3019 of the Third Age
Aragorn was exhausted, and although his horse had done a remarkable job of carrying him steadily across the uneven countryside, every rise and dip in the terrain reminded him of the wounds he had suffered during his fall.
His shoulder in particular had begun to hurt again, a persistent ache that spread down his arm whenever he adjusted himself in the saddle, but he had neither the time nor the desire to stop. He had to reach them in time.
Helm's Deep was still ahead of him, and somewhere behind marched an army of Uruk-hai numbering close to five thousand by his estimate. All of them moving with the same purpose: to destroy the world of men to the last.
The valleys ahead provided the quickest path through the hills, their green slopes opening into long stretches of grass that would normally have made for easy riding. Aragorn pushed his horse onward, occasionally looking behind even though he knew the enemy was still far enough away that he would not see them.
He could still picture the thousands of black shapes marching together, weapons and standards rising above their heads, chanting and shocking the very earth with their march.
His horse carried him up another gentle incline, and Aragorn leaned slightly forward as they approached the crest. He expected another empty valley on the other side and was already looking forward to going downhill as it would be an easier and faster path.
But as he approached the ridge, his horse slowed beneath him as Aragorn stared down. Several hundred soldiers occupied the valley. They stood in rows spread across the open ground, their armor dominated by black and dark red, while unfamiliar banners moved gently above them in the wind.
From the distance, Aragorn's first thought was that Saruman had sent a smaller force ahead of the main army, perhaps to secure the valleys leading toward Helm's Deep or intercept any allies attempting to reach the fortress. Worse, their appearance did little to dismiss that fear.
The helmets worn by many of them were pale around the face, giving them a strange skull-like appearance from afar, and their disciplined formations looked far more organized than any other wandering band of soldiers.
Aragorn's hand moved toward his reins, ready to try and bolt away and avoid them, even if they pursued before he caught himself and continued watching. Something about them was wrong for Uruk-hai.
Their proportions were different, for one. Most were smaller than the creatures he had fought, although still clearly larger than hobbits, and there was none of the constant aggression he had come to expect from Saruman's servants.
No one shoved another soldier aside, fought among themselves or wandered away from the formation. A few men moved between the ranks carrying crates and equipment, but they did so with the same deliberate order as everyone else.
Aragorn realized after another moment that they were clearly humans, which only confused him further.
'Who are they? What are they doing here of all places?' he wondered.
He knew of no army in Rohan that wore anything resembling these uniforms, and there was nothing Gondorian about them either. Corsairs aligned with Sauron or Haradrim were nothing like them, and Easterlings or Variags of Khand were never disciplined at all.
Aragorn had travelled far enough east and south to see weapons and armor unfamiliar to most men of the West, yet even he found himself unable to place what he was looking at. Some soldiers carried long objects made from dark wood and metal, holding them against their shoulders or resting them beside their feet.
Others stood near squat metal tubes mounted on strange frames, while a smaller number wore swords at their sides. Bows were entirely absent, as were the long spears he would have expected from a force positioned in open country.
Aragorn remained at the top of the hill while he tried to determine whether they had noticed him. The answer came quickly when one of the nearest soldiers looked up and pointed toward his position.
Another turned immediately, then another, and within seconds the entire section closest to the hill was reacting. Their speed surprised him more than anything else. Men who had been sitting rose at once, while those carrying the strange wooden and metal weapons brought them into their hands.
Several ranks adjusted their position without anyone visibly panicking, and he could see orders being visibly passed through the rows of soldiers. What had looked almost like an encampment moments before went alive to a very hostile looking force.
Aragorn made certain his hand remained well away from the hilt of his sword. He did not know who these soldiers served, but they had not attacked him yet, and provoking several hundred unknown warriors while already wounded would accomplish nothing.
If they were enemies, he would have to find another route to Helm's Deep. If they were not, then perhaps Rohan had somehow received aid from a land Aragorn had never expected to see here. The line below opened near its center and two figures emerged and began walking toward him.
Aragorn watched them climb the slope while the soldiers remained behind. He found that strange in itself. There was no escort surrounding them, no group of guards following several paces behind, and yet the army made no effort to stop either of them from approaching an unknown armed rider alone.
Whoever these two were, they were clearly confident that they did not require protection. As the distance closed, Aragorn realized that both were women. That gave him another moment of surprise.
He had known women who could wield weapons and defend their homes when necessary, but he had never seen women be part of armed forces before. It would be unthinkable for the races of men. They wore military armor in the same colors as the troops below and moved with the stiffness of disciplined soldiers.
The younger-looking of the pair wore the more elaborate armor. Deep black plates covered her torso and shoulders, with golden edges worked into sections that marked her apart immediately from the soldiers in the valley.
Her dark hair was kept carefully arranged despite whatever journey had brought her here, and there was something in the way she carried herself that reminded Aragorn more of nobility than an ordinary soldier.
She walked beside the other woman without hesitation, observing him with the same open wariness that he imagined he was showing them. It was her companion who drew most of Aragorn's attention though.
At first he thought she wore unusually heavy armor over her arms and legs, but the closer she came, the less convincing that explanation became. Sunlight caught one of her hands and reflected the metal. There were a few gaps in the armor but there was nothing behind the metal where flesh should be.
Same with the joints in her legs, they were able to flex and move in ways no armor he had ever seen could move. He looked lower and noticed the same construction beneath her clothing, accompanied occasionally by the quiet sound of metal moving against metal.
He also noticed that her steps sounded heavier than normal and his ranger abilities made him realize that the girl weighed a lot more than she showed.
'What kind of magic is this?'
Aragorn had seen men survive the loss of hands, feet and even entire limbs, usually with wooden replacements fashioned by craftsmen afterward, but nothing like this existed anywhere he had travelled.
The metal hand moved almost as easily as his own, and whatever supported her legs allowed her to climb the slope without the slightest sign of difficulty. Aragorn steadied his horse and waited for the two strangers to reach him.
----0000----
By the time the two women reached the upper part of the slope, Aragorn had become even less certain what to make of them. Distance had hidden just how young they were, particularly the dark-haired girl in the more elaborate armor, who could scarcely have been older than many of the youths Théoden had been forced to arm for the defense of his kingdom.
Her companion was older, although not by enough to explain why several hundred soldiers below appeared willing to let her approach an unknown rider without escort. Aragorn had spent enough of his life among powerful men and knew authority when he saw it, the young girl had in spades.
He briefly considered turning his horse and continuing toward Helm's Deep. There was no guarantee these strangers would allow him to leave once he had approached them, and he had already lost precious time examining their force from the hill.
Yet neither woman had drawn a weapon, and the older one had kept both of her strange metal hands visible while they climbed. If they meant to attack him, their soldiers had been given ample opportunity already.
Aragorn raised one hand in greeting once they were close enough that speaking no longer required shouting.
"Greetings fair ladies. I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn. I mean you no harm."
Both women stopped and stood still, perplexed, then they glanced toward each other in confusion. Then they spoke to one another in a language he had never heard. Aragorn listened carefully in the hope that he might recognize even a word.
He had learned enough tongues during his travels that unfamiliar speech was rarely completely beyond him, especially when languages had borrowed from their neighbors over generations, but this one shared nothing obvious with any kind of elvish, Rohirric or any tongue of Men he had encountered in the East.
Its sounds were sharp in places and surprisingly quick, with the younger woman asking several questions while her companion answered in shorter sentences. When both looked at him again, Aragorn understood the problem.
"You do not speak my tongue, that is a problem." Which was quite the problem to have.
The older looking girl turned to him and answered to him though.
"I speak small English, and yours sounds strange to me." She replied.
Aragorn blinked, confused. She spoke a similar language to the common tongue yet using incorrect words. He smiled though, explanations could be reached even if some words were lost between each other.
"What I speak is Westron, I don't know what English is." He touched his chest. "Aragorn."
The woman watched him closely.
"Aragorn."
Her pronunciation was strange, although recognizable enough. Aragorn pointed toward her. She seemed to understand the gesture immediately and placed one metal hand against the front of her armor.
"Lin Renshi."
She paused, apparently searching for another word.
"Call me General Lin."
Aragorn didn't know why a third name was mentioned, but in any case it was not important. Lin gestured toward her companion.
"Princess Azula."
That explained the ornamented armor and bearing far better than Aragorn had expected. He lowered his head respectfully toward the younger woman. "My lady."
Azula clearly recognized the gesture even if she did not understand the word, because she returned it with a much shallower inclination of her head. There was nothing shy about her inspection of him.
Her golden eyes moved across his clothing, sword, horse and visible injuries with an intensity that made Aragorn suspect she was forming her own conclusions about him just as quickly as he was forming his.
Lady Lin said something to her, then looked at Aragorn again.
"Nation of Fire."
Aragorn frowned slightly. "Your nation was burned down?"
Lin frowned then shook her head immediately, seemingly annoyed that she wasn't understood.
"Our Nation, where we were born."
He knew of no realm by that name.
"You were born in a nation of fire? Where does this lie?"
Lady Lin stared at him without answering. Aragorn tried simplifying the question. He pointed around them and then toward the distant horizon before pointing back to her.
"Household, homeland."
Understanding came slowly. Lady Lin turned and exchanged several sentences with Azula. The princess looked back toward the soldiers and then toward the unfamiliar countryside surrounding them, with an unamused expression on her face.
When she answered, her words were careful.
"Home... not here."
Aragorn waited.
Lady Lin touched two fingers together and made a strange sweeping motion through the air.
"Spirit took us."
That word he understood easily.
"An Ainur brought you here?"
Lady Lin's eyes narrowed as she worked through the sentence, but eventually she nodded.
"Evil spirit."
"Evil? Dark?"
Lady Lin pondered for a second but shook her head eventually.
"Angry spirit."
Aragorn looked past her again at the hundreds of soldiers occupying the valley. An Ainur had transported an entire military force across lands they themselves did not recognize. His thoughts went unwillingly toward the Valar.
He had heard stories of their power since childhood and knew well enough that the world contained forces far beyond the understanding of ordinary men, yet he could think of no reason one of the Valar would tear hundreds of people away from their homeland and abandon them in Rohan.
Perhaps this angry Ainur was something lesser, one of the many ancient beings that still inhabited places beyond the knowledge of men, although that only created more questions about where these people had come from.
Whatever explanation existed would have to wait, for the Uruk-hai were still marching. Aragorn straightened suddenly in the saddle as the urgency of his journey forced itself back into his thoughts. He had allowed the strangeness of the encounter to distract him for too long.
"You cannot remain here."
Lady Lin frowned and Aragorn didn't know if he would be understood. He still pointed toward the direction from which he had come.
"An Army is coming our way."
Lady Lin became immediately attentive.
"Army?"
"Yes. A huge army approaches this valley."
He pointed again and then held up both hands several times before realizing that attempting to communicate a number in that fashion would take far too long.
"Five thousand strong."
It seemed the young lady understood the number for her eyebrows rose slightly. Princess Azula asked her something after hearing it, and Lady Lin answered in their language. The princess looked toward the distant hills, although Aragorn saw no fear in her expression.
"Orcs are coming this way." Aragorn continued. "They are forces that have only one goal, to kill all men."
Neither seemed to have recognition in their eyes, and Aragorn was starting to suspect it would be difficult to explain.
"Orcs?" Lady Lin asked.
Aragorn had not expected to explain what an orc was to another human being.
"Creatures. Like Men, but..." He hesitated, searching for concepts simple enough to survive the language barrier. "Evil. They kill people. They cannot be reasoned with, they seek not wealth but destruction and burning everything away for their cruel lords. They overwhelm us with their numbers and they care little for their own losses."
The armored lady stared at him slowly, yet she seemed to have understood a bit of what he said as her expression hardened. Princess Azula noticed the change immediately and again interrupted, probably to know what he had said.
Lady Lin began explaining in their own tongue and again Aragorn could follow none of it, but whatever description she offered lasted considerably longer than his own. Azula's expression gradually became concerned as well.
"We help kill communists." Lady Lin said, a word he knew not of.
Aragorn frowned. "What?"
"Communists."
"Forgive me, my lady. I do not know this word."
Lin looked irritated, although not with him. She gestured toward the direction of the approaching army.
"Orcs, communists."
Aragorn shook his head. "Orcs."
"Yes. Communists. We help kill."
"No, they are Uruk-hai."
Lin looked at him for several seconds before giving a small nod although he wasn't sure she agreed either. Aragorn was not entirely convinced she had abandoned whatever conclusion she had reached, so he pointed southeast in hopes of steering them into helping Rohan defend their land.
"There is a fortress called Helm's Deep. My people are there."
He hesitated before correcting himself. Théoden's people were not his own by blood, but explaining alliances through gestures and broken words seemed unnecessary.
"Many people. Families. Soldiers. The orcs march there. You should come with me. Helm's Deep has walls and defenders. We will accept any help we can get."
Lady Lin caught enough of the explanation to understand his intention, although she didn't seem to agree.
"Defend?"
"Yes. Your soldiers could help defend it."
She looked back toward the valley and then toward Princess Azula. Aragorn expected them to discuss the possibility of moving. Looking back at the camp, it was clear that they seemed well rested and would be able to keep a steady march ahead of the orcs.
"Orc weapon?" Lady Lin asked, catching him off guard.
Aragorn frowned. "Weapon?"
"Yes, this." The young girl said, pointing at his sword.
"They carry crossbows, swords and shields, spears as well." He explained, still confused as to what else an army would have.
"Big weapon?" She asked.
"Siege weapons?"
She did not understand. Aragorn tried to illustrate a large crossbow with his hands and luckily Lady Lin eventually nodded, for he felt silly doing hand motions to explain himself.
"Big bow."
"Something like that."
"Fire?"
"Err…They carry torches, my lady."
Lady Lin shook her head and pointed toward her own palm, where a small flame appeared above it that grew into a fireball. Aragorn's horse pulled backward sharply, concerned with the appearance of fire quite suddenly.
He had to tighten the reins, while both younger girls moved backwards a bit. Aragorn kept staring as the flame moved between her metal fingers without burning her. She then extinguished it almost immediately.
"Orc fire?"
Aragorn needed another moment before answering.
"No. They cannot do that. I didn't know you were a sorcerer."
"Mmm, not magic. Orcs magic?" She quickly asked before Aragorn could ask what she meant.
"No."
Aragorn considered mentioning Saruman, but the wizard himself wouldn't march with his army of orcs.
"The army has no wizard with it."
Lady Lin asked another question that Aragorn failed to understand, then simplified it by miming someone being struck.
"Orc die?"
"Yes."
She pointed toward his sword.
"Sword kill?"
"Aye. They may be stronger than ordinary Men, but steel kills them well enough."
Lady Lin turned toward Azula and another discussion began. The princess listened carefully, then replied at considerable length. Aragorn found himself increasingly uncomfortable with how little concern either displayed.
Five thousand Uruk-hai should have been enough to make any army leader reconsider remaining in an exposed valley, particularly one with only a few hundred soldiers under her command.
"Burn?" Lady Lin asked suddenly.
Aragorn assumed she was speaking about her flames abilities and he considered for a second before answering.
"They burn as any living creature does."
Lady Lin smiled for the first time and she quickly communicated with the princess again, both looked smug and altogether unconcerned. Aragorn did not find that reassuring.
"You should gather your soldiers and move now." He insisted. "They are not far behind me. If we ride and march quickly, we will reach Helm's Deep before them and warn them in time."
Lady Lin seemed to understand most of that, but instead of agreeing, she pointed toward the army below.
"Talk men." She said simply.
Aragorn looked down toward the valley.
"You intend to discuss it before moving?"
Lady Lin nodded once.
"Discuss the enemy."
"You do not have much time."
"Mmm."
Lin turned toward Azula and said something, and the princess answered with a short command of her own. Both women then began walking back toward their soldiers, leaving Aragorn watching after them from the saddle.
He had hoped the sheer amount of five thousand approaching enemies would convince the strangers to move quickly toward the safety of Helm's Deep. Maybe the language barrier was bigger than what they let show.
Aragorn could only hope that whatever decision they reached, they reached it quickly.
----0000----
Aragorn remained where he was while Lady Lin and Princess Azula returned to the soldiers below, uncertain whether following them would be welcomed and equally unwilling to ride away before learning what they intended to do.
He had already delayed his journey longer than he should have, yet abandoning several hundred people directly in the path of Saruman's army sat poorly with him, even if their commanders appeared strangely unconcerned by the danger approaching them.
From the hill he had a better opportunity to study the strangers while five other soldiers gathered around the two women. Whatever discussion followed was conducted in their own language, leaving Aragorn with little to do besides observe.
The differences between them and the armies he knew became more apparent the longer he looked. Most were somewhat smaller than the men of Rohan, although still comfortably within the height of Men, and their features suggested a people he had never encountered during his travels.
Their discipline was easier to recognize. No one had broken ranks and there were some guards still pointing things at him. Even the soldiers who had been resting before his arrival remained close to their assigned places.
What continued to confuse him was their lack of recognizable weapons. Some carried the long objects of wood and metal he had noticed earlier, while others had shorter versions hanging from belts or secured against their backs.
The strange tubes mounted upon small frames were being inspected by groups of soldiers, several of whom opened wooden crates and removed objects that Aragorn could not identify from the distance.
A few men carried swords, but bows were almost entirely absent, and the warriors wearing the heaviest armor appeared to carry no weapon at all. Aragorn found that particularly strange for heavy armor normally belonged to men expected to fight at the front of a formation, where a shield, spear or sword would be essential.
These soldiers seemed prepared to march into battle with empty hands and although there were some mighty hand to hand warriors, he doubted they could bring an orc down. Lady Lin eventually left the group and made a motion for him to come down.
It took him a couple of minutes but he made his way there. He was offered a pouch that had water on it which he accepted with gratitude. Aragorn had yet to dismount and he saw another young girl in armor approach his horse with a brush and a bucket of water for his mount.
While thankful they would take care of him, there was no time to delay and he needed to know the decision regarding marching to Helm's Deep. But when he was about to confront Lady Lin about it, she was looking at his shoulder intensely.
"You hurt."
He glanced down at himself. "It is nothing that will stop me riding."
Lin appeared to understand him easily enough this time, although she took a moment before answering.
"We have healer. Come down and let her see."
"There is no time for that, my lady. Your soldiers must begin moving if they are to reach Helm's Deep before the enemy."
Lady Lin shook her head slowly and rested her hand on his leg.
"We are not going to Helm's Deep yet. Come down, heal. You can leave after."
Aragorn stared at her. "You intend to remain here?"
"This valley is perfect for defense."
The answer was calm enough that he wondered if he had misunderstood her.
"There are five thousand orcs marching directly toward this valley."
"I understood."
"And you have only a few hundred soldiers."
"Four."
That did nothing to reassure him at all.
"Then surely you understand that you are no match for them. Helm's Deep has walls, soldiers and supplies enough to give us a chance. If we combine our strength there, your men may make a great difference."
Lady Lin glanced toward the terrain around them before answering. "We cannot fight there, not with people we cannot speak with. Your soldiers do not know how we fight, and mine do not know how yours fight."
Aragorn could hardly disagree with that, coordinating an army that couldn't speak to one another was going to be difficult, yet he found the alternative considerably worse.
"You would rather face five thousand here?"
"Yes."
She said it with such little concern that Aragorn began wondering whether some part of his explanation had still been lost between their languages.
"This is open country, not a forest, this is no land to defend."
Lin looked around the valley once more. "It is good ground for ambush."
"They will see you from a mile away, no ambush could be possible."
"We can change the land, you will see."
That answer made Aragorn pause while Lady Lin continued before he could ask more.
"You said they are infantry. Swords, shields, crossbows and a few big bows. They cannot control earth or fire, and they have no other support."
"Why would they need more?"
"We will kill them."
Aragorn studied her face and found no sign that she was boasting. If anything, she seemed mildly confused by his continued insistence that the approaching army presented an impossible problem.
"You cannot hold them here with four hundred men."
"We have held against worse."
Before Aragorn could ask what she meant, Princess Azula called something from her side. Lin turned toward her, listened, then answered in the same language. Orders immediately began spreading through the soldiers.
The entire camp came alive just like that. Groups broke away in different directions, although there was no panic in their movement. Some climbed the slopes on either side of the valley carrying the metal tubes and wooden crates, while others began clearing equipment from the center.
'So she is their leader, it was not just because she can speak my tongue.' Aragorn thought, still confused as to how that came to be.
They continued talking, and Aragorn realized why Lady Lin was in charge, she seemed quite smart and her communications skills were improving by just talking to him, almost as if she instinctively understood what he meant and used his own words to continue.
Aragorn watched perhaps thirty of the heavily armored soldiers move forward and form a long line across the valley floor, each standing several paces from the next. None of them carried weapons.
Aragorn looked back toward Lady Lin.
"What are they doing?"
"We prepare the ambush."
"You should be preparing to march."
"No, now, come heal."
His patience finally began to wear thin.
"Lady Lin, I have seen this army with my own eyes. These are not frightened peasants or common brigands. Uruk-hai are bred for war, stronger than ordinary Men and willing to die if their masters command it. When they reach this valley, numbers alone will flood whatever defense you mount."
Lin gave a small nod, although it felt as if his words fell on deaf ears.
"If they had bigger weapons, maybe."
"They have enough strength to tear your line apart without them."
"Hmm, doubt it."
Aragorn opened his mouth to answer, but a deep vibration beneath his horse interrupted him. The animal got scared, and started stamping nervously while Aragorn tightened the reins and looked around for what was going on.
The ground shook harder, spreading beneath his boots and through the horse until the grass itself seemed to tremble. Down in the valley, the thirty unarmed soldiers were moving together in a weird dance, their feet struck the earth, and their arms swept forward causing the ground to fracture.
Aragorn's horse reared hard enough that he nearly lost the saddle. He fought for control while an enormous slab of earth rose from the valley floor, stretching outward from one soldier to the next. More followed immediately, each section joining the last until a continuous barrier now stood tall.
The soldiers continued moving and the loose earth compressed before Aragorn's eyes. Its surface darkened and hardened while sections rose higher, becoming stone thick enough that even a ram would have struggled to break through it.
Openings appeared along the upper edge, evenly spaced and deliberately shaped, while another section rose behind the center into the beginnings of a tower. Within less than a minute, a defensive wall crossed the valley.
Aragorn finally managed to calm his horse enough to look properly at what had happened and Lady Lin remained beside him gently patting the horse as if nothing extraordinary had just happened.
----0000----
For several moments Aragorn could do little more than stare at the wall that now divided the valley. He had seen magic during his travels and had known Gandalf for years, yet even the wizard had never raised an entire wall from the ground before his eyes.
What had been open grass less than a minute earlier was now protected by a broad stone barrier, complete with narrow openings along its upper edge and a tower overlooking the approach from the west.
The soldiers responsible for it were already moving on to other tasks. Some remained close to the wall while others spread along its length, using their magic to create more towers on top of it and ramps to be able to climb to the top.
Behind them, tents were being raised throughout the camp, while soldiers carrying the strange metal tubes continued climbing the surrounding hills with crates balanced between them. What had looked like an open field was now a very defensible terrain.
Although Aragorn was still confused as to why some of them were going to be defending the hills in the first place, the orcs wouldn't circle around them, they would meet them head first. He finally looked toward Lady Lin, who was still beside his horse with one hand resting gently against its neck.
"I have seen much in my life, my lady, but never magic used in such a fashion."
Lady Lin followed his gaze toward the wall before shaking her head. "Not magic. Earth."
Aragorn frowned. "You command the earth itself and call it something other than magic?"
"Earth control." She considered whether he understood before adding, "In my world, some people control the earth. Some fire, others water and air."
Aragorn decided that arguing over the meaning of magic would accomplish very little. Lady Lin instead returned her attention to his shoulder and motioned toward the center of the camp.
"Come. Your horse tired, you hurt. We have time."
Aragorn almost refused again, but the wall behind her made his earlier argument considerably weaker than it had been a few minutes before. If these people truly intended to remain, there was little chance he would convince them otherwise by repeating himself, and his horse could use the water after carrying him so far.
He allowed Lady Lin to take the reins and guide them farther into the camp. Everyone had their own task and they seem to be sticking to it without caring to even look at him. Soldiers carried ammunition crates toward the hills, others dragged equipment behind the newly raised wall, and several groups were already exercising for the battle to come.
Aragorn noticed that nobody appeared particularly concerned by the approaching Uruk-hai anymore. Some were speaking among themselves while they worked, and he met soldiers who were laughing, as if the imminent threat was not their main concern.
Near the center of the camp he saw a shallow pool that he could have sworn had not existed when he first looked across the valley. The earth around it was freshly disturbed, and clean water filled the depression almost to its edge. Aragorn assumed that is what she meant when she said they had people that were able to control the water.
He dismounted carefully, feeling the pain in his shoulder immediately once his weight left the saddle. A young soldier approached before he could reach for the reins, spoke briefly with Lady Lin and took the horse from her.
"He will care for it." She explained.
Aragorn nodded gratefully. "Then he has my thanks."
His horse was led toward the water while Lady Lin remained beside him, watching him carefully but not saying anything. Aragorn suspected she expected him to complain or voice show weakness. He was preparing to assure her again that he could stand perfectly well when Princess Azula approached from another part of the camp.
She was accompanied by someone Aragorn had not noticed before. The newcomer was younger still, a small girl wearing green and yellow clothes beneath black pieces of armor. What caught his attention first was that she walked barefoot across a military camp without the slightest concern for stones or equipment beneath her feet.
Her pale eyes appeared unfocused as well, and Aragorn soon realized that she had the eye illness. He looked toward Lady Lin, unable to hide his confusion. "Another child?"
Lady Lin nodded and glanced toward the girl. "Tough. Earth control."
That explained very little until the small girl stopped beside them. She planted one foot against the ground and moved her arms through a short series of deliberate motions. Stone rose smoothly between them, forming first a broad table and then several chairs around it.
Aragorn watched without speaking while another soldier hurried over carrying a small red cushion, placed it on one of the stone chairs and stepped aside. Princess Azula sat upon it immediately, apparently seeing nothing unusual in having furniture created from the ground for her convenience.
The young blind girl took another chair, while Lady Lin sat beside her and gestured toward the remaining seat. Aragorn lowered himself into it slowly.
'What a strange occurrence… Maybe I already fell and my head is showing me a fantasy beyond my understanding.'
But no matter how strange these people were, it felt too real to be a dream.
----0000----
Aragorn had barely settled into the stone chair before another soldier approached them, this one carrying a small wooden bowl filled with water. She appeared older than Princess Azula and the young earth controller.
"Healer Siku, Aragorn."
She bowed gently to him and he responded awkwardly. Having a closer look, she looked young as well, her armor was lighter than that of the soldiers preparing around the camp and it had a blue coloration.
Healer Siku seemed to regard Lady Lin with fear, and they exchanged a few words with her before pointing toward Aragorn's shoulder.
It felt strange again for Aragorn. Blue color in silk and clothing was difficult to achieve and usually reserved for Royalty, yet it seemed this lady was a mere servant for the Princess and Lady Lin. Another thing to note as odd and move on.
The healer stepped closer and motioned for him to remove enough of his coat and leather jerkin to expose the injury. Aragorn hesitated at first, mostly out of habit, but the pain had worsened considerably since dismounting and he had already accepted enough strange things during the last hour that refusing treatment now seemed pointless.
He pulled the clothing aside and allowed her to inspect the bruised flesh. The young woman dipped two fingers into the bowl, although rather than touching the water she lifted it with a small movement of her hand. Aragorn watched the liquid rise from the bowl in a thin ribbon and settle across his shoulder, glowing faintly as it moved over the damaged flesh.
Warmth spread through him almost immediately. He drew in a surprised breath as the ache began to recede. It did not disappear entirely, but the constant throbbing softened until moving his arm no longer sent pain down his side.
The healer continued for another minute before returning the water to the bowl and speaking quietly to Lady Lin.
"She says no broken bone, lucky." Lin explained. "Muscle hurt, many bruises. You need rest."
"That may be difficult today."
Lady Lin seemed to understand the humor and gave him a small nod before saying something to the healer, who bowed briefly and left them. Aragorn tested his shoulder carefully and found considerably more movement than before.
"Your people possess remarkable healers."
"Water control helps."
"So I have gathered."
Lady Lin looked toward his damaged clothing next. "We can fix the leather and coat. Some soldiers know fix."
"There is no need. There are more pressing matters than repairing this."
She did not argue, which Aragorn appreciated. A soldier brought water for him to drink while the three girls spoke quietly among themselves. Aragorn understood none of their language, although he occasionally recognized his own name and what sounded like references to the approaching army.
Princess Azula appeared particularly interested whenever Lady Lin answered her, while the young earth controller leaned back in her stone chair with complete ease.
Aragorn eventually looked toward Lady Lin. "You said your people command the elements."
She nodded. "Yes, very common in my world."
"And every person in your land may do this?"
"No. Some can. Some cannot."
Lady Lin gestured toward the camp around them. "This force has many fire controllers. We are the Fire Nation army."
Aragorn followed her gaze. He had already noticed the absence of familiar weapons among much of the force, but the explanation gave that observation an entirely different meaning. The heavily armored soldiers he had thought strangely unarmed were not lacking weapons at all.
"Ah, I see. That's why they have no weapons on them."
"Yes."
Princess Azula had apparently understood enough of the conversation to know what they were discussing. She smiled and raised one hand, allowing a small blue flame to appear above her fingertip.
Aragorn leaned forward slightly surprised. He had never seen a different colored flame. Lady Lin's fireball had been the usual orange and yellow, yet the flame burning over the princess's hand was a brilliant blue.
Princess Azula allowed it to grow until a sphere of fire rested above her palm, illuminating the gold of her armor before she calmly extinguished it.
Lady Lin looked toward Aragorn. "Princess' flame is stronger."
"I had begun to suspect that."
The princess did not understand the words, but she seemed satisfied by his expression. Lady Lin continued explaining, using simpler terms whenever Aragorn failed to recognize one of her words.
Their soldiers came from several lands and included people capable of controlling different elements, although most belonged to the Fire Nation. Their unit itself was part of an elite formation, trained to operate against enemies far larger than their own numbers and accustomed to combining their abilities with weapons Aragorn had yet to understand.
While the Princess and the young blind girl bickered back and forth, Lin turned to him once more.
"We could have helped more. What you see is only part of our weapons." Lin added. "Spirit took us without everything."
Aragorn looked toward the metal tubes on the hills. "You possess… uhm, bigger weapons as you called them?"
"Yes."
"If your entire army had come here, what then?"
Lady Lin considered the question for a moment. "Not enough room in this valley."
"What? How big is your nation's army?"
"Sixty." Lady Lin answered
"Sixty thousand?!" It was the largest army Aragorn had ever heard of. Maybe Sauron could muster that amount, but no other race could gather that large of an army.
"Sixty times." Lady Lin replied.
"Pardon me, sixty times?" He asked.
"Yeah, sixty times orc army coming here." Lady Lin finished.
"That makes no sense." Aragorn said.
"Don't worry." She dismissed.
He rested his forearms against the stone table and considered his choices. Helm's Deep still needed warning, and every moment spent here delayed him further, but leaving immediately meant abandoning the first force he had encountered that might actually destroy a significant part of Saruman's army before it ever reached Théoden.
"I will stay for the battle."
Lady Lin looked at him with some surprise. Aragorn continued before she could answer.
"If your defense fails, I will ride for Helm's Deep and warn them. They need to prepare defenses ahead of time, they think no one would dare attack them there."
Lady Lin nodded after thinking through his meaning.
"I did not expect you stay, but you can fight with us. You will have your horse ready."
Whether these strangers truly understood what was approaching them or not, he would soon discover.
----0000----
By the time the Uruk-hai finally came into sight, Aragorn was anxious and couldn't understand how the men beside him in the wall were so calm. The approaching army looked huge in his eyes, weird magic or not.
They appeared first as a dark line beyond the western hills, spreading wider as more of them marched into view. Aragorn had already seen the force once and knew what to expect, yet from the top of the newly raised wall their numbers seemed even greater than he remembered.
Thousands moved together beneath the banners of the White Hand, the sound of their march carrying across the valley as a constant distant rumble. He looked along the Fire Nation defenses and expected some reaction from the soldiers who had spent the last hours preparing for them.
There was almost no fear among them, certainly some still showed some nervousness, but it was not enough to disturb their positions. Soldiers continued carrying crates into position, and others were moving into position.
More surprising was the singing. It began somewhere along the wall and spread gradually through the ranks, a marching song in their own language accompanied by their armored arms hitting their chest.
Aragorn understood none of the words, yet the rhythm was unmistakably military, and before long entire sections of the defense had joined in.
"WAY LYWUH GWOR!" They shouted loudly to end their chant. (FOR THE FIRE NATION - Classical chinese)
He found the display difficult to understand. Men were not supposed to be eager to fight, especially at such odds. Below the wall, perhaps a hundred troops had gathered in the open ground between the fortification and the direction of the approaching enemy.
Most of the heavily armored soldiers were among them, Aragorn now understood were fire controllers. Alongside many others and some of the ones who had built the wall. What surprised him was that Princess Azula stood near the front with them.
It made no sense to risk them like that when they had a wall to defend from. And why would a princess lead from the front even if her abilities were greater than the rest. He turned toward Lady Lin, who was watching the distant Uruk-hai through a small metal object she held before one eye.
"My lady, why is your princess outside the wall?"
Lin lowered the device.
"She fights."
"I gathered that much, but surely the wall exists so your soldiers can fight from behind it."
Lady Lin appeared to consider how to explain the matter.
"Wall is second defense."
Aragorn looked again at the soldiers waiting in the valley. "Then what is the first?"
"Our plan already started."
He was getting frustrated with how little her answers revealed. Lady Lin pointed toward the top of the wall.
"You stay here. If soldiers come back, help defend."
"You expect them to retreat?"
"Probably. Depends on enemy."
Aragorn followed her gaze toward the Uruk-hai, whose front ranks were now beginning to descend from the distant hills.
"What are you planning?"
Lady Lin gave him a faint smile before turning away. She walked toward the edge of the wall and climbed onto its upper surface. Several nearby soldiers moved aside for her without being told.
"Lady Lin?"
She looked back briefly and seemed to be thinking how to explain but ultimately she said nothing. Aragorn was about to ask what she intended to do when flames burst beneath her feet.
His hand moved toward his sword by instinct as Lady Lin launched herself from the wall, clearing the soldiers gathered below and although she never landed, she was already dozens paces away, her momentum continued, throwing her forward across the valley.
Aragorn stared after her, perplexed. She was flying close to the ground, crossing the ground at a speed that matched the great eagles. Within moments she was far beyond the forward soldiers and continuing directly toward the approaching Saruman's army.
"What is she doing?" He muttered
The blind girl beside him answered in her own language, Aragorn just looked down at her.
"I'm sorry little one, I cannot understand you."
The girl folded her arms and said something else that sounded distinctly amused. Aragorn returned his attention to the valley. His eyes scanning the horizon for the missing armored flying lady.
Lady Lin had become little more than a distant figure against the open grass, occasionally visible only because another burst of fire marked her position. The Uruk-hai had clearly noticed her as well. Their formation continued advancing, although Aragorn could see movement near their front as warriors reacted to the solitary figure approaching them.
For several uncomfortable minutes he wondered whether Lady Lin intended to confront the entire army herself.
Then he could no longer see flames. Even from the wall Aragorn could see her standing alone in the path of thousands. The Uruk-hai continued toward her. Aragorn gripped the stone parapet as the distance closed, expecting arrows to begin flying at any moment.
Whatever confidence he had gained in these people during the afternoon did not extend to believing one woman could stand before what he now knew to be ten thousand enemies without consequence.
Lady Lin suddenly turned. Fire erupted behind her, and she came back across the valley at extraordinary speed.
She returned far faster than she had gone out, using a bigger burst of flame to propel herself across the ground until she reached the waiting Fire Nation soldiers. Several officers immediately gathered around her.
Orders followed and the relaxed atmosphere disappeared at once. Soldiers climbed the wall, the battle lines below spread farther apart and men carrying colored flags moved into clear positions where they could be seen from the surrounding hills.
Lady Lin pointed toward several places in the advancing army while speaking rapidly. The flag bearers started moving them in different patterns and sequences, and Aragorn briefly wondered what they communicated with that.
Another group farther along the wall repeated the signal and Aragorn followed their movements toward the soldiers positioned high upon the hills, barely visible among the rocks and grass with their strange metal tubes.
For a few seconds nothing happened. Then the valley erupted with a collection of deafening booms, loud enough that Aragorn felt them through the stone beneath his feet.
----0000----
The first explosions landed among the Uruk-hai before Aragorn understood what the soldiers on the hills had done. Great bursts of earth and flame erupted inside the advancing formation, throwing bodies aside and breaking apart entire ranks that had been marching shoulder to shoulder only moments before.
Another series of thunderous sounds came from both hillsides, followed seconds later by more explosions deeper inside the army, and Aragorn quickly realized that the strange metal tubes did not need a clear line of sight to strike their enemy. Their crews worked behind the ridges, loading and firing while the flag bearers below relayed instructions from Lady Lin.
The orcs reacted by pressing forward faster, which only drove more of them into the center of the valley. Several groups attempted to spread toward the slopes, but the earth controllers stationed there began moving together, bringing down sections of loose rock and soil onto the enemy.
Aragorn watched portions of the hills collapse into their path, crushing some and forcing the rest inward until the large army was being compressed into a narrower space between both elevations.
Only then did he understand why so many soldiers had been sent toward the hills instead of remaining behind the wall. They were not defending those positions from attack, as he had assumed earlier. They were using the terrain itself to bury the incoming army and launch that devastating magic.
Crossbow bolts began flying toward the troops waiting ahead of the wall once the enemy finally came close enough to answer. Most never reached their targets. Thin barriers of stone rose where the bolts were likely to strike, some appearing only long enough to absorb a volley before dropping back into the ground.
The fire controllers behind them answered immediately, sending fireballs and broad streams of flame into the front ranks. The Uruk-hai continued advancing through it, but their front was already becoming disordered as warriors climbed over fallen bodies or tried to force their way around those burning in front of them.
Princess Azula remained among the forward troops despite Aragorn's earlier doubts about allowing a royal child so close to the fighting. He saw her bring her hands together while blue light gathered around her fingers, then thrust them forward and release a bolt of lightning into the approaching line.
Several armored orcs collapsed from the strike, and the princess moved to another position before preparing the same attack again. Whatever reservations Aragorn had held about her presence at the front were becoming increasingly difficult to justify when every attack she made removed several enemies at once.
Lady Lin was farther ahead, fighting alongside the other fire controllers while still directing the battle. Aragorn saw her raise one metal hand and gather a flame above her palm, but unlike the fireballs being thrown around her, this one began growing brighter as it turned from orange to yellow and then nearly blinding white.
When she released it, the flame expanded into a long torrent that swept across the Uruk-hai in front of her, forcing those behind them to halt or push through the burning ground. The enemy kept advancing even when faced against that overwhelming attack.
These orcs were not ordinary men who might break after losing a few in front of them. They had been bred for war and driven forward by commanders who cared little for casualties. Even after the explosions, collapsing hills and fire had killed hundreds, those behind continued stepping over their own dead and pressing toward the wall.
For several minutes Aragorn believed sheer numbers might finally accomplish what their weapons could not. The distance between both forces narrowed until the first orcs were close enough that Aragorn could begin smelling burned flesh.
Just then a group of soldiers carrying those long metal sticks encased in a wooden frame joined him in the walls. They aimed at them and after one man shouted they also produced a deafening crack and boom sound.
The forward Fire Nation troops began retreating in organized groups, continuing to attack while giving ground toward the fortification. Aragorn wanted to shout at them in warning but the noise from the metal stick would make it pointless. Either way the soldiers showed no sign of panic and slowed them down while they orderly retreated.
Openings appeared in the stone wall. The retreating troops passed through them in groups, with earth controllers closing each section behind them as soon as the last soldier crossed. Princess Azula entered near the center, followed shortly afterward by Lady Lin, who hovered over the last stretch of ground using fire beneath her feet before clearing the top of the wall and landing among her soldiers.
Both looked tired, but neither appeared alarmed by how the battle was progressing. The tubes on the hills continued firing over them. Explosions tore apart the rear of the enemy line while the front ranks crowded against the newly closed wall, leaving the army compressed between the fortification and the bombardment behind them.
Fire controllers stationed along the top began pouring flames downward, forcing those attempting to climb or place ladders against the stone to retreat or burn. Lady Lin immediately returned to the flag bearers and began pointing toward something deeper inside the enemy formation.
Aragorn followed her gaze but could see little beyond the mass of armored bodies until he noticed several Uruk-hai carrying a large metal sphere surrounded by others protecting it. He assumed that was their target but he was not sure what that did.
Maybe it was a weapon, but how Lady Lin had been able to identify it when their own weapons were so different was a mystery. Aragorn barely had time to open his mouth when one of those explosions hit the ground where that metal ball was.
The resulting explosion was unlike anything that had struck the field before. A violent shockwave reached the wall strongly enough to rattle Aragorn's teeth and force him to brace himself against the stone. Fire and debris erupted from the center of the orc force, tearing open a massive gap and throwing warriors in every direction.
For several seconds even the Fire Nation soldiers stopped shouting as the smoke expanded across the valley. Lady Lin watched the destruction with narrowed eyes before turning toward the young blind earth controller and giving her an order as well.
The young girl grinned and she stepped forward, planting both feet firmly against the stone beneath her, moving her arms through a series of deliberate motions that Aragorn had learned to associate with something unpleasant happening to the ground.
At first he saw no effect, and for several seconds the remaining Uruk-hai continued forcing themselves toward the wall. Then a deep crack appeared across the valley roughly fifty paces from the fortification.
The ground split apart, opening widely in the middle and rapidly expanding as earth controllers along the wall joined the movement, dividing what remained of the army into two groups. Uruk-hai near the fracture lost their footing and fell into the widening gap while those behind struggled to stop their advance before being pushed in by their own comrades.
A red glow began appearing from somewhere below and an uncomfortable heat reached the wall soon afterward. Aragorn stared as molten rock filled the bottom of the fracture and thick smoke climbed into the air, cutting the enemy formation in half with a burning trench that none of them could cross.
Aragorn was speechless as he watched hundreds of orcs perish in front of his eyes. They couldn't even retreat because there was a lot of rock they now had to get on top of to be able to escape.
It was going to be a bloodbath and by their broken and disorganized state, he knew the Fire Nation would win the battle, and he was not even going to be needed.
----0000----
Once the battle was over, Aragorn could find no living orcs remaining in the valley. The few who had attempted to flee had been cut off by the soldiers positioned along the hills, while those trapped near the wall had been overwhelmed once their lines collapsed.
Thousands of bodies now covered what had been green grass only hours earlier, mixed with shattered weapons, broken siege equipment and deep craters left by the Fire Nation weapons. Aragorn had seen many battles throughout his life, but he struggled to imagine how he would explain this one to the men waiting at Helm's Deep.
If someone had told him that several hundred strangers had destroyed an army of thousands without allowing most of them close enough to swing a sword, he would have assumed the story had grown with every telling.
Around him, the Fire Nation soldiers already behaved as though the battle was finished business. Their wounded were being treated, equipment collected and counted, while groups of fire controllers burned piles of corpses to prevent disease from spreading through the valley.
Lady Lin joined Aragorn as he watched from the wall, her armor covered in soot and several sections of her metal limbs darkened from flames she controlled. For some time they watched the work below before Lady Lin spoke.
"Maybe spirit bring us here for a reason."
Aragorn looked toward her. "You believe that?"
Lady Lin glanced across the field. "You said these creatures kill humans, burn homes and serve evil masters. Maybe we help until we find a way home."
"You would aid us in this war?"
"Yes, unless we find our way back before that."
Aragorn could hardly deny how valuable that aid would be after what he had just witnessed.
Lady Lin continued after a moment. "You show us Helm's Deep?"
"Aye. We could march to the fortress, it should be a day from here."
"We go there. Need maps, food and information." She gestured toward the weapons being carried down from the hills. "Also need to know if your people can make these."
Aragorn followed her gaze toward the strange metal tubes that had devastated Saruman's army from beyond the reach of any bow.
"You wish to produce your weapons here?"
"If possible. We have ammunition, not unlimited."
Everything Aragorn had seen that day had been accomplished by only a small part of their army, using whatever weapons and supplies had been carried with them when the spirit transported them into this world.
If the craftsmen of Middle-earth could provide these strangers with what they needed to replace their supplies, their strength would be equal to what he had just seen hours ago. They could take the fight to Sauron easily.
He remembered Lady Lin's explanation that the full army of her nation numbered many times greater than the force Saruman had sent against Helm's Deep and found himself wondering what such a civilization could accomplish if it ever brought its complete strength into these lands.
He wasn't sure even Gandalf would be able to stop them. For now, however, they were allies, and after watching the destruction of Saruman's army Aragorn could only be thankful for that.
"Let's hope we can help you, your aid would be invaluable."
Lady Lin nodded. "Good. We leave when soldiers ready."
Aragorn looked across the ruined valley once more. He was happy at least that he would bring good news to the people of Rohan.