Bwah! I have finished thehelms deep battle, but not here.

I'll explain what happens to Kat later, no fear. It'll be awhile, but it *will* be explained.

I must give a large large LARGE amount of credit to my new beta reader (who spent eight hours in one day just spell checking and giving it a first runthrough another three for formatting and such, and she isn't even done yet. {I was writing another ten pages while she did that, I'm so mean.})

In case I haven't mentioned it yet, YAY FOR SIRRAH! PRINCE(SS) AMOUNGST BETA READERS!

~^~

The battle, if it could be called that was over within the minute. All that had happened was that the front guard had run into a company heading to Isenguard. The guard had been ready though, and the company had broken and fled in Isenguard's direction without much of a fight. Kat and Sirrah let out held breaths when Théoden turned to speak to the scout. He scout rapped out the reprt as soon as his king turned to him.

"A few have fallen my lord, but not so many that we can not still defend our front, nor so few that we could ignore them. What shall we do sir?"

Théoden looked across the horizon.

"We go on. Hopefully their spirits will forgive us for not giving them a proper burial."

Kat smiled.

"Have no fear, they do."

Sirrah gave her a clearly freaked out look. Théoden looked at her quickly, but gave no indication of his surprise. They rode on.

~^~

They reached Helms deep. Kat and Sirrah dismounted, looking around at the sheer amount of people.

"This is absolutely crazy." She said as someone began rapping out orders for the women and children to retreat to the caves.

Sirrah shook her head.

"I agree."

They turned to the sunset, watching the men ready the walls.

~^~

Later, after a dinner of stew, which had been thrust in their hands by an old woman, they sat to contimplate. Suddenly, Sirrah rose, streatched, and yawned.

"Well. Here we are again. About to go into another great battle."

Kat shook her head.

"Last thing I ever expected…about a year ago."

Sirrah leaned against the wall.

"Wow. It has been almost a year, hasn't it?"

Kat nodded absently. Sirrah sighed. Suddenly, great trumpets blew, and they sat up. Every head rose, then ducked again to comment.

Kat whistled.

"That had a clear Ring to it. There's no way it was an orc horn!"

A call went up to open the gates. Kat and Sirrah dashed across the road to Aragorn and Legolas, who were coming out of the war room. A host of many marched past, then stopped on a dime. Kat's jaw dropped, slightly envious.

"Good gods, I wish the marching band could do that!"

Sirrah giggled, commenting that she was glad it wasn't the marching band, as all they'd beable to do is hit the orcs over the head with their insturments. Aragorn didn't hear, for he was faced with an elf that was about his height. The elf looked at Théoden, who was coming behind Aragorn.

"I come from Elrond, lord of Rivendell and Galadriel, Lady of Light. There was once an alliance between Men and Elves. We fought together, we died together. He wishes for that alliance to be kept."

Aragorn grinned like a kid. Kat and Sirrah giggled as Aragorn grabbed the elf and hugged him hard. Legolas was laughing.

~^~

As the sun set, Sirrah went to ask Aragorn whether she and Kat should be on the wall or the ground. Kat was in the war room, twisting her hair so that it would fit in her helm, which was laying across the room. Suddenly, a soldier burst in. He took one look at Kat and immediately freaked out.

"You should be in the caverns by now! Hurry! Already the host approaches!"

Kat looked up in confusion, but didn't get a chance to say anything about fighting before she was swept off of her feet and carried off. The man talked to her the entire way down to the keep.

"How could you have not heard the word? All women and children down to the keep, so I must take you down. Men are already going to die this night, why should you? We are sworn to protect you!"

Kat Finally got a word in…*a* word.

"Sir…"

The man ignored her.

"Come, we must hurry, if I am to fight, I must be prepared."

He set Kat on her feet in the keep, looking at the others in the keep.

"Here is another for your number, do not open this door under pain of death!"

And with that, he turned, slamming the door in Kat's face.

Kat sighed.

"Well, I suppose he locked it."

She tried the door. Just as she ahd suspected, it was locked. She sighed again and looked at the women and Children.

"Well. Hello all!"

A few of the women skeptically waved. Many of the children didn't even notice, being held to their mother's shoulder. Kat sighed.

"Lively crowd, aren't you?"

A young woman looked up at her.

"Who are you, that does not seem to know our plight?"

Kat smiled.

"Kat, also known as Lady Kat, Katie, Kate, and dummy when my friend gets annoyed. Oh yeah, and one of the Witches of Angmar, that's one of the newer ones."

A gasp and a whisper scurried through the cave. Kat sighed and sat down, figuring that there had already spread rumors about her and Sirrah. She hoped that at least one of them was good.
~^~

Sirrah went to find Aragorn, and found him fairly easily. He was sitting on the stairs, staring off into space.

"Aragorn?"

Aragorn looked at Sirrah blankly for a moment, then seemed to regain his mind.

"Lady Sirrah, I had wondered where you were. Come, we must be getting to the wall…but where is Lady Kat?"

Sirrah sighed.

"A moment."

She tried to find Kat, but Kat was busy. She couldn't answer, and Sirrah couldn't quite catch why.

"Not…really sure, but I'm sure I'll find her soon. Should I look?"

Trumpets sounded, and Aragorn leaped to his feet.

"No time! To the wall!"

Sirrah ran to catch up, wondering vaugly where her friend was.

~^~

There was silence in the keep. Kat was sitting in a niche that she had found, trying to figure out what was going on. Suddenly, there was the sound of pounding feet. Children sobbed as mothers held them closer, and Kat stood.

"Oh CRAP."

She said, and then began a steady stream of insults towards the soldier who had brought her there. This was heralded by more footsteps, and then, suddenly, Silence.

The silence seemed to be worse. Then, another noise, this one more intimidating.

Thump, thump, thump.

Kat gulped.

"And so it begins, the battle for Helm's deep." The words seemed to echo.

The thumping stopped. There was again a great silence. Suddenly, Kat sat down hard.

"STOP!"

~^~

The wall was cold, unless you were Gimli, who was at the bottom. Legolas stood next to him, and Sirrah on his other side as the orc army advanced in the night. A flash of lightning lit the sky, and seemed to set the scene.

The orcs stopped, and slowly began to beat their spears on the ground. Sirrah raised her eyebrows.

"And so it begins, the battle for helms deep." The words reverberated along the wall, and the beating stopped. Heavy drops of rain began to fall, and all was still, save for the rain, now falling in sheets. The archers held at ready as Aragorn shouted instructions. In the silence, and single arrow shot through the air, let loose by an unexpierianced old man.

STOP!

The arrow fell off the wall, not two feet farther that it had been. Sirrah smirked, Kat was somewhere around here.

~^~

The cave echoed. Everyone stopped. After an entire minute of complete silence, there was suddenly a roar. Kat gasped and exhaled, leaning over. Suddenly, a headache had overtaken her, and she felt slightly dizzy.

"Suddenly, it occurs to me," she said, "That I am not going to enjoy this…" she moaned.

One of the women came to her, holding a cup of water. Kat accepted it and drank half, then poured the rest over her face.

"Thanks." And with that, she lay down, head still spinning.

~^~

Sirrah felt the sudden pitch in emotion that signaled Kat's beginning of problems.

Kat?

There was no answer.

~^~

Kat lay, head pillowed by her arm, letting her vision swim. From the mist swirled a voice, then two, humming…no, not humming, talking.

"Bara room Room RooooOm."

And another voice.

"Frodo? Mr. Frodo? Frodo! What are ya doin?"

Then, over it all, like a fuzzy record, were the screams of orcs.

Kat's last coherent thought before she plunged into dreams, was that whoever was making her do this was going to get it someday, or her name was Cleopatra.

And it wasn't.

~^~

"Oh…Shit." Whispered Sirrah.

Aragorn looked at her oddly.

"What is it?"

Sirrah looked at him, pain in her eyes.

"I…don't really know, but I can't find Kat, I can feel her, but I can't talk to her, and I can't figure out where she is!" Sirrah whispered. An Arrow narrowly missed her, and she turned from Aragorn, swearing again.

~^~

Sirrah continued to stand next to Aragorn, waiting for the orcs to advance far enough so that she and Gimli could do something. The archers were now busy, that was for sure, those on the wall and just beyond it were shooting up a storm, and Sirrah could only thank whatever gods that were listening that they had enough accuracy not to hit anyone that was on their side.

Suddenly, there was a roar, and about five ladders sprung up along the wall. Aragorn remained calm, and Sirrah also did…mostly.

"Damn. I was hoping they'd forget about the ladders!"

Aragorn looked at her oddly.

"Rarely do orcs forget a way to kill someone."

Sirrah smirked, glad that his humor had remained intact.

"Aragorn, I do believe you've been hanging around Kat to much. Your beginning to sound like her."

Aragorn just nodded with amusment dancing in his eyes, then continued to guide the archers. Sirrah was glad, for it gave her a chance to work with an Idea that he had given her. Kat had once mentioned the ladders in helms deep, when they were in Lothlorien. A simple spell to get the ladders down, that was what they needed, they had both decided. Unfourtanatly, dinner had interuptted, and Sirrah didn't know what spell to use.

Suddenly, Legolas pushed her over, to get a clear view…of what? Asked Sirrah to herself, there's no more orcs over there then over here. Suddenly, Legolas let loose, and a ladder fell.

"Ah. Thankyou Legolas, you've just given me an Idea."

"Only here to help." He muttered, then went back to shooting the other orcs.

Sirrah chuckled.

"Ok…" Concentrating on her hand, she closed her eyes, and called up her magic for something hard…and accurate.

"Ah!" cried someone.

Sirrah opened her eyes, in her hand sat a ball of flame. Smirkeing at how typical it was, she memorized how this felt. Then, taking Aim, she lobbed it in the general direction of the ladder. An orc wheeled and fell.

"oops." Murmured Sirrah.

Legolas chuckled while still shooting, the orcs where they were were not up, thanks to his markmanship.

"If I understand your magic well, you may be able to…focus the magic so that it will always hit a certain kind of metal, perhaps if you got the feel of the metal of the clasps on the ladders…"

Sirrah turned and shook her head in amazement.

"Not bad leggy, I really must start giving you more credit."

Legolas looked perplexed for a moment, but stopped when another ladder came up beside them. He moved to push it back over, but Sirrah stopped him.

"Just a moment." Legolas nodded and brought out his bow, shooting down any that cared to try to climb.

Sirrah put her hands on the metal and immediately was struck by it vileness. Not the metal, but the hands that had shaped it to clasp onto walls. She shuddered and pushed. The ladders were not put at a very good angle, and willingly fell to the ground. Sirrah grinned, and began the process of recalling the fireball again. This time she put in the feeling of the metal that made the clasps. Then she opened her eyes, she threw it hard at a ladder that was now overrunning the wall with orcs. This time it flew well. The flame hit the clasp and burst, sending the clasp up, and the ladder down. The few people that were over there seemed very surprised indeed. But then, Sirrah didn't blame them. Smiling, she concentrated on the next ladder.

~^~

Kat, or what was left of her coherent mind, was not amused. Yes, it was nice to know what was going on, and what had gone on, but if she had to do it this way, than she would have rather been ignorant. At the moment, she was looking in on Pippin and Merry. They were sitting on the back of an ent, talking to it rather frienlily. It was a willow, that much she could tell, and was pretty sure that it was quickbeam, the ent that they had been stuck with while the meeting had been going.

She followed them as quickly as she could, not having much luck, since she was running with much shorter steps than the ent was walking with. Suddenly, the ent stopped.

"What? What is it quickbeam?" one of the Hobbits asked.

"There is something in the forest…something…"

the ent turned around, and Kat suddenly figured out that they could see her.

"Oh shit! Wait a sec quickbeam, do let them explain!" she said hyusterically, knowing full well that quickbeam acted quicker than most ents and was the most likely to squash first and ask questions later.

"Lady Kat!" cried Merry, "Whatever are you doing here?"

Kat sighed, rubbing her temples.

"That is a wonderful question Merry, I didn't even think you could see me."

"I see that you know eachother." Said quickbeam slowly.

Pippin nodded.

"We ceratinly do, this is Lady Kat!"

Quickbeam regarded her with another long look.

"Is she a tree friend?"

"Indeed she is!" said Pippin, "I know her to be friendly with all living things!"

Quickbeam started.

"Even orcs?"

Kat snorted.

"The orcs do not truly live, non of Sauron's servants do."

The Hobbits smiled. Quickbeam seemed to nod approvingly.

"I see you know much of this world."

"Less than you." Kat pointed out.

The ent nodded, now smiling.

"Come! If you have testimony against Sauramen, then you must come to the entmoot to give it!"

Kat shook her head, she knew that she was going to be fading in a minute or so.

"No, I can't, you see I'm not really here."

Quickbeam nodded.

"That would explain why your presence was so faint amounst the trees."

Kat nodded.

"It was wonderful to see you, Merry, Pippin."

"But wait! What of the fellowship? We want to know!"

Kat now felt it more, a pulling that was a bit like being caught on a bush by a string from one's sweater. She sighed.

"Well. At the moment, Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli are all at helm's deep, fighting for their lives, and I'm stuck in the keep because some idiot decided that since I was a Lady, I couldn't fight." She snorted. "Then someone decided that I should find out what was going on around middle earth, and…well, I'm not really sure what they did, but they did it. And here I am."

The Hobbits nodded. Kat sighed.

"Don't worry you guys, we'll get out of this, one way or another, and I think we meet up in Isenguard."

"Then the ents will go?"

Kat pursed her lips.

"I think so, but if all else fails, just show them somehow, that should get them fired up enough to go. And a pissed off ent is not what I'd call a picnic."

Pippin and Merry nodded again, this time with a bit of wonder in their eyes.

"Lady Kat…your fading…"

Kat looked down at her hands, which she could now see through.

"Damn it all, this is just too weird."

And with that last remark, she dissappeared entierly.

"Well." Said Merry, "That was odd."

"Yes," said Pippin, "But I'm glad we saw her."

Merry nodded.

~^~

As Sirrah worked on the Ladders, the battering rammers began their part. The first shake surprised Sirrah so much that her flame went awry, spinning into the deep. It almost hit someone, but Sirrah twisted her hand and closed it, causing it to dissapear. The man who had almost been hit looked up, seeming to thank the gods for his luck. Sirrah smirked. Then there was another ram and the smirk was wiped off of her face. Aragorn turned, calling to Éomer to follow, and they would draw swords tofether. Gimli, like a shadow, rose and followed them.

Sirrah now had a harder time with the ladders. For one, her magic was meant for subtler things, and for another, she and Kat worked off of eachother, and Kat was who knew where at the moment.

There was another Ram, this time accompanied by yelling voices, Sirrah recognized one voice as Aragorn, and assumed the other to be Éomer. The ramming stopped abruptly as the rammers fought with the two swordsmen. Then it seemed that the two had won, but as they turned back, there was another yell from Éomer, followed by a entirly different cry.

Baruk Khazad! Khazad Ai-menu!

Sirrah grinned. Gimli to save the day.

The ladders seemed to have stopped for a while, for Sirrah heard no clack of the clasp. Gimli came up behind them, patting his axe.

"Two!" he said proudly.

Legolas grinned at his friend.

"Two? I have done better, though now I must grope for arrows, all of mine are spent. Yet I make my tale at at least twenty."

Gimli looked horrified. Sirrah snickered as Gimli turned to her.

"And how many is your count Lady Sirrah?" a few heads turned when they heard Lady, seeming slightly surprised.

"I do not know, Gimli, I can never tell whether I slay the ones on the ladder, or whether they simply get back up with the next one. But I can tell you that i have killed no less that ten, If I killed one on every other ladder."

Gimli glowered as Sirrah chuckeld.

~^~

Now Kat was in a warm place, in pale daylight, shining though dusty clouds. She didn't have a clue where she was.

"Gees. They at least could have dropped me somewhere I know."

She looked at her surrondings, she was on top of a bridge, or wall sort of thing, overlooking a city of stone. It seemed to be utterly deserted.

There was a breath of wind, making Kat look up. A dark shape loomed in the sky, a green black flying thing that set her hair on end.

"Oh…shit." Kat whispered as she realized what it was. The Wyvern flew around the city, then suddenly made a line to her. Now she realized that there were footsteps behind her. She turned, the Wyvern was far enough off that she had a bit of time.

It was Frodo, not looking himself.

"SHIT!"

Kat yelled, loud enough to echo. Frodo stopped beside her, in the middle of the bridge, holding up the Ring.

Kat took a deep breath, and stood up on the bridges rail. She sidled up between Frodo and the Wyvern, which was nearly to them. one more wing beat and he was hovering in front of her. Kat swallowed on a suddely dry mouth. Why couldn't it have been a dragon? She asked, at least they are beautiful.

This was ugly. The witchking screamed, and for somereason or another, she understood him.

"No my liege. I won't let you take it from him."

The king let out a shuddering shriek.

"You!"he said in his rasping voice. "You are human! You could take the ring from him! You could be queen over middle earth. Do you not wish for this!?"

Kat shook her head.

"Don't know me to well, do you? I may human, but I'm not an idiot, as my king was."

The king drew closer.

"I am your king! And you are of my kingdom, respect my wishes!"

Kat narrowed her eyes.

"I may of your kingdom, but you no longer rule that kingdom, it has fallen to squander! Go back to your master, fallen king!"

The Nazgûl screeched, making Kat's teeth grate.

"You will pay!" Said the king, and reached for her. Kat stood her ground, bound and determined that if she fell, the Nazgûl was going with her. She only hoped that Frodo was still…safely behind her.

The Nazgûl was almost touching her now. Kat closed her eyes. She felt a brush on her arm, and suddenly, the witch king screamed.

Kat opened her eyes. The hand that had reached for her was smoking, as if an electrical fire had just been put out on it. The Nazgûl pointed a hand towards her and screamed, but Kat was faster…barely. She threw a shield up, quite forgetting that she wasn't really there, but the spell bounced off the shield as if she really were there. Kat wasn't sure what spells a Nazgûl could put into place, but was quite positive that none of them were good. Suddenly, an arrow issued forth from the window a building that overlooked the bridge. It hit the Wyvern, making it cry out in pain and wheel from the bridge. Kat heaved a sigh of relief and turned, jumping down from the rail. A sickening thought occurred to her.

"Wheres Frodo? Oh damn it wheres Frodo?"

She ran down the bridge to find Frodo, with a dagger, which wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been pressed to Sam's throat.

Kat swore.

"Frodo!"

Frodo Looked around at her, forgetting Sam for a moment. He didn't recognize her at all, she realized. Again, he pressed Sting to Sam's throat. Sam didn't see who it was, and was trying to get Frodo to recall himself. Kat knew she couldn't help, and prepared a binding spell, just in case Sam should not succed in bringing him back.

"Frodo! Don't you remember? It's me! Sam! Sam gamgee, the gardener!" He began to cry, "Your Sam Mr. Frodo, can't you even remember your sam?"

Kat wiped her eyes.

"Frodo, please, come back, come back to us."

Frodo froze. Suddenly, he bagan to cry, and collapsed against sam, who held him and cried as well. Kat leaned against the wall, smiling.

The moment didn't last long, mostly due to the fact that Kat was grabbed uncerimoniously and thrown to the ground. To add insult to injury, she also had a sword pressed into her throat. The Hobbits now stood together, looking away from her.

"Who are you, that is on speaking terms with that…thing?"

Kat muttered under her breath, considering a spell to get him off her, but realized that that would do nothing for her position.

"If you would treat me like a human being, instead of something that is uncaring, I might tell you, but since it is hard to talk with a sword pressed to you vocal chords, perhaps I will not."

Frodo turned and gasped.

"Lady Kat? Is it really you?"

"Well, If this…gentleman," she said the word sarcastically, "would let go of me, I could show you that I am here, but for some reason, he seems unwilling to reliquish me."

She was suddenly dropped, hitting the ground with an allmighty thunk, and landing in a pile of dust.

"Well, I must say that that is an improvement." She stood up. Frodo hung back, unsure, but Sam launched himself at her giving her a great hug. Kat laughed merrily.

"Hullo Sam! How goes it?'

Sam didn't reply, he was buried in Kat's leg, sobbing from relief. Kat blushed lightly at his placement, but knew he meant no harm. Gently, she pried him off, kneeling so that she could hug him properly. Sam hung on to her, now calming. He was still scared from Frodo, she realized with a start.

"Shh, Sam, its all right." She muttered as he began to cough. "calm down."

"Lady Kat, you've no notion how glad I am to see you."

Kat smiled, hand rested on Sam's shoulder.

"Yes I have, at least I do now."

Sam smiled back, for which Kat was glad. It didn't seem like Sam to break down like that. Of course, he was under a bit of stress, so she supposed that she shouldn't worry. She let go of Sam and made her way to Frodo, which was surprisingly easy, considering that there were no more than five men between her and the ringbearer. For some reason, though, she had scared them enough that they all backed away.

"Frodo, how are you?" She knelt slowly in front of him.

"It was you…" he said wonderingly. "That was you wasn't it? In front of the Nazgûl ?"

Kat nodded.

"I didn't think youd recognize me."

Frodo still looked like he didn't.

"Why were you talking to him? Why did you call him your king?"

Kat sighed.

"Don't you remember Frodo? The Nazgûl were once kings of men, the Nazgûl king was the king of Angmar. And me and Sirrah are the last of that race."

Frodo looked at her for a moment and suddenly collapsed onto her, not crying, but just giving her a great hug. Kat was smiling into his shoulder, thankful that he trusted her.

When they parted, Kat was faced with many men, staring at her dumbfoundedly.

"Do you require asssistance with closing your mouths?" asked Kat in a sickly sweet voice, "It is not polite to stare."

No less than seven jaws snapped shut at once. One man that distinctly reminded Kat of Boromir stepped forward.

"We mean no offence, but who are you?"

Kat eyed the man.

"Faramir, right? Boromir's brother?"

"Then you know him?"

Kat smiled.

"I do indeed, quite an annoying man, that one…but none the less, I can tell you nothing of him, save that he is safe."

Faramir stared at her, slack jawed. Kat eyed him again.

"You look a decent sort, I suppose."

Faramir looked taken aback.

"Thankyou for that assesment. But you still have not answered me. Who are you, and how did you get here without our knowladge? Surely someone would have seen you."

Kat sighed.

"My name is Kat, I traveled with Frodo and Sam for a spell, and then we parted company. At the moment, I still don't know how exactly I got here, but I'm beginning to suspect that Anne did this…though I still don't know how. Honestly, that girl is Mad."

Faramir Stared somemore. Kat sighed again. She was beginning to have that feeling again, she was about to dematierialize.

"Don't worry about it." She turned to the Hobbits. "Is Gollum around?" They shook their heads. Kat nodded.

"Frodo, do not betray him, if you can help it at all. Though you already have, in his mind. He is a fragile thing, he will not understand your reasons. But try to explain. Do not forget the light of the elves, and keep heart."

Frodo nodded. Kat leaned to his ear and whispered,

"Sam knows more than you might think. He will follow you until the end, and is possibly your savior."

Frodo looked at her, surprised.

Kat nodded and turned to Sam. She didn't even let the others hear some of what she had to say. Cupping her hand around his ear, she talked hurridly.

"Don't be too hard on Gollum, he has two sides to him, one good, one bad, try to tell the two apart. Heed the words of Gandalf about him. When hope fails, don't forget that the true hunter only eats live meat. Stay with Frodo until the end, he needs you more than you'll ever know."

Sam gulped and nodded. Kat stood up and looked over her shoulder at him.

"Oh, and Sam?"

"Yes?"

"Do you remember the stories you heard of all the heros that go off to fight the enemy of the people?"

Sam nodded miserably.

Kat smiled serenly.

"You and Frodo were always my Hero's story."

Sam smiled. Kat looked at Frodo, then at the men gathered around.

"The Ring is your Bane. Do not take it. Not unless you wish to plunge the lands of middle earth into chaos. Trust me on this one boys, there is nothing in that Ring that is good, it was made to be evil, and it is."

The men stared at her, flabbergasted. Kat sighed one last time.

"See you round, small ones."

And she dissappeared again.

~^~