A/N: I own nothing.

***Chapter 21***

**Deirdre's POV**

"You what?" I questioned, my voice coming out calmly. However, I was anything but internally.

"I had my Warg riders deliver the message that you were betrothed to Sauron to your friends." He told me flatly. "That is not a problem, I trust?"

His game was obvious. Yet another test that I was truly faithful to him and Sauron. I was definitely not going to fall into his trap. Lying and deceit had become natural to me since I had been in Isenguard. Then again, I had always been a good liar.

"I would have preferred you hadn't." I replied flatly. "Now if the time ever does arrive that I have need for them to trust me once more, so I could achieve another goal. It will not be possible."

He frowned at this. Clearly he had not thought that there could ever be a benefit to me working with my friends once more. No wonder Sauron wants him disposed of, I thought to myself. It was appalling that Saruman was causing so much trouble and yet was so rash that he didn't think his actions through entirely.

"Do you think a time like that will ever come?" he questioned, there was the slightest hint of worry in his voice.

"It shouldn't. However, the possibility is still there. But it should be relatively easy to work around." I replied rather nonchalantly.

I was quite impressed with myself that I could come off so cooly all the time now. I hadn't smiled normally since I had arrived and there was no joy in my tone ever. Only the harsh cold tone came from my throat anymore. No happy songs or laughter. I was cold and cruel.

"Problem solved." He stated then.

"Is that all that you wanted to talk about?" I questioned dryly.

"Actually, I wanted to show you something. This will help our troops triumph at Helm's Deep." He told me, walking over to a table which held a large bomb.

"You want to show me explosives?" I asked, sounding bored.

"You understand what this is then?" he returned.

"It creates a chemical combustion triggered through fire. In my world we called them explosives, though yours are rather crude." I told him disdainfully, going into my chemistry knowledge in my response. "Still the technology is rather well developed considering the general technology."

He frowned as though I had insulted his big, bad weapon, and I suppose to some extent I had. But I was speaking honestly when I told him that. After all, compared to the Atomic bomb, this was definitely crude.

Just then we were interrupted by Wormtongue, who came stumbling in. His demeanor was quivering and scared, and he hunched over from fear of being struck. And as a result, even I was taller than him. He made sure to avert his eyes from me, thinking that I would strike him, as rumors of my assaulting the Uruks must have reached his ears.

"Stop cowering like a beaten dog." I ordered him. He looked up at me, shocked that I had ordered him.

"Wormtongue, you know Rohan well. Tell me, how defensible is Helm's Deep." Saruman ordered.

"Helm's Deep has one weakness." He said meekly, piquing Saruman's attention. "It's outer wall is solid rock… but for a small culvert at its base, which is little more than a drain."

"Excellent." Saruman replied with a wicked smile. I could see where this was going.

"You plan to use your explosives to breach the wall." I half-questioned, knowing this was his intent.

"Yes." He responded simply.

"Explosives?" Wormtongue questioned.

I rolled my eyes, and although I knew that Wormtongue would have no clue what explosives were, this was just annoying.

"Stone that reacts with fire to create a highly destructive force." I explained, simplifying what an explosive was as best I could.

Saruman began pouring some more of the dark stones into the large spiked ball. Wormtongue moved closer to the stones, holding a candle in one hand. He peered over at the stones, curious as to how they could cause an explosion which would destroy the wall.

"How? How can fire undo stone?" he questioned, peering ever closer.

Saruman had just realized how dangerously close Wormtongue had come to the explosives with the candle. He quickly grabbed Wormtongue's hand shoving the candle away, then proceeded to shove Wormtongue back.

"What kind of device could bring down the wall?" Wormtongue asked once more.

Saruman ignored his question and began moving from this room, onto the balcony overlooking Isenguard. I moved behind him, leaving Wormtongue trailing behind.

"If the wall is breached… Helm's Deep will fall." Saruman remarked with a smirk as he continued walking.

"Even if it is breached, it would take a number beyond reckoning… thousands, to storm the Keep." Wormtongue attempted to get Saruman to understand his point.

"Actually it will only take about five thousand well-trained Uruk-hai." I corrected him. He gave me a shocked look, as though not expecting me to have any knowledge of war.

"She is correct, five thousand strong." Saruman informed Wormtongue, as he finally reached the balcony.

I stood looking out over the force below, thankfully it was only five thousand. I was desperately hoping that having them kill one another wouldn't actually give them any battle experience. But it was too late to change anything now.

"But my lord, there is no such force." Wormtongue argued, his words dissipating under the roars of the five thousand troops.

Saruman walked over to the railing of the balcony, he motioned with his hand for me to approach. I moved and stood to the right of Saruman, my attention focused on the troops instead of the cowering Wormtongue behind me. A horn was sounded below and all the Uruk-hai turned to face the balcony of the tower. Saruman raised his hand to silence the cheers that erupted from the army below.

"A new power is rising. Its victory is at hand." Saruman declares, his voice carrying over all of Isenguard. "This night… the land will be stained with the blood of Rohan. March to Helm's Deep. Leave none alive."

Another cheer erupts from the Uruk-hai below, a dark twisted smile is upon Saruman's face. With a glance over at me, he finds an even darker smile. While he thinks that I trained his force to defeat Rohan in the most effective manner, his troops will be slaughtered and before the battle is through, Isenguard will be taken by the Ents. My lies and deceit were finally coming to an end, I only had to maintain the dark cruelty a little longer.

"To war!" Saruman calls out to his troops, then more quietly. "There will be no dawn for men."

"It's too bad that Sauron insisted that you remain at Isenguard, I'm sure that you would have loved to watch the people of Rohan be slaughtered." He remarked, looking at the sick smile upon my face.

"It is probably best this way, to ensure that I will not be injured in the oncoming slaughter. Just because we shall prevail does not mean that our forces are immune to loss." I told him, my voice retaining that cold, dead tone.

The troops began to move out, their cheers continuing as they began their march to war. I glanced back and saw Wormtongue, there was actually a tear in his eye. He was feeling guilty for what he was doing already, that was definitely a good sign if he was going to stab Saruman in the back, literally.

"If that is all, Saruman, I shall retire to my chambers. It is time that I attended to my shoulder again." I informed him cooly.

"Of course, go ahead." He told me.

I took off back into the hallways of Orthanc, finding an Orc wandering the corridors. I called the Orc over; it didn't want to meet my eyes but stood before me none-the-less.

"Fetch me a needle, thread, and small knife, and bring them to my chambers." I ordered.

"Very well, Mistress." The Orc replied and went to fetch the items I asked for.

I sat down at the vanity in my chambers once more, peeling the sleeve of my dress back to reveal the crude stitches that I had created before. The skin around the area was red and tender, but I poked and prodded it anyway. A knock came to my door and I quickly opened it, taking the sewing kit and knife from the Orc.

"You are dismissed." I told it. The Orc left quickly and I shut the door behind it.

I went back over to the vanity, taking the basin and filling it with cool water. I sat back down at the vanity and slowly removed the stitches. My time was spent cleansing the wound and re-stitching it shut. It would only be a matter of time before the Ents attacked Orthanc.

**Saffy's POV**

I had been one of the few people riding a horse, making sure to keep watch behind me. Thankfully, there was no sign of us being chased by any of the Wargs. But after a while, I dismounted from Eowyn's horse and walked alongside her. There was little chatter amongst the people as fear was prevalent. Finally, we came within sight of Helm's Deep. This destroyed the silence as the people gratefully looked upon the mountain fortress.

"At last! Helm's Deep, there it is. Helm's Deep. We're safe." Voices rang out their gratitude for the safety of the keep.

I looked at the seemingly impenetrable fortress. The walls looked to be at least a foot thick and even from this distance it looked sturdy. There was only one way into the keep and that was the causeway, overall I could understand why the people were so relieved to be here. Plus the fact that no army had ever breached the walls and made it into the Hornburg wasn't bad for morale either.

"We're safe, my lady. Thank you." A nearby woman told Eowyn.

The people began rushing even more to the safety, leaving Eowyn walking at her slow pace. She looked backwards occasionally, but she wasn't keeping the same watch that I had. She was looking for her uncle and Aragorn while I had been looking for the possibility of an attack.

"Come on, Eowyn. It will be better to wait for them inside the fortress. Besides, we still have preparations to make." I told her, urging her forward faster.

With a last glance backwards, she nodded and picked up her walking pace. I still cast the occasional glance backwards, making sure that we weren't going to be attacked by Wargs, seeing as it never hurt to be too cautious. Most of the people were into the keep before us when we finally arrived at the gates of Helm's Deep, but there were still some people coming in behind us.

The streets of Helm's Deep were lined with people, refugees from other parts of Rohan. The sounds of reunions were heard all around, as people found relations that they had thought were lost to war.

"Mama!" Came the excited voice of Freda.

"Eothain, Freda." Their mother responded, holding her arms open for her children to rush into.

I smile when I looked at the reunions, but Eowyn was more concerned with supplies. There was a group of men standing around baskets of food, and by the look on Eowyn's face, it wasn't enough.

"Where is the rest?" she questioned, worry seeped into her voice.

"This was all we could save, my lady." One of the men responded, he looked down ashamed.

"Take it to the caves." She ordered.

The man nodded and the others began to gather up the baskets and begin to follow her directions. A call was heard from the entrance to the fortress, the familiar voice of Gamling the guard.

"Make way for the king. Make way for Theoden. Make way for the king." he cried, people parted in his path as more horses came after him.

I look towards where his voice is coming from, seeing Theoden riding along with my friends and the other soldiers of Rohan. It doesn't escape my notice that Aragorn is not with them. Even knowing that he will survive, I can't help but feel the despair that maybe he didn't survive the fall from the cliff. Maybe fate had failed, yet I still hoped that he would come riding into Helm's Deep on Brego with news of the approaching army. Eowyn ran forward to her uncle, her eyes however were still looking for something else.

"So few. So few of you have returned." She commented despairingly.

Theoden looked at her sadly, then turned and helped one of the injured soldiers off their horse. There were several wounded men climbing off of the horses as well as a few unharmed men.

"Our people are safe. We have paid for it with many lives." Theoden explained, his voice upset that the lives of his soldiers were dead. But he was still thankful that his people were safe.

Gimli approached Eowyn and I, there were tears in his eyes. He looked down at his axe when he approached us, not wanting to give us the bad news.

"My ladies." He began, pausing in grief.

"Lord Aragorn?" Eowyn questioned, her voice trembling. "Where is he?"

"He fell." Gimli chokes out.

Shock fills Eowyn's face, she can't believe what she was just told. Distraught, she glanced over at her uncle. He looked back at her sadly, then turned and walked away. Her breath stopped for a moment, tears cascaded down her face. My arms wrapped around her, tugging her in tight to me. Her shoulders shook and shuddered, as she sobbed against me. She only remained in this distraught state for a moment, realizing that she had to be strong for her people.

"Draw all our forces behind the wall. Bar the gate. And set a watch on the surround." Theoden instructed Gamling, setting up his plan.

"What of those who cannot fight, my lord? The women and children?" Gamling asked.

"Get them into the caves. Saruman's arm will have grown long indeed if he thinks that he can reach us here." Theoden continues.

Eowyn and Gimli both departed to take care of preparations for the battle. I spotted a distraught Legolas, holding the reins of both Arod and Hasufel. He began walking toward where the stables were, his eyes downcast. I rushed over to him, wrapping my arms around his waist. He paused in his actions, tensing until he realized that it was me.

"He's coming back." I reassured him. "He has to."

"Saffron, you didn't see the cliff. He's not coming back." He replied in despair.

"Legolas, please trust me. He's coming back." I told him once more.

He smiled slightly and nodded at me, there was clearly something else on his mind. Not only did he think that Aragorn had fallen to his death, but there was something more troubling him.

"What else is bothering you, Legolas?" I asked him, he needed to have his mind clear for the upcoming battle.

"Something one of the Orcs said. The same one that told us Aragorn had fallen." He told me. "I didn't believe him at first, but what he said about Aragorn was true."

"What did the Orc say?" I questioned, I couldn't remember anything that the Orc said that would trouble Legolas.

"That Deirdre is betrothed to Sauron and that she was only toying with me." He muttered, not really wanting to say it out loud. If he never said those words then they wouldn't be true.

"Legolas, she would never do that. She truly does care about you. Before she left, she made me promise to take care of you and tell you that she loves you." I told him.

"I find it hard to believe. If she did love me then she is obviously a good liar. She could have been pretending the entire time." He reasoned.

"I can't really talk about DiDi's ability to lie, as it isn't something I know a lot about. But I do know that she loves you." I told him.

He nodded his head, but he didn't look entirely convinced. But instead of arguing again, he began removing the saddles and bridles from the horses. I left him there, deciding to find Eowyn and help her instead.

It only took a short while to find her, as the first person that I asked about her whereabouts directed me to where she was. She aided in loading up the baskets and other things for the women and children to take into the caves. Her mood wasn't the best, as I was sure she had been talking with her uncle about fighting in the battle that was rapidly approaching. As well as the still visible streaks on her cheeks from the tears she had cried before. I helped her to carry some of the baskets to the caves. After a few hours of taking things back and forth to the caves, which was rather tiring work, we heard the excited calls coming from near the gate.

"He's alive." One woman called out happily.

"Come on." I grabbed her hand and began running for the gate, trying to find Aragorn who I was sure had returned.

He was just dismounting from Brego, but there was too much of a crowd in the way for us to get through. Eowyn finally had to hold me back from forcing my way through the crowd, saying that we would be able to see him shortly.

"Where is he?" Gimli shouted, his voice carrying through the crowd. "Where is he? Get out of the way! I'm going to kill him! You are the luckiest, the canniest, and the most reckless man I ever knew. Bless you, laddie."

When Gimli finally made it to Aragorn he hugged the ranger, glad that his companion was not dead as he had feared. Aragorn smiled and hugged the dwarf back, slightly shocked at the warmth of the greeting he had received.

"Gimli, where is the king?" Aragorn asked.

Gimli nodded in the direction of the hall. Aragorn somehow waded through the crowd that had gathered around him, walking up the steps to the hall. However, he was stopped by a smirking Legolas standing before the door.

"Le abdollen."You're late. Legolas said, a slight smile on his face. "You look terrible."

Both of them grinned at that, I began rushing over to them. Eowyn was not far behind, but I lost the feel of her behind me when Legolas handed the Evenstar pendant back to its rightful owner.

"Hannon lle." Thank you. Aragorn told him, nodding his head in thanks.

Aragorn looked down at the shining pendant in his hand, then fastened the chain around his neck once more. Legolas was smiling at Aragorn, as I half-tackled Aragorn in a hug. He stumbled sideways from the impact, my arms wrapped around his neck.

"You idiot," I told him. "Who told you that you were allowed to jump off cliffs. Has to be one of the stupidest things you have ever done."

He laughed at my play scolding him, hugged me tighter and then released me. I let go of his neck, but stayed near his side.

"Now, I believe you were going to tell the king something." I reminded him, he looked at me curiously then just smirked.

"One of these days you are going to have to tell me how you do that." He told me with a grin, but his face set back to neutral as he faced the hall.

"I told you he would come back." I informed Legolas, he looked at me with a sad smile.

"I should have listened to you." He replied.

We stood back, letting Aragorn make his dramatic entrance as he pushed open the doors to the hall. He is rewarded by surprised looks from Theoden and Gamling. Theoden halts his conversation and moved towards Aragorn.

"My lord, Isenguard sends a great host. We must prepare for battle, they will be here soon." He stated simply.

"A great host you say?" Theoden questions him.

"All Isenguard is emptied." He told the king.

"How many?" The king questions, worry flowing into his tone.

"Five thousand strong at least." Aragorn responded.

"Five thousand?" The king asked aghast at the number.

I paused, Aragorn must be mistaken. There was supposed to be at least ten thousand, five thousand was far too few to take the fortress.

"Aragorn, you must be mistaken. Isenguard's force is of ten thousand." I tried to explain.

"Saffron, there was not ten thousand Uruk-hai. The force was assuredly around five thousand strong." He told me.

I frowned, something was not right here. Why did Isenguard only send five thousand troops when they had at least twice that? The only thing that I could think was that DiDi had something to do with this. Had she really helped Saruman and told him that he needed to keep half his army to fend off the Ent invasion? As much as I wanted to believe that my best friend wouldn't betray us like that, it was looking shadier and shadier each passing minute.

"It is an army bred for a single purpose: To destroy the world of Men. They will be here by nightfall." Aragorn continued explaining to the king.

I was only listening slightly now, thinking about what DiDi had done to send a lesser force. Had she set it up so that Merry and Pippin would fall at Isenguard? What happened to the rest of the Uruk-hai army?

"Let them come!" Theoden's voice rang through my troubled mind.

I snapped back to attention when everyone started to empty the hall, taking a tour of the defenses instead. Legolas had to come over and shake me from my thoughts and get me moving. I walked behind the others, looking at the people who were fearful of the impending attack.

"I want every man and strong lad able to bear arms to be ready for battle by nightfall." Theoden instructed, going through his battle plan with us.

Gamling nodded and headed off to see to the king's order. Theoden continued walking, surveying his keep. We made our way to the ramp outside of the gate.

"We will cover the causeway from above. No army has ever breached the Deeping wall, or set foot in the Hornburg." Theoden proudly declared.

"There is a first time for everything, my lord." I told him, earning me a glare.

"This is no rabble of mindless Orcs, these are Uruk-hai. Their armor is thick and their shields broad." Gimli told the king.

"I have fought many wars, Master Dwarf. I know how to defend my own keep." The king snarled at Gimli.

It was slightly ridiculous that Theoden was ignoring the input of everyone else. Especially Gimli, this was after all a mountain fortress, a dwarf specialty. As well as the fact that, aside from me, Theoden was surely the youngest in this group.

"They will break upon this fortress like water on rock." Theoden stated as we walked around the inner rampart. "Saruman's hordes will pillage and burn. We've seen it before. Crops can be re-sown… homes rebuilt. Within these walls… we will outlast them."

"They do not come to destroy Rohan's crops or villages. They come to destroy its people… down to the last child." Aragorn straight-forwardly told Theoden.

"What would you have me do? Look at my men. Their courage hangs by a thread. If this be our end, then I would make have them make such an end, as to be worthy of remembrance." Theoden harshly told Aragorn in a quieter tone.

"Send out riders, my lord. You must call for aid." Aragorn suggested.

"And who will come? Elves? Dwarves? We are not so lucky in our friends as you. The old alliances are dead." Theoden returned.

"Gondor will answer." Aragorn stated assuredly.

"Gondor? Where was Gondor when the Westfold fell? Where was Gondor when our enemies closed in around us? Where was Gon—" Theoden ranted, then caught himself abruptly. "No, my lord Aragorn, we are alone."

Theoden turned from our group and began walking back towards Gamling, who now waited outside the hall for the king.

"Get the women and children into the caves." Theoden ordered.

"We need more time to lay provisions." Gamling began to protest.

"There is no time. War is upon us. Secure the gate." The king replied sharply.

I turned and looked at the bedraggled Aragorn. It was evident that he had taken a bad fall and was in need of rest.

"You should be resting." I told him, my voice giving away my concern.

"We don't have time for me to rest, Saffron." He replied.

"We have time for you to at least tend to your wounds." I argued, he looked as though he was about to refute the fact that he was injured. "Don't argue, Aragorn. You fell off a cliff, there is at least some bruising."

He stopped his complaints and nodded his head. I grabbed his hand and dragged him over to where Eowyn was packing more baskets.

"Eowyn, where can I take Aragorn? He has some injuries that need tending to." I told her.

"There is a room you can use just down the hall. I can bring some healing supplies for you to use. Do you need any help?" she asked, obviously she was worried about Aragorn.

"I should be able to handle it." I told her.

Her face fell a little, but she quickly recovered and nodded her head. She pointed towards the room that we would be using, I once again dragged Aragorn. I opened the door, practically shoving him inside.

"You should rest you know." I told him, after shoving him down onto the bed.

"We don't have time, Saffron." He argued.

"I understand that, but you are going to be in better fighting condition if you rested." I replied. "Take off your shirt."

His face was fantastic, shock written across his face. But he must have understood where I was going with this, as he began removing the bracers with the white tree of Gondor on them. There was a knock on the door, which I opened to reveal Eowyn standing there with a basin full of water and bandages in her hands.

"Thank you." I told her, gratefully taking the healing supplies from her.

"Of course, if you need anything else do not hesitate to ask." She told me. I could hear the note of envy in her voice, that I was the one taking care of Aragorn instead of her.

I nodded and smiled at her, she turned and left shutting the door behind her. I felt a little bad that I was keeping her from taking care of Aragorn, but it was necessary. After all, he was going to marry Arwen when he realized that she hadn't left him.

When I looked back over at Aragorn he was down to only his shirt. There were a few small cuts on his face but nothing looked too serious. I took a cloth that had been mixed in with the bandages and dipped it into the water. Setting the basin and the bandages next to the bed, I began cleaning his face of the grime and blood.

"You really should bath more often." I commented with a smirk. "The dirt could infect any cuts you receive."

"I'll keep that in mind." He laughed.

Underneath the dirt was only a few cuts, I cleaned them as best I could and dipped the cloth back in the water. I paused, which caused him to look at me.

"Shirt." I directed him once more. He looked hesitant for half a moment, but consented and removed his shirt.

His chest was covered in bruises, but luckily there were no cuts across his upper body. I wiped away the dirt that had formed on his upper chest where the shirt didn't protect from the dirt.

"Do you think anything is broken?" I asked him.

"Not that I could tell." He replied.

"This is going to hurt some." I warned him, he nodded his head for me to continue none-the-less.

I carefully began feeling his sides, prodding the ribs and checking for tenderness that most likely wasn't related to the bruising. He held his breath as I prodded around his ribs.

"Does it hurt to breath more than it does for me to poke the bruising?" I asked him.

"Not particularly."

I examined his abdomen, looking for any deformities that may show he had broken his ribs.

"I think you escaped with only some bruising."

"Then I will be fine to fight."

"Well, it's going to hurt like hell if you get hit. But you should know more about fighting injured than I do. So it's your decision there."

"I can fight fine like this."

"Go ahead and put your shirt back on then."

He followed my instructions and slipped his shirt back on over his head. Then I took his hands and washed them with the damp cloth. Underneath all the dirt he was rather tan, it was almost strange seeing him not caked in filth.

"I still think you should rest, but since you aren't going to listen to me. We should get going."

He nodded and finished putting the rest of his clothes on. Then he got up from the bed and moved to the door. I followed after him, closing the door behind us. Aragorn quickly found Legolas and Gimli, we walked around the keep as Aragorn made his own instructions on what we should do. A few soldiers walked along with us, listening to the adjustments that Aragorn suggested.

"Move back. Move to the caves." The voices of soldiers were heard, urging people to the safety of the caves.

"Come on, people. Quickly now." The soldiers continued.

"We'll place the reserves along the wall. The can support the archers above the gate." Aragorn remarked as he walked.

"Aragorn, you must rest. You're no use to us half-alive." Legolas tried once more.

"Aragorn!" Eowyn called, rushing over to him. Legolas and Gimli moved on and I stayed with them, not wanting to be involved in this conversation. "I'm to be sent with the women into the caves."

"That is an honorable charge." He told her.

"To mind the children, to find food and bedding when the men return. What renown is there in that?" She questioned him, irritated that this was her assignment.

"My lady, the time will come for valor without renown. Who then will your people look to in their last defense?"

"Let me stand at your side." She pleaded with him, wanting the chance to prove herself.

"It is not in my power to command it." He stated, then turned and began to walk toward us.

"You do not command the others to stay!" she shouted at him.

He turned back around to face Eowyn, she was pleading with him through her eyes. But he remained unaffected, knowing it was not his place to say whether she could fight or not.

"They fight beside you because they would not be parted from you. Because they love you." She all but whispered the last part.

Their eyes meet and there is definitely a moment of intensity, she had just basically told him that she loved him. Eowyn broke the eye contact and looked away.

"I'm sorry." She told him. "But, my lord, will you allow Saffron to fight?"

"If Saffron chooses to fight that is of her own accord, as well of the consent of the king." He responded.

Eowyn looked crestfallen, but nodded her head and turned away returning to the caves. Aragorn walked back over to us, his eyes meeting mine. I suppose I probably should have warned him about Eowyn's crush.

"Saffron, do you wish to fight tonight?" he asked me.

"Yes." I replied hastily.

He nodded his head and the four of us took off to the armory, wanting to inspect the weapons that would be used tonight.

***End Chapter 21***

There it is. You know the drill, Read and Review.