The Dark Tower

Chapter 10 - Singing and Sinking

There was barely time for breakfast before the Elvish horn sounded the approach of the orcs. Percy flashed us a smile as we sat together, barely eating, but not wanting to be apart. Until the reminder that we were at war. I kissed Gwaine and wished him luck, imprinting his face once more on my memory before leaving to take my place at the battlements where Gandalf was keeping watch. He looked grim.

‘It’s bad, isn’t it, Gandalf?’ I asked, but already knowing the answer.

He  nodded slowly. ‘We may be able to hold them off for a few days, but without re-enforcements or . . .’

‘Or?’

‘This tower. It has its own magic. Which is why it’s so desired by Sauron. It helped us yesterday but it’s very unpredictable and could see us as the enemy within rather than them as the enemy without.’

At that point, the orcs started progressing towards the main gates, the most vulnerable part of the tower. The elves started unleashing arrows at a speed so fast they could barely be seen by the eye. Orcs were falling, but there were simply too many of them.

‘I should go and help Gwen,’ I said as I saw her rushing backwards and forwards, providing fresh supplies of arrows for the elves.

‘No, stay,’ he said. ‘You will be needed if there are injuries and can see better from here.’

There was a particularly ferocious assault from the orcs where they gained considerable ground by sheer numbers and, even more worryingly, began to approach the main gate with a fearsome battering ram on wheels. Until Gandalf sent a bolt of fire down which turned the ground under their enormous feet to quicksand, and both the ram and the twenty or so orcs pulling it began to sink into the earth.

‘Oh well done!’ I said to Gandalf, as this produced total confusion amongst the not very bright orcs, and a cheer from our few soldiers. ‘Can’t you do that for their whole army?’

‘Sadly not. If the ground becomes unstable, the tower may fall.’

Once the orcs had regrouped, they simply used their own might to launch an attack on the main gates but, when that failed due to the arrow power of the elves and some strategic blasting by Gandalf, they regrouped and then fell back. We had survived another day.

Gwaine sought me out as soon as the men had checked the defences for the night, fed the horses . . . and Sorvad . . . and then returned to the main room. Those who had not seen Gandalf thanked him for his assistance and Gwen and I dished up food for the warriors as best I could.

‘You can have your room back tonight, Percy,’ I whispered, as I ladled out the stew.

‘Gwaine will be staying with you? Good. Legolas sings in his sleep.’

‘Really?’

‘Like a bird. I kept thinking it was dawn. Three times I got dressed before I realised it wasn’t.’

Sitting down next to Gwaine, he put his arm around me and helped me with my food, although sometimes he forgot and ate as much of mine as he fed to me, but I didn’t mind, just grateful for his closeness. And the fact we were still both alive.

The following morning found the enemy orcs being ordered to build fires around part of the tower’s defences.

‘This is not good,’ Gandalf said as I joined him on the battlements. ‘If this succeeds, then the outer defences will fall.’

He was right. Despite the best efforts of the elves and men to keep the orcs away from walls, there were simply too few of us and the piles of wood grew at an alarming pace. This was all too reminiscent of the pyres that Sorvad had built for Katy and me previously. They were only around a quarter of the wall, enough to create a breach big enough for the orcs to enter the outer compound en masse.

‘Could you do that spell again? The one you did to save Camelot from the flames?’ Gwaine asked me as we stood on the battlements looking at the preparations.

‘That wasn’t my spell, that was Queen Mab’s. Damn! I feel so useless!’

We had every expectation that they would light the fires that night, but we were lucky that the wind changed direction and where they had built the pyres, the wind would have blown the flames back onto their camp. Gwaine had an early watch so I stayed with him. We stood on the battlements ,Gwaine behind me, his cloak wrapped around the both of us. I leaned back into him, feeling his hair drift across my face, caressing me. This could be the last night we spent together, but I was at peace, glad that Gwaine and I were reunited. I had never before felt the strength of love I had for this man.

When his watch was relieved, we returned to my room and slept, holding each other close, reluctant to release each other even in sleep. At dawn the wind began to veer away from the orc’s camp and we were summoned by the elvish horn. We dressed quickly, Gwaine collected his weapons, and we climbed the steps to join the others on the battlements. The orcs were lighting the fires, the wood catching quickly in the morning light. The walls would be destroyed. We would no longer be under siege, we would be trapped like rats.