Thorns & Roses (Legolas Love Story)

25. Status Quo

The soft-minded man always fear change. He feels secure in the status quo and he has an almost morbid fear on the view.

But me, I am not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.

***

[ANASTASIA/SARA POV]

Fate went its course as it should be.

Aragorn returned as if from the dead, a marvel for all Helm’s Deep to behold. Yet his miraculous return came with a catch: he came bearing ill news.

Isengard had been emptied. At least ten thousand strong of Uruk-hai were marching forward to Helm’s Deep, an army of Saruman bred for only one thing: to kill.

We were hopelessly outnumbered. Theoden King ordered for all abled men to be sent to the armory, not just soldiers. Men, let it be old and young, farmers, children– all who could hold up a sword must fight.

I watched as young children were taken away from their mother, fathers from his children, husbands from their wives. The sound of anguished weeping filled the air as soldiers sent women and little children to the caves, separated from their family.

It was surreal.

‘Look around you,’ I said to the monster inside me, knowing that she was watching, ‘Is this what you want? Is this the world that you want to create?’

For the first time in forever, the monster inside me replied civilly.

‘No, Anastasia,’ she answered quietly, ‘When you and I rule, as long as they show their loyalty to their rightful king and queen, they won’t have to be separated from their families.’

‘I see that you are still delusional,’ I replied with a mock solemnity in my inner voice.

She growled. Also probably giving me a mental stink eye. I sneered at her inwardly just to piss her off, but after the brief talk, we did not bother to talk to each other again.

I noticed that the closer we get to Mordor, the stronger she got.

But so did I.

The mind works like a muscle. It is vulnerable, but its strength can be improved with time. Having her constantly trying to take control of me through my mind had somehow trained me to resist her harder, hence strengthening my mind’s defense mechanism further.

War was imminent. It was hours away before Saruman’s army attacks us, breaching the stone walls of the fortress of Helm’s Deep. Even so, the monster inside me hadn’t shaken the bars which kept her prison within me like the last time in Lothlorien. She knew now that screaming and throwing tantrum in my mind won’t do her any good.

Or maybe it was the fact that she had a minion of hers to do her dirty work, coming to get me from outside.

“Sara,” David called me weakly.

I turned to him and took his hand. I gave him a small smile, hoping it will mask the pain in my chest upon seeing the state he was in.

His skin was pale, sweat trickled down his forehead as he endured the pain from the wound on his chest. He broke a leg and an arm, rendering him unable to battle. His pain seemed to came back, and he had to drink some painkiller potions every now and then to make it more bearable for him.

“I cannot believe I had to stay here while our friends are out there, fighting a battle they cannot win,” he said shakily, his baby blue eyes pooled with a strong emotion.