Mo Ghile Mear

Battle for Helm's Deep

***Athena's POV***

We all got in our places for war. I was nervous, but I knew that I had to fight for the freedom of Middle-Earth. I was just so happy that Haldir came and helped us. It was very likely that Lord Elrond had asked Haldir to help us out.

I stood between Legolas and Gimli. Unfortunately for Gimli, he's a dwarf, so it was a little bit harder for him to see.

"You could have picked a better spot," he grunted as he tried to see over the wall. Legolas and I just smirked at Gimli's attempt. "Well, whatever you think, guys, let's hope that they last the night."

I turned to look at him, amused.

"Do, what?"

"Let's hope that they last the night," Gimli repeated in a more forceful voice.

Oh, Gimli. He always loved some form of fighting.

The army approached us. Finally, they stopped several feet in front of Helm's Deep and began some sort of war chant, which I thought was just a waste of time. Can we go ahead and get this fight over with?

"What's happening out there?!" Gimli asked. He sounded a bit impatient.

"Would you like for me to tell you what's going on out there?" Legolas offered. Gimli shot him a hopeful look. "Or would you like for me to find you a box?"

I gave a snort of laughter. Even Gimli laughed along, though his laughter seemed sarcastic. Finally, an arrow shot from the air, killing one of the orcs.

"Hold!" Aragorn demanding.

The orcs took one look at their dead companion before snarling. Then, the war began.

It took the orcs and goblin-men a while to climb onto the walls of the fortress, and we fought hard. Gimli and Legolas seemed to be having a good time counting how many enemies they killed.

"Legolas!" Gimli roared triumphantly. "Two already!"

Legolas just scoffed.

"I'm already on seventeen!"

Gimli did not look too thrilled about that.

"Eh?! I'll have no pointy-eared elf out-scoring me!"

Meanwhile, I was trying to kill every orc who got too close to the culvert, that was Helm's Deep's weakest point. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to kill all of them.

"Kill him, Athena! Kill them!" Aragorn instructed me in a panic.

"I'm trying!" I answered in a panic as I continued to shoot arrows. Fortunately, I managed to shoot the orc in the weak spot. Unfortunately, it managed to explode the crevice anyways, and the orcs came spilling in. We continued fighting until Theoden insisted that we should get back to the Keep for reinforcements. The saddest part of trying to get as many soldiers into the barracks was that Haldir had died. We did our best to barricade the doors, but there were so many orcs trying to get in.

"This fortress is taken. It is over," Theoden announced.

"You said that this fortress would never fall while your Men defended it," I argued as I struggled to help Gimli, Legolas, and Aragorn barricade the entrance. We were not going to give up. Not just yet. There is still hope. "They still defend it. They have died defending it!"

"Is there no other way we can hide the women and children?" Aragorn demanded. Theoden was silent. "Is there no other way?!"

"There is one," Hama answered. "It leads into the mountains. But they will not get too far, the Uruk-Hai are too many."

"Go to the caverns and get the women and children into safety. And don't forget to barricade the entrance!" I instructed, shoving Hama in the shoulder. I didn't mean to be forceful. I wanted the women and children to be safe.

"So much death," Theoden finally spoke up. "What can Men do to against such reckless hate?"

"Ride out with us," Aragorn said in a quiet voice. "Ride out with me, Athena, and the rest of us."

"For Rohan," murmured the king.

"For your people," I added.

"The sun is rising," Gimli reminded them. And Gandalf's words repeated in my head.

Look for my coming. At the light of the fifth day. At dawn, look to the east.

"Yes," agreed the king. He turned to look at us. "The Horn of Helm Hammerhand shall sound in the deep. . . . one last time!"

Gimli looked more than enthusiastic and he made an immediate beeline for the horn of Helm's Deep. We all got in our places on our horses, waiting for the enemy to intrude. Just as the horn sounded, we charged forward, colliding into the army of orcs. We fought for barely ten minutes before a loud whinnying was heard. We all turned in the direction we heard the noise. Gandalf appeared, alone, on Shadowfax. Seconds later, an army was right next to him.

With the help of Gandalf, we managed to defeat the orcs at Helm's Deep.

"Victory! We have victory!"

I immediately got off my horse and jumped into Aragorn's arms before giving his lips a kiss. We all met up with Gandalf, with big grins on our faces.

"We have plenty of things to discuss," he said. We got all of our horses and began to make our way back to Rohan. Now the land of the horses was safe. We've managed to defeat the enemy. But I knew that there were more wars coming our way. A war between good and evil. A race for the freedom of Middle-Earth. "Sauron's wrath will be terrible, his reputation swift." He paused as we looked off in the direction of Mordor. The thunder from the mountain was rumbling. Gandalf glanced over at me knowingly. "The Battle for Helm's Deep is over. The Battle for the Freedom of Middle-Earth is about to begin. All our hopes now lie with three little hobbits. . . . who are somewhere in the wilderness."

We began to trot along the war-beaten paths back to Rohan. I could overhear Gimli and Legolas counting up their fair share of killings.

"How many did you get, Master Elf?"

"Forty-two, Master Dwarf." Gimli gave a snort of laughter. Legolas turned to look at him, a bemused look on his face. "What's so funny?"

"What's so funny? It's funny that I beat you . . . . by one point!"

Legolas looked horrified. Now it was my turn to laugh. Both of them looked over at me.

"What?"

"It's funny, I beat you guys by ten extra points!"

The two of them glanced at each other, dumbfounded.

"Looks like we both got defeated by a girl," Gimli grumbled, looking devastated.