Chapter 30: The Wolves of Isengard
Danny and Cole rode up to the front. Dustin watched them as they pass. The two guides wandered into a plain to see if there was any danger ahead. Along the way, their horses became restless…
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"What is it?" asked Danny, "…Cole?"
Cole looked around and said, "I'm not sure." Then…
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A Warg rider appeared on a slope from above and charged at them, taking the guards by surprise. Hama was attacked first. The scout knocked him off of his horse. Cole looked up and screamed as the warg came up to him with its mouth about to bite…
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AAARRRRGHHHHH!
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The guards and refugees heard the scream from where they were and froze in fear. Dustin then ran forward to Danny's aid.
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"Wargs!" Danny cried out as he drew his sword.
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The Warg that ate Cole's head threw him aside. Danny fought the vicious enemy, but then… another Warg scout appeared, overwhelming the Rohan soldier. As the scouts were about to turn in Gamling… Dustin ran over to them, shooting his arrow. His arrow took down the warg. Legolas drew his blade and killed the Orc. Trent ran towards the slope to see what's happening.
Dustin pulled out his blade, "Argh! A scout!" He shouted to Trent.
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Trent then ran, with all speed, back to the refugees to gather Anton's company. He knew that there were more Wargs coming… and in force. There was no doubt that these Wargs came from Isengard.
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Anton came forth on his horse as he called to Trent, "what is it? What do you see?"
"Wargs!" cried Trent, "we're under attack!"
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The refugees began to cry and panic to the alarm they heard. All hope had seemed to be lost now.
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"Get them out of here," Trent cried out as he ran to his horse.
"All riders," ordered Anton, "to the head of the column!"
Max tried to mount his horse, but had some difficulty in doing so.
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"Come on," huffed Max as he struggled, "get me up here, I'm a rider! Argh! C'mon!" With some help, Gimli was able to get on the horse.
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On ahead, Dustin gazed into the distance… and saw many Warg-riders coming fast towards them, kicking up dust trails as they go. The two warriors prepared themselves for the coming battle…
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As the riders were about to head off into battle, Tori gripped the reins of a horse, ready to join them, but Anton instructed her, "you must lead the people to Helm's Deep. And make haste!"
"I can fight!" Tori insisted strongly.
"No!"
"…you must do this, for me." said Anton.
Tori held Anton's gaze stubbornly for a moment, then relented.
Anton then got ready to move out with the troops. "Follow me!" he commanded, "Yah!"
Max, however, still strove to get his horse going. "Forward," he said, "I mean charge forward!"
"Make for the lower ground!" Tori cried out to the villagers, turning her attention to them, trying to keep them from panicking.
"That's it!" Max huffed as his horse began to move, but Max was seated rather unsteadily.
"Stay together!" Tori cried out again as the people began to run for their lives.
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Tori turned her head to look back at the soldiers and spotted Trent on his horse, Hasufel. Trent noticed that Tori was staring at him and they both held each other's gaze for a moment...
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Tori departed with the villagers in the opposite direction.
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Dustin took aim at the distant target… and fell one warg rider. He drew more arrows and killed more of them. As he was about to draw more arrows, he heard the thundering approach of Théoden and his company.
Dustin quickly ran in front of Arod… and nimbly vaulted, with a smooth leap, onto the saddle in front of Max on horseback. The Warg riders continued charging towards Anton's troops. Anton was still charging, willing to fight this battle…
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"CHARGE!" Anton cried out.
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The moment was intense…
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Trent, Dustin, and Max felt their blood boiling, also willing to fight this battle alongside Anton…
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The Warg riders themselves were out for their blood as the lead rider roared out his charge…
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Then…
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The opposing packs of riders crashed head on knocking warg and horse to the ground!
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Anton and company hacked away at the warg riders. Some of the soldiers threw their spears, felling many of the Orcs and Wargs. They even used their spears to beat down the Orcs that rode on the Wargs. In the midst of fighting, Max fell off Arod while Dustin kept shooting his arrows at the wargs and orcs.
Max picked himself off the ground, and spotted a Warg nearby, waiting to claim a its life with his axe. The Warg also spotted the Dwarf and growled at him. Max smiled at this, as he was finally about to get some action. The warg immediately came towards the Dwarf, wanting some Dwarf meat.
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"That's it," snarled Max, "bring your pretty face to my axe!" Just as the warg leapt at Max…
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Dustin killed it with one arrow.
"Argh!" growled Max as he jumped back, outraged, "that one counts as mine!"
Then, a Warg came at Max, taking him by surprise. Max swung his axe at the warg, but it was shot by one of the troops and dies falling onto Max, pinning him under. It seemed that Max has got his wish.
As more of the fighting broke out, Trent came up beside a Warg Rider… and sliced his head off. One of the Rohan archers was on the ground, shooting arrows at the Wargs, but when he tried to fire another arrow… a Warg took him by surprise…
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"Argh!" Max groaned, trying to get from under the Warg, "stinking creature. Argh!"
Max tried to lift the warg off him, but an Orc appeared, leaning over them both, raising a wicked looking dagger. Max killed him quickly, by grabbing and twisting his neck. It lands on him also. Max sniffed at the Orc and made a disgusted face. The Dwarf now tried to lift both the Warg and Orc off him. Just then, another Warg came upon him and bared its teeth, ready to strike.
"Ohh!" Max said with eyes widening.
Trent, seeing Max's predicament… plucked a spear from a dead Warg as he passed on horseback… and threw it at the Warg. It died, landing on Max and adding to the pile on top of him.
"Ooh!" Max breathed heavily feeling the increased dead weight on top of him.
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Anton stabbed at a Warg rider, then he turned his attention to another Warg and stabbed it in the mouth.
While Aragorn continued to fight the Wargs…
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He was taken by surprise as he got knocked off Hasufel by an incoming Warg. But luckily, he wasn't injured. He picked himself off the ground… but another Warg took him by surprise and was carried off by the Orc, Sharku. Aragorn settled himself on top of the Warg… and head butted Sharku. Sharku then knocked Aragorn backwards, but he held on to the Warg.
Sharku tried to knock of Aragorn with his foot each time, until he decided to use his sword. But Aragorn was able to stab Sharku with his Elvish dagger. The Orc then grabbed Aragorn's neck while Aragorn held firmly onto the dagger. As they continued to struggle, Aragorn was able to throw Sharku off his Warg while ripping the Evenstar pendant from Aragorn's neck as he fell. Aragorn tried to let go of the Warg but found his wrist tangled within the saddle's straps and harness…
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Aragorn tried unsuccessfully to disentangle himself from the Warg and was dragged closer… and closer to the edge of a cliff at great speeds…
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…Then…
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The Warg ran right off the cliff… and disappeared over the edge, taking Trent with it…
As the fighting slowed, Max swung his axe at the neck of an injured Warg, killing it. Then the Dwarf began to look around, seeing the last remaining Wargs and their riders have fled from the battlefield. And those that were injured, Anton's men quickly dispatched. Now, the ground was littered with the bodies of the dead, both Orcs and men, as well as their mounts.
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Dustin glanced around as he called out, "Trent?"
Anton also looked for Trent's whereabouts, but unfortunately… Trent was nowhere to be seen.
"…Trent?" Max called out also…
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Anton and the others began to worry intensely. Dustin and Max walked up to a cliff where they heard a rough laughing sound, and slowly turned their heads and looked behind them… to find the Orc, Sharku dying from the wound from Trent's dagger and was laughing very roughly, despite his injuries.
Max swung his axe in the Orc's face and threatened, "tell me what happened and I will ease your passing!"
"He's," the orc replied, coughing and laughing evilly, "…dead…"
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After hearing this news from the evil Orc, incredulous expressions came upon Dustin.
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"He took a little tumble off the cliff," Sharku added viciously.
Anton then headed to the cliff's edge to check out the orc's story. Dustin, disbelieving of Sharku, grabbed the orc's armor roughly… and jerked him towards his face.
"You lie!" Dustin said aggressively.
But alas… the Orc chortled… and died from his injuries. Slowly, the Orc's hand relaxed, and Dustin looked down at the Orc's fist finding the Evenstar pendant clutched in its hand. He took the elven jewel, ran to the edge of the cliff and looked down to see the great drop and rushing waters below, with no sign of Trent. Max came to stand beside him.
Anton glanced at Trent's companions in sympathy, then turned to his men. "Get the wounded on horses," he ordered, "the wolves of Isengard will return… leave the dead."
Anton then re-sheathed his sword as Dustin turned to him with an expression of perplexed anger on his face. Anton's eyes flickered to meet his briefly, then laid his hand on Dustin's shoulder, in deep sympathy.
"…Come," Anton said quietly and turned away.
Anton left the others to stare down at the river.