Chapter 49: war again

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The Black ships were now theirs, and sailing down Anduin, they reached the other side of Minas Tirith, where they knew troops of humans would be, waiting for the pirates of the East to come and aid them. They hid with care, all of them. Aerin could hear the beasts grumble outside. ''Late, as usual! Pirate scum! There's work that needs doing.'' They did not move, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. ''Come on, ya sea rats! Get out off your ships!'' Just as the human spoke those words, the four of them leaped out of our ship. They laughed seeing the four alone. ''There are plenty for both of us! May the best dwarf win!'' exclaimed Gimli in utmost amusement. ''You may go no further. You will not enter Gondor.''

''Who are you to deny us passage?'' spat a human. ''Legolas, fire a warning shot past the bosun's ear,'' instructed Aragorn and Legolas strained his bow right away. ''Mind your aim!'' Gimli warned him, but just as Legolas was about to shoot, Gimli nudged his bow, causing the arrow to hit bosun right in the chest. The human fell dead and Legolas looked all but stunned. It was almost to make one laugh, the way Gimli looked proud of it all. ''Oh! That's it. We warned you. Prepare to be boarded,'' Gimli said.

The humans laughed out loud, and there were so many of them in those ships it seemed they could shake the mountains with their laughter. ''Boarded, by you and whose army?'' one of them asked through the laughter. ''This army,'' said Aragorn, as thousands of ghosts rushed out of ship. The humans screamed in terror but could do nothing. Everything that the ghost-army of the forsaken touched, fell dead to the ground right away. They watched from the shore in a mixture of disbelief and new hope. With this army they stood a chance. With this army, all was not yet lost. They barely had to kill a few of them; the Dead Army overran the humans completely.

They all but ran to the Pelennor fields where their men fought. The battle had been going on for quite some time, and many of their people had fallen and I hoped and prayed with all her heart that they were not too late. They charged in right away;  Aerin could not even take the time to take a look around and see if any of her friends were there.

It was easier now, with the Ghost-Army slaying about - knowing that they stood a chance made them fight with easier hearts, with more strength. Just as Aerin landed a strike against an Orc's blade, an arrow hissed right next to her, and a body behind her fell. She pushed the Orc away and cut him through his gut, and Aerin turned around to see. Orcs were falling one by one as arrows struck them, and Aerin could hear Legolas mutter: ''Fifteen. Sixteen. Seventeen.'' Then Gimli would shout his own numbers - ''Twenty-nine!'' - and Aerin could almost laugh. ''You're still playing this game?!''

Meanwhile, Aragorn killed three more of them before he heard a familiar voice crying out. He swiftly turned around and he saw Éowyn lying on the ground writhing in pain, and an Orc stood above her with his mace raised in the air ready to strike. Aragorn reacted swiftly, he both ran towards her as quickly as possible.  A big Orc ran towards him, and he expected him to be a little smarter than he was - all Aragorn did was reach out with his sword and he landed on it too soon to even strike at him. Aragorn had to place a foot on him in order to pull the sword out of his body, and when he did, the Orc fell down with a loud thump. Éowyn smiled and said, "Thank you" to Aragorn as he ran off back to Legolas and Gimli charging with sword and killing as many Orcs as he could on the way. 

Éowyn ran off, or rather limped of, in search of her Uncle. No one should be subjected to the horrors and desolation of war. But war is an odd thing. Though you may not want it, sometimes it is needed - when you must protect what you love against a destroyer who would devour all. An hour of nothing but Orc-slaying must have passed, but time did not exist for Aerin. The only thing she focused on was staying aware of all sides around her and not being careful could get her killed faster than anything. 

A thump a bit too loud, it seemed to him, and Legolas was bewildered for a moment before the thumps started getting louder and more frequent and then he realised it. He turned around towards the source of the sound and he saw nothing less than Mûmakil. The creatures he'd barely believed existed were moving towards them, carrying entire troops on their backs. Legolas reacted right away; he leaped on it and climbed his way to the top; and though Gimli couldn't see much of what he was doing there, after a few moments the ground shook as the wild beast fell dead. Legolas stood unfazed, as though it had been the easiest thing to do. ''That still counts as one!'' Legolas heard Gimli shout from the battle field.

Meanwhile,  Éowyn ran through the battle killing any Orcs that came in her way. "Rally to me! To me!" She heard her uncle shout as he and her noticed a Nazgûl flying towards him.  Éowyn stood there not sure on what to do. The beast grabs Théoden's horse in its teeth and throws Théoden across the ground. Éowyn watches on in horror, not able to do anything as she fights of another Orc. The Nazgûl's mount approaches the wounded Théoden, who is pinned under his slain horse, trembling and in extreme pain. "Feast off his flesh." The Witch-King whispered to its Nazgûl, only for Éowyn to hear and as the word left his lips she immediately moves in front of it with her sword up across her face. "I will kill you if you touch him." She shouted bravely.

The fell beast bites at her. Éowyn dodges the attack, with her sword. After several attempts she swings her sword and decapitates the monster. She felt a sigh of relief. However that feeling was shortly lived as she saw the Witch-King dismount of the Nazgûl. At his full height, the Witch-King loomed over a clearly terrified Éowyn. The Witch-King attacks, eventually striking Éowyn's shield with his mace, shattering it. Hope is lost, she thought to herself as the Witch-King opens his arms, taunting his foe. She cries out and falls, in desperation. The Witch-King grabbed Éowyn by the throat, pressing deeper into to the point where Éowyn felt blood dripping down her neck.

"You fool! No man can slay the Lord of the Nazgûl! Die now!" Éowyn squealed in pain but fell silent when she saw Merry creep up behind the Witch-King  as he stabs the wraith's knee with the dagger of the Noldorin given to him by Galadriel. Éowyn stands before the now vulnerable Witch-King and removes her helmet, revealing her true form: a shieldmaiden of Rohan. "I am no man!" Éowyn shouted as she striked down the Witch-King letting The wraith crumble into a heap on the battle field floor.

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