Chapter Seventeen: Importance of the Keep
The call of retreat had been sounded. Kendra and Haldir were working their way towards the stairwell to get off the wall. Both fought back-to-back, taking down any uruks that got in the way. They soon made it to the stairwell and were quickly down it. Unfortunately, there were more uruks down at the bottom.
"Hold on, Haldir," Kendra said as she let her eyes go silver.
She took to the air, grabbing Haldir's arm, taking him with her. The uruks screamed their frustration as their prey escaped. Kendra turned herself towards the keep and they were soon landing in the main courtyard. Once both were on the ground, Kendra collapsed. Haldir was quickly kneeling by her side.
"Kendra, what's wrong?" he asked, helping her up.
"I...I'm tired. I have never used this much power before."
Haldir picked her up bridal style and quickly carried her into the keep. He set her down on one of the benches before turning to leave. Kendra laid down, letting her eyes close as she surrendered to the blackness.
A sound awoke her. Several sounds, actually. Most of them were more crashes and booms than anything else. She opened her eyes to see Legolas dumping the contents off a table before picking it up and moving it to the only set of doors. Kendra sat up, shaking off a wave of dizziness.
"The keep has fallen. All is lost," she heard.
"You said the keep would never fall as long as your men defended it," someone who sounded like Aragorn said.
Kendra shook her head, shaking off the dizziness to find out that it was indeed Aragorn who had spoken. She stood, catching herself before she fell again.
"They still defend it. They've died defending it."
Kendra made her way over to where the king was standing, getting his shoulder bandaged. No one noticed her.
"Will you allow their memories to be shamed, your majesty?"
Theoden jumped, obviously startled at the new voice. He turned to face Kendra, who stood there, straight and tall, not letting her weakness show through.
"No, we shall not allow their memories to be shamed."
He turned to face Aragorn, who had come back over again. They talked about riding out as one last great ride of the Rohirrim. Gimli looked at Kendra before smiling. Kendra watched him take off through a doorway and up some stairs. Kendra looked to Aragorn before following him. She would be no good on a horse, so she might as well follow the dwarf.
She came out on a small platform. Gimli was already standing beside something. He turned to her, before winking and putting his mouth to a small hole and blowing into it. A loud booming sound came out. Kendra knew what these were. They were the horns of Helms Deep. She went over to the second horn and followed Gimli's example. Soon, two booming horns filled the air with their sound.