A/N Hey guys, sorry for the horrendously long wait. School was, as normal, incredibly busy, even more so since I got Lucy's part in Drama! –Applause- Thank you, thank you…. And I had a huge bout of writer's block, mainly because I used up most of my creative writing skills to write the script. Plus I get shocking writer's block, which blows hot to cold in a matter of minutes -.- Anyways, November has a lot of breaks, so I might be able to put out more updates! I hope you noticed that my pen name has changed, so don't get confused This is a nice and long chapter, so I hope you guys will be satisfied! Enjoy…
Disclaimer- I do not own anything that belongs to Tolkien.
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Chapter 26- Helm's Deep
Alexandra looked around the Great Hall in despair. After Aragorn's arrival, Théoden had no choice but to fight, and he had called a council. In the end, Théoden issued the ominous news.
"Take every man, and lad strong enough to wield a sword and prepare them for battle!"
Alexandra had also looked for Gandalf, but he was nowhere to be seen.
Alex saw a young boy, no more than fourteen years old being fitted for a helmet, and strapped into a chest piece, and felt sick to the stomach. No child should experience the horrors of war, but this was a desperate battle to the death.
Preoccupied in her thoughts, Alex didn't notice where she was walking until she bumped into the very boy that she was thinking about. His sword fell to the floor with a loud clang, and hurriedly, she bent to pick it up.
"I'm sorry." she muttered, handing the boy's sword back to him.
He looked wide-eyed at her, apparently in awe.
"Tis..tis no matter my lady!" he stammered, blushing a pale pink. Alex smiled in spite of herself.
"Tell me, what is your name?" she inquired, taking in the boy's messy brown hair, and his deep chocolate brown eyes. His flushed cheeks brought life and color into his somewhat pinched face, as if he seldom had enough food to eat.
"My name is Aaron, my lady." he muttered, looking down. Alex caught the guarded tone in his voice, and didn't push him for details; she noticed that he left out his last name and the customary "son of someone" suffix. The familiar sound of a name that was familiar to her ears also surprised her, but she dismissed the thought, as the impending war loomed ever closer.
She rested a hand on his shoulder, " I promise you Aaron, that I won't let anything bad happen to you."
He swallowed fearfully, his youth showing plainly on his face.
"Thank you milady." he said gratefully, and bowed, before heading off to retrieve gauntlets.
As Alex headed towards the armory to strap on her leather gauntlets, she saw Aragorn storm off, obviously angered. It took her a minute to locate Legolas, and it was obvious that the two of them had an argument.
"Hey, what happened?" she inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"Apparently, Aragorn is too naïve to realize that we have absolutely no chance in winning this battle." he said stiffly.
Alex's eyes widened.
"You didn't' say this in front of a huge crowd of people did you?" she demanded, crossing her arms.
Legolas raised an eyebrow at her, "I said it in Elvish."
Alex groaned and facepalmed.
"Yes, well, people could obviously tell that you didn't think that we even had a scrap of chance at winning!" she cried.
Alex let out a sigh. She knew that every soldier had to have something worth fighting for, otherwise they didn't have any chance at all. Take that away, and a whole army is worth nothing. But to crush their hope? That was worse. Much worse.
Legolas was quiet for a second, his eyebrows furrowed. Eventually, he opened his mouth to speak.
"I know I was wrong to voice those things to Aragorn." he said quietly, his eyes looking at his boots.
Alex simply shrugged; the damage was done. Suddenly, a horn pierced through the air, and both their heads snapped up.
"That is no Orc horn…." Legolas said, before dashing off to the main gate, with Alex close on his heels.
Before them stood several rows of Elvish warriors, each perfectly aligned and armed with silvery longbows, and ivory quivers. Their professionalism impressed all of the wannabe soldiers around them, and Alex felt the cold lump in her chest melt a little. These were trained warriors, and their odds at holding Helm's Deep increased greatly.
Alex turned to Legolas, and grinned.
"Still think we've absolutely no hope at winning?"
oOo
As Alex stood on the battlements, she felt the first tendrils of fear worm their way into her belly. She sucked in a deep breath, trying -and failing- to banish the butterflies in her stomach. Behind her, Fox gently nudged Alex.
"This is ten percent luck." he murmured reassuringly to her. Over the past two years, K-Unit had adopted a sort of saying that fitted their occupation; and of course, they had picked it up from a song, "Remember the name" by Fort Minor.
"Twenty percent skill." she whispered back.
"Fifteen percent concentrated power of will." Eagle muttered.
"Five percent pleasure." Wolf joined in.
"Fifty percent pain." grinned Bear.
"And a hundred percent reason to remember the name." they said unison. Alex managed a faint smile, and held out her fist. The five of them bumped knuckles, and Alex's initial fear faded a little, warmed by her unit. If one of them died in this war, she would be devastated. All she could do is hope that everyone one of them would make it out alive.
In the distance, the noises of crashing boots drew nearer and nearer, until everyone could see the thousands upon thousands of Orcs armed to the teeth, stop at a rock that jutted out of the ground. Looking at the spittle dripping out of the Orcs' mouth, and their crazed, bloodthirsty eyes, she felt a sense of revulsion at these macabre creatures.
Alex reached for the necklace that Galadriel had given her. She rubbed the diamond between her fingers, and she felt calm wash over her body.
In front of her, Aragorn turned towards the Elves.
"A Eruchîn, ú-dano i faelas a hyn, an uben tanatha le faelas!" he commanded. Alex understood. She fingered the green feathered arrow tips that hung in her quiver, the feeling calming her nerves.
"Draw your arrows!" he shouted at the large amount of bowmen lining the battlements. Alexandra notched the arrow to her bow, and drew the shaft back until her pointer finger touched her lip. She exhaled slowly, relaxing the muscles in her arms ever so slightly, and cleared her mind.
"Faeg i-varv... dîn na lanc a nu ranc." Legolas said quietly, his handsome face calm and collected. Briefly, Alex wondered how he could seem so calm, when Doomsday was seconds away, before brushing it off, and focusing on a particularly ugly and stupid-looking Orc.
"Steady." Aragorn said in a low voice. Straight ahead, the Orcs were chanting and banging on their shields, the noise growing louder and louder so that it echoed in Alexandra's ears. Suddenly, an old man lost his grip on his arrow, and it flew like a bolt of lightning, and embedded itself in the neck of an Orc.
There was a dead silence. Then, the Orcs started running as one towards the stone walls of Helm's Deep.
oOo
As Alex looked down at the horde of Orcs rushing towards them, all the other sounds were blocked out. She could only hear her heartbeat in her ears. It seemed to get louder and louder each second, until the momentary silence was broken by Aragorn's cry.
"Loose your arrows!" he yelled.
Alex let go of her arrow, and watched it fly straight into an Orc's throat. She smiled grimly as it embedded itself deep inside its flesh, and notched another arrow.
Just as Alex was notching an arrow, a ladder was propped up, and an Orc's face snarled at her. Taken by surprise, Alex fumbled, and let go of her arrow. It flew in a wobbly line, before burying itself in the Orc's arm. Howling, it fell backwards, taking several other with him.
She wrapped her longbow around her upper body, and drew her twin knives, remembering Caladhiel.
This one's for her. She thought as she sliced open and Orc.
And this one's for Aaron. For the boy who reminded her so much of home. As she spun around, she tried to find him, hoping that he was holding his ground. Fighting her way through crowds of soldiers, she finally found Aaron backed up against the wall, desperately fending off an Orc. Quickly, she calculated the distance, and realized that she wouldn't be able to get there in time. Sheathing her knives, she slid her short dagger from the sheath, the metal sliding out of the scabbard with a faint hiss. Bringing back her arm, she threw it at the Orc, and sprinted towards Aaron, praying that her dagger would kill the Orc before the Orc killed Aaron.
The blade sank into the Orc's flesh, and it howled in pain, staggering away from Aaron. Alexandra notched an arrow, sighted, and released in a single breath, and the razor-sharp arrowhead went clean through the Orc's skull.
Hurriedly, Alex bent down and helped Aaron to his feet.
"Are you okay?" she asked, scanning his body to see any injuries and such. Shakily, he shook his head. Aside from various cuts and scrapes, there were no life-threatening wounds that she could see. She nodded.
"Stay close to me!" she shouted over the noise, before retrieving her dagger from the Orc's dead body.
Quickly, she scanned the scene before her, looking for her unit, Aragorn, or Legolas. A flash of mottled green and brown caught her eye, and she realized that Bear was a few meters away from her and Aaron's position. She clapped a hand on Aaron's shoulder, and pointed at her team-mate.
"We're gonna fight our way over to Bear, okay?" she shouted in his ear. He nodded, visibly tightened his death-grip on his sword, and followed Alex.
There was no time to think about fancy sword tricks. It was all slash, cut, and stab. Alexandra's nerves were stretched to the breaking point, and she was relying heavily on her instincts. Finally, after what seemed like eternity, they reached Bear.
"Bear!" she yelled, at the same time slitting an Orc's throat.
"We've got a passenger?!" he yelled back, noticing Aaron.
"Yup! Mind looking out for him?"
Bear mock-sighed. Out of the five soldiers in K-Unit, Bear was the most feared fighter. Built like a boxer, he could knock a full grown soldier off his feet with one punch; which was why Alex chose to let Bear look out for Aaron. Bear handled the massive broadsword with almost contemptuous ease, beating back Orcs with every swing.
Alex looked Aaron in the eye, "Whatever you do, stay close to Bear!"
He nodded, obviously reassured by Bear's enormous bulk and sculpted muscles.
Quickly, she dodged a sword, and began running towards a big commotion somewhere to the left side of the wall. Bright white fire sparked in the corner of her eye, and she turned, watching an Orc running towards a wall, carrying a sparking torch. Horror washed through her body. Hurriedly, she notched an arrow, aiming for its neck, before letting it go. Almost at the same time her arrow pierced through the Orc's armor, two more yellow-feathered arrows sliced through too. Looking around, she saw that Legolas was repeatedly firing arrows at lightning speed, trying to stop the Orc. But nothing could stop it. It threw its body at the spiked explosive, the blinding white sparks trailing through the air.
Alex turned, her boots sliding on the blood-slicked stones underneath her. She began sprinting back towards where she came from, but she was too late. An enormous explosion rocked the air, and Alex was thrown off her feet.
She had the vague idea that she was somersaulting in the air, before seeing the ground rushing to meet her. Her head hit something hard, and everything went black.
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A/N Alright guys, I cut this one short, mainly because I felt that I've kept you guys waiting for too long. Since this was the longest chapter I've ever written, I'll be looking for a lot more reviews, mk? So REVIEW! :D What happened to all my reviewers? And don't forget to take the poll!
Superkiran- Why thank you! Read/review and tell me what you think of this chapter?
DJ- Soulless soldier- Yea, I realized that halfway through the chapter, so I was like: Well…it'll be cool for Legolas to be jealous XP
RoseMaple- Lol, I'm sorry dear, but Legolas' and Alex's fate are entertwined. Don't worry though, I'm sure you'll find Eagle handsome enough ;) Eagle: "What? Who said anything about getting a girlfriend?!" (He is cute tho)
Eloquence Deceptive- Thank you for voting! Tell me what you think on this chapter?
Emzy2k11- Thank you! And I updated, so review and vote!