Living Proof

Chapter Nineteen

Chaos. Chaos exploded all around Minas Tirith, with the shriek and scream of the winged fell beasts that swooped along the uppermost of tier of the city. White stone shattered, raining chunks of debris from one end of the city to the other as its denizens scattered.

Soldiers ran this way and that as they raced to their stations and amidst the madness, Gandalf's voice rang out clear. "Aim for the trolls!"

Whatever else he shouted was lost to Kaia was she followed a legion of soldiers toward the main gate, where she then stopped dead at the sight of orcs spilling over the gate and the white wizard sprang into action, scolding one of the hobbits—one she recognized as having been in the clearing at Amon Hen—for trying to fight alongside the others.

Again, his words lost as she was swept up in the battle. Ignoring the sting in her sore arm, Kaia whipped her blade about at anything that even remotely resembled an orc. But there were simply too many and it wasn't long before she lost sight of Gandalf, of the hobbit, of the other soldiers. All that mattered was staying alive as long as she could.

Metal sang against metal, the clangs deafening and the vibration of her steel meeting that wielded by creatures twice her size made her arms and shoulders and hands ache. But it didn't matter to her, for she kept swinging. Sweat soaked her hair, her tunic, slid into her wounds to sharpen the sting further, but she ignored it. Vengeance was hers and she would take it, for her village, her family, her dog, for Faramir, for Madril, for the countless soldiers who continued to fight alongside her for their own reasons, both great and small.

But most of all, she kept swinging for Boromir.

The day wore on, and the orc army fell back to regroup. The quiet was unnerving as far as Kaia was concerned. If there was one thing she did not like, it was the eerie silence that fell before something massive happened. Good or bad, she always hated waiting. Patience was not one of her strengths and she'd much rather just do than wait.

She got her wish as the Great Gate was breached and once more, orcs flooded into Minas Tirith. The moon bathed everything in a silver wash that would have been peaceful, had it not been for the bedlam around her. She lost track of all time, of all sense of where she was and what she was doing and it was amazing that as short as her training had been, her reflexes were that of one who'd spent years honing her craft. She didn't stop to think, but simply reacted and somehow managed to keep her head firmly attached to her neck, and her limbs where they belonged. Someone watched over her and guided her. It was the only explanation she could come up with.

Fire rained from above. Orcs and trolls flooded the streets winding about the city's tiers, slaughtering anything and everything in their path without so much as pausing. They just rushed forward like a wave of evil. Gandalf flew by, pure white speed, as he and his his horse directed the battle.

"Get the women and children out!" His voice thundered through the streets. "Retreat!"

He shouted this as he galloped off and Kaia didn't stop to see what anyone else was doing. Instead, she took off toward the apartments, to the interior buildings where Gondor's women and children had taken shelter.

She followed two soldiers as they threw open the door and shouted, "Retreat!" before turning and running to the next chamber to repeat the order without explanation, leaving scores of upset and confused women and their equally upset and confused children.

"Come with me," she said to the first wide-eyed woman just inside the threshold. "We need to go now. Gather the children and come with me at once!"

"Where are we going?"

"Just follow me, please. We need to leave this place right now."

Children's voices mingled. Babies cried. Women fretted. Kaia shifted her weight from foot to foot, trying hard to not frighten them more than they were already frightened, but she could hear the thunder, the clang, the screams coming from below, and knew they had not much time left.