Hi people!

Until now, there are two plots developing: the one that we all know and a new one, Marrow's revenge. What will happen about it?

Before starting I want to thank Celridel for her help as well as to invite you for leaving your reviews!

Now, let's go for the next chapter!

Chapter 27: Planning revenge

Marrow ran her hand over the bindings if the great tomes and books of Saruman's library, searching for a book that was essential to her revenge. was searching in Saruman's personal library for a book that was basic to her revenge plan. She was cruel and extremely cunning, and in a short time she had devised a scheme when she hoped to implement soon, now that there was no army in Isengard.

Lying on a wooden table, she found a yellowed book that seemed to speak of the histories of Middle-Earth, and flipped through the parchment pages she found genealogical lines that spoke mainly of the kingdom of Men. Two names came to her mind: Rohan and Gondor. Though she was not native to this realm, she had studied its history, its languages, hoping to use this. An ink drawing caught her attention. It was a ring, made of two serpents intertwined. Marrow stared at it, this was a flashy ring, surely there was some interesting story behind it. She would investigate it later.

A smell came to her nose, a person who stunk of horse. "Grima." she said without turning, though in her hand a long thorn was ready in case of any nasty surprise. "What brings you here? Does Saruman send you with a message."

Gríma shook his head. "No. He does not know I am with you."

Marrow turned slowly, her green gaze penetrating his pale eyes, but she read only truth, and a certain attraction. Marrow shrugged inwardly, not interested whether or not the man had any fancy for her. He was below her, and was only an instrument.

"Well, Gríma," she went on with a kindly accent. "What is the reason you came?"

Wormtongue did not know what to answer. In fact, the mutant inspired fear, quite fear, her presence was imposing, and her face was nature's warning signal. But for a being as wretched as Gríma, she held a certain attraction. Like the light a moth sees in a lantern-they do not realize if they approach they will die, not at least until it is too late. And Marrow knew it. "Tell me Gríma, what is this ring? Have you seen it before? "The mutant asked after a moment, showing him the picture.

Grima approached slowly. "It is the Ring of Barahir."

Marrow lifted a surprised eyebrow. She had never heard of it. "I know nothing more than before, Grima." she replied.

"I do not know much more than you either," he said. "I only know that is related to the heirs of Isildur. Saruman told me…I also know that Saruman was angry when he learned that a Dúnadan wander was accompanying Gandalf."

Marrow leaned back on the table, hands gripping the edge of carved wood. So Gandalf had found the heir of Gondor? That could be useful. If only she had had the Uruk army under her control! Instead of foolishly attacking the fortress of Helm's Deep, there should be a small group of Uruk to take Aragorn prisoner, or, in the worst case, kill him. After all, that Dúnadan was the head of the resistance. And cut off the head, and the snake will die. Marrow smiled, tight-lipped. "Tell me, Gríma, do you happen to know where Saruman's book of potions is?"

Grima looked at her uncertainly. Why did the mutant want to know? Was she planning to kill Saruman or kill him?

"Do not worry about your life, Grima," Marrow told him as he hesitated, "those who do not betray me and do not want to kill me, I do them no harm"

Although the mutant's voice was reassuring, her reputation made Grima doubtful, but it was better to believe her, after all, as the saying goes: 'It is better to help the devil than to get in his way.'

"Here it is." he pointed out in a corner of the great bookshelf.

Marrow smiled sweetly at him, patting his shoulder gently, and Gríma retreated a little ways away, astonished.

Marrow opened the book and began to flip through it. She did not understand the language, but the drawings were useful to her. Gríma approached cautiously, still in fear. The mutant tensed inwardly. She detested the cringing man, but she had to earn his trust. He was a key player.

"Grima, you were very kind to give me this book." she smiled, "I hope you have the good sense not to tell Saruman…or else you and I could have a little problem."

Wormtongue shook his head. "I will say nothing."

Marrow smiled again and laid a hand on his cheek as a thank you. Gríma drew in his breath sharply. It felt so good! Nobody had treated him that way before! To hell with Éowyn! Marrow was much better. Maybe perhaps not in beauty, but she was kind.

"This can be very useful to us." the mutant muttered, seeing a specific drawing that seemed show the creation of Uruk-Hai, though not identical to the ones Saruman made.

"Us?" Grima dared to ask, with secret hope.

"Yes, of course. Avalanche and I." replied Marrow, and then paused. "And you to, Gríma. If you promise to help us."

"Even if I am not a- mutant?"

"Of course." said Marrow. "We're not perfect, Gríma. And I think you're one of those…..people, that will be very helpful."

"Then tell me what I should do," Grima said after a moment.

Marrow smiled to herself. It was so easy to manipulate the monkeys beneath her in the evolutionary chain!

Silence blackness surrounded Kitty. She did not hear the screams of the fighters, nor had she heard the crumble of the wall. Could she have prevented any part of it from falling? Kitty was not entirely sure, but she was certain that at least a good part of the wall had been saved. She just hoped it was enough to stop the Uruk attack. However, for the moment she had a more important issue and was to know where she was.

Wherever she looked, there was nothing but darkness. Kitty wondered if it would be like the occasion when she had touched the Ring. She hope it was not so. But little by little, voices grew, first a murmur and then clearer. Voices of…b... voices of ... Ororo, Emma Frost, Logan and ... Bobby?

What the hell was going on? She listened, though doing such made her head ache.

"Did you get it?" Asked Logan's voice. "You're supposed to be one of the most powerful telepaths!"

"I told you she's far away." snapped Emma. "She's is a long way off and I've never come across a situation like this."

"At least you think you can get her out?" Ororo's voice asked.

"I can try, but it will take time," Emma replied, "Keep it'll hurt her a lot!"

Kitty felt her heart pounding. So, the one that was trying to enter her mind was that unscrupulous woman?

"Why do not you try again?" She heard Bobby ask.

There was silence. In that brief moment, Kitty realized she was in a precarious position, left under stone blocks and bodies that had somehow had wedged together in the chaos, and had not fallen on her. Immediately she entered state of phasing and began to crawl up the slimy pit. Her left ankle was sprained, and her shoulders were hurt.

She pushed her way, where from a crack, she could gasp in the fresh, rain-swept air, when she felt a terrible pain in her again, and slid back down the mud-slick pit. Kitty clenched her teeth. "No, you will not, you bitch!" she hissed, closing her mind, and appealing to the forces to strengthen her state of phasing.

She could hear Emma's voice screaming in pain and the voice of Ororo and Bobby asking what was happening. Almost at the same time, she felt the headache gradually disappear and mingle with the muffled cries of battle.

Emma Frost dropped into the armchair behind her, as the three looked at her.

"What happened?" Ororo asked after a few moments.

"I don't know." gasped the mutant, rubbing her temples in a vain attempt to assuage the blinding pain.

"What do you mean that do you not know?" repeated Logan.

"I do not know!" snapped Emma "She began to resist and went into state of phasing."

The three X-Men looked at each other, and Bobby hesitantly approached the body of young woman lying on a stretcher. He touched her hand. "She's not in the state of phasing."

"Stop lying to us!" Logan snarled, pulling his adamantium claws out of his right hand and threatening Emma.

"I tell you I don't know!" she yelled. "I don't even know where she is!"

"Have not you seen even a glimpse?" Ororo asked calmly.

Emma groaned. "I saw a great stone wall, like an ancient fortress. I also thought I heard…the clash of swords and…"

"You want us to believe that Kitty's in the middle of a a medieval comedy?" Logan sneered.

Emma glared at him. "That's the only thing I've ever seen." she said coldly, "It's not as easy as you think."

Logan snorted. "And I thought you were really powerful."

Emma leapt to her feet, but Ororo was already between her and Logan. "Enough. We don't need to fight." she said with an air of steady command. "The situation in which Kitty is, and the mutants, are, needs to be taken care of." She paused and turned to Emma. "Is there no way you can bring her back?"

"I can do it, but it will take a lot of time and a lot of attempts, not to mention that I can hurt her enough to drive her crazy ... But….there is a way I could do it easily…..or relatively so."

The three X-Men looked at her expectantly.

"Cerebro."

"Of course! And what else do you want? "Logan said. "Do you want to take us to Stryker or Kelly and surrender?! "

Emma's jaw tensed. Her limited patience was wearing thin.

"Cerebro will expand my powers and through it I can rescue Kitty. I would get her."

"Hank is still repairing it." Bobby said, who was still besides the body of the woman.

Logan glared at Emma, and then left, cursing under his breath.

"When will you understand that you can trust me?" Emma murmured unhappily.

"Remember the saying, Emma: 'Create fame and go to sleep,'" Ororo replied coldly.

In the infirmary only Bobby and Emma Frost remained. The latter approached the young mutant and put her hand on his shoulder. "Do not worry." she said "I will save her."

And that said she was gone. Bobby watched her go, then turned his gaze to that young woman. She was connected to several devices that measured her vital signs and several sera. Bobby sighed. "Come back Kitty, come back," he murmured.

With dawn's coming, so came the victory of men. Isengard's army lay scattered in black corpses or were gone, fleeing.

It was over, and the Éomer's army, led by the King's sister-son and Gandalf the White had entered Helm's Deep. Legolas left his post then and went to the caves. The Elf needed to see Kitty, needed to see her safe and sound. But when he arrived, the woman was not there, and the guards did not know of anything. His heart contracted painfully. Where was Kitty? Where was his Kitty? And she deceived him. She had lied after a solemn promise. The Elven folk valued truth above all else, and lies were abhorrent to them. And so were liars.

He started back towards the walls. He had to find her he had to take care her, he had to protect her, even if she had betrayed him.

The victory had been costly. The army of Elves, who had should have lived long under the golden leaves had fallen. Hundreds of men and elders had died, but what amazed them was how many of the children had survived. Legolas came to the walls just as the King asked a young boy how he had survived with hardly a scratch. "A Uruk would have killed me, my Lord." the boy stammered. "But a soldier rescued me. It was a woman. But when the Uruk came to attack again ,this time instead of stopping the blow, the woman embraced me and…"

"What happened then?" asked the King kindly, though anger shown in his grey eyes. Surely it was Éowyn, rebellious sister-daughter

"My lord, believe me it is not my intention to lie to you, but ..." he began.

"Fear not, only tell us."

The boy was silent, and then said. "She embraced me, and then Uruk sword pierced us, but without hurting us, like we were shadows."

Théoden nodded, and laid his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Thank you. Now go, and care for those words."

"Then you believe me, my Lord?"

"Yes. Now go, and do as I say."

They all looked at each other.

"Katherine Anne Pryde," murmured the king as he approached the remainder of the Fellowship. "You knew that I had ordered that woman to stay in the caves. Why did you let her out?"

"We did not do that." answered Aragorn calmly. "Legolas escorted Kitty to the caves."

"We did not do that," answered Aragorn calmly, "we all told her to follow your orders, my lord. Even Legolas made sure that Lady Kitty entered the caves "

"And yet she escaped?" Said the king incredulously.

"She's a witch, my lord," said Éomer, approaching, his horse-helm burnished in the sunlight. "My men and I know what she can do."

"She is not a witch." said Gandalf. "She is a mutant. And that is her ability, the power of passing through things as a shadow."

"If I may say so, my Lord, the best thing might be too is to thank her for saving a number of Rohan's children." Aragorn said.

"And then ... Kitty, where is she?" Said Gimli

They all turned to the huge mound of debris where Legolas was already standing, making every use of his elf-like strength to remove the stones as soon as possible.

Kitty slowly opened her eyes. Her whole body was aching. She saw around him, there was wreckage where ever she looked, surrounding her, stone blocks tumbled and wedged. Sunlight was streaming in. Who had conquered? The Uruk or the Men? She tried to get up, but waves of pain made her collapse back to the ground. Her throat was dry. At first she heard and saw nothing, but then there was to wherever she saw ... except for the part where the sunlight could be seen. She was not so far from the surface. Were men or Uruk won? Kitty tried to get up, but she could barely do so because of the physical weakness and the waves of pain growing weaker, but still present, in her head. Not to mention that she had a terrible hunger and thirst. She listened carefully. At first she did not hear anything, but suddenly she did not hear but saw a slender shadow she immediately recognized. Legolas. Then they had won!

After a few seconds, the footsteps of several men were heard, and muffled voices, but none of them was Legolas. Surely he was furious. How did they know where she was? Kitty shrugged inwardly, maybe they'd done it with the Elf's super-skill.

Legolas's clear voice came to her ears. "Kitty!"

"Hello!" she replied, trying to sound cheerful. "What's up?"

"Are you well?"

"I want a bath." she answered teasingly. The Elf's tone was stern. "We will have you out in a moment."

She heard the grating sound of stone blocks being moved aside. Suddenly everything began to tremble, and she saw the small crevice where she was cramped inside would collapse. "Stop! Stop! Or I'll be crushed!" she shouted out frantically.

She heard the King's voice. "Master Dwarf, your kind are skilled in mining. What do we do next?"

There was a moment of silence, and then Gimli asked. "Can you pass through these stones?"

Kitty thought for a moment. She was very weak, and somewhat dizzy. "I'll try." she said hesitantly.

"Try?" asked Aragorn mordantly.

"Yes, try. Let's just say that using it to keep the wall up left me a little…..tired."

Gimli snorted. "Very well. I'll get you out. You!" he snapped in a stentorian baritone at the Elf, who was standing helplessly. "Do what I say."

"Do you know what you are doing?" asked the King.

Gimli leaned on his axe and looked dangerously at the King. "I am a dwarf."

Following all the commands of Gimli, and after long efforts, finally they managed to open a narrow gap where a slender person could barely pass by. A thin shaft of sunlight shone down on Kitty's face. The dwarf had ordered them to stop, or everything would fall in. "Do you think you can reach for the Elf's arm?" shouted Gimli.

Kitty tried to measure the distance, but the sun was too bright for her dark-accustomed eyes. "Yeah, I think so."

"Very well." replied Gimli. "On the ground, Princeling."

Legolas lay down, and stretched out his arm as far as possible. Kitty scrambled out of her niche and tried to find her footing. Her ankle hurt, and her jump was short. Nonetheless, though her hand barely brushed Legolas's slender fingers, he lunged for her wrist and pulled her up as if she was weightless, and set her on the ground. She dared to look into his blue eyes, and found a pain and a anger, but something more than that. He seemed almost repulsed. She sighed, and slowly got to her feet to stare into Éomer's face. Upon seeing him, she swallowed hard to remember her encounter with him on the fringes of Fangorn Forest, but apparently the opinion of the Rohirrim seemed to have, if not changed, yes not to be so adverse towards her.

She turned round slowly to see Gandalf, resplendent in the pale sunlight, but suddenly found she could not stand anymore, and sank on to the dusty grass.

Kitty had been given as a small room separated from the tumult of the infirmary. Aragorn had looked at her, and found that her right shoulder was dislocated and her ankle was sprained lightly. Fortunately, there was nothing difficult to cure, and being the descendant of the Blue Wizards, she would be fully recovered. Théoden's gratitude was curt and stiff, but it was thanks none the less. "I thank you in the name of the children of Rohan. You were a warrior."

"

Kitty just smiled, and they had left her. Much was left to do. The dead must be buried, the wall repaired and the wounded found and tended.

The sun had risen to a near zenith when Legolas entered the room. Kitty sat up hastily. "Um…..Legolas…I would like to tell you that…"

"No!" interrupted the Elf, his tone alight with rage. "I am the one who will talk!"

His arms were folded over his chest, he stared down at Kitty. "Why did you do that? Why did you lie to me?" He shook his golden head. "We love truth…..all liars are abhorrent to us! And you did something so low! I thought, you were different, but I was wrong!"

Kitty gazed up at him in amazement. The fury in the Elf's showed in every trembling, angry syllable and his shaking frame. And it hurt her, hurt her more than she could have imagined.

"I thought ... that ... I could trust you! I thought you were so ... so different! Do not you understand what you mean to me! If you did, you would not have deceived me! You did even think about what would have happened to me if you died! If you died…I…" he finished the sentence with a Sindarin curse, staring her straight in the eye, his face suddenly cold, his tone calm. "I really thought you were different. Erù knew I believed it will my Fëa, but I was wrong."

Each of Legolas's words had been daggers in Kitty's heart. It hurt, hurt more than when she had learned the bastard Colossus had cheated on her. Her throat was tight, but anger coiled in her stomach. She was angry at him. "So, I'm selfish!" she said, rising from the low bed. "You blame me for betraying you, for lying to you, and what about you…Princeling of Mirkwood?"

A glint of indignation appeared in Legolas's eyes, but he looked impassively at her. Kitty drew in a shuddering breath. "Really, what honor have you as a Prince? I've told you my secrets! I've shown you who my friends were….something I didn't even do with Jimmy. And you call me selfish….and abhorrent?"

She paused. "So, tell me about sincerity and generosity. I fought for Rohan, for the Fellowship, I fought for you! And I almost died doing it! But now I regret it all!" The last words were like poisoned orc blades in both their heart.

Legolas was a Prince, and he was unused to being so spoken to. "I will tell you about your deceit. You use your deeds to excuse, Katherine. But it was inexcusable." Then he left.

"I don't want to see you again, let alone to talk to you!" Kitty shouted after him, her eyes blurred with tears.

Outside of the room, Legolas leaned against the wall, trying to breathe through an awful pain. Kitty was gone from his life forever.

Marrow was pleased to see the four Uruk-Hai she had created with the help of Saruman's book and the prisoners kept in the pits. "Perfect." she crooned, drawing besides one. Saruman kept Elven-women in his pits, and their offspring, mongrels of Orcs and Elves, were twisted and tormented and turned into the Uruk-Hai. She had provided them armor, and also a metal bracelets that, on a spring, would have a hidden knife. Gríma stood beside her as she watched her mutilated creations in triumph. The mutant wrinkled her nose. "What are they for, Lady?" he asked.

"To kill the Dúnadan, the Elf, the Dwarf, and if possible, the Istar as well." she replied quietly. "You will see, friend Gríma," continued Marrow, seeing his expression. "Whether or not Rohan and Gondor join forces, between them they do not have half a head. That is where the Dúnadan and Gandalf comes in. Without a King, there is no Gondor. Without a wizard there is no advisor. What happens?"

"The war will be lost." replied Grima, astonished.

"That's right." she said, patting his cheek with a fake smile. It was repugnant to her to do so.

"And the mutant, Shadowcat?"

"You have a good memory, Gríma. I'll take care of her. Mutant against mutant "

"And ... Saruman?" He dared to ask in a whisper.

"Ah, yes! Saruman! Well, friend Grima, that's where you come in." Marrow replied.

Gríma looked at her in astonishment. He? How? He was not a wizard! What a chance would he have!

"You will see my dear Grima," said Marrow, drawing closer and closer to him. "Saruman may be a wizard and powerful indeed, but ... he is not sly enough. It's up to you to watch him. And if he does something to hamper our plans…well…..you stop him." She leaned closer and whispered in his ear. "Think about, Gríma….if you can do that, you can work with the mutants, with us, with me."

Gríma nodded. "And if Saruman does something to hinder our plans ... what do I do to stop him?"

Marrow looked at him and smiled. "I gave you my thorn a few days ago."

Will Marrow achieve her goal?

And... again that strange experience happened to Kitty! What exactly does that mean? What means the fact that the X-Men want to save her from Middle-Earth? And how's possible that she's in Middle-Earth and her body is in the infirmary of the X-Mansion? Too many questions that will be answered throughout the story.

What about the strong argument between Legolas and Kitty?

Waiting for your reviews, guys!