It's Kharl's Fault!

by Terasa

The final war has begun and it's up to our heroes to save the day, but will Andi manage to destroy the Ring or will it destroy her first? Ashley quickly discovers she has no head for politics when she arrives in Gondor, and Kharl will have to fight harder than ever to ensure those he cares about live to tell the tale of the One Ring. Secretly-A-Fangirl helped Haldir/OC Aragorn/OC

13. The Battle of Pelennor Fields Part two

ASHLEY

I walk closely behind the soldiers as they carry Faramir's body into a mausoleum, fists clenched and Haldir attempting to hold me back. The chamber is bigger than my house with a vaulted ceiling lit by lanterns that hinder more than they help. Marble tombs line the walls with sleeping figures carved on the top. "No tomb for Denethor and Faramir," Denethor whispers in a crazed way. "No long, slow sleep of death embalmed. We shall burn, like the heathen kings of old." Faramir is laid on a stone table in the middle of the room and the soldiers stand to the side with their heads bowed respectively. "Bring wood and oil."

I run forward as the soldiers move to do as they were bid, leaning over Faramir to check if he was still only unconscious. Denethor eyes me suspiciously but says nothing as I hold my hand a few inches from his son's mouth, feeling the barely there breaths that I was hoping for. His skin was slowly going cold from the blood loss, but he was still alive and I wasn't going to let Faramir be killed.

"He's still alive, my lord," I tell the Steward. "There's still time enough to save him. You still have one son." He gestures and two soldiers grab me by my arms, dragging me out of the room while another three grab Haldir. We're thrown out of the hall and the moment I hit the ground I bounce back up and start banging on the closed doors. "You're goin' to kill him, you dumb fucker," I scream, kicking and hitting the door as hard as I could until Haldir pulls me away. "What are you doing? We have to do somethin'!"

"Pippin's inside," he whispers in my ear with a conspiratorial wink. "He's one of the Citadel Guards and might be able to talk some sense into Denethor." I nod slowly, casting a worried glance at the door before drawing my short sword and joining the battle down below. Haldir follows close behind me, taking down Orc after Orc with his bow and arrow. The gate has been smashed and Gondor was slowly drowning in dead bodies. "Get inside," Haldir orders a woman and her daughter. "Get inside!"

The pair runs away from us, slaughtered moments afterwards but an Orc with an ax. He comes after Haldir and me next, swinging the ax with skilled practice, but he's taken down all the same when I draw my dagger and throw at him—the point burying itself in the Orc's eye socket. Haldir grins at me, the thrill of battle kicking in for the both of us. He hands me my dagger back as we head further down into the real fight. It doesn't take long for the two of us to be separated, but I don't stop fighting; if I did it could mean my death.

I grunt as I slide my short sword out of an Orc's belly, its guts spilling out on the cobblestones. "Who's next, bitches," I shout, face spattered with blood, some of it mine and some of it belonging to Orcs. Another of the creatures charge at me, followed by two more. "Oh hell, what happened to them coming one by one like they do in movies? This is some bull!" I throw my dagger dropping one of the Orcs only to have him be replaced by three more. The first one is easy to take care of, a simple slash across its throat, but the other three are more difficult and I'm infinitely glad when a Gondorian soldier comes to my rescue.

Maybe I'll live through this after all.