Chapter XVII: Living to Fight Another Day

A stunning transformation took place as the young woman eased Théoden back into his throne. Years of age suddenly melted off the King's face and turned to nothingness, revealing the man that Fergus knew as the unlikely friend who saved him all of those years ago. The wiry grey mane and beard turned to thick, shorter golden yellow hair. A myriad of wrinkles vanished from his face as the color of life returned to his skin. He seemed to be scanning his surroundings, almost gasping for air. It was as though he did not believe where he was.

He first looked to the woman at his side.

"I know your face... Éowyn...!"

She grinned ear to ear, tears of joy filling her blue-grey eyes.

Théoden looked around the room, and instantly noticed the wizard standing before him.

"Gandalf...?"

The wizard's eyes were filled with a calm, triumphant mirth.

"Breathe the free air again, my friend."

Théoden looked around the room again and gasped when he noticed a tall, burly man with red hair that he hadn't seen in ages.

"Fergus?!"

Théoden rose from his throne and walked right in his direction. Fergus easily stood a few inches taller than him.

"It's been a while, old friend. You saved my life all those years ago. The least I could do is ride along and try to do the same. "

"Dark have been my dreams of late," Théoden remarked.

His gaze shifted to his hands. He wiggled his fingers and lifted his hands, stroking them as though they had not been moved in ages (which was indeed the case).

Gandalf looked at the newly revived King of Rohan as a proud smirk upturned one corner of his mouth.

"Your fingers would remember their strength better if they grasped your sword."

As if on cue, Hama, the captain, held out his old sword, its gilded golden handle pointed out and ready to return to the grasp of its owner.

Théoden grasped it carefully and slowly pulled it out of its sheath, reverently taking in every detail as he raised it as he hadn't done for so long. After feasting his eyes, he sharply shifted his gaze to Gríma, who was now trembling like the coward he was under Gimli's boot. The man who had essentially acted as the King's puppet master until moments ago shook his head vehemently as Théoden began to advance, as though trying to shake away a horrid nightmare. It did him no use, though. He made a spectacle of himself, kicking and screaming like a child throwing a tantrum as the guards dragged him out of the Golden Hall.

...

The guards were quick to throw Gríma out and send him tumbling down the stairs. Théoden kept a faltering but deliberate gait as he advanced towards the advisor who had dramatically fallen from grace. Gríma looked up at him as he made one last desperate plea:

"I've only... ever... served you, my lord!"

"Your witchcraft would have had me crawling on all fours like a beast!"

"Send me not from your side!"

Théoden did not heed his plea. He raised his sword above his head, ready to strike dead the man who had betrayed, manipulated, and reduced him to barely a husk of his former self.

Fergus couldn't help the vengeful smirk that suddenly appeared on his face.

The bastard's finally getting what he deserves.

Something - or, more accurately, someone- halted Théoden right in his tracks.

"No, my lord! Let him go. Enough blood has been spilled on his account."

Fergus looked on and shook his head as Aragorn offered Gríma his hand. Gríma spitefully spat on it and scrambled to his feet, running past and shoving everyone in his path.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

He looked back at Théoden and the others before storming through the gates of Edoras, his eyes filled with vindictiveness.

"Hail, Théoden King!"

The people around him bowed reverently to the newly revived King, including Aragorn and his companions.

Théoden stared in awe, as though shocked that he ruled this place.

"Where is Théodred? Where is my son?"

...

Gollum scampered on amongst the rocks with Frodo, Merida, and Boromir hot on his heels.

Before they knew it, they were all approaching a great, ominous black gate wedged within the equally dark and foreboding rocks and mountains surrounding it, which could be seen from a very short distance.

Frodo, Merida, and Gollum quickly crouched down, making sure they wouldn't be seen by anyone from below. They watched the gates open for an army of men in exotic Eastern armor marching perfectly in line. The sound of metal pieces making contact with one another as they moved and the stomping of equally metallic boots created a dangerous tattoo that could quickly make one's blood run cold.

"The Black Gate of Mordor!" Gollum proclaimed. He immediately used his hands to shield his face.

Merida's eyes widened.

"Oh, save us..."

The words escaped her after that.

"Master says show him the way into Mordor, so good Smèagol does! Master says so."

Frodo was just as transfixed as Merida.

"I did..."

Boromir looked on as the grim scene before them as well. He was tempted to grin at himself, glad that he didn't need to hide himself due to his lack of a physical body. However, when he saw the hideous orcs patrolling at the top of the gate, he still had the sensation of his heart and stomach sinking into his boots.

He shifted to the level of Frodo and Merida, suddenly seeing a potential passage into the Black Land that would allow them to enter unnoticed. His heart immediately rose right back in its place.

"See that gate? It's opening!" he whispered to the two of them. "I can see a way that we can get in."

Merida noticed the same thing. An idea suddenly popped into her head as she began to wrap the fur of Mor'du around her shoulders.

"What are you doing?" Frodo whispered, his voice trembling.

"Getting ready to enter - AAAH!"

The rock she was resting on suddenly cracked under her, sending her tumbling down the hill.

"MERIDA!"

Frodo scrambled after her.

"Master!" Gollum screeched.

Both of their hearts pounded as the saw two men march towards them. Frodo frantically attempted to free her from the rubble that now trapped her legs to no avail. Seeing the men come closer, he quickly and protectively threw his cloak over them both. The two of them were now in such close proximity that his chest was pressed against Merida's ear. She could feel it heaving against her. His heart sounded like a loud drum beating mercilessly in the heat of a battle or a rally of the Dunland clans.

She could see two pairs of metal clad feet from beneath the hem of the cloak. Fortunately for both her and Frodo, all those men saw was a large but unimpressive rock in the midst of all the rubble.

One nodded his head and gestured towards the marching army ahead. The two of them turned away and returned to their posts. Once they were a safe distance away, Frodo threw off the cloak and helped her out of the rubble.

"I did not ask you to come with me, Merida."

She chuckled.

"Of course you didn't. I did so of my own volition."

A half smile ghosted across Frodo's face before he turned his attention back to the closing gates. They both prepared to run. Frodo had his eyes on the gates like a lion about to pounce.

"Now!"

They both leapt, ready to run for the rapidly closing gates when Gollum yanked Frodo back by his cloak, sending him tumbling backwards. Merida rapidly turned around, glaring at the gangly creature she'd grown to despise.

"NO!" Gollum exclaimed. "No! No, Master! They catch you! They catch you!"

"Don't take it to him!" the thing desperately pleaded. "He wants the precious! Always, he is looking for it - and the precious is wanting to go back to him! But we mustn't let him have it!"

Frodo kept his piercing blue eyes locked on the closing gates. He was ready to take off again when Gollum pulled him back.

"No! There's another way - more secret - a dark way!" Merida's glare intensified so much that she was sure it should have burned holes into Gollum's ugly grey skin.

"Why haven't you spoken of this before?!" Boromir demanded, grabbing the creature's neck.

"Because master did not ask!"

"Frodo," Merida said. "I don't know what Gollum's up to, but I don't trust him!"

"Are you saying there's another way to Mordor?" the Ringbearer inquired.

Boromir reluctantly let Gollum go. The gangly thing coughed and ran to Frodo like a frightened child to his mother.

"Yes... There's a path... and some stairs... and then... tunnel."

Gollum looked pleadingly upon Frodo, grasping his cloak while stroking his shoulder over it.

The taste of bile, although as ghostly as Boromir, tainted the back of Merida's throat.

Frodo made earnest eye contact with Boromir, then with Merida.

"He's led us this far... he's been true to his word."

Frodo's gaze was utterly disarming.

"Frodo... no..." Merida whispered.

He turned to Gollum.

"Lead the way, Sméagol."

"Good Sméagol always helps."

The creature took off. Frodo was the first to follow him. Boromir and Merida both looked on in disbelief before reluctantly following suit.