Journey to Mordor (By SUV)
Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Lord of the Rings besides owning a copy of the DVDs and books. So do not even think about suing me! I'll sue you first! I only claim rights to the idea of this story and my plot lines. And I own Tess. Emily, Dolly, and Kate are all being used with permission. And I borrowed the Suburban from my Aunt Debbie.
Chapter Fourteen: The King's Decision
Theodred, Theoden's son, was dead. He had been wounded at the Fords of Isen and died while Theoden was under Saruman's control. After his funeral and burial, Theoden King was forced with a very hard decision. Should he or should he not join in the War of the Ring? Gandalf had put him in a very tight spot indeed.
He knew that he should but was it going to be worth the lives of his men? Besides, why should he get involved in this war? It wasn't his war. He shouldn't have to do anything.
But that Ranger, Aragorn, had said that no matter what, war was upon him. What had that Ranger meant? The red haired Ranger with him had also agreed with him. The girl who had broken Wormtongue's nose and beaten him up quite badly. He had never heard of a girl Ranger before but then he had just met two. Which was quite a surprise to the King of Rohan.
The red head seemed quite smart. Maybe she would have some insight into this war and what that Aragorn fellow had meant. So he spoke to Hama and Hama summoned the girl to his chambers.
"You called for me, my Lord?" said the girl politely as she entered.
"Yes I did. I have a problem which I need help with."
"What might this problem be?"
"Should I engage in war with Saruman and risk my men's lives? Would it be worth the cost of lives? Why should I even be bothered with this war?"
"My Lord, you are going to hate my answers, but since you asked I will tell you what I feel. Yes, you should engage in war. And it would be worth the cost of lives. Saruman and Sauron mean to destroy every living person in Middle-earth. Saruman has already begun to threaten and kill your people. If you let him continue, there might be no one left in Rohan at all. This war isn't one person's war—this war affects everyone in Middle-earth. You should join in the war against Saruman if not for yourself for your people's lives."
"Is that what Aragorn meant when he spoke earlier?"
"Yes indeed that is, my Lord. And if that is, I must be on my way. Good day to you, Theoden King and good luck with your decision," said Tess as she bowed in respect and exited the room.
Theoden was still somewhat confused but things were much clearer now. He knew what he had to do now.
"We ride to Helm's Deep!" Theoden announced to his people. "We ride soon so prepare to leave!"
Hama and others went out to inform the people to prepare. Tess and Aragorn heard the King's decision and quickly went to tell the others. The SUV was once again loaded up. Gimli was going to drive the SUV to Helm's Deep. Tess, Aragorn, Dolly and Legolas were going to ride there. Gandalf made some adjustments to the SUV to help Gimli drive and Tess taught him how quickly. Gandalf then had to ride North to find Eomer.
Later on that day, everyone headed out on the journey to Helm's Deep. Along the way, when they were nearing it, the travelers were attacked by a band of Wargs. Theoden ordered Eowyn to take everyone but the fighters to Helm's Deep. Gimli gave her the SUV to drive and lead the people to safety. She had everyone load their belongings into the SUV so they could move faster. Then they fled while the fighters headed out to meet the Wargs.
Gimli had had a very hard time driving the SUV. He had almost run over more people than he could count. And it was so hard to control! How on Middle-earth could Tess drive that thing? Well Gimli had so much more respect for Tess and her driving skills than he had before. And he was never going to drive that thing again! He'd much rather take his chances with a horse.
"You should go with Eowyn," Aragorn told Tess and Dolly as he mounted his horse.
"Like we'd miss a battle? Honestly Aragorn I thought you knew us better by now!" said Tess as she quickly swung herself onto her horse.
"It would be safer if you'd just…"
"We are not backing down Aragorn and that's that!" said Tess as she rode out to meet the Wargs at a fast paced canter, sword drawn.
Aragorn shook his head and muttered something that sounded like 'such a stubborn creature' under his breath and rode out with the Riders of Rohan. Legolas was already at the top of the hill and firing upon the creatures when Tess arrived. She then galloped down to meet the Wargs head on all alone. She had already killed several when Aragorn reached the top of the hill with the others.
Dolly raced down to join her friend with the Riders of Rohan. Aragorn followed, keeping a close eye on Tess. He also glanced at Dolly and was amazed at her skill with the sword in her very fast battle on horseback. She was pretty close in skill to him and was impressed. Tess of course was the only person in all of his years that equaled his battle skill. Not that he was surprised. He knew why too, even though she had no clue herself.
Gimli was having some trouble. Early on in the battle he fell off the back of the horse that he was sharing with Legolas and began to fight on the ground. He was soon trapped under a Warg's dead body and then a Orc came up on top of him which he broke his neck. Then another Warg came up on top of the pile of bodies and was hit with a thrown spear by Aragorn just before he was knocked from his horse.
Tess and Dolly were both soon knocked off their horses and fought side by side until Tess decided to find Aragorn. She found him quite easily. He was fighting on the ground too. She rushed towards him only to see a Warg passing by him. She threw a spear at the Orc riding the Warg and knocked it off. Aragorn then stuck the Warg, killing it.
"How are doing?" Tess asked Aragorn, joining him.
"Not too bad."
Tess nodded and then Aragorn stabbed an Orc riding a Warg behind her and was pulled up onto the back of the Warg. The Warg then attempted to kill Aragorn. Tess ran after them, horrified. Aragorn knocked the Orc off the Warg and was dangling on the side of the Warg. His hand was stuck. He couldn't get away from the Warg. Then the Warg went over a cliff. Tess screamed and raced to the edge. What she saw made her sick.
On the other side, after a long drop, was a rushing river. There was no way that Aragorn could have survived. And if he had, then the river would surly kill him. Aragorn was dead and Tess felt very sick. It was all her fault too. If she had only been paying attention then he wouldn't have to kill the Orc sneaking up on her and then fallen to his death. She bit her lip and stared down the cliff.
Moments later, the battle was over. Legolas was calling, "Aragorn! Tess! Aragorn! Tess! Where are you?"
He stopped speaking when he saw Tess standing on the cliff, clearly upset about something. He walked over to her and looked into her eyes and spoke, "What happened to Aragorn, mellon-nin?"
She began to cry and was unable to answer him. Legolas then heard a strangled laughing sound behind him and went to find it. It was the Orc that Aragorn had fought with before going over the cliff. Legolas went over to it and looked at it.
"What's so funny?"
Dolly came over. She was too puzzled and waited for the Orc's answer.
"He's--cough--dead…" said the Orc.
"You lie!" cried Legolas as he shook the Orc. Then the Orc died and his right hand fell up. Dolly picked up something out of the Orc's hand and gasped.
"Legolas, he's not lying," she said softly as she showed him what she had picked up from the Orc's hand.
Legolas looked into her hand. There lay the Evenstar necklace that Aragorn always wore. That did it. In that instant Legolas knew that his friend was dead. And Tess must have witnessed the whole thing. Aragorn must have fallen or been dragged over the cliff and fallen to his death. Which explained why Tess was so shaken and why Aragorn's necklace had been found by Dolly. Aragorn would never have lost his necklace if he weren't dead. Legolas went to Tess's side along with Dolly and Dolly spoke softly to her friend, trying to comfort her.
"I found this," said Dolly handing the Evenstar to Tess.
"Aragorn would have wanted you to have it should anything have happened to him. You should keep it until it can be returned to Arwen Evenstar," said Legolas.
Then the two led their upset friend to a horse and headed to Helm's Deep with the wounded and survivors.
"Get the wounded up on horses and ride to Helm's Deep. Leave the dead behind," said Theoden King and Legolas and Dolly froze. They knew that Aragorn was dead but leaving Isildur's heir's body behind? They had never imagined that would happen.
[Author's Notes:
Next chapter: the Battle for Helm's Deep! Coming to a computer near you on Saturday, August 28th! And I've hit the 50 review mark! All you reviewers just made my day! 50 is a lucky number for me! I feel so happy that I could write several more chapters!