Hi guys!
So, we have arrived to the moment of the terrible battle at Helm's Deep. All of us know what happens but... what will Kitty's role be?
Also, the feelings of the elf towards the mutant as well as viceversa will start to bloom out.
As always, I want to thank Celridel for her help and invite you for leave your reviews. Now... let's begin with chapter 26!
Chapter 26: Playing soldiers
After talking to Aragorn, Legolas had taken Kitty directly to the caves. The Elf fully realized that the mutant was not pleased to be hidden away, but he could not afford to let her fight. What if she died-or even worse was taken prisoner in the midst of battle?
Both had taken the path down to the caves in silence, Legolas sensing the discomfort of the young woman. Finally they stopped in front of the thick, iron doors, guarded by two men. The Elf paused, unsure of what to say to Kitty. "You'll be safe here Kitty." he murmured at last.
She stared at him, her face clearly showing her dissatisfaction and disbelief.
"Please, Kitty, understand, I cannot allow you to fight for the sake of us both." he pleaded.
Kitty rolled her eyes. "Legolas, why? Why can you sense me? Are you like an Elven-mutant, or like Lady Galadriel or what?"
Legolas shook his head.
"Then why?" burst out Kitty in frustration.
The Elven Prince, well used to speaking, had no words. Kitty raised an annoyed eyebrows, crossing her arms. Finally she sighed. "Oh, alright. I'll stay." she lied. "But you have to tell me why."
Legolas swallowed hard. "Kitty, you must promise first you will stay in the caves."
Kitty groaned annoyed. "Whatever. I promise." she muttered, holding up her right hand as if taking an oath.
Legolas seemed to accept her promise, since he nodded.
A strange, uncomfortable silence followed. Neither knew what to say or what to do.
Kitty fidgeted, staring at the stone floor, wondering what Legolas was waiting for. At last she looked up, to see Thrandullion watching her with a look that seemed…..to ask for something? Perhaps like the medieval knights….should she give him some token, some well wish for the parting. "Well, good luck, Legolas." she stammered. "And fight…..bravely….do your best…not that you don't always do you best….."
Kitty heard him chuckle, and then there was a fond kiss on her forehead, making her stop her rambling.
"For me it's more than enough." he said tenderly.
"Really?" She replied, unable to avoid blushing "How nice. It's not my style…I'm not good at it."
Legolas chuckled and hugged her for a moment. Unable to help it, Kitty rested her head on his shoulder again, closed her eyes, and sighed. That hug felt so good, so sincere and full of love!
"I know." he whispered into her hair. "That's why those words are such a treasure to me."
Much to her grief, Kitty's heart stopped, and then began again to beat sweetly and slowly. Legolas released her. "Go on."
Kitty smiled faintly and entered. The heavy doors closed behind her.
Legolas came just at the moment when the army finished taking their places. He headed for the front wall, followed by Gimli.
"You could have picked a better spot!" said the dwarf annoyed. He could see little over the battlements.
Legolas smiled absently, and Gimli noticed. "Princeling, what are you thinking? We have an army of demons before us!"
The Prince gave him no heed, but when Aragorn asked. "Are you thinking of someone?" Legolas turned on him. "As if you are not, Estel."
The Dúnadan's teasing smile grew less. His Undómiel remained in his thoughts every moment. Through the plains of Rohan her strength had renewed him, and now her pale, sweet face and clear grey eyes were not far from his mind. "So it is." he said softly.
The clouds grew darker, lowering in ominous mass. Then a flash of lightening split the sky, and by the brief flame the army of Rohan saw a bronzy sheen below them. It was the army of the Uruk-Hai, stretched out, marching in perfect silence, and the Men of Rohan answered their stillness. No sound was made.
Then a great peal of thunder rolled across the heavens, and waves of rain poured down. The Uruk roared and pounded their spears, trampling the sweet grass of Rohan, but still the men of Rohan remained quiet, and the Orcs halted, unsure.
An beast-like snarl sounded, some command, and the Uruk Army charged as one against the stone walls. And they were answered now, with a storm of arrows raining from the ramparts.
"So it begins." muttered the King.
Kitty watched the women with some surprise. Like their Princess, they were not weeping, they were strong, stern, and silent. Rarely did a child whimper. The caves around her were dark, only a few flickering torches lit the way.
A low rumble began, hardly audible, and then was growing, growing to a deafening thunder. Kitty stood up sharply. It was the Uruk army, the pounding of their feet a great noise. She withdrew to an empty corner with her denim backpack, and for some reason took out the photo of her and her friends. After staring at it for a long time, she put it back in a pocket, her hand touching a round metal object, which she pulled out. It was a circle, engraved with a capital X, the symbol she had worn with her X-Man suit. Her outfit was gone, but she still had that symbol, the symbol that reminded her she was 'Shadowcat' and everything she'd been through and what she'd fought for.
The terrible noise of battle had begun, and a light of determination appeared in her hazel eyes. Legolas had asked her to stay in the caves and she foolishly had promised it; But she was 'Shadowcat', she was an X-Men and an X-Men never left behind any companion.
She hid her backpack behind a large rock, though kept the X-Men symbol, and withdrew out of sight.
The corridors of the caves were long and winding, and it was after a long time and much difficulty that she found herself out in the open air, where pouring gusts rains blew down with a fierce wind. She found the armory easily. There was little enough to choose from, but what there was she put on. A light chain-mail coat, still much larger than her, and a belt. Tying her hair in a tight ponytail, she seized a helmet. It was heavy, and weighted her down, but she had to be content. She could not afford to have any of her friends recognize her, or worse, the Uruk.
Weapons were scarce, and all she could find was a short sword, dull, but it would still serve to kill.
She mounted the walls, and gazed out in horror. The Uruks were using long ladders and grappling hooks, and as fast as the men of Rohan could throw over one ten more were hooked, and the Uruks scrambling up like dark apes in the forest of the south. It was a massacre, a butcher.
She had been standing in the turmoil, but her eyes fixed upon a small figure, a young boy, no more than twelve summers, targeted by an Orc. The boy had managed to dodge the first blow, and defended himself vigorously, but the beast overbore him by sheer strength and knocked him down onto the blood-slick stone.
The creature raised his weapon, but there was no chance to stab. A small sword impaled him, and Kitty hauled the boy to his feet and shoved him away, half-carrying him down the stairs, seizing the large, hideous shield from a dead Uruk and pushed the boy in a corner. "Do not move, and keep tight hold of your sword." she warned, and wedged the shield in front of him.
Kitty stood up. First child saved and first dead Uruk. First victories. She took a deep breath to calm herself. She was frightened, terrified but she was still Shadowcat.
Kitty grabbed her short sword and charged.
The hail of arrows which had been fired by both the Elves and the Rohirrim had wreaked havoc on the Uruk army, but not enough.
A deep voice came over the resounding clash of steel upon steel and the pouring of the rain. "Legolas! Two!"
The Elf turned with a smirk. "Seventeen, Master Dwarf."
"I'll have no pointy-eared Elfling outscoring me." muttered Gimli, his battle-axe dripping with blood.
"Nineteen!" called back Legolas once more, but then he paled. He sensed someone in the battle.
Legolas blinked rain from his eyes, trying to see her admist the chaos.
The dwarf understood. "Come on! The lass promised that she would stay in the caves, would not she?"
Legolas nodded.
"So fight! You do not want to beaten by a dwarf!"
Legolas drew a deep breath, twisted his knives from their sheaths, and slammed them into the throat of an encroaching Orc. Legolas took a deep breath. It was true, Kitty had promised, and Kitty was not a person to break her promises, was she?
The battle was without truce or quarter. Men and children, Elves and Uruk-Hai fell together, and blood and rain dripped from the stones of Helm's Deep, as everywhere bodies covered the ground and made it black.
Anduril came like a flame, and before it the hearts of the Uruk quailed and the courage of Men was uplifted. Aragorn felt the blood coursing through him, in all the heat of battle he knew that Undómiel was pouring her sustaining strength into him by the power of her love.
He looked down over the walls. A concentrated group of Uruk were running towards the drain. One held a kind of machine, though Aragorn's vision was blurred by rain, he knew well enough what this was. "Legolas! Stop!" he shouted, pointing towards the Uruk. "Kill him!"
The Elf sliced the throat of the Orc and drew his bow, notching an arrow onto the string with blood soaked fingers. His woodland arrow flew straight and true, but the Orc continued. In horror, he aimed again, but it was done.
A great boom echoed through the valley of Helms Deep, and the wall trembled.
Kitty gasped for breath, rising to her feet. Below her lay the body of an Elf. Kitty had closed his eyes, gently taking the sword from the hand of the corpse. She stood up.
It was tiring to fight like that. She knew sparring, but her body ached as much as her heart did.
There was a clang as her sword was deflected on an Uruk's breastplate. Kitty slid under his blade, driving his sword upwards, astonished at her own skill. Something had happened, her reflexes were keener, her movements were fluid, and knowledge was returning.
Ogun. Could it be that the knowledge that Ogun had experienced while he had possessed her it was slowly returning? After all, she was in Middle-Earth, a land where magic was the daily bread. Kitty shook her head, there was no time to be ponder, she must fight.
She kept on, desperate to save the children who should never have entered the battle.
She saw in the distance Aragorn shouting, but she heard nothing over the clamor of the battle. Looking down, she saw a group of Uruk shielding another Uruk with a black metal sphere and a torch, much like a Roman formation. What was that black sphere and what was the torch for?
"Oh shit!" She exclaimed as she realized what it was. Did not the Coyote use those kind of bombs to catch the Road Runner? Did not Duck Lucas use those bombs to beat Bugs Bunny?
She saw that Legolas fire two arrows, but it did not matter. The Orc staggered, and Kitty swung herself over the wall, onto the corpse of the Orc. But the wick had been lit.
In a split second, Kitty measured her chances. Sh knew of bombs and realized that this one could breach Helm's Deep. The only thing she could do was make the wall enter the state of phasing. one, although small, had enough power to blow up the entire wall and if it did, that would be the end of Rohan. The only way she came to mind was to make the wall enter state of phasing just like her ... and the Uruk that attacked her from behind would die of the explosion.
Kitty stood up, looking for the wall. But the same agony she had on the banks of the river returned, with greater intensity. Her sight began to darken. Kitty struggled, crawling towards the wall, grounding out through teeth gritted with pain.
"I'm 'Shadowcat', I'm an X-Men and the X-Men never leave anyone behind!"
Lightening split the skies asunder, and Kitty screamed. To these terrible moments followed a deadly weariness, the cries of the fighters that sounded like a distant echo and after ... a total silence and a complete darkness.
Waiting for your reviews, guys!