OH MY GOD YOU GUYS I AM SO SORRY. T~T I am so so so sorry. Because I have been such a massive jerk, you're getting a double dose.
"Théoden will not stay at Edoras," Grima said. He had just arrived at Isengard, and was speaking with Saruman. "It is vulnerable; he knows this. He will expect an attack on the city. They will flee to Helm's Deep, the great Fortress of Rohan. It is a dangerous road to take through the mountains. They will be slow. They will have women and children with them."
Saruman went down into the crevices under Isengard, to speak with his orcs. "Send out your warg riders!" he ordered. The orc minding a pit of wargs smiled maliciously as the howls of of dogs echoed around the cavern.
"It's true: You don't see very many dwarf women," Gimli told Éowyn. She was leading Arod while Legolas scouted ahead. The march was passing around a small lake on their way to Helm's Deep, and it was slow going. "And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they're often mistaken for dwarf men."
Éowyn turned back to Aragorn: He stroked his own chin, mouthing 'it's the beards.' She stifled a laugh and faced front again.
"Now this in turn has given rise to the belief that there ARE no dwarf women! And that dwarves just spring out of holes in the ground!" Éowyn laughed aloud at this. Gimli laughed too. "Which is, of course, ridiculous." His horse suddenly whinnied and broke free from Éowyn, scampering ahead with a hollering Gimi just clinging on. He fell off after a few meters, and Éowyn rushed to his side. "It's all right, nobody panic!" Gimli said, trying to sit up. "That was deliberate. It was deliberate." She helped him and caught Aragorn's eye, smiling. Aragorn grinned back.
That night, Aragorn sat and smoked his pipe, keeping watch while the others slept. He passed watch over to Legolas, who smirked as Aragorn fell asleep. He was probably dreaming about Arwen, judging from his look of loneliness when he woke.
During that day, Aragorn walked beside Éowyn. She looked to the pendant on his chest. "Where is she?" Éowyn asked. Aragorn looked over as she clarified. "The woman who gave you that jewel?" Aragorn's eyes clouded as he remembered his words to Arwen: It was a dream, Arwen. "My lord?" Éowyn asked.
"She is sailing to the Undying Lands, with all that is left of her kin," Aragorn answered sadly.
Éowyn instantly turned away, cheeks colouring. Aragorn, back in his memories, did not see. Two scouts galloped by, passing beside Legolas, who stood on a hill, eyes searching the lands.
The scouts stopped a ways ahead, their horses balking. "What is it?" Legolas heard one of them ask. "Háma?"
"I'm not sure," Háma replied.
A second later, the screech of a warg announced the foul creature and its orc rider as they careened down an outcropping of stone. It pounced on Háma, who was immediately killed in the warg's jaws. The other scout yelled in terror and rage, drawing his sword and engaging the orc. Legolas ran forward and shot the warg, his hand that had held the arrow already gripping the hilt of one knife.
The orc's shriek as Legolas killed it echoed back to where Aragorn walked beside Éowyn. He ran ahead to the edge of the ridge where the orc had attacked. "A scout!" Legolas yelled to him, shoving the carcass away.
Aragorn turned back to the king, who had approached. "What is it? What do you see?" Théoden called.
"Wargs!" Aragorn yelled back. "We're under attack!"
The people erupted into panic, clustering together and screaming, while some of the riders tried to get them away. Aragorn ran back to his horse and mounted, Éowyn stepping back as she let go of the reins. "All riders to the head of the column!" Théoden yelled, turning and waving an arm to the riders. He approached Éowyn. "You must lead the people to Helm's Deep, and make haste."
"I can fight!" she protested.
"No!" Théoden growled. "You must do this, for me." She turned without a word. "Follow me!" Théoden called.
Gimli was assisted onto his horse by a few soldiers, then made his way to the front where Legolas stood, shooting orcs down from hundreds of feet away. He caught hold of Arod's saddle and swung up, landing in front of Gimli as they charged.
The orcs were many, all riding terrible wargs and brandishing harsh weapons. Legolas pulled back another arrow, aiming for the orc directly in front of him.
The first connection was bloody and grim. A warg hit a horse teeth-first, knocking both of them and their riders to the ground. Some of the riders threw spears while others attacked orcs that they passed. Legolas shot another, but there were still many.
Gimli gave a yell as Arod leapt over a fallen orc, and he landed on the ground behind the horse with a thump. Legolas looked back, unable to turn his horse in time. He spun around as Gimli was readying his axe for a warg that was eyeing him malevolently.
"Bring your pretty face to my axe," the dwarf growled.
Legolas drew his bowstring back as the warg charged, killing it just before it reached his friend.
"That one counts as mine!" Gimli yelled after the elf, outraged. Another warg ran up behind Gimli, and he killed it with a yell of mad glee. Unfortunately, it landed on top of him, pinning his body beneath its massive flank, his axe still buried in its head.
Aragorn slaughtered an orc on warg-back as he rode through the battle, passing Théoden as the king sent an orc's head sailing away from its neck. An archer shot a warg and was reloading his bow when he got stampeded by a warg. Aragorn took care of the orc responsible as he went by.
"Stinking creature," Gimli snarled, trying to heave the warg off him. An orc appeared above him,hissing as it drew a long knife. Gimli yelled right back and snapped the orc's neck. It too fell on top of him, crushing him further into the grass. He took one whiff of the orc and groaned. He lifted both the orc and warg, grunting with exertion, but his eyes widened as another warg appeared atop the dead orc and warg. Aragorn saw this and hurried over, snatching a spear from a warg carcass and skewering the warg that was menacing Gimli. It died with a shriek and fell, making Gimli yelp in pain as the combined weight of two wargs and an orc fell on him.
Aragorn killed two orcs with a yell, then was knocked off his horse as a warg leapt into him. He scrambled to his feet as the warg turned, its rider swinging a knife. Aragorn grabbed orc's arm and swung on behind it, knocking the orc's head with his own to make it fall. It didn't, and Aragorn was dislodged by a passing rider. He gripped the saddle with one hand, knife held aloft in the other as he tried to free his caught arm. The orc screamed and tried to stab Aragorn, who managed to stab it first and throw it off the warg, which was galloping full tilt towards the edge of the cliff. Aragorn, now perfectly desperate, tried to climb atop the warg, but he kept losing his grip. The warg was going faster than ever, and Aragorn's arm was caught in the saddle. The cliff was getting closer, the bumping of the ground under him becoming more frenzied as the warg sped up, but Aragorn could not get up. The ground was replaced by air as eh and the warg went over.
Above, the battle was ending. Gimli killed a warg with a grunt, then looked around at the dead and dying. Too many wore the colours of Rohan.
Legolas was walking among the bodies, glancing from left to right, the fire of battle still hot within him. It was replaced with a freezing trickle of fear, though, as he searched for a familiar face. "Aragorn!" he called, looking around as if the man were hiding under the carcass of an enemy.
Gimli, too, looked around. The man was simply not among them. "Aragorn?" the dwarf yelled.
Legolas approached the cliff, his heart beating faster as he examined the ground, the trickle of panic becoming a rush of cold water. A wheezing laugh came from behind him. An orc, clearly at death's door, was lying a few feet away, one hand clenched tightly. Black blood oozed from his mouth as he laughed.
Gimli held his axe over the orc's face. "Tell me what happened, and I will ease your passing," he growled.
"He's...dead," the orc hissed, coughing on its own blood. "He took a little tumble off the cliff."
The panic froze into icy fury as Legolas stooped and grabbed the orc's armour. "You lie!" he snarled, eyes burning like blue fire. The orc laughed again, breath coming short as its lungs filled with black blood. It ceased moving, and Legolas cast it aside in disgust. He noticed as he did that the orc's hand was clenched. He unwrapped the fingers from around something silver-white and shining. It was the pendant given to him by Arwen, shining coldly in Legolas's numb hand.
Refusing to believe it, even though his heart was screaming in grief, Legolas ran to the edge of the cliff where Théoden stood, looking downwards. The ravine's bottom was a fast-moving river, bristling with rocks. Eyes searching, Legolas tried to trick himself into believing that a Dúnadan, or even a regular mortal, could survive such a fall.
"Get the wounded on horses," Théoden called. "The wolves of Isengard will return." His voice dropped. "Leave the dead." Legolas turned quickly, outraged and glaring at the king. Théoden looked back at him grimly, placing a hand on the elf's shoulder. "Come," he said gently. Legolas turned to look back into the ravine, Gimli at his side. No words were said, but Legolas knew he and Gimli were thinking the same thing: It's impossible. Not Aragorn.
Up ahead, the rest of the people of Edoras had reached Helm's Deep. Many of them cried out in joy and relief as they sighted the mountain fortress. One of the women gripped Éowyn's arm happily. "We made it, milady!" she said. Éowyn smiled, but thought grimly But at what cost?
The fortress was full of people already, all milling about and waiting for their fellows. It was a majestic and beautiful place, carved out of the mountainside and big enough to hold Rohan's many people. Down in the bowels of the fortress, the children Freda and Éothain ran with a scream of "Mama!" to a woman who knelt before them, arms open. They hugged her tearfully as the last of the riders approached.
"Make way for Théoden! Make way for the King!" a man yelled as Théoden rode by. Legolas was close on his tail, eyes still seeing the cliff and ears still full of the orc's words. Éowyn hurried towards them, eyes full of hope, though her face remained tense.
"So few," she murmured. "So few of you have returned."
Théoden dismounted and said, "Our people are safe. We have paid for it with many lives," as his niece scoured the riders for Aragorn. Legolas lifted Gimli down as she spoke again.
"Lord Aragorn," she said. Legolas could hear the rising panic in her voice as she turned to the king. "Where is he?"
Théoden did not answer as he turned away, but that was answer enough. "My lady," Gimli said, grief in his voice. "He fell." Gimli's voice broke.
Legolas turned away, feeling his chest burn with grief and rage. He wished dearly for an orc to appear, so it could feel what the elf was feeling. He would carve carved it into pieces slowly, hitting each cut after it had been made. He needed to release the fury within him, the fury that stemmed mainly from the stubborn bit of him that screamed that Aragorn was not dead, and how stupid the king was for thinking so. Did not Legolas know the foolish ranger better? Had he not seen the man come back from worse situations with a silly grin on his face? He half-expected the man to come waltzing in that moment, an easy grin playing across his face.
"Draw all our forces behind the wall," Théoden said. He was standing atop the Deeping Wall, pride of the fortress. "Bar the gate, and set a watch on the surround."
"What of those who cannot fight, my lord?" one soldier asked. "The women and the children?"
"Get them into the caves," Théoden replied. Saruman's arm will have grown long indeed if he thinks he can reach us here."
Part one of the I AM SO SORRY chapters! Oh man, you guys, I really am so sorry. I hate Finals Week. Also, wow Legolas! You need anger management.