Dawn was close. Piper could tell. The orcs were restless and kept on glancing in on them, sneering and jeering at them. It was very hard to focus on anything but their execution. Maybe that's what the orcs wanted, for them to be in misery during their last hours.

Saruman had removed the spell from the door and had them locked up in chains again. The reason he had given them was then he wouldn't have to worry about releasing the curse on the doorway when the time came. Piper had a feeling Saruman had become suspicious about the bowls of hot water and Aragorn's quick healing. So Saruman had their hands chained up again so no one could get to Aragorn's back. Aragorn heaved a deep sigh and rested the back of his head against the dark wall. His eyes were closed. Piper shifted over to him, her chains clinking on the floor.

'Can't sleep?'

Aragorn's eyes opened.

'How can I sleep? There is no way I can sleep knowing what's going to happen.'

Piper nodded and they sat in silence for a few moments.

'Are you scared?' she finally asked him.

Aragorn sighed again, and looked out the door, towards the slowly reddening window. He rested his arm on his drawn up knee

'I'm terrified.'

Piper waited.

'I know what's going to happen to my son and I can't do a thing about it. He's going to die because his father was a failure. I'll never be able to meet him. I won't be able to hold him in my arms, I won't be able to teach him things. I won't even know his name.'

Piper gently turned his face in her direction. His eyes met hers.

'Aragorn, I learned long ago that the future is not certain. One little thing can happen, and that future will vanish like the sun on a cloudy day. I was supposed to have a little girl, not Wyatt. My oldest sister Prue was supposed to be alive. But she was killed by a demon and then Paige came into my life.'

'But Arwen also saw our son, over five years ago, and he was alive and well with me there beside him.'

'The future is not certain until it becomes now. And then it is lost in the past, only a memory.'

Two orcs walked into the room and released their chains from the pillar. The orcs dragged them down the hallway and down some stairs. Piper fought furiously against the orc holding her chain but Aragorn walked down willingly. He seemed to have given up all hope, or else he was just too tired to fight.

They were lead down to a field where thousands of orcs were waiting. Twenty of them were armed with bows and arrows. All the others held a metal object that looked somewhat like a pick-ax. Aragorn and Piper were chained to the tower, their arms above their heads so they had no way to ward off an attack. The twenty archers stood about fifteen feet in front of them. Saruman stepped out in front of the orcs to address Piper and Aragorn.

'Piper daughter of Victor, Aragorn son of Arathorn, King of Gondor... the time has come for you to pay the price of fighting against Saruman the White. May your deaths be a reminder to Middle Earth that Saruman is not to be trifled with.'

He stepped away to the sidelines, out of shot of the bows.

'Ready!' he called.

The orcs pulled an arrow out of their quivers and fitted it into the bowstring. They pulled the string taunt.

'Aim!'

The orcs aimed the arrows at Aragorn and Piper, ten each. Suddenly the air was full of the sound of a bugle. It was a rich sound, filling the two prisoners with hope and the orcs with dread. On the eastern rise, just as the sun was coming up, so did about four thousand men on horses. The horn sounded again and this time another horn answered, the clear and pure sound of Gondor's horn.

Over six thousand men came up on a rise on the south and that was where the sound of Gondor's horn had come from. Leading Gondor's army were Paige and Faramir, their swords shining in the newly risen sun. Flying or running beside Paige and her horse, were the girls muses whom they'd left behind last time they were in Middle Earth; Thalion the Lion, Caran the Phoenix and Alasse the Wolf. Thalion roared, Alasse howled and Caran sang his eerie music. The cheers of the army joined in with them.

Leading Rohan's army was King Theoden and Gandalf who was riding Shadowfax. Shadowfax had sensed Gandalf's return the Middle Earth and had come running in his direction, never tiring. Now he stood underneath Gandalf, back with his old friend once more.

The horn's sounded one last time and the armies charged. Paige rode straight to Aragorn and Piper, who had been abandoned by the orcs and cut the chains with the Sword. As the Sword met metal, the chains dissolved into nothingness and they were free.

Paige nodded her head in Aragorn's direction.

'Your Majesty.'

She handed him the Sword. With the sword, hope and strength came back to Aragorn and he ran into the fight, two orcs meeting their end with Aragorn's Sword.

'Get up here!' Paige yelled at her sister.

She grabbed Piper's hand and pulled her onto the horse. When Piper's hand touched Paige's, her powers came back, Saruman's spell broken instantly. They rode into the battle in search for a sword. Paige spotted one quickly beside a fallen Gondorian.

'Sword!'

The sword disappeared and reappeared in Paige's hand.

'HOLD ON!' Paige warned her sister.

The horse began to gallop around through the orcs. Paige began to slay any orc she could reach, which was rather hard on horseback.

Chris woke up, sweat pouring down his face.

'Mom!'

When no one answered, he jumped out of bed and ran to Wyatt's room. He charged over to his older brother's bed and began to shake him.

'Wyatt, wake up! Please, wake up.'

'Why?' Wyatt grumbled.

'Because mom's going to get hurt!'

'You're going to get hurt if you don't shut up and go back to bed. Now scat.'

'Wyatt, I saw it', Chris insisted. 'She's going to get hurt!'

Wyatt sat up in his bed and turned on his bedside lamp. The light flashed on and the brightness of it hurt both of their eyes.

'You saw it?' the older brother asked.

'Yes, mom was on a horse, and then an arrow hit her. I saw it before mom and Auntie Paige and Aunt Phoebe left and I just saw it again, but this time it was more real.'

Wyatt grabbed his brother's hand and orbed them out of the room. Wyatt knew that it was against the rules for a Whitelighter to orb out of their world, but since both he and Chris were only half Whitelighter, they were only breaking half the rule. Besides, their mom was more important then some dumb rule the Elders had made.

As they rode, Piper heard a sudden shout of warning.

'MOM!'

Piper turned in the direction of the voice and saw Chris and Wyatt standing on Orthanc's steps. Then there was a blinding pain in her shoulder and she knew no more. Chris began to run towards her but Wyatt held him back.

'Stay here', Wyatt ordered.

He orbed over to his mother, grabbed her wrist and orbed back to Chris. But while he was doing this, Chris saw Aragorn in trouble. He orbed over and blew the orc up. He grabbed Aragorn's wrist and orbed him over to Wyatt.

'What are you doing here?' Aragorn asked looking down at Chris. He then saw Wyatt. 'And... Wyatt? What are YOU doing here?'

'My mom...'

'Piper', Aragorn muttered.

He bent down and pulled a pouch out of her pocket. He opened it up and pulled out a leaf of Athelas out of it. He put it in his mouth, chewed it, and then carefully pulled the arrow out. Blood began to flow, but Aragorn put the leaf in Piper's wound and it almost stopped bleeding. Wyatt shook his head. He placed his hand above the wound and began to heal it. In a few seconds, Piper was awake and sitting up.

'How did you do that?' Aragorn asked, stunned.

'Magic.'

By this time the battle was almost over. Most of the orcs were dead, except the few who had hidden inside the tower with Saruman. Many men of Rohan and Gondor were either dead or badly wounded. The group was pulled over to Theoden, who was lying on the ground in a pool of blood. One man was down on the ground, kneeling beside him. Another man stood on his other side him.

'Please', the man begged. 'I saw your magic. Can you save him?'

Wyatt knelt down and placed his hands over Theoden. After a few minutes of the pulsing glow, Wyatt lowered his hands.

'I can't heal him. He's gone.'