Chapter 4

Sarumon was at the top of his tower overseeing his realm. His army of Uruk-Hai had been sent to destroy the Kingdom of Rohan. The few remaining survivors had retreated to Helm's Deep and the fate of Rohan would be decided there. There were very few people remaining led by King Theoden's niece Eowyn. Sauron had no doubt that his army would succeed and wipe out the remains of Rohan. Now he had to concentrate on the task his master had set for him, the task of finding the ring. The ring had gone missing after it passed through Lothlorien. Sarumon had managed to gain this information from a pair of hobbits that his Uruk-Hai had captured from the Fellowship. Neither was the ring bearer; however they both said that the ring had somehow been replaced by a fake during their journey. After they gave up this information Sarumon allowed his Orcs to feast upon their flesh.

Sarumon had at first suspected the elves of such treachery, but logic seemed to dictate that the elves wished to have nothing to do with the ring. As Sarumon was lost in thought he did not notice the army that was approaching his weakly defended domain. Before long the army had reached the tower and begun a whole sale slaughter upon all the Orcs that remained. Sarumon finally snapped out of his thoughts as one of the smiths were weapons for his army were built collapsed loudly. Sarumon looked down upon his realm to see it being destroyed by the elves of Lothlorien. Sarumon turned to head down and try and salvage something from this brutal massacre. However ever when turned around Sarumon was absolutely startled by the person standing behind him.

"You can't stop us," Galadriel said.

"So the Lady of Light has decided to join the war of the ring," Sarumon commented. "I must say I commend your resolve. But what you are doing is pointless. Sauron shall be victorious."

Galadriel drew her sword quickly and held the extremely fine tip up against Sarumon's neck. "Do not be so quick to assume victory, fallen Istari," Galadriel said. "The time of my people has come again, and we shall reign supreme over Middle Earth."

Sarumon then noticed the ring on Galadriel left hand. He quickly fell to his knees before her, "Forgive me for being so presumptuous," Sarumon apologized. "In place of the dark lord I shall worship you my Queen. I am your humble servant."

"Arise," Galadriel ordered him.

Sarumon slowly got to one knee and them up to his feet. However he dared look upon the face of the powerful elven queen that stood before him.

"You are a traitor and a turncoat," Galadriel said to him. "A snivelling side switcher that is only out for his own interests. Why would I want to have you as my servant?"

A look of terror spread across Sarumon's face. He realized that he need to give Galadriel a reason to allow him to live.

"Milady, I do what I must to survive." Sarumon said. "Sauron tempted me by saying together we could rule Middle Earth, but now I know that it is not to be. Sauron can not withstand your infinite power. He shall fall and Middle Earth shall be yours."

"Very flattering," Galadriel said flatly. "And you are right, I do have infinite power. And thus you serve no purpose."

With that she ran her sword through Sarumon's heart. The wizard gasped for air as his lung was also punctured. Galadriel withdrew her swords and wiped it clean on Sarumon's white robes. The mighty Wizard stood there for a long moment just staring at her unable to comprehend what had just happened. He then staggered backwards and teetered near the edge of the tower. Galadriel watched emotionlessly as Sarumon tipped over the edge and toppled like a rag doll down into the raging battle below.

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Eomer's Rohirrim wandered the desolated plains of Rohan. They had arrived at Helm's Deep much too late to help their brethren, but they were able to route Isengarde's forces. But it was too late; the people of Rohan had all but been wiped out. King Theoden himself had been killed in battle. Eomer and his twenty or so remaining horsemen were all that remained. Everywhere they travelled they found only destruction, the type of destruction that only Orcs were capable of.

As they wandered east towards Gondor they came across a small village that had not yet been destroyed. They rushed into the village, there were large amounts of people in the village, much more than it had originally been built for. Tents and temporary structures had been built to house the refugees, who were likely survivors from other destroyed villages.

"Who's in charge here?" Eomer asked a young boy as he dismounted from his horse.

"Nobody sir," The boy replied. "We're just all working together and trying to survive."

"What happened?" Eomer asked him.

"You should ask my mother," the boy said pointing to a heavy set woman that was washing some clothes.

Eomer thanked the boy and made his way over to the woman.

"Hello 'mam," Eomer greeted her. "I am Eomer Leader of the Rohirrim. I was wondering if I could speak to you."

"You're the new king," the woman replied. "Of course you can speak."

It had not yet dawned upon Eomer that he was now the king of Rohan. Of course there wasn't much left to rule over.

"What happened?" Eomer asked. "Who destroyed all oh Rohan?"

The woman stopped what she was doing. She choked back tears as she recalled what Eomer figured were very disturbing memories.

"We thought they were friendly," the woman said. "But by the time they were upon us it was too late. They were more savage than even the orcs. They killed everyone, destroyed everything and then they feasted on the dead bodies."

"Who?" Eomer inquired anxiously.

The woman looked at him, "The Elves," she replied.

Eomer looked at her disbelievingly. "The elves?" he repeated.

"They were perfectly normal as they approached the village," the woman recalled. "We thought that they had come to protect us from the orcs. The leader of our village went to talk to their leader, some powerful elf, Gala, Galadreel, something."

"Galadriel?" Eomer offered.

"Yes, that's it," the woman said. "I'm not sure what happened but Galadriel killed him with her sword. Then suddenly everything went dark and all the other elves charged into the village. Their faces had changed, it was as if they had become orcs but they were even more deadly. They began eating the villagers alive. I was able to grab my son and a horse and ride to safety."

Eomer was completely horrified. He had met elves only on a few rare occasions and knew very little about them, but from what he did know this type of behaviour was well beyond normal elven behaviour. Also Galadriel was supposed to be the Elven Lady of Light, a wise and pacifistic elf of great knowledge and power. In all her thousands of years nothing like this had happened so Eomer was left to wonder just what was going on. Perhaps this was an elaborate illusion of Sarumon's magic. It seemed far fetched, but it made much more sense than a bunch of bloody-thirsty elves running around killing all the Rohirrim. Eomer's thought process was broken by the cries of a scout riding up on a horse.

"They're coming this way!" the scout cried.

"I'll rally my men," Eomer shouted to all the village. "We'll hold them off while you escape."

"No," someone replied. "We have nowhere left to flee to. You must leave this place and find help."

Eomer pushed his way through the crowd to find the dissenter. He was completely surprised to find his sister Eowyn.

"You must go," Eowyn said. "Go to Mirkwood and to Rivendell and gather the help of the other elves."

"No, I am not leaving you behind," Eomer insisted.

"You cannot fight them and expect to win," Eowyn pleaded with her brother.

"Perhaps not," Eomer admitted. "But these are my people and I am not going to run away like a coward. If I die, you are all that is left of our line, you will be the Queen of Rohan and I'm sure you will make an excellent leader. Now go and seek help."

Eomer dragged his sister to a nearby horse and lifted her up and on, he then turned the horse in the direction of Mirkwood and smacked it's behind sending the horse of galloping across the plains carrying a forlorn Eowyn with it. Once she was far enough away that Eomer could no longer make out any details he hopped back onto his own horse and gathered his men. They rode out to meet their enemy.