In the Golden Hall of Edoras, everyone was resting except the robotic Protoss Purifiers especially Talandar that were on watch. Jim was embracing Kerrigan like a lover when they were sleeping. Talandar noticed Stetmann walking out and the scientist was passing Eowyn who was sleeping on a couch. Stetmann moved a small log onto the fire and covered her feet with the blanket.
"What time is it?" Eowyn asked when Stetmann covered her shoulder with the blanket.
"It's like 4 am," Stetmann checked the time.
Eowyn woke up a bit and held his hand, "I dreamed I saw a great wave climbing over green lands and above the hills. I stood upon the brink. It was utterly dark in the abyss before my feet. A light shone behind me but I could not turn. I could only stand there, waiting."
"Sleep well, my lady. Don't let other thoughts bother you," Stetmann placed her hand back and she resumed sleeping.
Talandar walked out into the balcony and found a hooded figure standing. He got closer and it turned out to be Legolas. "You're not resting?"
"I'm not tired. The stars are veiled. Something stirs in the east. A sleepless malice. The Eye of the enemy is moving."
"I wonder what the enemy is up to now," Talandar thought.
Several minutes later, Legolas noticed something, "He is here." He began running to room with Stetmann and Talandar followed.
They found Pippin was holding a flaming sphere and heard, "Help! Gandalf, help!" The wizard whose eyes were open woke up abruptly. "Someone help him!" Merry was calling for help.
Stetmann took the sphere off but fainted dropping it causing Legolas to catch him. Talandar took the sphere and saw a humanoid-shaped pupil. The image in sphere changed and there was scene in a castle where a white tree was burning. There were drums sounding, people screaming, orcs screeching, and hybrids roaring. The scene changed and there was a creature that was thought to be a Xel'Naga. "Machine protoss, we see that you and your brethren have taken down our small-time subordinate, but we're ready to make our move. You'll be too late to stop us," it was Amon.
Artanis rushed in and knocked the burning sphere into the floor. Merry backed away from it and Gandalf covered the sphere with a blanket at the time the flames were off.
"Fool of a Took!" the wizard yelled at Pippin.
Stetmann recovered and checked on the hobbit who appeared to be stunned, "He appears to be in some sort of trance."
Gandalf bent over Pippin and whispered incantations. The hobbit regained conscious panting and was terrified. "Look at me," said the wizard.
"Gandalf, forgive me."
"Look at me," Gandalf repeated. "What did you see?"
"A tree. There was a white tree in a courtyard of stone. It was dead. The city was burning," Pippin replied and the words matched what Talandar first saw in the sphere.
"Minas Tirith? Is that what you saw?"
"I saw … I saw him. I could hear his voice in my head."
"And what did you tell him? Speak!"
"He asked me my name. I didn't answer. He hurt me."
"What did you tell him about Frodo and the Ring?"
The next morning; Jim, Swann, Stetmann, Kerrigan, Zagara, Dehaka, Stukov, Artanis, Karax, Talandar, Alarak, Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Theoden gathered for a meeting.
"There was no lie in Pippin's eyes. A fool but an honest fool he remains. He told Sauron nothing of Frodo and the Ring. We've been strangely fortunate. Pippin saw in the palantir a glimpse of the enemy's plan. Talandar, it seems that you might have seen the same thing. However, you saw something that Pippin did not," Gandalf began.
"It was Amon talking to me and he said that our battle with Saruman was a distraction so that he and Sauron could make their move soon," Talandar replied and replayed what Amon said to him shocking everybody.
"What are they up to?" Artanis demanded.
"Even so, Sauron with Amon backing him moves to strike the city of Minas Tirith. His defeat at Helm's Deep showed our enemy two things. First he knows the heir of Elendil has come forth. Second; Jim's army, the Zerg, and the Protoss are not easily defeated with what he has on his own. Men are not weak as he supposed. There is courage still, strength enough perhaps to challenge him. Sauron fear this. He will not risk the peoples of Middle-earth uniting under one banner. He will raze Minas Tirith to the ground before he sees a king return to the throne of Men," Gandalf informed everyone and turned to Theoden. "If the beacons of Gondor are lit, Rohan must be ready for war."
"Tell me, why should we ride to the aid of those who did not come to ours? What do we owe Gondor?" Theoden questioned.
"I will go," said Aragorn.
"No!" said Gandalf.
"They must be warned."
"They will be. You must come to Minas Tirith by another road. Follow the river. Look to the black ships," the wizard foresaw something. "Understand this: Things are now in motion that cannot be undone. I ride for Minas Tirith and I won't be going alone. Jim, Artanis, Talandar, Alarak, Karax, I need you and armies to come with me to Minas Tirith. If the armies of Sauron and Amon attack Minas Tirith, all of you will be the best hope for the defense of the city. Swann, Stetmann, you two are also needed in Minas Tirith. Kerrigan, Zagara, Dehaka, Stukov, all of you and the rest of the Zerg will wait here and go with the Rohirrim to Gondor's aid. The people of Gondor will not be as welcoming as the people of Rohan were until the time is right.
Jim and Kerrigan had a moment in private. "Why can't I go to Minas Tirith with you alone?" she said.
"I don't know about the people of Gondor. I'm sure the Zerg will freak them out making them nervous. Don't forget that the Swarm needs you as a queen."
"If so, promise me that you and your men will live through especially when we arrive with the Rohirrim," Kerrigan said holding Jim's hands.
"I promise," Jim said as he and Kerrigan embraced.
"Please be careful," she said as Jim departed.
Protoss forces all boarded warp prisms whereas Raynor's Raiders ground forces all took special operations dropships and medivacs.
The Raiders had the air cavalry consisting of vikings, wraiths, and banshees as escorts. The vikings were armored durable support crafts that could change between jets with long-range anti-armor missiles and combat walkers with twin Gatling cannons each. The vikings were upgraded with Phobos-class weapon systems extending the attack range of both weapons. The wraith fighters were equipped with cloaking field, anti-air missiles that inflict more damage against armored foes, and burst lasers that would be fired on ground targets. The wraiths were given tomahawk cells and displacement fields. The banshees were tactical strike aircrafts armed with air-to-ground missiles and equipped with cloaking field. The banshees were upgraded with cross-spectrum dampeners so that the time for them to remain cloaked was doubled and shockwave missile batteries so that the banshees could damage multiple foes in a line.
The Protoss air force had Aiur phoenixes and arbiters, Purifier mirages, Nerazim corsairs and void rays, and Tal'darim destroyers as escorts. The Aiur phoenixes had double graviton beams enabling each of them to lift two foes into the air and could attack with ion cannons. The Purifier mirages were variants of the Aiur phoenixes as they were also armed with ion cannons, but they could only use one graviton beam and could use phasing armor. The Nerazim corsairs could cast disruption web prevent ranged attackers and defense towers from returning fire. The Nerazim void rays were surgical strike crafts armed with prismatic beams that could increase attack range at full power with prismatic range. The Tal'darim destroyers were modified from the void rays and their destruction beams could damage multiple foes. The Aiur arbiter capital support ships were armed with warp space cannons and had abilities to cloak nearby allies, trapping multiple foes in stasis fields, and recalling allies to the arbiters' positions.
Gandalf and Pippin rode Shadowfax leading the way on ground. The Terran and Protoss fleet kept up with them from the air. Pippin, Kerrigan, and Aragorn were in a guard tower watching them leave.
"He's always followed me, everywhere I went since before we were twins. I would get him into the worst sort of trouble, but I was always there to get him out. Now he's gone. Just like Frodo and Sam," said Merry.
"One thing I have learned about Hobbits. They're a most hardy folk," said Aragorn.
"Foolhardy, maybe. He's a Took."
"We'll meet up with them soon. They'll pull this one through when we get there," said Kerrigan.
When Arwen was on her way with the other elves to the Grey Havens, she saw a vision of a young boy running towards his father who turned out to be Aragorn. Upon seeing the Evening Star jewel on the young boy similar to the one that she gave Aragorn, she rode back to Rivendell. Arwen informed her father of her choice to remain with the man she loved and requested the broken sword Narsil to be re-forged. When the elven smiths were re-forging Narsil, Elrond became aware that his daughter's health was deteriorating.
Author's Note
The next chapter will be mainly on Raynor's Raiders and the Protoss. There will also be a scene on Frodo's group.