Aleana and Aragorn

Chapter 39

***Aragorn POV***

I turn at Aleana's anguished scream and see her kneeling beside Haldir. My eyes widen as they fall on his fallen form and I try fighting my way towards Aleana, my eyes locked on her back. Slowly she stands, turning around and immediately I knew something was wrong. Her eyes were flickering between her normal hazel and the evil orange. She was fighting with Sauron in her mind, and by the looks of it, he was winning. 

With more urgency, I fight through the Uruks, reaching her as fast as I could. When I stop before her, she looks up, meeting my eyes as her's continue to flicker. 

"Aleana, do not listen to him," I say and she glares at me, "whatever he is saying, it is not worth it."

"He says I can kill them. I can kill them all Aragorn."

"And then what? Would we win? No, that would be no victory, not at the hands of Sauron."

"They killed Haldir! So many others have fallen," she shouts, "I must avenge them!"

"And avenge him we will," I yell back before toning down, "we will avenge them all, Aleana. But this is not the way. If you let him enter your mind, if you give into darkness, you will be no better than these Uruk-hai. You would be no better than Sauron. Is that what you wish for? Doing so would not honor Haldir's memory, it would only tarnish it." 

Her glare disappears and the flickering slows as she takes in my words. I continue, knowing that if I let Sauron continue speaking in her mind, eventually she would give in and that would be catastrophic. I hold my hand out to her. 

"Take my hand, Aleana. We can win this, together, and through good not evil. Do you trust me or Sauron?"

Her eyes turn back to hazel and immediately well up with tears and she lets them fall. She places a shaking hand in mine and I immediately pull her to me, taking her in my arms. 

"I trust you," she cries into my chest and I place a kiss on the top of her head before pulling away to look down at her. 

"I know, now let's show Sauron that we do not need to enter the darkness to destroy it. Let us show him what the light can do," I say and she nods vigorously, wiping at her eyes. She leans down and picks up her sword and we turn. At first I was surprised no Uruk-hai had attacked us during our conversation, but when I turn I see Legolas firing arrows at any Uruks that drew near to us. I give him a quick nod of thanks before grabbing Aleana's hand and run through the gate, allowing the soldiers to close it. 

We try to hold the gate as the Uruk's ram it, but soon our forces are overwhelmed and they break through. Immediately we attack them, our limbs tiring and more of our soldiers falling. I look to see Aleana fighting with as much energy as she could muster after her mind battle with Sauron.  

"Fall back," Gamling shouts.

"Retreat," Theoden is the next to shout and every turns around and hurries into the Keep. I grab Aleana's hand when I don't see she is moving and turn around, running into the Keep with all the others and barricading it's doors, hoping to hold off the Uruks long enough. 

...

The Uruks were now using the ram to batter down the Great Hall doors as our Men ran to barricade it. 

"The fortress is taken. It is over," Theoden speaks quietly, voice full of sadness and disbelief. 

"You said the fortress would never fall while your men defend it," I say turning to him, "they still defend it. They have died defending it. Tell me, is there no other way for the women and children to get out of the caves?"

I look to Theoden, waiting for an answer but he only looks at the floor quietly. I turn to Gamling. 

"Is there no other way," I ask him and he nods. 

"There is one passage," he answers, "it leads into the mountains. But they will not get far. The Uruk-hai are too many."

"We can hold them off long enough for them to reach safety," Aleana speaks up, "tell them to make for the mountain pass and then barricade the entrance." 

"So much death," Theoden suddenly speaks dreamily and we all look to him quizically, "what can Men do against such reckless hate?"

We all look to him, the ramming of the door being heard, but we are quiet, unsure of what to say. And then Aleana moves towards him, raising his face so he looks at her. 

"You can fight Uncle Theoden. Ride out and meet them for Rohan. For your people. We stand beside you uncle till our last breath. Let us show them that we are not as weak as they would like to believe."

Theoden looks at her and then he nods, "for death and glory."

"The sun is rising," Gimli informs and Aleana turns to me, a smile finding its way on her lips.

"Father. He said to look for him at first light on the fifth day. That is today," she says excited and I nod. 

Suddenly the door is broken down and Theoden places a hand on my shoulder, "let this be the hour when we draw swords together."

I nod and he mounts his horse and we run through the masses of Uruk-hai, killing all those in our path. We run out into the causeway where thousands of Uruk-hai still crowd and immediately lock ourselves into battle with them. It is then I am drawn to a sudden white light, making me look up towards the east. There, Gandalf appears on the top of the hill atop Shadowfax. 

"Gandalf," I breath a sigh of relief, a new hope settling in my heart. From behind him rides up Eomer followed by the Rohirrim. Gandalf had found them. The Uruk-hai stop fighting and look up to them as well. 

"To the king," Eomer raises his sword and the army rides down the steep hill towards us. The Uruks surge forward holding their spears in front of them but Gandalf releases a bright white light from his staff, blinding them. The Uruks stumble and we all rush forward into their masses, killing and fighting, a newfound energy within us at the sight of help.  

Now overwhelmed, the Uruks flee from Helm's Deep and I we quickly mount our horses and ride after them. They run into Fangorn and Eomer suddenly rides out in front of the men. 

"Stay out of the forest! Keep away from the trees," he shouts and we all stop, watching as the Uruks run into the forest. The trees begins to move and screams are heard from within as the Uruk-hai die. Once it all quiets, we turn and head back towards Helms Deep. 

As we reach our destination, Gandalf breaks off and rides to the top of a hill at the side of Helms Deep, followed by myself, Aleana who sat with me, Eomer, Theoden, Legolas, Gimli, and Gamling. We all look at the rising red sun. 

"Sauron's wrath will be terrible, his retribution swift," Gandalf says.

"I could have given into his words father, but I didn't and thus we beat him. There is no doubt in my heart that we cannot do it again."

He nods, turning his gaze to Mordor and we all look too. 

"The battle for Helm's Deep is over," he continues grimly, "the battle for Middle-earth is about to begin. All our hopes now lie with two little Hobbits..."

"Have faith father. We got this far, just a little more left. Frodo and Sam will succeed, of this I have no doubt."

I smile at Aleana's hope and place a small kiss on her temple, truly thankful that she was still here as was I to hold her close to me. She sighs at my kiss, settling back into my chest as we make our way into Helm's Deep. 

A/n: So just finished The Two Towers! Yay! Last movie coming up!!! Thank you for all you lovely people who have been reading this and voting and commenting. You give me the proper motivation to continue this! Hope you like it!

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