Aragorn and I headed toward the direction of Helm's Deep. I was deeply terrified. I had been uber paranoid ever since the lone Warg had attacked me while I was in the water. Ever noise, movement and sense I got, I blamed it on the evil forces. I was hunched over and made sure that Aragorn watched my back.
"How close are we?" I whined for the 400th time.
"We. Are. Getting. Closer." Aragorn said through his teeth. He wasn't paranoid, but more annoyed by my constant bickering and whining. We had been on the horse for 3 hours. My arms was beginning to stop bleeding, and it started to scab up. The horse was also annoyed by both Aragorn and me.
"Aragorn! I'm hungry." I whined again. He turned around and looked demented, but I knew that he wasn't possesed. he was way to strong to be possesed.
"WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE! I DON'T THINK THAT WE CAN GET ANY FOOD HERE!" He finally screamed and let go all of the anger. At first I was scared but then I felt better. I smiled wide. "Why are you smiling?" He asked.
"Because, you just proved to me that you are human. You have anger and feeling and stuff. You just yelled at me and proved that you act like a normal being." I told him.
"What made you think that I wasn't?" Aragorn asked.
"You just have the same face all the time...and you just act like nothing bothers you. You seem in natural." I told him. I was slightly scared of how he was going to react. Like I said, he could and would kill me with a napkin. Except we didn't have one.
Aragorn didn't respond to me. I felt that I had accidently goneinto something that I shouldn't have. I felt slightly guilty. Oh well. I sighed and looked ahead, trying to spot Helm's Deep. I had never seen it, but I hoped that I would know what it was when I would see it. I didn't want ask Aragorn what it looked like, because I didn't want him to let go of the horse and have a little free riding. I needed to put my mind in a different frame. Pippin! I wonder what he was doing right now? Was he worrying about me? What about Merry? I hope that they are okay. I also prayed that they wouldn't be mad at me for "dying" on them again, for the 100th time.
"Aragorn. Are they safe in Helm's Deep? Will they be protected?" I asked him. He looked up at me and looked back forward. He did not respond. "Aragorn. Will they be okay?" I asked more sternly.
"There is a possibility that they are not as safe as they think they are. The walls can be breached, but with certain forces. And I have a feeling that Saruman knows what they are. The forces will be here within a good time. We need to reach Helm's Deep." Aragorn told me. My stomach dropped.
"You mean, they're not safe." I trembled.
"Not saying that. Calm down. Now...how is the baby?" Aragorn changed the subject.
"The kid is good. Not sure how many months along I am. but it's good." I told him. My stomach had a slight bump. And a kick. Ow that hurt.
"I can't believe the baby survived the things you have been going through." He chuckled. I laughed.
"Yeah...I know. I just want this war to be over so I can deliver the baby." I told him.
"I hope you know that the baby might come while the War is still going on." Aragorn told me. I flashed him a look.
"I am not giving birth to a baby in a world like this! Look how bad it is!" I yelled. I pointed to the vast land.
"I know. I know. But its that time that comes, you have to do it." he said. I shrugged.
"Okay. Whatever." I had become slightly agitated.
"There. There it is. Helm's Deep." Aragorn pointed to a large circular stone castle. It was backed up in the corner of a large mountain Whoever built was very smart. If anyone attacked, the people in the caslte could not get out without getting caught.
"Wonderful....That's great." I said.
"You don't seem very happy. Your loved one are in there!" Aragorn seemed peeved.
"I am. I am. Just what about when someone attacks. Look at how it's built!" I pointed at it
"Don't worry about that. Just forget about it." He told me.
"Okay. Let's get there." I told him.
So Aragorn pulled the horse along faster, and everytime I could see more and more detail of Helm's Deep. It had no windows what so ever. Soon, I began to see people, standing on the top level, looking over. They pointed to us and ran down the stone steps. Who did they think we were? I sat up and tried to look more at the stone building. There was a large wooden doorish...thing. Its where people opened and exited.
"Aragorn, I think they saw us." I told him.
"Don't make sudden movement act low profile and harmless. I'll just keep walking." He said.
I put my head down and rested on the neck of the horse. I peeked up and saw people looking over the walls. Some other folks came down and walked over the bridge that lead into the building. They were armed with weapons. One of them was armed with a bow. Legolas?
"Stop! Stop!" The people called out. Aragorn kept on walking.
"Aragorn, what are you doing?!" I asked him quietly. Was he crazy?
"Just stay low." He snapped at me.
I obeyed and went back down on the horse. I peeked over the side. The people had taken notice that Aragorn had not stopped, so they pulled their weapons to the front. I cowered back. I was scared. I grabbed the horse's hair. Legolas pulled the bow and arrow forward. He didn't even realize it was Aragorn and I! Just as he was about to let go, I jumped off the horse and ran towards them.
"Legolas! Stop! Please!" I yelled. Loeglas was quick enough to pull back, but the other guys let go of their arrowws. I ducked as they shot right over my head. THe whoosh was so close to my ear.
"Stop! I know them! Alice! Aragorn! i thought you had died! Pippin and Merry have been worried sick about you!" Legolas ran toward me and hugged my head. "Don't ever do that again!" He sobbed.
I pulled away. "Legolas, I am fine. Where are Merry and Pip?" I asked.
"THey are inside. Peregrin has not come out of his small room since you fell over. Merry's been hauled up in there too." Legolas informed me.
"Okay. I need to see them." I said.
"Go ahead. Hurry." Legolas hurried me along and showed me across the bridge and through the gates. When we reached inside the interior of the castle, it became jam packed with people, horses, children and food. I had to stand in my tip toes just to get a good look at where I was going. Legolas had a hand on me the whole time.
"Did Freda and Eothain find their mother?" I asked. The sudden thought popped into my head.
"Yes. They did." He responded. I smiled and knew that at least someone's children were able to get to them.
We walked some more and traveled abotu a mile to the back of the castle where all was very quiet not a single person treaded through the damp stone halls. Moss grew on the sides of the walls. No one had really bothered to take care of the area in a while. I walked along the skinny halls, with Legolas behind me. We both could hear loud sobs coming from down the hall. It was disconcerting.
"Shh Pip...it's okay. Maybe it was her time to go." Merry comforted a crying Pippin behind the doors that I was looking at.
"B-b-but..." THen Pippin started to cry a lot. It was like a downpour of tears, from what I heard.
"I think you should go in there. He had been like this the whole day. He won't come out of the room." Legolas informed me.
"Will do. Thank you." I thanked my brother and walked down the narrow hall.
The cold from the dampness rushed up and down my spine. I felt uncomfortable. I kept my eyes on the door. It was my goal. I came up to the door and faced it. Without hesitation, I knocked loudly on it. The sound echoed through the single hall.
"I don't want talk! Leave me be!" Pippin yelled. I knocked again. "No! I don't want to!" When he responded the same way teh second time, I decided that it would be easier to open the door. So when I grabbed the handle and pulled, it didn't budge. I pushed and the same result.
"Oops, forgot to tell you it was locked!" Legolas yelled as he walked away. I sighed. Then pounded madly on the door.
"No! No! No!" Pip responded.
"Maybe you should let the person in. It could be important." Merry suggested.
"No."
The trouble went on like that for ever and I was pretty upset. I gave one last pound on the door. This time Pip did not respond, but I hear footsteps smacking across the stone floor of the room. I stood back. The door was pushed open. Merry stood at the door. At first my face didn't register to him. He probably thought I was a ghost or something. I think that because he stuck out his hand and touched my arm. Then he pulled back.
"It's...it's actually you." He stuttered. He reached out and pulled my arm and tugged me into the room.
"P-p-p-Pippin. It's...it's Alice. She isn't dead." He tried to pull out the words. Pippin looked up. His eyes were red and his face was puffy. You could see the tear streaks that trekked down his face. He hiccuped and bounced.
"Really? i don't believe it..." He stood up, wobbly and looking quite sick. I worried and ran over to him. I caught him in my arms. I looked at him. He was more pale than I was.
"Pip, it's me. Look. I'm here. I made it once again." I laughed weakly. he sat down. I looked at him.
"Ali...it is you." He smiled wide and hugged me. I was stuck in his hug, with my arms pinned by my side, but I didn't care. I knew that Pippin was okay and he knew that I was okay. "I can't believe you survived that. I thought that this time, for sure, you were dead." He told me and he let go of the grip of the hug.
"I was surprised too." I laughed it off.
"So what are we going to do here? Why did they bring us here?" Merry asked. He had been in the corner, watching us. Now he came out and asked.
"Well the Uruk Hai and Orcs were coming from the town where Freda and Eothain were. That would have led them to the city of Rohan. But...things have changed. The Uruk Hai and Orcs will be on their way to Helm's Deep. We need all the forces possible to defeat the group that was coming towards us." I was careful not to mention that Aragorn and I were skeptic that the fort would hold. It was old and seemed weak, even though made of stone.
"Ah I see. Well I'm glad to tell you that while with out stay with the Ents, we were able to convince them to help us and help destroy Orthanc. It took a long...long time." Merry said happily, crossing his arms.
"Really?! You convinced...Ents to help...with war?" I was shocked. Usually Ents were very calm adn didn't side for war. Trying to have them help was very difficult.
"Yep! Oh! I forgot to tell you, King Theoden told me that if I saw you and if you ever did survive that he would be shocked and that you should go see him." Merry put in. I looked at him and perked up.
"Really?" This would be a chance to show Theoden that I knew what I was doing and that he should have listened to me.
"Yeah. You should go see him now, with all your battled wounds and stuff. He will be dumbfounded." Merry giggled. He wasn't a fan of Theoden either.
"Okay. I'll see you guys later." I waved bye and left the room.
I traveled back through the narrow hallways and along the cold corridors. I came out in the center of all the commotion. People were still in the main square of the building. There were still people coming in through the doors of the castle.
"Excuse me? hello? does anyone know where King Theoden is? Hello? Excuse me?" I pushed my way through the hevy crowd.
No one could hear my small voice over the large commotion of the movement of people. I shoved my way through, but I got elbowed myself. It hurt really bad. The smell of food and human was mixed together, so I didn't know whether I was hungry or disgusted. I looked all around and spun in circles. People disappeared and reappeared. Where were they going? I couldn't see anywhere to go. I was stuck in the middle of the crowd and needed to get out. I shoved and pushed and made my way out, but I was tripped and landed on my stomach. Oh god! I rolled quickly on my back and jumped up. There I was. The stairs. Only a couple people were there. I hurried up the stairs and ran to the larege circle section of the upper level that was outside. This place really had the circle theme going.
"Theoden! I demand to talk to you!" I called out. This was going to be my shining moment that I was able to prove him wrong and I, right.
"Who is it and what do you want?" He asked as he stood up and turned to look at the person who had been calling him. When he did turned around his jaw dropped when he saw me.
"I'm back..."