Chapter 18: Road To Helm's Deep
The evacuees from Edoras stretched in a long line as they travelled westward towards their destination of Helm's Deep. A small military escort of a hundred cavalry and infantry protected the column, including the Fellowship, Theoden and his court. Edoras's civilian population formed the bulk of the evacuees. A few fortunate residents had packhorses, wagons or carts to carry elderly or infant family members. The rest carried their meager possessions on stretchers or their own backs.
The column had sporadically grown in number along the journey after being joined by refugees from outlying villages and farms that had been attacked by Saruman's forces. That being said, the Rohirrim's morale continued to hold due to their belief that they would be safe once they reached Helm's Deep. It was midday on the second day since Edoras had been evacuated. The Fellowship had placed themselves apart while still being in reasonable proximity to each other.
The one exception was Legolas who had volunteered to act as a forward scout for the evacuee column. Riding Deorwine, Cascala had earlier in the day conversed with Hama who was riding his own steed. The Captain of the Royal Guard spoke with pride that his eldest son, Haleth, was commencing training with Eomer's Eored later that year. Amy was now riding to the left of Theoden who was riding his own horse, a fine white stallion named Snowmane. Boromir was riding at the king's right.
For the first time since Amon Hen, the Gondorian was no longer wearing his bandage. The scar from the Uruk's shield blow was nonetheless still visible on his forehead. Boromir was advising Theoden of the current military situation in Gondor. Despite his relationship with Denethor being at its lowest ebb, Theoden felt no animosity towards the Steward's eldest son. Boromir was one of the finest military strategists in Middle-earth and Rohan was fortunate he was here to aid in its struggle with Isengard.
With sadness, Theoden privately recalled how Theodred came back from his summer in Gondor positively idolizing Boromir. His conversation with Cascala, however, was an entirely different experience. Theoden had never heard of any realm named "Pryciohaedra" before. As Gandalf had vouched for Thor's identity, Theoden didn't doubt the realm's existence or Cascala being a princess. That still didn't mean it was easy comprehending the woman's descriptions of her stepmother's realm.
"Amy- Forgive me... Princess Cascala," Theoden apologized to the Amazonian. "I've no doubt you're a woman of your word.' 'But if only half of what you've told me about Asgard is true, it would surely rival Valinor in splendor." "Valinor?" Cascala queried. "The Undying Lands," Boromir said, giving its more colloquial name known to the race of men. "The final destination of Legolas's people?" the warrior said, recalling what the Elf told her. Boromir nodded.
"It's also the realm of the Valar - the spirits that watch over Middle-earth." "All Men know of Valinor is from legend," Theoden added. It was extremely rare that Aphrotasia allowed visitors to Pryciohaedra. And certainly not visitors that wished to do it harm. On this occasion, however, the blonde knew that her stepmother could be persuaded to make an exception. "Milord," Amy addressed Theoden.
"Me and my friends are still trying to find a way back to Yusmira, let alone Pryciohaedra. Should it happen, and in exchange for your generous hospitality, I'll try to arrange for you to visit it as my guest. You can then see for yourself if the Amazon's realm is all you imagine it to be." The Lord of the Mark smiled for the first time in days. "Thank you. I would like that," Theoden replied before revealing what most intrigued him about Pryciohaedra. "If only to see what it's like to travel across a literal rainbow river."
Ahead of the trio, Eowyn held the reins of her steed as Gimli rode on its back. Vadym walked alongside her to her right. Aragorn was just a few yards behind riding his own horse. The previous day, Shadowguard had acted as a scout for the column before swapping with Legolas for the day. The First Lawful was finally able to talk to Eowyn about his home. Eowyn was staggered to learn that this "Yusmira" was nearly seventy-fold the size of Rohan.
And as for its population - surely not even Sauron had that many orcs under his command! She could never see herself exchanging a trusty mount for one of those "automobiles". However, Eowyn was curious to travel in one of those "aeroplanes" if only to see what it was like to fly like a bird. Conversation eventually turned to family. "Eomer and I've been raised by our uncle ever since we were children," Eowyn told Shadowguard and Gimli.
"Our parents died when we were quite young. Losing Theodred was like losing a brother." Vadym nodded in understanding before replying. "I'm sorry about your folks and cousin, Eowyn. My family's already dead and I've none of my own." He opted not to say that spending seven months on a rampage against several orc encampments being the major reason why. Thinking the conversation was becoming a bit morose, Gimli tried to raise the pair's spirits.
"You're a handsome young lad, Shadowguard". Gimli observed with a twinkle in his eye. "At least as far as Men go. But you really need to grow yourself a beard. Once you do, all the ladies will be demanding your favour." Vadym raised a quizzical eyebrow at Gimli and asked with restrained sarcasm, "Is that from experience, Gimli? If it's true, you must have a line of Dwarf women longer than the Anduin wanting to date, sorry, court you."
Eowyn burst out laughing at Shadowguard's wit. Even Gimli seemed to take it in good humour. "By not allowing your ladies to grow beards, you men don't know what you're missing out on," he responded with a wink. "I'm not even going to think about what that entails, thank you very much," Vadym replied with a light chuckle. "We've had no dealings with your people for so long, Gimli," Eowyn said slightly more seriously. "We know very little about what your women look like."
Gimli began educating the pair on the subject. "It's true you don't see many Dwarf women. And in fact, they are so alike in voice and appearance, that they're often mistaken for Dwarf men. And this, in turn, has given rise to the belief that there are no Dwarf women." Despite resting one of his axes on his left shoulder, Gimli waved his hands around as he continued. "And that Dwarves just spring out of holes in the ground!"
Both Shadowguard and Eowyn laughed at Gimli's remark. The Dwarf joined in the pair's merriment before he concluded, "Which is of course ridiculous!" Gimli had become so animated about this discussion that he accidentally spurred Eowyn's steed with his legs. The steed took this as a signal to go into a canter. Gimli let out a startled cry as his ride's change of pace caught him completely by surprise.
After the horse had moved a few yards forward, with the dwarf unceremoniously falling off his ride hitting the ground with a noticeable thud. The small commotion grabbed the attention of those in the immediate vicinity. Eowyn rushed to Gimli to check on his welfare while Vadym ran to catch Eowyn's steed. As soon as he caught the horse's reins he heard the dwarf trying to save face. "It's alright, it's alright," Gimli proclaimed as if nothing were amiss.
"Nobody panic. That was deliberate. That was deliberate." Vadym looked at and quietly whispered to Eowyn's steed, "You and I both know that's not true." After the salt white horse appeared to snort its consent, Shadowguard turned around to look at his two travelling companions. Although her back was turned, he could immediately tell that Eowyn was, as she begun to do so throughout the journey, gazing towards Aragorn.
It was moderately overcast the following morning. Legolas and Vadym once again agreed to exchange the role of scout at around noon. That being the case, Shadowguard found himself in the middle of the column walking between Boromir and Amy who were both mounted. The three spoke in hushed tones. "I mean no offence to the lady," Boromir said to the two Lawful. "But did either of you taste Eowyn's stew?"
Said woman had personally served a number of the Fellowship's members with some for dinner the previous night. Polite acceptance masked the Fellowship's less than graceful reaction to it. "I wouldn't have given it to a hungry giant," Cascala muttered, bitterly recalling the taste. "Gimli and I must've missed it when we went to check on Legolas," Vadym wryly informed them.
"There was this old lady who insisted on giving the three of us a platter of ham and roast potatoes. She said she wanted to reward the heroes who'd freed Edoras." Amy considered this a moment before saying, with much deliberation. "Given what happened, Shadowguard, I volunteer to take your place as a scout. It's only fair that you face the dangers of Eowyn's cooking like the rest of us." The quiet chuckle the trio shared was interrupted by a commotion seemingly at the front of the column.
A few moments earlier...
Further ahead Gamling and Hama rode through the crowds to scout ahead; past a small rise where Legolas was keeping a watchful eye out for any potential threats. As the two men reached a tall formation of rock they noticed their horses were becoming uneasy. The former looked over at the latter. "What is it? Hama?" he asked "I'm not sure," the other replied, pulling on the reins and trying to keep his mount steady.
None of them noticed the enormous wolf-like monster perched on the cliff above. The warg of Isengard, mounted by an orc scout, spurred on by its rider, suddenly growled before it jumped down and attacked the two men and the rhino changer. Hama was knocked off of his horse. He yelled in fear as the warg lunged forward and clamped its jaws around him. "Wargs!" Gamling cried, drawing his sword and beginning to battle the mounted orc.
Legolas, who was running down the hill he had just been standing on and had witnessed the exchange, fired an arrow into the warg, killing it and throwing the orc from its back. The orc screamed as he saw the wood elf lunge at him, a knife in his hand. Hearing the commotion, Aragorn and Cascala had run over the hill to see the scene. Legolas looked over as he approached "A scout!" the elf yelled at the top of his lungs.
Hearing this, the pair quickly darted back over the hill towards the column. The word "Wargs" soon rapidly swept down the column. The members of the Lawful immediately noted, just like in Yusmira, that it was a word that greatly distressed many of the civilians. "Wargs, here?" Vadym said in apparent disbelief. This reaction slightly confused Boromir who thought he was asking what it meant. "They're like a giant breed of wolf," he grimly answered. "And they're just as evil as the orcs who ride them-"
"I know that!" the armoured man shot back as he rushed forwards. Theoden's call echoed down the line, "All riders to the head of the column!" as the trio darted towards the sound of Theoden's voice further ahead. Seeing that the column was under attack, Shadowguard thought Gandalf would agree on the need for him to move with haste. It went without saying that many in the column temporarily lost their fear of wargs.
They witnessed, many of them open-mouthed, how Shadowguard easily kept up with his two friends' steeds. Ignoring this, the four were at the front of the column in quick time. Cascala noticed that Gimli was on the white horse that Eomer had given the Fellowship. The horse seemed to be stubbornly remaining in its place despite him trying to urge it forward, no doubt unwilling to face down the creatures that were coming.
"I shall go help our Fellowship's Dwarven representative," she dryly told the others before breaking away from them. Vadym and Boromir found themselves near Eowyn who was about to mount her own steed. The pair of them had no doubt what she was planning to do. Unfortunately for her, those plans came to a quick end when Theoden trotted up on Snowmane. "You must lead the people to Helm's Deep," Theoden commanded his niece. "And make haste!"
"I can fight!" Eowyn insisted. "No!" Theoden firmly rebuked her before speaking to Vadym. "Shadowguard, please ensure my niece's safety while does so." "Yes, sir," Vadym replied without hesitation, but grateful that his helmet hid the look of reluctance on his face.. Eowyn, meanwhile, was livid at her uncle's order to Shadowguard. Being denied another chance to engage in battle was bad enough...
...But to imply that she could not defend herself from enemy attack was even worse. "I have no need of escort, Uncle!" Eowyn indignantly stated. "I'm a Sh-" She stopped arguing the moment her designated bodyguard gripped her arm. Vadym thought that touching Rohan's ranking lady was probably a greater breach of royal protocol than when Aragorn argued with Theoden in the Golden Hall. The leader of the Lawful appreciated why Eowyn felt upset but this was no time for arguments.
"I'd like to fight alongside the others as well," Shadowguard quietly soothed Eowyn. "But your uncle has just given us a direct order. Let's just give him one less thing to worry about." The anger on Eowyn's face drained after the man had spoken. After slowly nodding her agreement, she walked towards the civilians in the column. "Make for the lower ground!" she firmly told them. "Stay together!" Vadym looked at Theoden.
The king gave him a small nod of appreciation before charging forwards. The former then shared a knowing look with Boromir. "See you at Helm's Deep," he said with simple optimism. "Until then, my friend," the latter replied before spurring his mount towards the oncoming battle. Unlike the two friends who did not give even the slightest of backward glances as they went their separate ways, in comparison, Eowyn and Aragorn shared one last look before the latter rode off with the other riders of the column.
As the company of riders neared the slope of a hill, Amy noticed a Rohirrim's badly mauled body on the ground next to the bodies of the warg and orc that had killed him. She closed her eyes in grief and regret when she realised that the dead Rohirrim was none other than Hama. Approaching the crest of the hill, Cascala noticed that Legolas had been firing arrows at the oncoming enemy. There appeared to be dozens upon dozens of warg-riders charging headlong towards the Rohirrim and their allies.
Amy thought Legolas demonstrated Amazonian-like reflexes as the Elf effortlessly stopped Gimli's horse before vaulting onto its back. In response to the warg's howling and snarls, Theoden led the column's riders in replying with a defiant cry. For her part, Cascala intended on showing the wargs and their riders no mercy. Reflecting the skilled warrior culture that she was part of, the Amazon resolved to do just that and threw her shield at a warg that was coming straight at her and Deorwine.
There was a loud crack as the metal disc broke the warg's skull, causing it and its rider to tumble to the ground before she grabbed hold of her shield as it boomeranged back into her hand. Theoden and the rest of the Rohirrim did not have time to be amazed at the sight. Within seconds, the two sides collided head-on and engaged in bloody combat. As soon as her shield had returned to her left hand, Amy struck a warg-rider to her right.
The orc screamed in pain before falling backwards off his mount as a result of the blow's power. Before his body even hit the ground, the surviving warg made to sink its yellow fangs in Deorwine. The beast didn't even have time to blink as Cascala stabbed it in its temple, immediately killing the warg. The battle between the column's riders and the warg-riders was very chaotic. As he rode through the battle, Boromir thought there seemed to be little unit cohesion displayed.
By that point the battle had degenerated essentially into a series of individual duels. If the Rohirrim were fighting other horsemen then it would not be too much of a problem. But in this battle, a Rohirrim soldier had to fight not just an orc but the orc's mount as well. Several of them either were dismounted or killed when a warg attacked their horse first. As she engaged in combat, Amy tried keeping track of the other Fellowship members in the battle.
She became slightly concerned when she saw Gimli on the ground in a defensive stance. Just as he prepared to receive a warg's lunge at him, Legolas shot it with an arrow from horseback. "That one counts as mine!" an indignant Gimli called to the elf before having to defend himself from another warg's attack. Cascala inwardly chided himself about forgetting her competition with the elf and dwarf as she bisected the head of a warg-rider with a downward strike.
The Amazon's attention was soon caught by more pressing matters. Theoden showed good agility for a man his age as he parried and defeated a pair of enemy attacks. In some ways, Theoden had welcomed the opportunity to engage these warg-riders. It allowed him to vent some of the anger he still felt over Saruman's possession as well as the grief felt by Theodred's death. However, there were not enough Royal Guards to ensure that the king was well protected from all sides.
Theoden thought he was about to join his fallen son after being caught unawares by a riderless warg that leapt straight towards him. A fast moving shape piledrived the warg on the side of its head before propelling its lifeless body a few yards to Theoden's right. He looked over to see that Amy had come to his aid. "My thanks, my lady," Theoden thanked him. The female warrior simply gave a nod in response.
Like Vadym earlier, the Amazon felt Gandalf would understand a more open display of power given the circumstances. "Enough of this, Milord," Cascala boldly proclaimed. "No more of your riders shall fall on this day!" To Theoden's astonishment, she leapt off Deorwine and began running at an impossible speed for any mortal man. She then released a cry fiercer than any warg's howl while lighting erupted from the blade of her sword.
Amy's actions immediately caught the attention of many of the combatants, including both Legolas and Boromir. With bolts of lighting flying out behind her, Amy resembled a whirlwind of death as she struck warg after warg in rapid succession as the Amazonian quickly scattered countless wargs and their riders in all directions. The elf and man were so fixated on Cascala's display they failed to notice that Aragorn was in trouble.
He was struggling to free himself from a warg that had lost its rider, who he had killed earlier, and was blindly charging towards the edge of a cliff. Unnerved by Amy's speed and strength, many warg-riders immediately routed towards Isengard in a tight pack. To the deadly fatal surprise of several of their number, the blonde-haired warrior was more than capable of keeping up with them. She found it trivially easy to run up to the fleeing wargs before crippling them from behind with a blow to the spine.
The handful of surviving warg-riders that managed to free themselves from their crippled mounts now had to face Thor on foot. The Lawfuller had killed them all within seconds. A few moments after her rampage had finished, Cascala noticed a group of Rohirrim riding up from behind as quickly began plunging their spears and lances into any immobilized foe. Wargs that were in their death throes expressed their pain with grating cries and whimpers.
In truth, Aphrotasia had often worried about the cruel streak that her heir sometimes displayed during his darker moments. This was such a moment as Amy jogged back to the rest of the Fellowship. She ignored the looks he was getting from the Rohirrim as they momentarily paused from killing. "Personally, I'd let them suffer," the woman muttered in cold reference to their crippled enemies. Cascala's vindictiveness quickly dissipated when he returned to the main group.
Many riders had dismounted and were tending to others lying on the ground. Those grounded who were not dead instead released a cacophony of painful cries from the wounds they'd sustained. Other hale riders had the grim duty of having to dispatch wounded horses that had no chance of recovering. Given the love they had of their horses, Amy was not surprised to see a number of Rohirrim had a tear running down their cheeks as they conducted their mercy killings.
She soon came across Gimli. The Dwarf was flailing helplessly on his back under the weight of the corpses of two wargs. As Cascala began to pull Gimli out from under the warg's remains, he tried lightening the Dwarf's spirits and his own. "You should feel flattered, Gimli," he wryly commented. "The orcs and their wargs were unable to kill you by blade or fang. They had to resort to squashing you." "I'm sure the Elf planned to put me in this position," Gimli indignantly grumbled while getting back on his feet.
Amy simply released a weary smirk as he gave Gimli a supportive pat on the back. It was then that Boromir walked up to the pair with a concerned look on his face. "Have either of you seen Aragorn?" he asked straight up. The former shook her head. "Nay. I lost track of him not long after the battle started." The three started calling out Aragorn's name and grew increasingly nervous when he didn't respond. They noticed that Legolas was searching the ground near a cliff edge.
It was the same cliff that Aragorn had been involuntarily heading towards. The three of them began walking to Legolas in the hope that his keen senses had located Aragorn. Legolas had heard the trio of Fellowship approaching him as well as their calls beforehand. "I've found no trace of Aragorn either," Legolas worriedly reported. The Fellowship then heard a snicker from a dying warg-rider close by. It was none other than the suicidal warg's rider himself, known as Sharku by his fellow orcs.
Cascala walked over to him and pulled him up by his collar with both hands. Sharku's feet were not even touching the ground as the Amazon glared into his eyes with a burning hate. "If you know what happened to our friend, tell us," Amy steely demanded. "I'll grant you a merciful death." Sharku was neither moved by the Amazonian's tone nor "reward". "He's dead," the Orc chortled, clearly enjoying the fact that his dying words would break the spirits of such a representative group of the Free Peoples.
After a cough, he provided the brief details of Aragorn's demise. "Took a little tumble off the cliff," the rider revealed. Boromir immediately raced towards the cliff edge. "You lie!" Legolas exclaimed to Sharku with uncharacteristic anger. The Prince of Mirkwood refused to believe that such a great Man as his friend had been killed by a cliff fall. Not when Middle-earth most needed Aragorn to finally accept his destiny. Sharku gave a horrible gurgle before he expired in Amy's grip.
It was then that Legolas, Cascala and Gimli noticed an object fall softly from Sharku's dead hand. The elf bent down to pick it up and brought it up for them all to see. The trio's eyes collectively widened in horror when they saw the object was the pendant of the Evenstar. Amy angrily threw Sharku's body aside before she, Legolas and Gimli joined Boromir at the cliff's edge. The cliff was steep with its face bottoming out at a rocky riverbank with the river flowing to the west at a great speed.
The four saw no trace of Aragorn either on land or in the river. Such was the group's shock that none noticed Theoden had come up behind them. The Fellowship only turned around at the sound of Gamling's question to Theoden. "Your orders, milord?" Gamling asked his liege. "Get the wounded on horses," Theoden answered. "Despite Princess Cascala's deeds, I suspect these aren't the only wolves in Isengard's service."
After a pause, and despite the sorrow he felt for so many of his fallen subjects around him, the man then coldly added, "Leave the dead." "Until we see his body, Aragorn is not dead!" Amy defiantly declared with a touch of grief and denial. "We will join you at Helm's Deep after finding him." Theoden noted by the look in Legolas and Gimli's eyes that they intended to do what the Amazon said. The king was not all surprised by their reactions to his orders.
But he was very surprised by who spoke in defence of his authority. "What would Aragorn have us do?" Boromir rhetorically asked the rest of the Fellowship. "He and Shadowguard are our Captains. They ordered us to assist with the defence of Helm's Deep as highest priority." It was then that Boromir realised he was sounding just like Aragorn did when ordering the Fellowship to make for Lothlorien.
Together, the Gondorian believed that the combined pride of Legolas, Cascala and Gimli would tower over Mount Doom. It was no small relief then that none of them remonstrated with him as he had done with Aragorn outside of Moria. Boromir wondered- No. Guessed that the Ranger had probably felt as awful at the time as he currently did. Despite their feelings on the matter, the three non-men knew that both Theoden and Boromir were each correct in their own way.
They each looked down the cliff face as a final farewell to Aragorn before they headed back to their steeds. Deorwine sensed something was wrong with Amy and gave her a tiny nuzzle in an attempt at comfort. "Thank you, my friend," the woman murmured in response before mounting his steed. Holding on to Legolas, Gimli looked over his shoulder to see her start riding east - the opposite direction of Helm's Deep.
"Cascala!" Gimli called out to him in concern. "Where are you going, lass?" "I will be but a moment, Gimli," she replied without even turning around to look at him. Amy quickly rode back to where Hama's body was. As soon as she had dismounted, Cascala respectfully removed Hama's sword and scabbard. It appeared that the Captain of the Royal Guard hadn't even had the chance to draw his weapon in defence when he had been attacked.
She walked over to the corpse of Hama's steed and removed a blanket that was being carried in the saddlebags before gently placing it over the man's face before holding it down with the Rohirrim's helm. After a moment, Amy then spoke to Hama's covered corpse. "Leaving your body behind is a poor reward for such a loyal Captain." Cascala soberly saluted before promising, "But you have my word, I shall give your sword to your son." She then mounted Deorwine before rejoining the remaining riders as they travelled towards Helm's Deep.
While its riders had been engaged in battle, the remainder of the column continued towards Helm's Deep. A tense atmosphere pervaded due to the uncertainty over how the riders were faring against Saruman's wargs. An unspoken concern was that if another warg pack attacked the column, there was no cavalry screen to protect it. On that basis, no one objected to Eowyn's decision for the column to get to Helm's Deep without stopping for a break.
During the journey, many Rohirrim wished they had the speed that Vadym had demonstrated earlier. Shadowguard was walking a few yards to Eowyn's left. He was guiding by the reins the horse carrying Freda and Eothain. But the brother and sister were not the only children within Vadym's proximity. A gaggle of more than a dozen Rohirrim children (both boys and girls) between the ages of six and twelve all walked closely along beside him.
They'd been initially attracted by the Yusmiran's strange suit of armour, but the man soon had their attention for another reason. Eowyn wondered how Shadowguard - not being a father himself - had learned to be such a brilliant entertainer of children. He was currently giving his audience a highly sanitized version of his and his friends' many stories. Eowyn had to suppress a grin at the children hanging on to Vadym's every word, making his exploits sound like a series of grand adventures.
Some would no doubt understandably criticize Shadowguard for glorifying war to the children, but he was only doing so to take their minds away from the prospect of more warg attacks. In fact, Eowyn actually found herself caught up in one or two of the stories. The Shield-maiden thought the Dark Lord with the strange name of "Warus" and his minion "Glott" sounded as loathsome a pair as Saruman and Grima.
Although she had known Vadym for only a few days, Eowyn had quickly developed a strong liking of the man. He was a soldier who treated her and her role as a shield-maiden with respect and as an equal. Despite being a great warrior, Shadowguard did not possess any arrogance or act if any ordinary task was beneath him. Furthermore, his gallantry, kindness and gentlemanly manners reminded her so much of Theodred.
From what he told her, Eowyn understood that he came from a humble background and thought that his nobility surpassed many Rohirrim who had inherited theirs as a title. At about noon, the column came within sight of its intended destination. Helm's Deep was wedged into a narrow steep-sided valley. Its front was facing north with a sheer cliff face at its back. Its most prominent feature was the Hornburg, a tower some three hundred-foot tall surrounded by concentric inner and outer walls.
The Outer Wall stood one hundred feet above the ground and had the Gatehouse to its front which was the only entrance into the fortress. Two large wooden doors set between two guard towers were approached by a curving stone causeway. Behind the Inner Wall was a courtyard with several archways that had been carved into the rock itself. They led to the fortress halls, quarters, stables, and armory.
Connecting the Hornburg with the other side of the ravine was the Deeping Wall which was over thirty feet high and nearly three hundred feet long. Vadym's initial impression of Helm's Deep was that it was like and yet unlike many of the structures he had seen in Yusmira. He followed Eowyn up the causeway with Freda and Eothain in tow. As soon as he passed through the main gates, Shadowguard was immediately struck by how crowded Helm's Deep already was; refugees were everywhere including on the ramp that curled up to the courtyard.
The leader of the Lawful grimly thought history showed a crowded location under siege was often vulnerable to the threat of disease. The sentries assigned to Helm's Deep had to act as traffic cops directing the new arrivals to less crowded areas of the fortress. Seeing that Shadowguard was close to Eowyn, the king's daughter, one sentry assumed immediately that he must be a man of importance. "Would you like me to take your horse to the stable, milord?" the man offered to Vadym.
"Thanks," the Yusmiran replied before taking Freda and Eothain off the mount. He then heard a woman's voice call the children's names coming from somewhere behind him. "Mama!" Freda screamed in joyful recognition. She and her brother ran at full speed until they shared a tearful and relieved hug with their mother who had arrived at Helm's Deep earlier. Under his helm, Shadowguard smiled as he took in the happy family reunion. Not all victories in war were solely won on the battlefield.
Satisfied that he had kept his promise to Freda; Vadym started assessing the layout within Helm's Deep. Sentries allowed him up the steps that led to the top of the Outer Wall. Eowyn had instructed them to extend every courtesy to the warrior named "Shadowguard". Vadym walked east along the outer wall until he reached its conjunction with the Deeping Wall. He estimated that both walls were thick enough to have defenders in ranks of three or four.
To his left, Shadowguard noted that a narrow ramp led from the top of the gatehouse into the courtyard. The ramp passed through a narrow archway that formed the base of a small stone turret at its base. Vadym also saw a large area of dead ground that stood behind the Deeping Wall and the sloping to gradually sheer cliff face that Helm's Deep backed into. The area was beginning to fill with refugees with many setting up tents in the area; a thick iron door at the bottom of the Hornburg giving access to it.
He also noticed a small stream flowing from the cliff wall until it exited through a small iron culvert at the base of the Deeping Wall. As far as he was concerned, the feature was both good and bad news. The good news was that it would appear the fortress had a secure fresh water source while the bad news was that the culvert gave the Deepening Wall a very clear weak point.
Overall, Shadowguard concluded that in the event of an assault, the two critical points would certainly be the Deeping Wall and the Gatehouse. After asking a sentry where he could find Eowyn, the Lawfuller walked over the ramp that connected the Gatehouse to the Courtyard. When he emerged into the courtyard, he saw in its middle a stone statue of a heavily bearded man wearing armour holding a horn in his hand and assumed that this had to be the Rohirrim King that the fortress itself was named after.
King Hammerhand, Vadym mentally promised the statue. If Saruman's forces want to step foot in here, they'll first have to get past the Lawful. Shadowguard eventually found Eowyn in a small-enclosed area of the Courtyard. She was inspecting food supplies in conjunction with the fortress quartermaster. The food was mostly bread, potatoes with some eggs and dry meat. It wasn't much of a supply compared to the number of people within the bounds of Helm's Deep.
Eowyn also seemed to have the same concerns. "Where's the rest?" she asked the quartermaster. "This is all we could save, milady," the quartermaster awkwardly replied. After a beat of silence, the daughter of Theodeon gave him a command, "Take it to the caves." "Caves?" Vadym repeated with curiosity. "The Glittering Caves," Eowyn clarified for him. "They're within the rock face. In the event of an attack, those who can't fight can take refuge in them."
Secretly, she held onto the hope that her uncle would not count her among that number. After leading the column unscathed to Helm's Deep as instructed, surely she'd be allowed to defend the fortress as Rohan's leading shield-maiden? "The jeweled caverns are quite spectacular, Shadowguard," Eowyn continued, describing the Glittering Caves in detail. "Especially when torchlight is reflected off the large pool. Under happier circumstances, I would be glad to give you a tour of them."
Before the man could reply, he and Eowyn's attention was caught by the sound of Gamling's voice echoing up the ramp into the courtyard. "Make way for the King! Make way for Theoden!" Both Eowyn and Vadym rushed out into the courtyard proper. Theoden's force halted around the statue of Helm Hammerhand. Many within the courtyard immediately began moving wounded riders to the infirmary. Several others began sobbing when they didn't see riders who were also loved ones.
Shadowguard began immediately looking for the rest of the Fellowship. After doing a rough estimate of the number of returning riders, a shocked Eowyn voiced her observation to her uncle. "Only half of you have returned!" "Our people are safe," Theoden advised her grimly. "Without Amy- Princess Cascala, our losses would've been far greater." As the King of Rohan said this, Vadym saw the said Lawfuller dismounting alongside Boromir.
He immediately walked up to and shared a heartfelt arm grip with each of them. "You'll need to tell me what you did," Shadowguard wryly remarked to the Amazonian. "Perhaps I shall tell you later," the blonde-haired woman stoically replied. Vadym's smile quickly melted away. Boromir appeared to be just as downcast as she was. It was only then that realised that one of the Fellowship's members, who had been a part of the column, was missing.
"Where's Aragorn?" he asked with a rising sense of dread. It was then that he overheard Gimli's reply to Eowyn who had asked the Dwarf the same question. "He fell," Gimli answered in a voice that was choked with sorrow. Eowyn and Shadowguard shared a look. Even in her grief at Gimli's news, Eowyn did not want to show any public display of weakness. She broke away from Rogers' gaze before rushing up the stairs into the main hall.
At least the excuse of following Theoden could be used as a pretext to privately unleash the tears that wanted to burst from her. Vadym had seen similar looks to Eowyn's before and knew what she was really up to and thought it best not to go after her. Largely because he felt the same way about Aragorn's death as she did. Shadowguard brought his attention back to those of the Fellowship still alive.
"With the loss of Aragorn you're now our sole captain," Legolas observed to Vadym with melancholic dignity. "What would you have us do?" Shadowguard looked down at the ground for a moment or two before looking back up to look into each of their eyes. The two narrow points of white that marked where his eyes were had narrowed. He soberly spoke three words to them.
"We get ready."