The Road Goes Ever On And On
Disclaimer: I don't own anything besides Tithenwen and the plot!
Chapter Seventeen: When Crazy People Go To War…
Tithenwen and the others had a battle strategy meeting. They meet in the Citadel and discussed their plan for action.
"Can we set stuff on fire? Can we? Please?" begged Emily, Merry, and Pippin and Jon nodded his head in agreement.
"Such as jumbo marshmallows?" Tithenwen suggested.
"YES! YES!" they cried in joy, jumping up and down.
"Sure!"
"And while they are doing that, what do you propose the rest of us?" asked Mary, standing next to Faramir, looking bored.
"What do you want to do? We need to surprise Saruman," said Tithenwen.
"How about we leave the gates open and wait in hiding for them to come?" Arwen said, stepping out of the shadows, Becca with her.
"Nana! What are you still doing here!" Tithenwen said, ticked off.
"We wanted to hear the plans before we left."
"And Becca, no, you are not staying for battle!" Tithenwen yelled at her cousin, before Becca could say anything. Tithenwen glared and both Becca and Arwen for a few seconds.
"Tithenwen, you need to relax," Arwen spoke softly.
"How am I supposed to relax at the moment? Tell me!"
"Tithenwen, you need to think straight if you want to win this battle."
"God damn it all to Mordor and back again!" cursed Tithenwen as her hand flew to her head.
"What's wrong this time?" asked Dolly sarcastically.
"Shut the hell up!" Tithenwen hissed at Dolly who made a face at Tithenwen and rolled her eyes at the older girl.
Tithenwen sat down on the floor, leaning against a pillar for support and closed her eyes. She'd felt the old familiar pain that came with having visions. She didn't want any visions at this present moment. Especially when she knew that they had something to do with Aragorn.
Aragorn was in Isengard, in Saruman's tower, which was for some reason, a little on the pink side on the inside. And the outside as well. But that didn't really matter.
Saruman was trying to confuse Aragorn and convince him to sign a paper that said that he was giving up Gondor. Aragorn was of course, refusing to do so and Saruman was getting ticked off. It appeared as thought Aragorn was winning the battle of wits.
"Why don't you just give it up!" yelled Saruman. "Gondor will fall, even if you don't sign! But it will be completely destroyed if I have to go there myself!"
"And what would happen otherwise? You mean to destroy it no matter what," said Aragorn, with a smug look on his face.
"You think you are soooo smart, right?"
"Yep!"
"You are such an idiot!"
"And your point is?" quizzed Aragorn.
"Why does a stupid piece of gray stone mean so much to you! You never wanted to be King!"
"And once again, your point is?" Aragorn, asked, not understanding what Saruman was trying to say.
"Why don't you just sign away from a life sentence in the city? If you sign the paper, you can be in the Wild for as long as you live!"
"I'm not buying it."
"Buying what?"
"What you're selling."
"Why not!"
"Because you stink! And you are upset because Gandalf likes Frodo more than he ever liked you!"
Saruman gasped. His secret was out! "How did you know?" he questioned Aragorn, staring him in the eye.
Aragorn stared right back and finally Saruman blinked. Aragorn cried out, "I win!" gleefully and Saruman looked puzzled.
"Are you on drugs?" Saruman asked Aragorn.
"No, are you?"
"Well, um…"
"Pot smoker!" Aragorn called out.
"Grima!" cried Saruman, pitifully. "Grima, you slimly thing! Get in here this instant!"
Grima slipped into the room. "You called?"
"Did you run your mouth off when you were supposed to be making sure that he didn't run off?" Saruman accused Grima.
Grima started shaking and pointed his finger at Aragorn, crying out, "He made me do it! He made me tell!"
Aragorn looked around him, an innocent look on his face, which turned to a smile when he felt Saruman's eyes on him. "Who? Me?" he said innocently.
"Grima, how can he make you do anything! He's psycho!" Saruman hissed at Grima.
"No more than you two are!" Aragorn called from across the room.
Saruman rolled his eyes and turned back to face Aragorn, who was whistling and looking around, clearly bored.
"Can we kill him now?" Grima asked, annoyed.
"No!"
"Why not!" whined Grima, stamping his foot in annoyance.
"Hey! I'm supposed to be the whinier!" cried Aragorn. "Thief!"
"Will you just shut up!" Saruman yelled.
"Nope!" said Aragorn cheerfully with a smile.
"Grima, find Arwen Evenstar. Kill her along with anyone in your way," Saruman whispered to Grima who nodded and Aragorn stuck his tongue out at the slimly worm.
Grima slipped out of the room and rode away, heading for Gondor. Saruman turned all of his attention back to Aragorn, who sat there, smiling like a little kid. Saruman rolled his eyes. Maybe he should have held off on killing his daughter. Oh well! He might as well go attack Gondor. Forget Aragorn, the stubborn Ranger wasn't giving up any time soon.
"Well, I do believe your time is up, Ranger."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It's time for you to join your daughter. And don't worry, your lovely wife will be joining you soon…"
"Leave my family out of this!" said Aragorn, angered.
"Good-bye, Aragorn, son of Arathorn," said Saruman with a smile as he pointed his staff at Aragorn and shot a blast of wizard fire at him.
With a gasp, Tithenwen's gray-blue eyes flew open and she looked around. Arwen was kneeling on the floor beside her, her face full of concern. Around her, Mary was asleep, leaning on Faramir and Emily, Jon, Merry, and Pippin were playing tag. Dolly had two white wires coming out of her ears and she leaned against a pillar, eyes half closed and hands in two of the many pockets of her baggy black pants. Kate was nowhere to be found and neither was Legolas, but Gimli the dwarf was busy smoking his pipe and eating salted pork. Becca had disappeared.
"What did you see?" asked Arwen.
"Ada," whispered Tithenwen.
"Where is he?"
"Isengard. But he-he-he's dead! Saruman killed him!" cried Tithenwen. "And now I'll kill him!"
"Dead?" asked Faramir. "Are you sure?"
"Saruman blasted him with wizard fire. I don't think he could have survived. But that doesn't matter."
"Why not? How can it not matter?" cried Arwen, distraught.
"Because Saruman sent Grima to kill you nana and Saruman and his army are coming for Gondor."
"Oh Valar!" Arwen sobbed, wiping tears from her eyes.
"Nana, you and Becca must leave! NOW!" Tithenwen urged her. "Ada would have wanted you to!"
Arwen sobbed and looked at her daughter, and Tithenwen gulped and then gave her mother a hug. Then Tithenwen whispered in Arwen's ear, "Everything will be okay once Saruman is destroyed. Do not give up hope."
Arwen nodded and left the Citadel. Tithenwen turned back to the others. None of them were paying attention, but she didn't care. Plans didn't really matter. All that mattered was the element of surprise and that Saruman was killed.
Nonetheless, Tithenwen shouted at them, causing everyone to jump slightly and earning her glares from almost everyone in the room. "Wake up!"
"So what's the plan?" Mary asked, her hand resting ever so slightly on the hilt of her sword.
"We give them hell!"
"How?"
"Fire and surprise. We launch flaming marshmallows and arrows at them from the air. And we attack from the ground. I like the idea of the gate being open. They walk in, thinking they've won and then we attack!"
"And where should we be?" Mary asked.
"Wherever you want to be."
"Good. I call ground!"
"Marshmallows! Marshmallows!" chanted Emily, Jon, Merry, and Pippin.
"I'll fight on the ground," said Dolly.
"My axe is ready for necks!" cried Gimli.
"I call flaming arrows!" said Faramir.
Tithenwen smiled. "And Mary, Grima is all yours."
"Yes!" cried Mary, joyfully. "I can't wait to kill that creep!"
"And I'll destroy Saruman…" said Tithenwen as she went silent. And then she walked out of the Citadel, to prepare for the coming battle.
The following day, Saruman's armies reached the city at dawn. Tithenwen had been sleeping when she got word. She leapt into action, quickly belting Anduril and her dagger around her waist and heading out to join the others. Everyone was hurrying into position when she arrived.
Emily, Jon, Merry, and Pippin were set with several barrels filled with jumbo marshmallows and two flamethrowers and loads of flamethrower juice. Faramir, Legolas and all the other archers had torches and arrows ready to go. Everyone else was in hiding places, waiting to attack on the ground.
Tithenwen watched for the first orcs and Wild Men to enter and then yelled from high, "GIVE THEM HELL!" and rushed down to join the battle.
On cue, everyone popped out of their hiding spots and the air was thick with flaming, flying things and the sounds of manic laughter. Grima snuck in the city with the troops only to be met by Mary and her fury.
"Looking for something?" Mary asked, a torch in one hand and her sword in the other.
"Um, no, not really?" said Grima, scared.
Mary smiled and flung the torch out him. He screamed in pain and cried out, "I'm melting!" as he sank to the ground, writhing in pain.
"Wimp!" Mary cried as she sliced his head off.
Dolly and Tithenwen were fighting side by side, Dolly using a sword stolen from a Nazgul and Tithenwen wielding Anduril.
"Feels like old times," Dolly said as they fought.
"Yeah?" Tithenwen said.
"Very much so."
Tithenwen smiled and cut away at the orcs and Wild Men in front of her. She would not allow herself to get distracted. As much as she was glad to be friends with Dolly, this was not the time or place for chit chat.
Legolas and Gimli were having a count again and Kate had joined Legolas in shooting flaming arrows. Tithenwen and Dolly both rolled their eyes and shook their heads when they heard the count.
"27! Beat that Wig Wearer!" Gimli called.
"I've already got 32! Take that short stack!" Legolas replied and Gimli stuck his tongue out at the Elf.
Saruman arrived at the battle, shocked at the fight already in progress. Gondor was supposed to give up without too much of a fight! Who had organized them? They had no King to lead them to battle! So who had led them?
He entered the gates and spoke to all the fighters. "Where is your leader!"
"In the courtyard of the Citadel!" came the reply of all the fighters.
Saruman nodded and headed for the Citadel. His fight was not with the Men of Gondor but with their leader. And he would kill the one who dared to lead anyone against him.
Author's Notes:
Sorry about the delay! I had to get a new computer and all my files including two chapters that were almost finished were on it! And I was unable to transfer them, so I had to start all over again. Oh well! Next update due in a few days!
Reviewers!
(Chapter 15)
Boromir's Curse - Ouch! Be sick or very relaxed always makes me a little crazy! Hope you are feeling better! The flu's been going around and it's not fun to get. The one time I had it, my sister gave it to me and I was stuck with her for three days!
Laer4572 - Yep, Tithenwen and her friends are always in the middle of something! Without them, who knows what would happen to her!
(Chapter 16)
Boromir's Curse - Glad you liked it!
Mr. Random - Glad to know that you liked it!
Laer4572 - Oh just wait for part 2! Lots of craziness is the works for part 2!