Errrr, this is another weird chapter, don't know what came over me, but I rather like it, so this is what you get.
I own nothing. Stupid PJ getting to these characters first. (You know I'm joking, right? PJ is god.)
Why was he here? He hadn't idiotically pledged his allegiance to some old king . . . steward . . . whatever.
No, he'd sat outside. Pippin should be here, not him. Pippin got the cushy job, guarding the king—steward, (what the hell was the difference anyway?)
Gandalf had plopped Bucky on a wall amidst a LOT of Gondorian soldiers, all of who glared at Bucky whenever he so much as twitched. They would not let him move more than an inch away from his post, or, what Gandalf had decided was his post. Stupid wizard, when did he get the right to boss him around?
That's when they first heard the thumping, the pounding, the inexorable rhythm of Mordor's army.
Actually Bucky had no idea what it was, he just heard the boom . . . boom . . . boom and the sudden hush of the soldiers around him. It bugged him that they seemed to know what was going on when he didn't. He thought about asking, and then decided against it, he didn't want to look stupid.
boom . . . boom . . . boom.
What was it? There was dust rising into a great cloud over the hill, at the far end of the grassy expanse that lay in front of Minas Tirith, and it seemed to be getting closer.
A few of the men closed their eyes and whispered fervently as if in prayer. Bucky wondered who they prayed to. Seemed the closest thing to a god here was that Sauron--eye, thingy, and nobody seemed to like it much.
What was up with these people? What was going on?
boom . . . boom . . . boom.
Bucky could smell the fear radiating from the men around him. He desperately wanted to know what had them so freaked.
The dust cloud was closer, accompanied by the steady thumping. It sounded familiar; he wracked his brain trying to decide what was happening.
He saw two soldiers clasp hands and hold each other's gaze, communicating something on another level.
What was going on? It really was totally beyond him. He couldn't put 2 and 2 together.
As the dust began to settle, horns began to blow, a captain—the stars of Gondor gleaming on his chest—said, "Fight with honor."
HELMS DEEP! That's why it sounded familiar, it was the same pounding noise the Uruks' feet had made at Helm's Deep.
Bucky looked up, the dust was settling, his jaw dropped. How was he going to survive this?