Disclaimer: I have no creative rights over the characters and places you can identify in this story and have no way profited from this work.
14/02/2013
In advice to some reviews about the last chapter - just because a character in this story interprets something in a particular way does not mean they are right in their analysis. I try and write the character's responses given what they would 'know' rather than what I know.
For example, I am aware of the plot teasers that have been publicly released for CA: TWS. Which is why nowhere in the last chapter does it explicitly confirm that Gandalf's vision was of Bucky speaking to him from the afterlife (if it exists or not). Rogers chose to interpret it this way but that does not rule out it could mean something else entirely different. After all the character of Captain America would not 'know' what he shall face in the CA movie sequel. After everything he has been through since his revival, I thought Steve - the nice guy he is - deserved a bit of good news. But this news would be open to interpretation considering the CA sequel is due for release in 2014.
Likewise, I have never tried to link this story with to any particular religion. Again, Cap would not know what the cosmology of Middle-earth really is. Given his statement before he jumped out of the jet in The Avengers, I think his initial thoughts – largely from shock at the sight – on Gandalf's return were within character. But again that does not mean his thoughts were right or they reflect my own personal opinion. My only agenda with this story is to try and make it nothing other than an entertaining crossover. It is certainly not an attempt at evangelisation.
On reflection I think I should have mentioned all this in the Chapter 16 after notes.
Lupin2020: I do have a 'growth' moment planned for Steve like you suggest but it won't be centred on Bucky due to the reasons I have mentioned above.
FireheartNinja: I cannot see Comic Book Guy giving me such a generous review as yours.
Pip4: I thought that Bruce and the Hobbits would get along well was because they were all non-warriors. You could also compare Bruce with Frodo in the sense of being forced by circumstance to carry a great and terrible power.
Chapter 17 – The Burden of Kingship
Midnight had fallen on the plains of Rohan. The Fellowship riding to Edoras had ceased their day's travel just after sunset. Four of them slept around a small campfire.
Gimli and Boromir welcomed the opportunity to have more than the two or three hours of sleep they had been allowed over the last few days. Boromir alone was exhausted from the conversation he had with Rogers on their shared steed. Boromir wished that Gondor had some of those metal, self-propelled vehicles called 'Abrams' that shot projectiles over long distances. Even having phones would be a great aid in coordinating forces over large areas.
Despite not needing as much sleep due to their physiology, Legolas and Rogers were not entirely immune from the need to do so. They followed Boromir and Gimli in closing their eyes for a brief respite. Being an Asgardian, Thor hardly ever needed to sleep in the normal sense that many other races did. He instead conducted a short patrol of the immediate just to ensure there no immediate threats.
Thor had just returned to the campsite when he noticed Gandalf standing a few yards with Aragorn to the wizard's right. They both appeared to be in conversation while looking at a dim, but angry red glow far to the eastern horizon. Thor walked up to Gandalf's left and caught the middle of the pair's conversation.
"Sauron fears you, Aragorn," Gandalf told Isildur's Heir while looking at him. "He fears what you may become. And so he'll strike hard and fast at the world of Men."
"I will stand against him with my last breath," Aragorn replied. "But not as King of Gondor. I've never wanted that power.
"You know," Thor joined the conversation, "I almost let disaster befall Asgard due to my vanity."
Both Gandalf and Aragorn looked at Thor who continued looking eastwards as he spoke.
"To teach me the importance of humility to a king, my father stripped me of my power and exiled me to Midgard." Thor then locked gazes with Aragorn as he told him, "Your problem, my friend, is that you have too much humility and choose to exile yourself because of it." Seeing Aragorn frown at this, Thor repeated one of Odin's first lessons to him as a boy. "Kings have great power. Power that can bring suffering to many if used unwisely. By the same token, that doesn't excuse them from trying to exercise it to do what is good and just.
"I've seen and noticed the way others respond to you. Like my father once said to me, you're born to be a king. You should not so easily walk away from that if that is what's required to defeat the evil that threatens this realm." Thor shrugged his shoulders before concluding to Aragorn, "Ultimately, you must decide what feels best. But in declining your heritage, do not deceive yourself you're doing the Free Peoples' any favours."
Aragorn turned his gaze downwards as he contemplated Thor's words. Thor saw in Gandalf's eyes a gleam of appreciation for what he had just said. Seeking to change topics, Thor returned his gaze to the glow in the east.
"That is from the mountain where the Ring was forged?" he asked.
"Yes, Odinson," Gandalf confirmed. "The weapon of the enemy moving towards Mordor in the hands of a Hobbit. Each day brings it closer to the fires of Mount Doom."
"I can't help but feel all our endeavours are nothing next to the Ringbearer's," Thor reflected.
"We must trust now in Frodo," Gandalf stated in reply. "Everything depends upon speed and the secrecy of his quest." Noticing Aragorn and Thor's troubled looks, he added, "Neither of you should regret your decision to leave him. Frodo must finish this task alone."
"He's not alone," Aragorn revealed. "Sam went with him."
"Does that comfort you?" Thor knowingly put to the wizard.
"It does indeed!" Gandalf acknowledged with a pleased grin.
Gandalf had told Treebeard to keep Merry, Pippin and Bruce safe. So the eldest Ent in existence took them to rest overnight at his home in Fangorn. Treebeard's 'home' was a small clearing with a mini-waterfall flowing over a pile of rocks. This was no ordinary waterfall. Its waters flowed into a large catching bowl containing a number of mysterious ingredients. The mixture of these elements led to them fermenting a drink known as 'Ent-draught' that was used by the Ents as their primary source of nourishment. In the golden light of dawn, Bruce and Pippin each held a flat drinking bowl containing some Ent-draught. Treebeard had earlier prepared he Ent-draught in a large stone jar. Merry remained asleep just ahead of the pair.
"I don't know what this stuff is," Banner commented to Pippin. "But it seems to be neutralising the effects of the tranq."
To Banner, the Ent-draught smelt like a distant wood brought from afar by a cool night breeze. He added this to his mental list of mithril and pipeweed of items from Middle-earth he would like to analyse further.
"I'm just glad you are feeling better, Bruce," Pippin stated. "After meeting Treebeard and Gandalf, as well as having this drink, Fangorn doesn't seem so scary now."
Merry had finally woken from his slumber and walked to his two friends.
"Where's Treebeard gone?" Merry asked.
"I don't know, Merry," Banner answered. "I woke up before either of you and he wasn't here."
Pippin then released a strange, deep sounding burp.
"You just said something...'Treeish'," Merry said in surprise to his cousin.
"No I didn't," Pippin dissented. "I was just stretching."
Pippin then stretched and let out another strange rumbling sound.
"If I didn't know better, Pippin" a bemused Banner remarked. "I'd say you're starting to sound like the Other Guy."
"Did Hulk come from drinking something in a forest?" Pippin asked with a slight trace of alarm.
Before Banner could answer, Merry interrupted in astonishment after silently comparing something.
"You're taller!" Merry observed to Pippin.
"I've always been taller than you," Pippin dismissed his cousin's surprise.
"Pippin, everyone knows I'm the tall one," Merry insisted. "You're the short one."
"What does that make me?" Banner asked with some amusement.
"I don't know, Bruce," Merry said before sizing up Banner a moment. "You haven't grown and you're not rumbling. Well, I mean, not like an Ent or the Other Guy."
Merry's words caused Banner's thoughts to go on a slight tangent. The Avenger's mind was clear enough for the first time in days to develop a hypothesis about Saruman's tranquilliser.
"Normally, the Other Guy makes me immune to toxins," Banner theorised aloud. "It must've been something else the vortex affected. It's the only way the tranq could've affected me." After a pause, Banner then concluded, "Maybe it's a sign that I'm getting back to normal."
"It goes without saying that your definition of 'normal' isn't like ours, Bruce," Pippin added with a twinkle in his eye.
The three of them laughed at this before Banner said, "Excuse me, guys."
Banner began to walk towards the trees that bordered the clearing.
"Where are you going, Bruce?" a concerned Merry asked him.
"Well, I was sick on Treebeard's foot," Banner answered with slight embarrassment. "I don't want to relieve myself on the equivalent of his carpet."
"Oh!" both hobbits replied in understanding before recommencing their argument about their respective heights.
Banner only moved a few yards away from Treebeard's home. Before relieving himself, he knocked on a tree just to make sure he was not going to wake up another Ent. After he'd finished, Banner heard what sounded like Merry and Pippin crying for help. He rushed back into the clearing to see both had seemingly disappeared.
"Merry! Pippin!" he called out worried that the two had been taken by orcs.
Banner heard a muffled cry in response that appeared to be coming from the roots of a tree just in front of him. It was now that Treebeard returned from wherever he had been.
"Treebeard," Banner urgently told him. "I think Merry and Pippin are stuck under this tree. We've got to get them out!"
Treebeard pointed at the tree and strongly told it, "Away with you. You should not be waking. Eat earth. Dig deep. Drink water. Go to sleep. Away with you."
At Treebeard's command, the roots parted revealing Merry and Pippin under them. Banner pulled out both hobbits and helped brush away the dirt and dry leaves now in their hair. Banner was also reeling from how a tree consciously obeyed a strange flora named an 'Ent' that could walk and talk.
Banner looked at Treebeard and asked him, "I'm still trying to understand this forest, Treebeard. Are you like the 'Lord of Fangorn'?"
"Bar-hrum, Treebeard customarily rumbled. "That is an uncommonly kind thing of you to say, Master Bruce." He stretched his branched arms out wide as he explained, "But it is more correct to say that Fangorn claims lordship over us Ents who are but its mere attendants. Fangorn is no longer safe. The trees have grown wild and dangerous. Anger festers in their hearts. Black are their thoughts. Strong is their hate. They will harm you if they can. There are too few of us now. Too few of us Ents left to manage them."
Banner's mental list was now redundant in terms of his curiosity. Under other circumstances, he would love to study the Ents and Fangorn's ecosystem even if it took decades. Being able to communicate with a species of intelligent plant life would be worth a Nobel Prize in itself!
"Why are there so few of you when you have lived so long?" Pippin asked Treebeard in response. "Are there Ent-children"?
Treebeard responded, "Bru-ra-hroom. There have been no Entings for a terrible long count of years".
"Why's that?" Merry responded.
"We lost the Entwives" Treebeard advised matter-of-fact.
Banner mentally pulled away from speculating about how Ents reproduced.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Pippin expressed in sympathy to the Ent. "How did they die?"
"Die? No," Treebeard quickly corrected him. "We lost them. And now we cannot find them. I don't suppose you've seen Entwives in the Shire?"
"Can't say that I have," Merry answered. He then asked his cousin, "You, Pip?" to which Pippin shook his head.
"I don't even know what they look like," Banner said
Treebeard released a sad sigh. "Now I don't remember how they look either. It has been nearly two millennia since we last saw them."
Despite Banner feeling better, residual traces of Saruman's tranquilliser remained in his bloodstream.
"You guys need something like eHarmony," Banner thought aloud in black humour.
At this, Banner became the first in Middle-earth's history to get puzzled looks from an Ent and two hobbits.
The same day, those of the Fellowship riding towards Edoras finally reached their destination when Gandalf said they would. Edoras was built on a lone foothill with the mountain range known as the 'White Mountains' to its south. Edoras was surrounded by a circular wooden wall and was accessed by a large, double wooden gate on its north face. Within the wall there were a large number of wooden and thatched buildings of various sizes. At the top of the hill was a great wooden hall that Rogers assumed to be the city's administrative centre.
"Edoras and the Golden Hall of Meduseld," Gandalf confirmed to his companions. "There dwells Théoden, King of Rohan, whose mind is overthrown. Saruman's hold over King Théoden is now very strong."
"There's one thing I don't understand, Gandalf," Rogers queried. "Theoden's mind is possessed; his heir's incapacitated; and Eomer's in exile. Who's exactly in charge now? Why aren't they standing up to Saruman?"
"Power in Edoras now resides with the King's Chief Counsellor, Grima Wormtongue," Gandalf stonily advised. "Himself but a puppet of Saruman. He ensures that the Uruk-hai and Wild Men in Saruman's service remain unchecked as they pillage the Riddermark."
"I would have thought his sire name would have been an obvious warning not to employ this 'Wormtongue' to such high office," Thor observed.
"He not always known as such, Thor," Aragorn said.
"Never underestimate the actions a person will take from a sense of unrequited love," Gandalf reflected. "Whatever the case, all of you be careful what you say. Do not look for welcome here."
The other Fellowship members followed Gandalf's lead in spurring their mounts towards Edoras. As they approached the city's gates, Rogers and Thor noticed a dusty road leading from the gate heading westwards. The road passed between two lines of small barrows leading outwards from the gate. Nine barrows were to the west of the road and seven were on the east. The barrows reminded Thor of Viking burial mounds.
When the Fellowship reached the city gate, Gandalf said to the sentries atop it, "My friends and I wish to speak with the Lord of the Mark!"
"Apologies, Mithrandir," the chief sentry responded having recognised the White Wizard. "It is the will of King Theoden that none should enter into Edoras. The only exceptions are the Eorlingas and our friends that come from Mundburg in the land of Gondor."
"Mundburg's another name for Minas Tirith," Boromir stated in a tone that would brook no argument. "As I happen to be Captain of the White Tower, our company should be allowed to enter!"
Like Eomer a couple of days before, the sentry cursed himself for not noticing the Fellowship had the Son of the Steward in its number.
"Forgive me for not recognising you, Lord Boromir," the sentry apologised before hastily commanding the gate to open.
As the city gates opened with a deep wooden creak, the Fellowship noticed a green banner with a white horse emblem sailing over the wall. The banner came to rest just to their right. Rogers jumped off the horse he shared with Boromir and grabbed the banner before remounting. As the Fellowship passed through the gates, Rogers passed the banner to another Rohirrim sentry who accepted it with a simple "Thank you, milord."
As the Fellowship rode through the main street of Edoras towards the Golden Hall, the atmosphere that pervaded the city was one silent and sombre. Edoras' current population appeared to comprise entirely of women, children and elderly men that warily stared at the Fellowship as they progressed through the city. Black seemed to be the predominant colour of clothing – either in mourning at the loss of their menfolk in war or symbolically mourning the demise in Rohan's fortunes. The look on residents' faces reminded Rogers of those ravaged communities he'd encountered throughout Europe while serving with the SSR.
Gimli succinctly summed up the mood of Edoras. "You'll find more cheer in a graveyard".
As the Fellowship approached the Golden Hall, Rogers' spotted a young woman in a white dress standing on its front porch. The woman had long, wheaten-coloured hair and seemed to be observing the approaching Fellowship.
"Who's that woman?" he asked Boromir with a whisper.
"The Lady Eowyn, Eomer's sister," Boromir informed him. "I've never exchanged more than common courtesies with her in the handful of times I've met her. Much to her brother's chagrin, Eowyn's a renowned Shield-maiden."
"She can fight?" Rogers sought clarification.
Riding beside the pair, Thor had thoughts of home.
"Asgard is home to many skilled shield-maidens," Thor said. "None better than my good friend the Lady Sif who's fought alongside me in many battles."
"Unlike your Lady Sif," Boromir continued. "Eomer tells me that his sister is yet to taste combat despite her requests to do so. I think he and King Theoden would prefer to keep that way."
Eowyn had retreated back inside by the time the Fellowship reached the stairs leading up to the Golden Hall. As they dismounted, Thor noticed the intricate wooden carvings of horses on the outside of the Meduseld. So much of what he had seen of Rohan and its people reminded him of old Scandinavia that the similarities could surely not be just a coincidence. When – if – he returned to Asgard, Thor would investigate this seeming link between Rohan and the Midgard culture he most identified with.
The Fellowship members reached the top of the stairs with Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas and Boromir in front and Gimli, Rogers, and Thor behind. The Fellowship was met by a group of half a dozen soldiers in ranks of three by two. Unlike the composition of Eomer's eored, these Rohirrim had a standard uniform and armour. They wore a sleeveless, full-length scale hauberk as well as a fine wool cloak dyed green and edged with a red and gold pattern. Five of these Rohirrim wore a helmet featuring a visor with cutouts for the eyes and a tall metal crest of horse's head from which flowed a mane of horsehair. Given their high quality armour as well as fine weapons they seemed to be carrying, Rogers had no doubt these soldiers had to be members of the King's bodyguard.
The only one of the six soldiers not wearing a helmet stood in the middle of the front row. He had a thick head and beard of red hair and was quite broad at the chest. Gandalf's eyes twinkled as soon as caught sight of this man.
"Hama!" Gandalf cried in friendly recognition. "It's an honour to be met by no less than the Captain of the Royal Guard."
Hama gave an awkward smile in response before replying, "I cannot allow you before Théoden-King so armed, Gandalf Greyhame." Seeing a number of the Fellowship respond with furrowed brows at this announcement, Hama sought to apologise by way of explanation. "By order of Grima Wormtongue."
The way Hama spoke Wormtongue's name through clenched teeth left little doubt what he thought of Chief Counsellor. Gandalf gave an understanding nod before handing over Glamdring in its scabbard.
"Come on the rest of you," Gandalf prompted the rest of the Fellowship. "We're among friends here."
The front rank of the Fellowship handed over their weapons before Aragorn and Boromir stepped back to let the back rank comply. Gimli reluctantly handed his axes over, while Rogers handed over his pocketknife and straight razor in addition to his shield. Thor first handed over his Galadhrim helm to the guard in front of him. There was a dark gleam in Thor's eyes as he then offered Mjolnir.
CRACK!
The guard dropped the hammer immediately due to how immensely heavy it felt. Mjolnir fell on the stone paving at his feet, causing it to crack. The legendary hammer didn't budge as the guard strained to lift it.
"What is it, Cynric?" Hama asked the guard in question.
"I'm sorry, Captain," Cynric apologised. "But I've never encountered a hammer with such a weight."
Hama tried pulling up Mjolnir with both hands but fared no better than Cynric. Thor had a neutral expression on his face as he watched the Royal Guard try and move Mjolnir. Inwardly, he was enjoying the trial that Hama and his men were going through for relieving him of the weapon that had no equal in power. Gimli had to cover his mouth to stop himself laughing at the sight.
"I think you've made your point," Rogers quietly told Thor out the side of his mouth.
The God of Thunder got the hint. However, he wasn't finished with humiliating Hama and his men just yet.
"Forgive me, guardsmen," Thor insincerely apologised to them. "Mjolnir's a heavy burden for those not used to it. Allow me to place it with my friends' weapons under your supervision."
As Thor did this, Hama noticed that Gandalf still holding his staff.
"Your staff," Hama hinted to the wizard.
Thor, who'd just set down Mjolnir, now stood behind Hama. Because Gandalf reminded Thor of Odin in so many ways, it was no surprise that he'd come to see the White Wizard in a paternal light. It was for this reason that he sincerely spoke the half-truth in response to Hama's latest demand.
"Is such Rohan's suspicion an old man must relinquish his walking stick?" Thor challenged the request.
Hama seemed to relent at this and allowed Gandalf keep his staff. Legolas offered Gandalf his right arm to lean on as if to underline the Wizard's supposed frailty. Hama then began to lead the Fellowship into the Meduseld. As Gandalf passed by Thor, the pair exchanged a quick wink in understanding. The Fellowship entered the Golden Hall through a pair of ancient wooden doors. After standing aside for the Fellowship, Hama stood next to his second in command, Gamling, a thin man with a light brown beard.
The inside of the hall was a study in contrasts. The craftsmanship of the Hall was impressive with it being long and wide, its wooden walls standing on a smooth stone floor. There were intricately carved wooden columns to its left and right upholding its lofty roof. Banners and tapestries of Rohirrim and their horses adorned the walls. But for all that craftsmanship, the hall's atmosphere was dark and gloomy. Nor was the atmosphere solely due to the interior's apparent lack of light.
At the opposite end of the hall was a dais atop three steps. In the middle of the dais was a gilded wooden throne. Sitting on the throne was Rohan's current ruler. Theoden's appearance, however, was anything but regal. The King was a withered old man with heavily wrinkled skin, straggly grey hair and eyes that looked to be blinded with cataracts. Rogers thought the best description of Theoden's apparent state of health was 'zombie'. Sitting left of Theoden on a simple wooden stool was a man almost equally pale in colour wearing a heavy black ermine robe. The man had greasy shoulder length black hair and cold blue eyes. For those in the Fellowship who had never seen him, they all concluded this man had to be Grima Wormtongue. Thor noticed Wormtongue whisper something into Theoden's ear.
"The courtesy of your hall is somewhat lessened of late, Theoden-King," Gandalf commented to their host.
Gandalf released his hand from Legolas' arm and began to walk by himself towards Theoden. The rest of the Fellowship fell in behind the Wizard. Boromir and Thor were the two leftmost of Gandalf.
"To our left and right," the Gondorian said to the Avenger.
Thor quickly glanced at the hall's columns left and right. The Fellowship was being shadowed by a group of five burly men on either side. Obviously, these ten men were Wormtongue's hired thugs.
"I see no problem," an untroubled Thor replied.
After Wormtongue whispered something in his ear, Theoden craggily laboured out, "Why should I…welcome you, Gandalf…Stormcrow?"
"A just question, my liege," Wormtongue agreed before rising to his full height of 5'4". Walking towards Gandalf, Grima sneered at him, "Late is the hour in which this conjurer chooses to appear. 'Lathspell' I name him. Ill news is an ill guest!"
The Wizard didn't falter an inch as Grima blocked his path.
"Be silent!" Gandalf sternly rebuked his accuser. "Keep your forked tongue behind you teeth. I have not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm!"
It was then that Gandalf raised his staff.
"His staff," Grima nervously gulped before raging at the individual who'd disobeyed his orders. "Traitor, Hama. I told you to take the wizard's staff!"
At Grima's signal, his thugs rushed to disarm Gandalf. The rest of the Fellowship moved to intercept them. Gamling began drawing his sword out of concern for Theoden's safety. Hama instantly stayed his subordinate's hand.
Hama wasn't fooled by Thor's bluff about Gandalf's staff being just a walking stick. Hama had heard the tales about the wonders the wizard had performed over many long years with his staff. By allowing Gandalf to keep his staff, Hama hoped that the Wizard would be able to free Theoden of the evil magic that Saruman and Wormtongue had cast over the King. When he first entered the Royal Guard, like all its members, Hama swore an oath that he would value the King's life above his own at all times. As Captain, that oath meant more to Hama now than when he first swore it. If the price of freeing Theoden was forfeiting his own life, Hama felt he was doing no less than what his oath required of him.
Wormtongue watched in dismay as his thugs proved to be no match for the Fellowship. More accurately, no match for its two strangely clothed members. The one with a blond beard and red cloak effortlessly picked up a thug in each hand before throwing them into a column with a loud thud. The one in the bright blue, white and red uniform had the reflexes of a cat as he nimbly dodged intended blows, replying with punches that knocked out his attackers with a single blow. The four other Fellowship members barely had to be involved to stop any thugs from reaching Gandalf.
When Wormtongue saw Rogers take down the last thug, he fled in panic to the main doors. Grima was so intent on observing Rogers; he failed to see that Thor was directly in his path. Thor allowed Grima to run straight into his powerful chest that caused the Chief Counsellor to ignominiously fall on his backside. Thor roughly pulled up Wormtongue by the collar with his left hand.
"I'd suggest remaining with me," Thor warned Grima with an arched eyebrow. "As of now, I'm the only thing stopping all of Edoras from killing you."
Now the threat from Wormtongue and his men had been neutralised, Gandalf stood alone at the base of the dais.
Gandalf closed his eyes and gently raised his left hand before saying to Theoden, "I release you from the spell."
After Gandalf had spoken, all within the Golden Hall were slightly unnerved by the menacing laugh that come from Theoden.
"You have no power here, Gandalf the Grey!" he gloated.
Gandalf threw back his Galadhrim cloak in response. A blinding white light now exuded from Gandalf. Theoden was thrown back against his throne at this display. Now revealed to Saruman was how greater Gandalf's power was to when he was the Grey Wizard.
As Gandalf pointed his staff at the King.
"I will draw you, Saruman, as poison is drawn from a wound," the new White Wizard told the old.
Eowyn now entered the Golden Hall near Aragorn and Rogers. Seeing her uncle struggling, she instinctively made to Theoden's side. The Fellowship's Co-leaders gently restrained her from taking a single step.
"Wait," Aragorn told her.
"Let Gandalf help your uncle," Rogers added.
To Rogers, this whole display of magic by Gandalf was analogous to a priest trying to exorcise a demon from a possessed person.
"If I go…Theoden dies," Saruman threatened through Theoden in his own baritone voice.
"You did not kill me, you will not kill him!" Gandalf countered.
"Rohan is mine!" Saruman boasted in desperation as he felt his grip on Theoden slipping away.
"Begone!" Gandalf strongly commanded.
In desperation, Saruman made Theoden lunge at his would-be liberator. Gandalf countered with a sharp sweep of his staff that caused Theoden to be thrown back into his throne again. Theoden let out a moan and began to slump forward in his chair. Aragorn and Rogers released their grip on Eowyn who rushed up to catch her uncle from falling further forwards. Gandalf gave a deep sigh of exhaustion now that Saruman had been expelled from the King. Rogers rushed up to Gandalf and put a hand on his shoulder to check the Wizard's wellbeing. Gandalf gave him a satisfied smile indicating he was fine.
At his niece's touch, Theoden raised his head and with the exception of Gandalf, all in the hall was stunned by what they witnessed. Before their very eyes, Theoden seemed to become younger in a matter of moments with colour returning to his skin as well as his white hair line receding. Instead of white, the hair on his head and goatee beard was now wheaten blond in colour. Even Thor marvelled at the sight of this. Not even Asgard had the technology to 'de-age' someone in a manner similar to what just happened to Theoden. Clarity and recognition returned to Theoden's eyes as he looked at his niece in front of him.
"I know your face," he whispered before touching Eowyn's check. "Eowyn…Eowyn"!
Eowyn broke into a relived smile as tears of joy spilled out of her eyes. The Shield-maiden knew the nightmare of Saruman's possession of her uncle was now over. Theoden then noticed Gandalf and Rogers standing before his throne.
"Gandalf?" Theoden asked the Wizard. "Why are you here? Who's that strangely dressed young man beside you?"
"Simply breathe the free air again, my friend," Gandalf replied.
Theoden stood up from his throne to the happiness of his courtiers. Hama and Gamling exchanged barely restrained smiles of joy that their liege had returned in body and spirit.
"Dark have been my dreams of late," Theoden commented mostly to himself before realising his hands were slightly trembling.
Gandalf advised him, "Your fingers would remember their old strength better…if they grasped your sword."
At Gandalf's words, Hama rushed up to Theoden and presented the said weapon. The King's sword that was named 'Herugrim'. Theoden wrapped his fingers around the hilt before firmly withdrawing it. Rogers mentally compared Theoden's actions to the tale of King Arthur withdrawing Excalibur from the stone. Like the tales around Arthur, Theoden seemed to grow in stature with his sword in his hand.
Throughout Theoden's restoration, Grima had tried to subtly free himself. Thor's grip however was stronger than that of an iron manacle. The Chief Counsellor began to tremble as Theoden locked gazes and gave him a murderous glare. Grima hoped that Thor's vow of 'protection' also extended to the King's wrath.
Now Theoden was free of Saruman's influence, Thor had handed Grima over to the custody of Hama and Gamling. The two most senior members of the Royal Guard firmly grasped Grima on either side as they dragged him outside the Golden Hall. They poured out every ounce of anger and disdain they felt towards Grima as they threw him down the stairs with a powerful throw. Grima cried in pain as he hit the stairs hard. Blood poured out of his split lip as Theoden menacingly approached him with Herugrim in hand.
"I've only ever served you, my lord!" he beseeched Theoden as he began pulling himself backwards down the stairs.
Grima's lie only fuelled the King's wrath towards him.
"Your leechcraft would have had me crawling on all fours like a beast!" Theoden hissed.
As there was now a large mob of Edoras residents behind him, Grima stopped moving and resorted to grovelling to save his life.
"Send me not from your side!" he pathetically begged.
Theoden swiftly raised Herugrim above his head to deliver a killing blow. Before he could bring down his stroke, Theoden found his hands firmly gripped by Thor's.
"Do not stoop to his level, Theoden-King!" the God of Thunder urged him.
Thor did not dispute that Wormtongue deserved the end of the King's sword. But as Odin recently did with Loki, even the most base of traitors should be punished according to justice. Even kings should not place themselves above this principle in passing sentence on one of their subjects.
"Yes, milord!" Aragorn concurred with Thor's sentiment. "Enough blood has been spilled on his account."
After a pause, Grima sprung up from the ground but was caught by two regular Rohirrim sentries. After considering Thor and Aragorn's words, Theoden passed sentence on Grima's betrayal.
"Let him go," Theoden commanded the sentries. "I can't stomach the thought of him even being within a hundred leagues me."
As the sentries released their grip, Grima began jostling though the crowd behind him.
"Get out of my way!" Grima screamed before the King changed his mind.
Rohan's former Chief Counsellor eventually mounted his own steed before galloping towards Isengard.
Noticing the crowd before Theoden, Thor told them, "Your liege-lord is now free from Saruman's sorcery!"
"Hail, Theoden-King!" Aragorn proclaimed.
All Rohirrim present knelt in homage to their ruler. Thor and Aragorn followed their gesture as a sign of respect to Theoden. As Theoden noted this, he realised someone important was missing.
"Where is Theodred?" he asked no one in particular. "Where is my son?"
Sorry for this update being a bit later than normal but work was the reason why. I assure readers that I do not intend to have too great a length between chapter updates. If I am planning to take an extended break from writing I shall let readers know.
When I first saw The Two Towers, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I saw Theoden 'de-aging'.