A/N: I own nothing.

***Chapter 23***

**Saffy's POV**

The inner door fell to the ground in front of our horses and the Uruk-hai came rushing towards us, their footsteps echoing across the floor.

"Forth Eorlingas!" Theoden cried as we spurred our horses into action, weapons drawn.

We rode forth, trampling the Uruk-hai, who were in our way. I held onto my horse tightly with my legs, my swords sweeping off the heads of Uruk-hai as we passed. They fell beneath us, the sound of armor clattering and being trampled filled the air. War cries sounded as we rode out. We left the darkness behind as we rode out into the pre-dawn light. The horn sounds once more as we ride out. We passed through the front gates onto the causeway, knocking the Uruk-hai off right and left. We slammed into the mass of Uruk-hai that were at the base of the causeway, a few of the riders fell, slain by the consuming number of Uruk-hai.

The sun grew nearer and nearer to the horizon, I glanced up at the hill which led into the valley that Helm's Deep was in. Sitting astride Shadowfax was Gandalf, standing alone on the hilltop.

"Gandalf." Aragorn said with a smile as he saw our friend high up on the mountainside.

Within a moment, another figure arrived behind him. The figure paused for a moment next to Gandalf; then raised their sword. A cry was heard down in the valley amongst the fighting.

"Rohirrim!" We heard Eomer call.

Along with Gandalf and Eomer came nearly three thousand riders, we continued to ride forward, slicing into Uruk-hai.

"Eomer!" Theoden said with a smile.

The Uruk-hai stopped fighting for a second, looking instead at the figures on the hill. The Uruk-hai turned their attention to the army up on the hill. Obviously they were not expecting us to have re-enforcements. There was only about one or two thousand Uruk-hai left, we had wiped out most of their force, and most of the Uruk-hai turned to face the large threat that was up on the hill.

"To the king!" Eomer cried out loud enough for us to hear.

We continue to fight riding forward as the Rohirrim rides down the hill to meet the Uruk-hai army head on. The Uruks set up a defensive wall of spears that would take out the horses, if not for the morning sun light that with the help of Gandalf 's magic momentarily blinded the Uruk-hai army as the two groups clashed. The sound of fighting renewed and we fought our way toward the Rohirrim. Within minutes, the remains of the Uruk army are fleeing into the forest which wasn't there the night before. Eomer rides out in front of his men, halting their chase of the Uruk-hai.

"Stay out of the forest! Keep away from the trees!" Eomer shouted, making sure none of his men followed the Uruk-hai into the forest.

We all stopped our pursuit as the forest groaned, there was a moment while the Uruk-hai continued to run into the trees. Until the trees began moving, squashing the Uruks who had sought safety in the forest.

Our army turned back to the daunting task of cleaning up the ruins left behind by the battle. Clearing away all the fallen soldiers of Rohan and the elven realms, as well as piling and burning the corpses of the Uruks who had attacked us. It was going to be a long day, clearing away the death and decay that surrounded Helm's Deep to reveal the life that still thrived in the heart of Rohan. I rode back to Helm's Deep with the others, Nimiwen on her horse next to me.

"We need to ride to Isenguard to deal with Saruman." Gandalf announced on the way back.

"He will pay for the lives lost here." Theoden swore. "We shall ride for Isenguard at midday, until then there is work to be done."

**Deirdre's POV**

I had changed into my flowing black dress once more and decided that I wanted to watch the fall of Isenguard. This place had been my prison for the past few days. I wandered out to the balcony, watching as the Ents chased around the Orcs on the ground, throwing rocks and killing them. I watched as Merry and Pippin threw rocks at Orcs, as the Orcs crumpled at the impact.

"A hit. A fine hit." Treebeard roared out in his Entish way of talking.

Wooden towers were knocked into the underground labyrinth, rocks are hurled all over the place. Some of the Ents are lit on fire with flaming arrows, while others attempt to break the dam.

"Break the dam! Release the river!" Treebeard ordered.

The river crashed around Isenguard, drowning many of the Orcs. The water raced toward the Ents, one of the Ents that was on fire raced forward dunking it's top in the water.

"Hold on, little hobbits." Treebeard warned the hobbits.

The water crashed against the Ents. It was truly amazing how fast they could take out the entirety of Isenguard. It had only been about ten minutes and they had succeeded in flooding everything. The only standing structure was the tower of Orthanc, which I was standing in. I knew Saruman would be flipping out right now, but I couldn't have cared less. Instead I walked over to the vanity. I had insisted that I have some writing materials in my room, and my request had been obliged. So now, I sat down at the vanity and pulled some of the parchment out of the stack and dipped the quill in the ink. I wrote a small note, meaning to send it down to the hobbits at some point. Once finished, I tucked the note under my pillow and went back out to the balcony.

I watched the Ents finish their takeover of Isenguard. One of the rocks that the hobbits threw went way off course and flew at me as I stood on the balcony. I ducked down quickly, the rock clattered against the door to my balcony and fell to the ground. I turned around and grabbed the rock tossing it onto my bed as well. It could prove somewhat helpful at some point. A knock sounded on the door to my chambers, I left my swords behind and opened the door. Standing before me was Wormtongue.

"Yes?" I asked in an annoyed tone.

"Saruman has requested your presence in his study." Wormtongue told me quietly, eyes intent on the ground as he spoke.

"For Valar's sake man, grow some balls." I growled at him.

Shoving him away from my door, I slammed the door shut behind me and strode to Saruman's study. Wormtongue trailed me as I walked, not daring to say anything. I really must have been terrifying to him, especially from the way that he shrunk away when I spoke. I flung open the door to Saruman's study. He was standing on the balcony, his hands griping the railing harshly. When he heard me enter he turned around with a glare fixed upon me.

"You will explain this." He ordered me, his tone coming out harshly.

I was going to have to be careful to dance around this subject so that he wouldn't have me killed by his Uruk-hai. I strode forward looking at Merry and Pippin on top of Treebeard.

"They were supposed to be dead." I told him flatly, the lie coming out naturally. "Something happened that they managed to outrun the Orc that was chasing after them. Only one of the hobbits was ever supposed to reach the Ents, and he wouldn't have the idea to come to Isenguard. He would be too scared. They must have run into Fangorn too early."

"Why did they run into Fangorn early?" he growled out.

"Saffron probably told them to. I can't predict the effects of her actions. Things were so close to going the right way. But she must have done something to mess it up." I began pacing my tone growing angry.

I had to work to keep the smile off of my face with how good I was at this. I could feign anger at my best friend, when all I wanted to do was dance around and stick my tongue out at Saruman. That I had won and he had failed.

"You had no idea that this would happen?" he questioned, his tone was let angry when he said this.

"I swear, my lord. If I had known I would never have let this happen." I told him, my face was dead serious.

"Do you have any idea how we will get out of this?" he questioned.

"I haven't an idea. Most all of my knowledge is derived from what I expect to happen. While generally I could think of a solution, I truly do not know what to do." I assured him.

"Very well, you are dismissed."

I nodded my head and left the study, leaving Wormtongue to deal with the angry Saruman. I strode back to my room, shutting the door behind me. I dug under my pillow and pulled out the note, I tied it to the rock using a scrap of fabric that I had cut off of my bed. I went back out to the balcony, below me were Merry and Pippin. They were standing there admiring what Treebeard was doing to Saruman and Isenguard. I looked at the two hobbits below me. I made sure that they would be able to read the note and tossed the rock toward the hobbits it splashed in the water next to them.

**Merry's POV**

"He doesn't look to happy, does he?" I asked Pippin rhetorically.

"Not too happy at all." Pip replied.

"Still, I suppose the view would be quite nice from up there." I responded.

We stood standing in waist high water watching Saruman fume about the attack on his tower. There was a man with dark black hair standing beside him, clothed in black. Saruman still wore white, but it seemed that everyone around him wore black, as the woman who had stood on the balcony minutes before had also been clothed in black. The worst thing was that the woman had looked identical to Deirdre. But I hoped that it hadn't been; that she wasn't working with Saruman.

"Oh, yes. It's a quality establishment. I hear the staff are very good." Pippin said, we continued to watch Saruman.

I looked at Pippin, who was standing a little before me. Since he had drunk the Ent draft, as Treebeard had called it, he had been a little taller than me. It was strange, so I looked at Pippin, who seemed to be a little shorter than me now. I put my hand up to my head, measuring our heights. I was back to being taller than him. He turned around as my hand was in the air, I grabbed the front of my hair pretending there was something in it.

"What are you doing?" he asked me.

"Nothing. The world's back to normal, that's all." I replied with a smile on my face.

"No it's not." He grumbled. "I'm starving."

"Good luck finding something edible to eat around here. There's probably nothing but bilge rats and moldy—" my sentence was cut off by something plopping into the water right next to me.

I picked it up, it was a rock with a piece of parchment tied onto it. Pippin turned to look at what I had found in the water. I removed the parchment from the rock and opened it. It was a note, addressed to Pippin and I.

Dear Merry and Pippin,

I do hope that you actually picked up the note instead of ignoring it. Otherwise someone will find it randomly and not understand a word it says. As you have undoubtedly realized by now, I am at Isenguard. I'm actually up on the balcony above you. Look up, but don't wave. Saruman still has to think that I am helping him. I'll talk to you in person soon, but knowing you two, you're hungry. Well, I have a solution to this problem. Right behind you is Saruman's storeroom, there are plenty of goodies in there for you to enjoy. There is even a roast chicken and something I know you will enjoy, Longbottom Leaf. I do hope that you can forgive me for leaving you at the edge of Fangorn, but it seemed necessary at the time. Go ahead and enjoy the food. I'll see you both in person when the others show up.

Love Deirdre

P.S. If you can't find the storeroom, just follow the trail of food. Don't worry, you'll understand in a moment.

I looked up at the tower, and surely enough on one of the balconies, there was Deirdre she was waving down at us. I smiled when I saw her. Happy that she was safe, even though she had possibly betrayed us. Pippin raised his hand to wave to her, but I grabbed his hand stopping him.

"Didn't you read the note, Pip? She specifically said not to wave to her." I told him, he looked apologetic instantly.

"Sorry." He mumbled. "What else does the note say?"

I handed it to him, he read the note, eyes lighting up when he came to the part about food and Longbottom Leaf. He looked at my delighted at what she had written.

"Where do you think Saruman's Storeroom is?" he questioned.

"She wrote 'follow the trail of food', what that means I don't know." I told him honestly.

"I think I do." He replied.

I looked over at him and found he was holding an apple in his hand, another apple floated by him and we both turned to look behind us. Sure enough, there was a trail of food floating toward us. I don't know how she did it, but I was grateful that she did. Pippin picked up the roast chicken that she had mentioned and put it into the basked that was floating out.

"Saruman's Storeroom." I stated, putting the name that Deirdre had given it upon the room.

We both broke out in grins, but sheer awe took over Pippin's face when he saw something up at the top. I followed his gaze and saw two barrels of South Farthing Longbottom Leaf.

"I don't believe it." He said in sheer awe.

"It can't be." I finished.

We climbed up onto the counter of the storeroom, each grabbing our own barrel of tobacco. We opened the tops of both, revealing the heavenly smell of the leaves.

"It is." Pippin said.

"Longbottom Leaf. The finest pipe-weed in South Farthing." I said, taking a deep-breath of the leaves.

"It's perfect. One barrel each." He said, shoving the one in my hands more into my hands as he held his close to his chest. "Wait. Do you think we should share it with Treebeard."

"Share it? No." I responded immediately. "No. Dead plant and all that. Don't think he'd understand. Could be a distant relative."

Pippin's eyes opened with wonder, he tapped the side of his nose with a smirk on his face. "I get it. Don't be hasty."

"Exactly." I said as I pulled my pipe out of my jacket and put it in my mouth. "Bah-rum."

My imitation of Treebeard made both of us laugh, then we packed our pipes with pipe-weed and lit the leaf inside. It was heavenly, smoking that Longbottom Leaf just then. We continued laughing and smoking up a storm. Suddenly, Treebeard peered into the storeroom. We both laughed again when he stared at us.

** Saffy's POV**

The morning had been spent piling corpses and checking for still alive soldiers. Only at late morning did Eowyn find me and give me some food. I thanked her, but continued my work as soon as I had finished. But finally, we were sitting astride our horses once more, ready to ride onto Isenguard to deal with Saruman. Our party was relatively small: Gandalf, Theoden, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Eomer, Gamling, Nimiwen and myself.

"Sauron's wrath will be terrible, his retribution swift." Gandalf stated as we began to ride out of the valley. "The battle for Helm's Deep is over. The battle for Middle Earth is about to begin. All our hope now lies with two little hobbits, somewhere in the wilderness."

We all moved out, it was going to be at least two days before we arrived at Isenguard. But I was hoping that DiDi was there and safe, clinging onto that tiny bit of hope that she hadn't betrayed us. I glanced over at Legolas, his expression was still angry. It seemed that whenever he wasn't it direct contact with other people he was angry. I rode through the day with Nimiwen by my side. We only broke to make came camp after the sun had set, obviously everyone was anxious to get to Isenguard quickly. I ate the food at camp, speaking mainly to Nimiwen. We fell asleep together that night, after a short night at camp where most everyone was quiet. The next day we would likely arrive at Isenguard as long as there was no surprise attack.

**Merry's POV**

We had sat at the gates of Isenguard for the past two days now, smoking and eating most of the day. Treebeard was ensuring that all the Orcs were dead and that they could reclaim Isenguard for Fangorn. As we sat and chewed on the salted pork and smoked our pipes, Pippin and I joked back and forth.

"It's good. Definitely from the Shire." Merry remarked. "Longbottom Leaf eh?"

I nodded my head and continued smoking on my pipe appreciatively. My eyes wandered once more over to the balcony that we had seen Deirdre on before, she wasn't there. It wasn't much of a surprise anymore. We hadn't seen her since she dropped the note for us.

"I feel like I'm back at the Green Dragon." Was my comment.

"Mmm." Merry hummed back in agreement. "Green Dragon."

"A mug of ale in my hand. Putting my feet up on a settle after a hard day's work." I continued, emphasizing my statement with a swig to my tankard of ale.

"Only, you've never done a hard day's work." Merry replied with a laugh.

I laugh along with him, but our laughter is cut off by the sounds of hooves splashing in the water. Looking over, there is Gandalf with Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Saffron, Nimiwen, and a few men we don't know.

"Ah-ha!" Pippin declared, raising his mug in a salute to their arrival.

"Welcome, my lords. To Isenguard." I call out, having stood up so that they can see us better.

"You young rascals. A merry hunt you've led us on and now we find you feasting and… and smoking." Gimli sputtered out when he saw us.

"We are sitting on a field of victory enjoying a few well-earned comforts." Pippin informed them, slurring his words a little from drinking the past few days. "The salted pork is particularly good."

"Salted pork?" Gimli questioned, his mouth was sure to be watering at the sound of that. He must not have had something good to eat in a few days.

"Hobbits!" Gandalf scoffed, rolling his eyes at us and Gimli. I merely smiled at our guests.

"We're under orders from Treebeard, who's taken over management of Isenguard." I responded with a smile.

"Come on down from there now." Gandalf ordered us.

We reluctantly left our picnic behind us, sadly the ale as well. Following Gandalf's order we climbed down into the water. Only to be picked back up and placed on the back of Aragorn's and Saffron's horses. I sit behind Saffron, with my arms wrapped around her waist.

"I take it the forest wasn't too scary." She said with a smile, looking over her shoulder back at me.

"Well, we made it out alive and with new friends." I replied. "Deirdre is safe here, you know. We saw her the other day."

Saffron fell silent, nodding her head instead of responding to what I told her. I would have thought she would be happy to know that Deirdre was all right, after all they were as close of friends as Pippin and I.

**Deirdre's POV**

I had been summoned to meet with Saruman again today. He was beginning to get desperate for an idea to escape this. And every time that he called me to speak, I gave him the same response that I had no idea. I strode into Saruman's study, and the doors to the balcony were open once more. He turned around when the door shut behind me. Wormtongue peeled himself away from the shadows, walking into the main part of the room.

"You summoned me?" I asked Saruman, my voice coming out blandly.

"It seems that we have company." He replied, walking from his balcony back into the study. "You're old friends are here."

I frowned, feigning confusion as to why they were here. Inside my head, there was a little Deirdre doing cartwheels.

"What do you suggest we do, my lord?" I questioned, my face held no curiosity however.

"You shall stay by my side during negotiations as we attempt to reason why they have come." Saruman ordered, his voice taking on the same authoritative tone that he used so much.

I nodded my head. The voice of Aragorn carried to us, ordering Saruman to come out onto the balcony. Saruman turned back to the balcony, and walked back out into the light. I glanced over at Wormtongue who looked a little anxious about what he was supposed to be doing. I motioned with my head for him to come with us. Then turned and walked out onto the balcony myself.

The light was blinding for a moment, my eyes snapped shut involuntarily. Hesitantly, I opened them once more, continuing my stride forward to look out over the flooded Isenguard. Surely enough, there on horseback was the party from Rohan. I managed to keep the grin off my face and kept a neutral expression.

"You have fought many wars and slain many men, Theoden King and made peace afterwards. Can we not take counsel together as we once did, my old friend?" Saruman attempted to persuade the king.

I glanced down uncaringly at Theoden, attempting to avoid meeting the stares of my friends. I knew that if I looked them in the eyes then I would lose my emotionless façade and life would get a lot more dangerous for the short time that Saruman would still be alive.

"We shall have peace." Theoden said, making it sound as though he was going to agree. "We shall have peace when you answer for the burning of the Westfold and the children that lie dead there! We shall have piece when the lives of the soldiers whose bodies were hewn even as they lay dead against the gates of the Hornburg are avenged. When you hang from a gibbet for the sport of your own crows… we shall have peace."

During his speech, I had moved so that I was sitting on the narrow ledge of the balcony. My right foot was resting upon the ledge in front of me and my left dangling down within the safety of the balcony. I covered my mouth with on my hands as Theoden spoke, hiding the grin that formed as I watched Saruman's face darken.

"Gibbets and Crows! Dotard." Saruman insulted, he then turned his attention to Gandalf. "What do you want, Gandalf Greyhame? Let me guess… the key of Orthanc? Or perhaps the key of Barad-dur itself? Along with the crowns of the seven kings and the rods of the five wizards!"

"Your treachery has already cost many lives. Thousands more are still at risk. But you could save them, Saruman. You were deep within the enemy's council." Gandalf plead with the evil wizard.

"So you have come here for information? I have some for you." Saruman spoke darkly, holding before him the palantir. He held the dark orb before him, and dropped it into the water below with a splash. "Something festers in the heart of Middle Earth. Something that you have failed to see, but the great Eye has seen it! Even now he presses his advantage. His attack will come soon."

With Saruman's sneering words, my hand dropped from my face. Gandalf rode forward to better speak with Saruman. I did something I never would have done before. I held my hand out, checking my nails for dirt.

"You are all going to die! But you know this, don't you Gandalf? You cannot think that this Ranger will ever sit upon the throne of Gondor. This exile, crept from the shadows will never be king."

Saruman fixed his glare upon me at the end of his declaration. Apparently, he was a little upset about the fact that Aragorn was still alive. I merely shrugged my shoulders slightly. He looked away from me and down at Aragorn.

"Gandalf does not hesitate to sacrifice those who are closest to him… those he professes to love." Saruman sneered then looked back at Gandalf. "Tell me, what words of comfort did you offer the Halfling before you sent him to his doom? The path that you have set him on will only lead to death!"

"I've had enough of this! Shoot him! Stick an arrow in his gob!" Gimli's voice roared from below us, I managed to suppress a smile at his impatience.

"No!" Gandalf bellowed to him, turning his attention back to Saruman. "Come down, Saruman, and your life will be spared."

"Save your pity and your mercy! I have no use for it!" Saruman returned with a cruel smile.

I watched him aim his staff at Gandalf, a bolt of fire shooting out of the end. The flames erupted around Gandalf, consuming every visible inch of the wizard. But after but a moment, the flames dissipated and Gandalf reappeared to our sight untouched by the flames.

"Saruman, your staff is broken!" Gandalf said in response to the flame.

Just as Gandalf had said, the staff that was in Saruman's hands cracked and shattered. Chunks falling off and to the ground, he dropped the broken remnants of the staff onto the floor of the balcony. I glanced back to the doorway, in time to see Wormtongue slinking ever closer. He must have gotten within sight of the party below.

"Grima! You need not follow him! You were not always as you are now. You were once a man of Rohan!" Theoden called up to Wormtongue.

The dark, sniveling man looked hopeful at the words of the King. Thinking for just a second that just maybe, he wouldn't be doomed to servitude for Saruman. But his hope was quickly shattered.

"A man of Rohan?" Saruman sneered, disgusted at the notion. "What is the house of Rohan but a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek and their brats roll on the floor with the dogs? The victory at Helm's Deep does not belong to you Theoden. You are a lesser son of greater sires!"

I did have to hand it to him, he wasn't bad at insulting people, as he had effectively pissed off the King of Rohan. Unfortunately for Saruman, it wasn't a wise idea to insult people who could kill you, especially when you had no power. Saruman was lucky though, as Theoden shook off his insults and remained focused on Wormtongue.

"Grima… come down! Be free of them!" Theoden called once more.

I wasn't sure if I should be angry or grateful that Theoden had included me. I was angry because I was being grouped with Saruman, which obvious wasn't a good thing. But, Theoden was the first one to actually say something about my presence.

"Free? He will never be free!" Saruman declared in an authoritative voice.

Wormtongue frowned when he heard Saruman say this, obviously not wanting to be stuck here forever. Saruman turned to look at the approaching Wormtongue, smacking him and sending him to the floor.

"Get down, cur!" Saruman growled at Wormtongue.

"Saruman! You were deep within the enemy's council. Tell us what you know." Gandalf demanded once more.

Saruman turned back around to face Gandalf. But as soon as he had, Wormtongue rose back up. He reached back into the study, grabbing a knife and holding it in his hand.

"You withdraw your guard and I will tell you where your doom will be decided. I will not be held prisoner here!" Saruman spat out indignantly.

No, he would not be. As Wormtongue took the knife and drove it into Saruman's back and then again. Shock was on Saruman's face, he fell forward hitting the railing of the balcony. An arrow flew and slew Wormtongue, who fell backwards gasping his last breaths. Saruman was falling over the railing now, barely holding onto the railing with all his remaining strength. I dropped my right foot, letting it dangle over the water, so that I was straddling the ledge. Meeting eyes with Saruman, he looked shocked at me.

"You said that we would succeed." He stated desperately.

"I forgot to tell you one more thing." I said, leaning forward so that I was close to Saruman. "I lied."

His eyes went wide. I blew in his face and he flinched back away from me. But in doing so, he lost his grip on the railing and fell down. I watched as his form struck one of the wheels below, impaling itself on the spikes. With the added weight, the wheel spun, dropping his corpse down into the underground labyrinth that no longer held the fires of his war industry.

I looked back down at the party below, they must have been shocked by the turn of events. I had to say, I was glad that I had lived up here. Considering that everyone else who stood on the balcony with me moments before was dead.

"Rapunzel! Rapunzel! Let down your long hair!" I heard Saffy call up to me.

I grinned hearing her, amused that she was making a fairy tale reference. I took a lock of my hair in my hands and examined it before me, then looked back down at her.

"Alas! My sweet Prince Charming, my wicked witch of a mother has sheared my head, in fear that you would come and find me." I called back down, then a grin appeared on my face. "How about I just open the door?"

"That could work too!" she yelled back up at me.

Grinning, I hopped off of the ledge of the balcony and walked back through the doors to the study. I practically ran down the stairs to the bottom of Orthanc. I threw the door open and let the light in. The water came up to the top steps of the entrance, but I paid it no heed as I raced out to see my friends.

Saffy was the one waiting for me, she quickly dismounted her horse as soon as I was outside and left Merry upon the saddle. We both ran to each other and I wrapped my arms around her in a tackling movement. She stumbled backwards from the force, but impressively managed to stay upright. My eyes were filled with tears, I had missed my best friend so much. I vaguely heard the conversation between Gandalf and Pippin, who had just found the palantir. But I wasn't too very interested.

"I missed you so much." I told her, my eyes still watering slightly.

"I missed you too, darling." She replied. "But I have one question for you."

"Yeah, sure. What do you want to know?"

"Where are the other five thousand Uruk-hai?" she asked me, deadly serious.

I noticed that all the others were listening in on this, staring at me. I couldn't blame them if they didn't trust me. After all, to them it must have looked like I was working with Saruman. And not sabotaging him.

"Oh that's simple." I said with a smile.

***End Chapter 23***

There it is. Hope you enjoy that and I will try to have the next chapter up reasonably quick.

Read and Review.