CHAPTER 10 - THE PATH OF MERRY

Merry watched his friend ride off into the early morning breeze on a ghost with the Arbiter. He felt alone and lost now. Quietly he crawled into a corner and began whimpering. A short female marine who was passing by noticed this and came over to him.

"Hey little guy. What's the matter?"

Merry just pulled his legs in closer to himself.

"Is it because your buddy left with the Arbiter?"

He nodded silently. The Marine sat down next to him. For a soldier, she was surprisingly compassionate and gentle. She placed a soft hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry. Your friend is very brave. As long as he's with the Arbiter, he'll be alright."

"Me lonely already."

"Why don't you come and stay at my place for a bit?"

He obliged and went with her. At her apartment he learned that her name was Eowyn Johnson, the niece of Sergeant Johnson. He was still in a poor mood however. Eowyn decided that the best way to cheer a grunt up was to entertain and feed him. So she brought out a bowl of sour cream and onion potato chips and taught him how to play risk. To her complete surprise, he was very good at it. No one would have thought the Shire could have produced a grunt with such a fine understanding of strategy. In fact, he very nearly beat her the first time they played.

It was four days later. Merry and Eowyn had become good friends, and were having breakfast outside with a bunch of other marines. The air was clear and cool, and dew was on the grass. There was not a cloud in the sky, and Edoras still lay in shadow, waiting for the sun to rise above the mountains to the east. There was something Merry simply loved about these kinds of mornings. He couldn't put his finger on what exactly it was, but life felt good whenever he experienced these kinds of mornings.

The Master Chief was sitting at the table as well, but was not eating because he had eaten earlier in the day in private. He allowed no one to see his face behind the armor, for whatever reason. He sat reclined in his chair, looking up at the mountains. From afar, he heard a low whining noise. Looking in the direction of the sound, he saw one of the beacon towers light up blue. He got up from his chair and ran to the HQ so fast that he knocked the breakfast table over when he did so. Merry sat confused at how his cereal bowl had suddenly flown upward and hit him in the face, drenching him in milk. Needless to say, some of the other Marines were equally confused because they had not seen the chief get up. Still others were annoyed that Master Chief had not been more careful around a breakfast table considering the fact that he had strength enough to flip a Warthog.

Whatever their state of mind, they all eventually noticed that the beacon tower for Gondor was glowing blue. Almost immediately after they had come to their collective realization, the loudspeaker blared the following words, "Attention all military personnel. The beacon of Gondor has been activated. Man your warthogs and assemble outside the city walls."

Eventually, the great host had been assembled. They made for a large mountain where they would set up a temporary base and wait for the other armored groups to join them. When they had all arrived, they would drive to Gondor.

The base was such that most of the Warthogs were stationed in a large field at the base of the mountain. There was, however, a raised plateau where the commanders were stationed. It was here that Eowyn and Merry dwelt. The Master Chief, Gimli, and Half Jaw were also housed there. The Chief had been playing risk with Eowyn and Merry when he was summoned to Johnson's command post.

He entered, and was surprised to find Elrond standing there holding what appeared to be the hilt of a plasma sword, made of the same material as the Arbiter's armor.

"Elrond?"

"I have come here because the situation has become grave indeed."

"What are you talking about?"

"Cortana is dying."

At this, Master Chief's senses directed their full attention to the Elite dressed in councilor's armor standing before him.

"Dying?"

"Her functionality has diminished. Much of her processor time has become wasted thinking of you. I know now that she loves you. She asked me to do something for you."

"What?"

Elrond took a few steps forward until he was face to face with Master Chief, and handed the ancient hilt to him. When the Chief touched it, the blade immediately materialized. There was something different about this blade, though. It glowed blue as all plasma swords do, but left a thin wispy trail of glowing blue vapor whenever one moved it. The sword seemed, alive somehow.

"This is Narsil, newly reforged with the blessing of the Forerunners. The blade that was broken shall be remade. The crownless again shall be king."

He was referring to a prophecy which Master Chief had long heard but never believed. it was said that he was to be the king of Gondor, and was also to reclaim the lands lost to the flood. Now, upon seeing this sword, he finally believed.

The next morning, the entire base was bustling with activity. Sergeant Johnson was assembling all of the Warthogs at the base. Reinforcements had arrived from all parts of Rohan. They were finally read to go to the great battle of their time.

Merry got into the passenger seat of the Warthog driven by Eowyn. As the column left and the smell of gas filled the air, he couldn't help but wonder if he was going to survive the upcoming battle.