Disclaimer: For clarification: the characters I own are Blaire and Allyn. The rest, obviously, are characters from LotR. So leave me alone!





The next day, everyone was lounging about, waiting for some news from Theoden about their status. Aragorn made a fashionably late entrance, and was told off by Legolas for looking so terrible. Boromir rolled his eyes but shook Aragorn's hand anyways, and Gimli flew into Aragorn's arms.but came up a little short. Blaire and Allyn had shyly approached, but both had given him hugs (and Allyn got a little more). He then went off to inform Theoden of the impending doom for the refugees at Helm's Deep.

Meanwhile, Blaire and Allyn were getting sword and archery training from Legolas and Boromir. Blaire was doing exceedingly well with the archery, and Allyn, having taken fencing before, was giving Boromir a good workout. Then Blaire took out her kamas and fought against Legolas, the elf using his knives.

"That's pretty good," Legolas commented as Blaire blocked a jab and returned it with one of her own.

"You think so?" she replied tartly, and attacked with a flurry of strikes before stopping, one blade pointed right at the bridge of the elf's nose. "I was thinking that myself," she said with a laugh, and backed off.

Legolas had a shocked look on his face, and got laughed at by Boromir, who had already experienced the black belt's wrath.

Aragorn returned after his meeting with Theoden, looking a little flustered and worried. "Ten thousand Uruk-Hai, just as strong as the ones we fought back at Rauros. They'll be here by tomorrow night," he told the three warriors.

Allyn and Blaire were feeling a bit left out of the conversation, so they picked up and left. When Aragorn was finally finished talking, they looked around in slight confusion for the girls. "Where did they go?" Boromir asked.

Aragorn shrugged. "They really didn't need to hear that anyways. You know they're not gonna fight."

Boromir gave Aragorn a look that plainly said Aragorn was a complete and utter idiot. "First of all, you moron, they probably already knew about this. They both seem to know everything that goes on around here. Secondly, why won't they be allowed to fight? They both kicked my butt, they're good with weapons, and as far as I'm concerned, we're gonna need all the help we can get."

Legolas was shaking his head. "They may be able to fight, but they are still women. They'd get squeamish at the first sight of blood. And orcs are not the easiest things to fight."

Gimli rolled his eyes. "You obviously don't know much about women then, my Elven friend. Dwarf women can fight just as well as men, and they fight better than most dwarf women I've seen."

Aragorn shrugged. "In any case, it's going to be Theoden's decision, and if he lets those two fight, he'll have to let Eowyn fight. You know he won't do that."





The next day was fading into twilight when they next saw Allyn and Blaire. They were dressed and ready for battle, both of them having gotten swords and bows from the Rohirrim. Blaire was sitting on the steps sharpening her kamas, and Allyn was cleaning off her sword when Boromir approached them.

Blaire looked up and smiled at him. "Hey," she said nonchalantly.

"Hello. It appears as though Theoden allowed the women to fight if they chose, huh?"

Allyn shook her head, still concentrating on her sword. "We told him that we know how to fight, and since we're not from around here, he doesn't have anyone to worry about if we die."

'You seem to be ready for battle."

"Sure are. We may not have fought battles back where we come from, but that doesn't mean we don't know how."

"Not scared at all?"

Blaire looked at him, eyebrow raised. "Of course we're scared. I'm scared shitless. But it's no scarier than being in a car accident or even testing for my black belt, so I'll live. Besides," she added with a laugh, "Orcs aren't the most intelligent, are they?"

Boromir shrugged. "Not that I've seen, especially if they couldn't kill me properly, but promise me that you two will get somewhere safe if the wall comes down." He looked both of them in the eye. "Promise me."

Allyn and Blaire looked at each other, then sighed. "Well that takes all the fun out of it, but we'll try our hardest to be safe."

Boromir nodded, then went off to talk to Aragorn about placement and strategy.

Blaire took out her bow and pulled the string as taut as she could. She then made sure all her arrows were well within reach, and put her bow down. She sighed.

Allyn looked at her. "What's wrong?"

"Well, if it weren't bad enough that ten thousand orcs were headed this way and we're probably not going to make it out of here alive, but now it's that time of the month too." Blaire rolled her eyes. "Perfect timing."

"Don't you know it. But hey, maybe if we both get killed, we'll wake up from this horrendous dream."

"I thought you liked it here. I thought you would have done anything to be here."

"Well here yes, but not here, not now. I don't need to get killed while I'm here."

"Good job contradicting yourself there, Bren."

"I didn't contradict myself. I said that maybe if we get killed, we'd go back. I didn't say I actually wanted to."

"Whatever."

"Sorry to interrupt your fight there, but it's time to go," a voice said.

Blaire jumped, startled. "Aragorn, I swear, if you ever do that again, I throw you to the ground so fast your head will spin."

Aragorn laughed. "Yeah, whatever," he said with some scorn. "Now let's go. The Uruk-Hai army is almost here."

Aragorn led them to a secluded location safe behind the walls of Helm's Deep. "These are your positions. Stay here," he ordered. When Blaire gave him an exasperated look, he just shrugged and said, "The only way Theoden was going to allow women to fight was all the way back here, so that's where I'm placing you."

And away he went to the front. Blaire silently laughed at his retreating back, because she and Allyn were the only ones to know of Helm's Deep's impending doom: the walls would not hold.



The impending doom of Helm's Deep.what will they ever do?