The waves of Uruks charged forward toward Helm's Deep as at the same time, the Archer Elves aimed their arrows to the upcoming enemies. "Faeg i-varv dîn na lanc a nu ranc… (Their armor is weak at the neck and under the arms…)" Legolas remarked in Elvish to the rest of the Archers who eyed their opponents with a neutral expression on their faces.

Then Aragorn lifted his sword in the air before throwing it forward with a yell, saying loudly in Elvish "Leithio i philinn ! (Fire !)" The second he said those words, Legolas, Haldir and his men released their arrows which flew in the air to land on the waves of Uruks, approaching the Walls. Thanks to this, many members of Saruman's army dropped dead on the ground.

Gimli, 'thanks' to his small size, didn't have the chance to see if there were victims so he asked Legolas " Anybody hit anything ?"

At the same time, from his spot, Theoden was standing there calmly as he watched the scene. Then without turning his head, he ordered to one of the two Rohirrim Soldier beside him, which was none other than Gamling "Give them a volley..."

A few seconds later, Gamling raised his arm in the air before swinging it forward yelling loudly to the Archers (the Human Ones) "Fire !" The Rohirrim Soldiers , just like the Elves, released their arrows which flew toward their enemies, killing some in the process.

In the Deep, Kopa and Vitani were standing there , feeling a bit out of place. If they had the choice, they would jump out of the walls and attack the Uruks but they couldn't. But then their attention turned to their friend and Leader of their group, Aragorn who raised his sword again in the air , looking at them or more precisely at the Archer Elves beside them, who were arming their bows , ready to shout. "Tangado a chadad ! (Keep firing !)"

Aragorn's yell echoed in the air and the Elves in the Deep fired their arrows which flew over their comrades' heads as the Rohirrim kept shooting. As the Defenders kept firing, more and more Uruks were dying from the flying arrows, piercing their armors , covering their bodies…

"We are missing all the fun..." Kopa muttered in annoyance as he stood beside his mate who nodded in agreement with the same look of annoyance as him on her face. "I wonder how many Uruks are dead by now..." she inquired to herself but Kopa heard her "Not enough to destroy the whole army that for sure..." Then they heard their comrade and friend Gimli yelling out from the Walls "Come on ! Send them to me !"

The two Lions glanced at each other with amusement "It seems we aren't the only ones who want a good fight..." Kopa said with a grin and his mate snorted in amusement but then yells of pain were heard and they turned their heads to see some Archer Elves (the ones posted on the Walls), falling in the Deep with an arrow sticking out of their bodies.

But their shock turned into horrors when they heard Aragorn yelling in Elvish "Pendraid ! (Ladders !)" Gimli's voice echoed a few second later but unlike Aragorn , the Dwarf's voice was filled with excitement "Good !" "What does 'Pendraid' mean ?" Vitani asked the nearest Elf Soldier who responded calmly "It means 'Ladders' in common tongue..."

At those words, Vitani looked at her mate with horror and he looked back at her with shock "Well… We should have seen this coming I guess..." he muttered as he saw some Uruks appearing on the Walls. Those Uruks looked stronger and didn't have any armor except for the helmet on their heads.

"Swords! Swords !" Aragorn yelled out as the Elves quickly pulled out their swords to engage the enemy . One of the unarmored Uruk roared out as his ladder hoisted forward...straight towards Gimli who he letted out a battle cry as he cut the Beast just as it launched itself forward. On another part of the Walls, another unarmored Uruk jumped out from the ladders ,and in one swing killed many Elves.

As the time passed, more and more Uruk-hai swordsmen were beginning to climb up the ladders onto the wall. Aragorn turned around to see an unarmored Uruk charging him. The massie Beast swung its sword at the Ranger who ducked under it before stabbing his opponent right through its stomach. At the same time, Haldir drove his sword through an Uruk before it could get over its ladder before turning to his right and swinging his blade again to take down another upcoming opponent.

In the Deep, the two Lions wanted to jump on the Walls to fight but they had to stay where they were : they were to big to stand on the walls and they would bother their allies anyway. Beside them, the Archers Elves were watching their comrades fighting, perfectly still. Vitani could see the expression in the eyes on some of them and she knew they wanted to fight and DIE alongside their kind but had to follow their orders.

Gimli striked an unarmored Uruk through its stomach after landing between its legs before getting back on his feet and shooting to a certain Blond Elf "Legolas, two already !" to prove his point, he held two fingers to show the number. The Elf Prince turned his head to answer with a victorious grin on his face " I'm on seventeen !"

The Dwarf lost his grin and retorted angrily "Argh ! I'll have no pointy-ear outscoring me !" he then turned before throwing his axe forward...right into another unarmored Uruk , striking it right in a particular area which caused the Beast to squeal in pain as it fell forward off the ladder , allowing Gimli to quickly finish it off.

Meanwhile, Legolas fired an arrow , taking out an Uruk who just reached the top of its ladder before turning to his right and shooting another arrow to another Uruk. Then he looked back at Gimli with a grin , yelling out " Nineteen !" However, the Dwarf ignored him as he was taking down another Uruk-hai, quickly swinging to his right to dodge another unarmored Beast as it brings it sword down to kill him .

Gimli quickly swung his axe across its face ,striking the helmet before jabbing the tip of his weapon right into its face. Legolas shot down another Uruk ,sending it falling off its ladder in the process. In the Deep, Vitani was rubbing her forehead with her right paw muttering "I'm surrounded by idiots...As if it was the time for a stupid competition..."

Kopa , for his part, was muttering "They are lucky… I would love to join them..." sadly, his mate heard the last part and sent him a furious glare which scared him to the bones "Alright alright I didn't say anything !" The Brown Maned Lion quickly said back in an attempt to calm her down a bit. The Beige Lioness huffed down before looking at the Walls where Aragorn was killing another Uruk-hair.

With a sigh, her thought went to two Hobbits and she whispered softy "Merry… Pippin… I hope you are alright..."

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Far away from the terrible battle, in the Fangorn Forest, Treebeard turned around ,away from the other Ents to face the Two Hobbits. Pippin ,noticing this called out for his comrade and best friend as Merry who turned around to look at him before getting up when he saw the Old Ent approaching them "We have just agreed..." Treebeard began to say before stopping.

Merry and Pippin glanced at each other , anticipating what the Ent was about to told them but then they noticed Treebeard's closed eyes and bobbing head. Merry sighed before asking out "Yes ?" which caused the Ent to wake up before continuing what he was saying earlier "I have told your names to the Entmoot and we have agreed: you are not orcs..."

The Two Hobbits staid silent , their minds were processing what they just heard… and it wasn't what they were hoping to hear. "Well that's good news !" Pippin said with optimism but Merry wasn't sharing the same feeling as he said those words "And what about Saruman? Have you come to a decision about him ?"

Treebeard then said in a calm tone "Now don't be hasty, Master Meriadoc..." However, those words seemed to annoy the Hobbit more because he responded in a sour voice " Hasty?! Our friends are out there. They need our help! They cannot fight this war on their own !"

"War, yes... It affects us all..." The Old Ent went deep in thought before leaning forward to look at the Hobbit closely "But you must understand, young Hobbit... It takes a long time to say anything in old Entish, and we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say..." The Two Hobbits , hearing this, sighed because they knew that the night was going to be long and boring.

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At Helm's Deep, the battle was still raging. On the Walls, beside the cry of pain, rage , agony and the roars of the Uruks, another voice could be heard… Belonging to the only Dwarf present in this fortress "Seventeen!" Gimli yelled out as he striked an Uruk off its ladder. He was standing between two Ladders and killed every Uruks who dared to be in his path "Eighteen ! Nineteen ! Twenty ! Twenty-one ! Twenty-two !" He counted loudly to be sure that Legolas, his rival, would heard him clearly.

In the Deep, Kopa and Vitani were beginning to be bored. Nothing happened and the Uruks were still standing on the Walls and none of them attacked the group in the Deep. Meanwhile, on the causeway , a large column of Uruks were making their way forward while holding their shields above them or before them. Arrows and rocks tossed by the Rohirrim wasn't enough to stop them thanks to the shields.

Aragorn, noticing this, called out for the Archer Elves " Northway! Nauthannen !" which caused some of them to fired their arrows to the column of Uruks. The angle was perfect and some Uruks dropped dead of the causeway but sadly, the column kept going forward to the Gate. Theoden, who hadn't moved from his spot along with Gamling and another Rohirrim, looked at the army with a triumphal smile on his face as he questioned out-loud "Is this it? Is this all you can conjure, Saruman ?"

Unknown to the Defenders, below the Walls, two Uruks were carrying spiked container by the handles , running into the culvert before placing the container down. Then they moved back out to allow two more Uruk-hai to come in and placing another container right above the first one. Then they came out. Suddenly, in an open path between Saruman's army, an unarmored Uruk charged forward, holding in its hand a torch.

Aragorn, still on the Walls, immediately noticed the Uruk and suddenly had a bad feeling about this as he turned toward Legolas who was not too far from him before yelling out in a hurried tone "Togo hon dad, Legolas ! Dago hon ! (Legolas, stop him ! Kill him !)" The Blond Elf shot the unarmored Uruk with two arrows, but failed to kill it as the Beast launched forward into the culvert where the containers were.

Then to everyone's shock , especially the Defenders, the Walls exploded with a loud 'BOOM' sending, stones, Uruks and Elves flying in the air. Theoden and the Rohirrim Soldiers turned their heads toward the explosion with shocked look on their faces : never before Helm's Deep had seen this.

The rocks and debris sent flying in the air began to land and crashed straight into the Uruk-hai army, crushing some and knocking the nearest ones. Vitani and Kopa watched the Wall before them in shock : a large hole stood there before them…. The Deeping Wall had a breach…

Aragorn was laying on the ground, ins-conscious but alive thankfully while some Uruks began to run through the breach , only to be slowed down by rushing water. Theoden and the Rohirrim Soldiers were beginning to recover from the shock as the colum of Uruks on the causeway were really close to the Gate carrying with them a massive ram.

"Brace the gates !" Theoden yelled out loudly after a moment of stunned silence. It wasn't the time for being still ! The Rohirrim Soldiers quickly followed their King's order and rushed forward ,bracing themselves against the gate, just as the ram slammed against it. This caused some Rohirrims to be knocked back a bit but they quickly recovered as they braced back up against the Gate.

The Rohirrim Soldiers , the ones above the gate, kept firing their arrows as the ones placed behind the wooden murder holes started tossing whatever they could down toward the enemies, from spears, to rocks . "Hold them ! Stand fast !" Theoden ordered his Men who 'fought' harder against their vicious enemies.

Back in the Deep, the Uruks were rushing through the breach just as a certain Ranger was beginning to regain consciousness. Not too far, on the Walls, Gimli was also regaining consciousness and spotted his friend in trouble "Aragorn !" He yelled out as he jumped off the wall , landing right on top of some Uruks, knocking them down in the process.

Aragorn ,who was now fully recovered, turned his attention to the Dwarf and his eyes widened in alarm "Gimli !" The Dwarf went back onto his feet as he swung his axe to knock away an Uruk's sword before slamming its face with his weapon, knocking it back. Suddenly, another Uruk backhanded him knocking him into the water.

Aragorn then turned around to face the Elves and Lions standing behind him before swinging his sword forward yelling out "Hado i philinn ! (Hurl the arrows !)" A barrage of arrows went straight into the Uruks, killing some. New Uruks appeared and some of them letted out an angry roar but then Kopa and Vitani jumped forward before letting out a roar of their own.

The Uruks stood there for a moment , unsure if they attack or not but then they roared again and charged the two Lions who pounced on them without second thoughts just as Aragorn yelled out in Elvish " Herio ! (Charge !)" At those words, the Ranger along with the Elves charged the Uruks who were still pouring through the breach. The ones on the front lowered their pikes forward to skewer the enemy as they charged .

Aragorn cried out as he knocked a pike aside and near him, an Elf was impaled by one of the pikes. Kopa roared in challenge as he delivered a powerful blow which sent some of his opponents lying in the air. Then , in a mixture of grace and strength, he turned around to pounced on another Uruk before biting its head. Vitani , who was nearby, slashed her opponents with her claws with a look of fury in her eyes. At the moment, the two Lions were not more calm and gentle…. At the moment, they looked like two deities because of the carnage they were causing among the enemies.

Legolas soon appeared, riding an Uruk's shield down the stairs while shooting his arrows at the Uruk-hai. Then the Blond Elf jumped off the shield kicking it forward which sent the shield straight into the neck of another Uruk as he used an arrow to stabs another opponent in front of him taking it down in the process.

Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Kopa,Vitani and the Elves kept fighting as more and more Uruk-Hai appeared through the breach.

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Back at Fangorn, like earlier, Treebeard approached the Hobbits who were beginning to feel annoyed at waiting. " The Ents cannot hold back this war... We must weather such things as we have always done…" the Old Ent announced in his usual calm tone. Merry , who now harbored an angered expression on his face , asked in the same tone "How can that be your decision ?!"

Still calm, Treebread responded by saying "This is not our war..." However, those words seemed to enrage the Hobbit more as he yelled out "But your part of this world ! Aren't you ?!" They seemed taken aback by this question as all Ents looked at each other. "You must help... Please... You must do something..." Merry inquired pleadingly in a much softer tone than before.

Treebeard and the Ents looked at each other and after a moment of silence, the Old Ent looked back at the Hobbits before saying "You are young and brave, master Merry...But your part in this tale is over…. Go back to your home..." Those words shocked the two who didn't believe what they were hearing.

Later, Merry was putting his cloak on when Pippin approacheed him "Maybe Treebeard's right...We don't belong here Merry. It's too big for us... What can we do in the end ? We've got the Shire... Maybe we should go home..." In response, Merry turned around to face his friend saying with a serious expression "The fires of Isengard will spread... And the woods of Tuckburough and Buckland will burn... And all that was once green and good in this world will be gone..."

Then he grabbed Pippin's shoulder , squeezing it a bit as he added darkly "There won't be a Shire, Pippin !"

( To be continued…)