I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING.
I'm kind of making it up as I go...there's no surprise there. sorry, guys, bear with me please.
Warnings: epic battle scene! Violence, probably some language but I'm not sure.
Disclaimers: don't own LOTR,etc…
Reviews: haven't been getting any…I would very much appreciate it if I could, you know…get you guys to review my story please?
enjoy the story, then.

Chapter 9: battle

Aragorn had run the idea of me staying with them during the battle through with Théoden. Needless to say, he wasn't happy with it. He insisted that the women and children were to stay hidden safely in the mountains while the men were out fighting.

"But you have to remember, I won't be fighting," I said. "I don't know how to to save my life. I myself will be a weapon, though, and I really think you guys would benefit from my being there."

"Her knowledge has helped us in the past," Aragorn said, "and during the ambush, as well. Keep in mind what she said in Rohan. She knows what we're up against better than the rest of us."

I don't want to have to be a bitch about this and refuse to hand over info unless I get up there on that wall with them. I'm not spoiled.

Really.

.xXx.

It took a while, but Théoden had finally agreed to have me alongside the men during battle, under the condition that I learn how to defend myself. Aragorn then took me aside to finally teach me how to fight with a sword. This came with the agreement I had to give Théoden, though, that I would use it only to defend myself. But I was still contributing, and I liked that. I was finally feeling useful.

Twenty minutes in to our lesson and Aragorn told me to take a break.

"You're doing rather well," he said. "Just remember, when someone stabs at you, block it. Don't try to retaliate, because you won't hit them in time." Aragorn had almost speared me when I did that. Not sure why I didn't block…maybe it's because fighting always gets me worked up, since I don't fight often. "We'll work more on blocking later, all right?"

"Definitely," I replied. I would need to know how to defend myself more than I would need to know how to fight, given what Théoden had said.

"Don't solely rely on defense, though," Aragorn continued. "In the case that you are confronted by an Orc, you will most likely need to fight it, as it will not practice restraint on you."

"They're killing machines, got it," I said. "Defend, block, attack. Anything else?" He smiled.

"I think you've got it," he said. "Ready for round two?"

"Bring it." I jumped up, grabbing my sword. It had become somewhat lighter since I had started fighting. I figured it was because I was getting used to it.

Twenty seconds later, and Aragorn had me under his boot, the tip of his sword on my neck.

Well, maybe I wasn't as used to it as I would have hoped.

When Aragorn let me up, I rolled onto my knees, grabbing my wrist. There was a sharp twinge of pain in it. Aragorn had clashed swords with me, and mine twisted off at an angle. Instead of dropping it, I had tried to hold on to it, which only ended up twisting my wrist with it. Either way, I dropped my sword.

Aragorn was kneeling beside me then. "You all right?" he said. "Another lesson, when that happens, just drop it. Dodge your opponent or incapacitate them some other way long enough for you to pick up your weapon again."

"Thanks for that," I said through my teeth. "I'm fine. I don't need to rest, I want to keep going." I stood up and rolled my wrist around.

"You may have been a bit too focused that time," Aragorn said. "Yes, there is such a thing. If you think too much, you'll end up dead."

That made sense, actually. Your brain can't keep up with so many thoughts, so you just don't think at all. Kinda like marching band. I find that whenever I march, I don't think. When I think, I mess up. All right, I've got this down!

"Got it," I said. "Let's go."

.xXx.

My wrist made a quick recovery, so I had continued to spar with Aragorn. Once, I had him pinned, and I had been overwhelmed with a sense of pride and victory. But it got to my head, and Aragorn almost killed me in our following round. This earned me another lecture.

I wondered if I would survive the battle.

Speaking of the battle…soon after I finished my lesson with Aragorn, Théoden took me aside to test my abilities. I stayed true to what I told them back in Rohan, all the stuff I said I knew. Théoden tested that, asking me questions and such.

"Just how many are we up against in this battle?" he inquired. I sighed, thinking.

"Something like ten thousand," I answered. "We have like, three hundred." Théoden stared at me for three incredulous seconds before bowing his head and groaning.

"What are their weaknesses?"

"Their readiness to attack, straightforward fighting," I said. "There are weaknesses in their armor as well. But they have strength in numbers."

"Will anyone come to our aid?"

"As far as I know, yes."

"Do we win?"

I gave Théoden a look. "With our numbers? Not likely."

"Do not worry about the numbers, Théoden," Aragorn said. "I have confidence in this one." He put his hands on my shoulders. "She had mentioned that casualties would be great on our part, but she also mentioned that she would be able to save many lives."

I said I knew how to save Haldir, I didn't really mention anyone else…

Do you even know when this battle will be?

Um…no.

Don't you think you should tell them?

Not really. I said the battle would come either tonight or tomorrow. Even if it doesn't, we'll still be ready for it. Well, as far as I know. So would I be prepared when this battle came? Being on the wall with the guys was really something of a privilege, and I had to wonder how isolated and out of place I would feel.

More than usual?

Heh.

.xXx.

An hour and a half later I caught myself crying again. I was in a corner somewhere. I wasn't sure how I got there, or how long I had been there. I only knew that I was there at all because I heard Aragorn saying something to me. I was startled to see him when I looked up. He was staring at me, somewhat bewildered. He knelt in front of me.

"Are we ever going to have an encounter that doesn't involve you breaking down every time?" he asked quietly, stroking the side of my face with one hand. I stared at him with wide eyes.

"How…how long have I been here?" I breathed. Aragorn cocked his head.

"I don't know," he said. "At least half an hour. I've been looking for you."

I gaped.

"What are you crying for this time?"

I shook my head slowly. "I have no idea," I said. "Aragorn, I don't even know how I got here. What the hell's happening?" Aragorn sighed through his nose.

"I can't say that I know," he said.

"How can I just wander off somewhere and start bawling without even realizing it?" I said, my voice rising. "I don't know how much longer I can take this! I'm losing my mind, I—."

My face was suddenly buried in Aragorn's chest and I was gripping the back of his shirt rather tightly. He had one hand on my back and one hand stroking my hair.

I was breaking down. And I'm supposed to fight like this?

Oh right. I won't actually be doing any fighting.

.xXx.

Another hour later, and I was patrolling along the wall with Legolas. He had aquired a new bow, and spent the first twenty minutes or so on the wall just breaking it in. I had already told him about the weakness under the bridge, and he said he would keep an eye out for any signs of attack on it. And no surprise that this assurance wasn't enough to calm my nerves.

I could actually feel the tension hanging in the air. Several times I thought I heard the rumble of ten thousand pairs of feet marching up over the hill, but turned out to merely be distant thunder. And all that worrying for naught.

The two of us retreated back into Helm's Deep after twenty minutes. I was pretty much done with waiting, and Legolas wanted to see Aragorn. There were other people patrolling around the wall anyway. They had assured us that they would notify us if they saw anything bad.

We made our way down the stairs down to the main hall and to the armory, where we had been informed that Aragorn was. On our way to the armory, we saw a large group of people heading towards the back. Upon closer inspection, I identified every one of them to be a woman or a small child. I assumed the back was where the entrance into the mountains was. And to think, I came so close to being in that mass, getting crammed into a hollowed out chunk of rock worrying and awaiting the fates of the three most important men in my life (so far). I think I would have gone crazy.

Thank goodness for my "ability" to guess the future.

I spotted Aragorn just outside of the armory, sitting on some steps and talking to a young boy. He was holding the boy's sword and examining it, asking questions every now and then. I couldn't hear them, since by the time we got there, the boy had taken his sword back and left.

"It doesn't bother you at all that boys as young as him are subjected to fight in this war?" I asked. "Even I have morals about this."

"It's not up to me," Aragorn said. "Trust me, if it were, then no one that young would have to be up there for this. But you more than anyone know what we're up against. Surely you can also understand the need we have for as many soldiers as possible."

"Well, of course I do," I said. "But having them in the battle isn't going to make much of a difference. We need…"

I felt like I got punched in the chest. I had mentioned that aid was going to come, so why hadn't I told them who was going to come?

I made a break for the front gate.

"Kendra?" Aragorn called after me. I heard footsteps start up behind me. I didn't slow down for them to catch up; they caught up to me soon enough.

Just as soon as Aragorn had caught up to me, a horn sounded just outside.

"I recognize that," Legolas said from my right. "That is no Orc horn."

"It's the elves!" I nearly shouted with excitement.

"Oh, is that why you're running?" Aragorn inquired, grinning.

No sooner than we had reached the gate, the elves were already marching into Helm's Deep, longbows in hand. Théoden was coming down the steps when we reached him. One of the more prominent looking elves stepped forward, hands extended. He gave a short speech of some sort that I couldn't hear. Aragorn ran forward to greet him.

"You are most welcomed here, my friend," he said. Haldir smiled.

I would have been jumping around and squealing if I wasn't so sure that we'd be absolutely screwed over even with their help. I was meeting the elves! So cool and sophisticated, so suave…oh it was a cool feeling just being here.

Seeing Haldir reminded me of another inevitable event that I could prevent. Legolas was still standing next to me, so I tugged on his sleeve. "I can save Haldir's life."

He scrunched his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Some evil twist of fate would have it that Haldir dies during the battle," I said. "I can save him. Rather, anyone can save him so long as they just cover him the whole time."

"I don't know how much attention I can give him when we're fighting, but I'll do my best," Legolas replied. "Inform Aragorn and Haldir of this. I'm sure they'd both like to know."

"Of course," I said. "In the meantime, we should all get back on the wall."

"Why?"

"The battle's about to start."

.xXx.

I barely noticed when it started to rain. I only knew it was raining because I could hear it plinking on the armor of every man around me, and I could hear the hissing as it hit lit torches. I barely felt it on my head at all.

Naturally I had told Aragorn and Haldir of what was to become of the elf's fate should he be not careful. Now all three of them (that includes Legolas) have their eyes open.

I had uh…been given a change in attire. It so turns out that denim jeans don't protect you very well against Orc blades. So in place of my jeans and shirt, I was given a suit of chain mail and clothes more appropriate to this time setting. It was heavy. Like, more so than I had anticipated. In addition to the weight of the chain mail and my new clothes, I also had to bear the weight of the sword I was given. So much for being used to it.

A deep rumbling from over the mountain. This time, I was sure that it wasn't just thunder.

A sea of Uruk-hai, endless to the eye, emerged over the hill, brandishing weapons, shields, and torches. All of the men started muttering to each other (maybe deciding on a battle cry?), and Aragorn started shouting instructions in Elvish.

I feel really out of place.

Aragorn shouted something else as the Uruk-hai came to a stop some dozen yards from the wall, and the men in front fitted arrows into their bows. I kind of wished Legolas had taught me archery too.

Legolas started saying things in Elvish too.

"Weak at the neck, and beneath the arm," I translated quietly. My legs were shaking. The Uruk-hai started roaring. Oh this was so much more epic than just seeing it on the big screen. I mean, I thought I felt them spitting on me from way down there, but it was probably just the rain.

Aragorn gave one more loud shout and a barrage of arrows hailed down on the Uruk-hai. And they started charging. See, to me, wouldn't it make more sense to have like, everyone trained in archery? Then just do a battalion-type thing and have different rows fire at once. Reload faster, take down more bad guys? Or you could just have everyone Hail Mary at the same time. I'll bet you can hit a lot of Orc with a move like that. Why are all the archers in the back, too? Well, I guess—

"LADDERS!"

Oh, fuck.

"Well finally!" Gimli shouted.

Um, no. Not finally.

"Aragorn?" I screamed, panic rising. "ARAGORN?" I spotted him towards the back with the archers. I had to push my way through everyone else to get to him. I found myself shoving people out of my way the closer I got to him.

He was staring at me a little bit awkwardly. "Change your mind?" he asked.

My heart was hammering. Somehow I found it in me to shake my head. "N-no," I half-lied. "Just…scared?"

Aragorn looked me over, cocking his head. "Okay," he said. "Stay close to me, then."

I was half-hidden behind Aragorn when the Uruk-hai started coming over the wall.

Oh sweet Jesus.

"Aragorn?" I said. "What do I do? What should I do?"

He drew his sword. "Draw your weapon. Defend and/or fight like I taught you. Don't get in too much trouble."

I pulled my sword out of its sheath and brandished it in front of myself defensively. Damn my city girl characterization. Street fighting won't get me out of this mess this time.

"How much more trouble can I be in if I'm already on the wall?" I muttered.

And suddenly there were as many Uruk-hai on the wall as there were men. I got an adrenaline rush, and that canceled out some of the fear. At any rate, I wasn't shaking anymore. I had to keep Théoden's words in mind. I wasn't supposed to fight. Remember what Aragorn said. Don't be stupid. Just because you can allegedly see into the future doesn't mean you're a hero.

Right.

Aragorn darted away from me suddenly to go help out a comrade in danger. I guess he expected me to follow him, so I started after. He had gotten surprisingly far from me in such a short time, and as I struggled to keep up, I was intercepted by an Uruk-hai.

Oh. Well…so much for the adrenaline rush.

It was uh…much bigger up close than I had anticipated. I didn't really like that. Maybe it wouldn't look so intimidating if I hacked off three feet of its legs. All of my friends are taller than me, and I keep telling them that they wouldn't be so high and mighty if I took half of their legs.

I blocked the attack the Uruk-hai directed towards me and ducked as it swung its weapon again. I used this opportunity to cut one of its legs in half at the knee. It roared before stumbling and falling.

"Oh YEAH!" I shouted. "Who's gonna mess with me now?"

Remember what Aragorn said! Don't let it get to your head, or you'll end up dead.

Oh that's right. So I killed the Uruk-hai and ran after Aragorn.

So he and Théoden both said that I wasn't allowed to fight and I could only defend myself. One would argue that in cases like this, fighting is defending.

There were at least fifteen Uruk-hai separating me from Aragorn. Damn my slow reflexes! There's no way I can cut through all of those. I decided I had to try anyway. In the process I'd be contributing, right? I considered engaging one of the Uruk-hai in battle with me, but I had to remind myself that I couldn't unless it attacked me first.

So I kicked one in the shins.

I'd call that attacking it.

I say it's not. But that certainly did get its attention. It growled intimidatingly at me, so I flipped it off. I wonder if they knew what that meant. But whether they knew or not, it tried to attack me. It was much bigger than the last one I fought, so I had to come up with a plan to kill it.

If watching wrestling on TV has taught me anything, it's that you can push/kick your opponent into your tag team partner on the outside, who will then deliver a cheap shot to him. That just might take them out long enough for you to take the pin.

I jumped back a step, dodging an attack. I took another step backwards, then came charging back with a strong dropkick to its gut. It impaled on a soldier holding a spear. The soldier dropped the spear and glanced at me. I grinned.

Well, that took care of one. Fourteen more to go. Can't provoke an attack, can't attack them myself. How do they expect me to stay alive?

So I just charged on through the mass.

How do I expect myself to stay alive?

I decided that if an Uruk-hai so much as even raised its sword in my general direction, that was grounds for potential attack and therefore I was allowed to kill it. So here I am, slicing my way through a small mass of Uruk-hai, but Aragorn had already moved to somewhere else.

Um…what?

I looked around for Legolas. He was far off behind me. Great. So I can either look for Aragorn or go back though the mass to get to Legolas. I opted for choice number one. I looked around for Aragorn, and saw him at the back wall. I was about to call out to him, but then he and Gimli both jumped over it.

Um…WHAT?

Okay, let's go back to Legolas then.

I turned around and started cutting through a new mass of Uruk-hai. I could barely see Legolas's bright blond hair amidst the black armor of every Uruk-hai around me. I pushed past enemies and soldiers and reached out for Legolas. He was busy taking care of his own problems and didn't seem to notice me.

"Legol—!"

A backhand to my face and I hit the wall. I promptly crumpled to my knees. I looked up to see an Uruk-hai looming over me and rolled out of the way of an attack. I sliced one of its feet off, and then speared it when it fell.

I nearly grabbed the wall to help myself get up, but I had to remind myself that Uruk-hai were still coming over it by the hundreds. So I couldn't stand for now. But I wouldn't have that, so I stabbed the ground with my sword and put all of my weight on it. Slowly, I started to pull myself up.

Blond hair.

At first I thought Legolas had come to my aid, to defend me, to shelter me from attack. But it wasn't Legolas. In fact, the blond hair I saw actually belonged to Haldir. He was several feet away from me, taking on at least three Uruk-hai at once. I racked my brain for what was to happen before he was killed.

It hit me. I frantically searched the grounds. Trying to pick out one specific Uruk-hai was like looking for a needle in a really messed up haystack. Good thing that this one made himself kind of obvious.

This one was the torch runner.

"LEGOLAS!" I screamed. A few meters off, Legolas turned to look at me. "The torch! Take him down!"

I had to wish at this moment, that my memory would keep up with the events going on around me. I had to wish that my memory would arrive just a little sooner than the event so I could take care of it more efficiently. The torch runner was more than half way to the bridge by now.

Legolas unleashed arrow after arrow into the Uruk-hai. Other archers joined in, riddling the runner with arrows. It collapsed at the mouth of the bridge.

And then it tossed the torch.

Oh, well that's just great. Really.

I dove to the side as the bridge exploded, sending stones and burning shrapnel soaring into the air. I hadn't been given a shield, what with everyone worrying that it would weigh me down, so I covered myself as best I could with my arms. I was hit with some small stones, but nothing more; I was too far away from the bridge. I stood up to watch the Uruk-hai pouring into the city like ants.

Really messed up ants.

I called out to Legolas again and held my hand out to him when he looked around to face me. He took about three steps towards me when we were both intercepted by an enemy soldier. Legolas shot an arrow into the one in front of me so I wouldn't have to deal with it. Just as it crumpled, I saw something else. Something much more terrifying than some oversized Uruk-hai.

I saw Haldir on his knees.

"Oh god, NO!"

I scrambled to find my footing, then raced towards him, pushing blindly past Uruk-hai and allies alike. I didn't even bother to stop and kill anyone. I didn't have much time. There was a sword-wielding Uruk-hai standing behind him.

"NO!"

I took a desperate move and leaped five or six feet, dropkicking Haldir in the arm. Haldir rolled out of the way, and the Uruk-hai slashed the ground with his sword, several inches from my legs. It snarled angrily, and tried to wrench its sword from the ground, only to find that it was stuck. It spotted me then, and roared in my face before grabbing me by the throat.

I tried to scream, but no sound came out.

It roared at me once more, then choke slammed me into the wall, knocking an Uruk-hai trying to climb over back down to the ground.

I crumpled once more, and hurriedly tried to get to my knees. I grabbed at my head, trying to stifle the throbbing pain. The Uruk-hai grabbed and fistful of my hair and pulled me to my feet. I kicked it once in the gut and it released me, staggering backwards a few steps. Once it regained its balance, it came charging back at me. I tried jumping, but I tripped.

Its forearm connected with the side of my head and I hit the wall. Legolas shouted something and jumped towards me.

I rolled over the side of the wall.

I was freefalling towards the ground, my hair dancing with the wind. Through my hair, I could see Legolas leaning over the wall and reaching towards me with one hand, screaming my name.

I barely felt the ground when everything went black.

End Chapter 9

I seriously experienced at least three writer's block while writing out the first half of this. writer's block needs to go freaking die already.
Thanks to Lacy for helping me through the first writer's block I encountered while writing this chapter!
Thanks also to John for helping me through the third and fifth writer's block I encountered (I think it was those. The numbers might have been higher) and being supportive throughout!
I didn't plan on it being so long.
I also didn't plan on putting this off so much. The writer's blocks and school starting up again added to my procrastination, which ended up extending the time it took me to write this. Sorry again.
Review pleeeeeaaaasee!