Chương 91: [The Two Towers - Part 3]

On the battlements, Legolas peered over the stone, his Elven eyes cutting through the dark. He looked down at the dwarf, who was straining to see anything at all.

"What's happening out there?" Gimli grunted.

"Shall I describe it to you?" Legolas asked with a smirk.

"Or would you like me to find you a box?" Gimli's boisterous, gravelly laughter filled the room and they all laughed. Rika leaned back, clutching a cushion and laughing.

"I swear, I love these two! They're facing ten thousand monsters and still have time to make jokes." The heavy, rhythmic thumping of the Uruk-hai spears echoed through the room. On screen, the tension peaked as an elderly man, his fingers slipping on his wet bowstring, accidentally loosed an arrow early.

"That sort of thing should be expected. Half their number are young boys and old men" Torren said, though his eyes were fixed on the falling Uruk. Aragorn's roar to "Hold!" didn't stop the inevitable. The march began in earnest, and the battle began. The Trio watched, mesmerized, as the Elves stood atop the battlements, firing in perfect, lethal volleys.

"The Elves in our world are also famed for their use of the bow," Shai noted, her eyes tracking Legolas's fluid motions. Rika nodded, her wings giving a small, sharp flutter of excitement.

"I'd love to speak to one of their warriors about that someday." The mood shifted as massive ladders slammed against the stone. Gimli's shout of "Good!" at the prospect of finally seeing his enemy earned a chuckle from Torren. The dwarf cut down the first warrior to crest the wall, but the victory was short-lived as a massive Uruk Berserker landed, clearing those around him with a single, brutal swing. Shai's expression grew pained as she watched the defenders fall.

"Three hundred men... it's not enough. Every loss is a disaster." Leo leaned toward her.

"It's best not to try and keep count, Shai. Trust me, I get stuck on the numbers in movies too, but it's better just to try and enjoy the action." The adrenaline surged as Aragorn took out a Berserker and Gimli performed a nimble slide between an Uruk's legs to end it. When the two started shouting their kill counts, Gimli at a measly two while Legolas sat at seventeen, Rika burst out laughing at the dwarf's frantic excuses.

The camera pulled away from the blood and rain to the quiet, slow-moving world of the Entmoot. Treebeard and the others had finally decided the Hobbits weren't Orcs, but they were still debating Saruman. Merry and Pippin looked furious.

"I actually agree with the Hobbits," Rika said, her brow furrowed in annoyance.

"Every second counts and they're having a meeting about if they're orcs or not?"

"If they've lived for thousands of years, everything probably seems slower to them," Torren suggested reasonably.

"A few hours is like a heartbeat to a tree." Rika shot him a look.

"Just because they're tree people doesn't mean you have to defend them." The lads shared a laugh at her indignation. Back at the fortress, the Uruk-hai moved up the ramp toward the main gate in a perfect Roman-style testudo. Aragorn's command saw the Elves pivot as one, raining arrows into the formation until Uruks began tumbling off the sides of the causeway. Shai looked impressed by the coordination. Théoden, watching from above, said the famous line: "Is this all you can conjure, Saruman?"

"Yeah!" Rika cheered.

"They can actually hold if this keeps up!" The lads exchanged quick, silent glances, biting back smirks to avoid giving away what was coming. The Uruks planted their black-powder "bomb" at the grate—the one weak spot in the wall. Rika went silent as she recognised the bomb.

"Oh no..." The room watched as a lone Berserker, torch held high, sprinted for the target. Legolas's arrows hit him once, twice, but the monster didn't stop. He made the final leap, and the Deeping Wall vanished in a colossal explosion of fire and stone. Debris rained down, flattening defenders and Uruks alike, leaving a gaping hole in the wall that had never before been breeched. The trio sat stunned, the flickering light of the explosion reflecting in their wide eyes as they processed the level of destruction.

For a moment, their focus shifted from the cinematic spectacle to Sam's earlier explanation of gunpowder. The sheer power that their world commanded through technology struck them once again; the idea that such volatile force was once the "older way" of Sam's people was sobering. While they never imagined the people of Monkhaven would ever turn such weapons on them, seeing the wall broken so easily made the fact that guns didn't work in their world feel like a blessing.

The sound of the battering ram slamming against the main doors snapped them back to the screen. Théoden was shown shouting for the men to brace the gate, while the Uruk-hai on the causeway, no longer pinned down by Elven archers, hammered away at the entrance.

"I hope they're okay," Torren said, leaning forward with a look of genuine concern.

"That doesn't look like something you just walk away from." The dust cleared to reveal Aragorn pulling himself out of the water in the middle of the smoking gap where the wall had stood. As the enemy began to swarm toward him, Gimli—still perched on the battlements above—bellowed his friend's name and leaped recklessly from the wall. He landed hard on a group of Uruks, sending them sprawling. Rika let out a sudden laugh as Aragorn shouted, "Gimli!"

only to see the dwarf immediately knocked over into the water while swinging his axe. Aragorn quickly barked a command in Elvish, and the ranks of Elves behind him leveled their bows, firing a devastating volley into the oncoming masses.

"That looked so good!" Rika said with a wide grin. But the moment of awe wasn't over. As the music swelled, Legolas tossed a fallen shield onto the stairs and stepped onto it, surfing down the steps while firing arrows into the crowd. This daring move bought Aragorn the time he needed to pull a sputtering Gimli from the water. Shai watched the screen, her tail swaying beside her.

"Oh, that's just showing off," she said, past the point of being amazed by Legolas' antics. The screen shifted back to the Entmoot, where Treebeard somberly told the hobbits that the Ents had decided they would not go to war, stating, "This is not our war." Merry's desperate shout that they were part of this world had Rika nodding along despite herself. The Ent continued, telling them their part in the story was over. Pippin looking at Merry, asked what they could do, they still have the Shire.

Merry's grim realization that if the war continued, there wouldn't be a Shire left, struck a chord with the group.

"Merry is right," Rika said firmly.

"If everyone does nothing, then evil wins."

"I think we have a saying back home that sounds very similar to that," Luka added quietly. The focus snapped back to the carnage at Helm's Deep. Aragorn was shown shouting for the defenders to fall back to the keep as more of the enemy flooded through the hole in the wall. The Trio looked increasingly worried as the retreat moved up the rain-slicked steps. The mood plummeted further as the camera found Haldir. He took a heavy hit but fought on, only for an Uruk-hai Berserker to strike him fatally from behind.

Aragorn killed the Uruk but could only watch as his Elven friend died in his arms. In a moment of grieving rage, he climbed a ladder, pushing off the wall, diving headlong into the masses outside the wall. Rika had gone quiet, her usual fire dampened as she watched the Elven captain fall. Beside her, Torren sat with his elbows on his knees, watching the screen. Leo glanced at Shai. She wasn't falling apart, but her ears were low and her breathing had gone uneven.

He'd seen her get sucked into the story like this before, when Gandalf fell and Boromir died, but he found himself noticing it more this time. In her focus on the screen, she was completely unaware that her tail had drifted across the cushion and settled into his lap. Leo felt the weight of it. He looked down at the soft fur against his trousers, then at Shai's profile. He thought back to the last time, remembering how she'd pulled away in a flash of embarrassment.

He looked back at the screen and tried to focus on the movie. He didn't want to make it a moment she had to defend or explain. He just rested his hand on her tail and began stroking the fur in a slow, calming motion. It was instinctive and quiet, and honestly, he found the contact just as comforting as he hoped she did. Shai went still the second she felt his hand. Her breath caught and she looked down at his hand, then up at his face, her heart hammering.

In her culture, a gesture like this was intensely private, and a flash of heat started to crawl up her neck. She almost pulled away. But Leo wasn't looking at her with a smirk or waiting for her to react. He was watching the movie, his expression steady, his hand continuing that slow, calm motion. He was just there. Just kind, in that quiet, effortless way that had been catching her off guard since they met. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

The tension in her shoulders slowly melted. She let out a long breath and turned back to the screen. She didn't move her tail. As the battle pushed on, she leaned just an inch closer, letting her shoulder find his. The siege ground on, the screen filled with the relentless push of Saruman's army. Théoden was shown down at the main gate, physically bracing against the wood and steel to fend off the breach.

Torren watched the King with a nod of approval, noting that he was right there with his men, fighting alongside them. He remarked that such a display was how a true leader leads. The tension shifted as the camera found Gimli and Aragorn standing hidden, watching the Uruk-hai swarm the causeway. When Gimli grunted that Aragorn was going to have to toss him and added a stern "Don't tell the Elf," a wave of laughter broke through the room. It was enough to finally clear the lingering sadness from Haldir's death.

Watching the pair fight back-to-back against the tide as the music surged earned a cheer from Rika and a bright smile from Shai. Leo looked over at her, returning the smile before turning his focus back to the screen. The scale of the assault increased as massive, wider ladders were hoisted against the higher stone walls. Ballistas fired heavy bolts with ropes attached, anchoring the ladders to the fortress and preventing the defenders from pushing them back.

Torren commented on the sheer length and exhaustion of the battle. Phil leaned in to tell him that, in reality, it took the actors and crew around three to four months of long nights in the rain to film it. The trio looked back at the screen with newfound respect, genuinely impressed by the endurance of the people involved. The scene shifted back to the forest, showing Pippin convincing Treebeard to take them south, closer to Isengard, claiming it was the last route home Saruman would expect.

Rika looked confused by the logic but remained silent, watching the plan unfold. A brief moment with Frodo followed, his voice desperate as he told Faramir that the Ring would not save Gondor, that it had only the power to destroy, and pleaded to be let go. Back with the Ents, the mood turned somber as Treebeard stepped out of the tree line to witness the devastation of his home. The forest had been completely gutted; nothing remained but ash and jagged stumps.

His sorrow was palpable as he realized many of the fallen were his friends. It was in that moment of grief that his mind changed. He let out a long, haunting howl that echoed through the woods, summoning the rest of his kin. Torren looked just as sad at the sight of the destroyed forest. He sat with a pained expression, clearly hating the senseless destruction of the land. However, when Pippin noticed the trees in the distance beginning to move, Rika's grin returned.

Treebeard's deep, rumbling declaration that his business was with Isengard tonight, and that the Ents were finally going to war, earned a fierce smile from Rika.

"About time," she muttered, her eyes bright with anticipation. The scene shifted back to Osgiliath, where the weight of the war felt suffocating. Sam's desperate shout that Boromir had been driven mad by the Ring hit Faramir like a physical blow. Seeing the flicker of pain and disbelief on Faramir's face as he learned the truth about the brother he loved moved the Trio. A catapult strike nearby shattered the moment, and Shai, watching Frodo's vacant expression, leaned forward.

"Is he doing that again?" she asked, remembering the trance-like state he'd entered before.

"Does that mean the Nazgûl are close?" Almost instantly, Frodo confirmed her fear, and Faramir's shout sealed it as the winged shadow swept toward the ruined city. Rika huffed, crossing her arms.

"These guys seriously cannot catch a break." The camera cut back to the grim reality of Helm's Deep. The outer walls had fallen, and the last of the defenders were trapped in the Hornburg. Men threw their bodies against the main doors, bracing them with scrap wood as the wood splintered under the battering ram. Théoden's voice was hollow, his hope seemingly extinguished.

"They tried," Torren said softly, his respect for the defenders clear.

"They did better than they had any right to, considering those odds." Aragorn's refusal to give up sparked a change in the room. When Théoden asked his famous, haunting question, "What can man do against such reckless hate?", Leo mimes the words along with him. Shai noticed and offered him another small smile, her tail still resting comfortably in his lap.

As Aragorn proposed the final, suicidal charge to buy time for the women and children, the atmosphere in the living room shifted from dread to a buzzing anticipation. Théoden and Aragorn's calls for "Death and Glory" and "For Rohan" brought the music to a swelling crescendo. Gimli noted the rising sun, and Aragorn watched a shaft of light pierce the gloom of the hall.

"They just need to hold on a little longer," Shai whispered, her hand tightening slightly on the cushion.

"Riding out into that mess takes some serious courage," Rika added, her wings buzzing with excitement.

"Good thing we know they've got it." Théoden's command to draw swords together saw the lads' grins widen; they knew the climax was here. The Trio watched, mesmerized, as Gimli sprinted to the ancient horn of Helm Hammerhand. The defenders mounted their horses, the tension reaching a breaking point as Théoden cried out, "Now for wrath, now for ruin, and the red dawn!"

"FORTH EORLINGAS!" The horn's deep, mournful blast echoed through the room as the gates burst open. The Rohirrim charged down the causeway, the banner of Rohan flying high as they smashed through the Uruk-hai ranks.

"I can't believe how many they've managed to kill with so few," Torren remarked, his eyes wide as he tracked the slaughter. Then, the music shifted. Aragorn looked up to the ridge. Gandalf appeared, white and brilliant against the rising sun. When he says that Théoden King stands alone and Éomer answers, "Not alone," his riders crested the hill. Rika actually shouted, "Reinforcements!" The lads laughed at the pure glee and relief in her voice.

The Rohirrim charge was a literal wall of light and steel, blinding the Uruk spearmen as they collided with the remains of the army.

"Gandalf really does arrive precisely when he means to, doesn't he?" Torren noted with a dry chuckle. Leo and Phil exchanged a look, as if they'd never quite made that specific connection to Gandalf's earlier quote, and burst out laughing.

"Yeah," Leo agreed, "he really does." Next, the scene transitioned to the Ents attacking Isengard. With the walls already breached, the Ents moved like living siege engines, and Torren smiled at the revenge the forest was finally taking. Rika asked why there weren't many left to defend the stronghold, and Phil explained that the vast majority of the army had just been wiped out at Helm's Deep.

"Oh, yeah," she realized with a laugh. Shai noted that Saruman really had sent his entire force to the fortress, and Leo nodded in agreement. On screen, Saruman rushed to his window, helpless to stop the destruction. Rika grinned at the wizard's panic.

"Yeah, watch as all your work is destroyed. Your magic won't save you now." Seeing Merry and Pippin perched on Treebeard's shoulders throwing rocks earned a laugh from the group. However, the mood dipped briefly when one Ent was caught in a volley of flaming arrows.

"Oh no," Torren whispered, but his concern turned to satisfaction as the other Ents tore down the dam. The river rushed back into the valley, drowning the industrial pits and quenching the fires of Saruman's machinery. The burning Ent quickly dunked his head in the rising water to put out the flames, making the Trio laugh in relief. The film returned to Osgiliath, where Frodo remained dangerously out of sorts.

The group tensed as a Nazgûl's fellbeast nearly snatched him, only for Sam to dive in and save him, stopping him from putting on the Ring just in time. After Faramir drove the beast away with an arrow, a heartbreaking moment unfolded as Frodo, still lost in his trance, held Sting to Sam's throat.

"It's me. It's your Sam," Sam pleaded, and Frodo finally snapped out of it. Both hobbits looked miserable and exhausted, yet Sam began his speech about the great stories that truly mattered. As his words played over the victories of the Rohirrim and the Ents, the Trio smiled.

"Sam is the real reason they'll win if they ever get to Mount Doom," Rika said firmly. The five lads nodded in unison, and Luka added, "Everyone knows Sam is the true hero of the story." Faramir, moved by Sam's words and the reality of the Ring, decided to let them go. When his lieutenant warned him that his life would be forfeit for letting the prize leave, Faramir simply replied, "Then it is forfeit. Release them."

"He deserves as much respect as Boromir had," Shai said quietly.

"He does from his men," Sam replied.

"It's just his dickhead father who doesn't see it." The scene moved back to the aftermath of Helm's Deep as the remains of the Uruk army fled. They retreated into a newly arrived treeline, and the Trio watched as the trees shifted and moved, finishing off the invaders. Torren nodded, looking deeply satisfied.

"Nature has a way of finding balance." A bit of levity followed as Legolas gloated over his final kill count of forty-two.

"I myself am sitting pretty on forty-three," Gimli countered. Legolas promptly shot the Uruk Gimli was sitting on as it twitched, claiming it for himself. Gimli's indignant shout that it was only twitching because his axe was "embedded in his nervous system" had the lads and the Trio laughing together.

"Oh gods, I love those two," Rika said, wiping a tear from her eye. The tone darkened for the final stretch as Frodo revealed their plan to take the path of Cirith Ungol. Faramir realized Gollum's treachery and warned them of a dark, evil creature living there. He caught Gollum by the neck, promising that death would find him quickly if he led the hobbits to harm. Wishing them the will of all men, Faramir departed.

The movie drew to a close with Gandalf looking out toward Mordor, stating that while the battle for Helm's Deep was over, the battle for Middle-earth was about to begin. The final shot of Gollum plotting to lead "them" to "her" left the Trio feeling nervous about the fate waiting for the two hobbits. The credits began to roll and the sweeping orchestral theme filled the room. The group sat in the fading glow of the screen for a moment before the five lads turned to the Trio, eager for their verdict.

"So," Sam asked, leaning back with a grin.

"Did it live up to the hype?"

"Of course!" Rika shouted, nearly jumping out of her seat.

"It was even better than I imagined! I honestly can't wait for the next one. How do you top a battle like that?" Torren nodded in firm agreement, his expression one of pure wonder.

"I still find it hard to believe how amazing these movies are. The fact that you have all sorts of different stories makes me excited to try some other things once we finish the trilogy." Parmo perked up at that.

"Actually, I found a cooking show at the charity shop where people compete to be the best. I'll head back and grab it tomorrow if you want to see it." Torren looked at him, his eyes wide with awe.

"A competition for cooking? That would be fantastic, Parmo. Thank you." Across the room, Phil's gaze drifted toward the sofa. He noticed Leo was still absentmindedly stroking the soft fur of Shai's tail. Phil's eyebrows shot up, a knowing look crossing his face, but he managed to keep his mouth shut and didn't comment. Shai, seemingly unaware of Phil's observation, looked thoughtfully at the black screen.

"It is truly amazing how a story like this, when viewed through the screen, is so much more impactful than a play. Nothing in our world even comes close to this level of storytelling." She paused, glancing at the clock on the wall, and sighed.

"It is getting late, though. I think it's best we get to bed; no one wants to show up for training on as little sleep as we had last time." A chorus of reluctant agreement followed. As Shai stood up, Leo finally pulled his hand away, the contact ending as she gathered her things. As the Trio made their way toward the door, Phil wandered over to Leo and leaned in, whispering under his breath.

"Smooth, dude. Nicely done." Leo felt a flush of heat in his cheeks.

"It's not like that," he hissed back quietly.

"It was just a comfort thing." Phil gave him a playful pat on the shoulder.

"Sure, man. If you say so." A few paces ahead, Shai's ears twitched. She had caught the exchange, and a small, private smile tugged at the corners of her mouth at Leo's words. The Trio reached the door and turned back one last time, waving to the five friends.

"Goodnight!" Shai called out.

"See you all tomorrow, bright and early."

"Sleep well!" Rika added with a final buzz of her wings before the door clicked shut behind them, leaving the lads alone in the quiet of the living room.