Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the Lord of the Rings. Also, the infamous "movie lines" in here, well, some of them aren't true "movie lines", they're a bit more like adaptations, meaning that they're not really the same ones, I just twisted them up a bit to serve the purposes of the story.
Chapter 22: Attack on Helm's Deep
Harry, Ron, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli ran down the stairs as fast as they could to meet the elves. When they got there, Harry was pleased to see a familiar face leading the troops of Lothlorien. "Haldir!" he called out. The elf looked up, saw them, and smiled in greeting. Aragorn and Legolas rushed over to receive a friendly embrace.
Harry and Gimli followed, then noticed that Ron wasn't with them. He was standing a little ways back, looking awkward. "Haldir," said Harry, "This is my friend, Ron Weasley. Ron, this is Haldir, from Lothlorien. I've mentioned him to you before, remember?"
"Oh yeah," said Ron, and the two shook hands.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Haldir warmly. Then he turned to continue speaking to a stunned Théoden. "We are proud to fight alongside men once more," he said.
At this point, only Pippin was still awake. The others had fallen asleep, even Merry, and this was very important to him. Finally, Treebeard turned around, and it wasn't to scold the four for being hasty.
Pippin shook his friends awake. They were up in an instant when they realized what was going on.
"We have just agreed," said Treebeard.
There was a long pause. Then George spoke up, "What did you decide?"
Treebeard snapped back to reality. "I have told your names to the Entmoot, and we have agreed: You are not orcs."
Four identical mouths dropped open. "No offense, but didn't you already decide that?" asked Fred.
"It had to be officially declared by the Entmoot," explained Treebeard.
"And you just figured that out!" asked George incredulously.
"What about Saruman?" asked Merry.
"Now don't be hasty Master Meriadoc," said Treebeard.
"Hasty! WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR TEN #$&&(# HOURS!" screamed Fred. George, Merry, Pippin, Treebeard, and the rest of the Ents turned to stare at him in shock. But there was no stopping Fred now. He was on a roll. "FRODO'S OUT THERE TRYING TO DESTORY A RING, AND THE REST OF MY FRIENDS ARE PROBABLY FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIVES AGAINST SARUMAN, WHO'S SENDING OUT MORE MASSIVE ARMIES BY THE MINUTE, AND WHAT ARE WE DOING? SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF A STUPID FOREST WHILE THE REST OF OUR FRIENDS ARE IN DANGER, WAITING FOR YOU TO DECIDE WHAT TO DO, AND ALL YOU CAN SAY IS DON'T BE HASTY!"
"Whoa," said George, "Take some deep breaths Fred. You're starting to sound like Harry."
Fred, whose cheeks were flushed from his sudden outburst, actually took his brother's advice. "Wow," he muttered, "I never meant to lose it like that."
Merry and Pippin were staring at him in a sort of stupefied awe. George wasn't as shocked, they had both lost their tempers, especially with their mother, plenty of times before. But neither one of them had spoken that passionately before, or had actually revealed true anxiety over world affairs. They had always had a calm nature, knowing that with their cleverness and skills in pranks and escaping, they could pretty much get away with anything, and everything would be ok.
But now, as George was quickly beginning to realize, everything was not ok. They were as far away from home as possible, their brother, sister, and friends from Hogwarts were probably in danger, they had seen Boromir die trying to protect them from the Uruk-hai, a brave attempt that ultimately failed, as they had still been captured…and now here they sat, watching a bunch of old trees take their good sweet time trying to decide whether they should actually help the rest of the world or not. George had to admit to himself, it was a pretty helpless-looking situation for them, and he could not really blame Fred for letting his frustration pour out. Even Merry and Pippin would have to agree, right now, their position in life seemed all but useless.
Fred had now calmed down considerably. "Sorry Treebeard," he said. The old Ent, however, looked thoughtful.
"You are very young," he said slowly, "Therefore; you cannot possibly fully understand our ways. I try to understand how you always love to rush into things, but it is too difficult for me. The Ents are slow and patient. We take our time with everything. You must also understand Master Fred, it takes a long time to say anything in old Entish, and we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say." He waited for a response, but at this point the four were learning it would be useless to argue. So they simply went against their nature, plopped themselves down under the tree where they had been resting, and fell asleep.
Back at Helm's Deep, everything was quiet, but Harry knew it was simply the calm before the storm. He was right in more ways then one. For one thing, it started to rain, and also he soon began to see the distant lights of many torches and the sound of many marching feet. The Uruk-hai had arrived.
Lightening flashed, and thunder roared. The elves and Rohirric soldiers stayed perfectly still, waiting and watching. Harry had been following Aragorn around, until the ranger ordered him to stay by the wall above the gate, in case anyone tried to breach. One could never tell, the spell might wear off and they would need reinforcements.
Ron stood beside Legolas and Gimli, who was grumbling because he was too small to see over the wall. The other two glanced at each other and then quickly looked away before they burst out laughing.
Harry watched the approaching army nervously. Time seemed to stand still. Every little noise, from the soft pitter-patter of the rain hitting the stone, to the beating of his own heart, seemed unusually loud. Calm down, he thought to himself, Remember what you told Legolas. Remember that this isn't the end. Come to think of it, what had he told Legolas? Something about not worrying? Yeah right, he thought. Right now all Harry could see and remember was 10,000 Uruks that would rip him to pieces as soon as look at him. He began to breathe very fast. He had just escaped death falling off a cliff, could he do it again? No, he thought, panic rising quickly.
Just then he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. Harry spun around, ready to strike, when he saw it was only Aragorn. "Are you alright Harry?" he asked.
"Huh? Oh-yeah I'm fine," he muttered, "Where are Ron, Legolas, and Gimli?"
"Over there, by the front part of the wall." Catching Harry's nervous glance in their direction, he added, "Don't worry, they're not in any immediate danger. And they're among the best fighters I've ever seen. It's better that they're situated in an area where they can do the most damage to the Uruks."
Harry nodded, but he didn't feel any better. He knew from experience that the only time his nerves were calmed in this state was when he actually began to do the thing he was dreading.
Ron stared wide-eyed over the walls, as the marching Uruk-hai grew closer and closer, occasionally illuminated by lightening. Their leader was standing on a rock so that he could be clearly seen above all the others. He roared, and they stopped.
Ron's teeth were gritted, and he stared down at his enemy with a look of defiance. The Uruks had began roaring and stamping their feet. "They're trying to intimidate us," Ron muttered, "Always let the enemy attack first. We can't make the first move."
The words had no sooner left his mouth when an old Rohirric soldier accidentally let loose an arrow that hit one of the Uruks below in the neck. It died instantly and dropped to the ground.
"Uh-oh," said Ron.
"Well so much for not making the first move, eh?" said Gimli.
"Tell me about it," came the reply.
The Uruk-hai roared in anger and raced for the wall, spears out and gleaming. Théoden watched them coming as he stood next to his officers. "And so it begins," he said.
And indeed it had. Aragorn began shouting commands in Elvish that Legolas translated for Ron to understand; it was time to get out their arrows.
"It's no go," said Ron, "I couldn't shoot to save my life. I'm better with a sword."
"And I with an ax," said Gimli, stroking the blade almost fondly.
"Hado I philin," screamed Aragorn. The archers let go of their bowstrings and soon arrows were flying everywhere, all hitting their intended victim. But there was no time to celebrate yet. The Uruk-hai continued to replace each other, and they were getting closer and closer to the wall.
Harry stood watching all this from above the gate. He didn't have much to do yet, because nothing had gotten to the huge doors yet.
"Harry!" Harry turned and saw Aragorn yelling to him and pointing out and down. "Tell your men to fire!"
Whoops, thought Harry, Guess we should've been doing something after all. He pointed in the direction of the Uruks and screamed, "FIRE!" He was a bit surprised to that the men obeyed him at once. He hadn't had this type of power since the DA.
"Look," said Ron, "They're bringing ladders."
Legolas looked out. "Uh-oh," he said.
"What now?" asked Ron.
"Your idea about the torches won't work."
"What makes you think that?"
"Because they're made of metal, not wood."
Ron's shoulders slumped. "You're right. We're in trouble," he groaned.
"I'm sorry," said Legolas, "It was a good idea."
"Yeah," said Ron, "Up until this point."
Gimli, however, looked pleased. Finally, there was something he could do. As one of the ladders came up and a huge Uruk was about to jump down, Gimli nailed him with a quick stroke of his ax. More quickly followed.
"Legolas!" Gimli called out, gloating, "Two already!"
"I'm on seventeen!" Legolas shouted back.
"WHAT! I'll have no pointy-ear outscoring me!" screamed Gimli in mock rage, and he took down another orc.
"What are you guys doing?" asked Ron.
"We're having a contest!" yelled Gimli, "Whoever cuts down the most of these foul beasts wins!"
"That would be me!" called Legolas. He fired another arrow. "Nineteen!"
"Who said it was going to be you?" challenged Ron. He took his sword and decapitated two Uruks with a single blow. "That's two right there!"
"You're going to have to do better than that if you want to keep up with me laddie!" yelled Gimli, "That's five!"
"Four!"
"Six!"
"Seven!"
"Twenty-four!"
"Oh shut up Legolas," cried Ron. "I'm catching up to you both and you know it!"
"Carry on then," said Legolas cheerfully. It was a rather odd situation: here they were, in an epic battle, and all they cared about was who killed the most Uruk-hai. It was like the three of them had completely forgotten the danger they were in.
Harry hadn't forgotten the danger he was in. His troops had to stop firing by the wall and focus their attentions on the main gate. The Uruks were carrying a battering ram towards them, and they were also carrying shields in the front, back, and top of the procession.
Aragorn saw this and pointed it out to some elven archers. The Uruk-hai had one major flaw: they had no shields on the sides. That just wasn't possible. So the elves simply aimed their arrows at the sides of the ram, and picked off its carriers that way.
Harry watched all this from the gate. The elves were good, but somehow the Uruks still managed to get the battering ram ready, and started to run for the door. A running start was sure to create a big impact.
Or so they thought. Saruman's troops hadn't counted on being up against an Imperturbable Charm. Just before impact, the ram hit the charm and went flying out of the Uruks' hands, landing somewhere below and crushing some of the army. Then the arrows from Harry's group went flying, killing all the Uruk-hai lying dazed by the gate. The men cheered. "Wow," said Harry to himself, "That attack went pretty well!"
Meanwhile Gimli was furious. Not only had Ron caught up to him in their game, but the young wizard had actually surpassed him and was now in second place. No one had gotten too close to Legolas yet. But that was understandable, as he had had a head start.
Quite apart from excitement in improving his score, Ron was feeling a bit relieved. This wasn't so hard. In fact, if they kept it up for a few hours, there might very well be no more Uruk-hai left and they would be safe for the time being, unless Saruman struck again. But by that time they could go out and hunt for more supplies, get well-rested and be fresh for battle when it came. Yes, Ron was sure that things would turn out alright. After all, what more could these guys come up with?
He was about to find out.
Aragorn saw it first. Some of the Uruk-hai were carry what looked like huge, spiky balls and placing them next to the small drain in the wall. What are they doing? he wondered. Then he saw something that nearly made his heart stop. It was a Uruk carrying a sizzling torch. Aragorn had never seen a bomb before, but he knew an exploding device when he saw one. And this would surely create a huge gap in the wall.
Harry saw it too. "Stupefy!" he yelled, but missed. He tried again, "Stupefy!" while Aragorn ordered Legolas to kill it. This time the spell met its mark. The orc fell, stunned, but it did no good. Another Uruk caught the torch and ran in to ignite the bomb...
"HA! I got twenty!" gloated Ron. Legolas heard him, stopped shooting at the orc with the torch, turned around, and his eyes widened in horror as he saw that his friend was standing right on top of the section with the drain.
"RON GET OUT!"
"Huh?" said Ron, oblivious to the danger he was in.
"GET OUT! IT'S GOING TO…"
BOOM! Legolas never finshed his sentence. The wall exploded.
Deep in Fangorn Forest, Treebeard woke up the boys to tell them the verdict. "The Ents cannot hold back this storm. We must weather such things as we have always done."
"You woke us up to tell us that?" asked George angrily.
"This is not our war," stated Treebeard simply.
"How can it not be your war?" asked Fred, "You guys are almost as bad as our Ministry of Magic, and that's saying something!"
"You must help!" begged Merry. Pippin remained silent. He wasn't really sure what to say.
"You boys are young and brave, but your part in this tale is over. Go back to your home," said Treebeard firmly. Then he turned his back to them to say goodbye to some of his fellow Ents, as they were all leaving.
"But we can't go home," said George. The very words seemed to fill him with an emotion he had never really had before: despair.
"You could always come live with us in the Shire," said Pippin.
"Hey YEAH!" said Fred more cheerfully, "We can visit that place you're always talking about, The Green Dragon, and steal Farmer Maggot's mushrooms, and pull pranks on the hobbits, and…"
"You don't understand," said Merry, looking the others right in the eye, "There won't be a Shire if we don't do something."
Those few words had quite an impact on them. Suddenly the stakes had been raised. If Sauron and Saruman weren't stopped by creatures like the Ents, they would overcome and destroy the rest of the world. Merry was right. The situation looked pretty desperate at this point.
This simple remark had also gotten Pippin thinking. If the whole world would be destroyed, surely the Ents would go along with it? How come they couldn't see that? Maybe they didn't know. Maybe they didn't understand. How could he, or any of his friends, make them listen? Pippin thought long and hard about this as Treebeard came back to pick them up and take them home.
The explosion that had taken place in the drain at Helm's Deep ripped the wall apart and sent the soldiers on that section flying. Some were pitched forward and landed in the middle of the Uruk-hai, where they died almost instantly. Some were luckier, like Aragorn, and they were thrown further back into the fortress, where they were temporarily knocked senseless.
Legolas and Gimli were frantically looking around the ruined section of the wall, calling for Ron. He wasn't on any other part of the wall, and Legolas was beginning to fear the worst. Gimli, on the other hand, spotted another friend in danger. The Uruk army had begun to make its way into the fortress, and Aragorn was straight in their path.
With a yell, the dwarf jumped down and attacked! Aragorn shook his head to clear his mind and slowly got up in time to see Gimli go under. Then he saw something else lying a few yards away. It looked like the body of a young soldier, but Aragorn recognized the shock of red hair. "Ron!" he cried.
Ron was lying there, muddy, bruised, and still trying to collect his wits when he heard someone calling his name. He rolled over slowly and stared at the ruined wall without really comprehending the situation. "Wow," he muttered, "That's a really big hole!" Then he saw the Uruk-hai running through and Aragorn leading a charge, being followed by many elves. He cursed and got up. The tables had started to turn in Saruman's direction, and he didn't like it one bit.
Harry had seen the explosion and was horrified. Worse still, some more Uruk-hai had picked up the battering ram again, only to find they got the same result as before. That was all well and good for Rohan, but Harry felt his energy draining. He hadn't eaten in a while, nor had he rested since he returned from his near-death experience. The result was that he was both physically and emotionally exhausted. He tried not to show it however, shouting encouragement to his fellow soldiers and trying his best to rally them on, the way Oliver Wood, his old Quidditch captain used to do sometimes before and during a Quidditch match.
Meanwhile, Ron had joined up with Aragorn and Gimli at the breached wall. About a minute later, Legolas took a flat shield and skateboarded down the stairs to help out. "How's it going up there?" asked Ron, while slaying a few vicious Uruks.
"Pretty bad," said Legolas grimly, "The wall's almost overrun with these orcs."
"Well that's not good," replied Ron, "How's that guy Haldir doing?"
"He and his elves are still up there," said Legolas, "He's fine, but we're losing soldiers fast."
As if on cue, Théoden called down to Aragorn to pull back to the Keep. It was too dangerous to keep fighting down there. Their army was slowly getting wiped out. Ron ran up the stairs to let the others know the message, since all their concentration was on fighting. As soon as they saw Ron, however, shouting to retreat, they obeyed at once.
Aragorn could see, though, that Haldir hadn't heard and called up to him. Haldir saw him, nodded once, and waved his troops in the direction of the Keep. He saw Ron and waved him over as well.
What came next would always come to haunt Ron in the grimmest moments of his life.
A particularly huge Uruk-hai came out of nowhere and sliced his sword across Haldir's chest. He gasped and sank to the ground. Then another one came up from behind and stabbed him in the back with an ax.
Ron stood frozen in horror as Aragorn ran up and caught Haldir before he died. The whole terrible scene took his breath away as he saw someone really die for the first time. He had seen or heard of comrades dying in battle, but had never fully witnessed something like this. It was horrible.
Aragorn sadly laid his friend down and then got up to try and escape from the now completely overrun wall. He saw Ron standing there in a sort of stupefied shock. He grabbed his friend and pulled him to a ladder. Kicking off from it he made sure that when it fell they both landed safely on the ground. "Come on!" he yelled to Ron, who was still stunned, "To the Keep!"
These words knocked Ron to his senses and they both fled.
Harry took one look at the retreating troops and knew it was all over. The evil armies were pouring in the breached wall, and now they were starting to raise huge ladders up to the Keep. It didn't really matter that they couldn't get through the door, as there were plenty of other ways to get in.
Legolas refused to give up, at least not yet. The Uruks needed to use ropes to raise the ladders before they could go up safely. The elf waited until they were actually up in the air before he took an arrow and shot the rope. The ladder suddenly tipped in the opposite direction, sending the shocked, screaming Uruk-hai on it to the ground.
A small victory like that, unfortunately, did not do enough to turn the tide of the battle. With more and more men dying by the second, a thoroughly defeated Théoden ordered his men to retreat.
Treebeard walked slowly thorough the forest, relating his plan to the Fearsome Foursome. "I will lead you to the western borders of the forest," he said, "You can make your way back to your homeland from there."
Pippin was still thinking hard. If only there was some way he could show these Ents what Saruman was capable of. Then he remembered how Treebeard had said there was often smoke rising from Isengard. Where there was smoke, there was bound to be a fire. And where there was a fire, there was bound to be fuel. And the best source of fuel Saruman had were the trees. That was it!
"Stop!" cried Pippin, "Turn around, take us south!"
Treebeard was puzzled. South was clearly the direction to Isengard. What on earth was the young hobbit thinking? Fred, George, and Merry were wondering the same thing.
Pippin needed an explanation, and said whatever came to his head: "If we go south we can slip past Saruman unnoticed. The closer we are to danger, the farther we are from harm!"
"And the logic there is…?" asked George.
"It's the last thing he'll expect!" said Pippin triumphantly.
"And if we go west, we don't have to go near him at all, seeing as how he doesn't know we're here and doesn't know what to expect!" replied Fred, stating the obvious.
"Oh come on, it's a great idea, don't you think so Treebeard?"
Treebeard was thoroughly bewildered, but he agreed to take them south.
"I changed my mind Pippin. You do have enough energy up there to come up with plans…stupid ones!" said George.
"Just trust me on this one," said Pippin, with such a grin on his face the others realized there was more to his story then this. He had an idea, and he was very confident that it would work too!
Translation: "Hado i philin" means "Release arrows". My thanks to the Council of Elrond website.
A/N: There. I was fast, wasn't I? Now to respond to my reviewers:
Kaladelia Undomiel: That's so cool how you knew exactly what I was going to do with Treebeard and Co. I'm sorry if they were a bit more serious in this chapter, this whole war is starting to affect them a bit.
Lauren546: That's awful! And here I was moping because my one friend got out June 3rd, and the other, June 8th! It's nice to know you still like the story though, thanks for reviewing!
Raggedygal: You're kidding. You actually know a guy like Denethor! Shocking. I never knew people like him actually existed in the world! The end of this story shall be interesting, remember though, Hermione explained in the first chapter that almost no time will have passed since they went in. Otherwise it'd mess up a lot of the stuff that happens in Book 5! As for Snape, I already thought of something to do with him in the sequel. He won't like it!
Eclipse: That's fine. I understand why you were tired. I'm glad you liked the Exploding Snap part, that pretty much came to me as I was typing it!
