Chapter 15

Denethor's Madness

For Ruby, time seemed to stretch on forever as she waited to hear news of Faramir and his 'quest'. She spent most of her time, tending to the Steward's every whim, feeling more like a slave than she ever could have imagined even in her worst nightmares. He constantly criticized and hounded her for her seeming incompetence, whatever reverence he might have felt over her beautiful performance- having long worn off. The only real bright spot to it all was Pippin. He hardly left her side unless forced to, and helped her with all her duties to the best of his abilities. They didn't talk much, and what they did say all seemed trite and meaningless, but it was just comforting to be together.

Finally, there was a commotion down at the front of the city. "Open the gate! Quick!" One of the soldiers called as an unconscious Faramir was dragged inside by a horse, his body pierced with arrows. "Quick hurry!" He insisted as a group of men, released the poor man and carried him up to the top of Minas Tirith.

They were all with Lord Denethor when he was informed of this, and immediately he stopped in the middle of his lecture to her about her slowness, leapt to his feet and raced to meet his son. She tagged along after him, trying to remain a respectful distance behind, though she was desperate to see her friend.

"Faramir!" Lord Denethor cried out in anguish as the soldiers lay his child down beside the White Tree. Ruby choked back a heart wrenching sob as she took him in, before turning and throwing herself into Pippin's arms. "Say not that he has fallen!" The Steward begged as he came to lean over his body, but none of the soldiers would meet his eye.

"They were outnumbered. None survived." One of them finally responded his own voice soft and full of grief. Ruby began to tremble, and she was about to bury her head into Pippin's chest, when she heard the sounds of screams coming from not so far away. She looked up and Pippin instantly covered her eyes with his hands, but it was too late. She had already seen the heads flying through the air and crashing to the ground, and she knew that this was yet another image that time could never erase from her memory.

"My sons are spent. My line has ended." The Steward said his voice hollow as he stood and stumbled away from the litter. Pippin took advantage of this, and taking his hand away from her eyes, he took her hand instead and the two ran to Faramir's side. Ruby couldn't stop the tears that coursed down her face as she knelt beside him, nor did she try to. She simply laid her head against Faramir's chest, and closed her eyes trying to shut out all the darkness that seemed to be coming in on her at this very moment. But as she did so she thought she heard a peculiar noise.

The faint sound of a heartbeat. Not daring to believe it, she sat up and touched his brow watching him ever so carefully as his chest rose and fell with the slightest movement. But it was there, and it was undeniable.

"He's alive." She breathed turning to Pippin, whose eyes widened with shock as he came to the same conclusion. "He's alive!"

"The House of Stewards has failed!" Lord Denethor howled in agony.

"He needs medicine, my lord!" Ruby called out to him, even she started to tend to Faramir the best she could with what little she had.

"My line has ended!" Lord Denethor wailed completely ignoring her as he continued to stumble toward the walls.

"My lord!" Pippin tried this time with the same result.

"Rohan has deserted us. Théoden's betrayed me. Abandon your posts! Flee! Flee for your lives!" The Steward shouted wildly, clearly insane, as he reached the walls and took in the massive army that stood at the gates. Just before the uncertain and frightened soldiers could fully react though, Gandalf came right up to him and whacked Denethor in the forehead with his staff, following with a quick blow to his stomach, making the miserable old man fall to his knees.

"Prepare for battle." Gandalf told the men before turning to go and mount Shadowfax so he could direct the rest of the army. He surely would not give up the defense of the great city. Not without a good fight anyway. "Hurry, men! To the wall! Defend the wall!" Ruby could hear him shout as she stared after him, unsure of what she should do until she felt Pippin gently touch her shoulder.

"Come on Ruby. We must tend to our friend if no one else will." He told her a look of determination coming into his face that set her heart a flutter.

"Yes. Of course." She agreed and immediately the two set to work, binding his wounds the best they could with the cloth they ripped from Ruby's silly apron (she could not say that she was all that sorry about the loss). Then Pippin was called to join the fight.

They stared at each other for a long moment, fear clearly showing in both of their eyes. Ruby didn't want to let him go. She couldn't risk losing him! "Please, let me come with you." She begged as he took her into his arms and held her for a long almost eternal moment.

"No. You're needed here." He told her trying his best to give her a reassuring smile, and failing miserably. "You have Faramir and the Steward to look after. After all you are his personal assistant."

"I know. Worst mistake I ever made." She groaned eliciting a weak laugh from him, much more convincing than his smile. "Promise me you'll come back." She begged.

"Of course." He whispered in return holding her tighter. "As long as I have you to come back to, I will always return. I promise." With that they shared a long and tender kiss, and then he was gone sword retrieved from its scabbard as he went out to join the chaos below.

Biting back the useless tears, she turned back to her work though there really wasn't much more she could do at this point: at least not without medicine. She was about to go and try and find it herself when the Steward and a couple of his soldiers came and stood around the two of them. "Come Miss Ruby." Denethor said his voice hollow and severely cracked, making her shiver at its hopeless tone. "You must tend to my son's and my shroud."

Shroud? She thought curiously for a split second, before the reality of what he was saying hit her and her whole body went rigid. They were going to bury Faramir alive! Or worse! "No!" She shrieked at the top of her lungs, throwing her body over his unconscious one, doing the best she could to shield it. "No! You're insane! Faramir is alive! Alive! And I won't let you hurt him!"

"Seize her!" The Steward howled with rage to his men, and though Ruby fought back as hard as she could, they soon had her restrained in their grasp.

"That's much better. This is your last chance Ruby. Will you help me with this task or not?" The Steward sneered down at her, and she spit back in his face, allowing that to be her answer. "Fine. If you will not tend to the flames, you will fuel them. Fetch some rope to tie her up with. We cannot risk her trying to escape. There is no escape for any of us now."

Ruby's heart filled with utter terror at his words, and despite the guards best efforts to subdue her try to escape she did. Many times, until finally Lord Denethor took one of the swords and with a sharp swift blow knocked her unconscious.

~jb~

Meanwhile Pippin, completely unaware of the drama, continued on, heading into his own kind of danger. He followed closely after the stream of men, searching for Gandalf in the crowd figuring if he were truly to fight in this battle, he would prefer to do it beside his friend: a person he knew he could trust. Suddenly a group of Nazgûl appeared riding on some horrid flying beasts, and Pippin had to hold his ears with his hands to block out the sound of their cries, which only sent him scurrying faster onward.

"Fight them back!" Gandalf was yelling when the young Hobbit finally found him, though Gandalf's expression was less than pleased when he saw him coming down some stairs towards him. "Peregrin Took! Go back to the Citadel!" He demanded.

"They'd called us out to fight." Pippin explained still feeling in a bit of a daze as he had when he had first received the news. Suddenly an Orc headed towards Pippin and Gandalf instantly leapt forward to head it off, killing it with smooth swift strokes.

"This is no place for a Hobbit!" He insisted, as he fought off several more Orcs. But unbeknownst to him one was able to sneak up behind him while he was distracted. A strange and compelling instinct overcame Pippin as he lunged forward and stabbed the Orc just as it was going to hit the dear old Wizard. Gandalf turned to face him a look of surprise and pride on his face (not unlike that showing on Pippin's) as he realized what had just happened. "Guard of the Citadel indeed. Now, back! Up the hill! Quick!"

Pippin needed no more persuasion, as he turned and raced back toward the Citadel, proud of his great accomplishment and wanting to share it with Ruby. But when he reached the courtyard he could see no sign of her. Instead he was greeted with the sight of Lord Denethor carrying a lit torch, as a series of guards followed him carrying Faramir upon a litter; and one more trailing behind what looked like a sack thrown over his shoulder.

"I am steward of the House of Anárion. Thus have I walked. And thus now will I sleep. Gondor is lost. There is no hope for Men. Why do fools fly? Better to die sooner than late. For die we must." The Steward said almost to himself as pushed open the doors to the House of the Stewards and entered. "No tomb for Denethor and Faramir. No long, slow, sleep of death embalmed. We shall burn, like the heathen kings of old." He turned to the guard. "Bring wood and oil!"

The men were quick to obey, and soon they had created a huge pyre of wood on which they lay Faramir, who twitched ever so slightly in his sleep, though no one noticed, as they placed piles of wood around the pyre table. Denethor leaned over his son and touched his face in a way that was almost tender and heartwarming, if the circumstances had not been so deplorable. "The house of his spirit crumbles. He is burning. Already burning."

At this moment Pippin had fully followed them into the room and seeing what was happening he became hysterical, running up to Faramir and trying to remove the wood surrounding the pyre. "He's not dead! He's not dead!" He shrieked much as his beloved Ruby had earlier, and the Steward became infuriated at both the memory and the interference. He grabbed Pippin and literally dragged him out of the building as he continued to struggle and scream. "No! No! No! No! He's not dead! No!"

In fact, he was so distracted by his shock and horror that he did not notice one of the soldiers pulling out a limp body from the sack he had been carrying over his shoulder, walking over to place it beside Faramir's, while another rushed to follow the Steward holding something that he had just removed from the form's back.

"Farewell, Peregrin, son of Paladin. I release you from my service. Go now and die in what way seems best to you." The idiotic, insane, old man spat coldly as he threw Pippin to the ground and shut the door with a slam, though not before the soldier was able to dispose of whatever object he had been carrying as well. "Pour oil on the wood!" Pippin heard him cry from within and in his distressed and desperate state he leapt to his feet and began racing away eager to find help, when he tripped over the strange object and turning back stared at it in complete and utter horror.

It was a violin case.

He scrambled back to the building, scaling the sides as best he could until he could see inside through a small window. There she was, lying on the soon to be bonfire slightly twitching in her sleep as if she were having some horrible nightmare. One that was about to become much worse. He let out a horrified scream as his heart shattered into a million pieces in his chest.

"Ruby!"

Really intense chapter! I wanted to punch Denethor when my co-author sent me this. But she edited it and added Ruby spitting in Denethor's face. I am so proud! :')