AN: Hello, I'm sorry it's been a month, I meant to get this posted earlier, but work got in the way, so it took me longer than I wanted. To my readers in the northern hemisphere, I hope your summer is going well, and if I have any readers in the southern hemisphere, (first of all, please let me know, because that really freakin cool) and i hope that your winter is not too unpleasant.
I still don't own Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. If I did, I'd have my own car.
The wall was broken.
Helms Deep had been breached.
A whole section of the damn place had been destroyed - there was a gaping hole in the middle of the wall and Uruk-Hai were quickly recovering from the blast and heading for the breach.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, she repeated in her head. That was where she had last seen Aragorn and Gimli. Shit, fuck, shit, shit, fuck! She fought her way to the break in the wall and without waiting to think about the consequences, she jumped, regretting her decision as soon as she hit the ground, a jolt shooting up her legs from the impact.
Stubbornly ignoring the pain in her legs, Ginny searched frantically for Aragorn and found him lying facedown on the muddy earth. She scrambled to his side and helped him up with a heave. He took a moment to regain his bearings but with a look, he reassured Ginny that he was okay and she returned the wordless reassurance. They were both fine. A little dazed, but fine. Something back up on the wall caught Aragorn's eye. Ginny turned to see what it was and spotted Gimli, just as he leapt off of the wall and down to join them.
Gimli landed with a splash in the water that pooled around their feet, and he got up just in time to fight back against the Uruk-Hai that were beginning to make their way through the rubble of the blasted wall. Ginny shouted for Gimli to get out of the way and thankfully he listened, leaving Ginny free to cast Locomotor mortis maxima again. The closest rows of advancing Uruk-Hai fell, their locked legs leaving them on the ground to be trampled by their fellows.
"Ginny!" Aragorn called her. She whipped her head around to see what was the matter, and saw him with his sword drawn, standing at the head of the elven ground troops, all of them with bows drawn. She hastily got out of their way, and as soon as she was, Aragorn gave the order, and the arrows perforated the Uruk-Hai as they breached the wall.
"Herio!" Aragorn commanded, and they charged. Ginny was right with them, the elven forces crashing headlong into the oncoming Uruk-Hai. Ginny and Aragorn fought their way to each other on the battlefield and they fell into their familiar pattern. They fought back to back, working together with fluid cooperation they had perfected with years of practice. They looked out for each other. Somewhere in the chaos, Ginny found herself looking out for both Aragorn and Gimli as the ranger fished the dwarf out of the murky water he had been knocked into. But as soon as the dwarf was back on his feet, Aragorn was back at her side.
Ginny lost herself in that rhythm of slashing and stabbing, interrupted by a few kicks and spells here and there. She noticed Legolas had made his way down to ground level with them, wielding his twin blades with frightening speed and agility. Her eyes soon found Gimli in her peripherals, fighting fiercely. Ginny slashed an Uruk across the stomach and she grimly noted that its guts fell before it did. She beheaded another and stabbed the heart of the next.
Behind her, Ginny heard Aragorn cry out in fury and she whipped around just in time to see a blade pierce the neck of an Uruk that had been seconds away from cleaving her skull in two.
Ginny's eyes followed the Uruk as it collapsed, revealing Aragorn standing behind it, sword hanging limply in his uncharacteristically loose grip, his eyes wide and a bit unfocused.
"Hey!" she said sharply, bringing him back to the land of the living. He shook off whatever trancelike state he'd been in and raised his sword, ready to fight again. Ginny grinned at him and he returned it, but Ginny detected a strange sense of fear and sudden protectiveness. She shrugged it off. Now was not the time to be scrutinizing Aragorn's every facial expression. They were quick to get back into their rhythm, but Ginny noticed that Aragorn was being more protective of her than usual. As an Uruk approached her, the creature's presence begging Ginny to end it's miserable life, she made a mental note to ask Aragorn later. Her blade separated the Uruk's head from its shoulders with a swift movement. They continued in this fashion for a while longer, Aragorn fighting skillfully with his sword and Ginny throwing spells left and right, until they heard a shout from above.
"Aragorn!" Theoden called from the wall, commanding Aragorn's attention. Ginny simply nodded at him, letting him know that she would cover him while he listened to the King. "Fall back to the keep! Get your men out of there!" he ordered. Aragorn nodded curtly.
"To the keep!" he commanded the elven soldiers, "Pull back to the keep!"
Ginny repeated the order in the common tongue for the men who fell with the wall and wordlessly, she and Aragorn made their way to the back, helping to cover the retreating troops. Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny spotted Legolas and another elf bodily dragging Gimli off the battlefield, the dwarf kicking and protesting all the way. Ginny scanned the battlefield for remaining soldiers and spotted a few men who hadn't heard the order.
"Sonorus," she cast on herself while Aragorn watched her back.
"Pull back to the keep!" she commanded in the common tongue, her voice projecting across the battlefield and over the din. Aragorn got her attention and nodded up at the wall, where Haldir was still fighting. He would have given the order himself, but since Ginny had already charmed her voice, he let her do it for him.
"Haldir! To the keep!" she called to the elf, her voice still loud enough for him to hear clearly from his distance. He nodded that he had ward her, and she nodded back before raising her wand to her throat and murmuring "Quietus," to end the amplifying charm. They backed their way to the stairs leading up to the wall and were about to mount the steps when Aragorn's voice rang out loudly.
"Haldir!" he shouted, and the next thing Ginny knew, he was furiously fighting his way up to where they had last seen the elf. She stole glances up there as she raced up the stairs and saw him falling to his knees, blood staining his golden hair. Aragorn reached him just in time to catch the elf as he fell, but he was dead. Anger overtook him and he went to attack the few remaining Uruk-Hai on the wall, but Ginny stopped him.
"We need to get back to the keep," she said urgently, and Aragorn reluctantly obeyed. He didn't like it, but she was right. They had to join the King. They looked for their options to get back inside, but Uruks were quickly scaling the wall. Ginny sighed to herself. Dammit.
"Hold on tight," she said as she grasped Aragorn's hand and turned on the spot, disapparating with a loud crack. They reappeared behind the gate, just inside the back entrance and Aragorn doubled over, his hands on his knees in an attempt to calm the nausea that he still got whenever Ginny or the twins took him side-along. Ginny rubbed his back a little, but he pulled himself together quickly, standing tall and taking a moment to breathe. Ginny looked up at him and she was worried and a little concerned to see so much grief and fear mixed in with the determination in his eyes. She brought a hand up to his shoulder and met his eyes with her own worried ones. He shook his head to tell her that he'd explain later, and her lips quirked up into a bittersweet smile.
"Come on," she said, nodding towards the gate, where the soldiers were trying to barricade it against the Uruk-Hai efforts. Fred and George were there, trying to magically reinforce the gate. Ginny let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. They were alive. However, their magic wasn't doing much for the gate. Saruman must be using his own magic to counteract ours, Ginny reasoned. There was a loud slamming noise from the battering ram outside, and Ginny rushed to the gate to fight, Aragorn right behind her.
"Hold them!" King Theoden shouted to them all.
"How long do you need?" Aragorn shouted back, making his way out of the mob of soldiers to the King.
"As long as you can give me!" he answered. Aragorn nodded and met Ginny's eyes, gesturing for her and her brothers to join him outside the fighting.
"What's the plan?" George asked.
"We need to buy them time to barricade the gate," Aragorn explained.
"We can apparate on to the causeway, fight them back-" Fred suggested.
"No," Aragorn countered, "Fred, George, you stay here, fight them back, defend the King. Gimli and I will get to the causeway and hold them off. Ginny, you and Legolas can support us from above, and be ready to get Gimli and I out of there when we're done," he said, leaving no room for argument.
Ginny scowled at the plan, but she obeyed. She didn't want to leave the two of them to do all the fighting on their own, skilled warriors though they were. Although, she had to admit that it was a good plan, no matter what issues she had with it. Aragorn and Gimli went for a side door while Ginny and Legolas scaled the steps that led to the upper wall. Looking down from above, she saw Aragorn and Gimli on the causeway - how they managed to get there from the side door she had no idea - sending Uruk-Hai off the sides of it. Behind the gate, soldiers were bracing wooden beams against the stone. Ginny was watching the ranger and the dwarf with bated breath, but her attention was diverted by the clang of metal on stone. Her eyes snapped towards the noise and saw a grappling hook on the wall. Along the whole wall, actually. Dammit, she cursed to herself as she drew her wand.
"Diffindo!" she cast, severing the rope that held the first hook. As the rope split, the Uruks that had been scrambling up it fell hard to the ground below. Ginny repeated the spell on each hook as it caught the wall, sending as many Uruk's to their deaths as she could. She cast a few reductor curses at the ladders that hit the wall, but there were to many for her to destroy all of them.
"Reducto!" she cast at one of the hooks she'd missed, but with a little more intensity than she intended, reducing not only the hook but that whole bit of wall and the Uruk atop it into dust. The soldier that had been about to cut down that Uruk stumbled a bit from the momentum, but nodded to her in thanks.
"Gimli! Aragorn!" Theoden's voice reached Ginny's ears from below. "Get out of there!" the King ordered them. Ginny rushed to a safe spot of wall and leaned over to get a glimpse of Aragorn and Gimli.
"Aragorn!" she shouted down to him. He looked up at the sound of her voice, and he met her eyes. She grinned at him and he returned instinctively. With a crack, Ginny apparated to the causeway. She cast a quick impedimenta charm on the Uruks and a shield charm for good measure before taking hold of both Aragorn and Gimli's arms and apparating them up to the wall.
"What in Aulë's name was that?" Gimli asked her as soon as the apparition sensation had dissipated. Ginny couldn't help but laugh at him.
"Don't worry about it, Gimli," Aragorn answered for her. She chanced a look up at his face and though he was grinning at her and her laughter, she could see the veiled discomfort on his face. She pulled herself together and gave him a little smirk. She knew he hated apparition, but he was just going to have to deal with it. It was useful and he knew it. They returned to the fight, swords, axes, and knives drawn, but it wasn't long before Theoden's voice rang out once more.
"Fall back!" he said. "Fall back!" he called, the order echoing through the fortress. "They have broken through!" the King said, "the castle is breached! Retreat!" he commanded. "Retreat!" he repeated.
The troops were quick to obey, everyone making a mad dash for the keep, or at least most of them were. The elves and some of the more experienced soldiers were more stubborn.
"Hurry!" Aragorn commanded, sounding just as much a king as Theoden. "Inside," he said, "get them inside," he ordered. Men pushed against men as they fought to get to the keep and once she reached the doors, Ginny stood aside, letting the soldiers enter first so she and her brothers could place wards on the gates.
"Into the keep!" sounded another voice, one Ginny didn't recognize, but the soldiers obeyed, moving faster and finally piling into the keep until it was just the Fellowship and a few elves that remained outside. Ginny, Fred, and George wove protection spells and wards around the keep while the remaining fighters stood guard for them. They tried everything they could think of, but with every spell, they felt some sort of magical resistance. Saruman, Ginny thought, it has to be. He saw our protection spells on the fortress and now he knows what to look for to fight against. George cast one last Protego Maxima and they rushed inside, Aragorn and Legolas closing the doors behind them all.
Ginny wished that she could sit, that she could just collapse, but there was still work to be done. She and her brothers turned to the gates, repeating their protection spells and wards, but just like outside, they felt that resistance. As they worked, men and boys carried heavy tables and chairs and anything else they could find, leaning them against the closed doors. Fred tried to transfigure the doors into stone, but Saruman's magic reversed the spell within seconds. They cast Cave Inimicum, Protego Maxima, Salvio Hexia, and plenty of other spells, but they had to keep casting them over and over again. Saruman was too strong. Ginny had just cast yet another protego charm when she sensed a warm presence behind her.
"Will your magic hold?" Aragorn asked from Ginny's shoulder. She shook her head ruefully.
"Saruman must be fighting against it. It's the only thing that makes sense," she said bitterly. "I'm sorry," she said, tearing her eyes from the doors and turning them on Aragorn, her regret clear in her eyes. Time and life or death be damned, Aragorn took her into her arms and hugged her quickly, kissing the crown of her head before releasing her.
"You've done what you can," he said. running a thumb over her cheek before releasing her and going to relay that information to the King. Ginny turned back to the doors, but after a look from George, she abandoned that effort and instead crossed the room to Aragorn and the King.
"The fortress is taken," Ginny caught Theoden say as she approached, "It is over."
"You said this fortress would never fall while your men defend it!" Aragorn protested. "They still defend it! They have died defending it!" he said before going to help Legolas haul a table to the barricade.
A thudding noise came from the doors and Ginny felt a jolt of magic rippling through the keep, weakening the shield.
"Saruman is chipping away at our shield. Even if we keep rebuilding it, it won't hold much longer," she informed the King and his second in command - Gamling, if she remembered correctly. The King didn't even flinch, just turned away from her, silent and sullen. It was all she could do not to burst out in a long string of curses and other foul language. She took a deep breath and instead addressed Gamling.
"What about the women and children?" she asked. Aragorn came up beside her and his presence helped calm her agitated nerves.
"Is there no other way for the women and children to get out of the caves?" he asked Gamling and the King. They did not respond. "Is there no other way?" he repeated, his voice and whole presence exasperated, stressed, and impatient.
"There is one passage," Gamling answered when Theoden didn't. "It leads into the mountains, but they will not get far, the Uruk-Hai are too many," he said. Another thud sounded from the battering ram outside and Ginny felt another ripple of magic. She threw a worried look to George and he shook his head.
"Our shield is almost broken, my lord," he called to the king.
"Send word for the women and children to make for the mountain pass," Aragorn ordered Gamling, returning his attention to that pressing issue. "And barricade the entrance!" he added as the man hurried off to carry out the order.
"So much death," Theoden muttered, catching Ginny and Aragorn's attentions. "What can men do against such reckless hate?"
Aragorn and Ginny exchanged a look, and she had a feeling she knew what was coming.
"Ride out with me," he said. Yep, there it was. "Ride out and meet them," he said. Theoden looked up from the floor, his resolve renewed.
"For death and glory," he said.
"For Rohan," Aragorn added, "for your people."
"The sun is rising," Gimli noted from beside them, and Ginny turned to see the sunlight streaming through a small, high window, bringing back Gandalf's words from before they left Edoras. Look for my coming at first light on the fifth day. At dawn, look to the east.
Thanks so much for reading! I don't know when the next chapter will be up, it depends on what writing time I manage to find in my work schedule. If you liked the chapter, leave a review and let me know what you liked about it!