Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Lord of the Rings.
A Shinobi of Middle-Earth
Chapter 29: When help arrives
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Spirits/Ents talking"
"Spirits/Ents thinking"
(Location: Minas Tirith)
Night had fallen but the sky was continually streaked with large flaming pots fired from the orc catapults, briefly but always giving it an ugly orange shine to it. The fire pots struck the buildings more often than the soldiers but it caused just as much confusion.
Some of them tried to put the fires out but most of the soldiers were quickly heading to the main gate, where Grond was ramming itself against it. The booming sound it made on contact with the gate was a loud, echoing sound that hung over their heads as they moved. It also made them want to stop what they were doing, turn around, and run. In all the time since its foundation, not once had the main gate of Minas Tirith ever been broken through.
But now, there was something outside the city that was putting that statement to the test and destroying it with every pounding. That alone sent chills down the spines of the men of Gondor and stilled their feet. But there was more. If the gate was broken, the orcs would come flooding in, attacking anything and everything that even looked vaguely like a Man.
And that wasn't the worst of it. The worst was the fact that they had seen Sasuke, who was known as the Bell Man and as Crabandir, who had destroyed both catapults and siege towers with ease, and had fended off the Ringwraiths with an ease that could inspire both awe and jealously, failed to reach Grond and destroy it before it got to the gate. The orcs on the wall had thrown enough of themselves in front of him and onto his sword to delay him long enough. It was disheartening to say the least.
All these reasons were enough to make any of them turn and run. But they didn't. Partly because of the fact that this was their city and they would not let it fall so easily and partly because both Faramir and Gandalf urged them onwards, shouting, "To the gate! To the gate! Hurry to the gate!"
Sasuke was curter in his urging. "Leave the fires!" he shouted at some of the soldiers trying to put out a nearby burning building. "You won't be able to save it and you're needed elsewhere now. Get to the gate!"
"But my lord!" one of them tried to start protesting.
"Go." He did not shout the word nor did he scream it. He said it with a clarity and calmness that made them feel a chill crawl up their spines. They did as they were told and followed the rest of the soldiers.
"To the gate!" cried Faramir as the soldiers reached its courtyard, the pounding of the ram even louder there then on the wall. They could see a few soldiers still on the wall shooting down the other side of the gate, but few even had a smidgeon of a hope that it would do anything.
"Form a defensive line!" Sasuke shouted at the soldiers, pushing the few stragglers into the developing line. It was a shaky line of defense. Archers struggled to pull out arrows from their quivers and nocked them to their bows. Meanwhile, the other soldiers tried to stay true to the classical defense strategy of Gondor, where one soldier would be open to the enemy wielding a spear and was protected by two other soldiers holding shields to his sides. The idea was to funnel the enemy into those open spots, where the shields would step forward and cut them off from the rest of their forces.
This was already happening but it was ragged and there were more than a few gaps in the defense, either due to a lack of spear in one spot or a shield in another. Soldiers with either tried to fill those holes but they had to push their way through other men in the line to reach the hole and that slowed them down.
Even as they formed the line, the sound of Grond battering at the gate filled them with unease. They were hearing something that they didn't really want to hear. Not even Sasuke wanted to hear that sound and he had tried to stop it from ever occurring. He stood at the front of the line, his hand resting on the katana's hilt.
"Steady! Steady!" Gandalf called from the back, riding atop Shadowfax. His words kept the soldiers in place in the line, keeping them assured and confident despite the situation.
Once again, Grond bang against the gate. But this time, the gate gave way with the screech of wood tearing itself free and the sound of chains shattering, creating a large hole in it. The wolf head of the ram appeared in the hole, frightening the soldiers. It looked like something out of their nightmares and caused more than one of them to lose control of their bladders.
But no one said a word about the smell that suddenly arose amongst them or the sight of wet breeches that appeared one second when they weren't there before. The wolf head pulled back and they knew that the next strike would force the gates open. Once they did, the orcs could come flooding right in.
"Remember who you are!" Faramir shouted to the men from where he stood on the opposite end of the line from Sasuke. "You are soldiers of Gondor. No matter what comes through the gate, you will stand your ground and make them bleed!"
The wolf head appeared once more and struck the remains of the gate, forcing it open just like everyone knew that it would. But what came through the gate first weren't orcs but trolls, armored trolls wield crudely spiked but very large clubs.
"Valar have mercy!" someone screamed.
"The Valar aren't here!" Sasuke shouted back. "We are!"
"VOLLEY!" bellowed Gandalf. The archers drew their arrows and fired them onto the trolls. Those that did have body armor were able to withstand the volley but those that didn't were struck and fell with screams of brief agony.
There were still more coming at the line but luckily for them, Sasuke was there and he knew how to take care of them. "Chidori Senbon." His hand shined with lightning in the moment before he threw it. The jutsu found the targets it was sent at, striking each armored troll in the chest plate.
The lightning coursed through their armor and through them, sending them to the ground with a large crash, apparently dead. The soldiers might've cheered at the sight, if they didn't see the virtual flood of orcs coming right at them. The defensive line stiffened up and the spears were lowered.
There were twofold problems Sasuke and Gandalf instantly recognized with the line. The first was that it was still ragged with a few holes. The second was that the orcs did not simply charge at the spears, rather they just charged the line in its entirety, smashing against it like a wave.
For a moment, the line buckled and they thought it would break. But the men of Gondor were made of stronger stuff than that. They held and fought back, blocking the weapons with their shields and killing the orcs with their swords and spears.
"Nock arrows and fire at will!" Faramir shouted to the archers in the rear. They did as they were ordered and rained a volley of arrows onto the orcs.
"More trolls are coming in!" Sasuke shouted down at him, already seeing the next round stomping their way through the gate.
Before the Captain-General could respond, Gandalf came through the lines and rode Shadowfax towards the trolls. It seemed like the Wizard and horse would be smashed by the clubs the trolls held in their hands. But to the surprise of many (on both sides) they seemed to dance out of the way of the clubs while Gandalf struck the trolls down with Glamdring.
But he was only able to get a few as more came in along with a lot more orcs. Sasuke was at the front of the line but he could see it beginning to crack and break. Orcs were beginning to get through the line and even though they were struck dead by the arrows of the archers, soon that wouldn't matter.
Sasuke found himself out in front of the deteriorating line surrounded by orcs. He wasn't frightened by this but the orcs seemed intent on trying to kill him (with the key word being "trying"). He held his ground and killed any that got too close with the katana.
As he was surrounded, he found that time seemed to have become meaningless. All he could see were orcs all around him trying to kill him. He let his focus stay only on that fact and dealt with each one that came at him, one after another after another after another and after another. It became repetitive, even a little boring.
But he quickly banished the thought of boredom. If he got bored, he could end getting killed. And getting killed by an orc of all creatures when he wasn't caught off guard was not the way he would be dying. "I need to get out of this spot," he thought to himself.
The orcs might not have been very smart but whoever was commanding them (whether it be the Witch-King or Sauron himself) seemed to realized that he would be a threat to their plan. So, they decided to stall and slow him down by throwing away orcs at him. It's a tactic that worked before, having prevented him from dealing with Grond, so they were apparently inclined to do it some more.
As he split an orc in half and then turned to cut another one's head off, he tried to get his bearings back and know which way he was facing. But he soon found out that it was harder than he originally thought. The orcs were crowding him, making him see only them, and he had kept moving and turning in place so he wasn't facing the gate. If he tried cutting his way out, there was a good chance that he would either up reaching the soldiers or more orcs and it was 3-1 odds with the latter.
He spun in place, swinging the katana low and making the orcs back off. He pressed forward in one direction, deciding to take his chances. He began cutting his way through the orcs while those behind him pressed against him and tried to attack his back.
"Damn it," he mentally growled as he forced to stop and deal with the orcs at his back. He might be wearing mithril armor but that didn't mean he couldn't be killed from a stab in the back. As he fought them off, he heard the sound of another sword cutting through the orcs. Someone was coming.
"Sir!" cried Young Ohtar as he fought his way to Sasuke's side. Once there, they stood back-to-back, fending off all the orcs.
"What are you doing, Ohtar?" Sasuke asked him as he kicked an orc back into the crowd.
"I'm trying to help you, sir," he replied. The raven-haired shinobi couldn't see him, but he heard the sound of a sword piercing flesh.
"You're not. You're stuck with me now."
"That's not a bad thing sir."
He would've retorted that statement if he hadn't been busy removing an orc's head from its body. "Let's just get out of this trap. Follow me." He began cutting his way again, slicing down the orcs in his path. Ohtar followed him, keeping the orcs off his back. For that, he was grateful.
But once they were out of the trap, they saw the condition of the defensive line. It was bad. There were multiple holes in it and the orcs were pouring through them. The soldiers were breaking, many already cut down, their bodies being stepped over like they were nothing but rocks in a stream.
A roar filled his ears and he turned back to the gate. More trolls were coming towards the line with clubs raised high. He went right for them, not even bothering to think about it (which was quite unlike him. It was something Naruto would do). The trolls roared in challenge at him and moved forward to him.
When the clubs came swinging down, he sidestepped it and cut the troll's leg to the bone, making collapse with a howl, which Ohtar silenced with a stab straight in the roof of its mouth, killing it. He leapt into the air at the second troll and plunged the katana into its eye, sending down to the ground with his force.
But as he stood up from the corpse and pulled the katana out of the socket, he heard Ohtar shout "Look—!" before the world went sideways fast. The first sensation he felt was that he was flying. The next was pain as he hit a building and fell to the ground.
He wasn't sure how long he had been out. To him, it felt like a few seconds but it could've been longer. When he did open his eyes, the first thing he noticed was his helmet laid on the ground more than a few feet away from him, smashed by a club. Right next to it was Ohtar's bloody corpse. The side of his torso had been caved in, along with half his face.
Maybe he was trying to still fight the trolls or maybe he was trying to get away. But it was obvious that one of them had killed him like it was nothing. Naruto might've felt anger or outright rage at the sight, but Sasuke could only managed a simple "Damn it."
He wasn't sure what Ohtar had been to him. He wasn't a friend but he was…something. But now he was dead and someone was going to have to tell his grandfather. As he shook the dizziness from his head while getting back up, Sasuke realized that thought for what it was. Young Ohtar was dead and someone would have to tell Old Ohtar that news. Silently, he decided that it would be him. He owed the old man that much.
The sight of a fireball hitting the building and the sound of someone shouting "Retreat!" snapped him out of his dizziness and back into clear-focused reality. There was no defensive line anymore. The soldiers were in full retreat, turning their backs on the orcs as they ran.
He got back to his feet and joined the back of the retreat, pushing the soldiers beside him to get ahead. "Fall back through the second gate!" he shouted to them all as they all ran out of the courtyard into the city.
"The city is breached!" he heard Gandalf cry from the front. They were running up the road that would take them to the second level. While this would help keep lives lost to a minimum, it would also let the orcs follow them right to it.
"Look out! Troll!" one of the soldiers shouted in horror.
Sasuke turned to look at the troll leading the orcs behind. He stopped and took a ready stance. "Go!" he told the soldiers beside him, glad to see that they didn't argue, only ran.
But as he was ready to face the horde, a hand grabbed his shoulder. "Sir, we can't hold them here!" the soldier beside told him. "We have to get back to the second level and reform the line with the reserves!"
He could see the logic behind those words but wanted to stay and take them down any way. It was only when he heard the Horn of Gondor blast through the air that he pulled back, recognizing it as a rallying call. He turned and ran for the gate along with the rest of the soldiers with the orcs of Mordor hot on his heels.
When they went through the second gate, the orcs were too close for it to be closed and the defensive line was barely formed. It broke too quickly and the fighting soon spread through the entrance area of the second level, becoming house-to-house fighting. And while the soldiers might've known the city like the back of their hands, the orcs and the trolls had the numbers. The defensive line was scattered and pushed back into the buildings and the streets.
They could hear the Horn blowing and the Wizard shouting, "Fight! Fight to the last man! Fight for your lives!" But they were losing ground faster than they could gain it.
"We have to pull back," Sasuke shouted up to Gandalf once he was close to the Wizard, standing beside Shadowfax. A pale Pippin stood by his side with his sword out. It was stained with orc blood, showing that he was fighting.
"If we pull back, we'll lose more ground," Gandalf told him in reply.
"If we don't, we'll lose more men then we can afford."
"We need more men then."
He blocked a wild swing from a crude mace and decapitated the orc holding it. "We don't have any more. We placed the reserves on the second level and those reserves are now fighting!"
"Wait, I know where there are more men!" Pippin suddenly shouted over the sound of the Horn blowing. "The men of the Tower Guard, they have not been committed. If we can reach them, they could help us turn the tide!"
Both Man and Wizard stared at the Hobbit. Gandalf smiled at him before grabbing hold of him and putting him on Shadowfax. Before Sasuke could say anything in protest about he could get there faster, the two of them rode off. Seeing that there was no use wasting breath about it, he turned back to the fight, making his way through the streets.
Again, he lost track of time as he fought. It seemed like it was still night in the sky one second and the next, dawn began to shine. But at that moment, it didn't matter. All that mattered was that he dealt with the orcs in front of him. He carved a path through them as he made his way through the streets, leaving their dead corpses in his wake.
"Gather on me!" he told the soldiers he came across in the midst of battle, killing the orcs that had been fighting them. They didn't bother to look surprised at his presence once the orc corpses hit the ground. They did as they were told and followed him through the streets. The group grew larger and larger as they moved through the streets, rescuing more and more soldiers that had been trapped. All the while, they heard the Horn blowing.
History, songs, and storytellers would later say that Faramir had blown the Horn of Gondor nine times in defiance of the Nazgûl (as Gondor had not yet heard of the Tainted's defeat by Izuna), making the orc horde pause each time and letting his men rally to him each time as he pulled farther and farther back to the third gate. But in that moment, Sasuke could not have counted how many times he heard the Horn. It just seemed to go on and on without ending as they fought their way through the streets. But when it did finally seem to end, there was a moment of silence. Then, as if in response to its call, another horn sounded.
Sasuke and his group were having a moment to catch their breath when they heard the other horn sound. Compared to the Horn of Gondor, which was like a high, loud, and sharp sound that blasted the very air, this horn sounded lower and longer that floated rather than blasted. As it faded, it sounded again with more horns joining in the sound.
"What is that?" one of the younger soldiers asked, looking up at the sky in spite of the fact he knew he would see nothing there.
His question was answered by one of the veteran soldier, who had a relieved smile on his face. "That is the hunting horn of the Rohirrim," he said. "Théoden's riders have come!"
Uncertainty washed over the men at that news. Was it truly the Rohirrim come to save them? Or was it a cruel trick of Sauron to raise their hopes only to crush them? They did not know and that made them nervous. As the horns sounded again, Sasuke looked at them all. "Worry about whether it's them or not later," he told them. "We need to get to the third level. Now move." He led them back through the streets once more.
The riders of Rohan had indeed arrived to aid Minas Tirith in its hour of need, arriving with the morning light (which was muted due to the smog from Mordor covering the sun). Their arrival on a small slope overlooking the fields and the city and the horns were enough to make the orcs outside the walls stop and look at them. They were an impressive display, all confident riders of horses, and at a distance they seemed endless, a virtual forest of spears.
Théoden rode forward a little ways from his men, looking upon all the death and destruction that was being wrought before his eyes. In the front of the army, Izuna sat on his horse, clad in his grandfather's armor and holding his grandfather's glaive. Beside him was Éomer. Neither said a word to the other. And even though he did not look back, Izuna knew that Éowyn and Merry were somewhere in the army.
The orcs were finally snapped out of their stunned silence at the sight of the riders; they turned and marched towards them. They stopped after a few feet and waited for them to make the first move. Théoden saw all that he needed to see. He turned his horse back to his riders and locked eyes with the half-elf amongst them. "Izuna," he said.
"King Théoden?" asked Izuna in reply, urging his horse slightly forward to meet him.
"Would you grant me the honor of riding by my side?" The half-elf was surprised by the offer, it was plain to see on his face and it was all he could do to nod. "Thank you," the Lord of the Mark said in gratitude. Then he turned his attention to his sister-son and began giving orders. "Éomer, take your Éored down the left flank."
"Flank ready!" shouted Éomer as he turned his horse to his men.
The king nodded and began riding down the front line of his riders, issuing orders to his commanders. "Gamling, follow the King's banner down the center. Grimbold! Take your company right after you pass the wall. Forth and fear no darkness!"
He turned to his soldiers, still riding up and down the line, never noticing that one rider would not meet his eyes. "Arise! Arise riders of Théoden," he said to all of them, letting his voice be heard as he spoke the words of the Last Prayer. "Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered, a sword day, a red day ere the sun rises!"
As the first line of riders lowered their spears, the orcs lowered their pikes into a defensive line. But the Rohirrim paid them no mind. Their focus was on their king, who had drawn his sword and rode down the line, hitting the metal tips of the spears before him and letting the sound echo in the air. "Ride now, ride now!" he called out to them. "Ride! Ride for ruin and the world's ending!" As the last sound echoed and faded in the air, he turned his horse to the orcs but looked back to his men. He could feel in himself, this would be his last ride. He did not know why but he knew all the same. But he would not let that hang over him. "Death!" he shouted to his men.
"Death!" they shouted in return, feeling his defiance from his word. It was like it resounded in their hearts
"Death!" he cried once more.
"Death!" they cried in return, feeling more of his defiance coursing through themselves.
"DEATH!" the King of Rohan roared one last time.
This time, the full force of his voice, his word, his defiance, his unknown knowledge of what was to come washed over the Rohirrim like a wave washing over a rock. In that moment, they shared in his defiance and roared "DEATH!" one last time for all to hear. And amidst those voices, a hobbit and a shieldmaiden joined.
"Forth Eorlingas!" cried Théoden King. In response to their ancient battle-cry, the Riders of Rohan lifted their horns and blew one more note, a long and low note that sounded like it was a call to a hunt.
Izuna urged his horse forward as the king did the same. At first, it was just at a trot but then it began to change into something more. The half-elf began to feel his blood boil at the sight of the orcs waiting before them with lowered weapons, urging him to get there faster.
He wasn't alone in that urge. The rest of the army had begun urging their horses from a trot to something faster. By the time they had reached the gallop, the entire army was charging head-on to the horde from Mordor, intent crashing into them.
But whoever was in command of Sauron's forces knew how to respond. Archers came forward from their ranks and lifted their bows to the air. In a part of his mind, Izuna knew that they were firing arrows upon them and he also knew that men behind him were dying. But he found that he did not care about it. He wanted to meet the orcs in battle. He wanted to send them running as he rode them down!
Just as quickly as the charge had started, he found himself leading it. With a grin that could've bordered on madness, he urged his horse onward to the spears of the orcs. He leveled Aeglos at them and took no small pleasure in seeing them back away from him and the riders behind him, raising their spears in fear of the sight.
And they should be afraid of what they saw. They had thought that with numbers alone, they would be able to crush any foe before them, not even bothering to bring their own cavalry to this battle. Now they would feel the full brunt of their mistake!
As he drew closer and closer to the horde, his grip on Aeglos steady and his aim true, a battle-cry tore from his voice, echoing in the seemingly quietness of the air. "GIL-GALAD!" he roared as he smashed into the orcs, the first of many.
The Rohirrim crashed into the orcs like a wave breaking through a wall. A great many of them were just mowed down by the galloping horses. Those that weren't run over were hacked down by the spears, axes, and swords of the riders. They tore through the first line of defense so fast that they were through in a matter of seconds, already riding for the second line.
The orcs in that line back away just as quickly as the first line had and they had ridden through just as easily. But by then, the riders had slowed down in order to prevent their horses being ridden to the point of death from exhaustion. The charge had stopped and now it was just a straight fight.
But they had driven far enough through the orcs' lines to cause chaos and disorder. Their attack only aided that. The orcs found that they could not hold against the Men on horseback. That fact seemed to make them turn and run. Izuna found himself to be in his element as he attacked fleeing orcs, killing them with a slice from Aeglos. He was beside both Éomer and Théoden as they killed orc after orc.
"Drive them to the river," Éomer cried as he saw the orcs run.
"Make safe the city," Théoden ordered with a victorious smile. His riders began to urge their horses forward to do as they were commanded by their Marshall and their King but just as the horses began to gallop again; their riders reined them in to a halt. Théoden looked at what they saw and his smile faltered.
Izuna looked too and in that instant, realized two things that knocked his element out of him. The first was the fact that the orcs weren't running away so much as (for lack of a better phrase) they were backing up. The second was that Sauron hadn't been so arrogant to not bring his own cavalry; it had just taken longer to get the front lines.
The Mordor cavalry came in the form of several large creatures stomping their way towards the Rohirrim. Gondor knew these creatures as Mûmakil, which came from Far Harad and were a favored tactic by the Haradrim in war. While the men of Rohan did not know this, they did know what they could see. 1: the creatures were incredibly large, possibly over 20 feet, and carrying large wooden structures on their backs with people onboard chanting in the tongue of the Haradrim. 2: Each creature had six tusks, two long ones on top of their mouths, two stubby ones above those, and two short ones on the bottom, a long trunk that hung between the tusks and it looked like they knew how to use them. 3: On the trunk of each creature were symbols painted in red and black that showed the Eye of Sauron.
An eerie horn sounded in the air from where the Mûmakil were and it made the creatures move faster than they were before. But it also snapped Théoden out of the state of stunned awe he was in. "Re-form the line! Re-form the line!" he ordered his riders, who quickly did as they were ordered, reforming the line of attack. Sound the charge. Take them head-on. Chaaarge!" he cried as Gamling blew his horn again, charging forward to meet the new enemy.
The Rohirrim followed their king into the battle once more, screaming their defiance as they rode with weapons at the ready. But their screams quickly turned into ones of shock, horror, and pain as they reached the Mûmakil and the creatures began swinging their tusks. Some of them had spikes attached and some had cords of rough spiked rope tied between the long tusks, creating a line just above leg height on a horse.
But no matter what was on the tusks, once the creatures started swinging them back and forth, the men of Rohan and their horses were sent flying. The tables had turned so fast that blinking hadn't even been considered. Now the Rohirrim were the ones on the run, breaking up their charge to avoid the giant creatures. But the Mûmakil weren't so easy to lose, especially with the Haradrim steering them. Those who were not quick enough were either sent flying to their deaths from the tusks and spikes or crushed underfoot by the feet and rope.
The problems didn't end there. They also had to deal with the Haradrim warriors being carried atop the Mûmakil. They were skilled archers and showed that skilled by shooting down many riders below them. The Rohirrim that carried bows returned fire and they did but not as many as they would've liked. Most of their arrows struck the hide of the creatures, which didn't seem to do anything.
Izuna was a part of a small group trying to get out from under one of the Mûmakil. It seemed like they would not live after this battle, much less win. But Izuna kept faith in the belief that they would win. He would not abandon the battle, not after making that promise to the king. Even so, more than a few of the riders with him were killed as they escaped. The rest of them scattered across the battlefield. The half-elf took a moment to look at it all. "This isn't good," he thought to himself as he kept riding.
But as he rode, he saw Éomer atop his horse facing down the very Mûmakil he had escaped from and at the Haradrim steering it. Without any warning, the Third Marshall of the Mark switched his grip on his spear and threw it at the steering Haradrim. The spear buried itself in his chest and he fell off the head of the Mûmakil dead. But he was also tied to the creature by a rope to its ear and when he fell, the rope snapped taut making the creature bellow in pain. It turned in the direction of the pain in order to get rid of it but it was still there. As it kept walking, it crashed into another Mûmakil, breaking its leg and sending them both down to the ground.
A ragged cheer came from those who saw it. Now they knew that these creatures could be brought down and once it was so, they would not get up. They heard another creature bellow as it fell to the ground, unable to get up. Izuna noticed that riding away from the fallen creature were Éowyn and Merry, with her holding two swords and he the reins. What they had done came to him in an instant. "She went after the legs with the swords. Nicely done, my lady!" he silently praised her.
"Aim for the heads!" Éomer commanded the nearby riders, a bow in his hands. The archers began shooting their arrows at the head as they were commanded. The Mûmakil didn't like that and began standing on its hind legs to avoid them all.
"Bring it down! Bring it down! Bring it down!" Théoden shouted, gesturing almost angrily at the creature. As if to obey his orders, his disguised niece rode up behind the Mûmakil, this time bearing a spear, which she threw into its leg. The creature bellowed in pain before finally falling, but in the process Izuna lost sight of Éowyn and Merry.
Without any warning, the half-elf was pulled off of his horse and sent to the ground. An orc stood over him with a sword in hand. Aeglos was more than a hand's reach out of grasp but that didn't mean Izuna was defenseless. He lashed out with his foot and broke the orc's leg, making it fall to the ground. He rolled out of the way and came up with Aeglos in hand. He saw that the orcs were regrouping and beginning to attack again. With their ability to charge severely hindered by the Mûmakil, the riders of Rohan could not use speed as a weapon.
But they still had weapons proper and they used them against any orc who tried to fight them. "Gil-galad!" shouted Izuna as he rushed to the nearest orc, decapitating him with a swing of Aeglos. The other orcs took notice of him and most of them charged right at him. He met them gladly, sparks flying off of both swords and glaive.
He killed two in rapid succession with Aeglos. The third had a bit more skill to his sword but not enough to save him, especially against Sharingan. With those eyes, Izuna saw Eowyn fighting close by her uncle's side, killing orcs on foot while he was still on horseback. "Where's Merry?" he asked himself. The hobbit was nowhere in sight.
The sound of a hammer striking the gate filled the entranceway to the third level of Minas Tirith. The city's soldiers had managed to get past the gate and close it but now, it was all they could do to keep closed and locked.
Despite the tense air, and some took it like it was a moment of respite. Pippin, Gandalf, and Sasuke sat on a nearby set of steps that led to a house with their swords out and ready. "I didn't think it would end this way," Pippin confessed to the Wizard and shinobi.
"End?" repeated Gandalf with a small smile on his lips. "No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain curtain of this world rolls back and all turns to silvered glass. And then you see it."
He paused and the hobbit asked, "What? Gandalf? See what?"
"White shores and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise," he answered, the smile still there.
"Well, that's not so bad," Pippin said with a smile of his own.
"No. No it isn't." He saw the frown on Sauske's face. "Do you disagree, Crabandir?"
"It's a nice image," the raven-haired shinobi said, "But what about those who are still stuck behind the rain curtain?" He had been talking about himself in part but mostly of Faramir.
All three looked at the Captain-General of Gondor, staying with the soldiers to keep the gate closed. As Gandalf and Pippin had ridden for the top level, it turned out that Denethor had had the same idea was already marching down to the battle with the Tower Guard at his back.
All seemed good, until the Witch-King appeared and ambushed them, slaughtering most of the Guard and breaking Gandalf's staff when the Wizard tried to force him away. Denethor had been the one to force the Nazgûl away but lost his life in the attempt. According to what remained of the Guard, Gandalf, and Pippin, his last words had been, "YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY SON FROM ME!" as he had charged at the Witch-King.
Those Guardsmen now help hold the gate shut, their spears mingling with those of the common soldiers. That pounding sound wasn't going away and the gate wouldn't hold forever. They knew that Théoden and his riders had made it to the battle and a good portion of the horde away but someone on the wall also saw Mûmakil and Haradrim join the battle and turn the tide against them. They would get no help from them. They were alone in the city.
"Soon, that gate will break open and the orcs will come flooding in," Sasuke thought to himself. "How many more levels will we retreat from before we're all killed? When do we start moving the civilians lest they get killed?"
"You're pathetic," Indra's voice said from inside his head. "Time was that you could've beaten back this horde with ease."
"Aye, I could have. But I would have set this place ablaze in the process and the people living here would have nowhere else to run to."
"Humph, pathetic," the voice snorted in contempt. "And are you planning to die here as well?"
"I have never planned my death. But it looks that way." And he would not resist if it was. He may die if the orcs broke through the gate and when he arrived in the afterlife, there was a very good chance he would be judged for his actions in life. But he would take a lot of orcs with him before he went.
"You don't plan on calling for help?" He asked the question but made it sound like he knew the answer already.
"What help can come to us? The Rohirrim have lost their advantage and are stuck outside. We're alone here."
"No, you're not."
Sasuke couldn't help but scoff. "And what is coming to our aid?"
"What you've been hounding me for ever since I revealed I could reach back in time," Indra answered him.
It was an answer he did not expect and it showed in his reply. "Wh-what? What did you do?"
"What you thought I couldn't: I asked for help. They're waiting, you know, for you to tell them to attack. Now, are you going to call on them or are you too afraid?"
He didn't answer the question. Instead he stood up from where he was sitting, drawing looks of confusion from Gandalf and Pippin. They were here? They were truly here? Hope rose in his chest at the thought. Indra was right. If they were here, they would need to be signaled. The question was where to signal them from.
He looked up to the nearby wall and immediately dismissed it. It would not be high enough to send a proper signal, not with the orcs right below it creating chaos. No, he would have to send it from a place high enough to be seen or heard. As his gaze traveled along the height of the city, they came to a stop at the spur of at the seventh level, where the one could see the entirety of the fields.
He had sheathed the katana and started running up the street before he had realized that he was moving. The buildings around him began to blur away as he picked up speed but it seemed to him that he wasn't going any faster. He had to get there! When he reached the base of the spur, he changed course.
Instead of racing through the levels, he simply ran up the side of the spur. It took less time and yet it didn't seem like it to him. But when his feet stopped feeling rough stone and instead felt smooth pavement, he knew he had reached the top of the spur. He turned to the end of it, where it was narrowest. There he saw the battle in the fields. From that lofty height, men and orcs looked like ants dwarfed by Mûmakil. And like ants, men were crushed by the bigger creatures.
But as he looked down at the fields, he did not see where they were. For a moment, he thought that Indra had lied to him. "Where are they?" he asked himself. "I can't see them."
"You idiot," another part of him said. "They're shinobi; they know how to hide themselves."
"But we're also talking about him. He couldn't hide himself if he actually tried."
"Ten years change a lot of things. Look at yourself."
There was truth in those words and they strengthened his belief and hope. He had to signal them and he knew what to use for a signal. Folding his hands into the familiar handseals, he readied the jutsu and raised his hands above his head. "Chidori," he whispered.
He had meant it as a bright light and a sound. But as he cast the jutsu, it felt like something was trying to take control of it. Whoever it was just took it out of his hands. The first thing he saw was a flash of light so bright he closed his eyes and stumbled back. When he could open his eyes again, he saw something else entirely.
He wasn't the only one; all saw the flash of light come from the spur and turned to see what it was. And in that moment, the entire battlefield stopped.
Clutching the sides of the spur like it was standing on a branch was an eagle of titanic proportions. Only Sasuke knew it was his jutsu that created it because it was made of lightning. To others, it just would've looked blue. It looked down at the battlefield, taking in everything it saw like he had down. No one moved, no one said a word. Even the Mûmakil had stopped moving. Later, it would be remembered that in the moment it flashed into existence, the smog coming from Mordor vanished, leaving nothing but blue skies and bright sun.
Finally, it spread its wings and lifted its head, opening its beak. A cry came forth from it, a cry that sounded like it came from an eagle but it also sounded like the cry from the Chidori itself. Two more times it made the cry, never changing tempo or pitch but always making the echo seem to last longer each time. Then it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Sasuke ran to the edge as soon as it vanished, looking down at the fields. For a long, horrible, dreaded second, it looked it didn't work. But then that second passed.
The first thing that happened appeared from out of nowhere was a large fox easily the same size of the Mûmakil, glowing as brightly as the sun. It charged at the nearest Mûmakil and took it down with two swipes of its claws. It stood over the fallen body of the beast, opened its mouth, and roared.
The second thing that happened was a battle-cry he hadn't heard in a decade. But hearing it now as another Mûmakil fell with a roar of life-ending pain, it felt like he only heard it yesterday. He couldn't help but smile as he heard "SHĀNNARŌ!"
Something had happened, Éowyn knew that much. She couldn't see what it was. The Mûmakil were being slaughtered by something that wasn't them. She had seen the eagle atop the city and had thought it to be a signal. But to who, she did not know. She was thankful to whoever it was kill the Mûmakil, for they were taking Suaron's cavalry away from his grasp.
"Rally to me! To meeee!" she heard Théoden cry to the riders of Rohan, who had been scattered because of the giant creatures. The men closest to him began to rally to his call, her among them. But before a coherent force could be formed, they all heard the screeching sound of a Ringwraith. Éowyn could only watch in horror as the Witch-King descended from the sky and struck her uncle.
It wasn't a fight. To say that it was would've implied that Théoden had a chance to fight back. He did not. The beast the Nazgûl rode clamped its jaws around the King of Rohan and his horse and shook them both like they were ragdolls. Théoden screamed as he was tossed around and then tossed away, landing in such a way that he was pinned beneath his dead horse.
The other riders backed away in fear of the beast, leaving their king alone there. "Feast on his flesh," the Witch-King commanded his mount.
The beast moved forward, its jaws already salivating at the taste of man-flesh. Théoden could do nothing but watch as it came closer. But then a soldier of his appeared and stood before the beast. "I will kill you if you touch him," he shouted at the Witch-King.
"Do not come between the Nazgûl and his prey," the Nazgûl said but the soldier stood firm in her stance.
The beast lunged at Éowyn, jaws agape to bite down on her. But she twisted out of the way and with two strokes of her sword, decapitated it. The corpse flopped around like a drunkard trying to keep its balance, only to fall and take its rider with it.
She reached down and grabbed a nearby shield, holding it in her left and her sword in her right. She knew that a Nazgûl would not be defeated by a mere fall and so she stood ready to defend her king. From amidst the beast's still twitching wings, the Witch-King arose, unharmed like she knew it would be.
He also stood ready for combat, holding a sword in his right hand. But it was the weapon in his left that drew her attention with growing horror. To say that it was a flail would be an understatement. The chain links holding the head to the shaft was as thick as sword-steel. The head itself was a black monstrosity, spiked in the right places to inflict maximum injuries. It looked like it was heavy enough to make a strong man wince at the thought of holding it, yet the Ringwraith wielded it with ease.
With a screech, he swung the flail at her, almost catching her by surprise. She got out of the way of it just in time, letting the weapon strike the earth. The Witch-King pulled it out and swung it around his body and then overhead again. She ducked and avoided it again but she could not find any spots in his defense to attack. It felt like she wasn't so much an opponent as a force of twisted nature she couldn't even try to comprehend.
The short battle came to an end when the flail finally struck her shield. The thing didn't so much as break as it shattered into pieces, also breaking her arm in the process. She fell to the ground and could not get up. Standing victorious over her, the Witch-King dropped his sword and grabbed her neck. "You fool! No man can kill me," he declared as he lifted her up. "Die now!"
But then a surprise came for both of them. For Merry had survived his fall from the horse and had been making his way through the battlefield back to Éowyn's side. He had been wounded plenty as he did this, forcing him to crawl across the ground. When he finally found her, the Witch-King was holding her.
Without thinking about it, he drew the dagger the Lady Galadriel had given him and stabbed the Witch-King in the leg. The dagger instantly vaporized in his hand, leaving him with a pain that made him fall onto his back screaming. But his attempt to help worked. The Nazgûl screeched in pain and fell to his knees, releasing his grip on Éowyn.
Finding the strength once again to stand, she did just that. She stood before the Lord of the Nazgûl and took off her helmet, revealing her face. "I am no man!" she declared before plunging her sword into the darkness that lay beneath his cowl. She held it there, twisting it ever so slightly as light inside the cowl coursed over the Nazgûl.
A shockwave blasted the sword out of his cowl and out of her hand, flying away from her reach. The strength she had found to stand vanished, making her fall down again. But that was nothing compared to what she saw. The Witch-King literally crumpled up before her as a harsh wind blew through him, finally falling dead to the ground.
But she did not care about that any more. "Merry!" she cried, looking for the hobbit. She started crawling across the earth, looking for him. Her progress was slow and she could not seem to find him anywhere. Her vision began to blur and she began to see things.
She saw a horde of green ghosts come flooding out of nowhere and attack the army of Mordor. Amidst that horde, she saw two Men, an Elf, and a Dwarf fighting alongside them, cutting great paths through the orcs. As she heard another Mûmakil fall, she saw what looked to be a giant standing over it. Orcs nearby attacked one another with a ferocity and savageness she had expected but she thought she saw looks of surprise and shock on their faces.
As she crawled through the corpses of men, horses, and orcs, she saw her uncle's horse lying on the ground. Changing her course, she made her way over to it. She crawled around to find her uncle still pinned beneath. Reaching out with her unbroken arm, she cradled his head. She stayed there as the sounds of battle faded away.
His eyes opened and the first thing he saw was her. He reached out with his fingers and touched her cheek. "I know your face, Éowyn," he said with a tired voice but it was enough to make her smile. His fingers began to feel numb and he pulled them away. "My eyes darken."
The smile faded away from her face. "No, no. I'm going to save you," she protested.
"You already did," he told her. "Éowyn, my body is broken. You have to let me go."
"No," she said whist shaking her head, the word barely crawling out of her mouth and hardly loud enough to be heard.
But he heard it all the same. "I go to my fathers, in whose mighty company; I shall not now feel ashamed." He felt his body grow weaker and his vison darker. He kept his gaze on his niece, letting his last word be "Éowyn."
Théoden, son of Thengel, King of Rohan and Lord of the Mark, died in the arm of his niece. The last thing she did before the darkness claimed her as well was weep for him.
End
Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.
So ends the battle for Minas Tirith. Gah, it felt like this thing took forever to write. I almost feel bad for taking this long to finish it. Hopefully, the rest of the story will be smooth sailing (but I doubt it).
Like I said about Sasuke, it's a balancing act. Plus, you throw enough cannon fodder in the way, cannon runs out of ammunition (or in this case, he didn't get to the ram in time).
I think you guys already know who the second batch of reinforcements were for Gondor (if not, I weep at your deduction skills). The question was when to put them in and that was a little difficult at first. But after some thought, I figured the best place would be when the Rohirrim were on the run from the Haradrim. There's just enough time for that to happen before Aragorn's crew show up.
I'll see you all next chapter!
