Aragorn, Gilan and Legolas burst inside the room where the wizard and the hobbits are sleeping. Or were.
"Help, Gandalf! Help him." Merry shouts and Gilan pieces together a blurry picture of a small hobbit, Pippin, trashing on the ground with the mysterious crystal orb in his hands.
"Fool of a Took!" Gandalf yells and Aragorn grabs the sphere from the hobbit's hands. After a bit of struggle he lets it go and it rolls away.
"No. Look at me." Gandalf shakes Pippin and the poor hobbit's voice weakly speaks.
"Gandalf, forgive me."
"Look at me! What did you see?"
"A tree, there was a white tree in a courtyard of stone. It was dead. The city was burning."
"Minas Tirith? Is that what you saw?"
"I saw- I saw him! I could hear his voice in my head." Horror crept over them all.
"And what did you tell him? Speak!"
"He asked me my name. I didn't answer. He hurt me!" Gilan's heart broke.
"What did you tell him about Frodo and the Ring?" Pippin stays silent, falling into a sort of trance.
***
"There was no lie in Pippin's eyes. A fool but an honest fool he remains. He told Sauron nothing of Frodo and the Ring. We've been strangely fortunate. Pippin saw in the Palantir a glimpse of the enemy's plan. Sauron moves to strike the city of Minas Tirith."
"How can we be sure that's not what Sauron wanted him to see?" Gilan asks with a worried look.
"We can't. There is one thing that we know for certain. His defeat at Helm's Deep showed our enemy one thing. He knows the Heir of Elendil has come forth. Men are not as weak as he supposed. There is courage still. Strength enough, perhaps, to challenge him. Sauron fears this. He will not risk the peoples of Middle Earth uniting under one banner. He will raze Minas Tirith to the ground before he sees a King return to the throne of men. If the beacons of Gondor are lit, Rohan must be ready for war."
"Tell me! Why should we ride to the aid of those who did not come to ours? What do we owe Gondor?" Gilan takes in a deep controlled breath as he stomps down his anger. Then he suddenly calms as he feels Legolas' presence next to him.
"I will go!" Aragorn takes a step forward.
"No!"
"They must be warned!"
"They will be. You must come to Minas Tirith by another road. Follow the river. Look to the black ships. Understand this, things are now in motion that cannot be undone. I ride for Minas Tirith and I won't be going alone." Gandalf turns to Pippin and the hobbit gulps. They follow them to the stables where Shadowfax is resting and give their goodbyes. Gilan crouches down to Pippin.
"You lost your elven dagger to the orcs, right?" The hobbit makes a small noise of agreement. Gilan unsheathes his father's dagger and gives it to him. "This was made by my father. I hated him, but it saved my life. And it shall save yours too. And in the darkest hours, remember your home."
***
"You have to teach me that." Aragorn told him as they watched Shadowfax run into the wild.
"What exactly?"
"How to speak so reassuringly."
"You already do a great job at that, don't fool yourself."
"I don't know if that's anything king worthy." Gilan frowns and turns to him, unseeing eyes staring right into Aragorn's soul.
"I've been to Minas Tirith. And let me tell you, Denethor is not a good ruler, nor a father. I had the pleasure of meeting Faramir, Boromir's younger brother, in an inn one night. Ale left him vulnerable and talkative. The way he told me his father treats him reminds me of my own." Gilan says grimly and leads Aragorn a good distance away from the rest, throwing one arm over the man's shoulders. "If there's a one thing I should teach you, it's how to recognise a fucking moment and not to walk in on it." Gilan's voice turns sour.
"So I did interrupt something!"
"Of course you interrupted something!" Gilan whisper-yells. "What do you think it was?! I was literally singing about kissing, desire and love. What the fuck do you think that was about? Golf?"
"I'm... sorry?"
"You should be." Gilan grumbled and Aragorn laughed, returning back inside to catch up on their restless night.
***
"...and then the dumb idiot bet another 5 coins, so I told him if he doubled it, I'd go all in." Gilan sat by the table in the main hall, surrounded by grinning warriors, Gimli sitting on his left. Legolas and Théoden watched from a distance as the bard entertained the crowd with a story. "But here's the kick. He said he would, but only if I tied my eyes closed." Gimli roared with laughter along with the others. "The guy walked from that fine establishment without his boots and pride and never bothered the lady of the house again." The men wiped their tears of laughter away when suddenly, the door to the hall swings open, Aragorn running in.
"The beacons of Minas Tirith! The beacons are lit! Gondor calls for aid." All eyes that see turn to the king.
"And Rohan will answer! Muster the Rohirrim." Théoden tells Éomer who bows. "Assemble the army at Dunharrow, as many men as can be found. You have two days. On the third, we ride for Gondor and to war."
***
Two days pass and they are ready. Lady walks over to the horse that carries Legolas and Gimli, knowing that her rider grew calmer in the presence of the elf.
"Horse men! I wish I could muster an army of Dwarves, fully armed and filthy." Gimli says and Gilan chuckles, adjusting the straps on his armguard.
"Your kinsmen may have no need to ride to war. I fear war already marches on their own lands." Legolas sighs, then promptly lights back up when he notices Gilan. Gimli sends him an unimpressed look. Aragorn mounts his horse and rides up to the three of them.
"Now is the hour, Riders of Rohan. Oaths you have taken. Now fulfill them all, to Lord and Land!" Éomer calls to the riders and they head out.
***
They camped at Dunharrow, the soldiers started building camp and preparing food. Legolas, Gimli and Gilan were walking amongst them, Legolas and Gilan already managed to hunt down enough deer to feed the riders and Gimli with a few soldiers gathered some wood. Gillan shivers.
"It's quite cold here, isn't it?"
"The horses are restless and the men are quiet." Legolas nodds. Something about the atmosphere of this place was off.
"They grow nervous in the shadow of the mountain." Éomer tells them as he overhears them.
"That road there, where does that lead?" Gimli asks, waving towards the crack in the side of the mountain.
"It is the road to the Dimholt, the door under the mountain." Legolas hums and grips his bow tighter, earning a tilt of a head from Gilan.
"None who venture there ever return. That mountain is evil."
***
Gilan doesn't sleep. The tent he shares with other soldiers is noisy, not mentioning the whole camp, which even in the late hours buzzes with loud noise. Finally, he gives up on his attempts to get rest and walks out of the tent and sits down beside Gimli, who calmly smokes from his pipe. The dwarf snorts at the bard.
"What?" Gilan asks, confused.
"You have a proper bird's nest on your head. Are you sure you want our pampled, proper and fair elf seeing that?"
"Well, all I can do is run my fingers through it and hope for the best." Gilan shrugged and self consciously did so.
"I'm just joking, lad. I have a feeling Legolas couldn't care less." Gimli shoves him to the side a bit and laughs. Aragorn walks by, seemingly in a rush. "Just where do you think you're off to?"
"Not this time. This time you must stay." The man shakes his head and the two stand up.
"Hmm..."
"Right..."
"Have you learnt nothing of the stubbornness of dwarves and bards?" Legolas walks up to them, leading his horse with a cocky smirk.
"You might as well accept it. We're going with you laddie." They walked up to the entrance to the mountain, hearing some of the soldiers mumble as they went. Aragorn explains the plan of calling upon the army of cursed dead.
"Leave the horses, I don't think even Lady would follow me there." Gilan says as they near the crack.
"What kind of army would linger in such a place?"
"One that is cursed. Long ago the men of the mountains swore an oath to the last King of Gondor to come to his aid, to fight. But when the time came, when Gondor's need was dire, they fled, vanishing into the darkness of the mountain. And so Isildur cursed them, never to rest until they had fulfilled their pledge. Who shall call them from the gray twilight, the forgotten people? The heir of him to whom the oath they swore. From the North shall he come, need shall drive him. He shall pass the door to the Paths of the Dead." Legolas explains in a low voice.
"The very warmth of my blood seems stolen away." Gimli shivers and Gilan hears his heart slowly but surely gain speed.
"The way is shut. It was made by those who are dead and the dead keep it. The way is shut."
"I do not fear death!" Aragorn frowns and jogs in, Legolas closely behind.
"To fear the dead I'd have to see them first." Gilan grinns and follows.
"Well this is a thing unheard of. An elf will go underground, where a dwarf dare not. Oh. Oh, I'd never hear the end of it."
Ta da! New chapter is out and I hope you enjoyed it! No song in this one, sorry. And I have a question, do you guys find songs in fanfiction like this cringy or are they alrigh? Let me know in the comments, it's for future projects. Thanks!