Note from the author: School has started, but, like I promised, I'm going to try to keep this updated. I might not be able to do as good of a job due to school work but I will try.

Chapter 29
Point and Purpose

So close, no matter how far
Couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trust in who you are
And nothing else matters

Never opened myself this way
Life is ours...we live it our way
All these words I don't just say
And nothing else matters

Trust I seek and I find in you
Everyday for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And nothing else matters
-Metallica

The wooden stairs creaked softly as he descended down them. The place never slept, naturally. The room was smoke-filled and rank of the smell of liquor. Unnoticed, he swept out the front door.

The alley seemed no better. Sawdust from the wood making the floor for the upper story sprinkled around him, hazing his vision. Someone was digging through something someway down; he couldn't really tell what or almost even where.

He didn't bother to worry about it. Leaping up and grabbing portions of the wall of a building, he hoisted himself up and onto the roof. He tried to stable himself as the roof threatened to come unhinged. Regaining balance, he crawled up the roof like a crab, squeezing himself past the infinitesimal space between the roof and the wood used for the floor for the upper story. From there, he jumped onto the upper story.

The buildings here were far better than the self-made slum below. He traveled down the streets, searching for a way to the even higher floors above.

At last, he reached the top. It was here that he had to get somewhat creative. The very top level was for patrolling; only guards were allowed up there. When he had reached the top, it had happened to be when the guards were switching shifts. Quickly, he scrambled to the roof of one of the watch towers with no walls (other than the huge one surrounding the city). But, on his way up, a guard started to turn around.

Something made a noise as it collided with the wall of the city. "Åni änzè nufl?" one guard asked the other.

"I rëwg biÿaâ," the guard responded, looking over the wall. "Òck òn änzè cus hi?"

"Ie," the first guard disagreed. "Nmt asyt òn änaè toz ryt," he stated in a grave voice.

While they busied themselves looking over the wall, Tommy finished his way onto the straw-thatched roof. He came up to see Rebecca already sitting there.

"Seemed you needed a distraction," she told him simply.

"What was that," he asked, sitting down near her and looking out upon the plains. They talked quietly enough so as not to be heard. The guards were too busy quarreling at first; later, the one kept walking past the watch tower on his shift, so that they just had to keep reasonably quiet.

"A rock," she told him, "thrown against the wall."

Tommy inattentively nodded, looking around at everything before him. The great expanse of the city stretched outward to the back of him in a huge circle of glowing light. The gaping, dark silence of the plains lay before him. "Did you follow me?" he asked.

Rebecca laughed. "Yeah. Wanted to make sure everything was fine. Shouldn't be going off on your own."

"What're you, my mother?" Tommy joked.

She laughed again. "Tommy, I feel sorry for your mother."

The smile ran away from Tommy's face. "You know, people always assume I'm more immature than I really am."

Rebecca cast him a questioning glance. "Tommy, I was kidding," she told him. "Besides, I traveled who knows how many miles trailing Handal and the group with you. If I really found you that annoying, I wouldn't have gone through all of that."

It was Tommy's turn to laugh. "Seems we have a habit of following others."

Rebecca glanced out towards the plains; a horse was heard neighing somewhere. "Let's hope that's not a trend we make for ourselves. There'll be war, soon enough."

Tommy scratched the back of his head. "I keep trying to forget that aspect." He sighed, looking for what seemed continually at the blank plains. It was impossible to see anything in the dark night. "I suppose I keep thinking there's no point anymore. That girl has the Valve off somewhere, it's out of our hands, Handal died, and who knows where the Hell anyone else is. What are we going to do, stranded somewhere on the plains of wherever this is."

"Norr-on," Rebecca told him.

"What part could we possibly play?"

Rebecca sighed this time. She hoisted her flag up from lying on the roof; she never seemed without it. "Remember when we first met. I had the unpleasant experience of catching you going to the bathroom in the woods because we were both running late (really late) to the Councils in Rendellin. So we decided to travel together even though the first words out of your mouth then had been, 'Hey, wanna help me pull these up?' Yet, despite the constant stream of dialogue and incredibly sexual jokes, we probably would have not made it; or certainly we would have died in Vûdën before finding the Fellowship. And the entire time you kept talking about how you left your family behind and all because they had bothered to call you to Rendellin, right? Everyone's depending on surviving the swarms of Orchs that are going to come pouring with Rowel's power."

They sat in silence. A light appeared to flicker on in the plains.

"Did you see that?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah," Rebecca said, starting to raise herself up. "It's gotta be orchs."

XXX

Mallika awoke to the sound of incessant knocking.

Monica groaned loudly. "Tell Rebecca to shove her flag pole up their ass!" someone else shouted into their blankets.

Choosing a less violent route, Mallika heaved herself up from her sluggish slumber and meandered her way aimlessly and blindly to the door.

"Open up!" she heard Tommy scream. Finding the handle, the door swung open to reveal a disgruntled and alarmed Tommy Hersh. "Orchs are making an attack," he gasped out in rushed tones. "We need to go help defend the city."

Everyone else had started to wake up. Elise, the Fluten girl they had picked up, looking from Tommy to Monica and back again. The others started to crowd the doorway.

Laila shook her head. "It's not our fight," she said simply, waiving a hand in dismissal. "Remember how rude they were to us? We'll fight if we need to get out. 'Til then, I'm heading back to sleep."

"If they breach those walls," Tommy warned, refusing to move from his stance of the doorway, "we've got no chance of getting out of here in this dump. Besides, I'm sure they'll have the place surrounded soon enough; the quiet night had turned to rustling before I left Rebecca to warn the guards."

Laila looked reluctantly at her bed. Sighing, she said determinedly, "Fine. Let's go help."

Tommy started to smile. "Yeah, let's kick some orch ass!"

XXX

For a dramatic fight, it might have been raining. Just drizzling would have been enough, enough to dampen the moods and bring a level of downcast to the impending doom. If the aim was incredibly dramatic, it might have included pouring rain and intense winds. As it was, neither form was present that night. It was the calm peace that Rebecca and Tommy had been gazing at from the top of the watchtower, though less empty.

Orchs were swarming around the city. Notified in time (due to Rebecca), the guards had sent out as many of their own troops as they could to line the outside of the wall of the city. The two armies stood facing each other, waiting for the signal for their commencement in battle.

Monica and Mallika stood beside each other; Monica looked gloomily at the swarm of Orchs while Mallika inspected her sword. She rolled it back and forth in her hand and swung it slightly up and down. Monica sighed. "How's Sheela doing?" she asked Mallika, not glancing towards her. Mallika didn't look up either; a bow upon strings squealed in the distance.

"She's good. You know how sisters are." Mallika laughed as she twirled the tip of her blade in a small circle. "She wants to play the trumpet. Parents are having a fit." Monica slightly laughed as well. "How's Ed doing?" Mallika was next to ask.

"Meh," was Monica's only response.

XXX

Laila made her way through the troops, looking over their stature and the equipment they carried. Every once in a while she'd look out at the massing orchs. Elise trailed behind her; for Monica's peace, she had ordered the Flute to follow her and Kyrstin. Of like mindedness (at least in this case), both Laila and Kyrstin had felt a necessity to see who they'd be staking their lives with. They saw a collection of axes in the mob of Norirrims, with the occasion sword or mace making its appearance as well.

Kyrstin, dressed in her trench coat and having the ability of wrapping herself in the trappings of authority when it suited her, was a sight of notice amongst the ranks. Laila, not bothering with how she came across to others, went mostly unnoticed expect when passing by or when viewed. She had the look of business about her. Elise, however, went completely unnoticed, always.

"Well, we may not have too much to worry about," Laila spoke back to Kyrstin as she continued to make her way through the crowd. "If they stay vigilant, despite the amount of orchs, we ought to be fine."

"There is, probably, a growing number of orchs facing them," Kyrstin responded as she watched worry cross several faces. "Excuse my curiosity, but how do you expect them to stay vigilant?"

Laila semi-paused as she considered this, then roughly patted the first man next to her on the back, saying, "You're a good soldier; keep up the work," and continued on her walk.

XXX

"Is this everyone?" Tommy asked the leader of the militia. He nodded. "Alright, we'll just have to do our best from here out."

"Why are they attacking us," the leader asked next. "I mean, why not go after a different city, like the king's, perhaps? Clearly they're capable of getting by without being noticed."

"Um – " Tommy started.

"It's because you would've come back to haunt them," Rebecca answered. She was crouched off to the side, looking through the maze of legs at the impending storm. She had been eerily silent the entire time that Tommy had been talking to the commander. When Tommy had arrived, the commander had seemed emotionally shaken up. "They want to take down each city individually so that you all can't rally to save your king." The commander nodded hurriedly; Rebecca stood up. "Let's find the others, Tommy. It's best we move on after this is over."

XXX

Laila glanced out as the chattering in the air rose. "Ehh," she murmured while continuing her walk.

"What's the matter," asked Kyrstin as she took care to make sure her flag didn't collide into anyone as she walked.

"I just thought of my brother, is all." She casted a glance towards the plains again.

"To be honest, I don't know why we're doing this," Kyrstin told Laila, though probably more to fill the silence than for anything else. "This whole thing rests on the Valve Bearer. What we do here won't make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things."

Laila continued to look at the soldiers she passed, thinking to maybe give them more moral support. She saw one looking at a photo held in his hand of a woman and a child. "Still, it would be a shame for anything to happen to innocents here."

XXX

Mallika smiled, which reflected in the blade of her sword. "Glad to see nothing's changed between you two."

Monica shook her head back and forth to let her hair run down. "You know brothers," she said.

"Not quite."

"Well, siblings."

"That I do know."

Kyrstin, Elise, and Laila emerged just as a cry was let off by the orchs. Laila hoisted her sword up as she commented, "About time."

The expanse of the militia charged outwards from their circle surrounding the city.

None of the people invited to Rendellin were randomly chosen. They may have not all been needed, but they all had a reason for being called and informed of the great rumor that now crossed all lands. Of the Fellowship, all could wield a weapon, other than Jeff. For whatever reason of their past, they had been conditioned and ready fighters, even if usually peaceful. Never was there a reason to be unable to fight when given the opportunity.

In an almost crazed fashion, the first lines of Orchs charged forward, waving their arms witlessly in midair and snarling at the top of their lungs.

With a swift swing of her flag, Kyrstin took down four that were incoming. Laila cleaved the head off of one and stabbed the stomach of the one behind it.

Tommy charged into a group of oncoming Orchs, swinging a sword of his own. He took off the heads of two, turning around to get the abdomen of another. As he cleared two more, he found resistance in another. He found himself buckling back as the Orch bore down on him. Giving up on his strength, he jumped back as he let go of his sword and pulled out his drumsticks. Charging towards the startled Orch, he jammed the sticks as hard as he could into the neck. To his surprise, the dirty and browning skin gave way like paper.

Mallika cleaved a few orchs of her own. As she turned to meet an approached one, she let out an, "Oh!" in a startle as a slayed one fell beside her. She turned to her right and took down three in a row.

Elise, timid as always, was holding her own, best she could. Yet, when she was charged, she found herself too paralyzed to move. Kyrstin, catching her from the corner of her eye, tossed her flag up in a move that was performance material. Running towards the ready-to-cower Flute, she removed a sword of her own from its sheath, striking down others as she headed straight for her target. Re-sheathing the sword and jumping up to catch the flag, she gave the two Orchs' heads indents.

It was Rebecca though, of all, that seemed the most in tune with what she was doing. Again, that silence and concentration of hers marked her out. Yet she didn't fight like one who had a personal vendetta or just a want to kill. She was purposeful, constantly conscious of who was around her, and she did what she knew she was required and had to do.

So the night continued as the masses of Orchs (and Norirrims) thinned. Yet it was the Norirrims who won, the final orchs taking off into the rising morning. It was just as peaceful a morning as the night.

XXX
XXX
XXX

Translations and Pronunciations (letter by letter):

Åni änzè nufl? – What was that?

Pronunciation: scr-emf-brak chr-emf-erk-klot emf-yedt-noff-orcal

I rëwg biÿaâ, – I don't know,

Pronunciation: brak root-herg-vrek-hargl ber-brak-mel-armch-ernt

Òck òn änzè cus hi? – Perhaps it was a squirrel?

Pronunciation: morak-wert-iglo morak-emf chr-emf-erk-klot wert-yedt-ruvlo breev-brak

Ie, – No,

Pronunciation: brak-klirt

Nmt asyt òn änaè toz ryt, – These days it is always Orchs,

Pronunciation: emf-orzk-yung armch-ruvlo-dar-yung morak-emf chr-emf-armch-klot yung-hemp-erk root-dar-yung

Vûdën – Mornia

Pronunciation: vork-wart-lurmc-herg-emf