One steaming-long chapter for you!
The scene was completely and totally silent.
The only sound present was the thunder above them and the thunder in the distance, accompanied by many small pinpoints of light. The wind blew gently, stirring hair and the feathers on the ends of arrows. Everyone was deathly somber, and everyone was silent.
Well. With one exception.
"You could have picked a better spot!" Poor Gimli was a tad too short to see over the Deepening Wall. Legolas only smirked in response, and Susan and Peter managed to offer small grins. This could very well have been their last time hearing Gimli grumble at Legolas. Aragorn came up behind them, eyes boring out at the approaching Uruk-Hai army. "Well, lad," Gimli muttered to him. "Whatever luck you like by, let's hope it lasts the night."
Thunder rolled overhead, and a flash of lightning illuminated the sky. The entire situation was sickeningly foreboding, and Peter felt as though his heart would jump out of his chest, it was beating so fast. The Uruks were momentarily illuminated… And there were even more than Peter remembered seeing before. Susan grasped his arm, though her expression was of stony solemnity.
"Your friends are with you, Aragorn." Legolas whispered.
"Let's hope they last the night." Aragorn nodded, clapped Legolas' shoulder and gave a nod to his friends before walking away. The thunder cracked again, and the lightning flashed. A moment later, it started to downpour. Peter shivered.
"Perfect." He murmured. "Great start to the evening."
The rain landing on armor sounded like small pebbles on a tin roof, and in spite of the rain, nobody moved and nobody spoke further. All eyes were trained on the army, which seemed to take forever getting near. Many of the Uruks, they now saw, carried pikes, flags and torches. As they moved, their armor added to their weight made every step into a miniature earthquake. One could only wonder what it sounded like to the women and children in the caves below.
One Uruk, presumably a general or a lieutenant or whatever high rank the Uruk-Hai gave themselves, had climbed onto a large rock. Amidst his vast army, he raised a jagged metal sword high in the air and let out a guttural, shuddering cry. The armies did not stop, so it was presumed to be a war cry.
"Eruchin, ú-dano i faelas a hyn," Aragorn was yelling to the Elvish soldiers as he marched between their ranks. "An uben tanatha le faelas!"
"'Show no mercy,'" Legolas translated quietly for Peter, Susan and Gimli, never taking his eyes from the army. "'For you shall receive none.'"
The Uruk on the rock let out another cry, this one louder, deeper and steadier. This time, the army came to a stop close to a hundred yards from the Deepening Wall. By now, everyone was soaking wet. Peter wondered what the Uruks were doing; Did they plan on hitting them with archers first?
"What's happening? What's going on?" Gimli asked anxiously, hopping furiously and renewing his attempts to see over the wall again.
"Shall I describe it to you?" Legolas asked lightly. He looked down at Gimli. "Or would you like me to find you a box?" Susan and Peter, so tense and terrified, couldn't help but laugh. Gimli did as well, though it was purely sarcasm.
The Uruk on the rock let out a third cry, tilting his head back. Then, all of the Uruks in the front (Maybe in the back as well- they couldn't see) began to slam their pikes and spears onto the ground.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
"What are they doing?" Peter asked softly.
"Scaring us." Susan remarked in a low voice. "They're showing us their numbers. I suppose they think they're being flippant." The archers all drew arrows from their quivers and nocked them, aiming for the front line. The Uruks were roaring along with their spears now, hollow grunts and animalistic roars echoing through the ravine.
"DARTHO!" Aragorn bellowed suddenly. Legolas looked stricken.
"What? What is it?" Peter asked, looking around.
"Somebody let loose an arrow before the command." Legolas whispered. "Prepare yourselves. They'll charge now." He was right. The Uruk on the rock let out one final, enraged cry, and the entire army began to pound towards the wall. Aragorn called for the archers to prepare to fire. Legolas said something, but it was lost to the Pevensies over the roar of the Uruk-Hai and the beating of their hearts.
"RELEASE THE ARROWS!"
And so, the battle began.
A wave of arrows tore into the line, and a great number of Uruks in the front fell dead. "Did they hit anything?" Gimli cried.
"FIRE!" A volley of arrows rained down from the ramparts behind them, striking more of the enemy down. Soon the darkened space of the ravine was filled with arrows striking down from Helm's Deep into the number of Uruks below. Susan never watched her arrows fly- as soon as one was off, she was stringing up another. However many they managed to cut down, too many more were still running at the wall.
"SEND THEM TO ME, COME ON!" Gimli roared, shaking his axe. To their left, one Elf was hit with a crossbow bolt and went tumbling off the wall into the sea of Uruk-Hai below. Many more were hit with bolts from below, the enemy's number too dense to discern where they were coming from. Some fell forward off the wall, others tumbled back onto the courtyard below.
Peter peered over the wall, and his stomach dropped to his feet. The Uruk-Hai had ladders, which they were now swinging up to the wall. "LADDERS!" Aragorn called to the combatants. "SWORDS! SWORDS!"
"Good!" Gimli barked, hefting his axe. "The aim, children, is to knock them off the walls. They'll be heavy, but try!" Peter nodded. In one, fluid and smooth motion, everyone on the Deepening Wall had unsheathed their swords, bringing them up to point at the rising ladders. One Uruk, completely without armor, leapt off the top of the ladder and launched themselves onto the wall only to be cut down by Gimli.
Now the real fighting began.
The armor-less Uruk-Hai were more vulnerable, but they were also a good deal bigger and stronger than their comrades. One struck at Peter, and he was immediately thrown back. The Uruk-Hai jumped forward to finish him off, but Peter rolled to the side and the sword smashed into the ground. The teenager jumped up and slashed his sword at the Uruk's stomach, making it screech. He swung around to its back and slammed the tip of the sword through, fatally wounding it.
Susan relied more heavily on dodging to avoid being killed. She had her short sword, and often jumped as swiftly as she was able around the Uruk-Hai while slashing at their torsos, necks and legs. Neither she nor her brother had sustained anything but bumps and bruises so far, and she prayed that it would remain that way.
Their friends were faring well so far as well. "Legolas! Two already!" Gimli roared, having the time of his life. Legolas grinned back.
"I'm on seventeen!"
"WHAT? I'LL HAVE NO POINTY-EAR OUTSCORING ME!" The dwarf roared. He turned around and slammed his axe into the groin of an Uruk-Hai on a ladder, striking it in the back as it fell.
Aragorn was fighting like a madman, cutting down Uruk-Hai left and right, and then managing to kick a ladder off the wall. This was a back-fire on the part of the Uruks: they'd made the ladders heavy enough to make it difficult to kick them off the wall, but when one of the ladders fell on them, it was enough to crush a good number of them to a pulp.
But more ladders were coming, and the fight wasn't anywhere near over.
"SEVENTEEN, EIGHTEEN, NINETEEN, TWENTY! TWENTY-ONE, TWENTY-TWO, TWENTY-THREE…" Peter wasn't sure how long they'd been fighting. An hour, maybe two by this point? While he thought it wasn't the best idea to be focusing on beating each other in this situation, the sound Gimli and Legolas' counting when in earshot was a sign that they were both still alive and kicking.
Peter had lost track of Susan some time before, but he didn't have time to worry about her at the moment. With every Uruk he killed (And he was getting the hang of close-quarters fighting very quickly) brought a new one charging up and screaming for his blood. Peter had received two slash wounds on the left of his stomach not so long ago, and a particularly hard hit with the flat of someone's blade (Uruk, Elf, Human, he didn't know) made moving on his right leg rather painful.
The Uruks' numbers had not noticeably thinned in the time since the battle had begun, and Peter was counting the moments until he could see the end of their numbers in the valley. He feared becoming tired, knowing that he would be prone to slips and possibly a sword to the neck. No one else had tired yet, though, and so he battled on.
Susan was on the middle of the Deepening Wall with Haldir and Aragorn, striking Uruks with her sword and firing off arrows when she could. "Are you holding out?" Haldir called to her, spinning around to decapitate an Uruk.
"I'm fine! And you?" She jabbed her sword into another Uruk-Hai's neck.
"I am well. Your sword-craft is excellent!"
"Thank you!" Down the way, Susan heard Aragorn screaming something frantically to Legolas in Elvish. But as she was currently preoccupied, she paid little heed to whatever they were doing.
KA-BOOM!
Susan felt herself being thrown through the air, tossed like a rag-doll. She was in such a state of disarray that she was unable to tell whether she was being thrown up or down. The ground she landed on was stone- she was still on the wall- but it was covered in rock and dust and blood…
Peter's heart had very nearly stopped when he'd heard the explosion. Weren't they through hearing those? He could have sworn that Middle Earth didn't have bombs! None the less, it was real, and Peter was knocked clean off his feet from the rumbling and shaking.
The middle section of the Deepening Wall had been completely blown away. Everyone there had either been killed instantly or thrown several yards away. Large rocks flew through the air, landing on Human, Elf and Uruk-Hai alike. Peter could see Legolas just left of the immediate explosion sight, but could see none of his other companions. "Susan!" Peter roared over the din. "Aragorn! Gimli!"
"Susan!" Susan felt herself being shaken. She had been stunned by the explosion and being flung so suddenly. Haldir was crouched next to her, a hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right? Talk to me!" Susan sat up, dizzy.
"I… I'm all right… What…?"
"The Uruk-Hai used an explosive device. They blew open the wall." Haldir said quickly, pulling her to her feet.
"Damn it all! Peter was right!" Susan cursed, recalling Peter's words from earlier: "There's a first time for everything". Precisely what he'd said when Théoden had told them that no one had ever breached the Deepening Wall. Down below, the Uruk-Hai were beginning to flood in through the breach, splashing through the water that was left from the culvert. "Oh no- Aragorn!" Susan cried, pointing down.
Haldir looked to see Aragorn, seemingly unconscious in the debris-strewn courtyard below before the mass of Uruks filtering in. In a moment, he seemed to stir, slowly starting to pick himself up. Haldir tugged on Susan's arm and they both darted down the steps to the courtyard, where several of the remaining archers were gathering.
"ARAGORN!" To Susan's shock, Gimli, shrieking a war-cry, leapt off the broken, right half of the wall, swinging his axe like a Dwarf possessed. "KHAZAD-DUM!" He bellowed, crashing into the wave of Uruks and cutting them down.
"Your Dwarf friend is mad!" Haldir whispered.
"Clearly!" Aragorn stood up and screamed for the archers behind him to fire, Haldir and Susan quickly joining their ranks.
"CHARGE!" The group charged head-first down the hill, swords drawn against the invaders. They knocked aside the Uruks' pikes and cut into them, meeting them stroke for stroke. Legolas and Peter flew down into the courtyard, swinging madly at the Uruk-Hai in aid to their friends. But now, things were ugly.
They'd had a chance when they'd had the wall. They'd had a chance when only a few Uruk-Hai could come at a time. But now…
"ARAGORN!" King Théoden boomed. "FALL BACK TO THE KEEP! GET YOUR MEN OUT OF THERE!"
"TO THE KEEP! TO THE KEEP! RETREAT!" He called up to Haldir, who'd returned to the top of the wall to rescue one of his men. Peter, Legolas and another Elven warrior had to physically drag Gimli to the keep, as he was unwilling to retreat.
"Fall back!" Haldir called. "Fall back!" Susan happened to turn and look up at him then- Just in time to see an Uruk-Hai stab him in the side and break his arm simultaneously. Haldir managed to kill him anyway, but he was gravely injured. A moment later, the Uruk-Hai from earlier- the one commanding the others from the rock- came up behind him, sword raised-
"HALDIR!"
An arrow flew over his shoulder and struck the Uruk in the neck. Susan ran up to him, placing a hand on his chest to keep him upright. "Come on!" She cried, pulling his good arm over her shoulder and helping him down the steps.
"Leave me!" He hissed at her. "There are too many- You'll be killed!"
"Oh well!" Susan snapped back at him, continuing to help him limp. Haldir wanted her to leave him, but he couldn't force her to. Resisting would only slow her down, and that would defeat his point.
"You are a stubborn girl," He whispered, shaking his head.
Inside, the Uruks had managed to smash a hole through the main gates. King Théoden had received a pike to the chest, and was leaning against the wall, grimacing. Peter, Gimli and Aragorn rushed in, hacking at the Uruks as they attempted to climb in. Two Rohan soldiers had been killed already, and the others were trying valiantly to keep the main fortress from being penetrated.
"Hold them!" Théoden cried to Aragorn.
"How long do you need?"
"As long as you can give me!" Théoden said, taking up his sword again. Aragorn turned to Peter and Gimli and ushered them to a side passage that led to a small outcropping of rocks near the bridge. The door was not visible to the Uruks, and so the three went unnoticed. "Brace the gates! Timbers!" They heard Théoden call dimly from inside. Aragorn slid forward first, then Gimli, then Peter.
"Step lightly," He whispered. "The rain has made them slippery." He peered around the edge of the wall. The Uruks were only a few yards away, hammering at the door with their swords. Gimli was eager.
"Come on! We can take them!" He hissed excitedly, jumping a little. It was then that Aragorn turned to Gimli and calmly raised his eyebrows.
"It's a long way." He said simply. Gimli made a little huffing noise, examined the distance, and then became still.
"Toss me." Aragorn tilted his head down.
"What?"
"I cannot jump the distance, you'll have to toss me!" Peter was confused; Why did this seem so familiar?
Oh… Wait a moment…
Flashback to Moria, "Nobody tosses a Dwarf!" Peter grinned.
"I thought nobody could toss a dwarf," He whispered. Gimli gave the boy a simmering look. Aragorn chuckled, then reached down to get a hold on Gimli.
"Ah, ah, wait!" He looked pleadingly at Aragorn. "D-Don't tell the Elf?" He glared at Peter. "You either!" Aragorn smiled.
"Not a word." With a great grunt, he heaved Gimli up and tossed him to the bridge. With a loud battle-cry, Gimli leapt onto the Uruks and knocked them from the bridge. "Would you like to be tossed, Peter?" Peter grinned.
"I'll pass." They leapt, one after the other, from the outcropping and onto the bridge. They didn't even need to stab the Uruks to kill them- a fall from the bridge would be enough to do it. This was slightly unappealing, however, with the consideration of accidentally knocking Aragorn or Gimli off as well.
Behind them, Peter could hear Théoden and his men frantically barricading the door with poles and slabs of wood. It took them maybe ten minutes to secure it satisfyingly, before Théoden called to them, "Get out of there! The door's secure!" It was at this time that an Uruk jumped onto Gimli and Aragorn, presumably trying to strangle them (Or at least hold them still long enough for its friends to get up).
"Aragorn!"
Legolas threw them a rope from the wall above. "Go!" Aragorn yelled to Peter. Not bothering to wait for the rope to steady itself, Peter jumped from the bridge and onto the rope. To his terror, his grip slid for a moment, and he almost fell. He regained it, however, and tried to force his heart back into a normal rhythm. He felt the weight on the rope increase, and knew that Aragorn and Gimli were right below him.
Legolas pulled them up onto the wall as he was covered by four other Elves. Once they were up, they retreated to the keep. Now everyone had been ordered to; The Uruks had completely breached Helm's Deep, and they were flooding in by the hundreds. For now, the battle was on pause.