The Road Goes Ever On And On

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor claim to own, anything related to The Lord of the Rings.

Chapter Nine: Battle

Mary was the first to spot the Wild Men. She noticed them coming out of the woods surrounding the camp. They had been hiding, lying in wait for the group. Mary swore and pulled her sword.

"Ambush!" she yelled in warning. "Wild Men are attacking! Damn it!"

Faramir drew his sword too and rode over to his pissed off wife.

"Mary…" he said softly, trying to calm her down.

"I don't want to hear it!" she snapped. "Shut the hell up!"

Faramir seemed taken a back by her attitude, but quickly ignored it. He was used to her moods and sometimes she had been known to snap at him just as much as the others. So Faramir wisely backed off, staying close to Mary, but not too close. She was best left alone when she was pissed.

Aragorn heard Mary's warning from across the camp and drew his sword. He was using his old Ranger sword, due to the fact that Tithenwen had Anduril. Arwen pulled her old sword that she used to protect Frodo with at the Ford. Wild Men attacked them from the woods nearest to them.

"Arwen, you should go find shelter!" Aragorn told her.

"What? And leave you alone? What kind of wife would I be if I left you here to face them alone?"

"One who was alive!"

"What?"

"Arwen, these are Wild Men. They've come to kill. And they will kill you. You haven't fought in years. Please, go and hide!"

"No! If I'm going to die, I'm going to die at your side!" protested Arwen.

"Please!" whined Aragorn.

"No! And stop whining, it makes you sound like a child instead of an 88 year old King!" ordered Arwen.

Aragorn pouted and crossed his arms. Arwen put a stern look on her face. And finally Aragorn gave in and stopped protesting.

Becca was in the middle of the camp when she heard the commotion. She quickly looked around for something to defend herself with and she saw a long sword laying on the ground. She picked it up and fought her way towards the others. She had never been in battle before but she'd often gotten into scrapes at school in which Tess had bailed her out of. And Tess had taught her how to fight. But she still would feel better if she was close to the older and more experienced fighters.

She managed to get over towards Aragorn and Arwen. And she joined in, helping them cut down the Wild Men. Then she realized that someone was missing.

"Where's Tithenwen?" Becca asked Aragorn and Arwen.

Aragorn paused for second before fighting his way towards the tents. Arwen and Becca followed him, fighting along the way. As they neared the tents, they heard cursing. Aragorn raced towards the sound, only to find Tithenwen fighting with a Wild Man, who was about to kill her. He had her by the neck and was pressing a blade into her neck.

Aragorn snuck up behind the Wild Man and beheaded him. Tithenwen moved out of the path of the blade and swung around to face Aragorn.

"Get away!" she cried, sword pointing at Aragorn. "Get away from me! Get away!"

"Tithenwen? What's wrong?"

"Get away!"

"Tithenwen, it's me, Aragorn. Your father? What happened to you?"

"If you are my father, what can you tell me some thing that only you and I would know? Some thing to prove who you are?"

"Well, how about that you and your friends came here by SUV? And that you had a fight with Dolly and one with Kate. That you ran off before they left. And that you saw me fall off a cliff on the way to Helm's Deep? A warg took me over the cliff. You blamed yourself."

"Ada?" she asked quietly, lowering her sword.

"Yes, it's me Tithenwen. Now what made you doubt that it was me?"

"I found Nicholas. He's dead. He died a few minutes ago. And someone came in the tent. I almost killed them but they appeared as you. I was confused until I studied their behavior. Then I realized it wasn't you. It was Saruman. We had a fight and I just managed to escape."

"No wonder. Let's get out of here. Now. Mary! Faramir!" he called as they headed towards their horses.

Mary and Faramir where fighting side by side, Mary taking her anger out on the Wild Men. And she was still cursing. She was in a fierce mood and showed no mercy. But finally Faramir dragged her away from the fight when he heard Aragorn's call.

"Come on, Mary, we have to go!" said Faramir, grabbing her arm.

"But I'm not done yet!" Mary protested.

"We need to go, now!"

"I'm not ready to go yet!"

Faramir sighed and picked Mary up and carried her over his shoulder, despite Mary's protests and threats. He ignored everything that she said or did. And once he reached their horses, he made sure that she was on her horse and then mounted up and took Mary's reins from her.

"Faramir! Let go of the damn reins!"

"No! If I let go, you'll head right back to the battle."

"You caught me!"

"Mary, I know you all too well. And I don't want you to be harmed. I love you too much. Besides, if we had stayed much longer, there was no telling what might have happened."

"True…"

"And I dragged you into this to begin with."

"Also true, but I forgive you…"

"And I forgive you for your behavior."

"I love you Faramir."

"I love you too Mary," he said leaning over to kiss her. And then he made the mistake of letting go of Mary's reins.

"Yes!" she cried joyful as the kiss ended and Mary spun around quickly heading back to the battle.

"MARY! COME BACK!" he cried.

Mary flew past the other riders. Becca and Tithenwen shared a look and a sigh and spun around, chasing after Mary. Becca felt for the lasso that hung on her saddle. It was Tithenwen's lasso, but Becca had been using it lately. Becca handed it over to Tithenwen wordlessly. Tithenwen took it, and lassoed Mary's horse on the first time.

"Bloody hell!" cried Mary. "I was soooooo close!"

Tithenwen gave her a fake smile and then turned around, heading towards where the rest of the group was waiting. And Tithenwen kept the lasso on Mary's horse until they reached the stables in Minas Tirith and everyone dismounted.

Author's Notes:

Chaps 10-12 coming soon!