eomer advance on him. The shadows of the two men moved like large black bats across the walls, their swords clashed loudly. Ari rose quickly and almost fell down the stairs; her legs could hardly support her anymore and when she reached the bottom she pushed her way through the men still fighting Uruk's. Nargrim knocked Eomer to the ground and stood over him laughing. So focused was Ari on the fight that she heard neither the shouts and groans of the other warriors in the room nor the clang of steel against steel but only the conversation of Nargrim and Eomer.

When did the fighting start again?

Ari didn't focus on the thought for long. This was her chance. Nargrim stood over Eomer, his sword pointed down at the horse lord's body.

"Your woman thought she could beat me as well….she was proven to be wrong….just as I will prove you to be wrong. My uncle and I will take over the land of men and darkness shall once again---" Nargrim's speech was cut short and his brow furrowed. Suddenly he made a gurgling sound and looked down as the point of a long sword burst through his midnight black robes.

"You'd do better if you shut the fuck up and just DID it ass wipe." Nargrim sank to his knees and Eomer was given his first glance of ARi standing behind the man. "This is for trying to hurt my man." She wrenched the blade one quarter turn. "And this is for assuming I'd lay nice and quiet and not do anything about it!" She turned the blade again and watched satisfied as Nargrim fell dead at her feet. "Now that's how you kill someone butt monkey." She turned weary eyes to Eomer who looked at her in complete shock.

"Ari?"

"Hiya hotstuff." She closed her eyes and sank to the floor beside Nargrim. When she opened her eyes again Eomer was scrambling to her side and his face bobbed into her field of vision. "You don't think something little like DEATH would keep me out of a fight…did you?"

"But….how did you? How are you..?"

"It was a draught…a poison or something….I don't know—he made me take it. I didn't want to." She shook her head and tried to catch her breath as Eomer held onto her. "We have to get out of here….I know Eldarion is here, I saw him…where are they? Where are Aragorn and Eldarion?" Her body began to shudder and convulse. Ari's insides felt like water and for a moment in her pain wracked mind she thought that her stomach and kidneys would flow out the gash in her leg if she didn't do something. She closed her eyes for a moment and let the watery feeling dissipate.

"Shhh….Eldarion and Aragorn are fighting elsewhere….I got separated."

"Sir we should get going…" One of the men interrupted.

"He's right." Ari sat up stiffly and stood hissing in pain at the effort involved.

"You're going to stay here and wait for us to get back." Eomer said grasping her hand. "You're bleeding…"

"Of course I'm bleeding and when was the last time I ever listened to something you told me?"

"Arianna…." Eomer rose to look down at her. It never worked before…maybe he could intimidate her now….

"I'm not…" The cries of men entering the room cut Ari off and she brought her sword to the ready slowly. She was in no condition to fight.

"They're behind us." A man yelled as he entered the room and turned to face the doorway. Everyone looked up to see more Uruk's coming through the entry and down the stairs. Aragorn and Eldarion came crashing through another passageway; more Uruk's hot on their tails.

The fighting was fierce and Ari was finding it difficult to do battle with one arm injured and the tightness of the space. It was hard to breath, hard to move and she was satarting to lose some feeling in her leg where she'd tied the tourniquet. Suddenly a loud thunderclap like noise echoed through the room and several men were thrown back from the stairs that Ari had descended before. Everyone's attention turned as the wraith dissolved from the shadows and floated down the stairs into view.

"So….it is that I have Aragorn, king of Men and his blood line in my clutches…..what a momentous occasion!" A hissing laughter flowed through the room as if on a fell breeze and it made Ari's skin crawl. She punched at the Uruk standing beside her and watched satisfied as it fell unconscious to the floor.

"This cannot be." Aragorn whispered.

"I saw Eowyn kill him….she nearly died trying to kill him…" Eomer whispered somewhere to Ari's left.

"The age of light for man will end this night, Aragorn….." The wraith cackled as it stepped closer and closer the king of Men. Aragorn raised the sword that was re-forged, Anduril, in defense and watched as the wraith stopped ten feet away from him. "Your play sword will not help you…you are an old king of an ancient age."

"The age of men is only in its second decade." Aragorn said in a voice that dominated the room. "It is far from over. The remnants of Sauron's vindictive hold on the world will fall away and in my sons time there shall be no evil in Middle Earth."

"Well…then perhaps you shall remain alive, but your blood…." The wraith turned to face Eldarion and with a single wave of his hand flung the prince against the far wall. Eldarion cried out as the wraith held him against the wall and with its terrible power began to try to crush the life from Eldarion's body.

"Fuck this shit." Before anyone could react to what had just happened Ari pounced forward and swung her sword at the outstretched arm of the intruder. The wraith screamed in agony and clutched at his arm where his hand had once been. Ari looked down at the severed hand lying at her feet and picked it up by one of the gauntleted fingers. A bloody human hand dropped to the stone floor.

"Eww." Ari muttered and looked as the figure before her cried out with suppressed pain and rage. "OK Scooby…..so if he's not a real wraith, then who is he?" Ari stepped forward and held her sword to the wraith's throat.

"You'll pay!" The creature hissed.

"Shut up….you're not in control! You aren't even a wraith fuck nut." Ari said harshly as she grasped the hood and pulled it back revealing the helmet. She sensed Eomer move up behind her. "I'm tired of playing games and I'm so not into this Darth Vader shit." She harshly ripped the helmet from the head of the crouching person before her. They looked on as the figure cowered before Ari…thin white skin stretched over the frame and his eyes narrowed as he glared up at her, still clutching his bleeding limb---eyes Ari recognized all too well.

"Grimma Wormtoungue." Eomer whispered. "How is this…?"

"How's it hanging Asshole?" Ari interrupted savoring the look. "Last time I said that to you I left you cowering in a cell in Rohan….hmmm…things haven't changed much except that we're not in Rohan…"

"What were you planning?" Eomer asked lunging forward to grab the man on the floor.

"To take what was rightfully mine." The man hissed up at them. His voice was thin with age but his eyes held more hate than when they'd last met. "I was to be the left hand of the ruler of all of middle earth….I was to be a great ruler."

"I hate to break it to you, but that was a load of shit." Ari ground out. She'd managed to put her sword tip in a crack in the flooring and leaned against the blade. She didn't care at this point if that was good for the blade or not….she didn't think she could stand without some support.

"Lord Saruman would not have betrayed me."

"Oh…yes he would have." Ari said angrily kicking the helmet farther away from Wormtongue. She wrenched the sword from the crack in the floor and wielded it against Wormtongue. "And by the by….that was TWENTY FLIPPIN' YEARS AGO! Get over it already! You lost fuck up!" Her arm shook slightly as she threatened the old man at her feet. It felt wrong yet right at the same time. "I ought to kill you…I ought to just…" She took a step back and shook her head as a wave of dizziness overwhelmed her.

"Ari?" Eomer turned to look at her, his eyes darkening with concern.

"I just need a minute." She took several deep breaths and took in her surroundings. The dead Uruk's and men, the living men staring at the scene playing out with Wormtongue, at Aragorn looking on confused…"Wait…where's Eldarion?" The prince lay at the base of the wall where Wormtongue had flung him. "Eldarion!" Aragorn rushed to his son's side at the same moment as Ari.

"I am fine, Father….don't worry so." He smiled at Arianna and his father. "I only got the wind knocked from me is all." Eldarion sat up slowly and rubbed at the growing knot on the back of his head.

"Don't you EVER scare me like that…." Ari said trying to smile back at the prince.

Ari forced herself to stand and went back to where Eomer was still holding Wormtongue at sword point. She let her sword clang to the floor; she was having problems feeling her fingertips and was unable to hold the heavy blade anymore. She fell to her knees beside Wormtongue and hissed at the dull ache and burning in her knees and thigh. She grasped the worn collar of Wormtongue's robes and brought his face close to hers.

"How did you do it? What role did you and Nargrim play in all this?"

"Why should I tell you--?" Ari punched Wormtongue in the face and watched as blood trickled from his nose.

"Tell me!" She shouted. The old man in her grips took several deep breaths and glared daggers at Ari. She pulled back for a second punch to the face when he suddenly began to speak.

"Nargrim is the son of my lord Saruman and a woman of the woods." Wormtongue wasn't distracted by the sound of more of the Rohirrim entering the room, among them Merry and Pippin. "When Saruman fell in that pit called the Shire I retrieved his son and raised him as my master would have wanted him to be raised. He is Ishtari by blood."

"Hear that Pip? He just called the Shire a pit! He didn't think Sam and Frodo and us would put it back together again did he?"

"I'd fathom not Merry." Pippin's face was coated with the dirt and grime of battle and he wiped at the streak of blood caked at his cheek. Ari brought her eyes back to Wormtongue.

"Nargrim's dead." Ari finished. "He wasn't full Ishtari."

"Lord Saruman wanted his army prepared to fight…we just had to wait for Nargrim to come of age." Wormtongue laughed. "That happened a few months ago and we came up with our plan to destroy Aragorn and all he had built."

"And the creatures? Where did they come from?"

"Not all of the Urukai were killed in the last great battle. Some survived and were brought to live in the abandoned mines at Moria. It was quite a fine place to live after Gandalf brought the Balrog down." His laugh was a cold hiss. "The dwarves won't go there and neither would any man. Those foolish enough to come near were captured….we made their women breeders."

"You did what?" Wormtongue's eyes glittered at the shock he saw on ARi's face.

"Breeders….they carried the young of strong Uruk warriors. The product is before you now."

"You raped women to carry those monsters?" Ari bashed the Wormtongue's head against the stones and watched as the man continued to laugh. Her pants were soaked in the blood gushing from the stump of his arm. "What of Fangorn you bastard?"

"We were using the trees there to build our outposts….for our take over."

Ari was still reeling over what he'd told her regarding the breeding program he'd initiated.

"How many more of these warriors are in Fangorn and Lorien? Are there any in Greenwood?"

"None in the Greenwood…." Wormtongue sighed. "Quite a few in Fangorn…you'll never get them all." Ari turned to look at Aragorn as he paced.

"What can we do?" She turned and looked on as Aragorn continued his pacing, her grasp on Wormtongue's robes loosened but she did not register it. She was already too weak.

"Ari!" Merry shouted as he lunged forward. Ari looked down to see Wormtongue trying to work a short knife from the folds of his robes. She kicked out at the man's remaining hand sending the blade spinning across the floor. Merry was upon him in the next moment raising his short sword high over his head to bring it powerfully into the man's chest.

"Mer—" the word 'mercy' died on Wormtongue's lips. Even in death he'd been a horrible coward.

She tried to stand but her head swam briefly and the room whirled around her. She fell back and slumped against Eomer who lowered her to the ground.

"You're not well…"
"That fucker cut me deep." She gestured towards the pile of black that was Nargrim's body. Her arm was soaked in blood and her leg pained her with every move she made. She wanted to puke…she'd felt like this after some of the soccer parties she'd been to; after she'd done a few keg stands or played a few rounds of flip cup. That was different….this is worse…so much worse.

She was trying to keep her mind off her abdomen as much as possible. It burned…but didn't seem to be as big a problem as her limbs.

"Just relax…" Eomer crooned stroking her face. "You fought bravely."

"Ha…." She looked at the men around her. "How is it I always end up hurt when we come here?"

"I don't know…" Eomer tried to make his voice light but with all the blood soaking Ari's clothes it was difficult.

"We must leave." Aragorn said, his keen ears picking up the faint sound of heavy footsteps. "More of those Uruk's are coming this way."

"They raped women….they used them!" Ari babbled.

Eomer helped support Ari as Aragorn led the way down the twisted hallways to an exit. They gathered as many of the men along the way as they could and moved up and down hall ways looking for their exit. Everyone stopped briefly when the corridor branched and Aragorn tried to determine which was the correct path. Eomer took the moments hesitation to bend his head and take Ari's lips in a passionate kiss.

"I thought I had lost you." He said resting his brow against her forehead.

"You'll never lose me…I'm like a bad penny…I'll just keep turning up." She said smiling up at him.

"This way!" Aragorn shouted leading everyone down the hall. They descended into the dark hallway she and Eldarion had exited into when they'd made their escape.

"We know where to go." The last thing Ari remembered was Edarion leading the way up the stairs and her tripping on the steep stairs.

Whoops.

She saw the stairs move up to meet her….vaguely thought about reaching out to stop them from hitting her in the face but nothing seemed to want to function anymore. She didn't have to worry though; she was swept up in Eomer's strong arms and carried into the first pale rays of the dawn sunlight.