Reinforcements
The long night continued in a hail of arrows and growing piles of bodies beyond the wall.
Hiccup had stopped counting after fifty shots. His arms were weak, and it hurt to even draw his bow.
Weary and needing a break, he stepped away from the ramparts and retreated into the safety of shelter given by the wall. He scrambled down the stairs after stowing Inferno away. Just like the other archers taking a needed break, he had to remain close to the wall for cover.
The soldiers unlucky enough to have been struck by rock or arrow but still able to fight were being tended to there also. The shouting in the outer courtyard and the pounding on the gate continued, but the small battering rams used by Orcs were too weak to even dent the main gate.
But there was something far more ominous than countless Orcs. There were other wings in the sky now.
Dark wings of fellbeasts, a horrifying mix of enormous bat-birds, were circling above. The Nazgul rode the fellbeasts and filled the skies with shrieking cries that filled the defender's hearts with momentary terror. The soldiers upon the wall visibly quivered and quailed when those shrieks sounded on the wind.
At least the Nazgul stayed away from the light that Gandalf was holding, but it was likely they could do great damage if they truly joined the fray. They could probably destroy the catapults and decimate the lines of archers on the wall.
He stepped aside from everyone else, found the nearest supply crate, got a canteen of water, and a loaf of bread. Dozens of stone buildings on the first couple levels were collapsed from hurled boulders. Fires blazed throughout the city from flaming shots.
Everything around him felt so similar to the terrifying raids he had been in through the years. Staying inside, sharpening axes for the real fighters, or staying hidden behind buildings, all while wings swarmed above and the dragons threatened to carry him off or eat him alive. But there was no fear now... as long as the Nazgul stayed away.
Every time one of them neared filled his heart with fear and unreasonable terror. Why did that happen to him? Why did Nazgul cries affect him so much? They should not.
He finished his snack and noticed the two Furies resting on the other side of the courtyard, so he went to join them. Toothless and Moonbeam had done their part by setting over fifteen combined towers and catapults on fire. A stray Orc arrow had struck Toothless's side, though without injury, prompting both of them to take more cover or stay higher in the sky.
Further, the arrival of the fellbeasts had forced the two Furies from the sky for safety. It was too dangerous to stay in the sky beyond the wall. Unhindered, several siege towers had then reached the wall and let battle be joined up on the wall.
He ran up to Toothless and Moonbeam as they rested.
"How are you doing?"
Toothless grumbled and leaned against Moonbeam's side.
"We are tired," Toothless yawned.
Moonbeam nodded once with her head on her paws.
"So am I. I have never flamed as much as I did this night..." she said.
"Me too. I can't shoot anymore for now," Hiccup sighed.
"Rest with us..." Moonbeam hummed.
"Glad to..."
None of them said anything else for a long time. They had to stay awake, keeping their eyes on the sky just in case.
Faramir and Gandalf ran back and forth on the wall to help reassure everyone and keep them fighting. The drums boomed in the distance while the flicker of flames and the occasional stray arrow flew overhead. A few fires were burning in the storehouses and caches of supplies.
"Got many shots left?" Hiccup wondered.
"Yes, we do. Why would we not?" Toothless asked.
"Well, every dragon has a shot limit, right?"
Toothless and Moonbeam hummed in thought.
"I used all my fire in other fights, but I am not sure now..." Toothless mumbled.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Toothless shrugged while growling out of curiosity.
"My fire feels different now. I do not think I am near my... shot limit, as you said."
Hiccup briefly thought about it and then decided to think more about it later.
"Oh well, your shot limit changing wouldn't be the strangest thing that has happened to you..."
"No, it would not. Losing is worse..."
"Losing?"
Moonbeam smugly purred.
"I won our contest by one burned tower-den!"
Toothless rolled his eyes and huffed.
"Speaking of strange things happening, I saw Denethor out here earlier," Hiccup offered.
Toothless blinked.
"Truly? That is impressive of him."
"Yeah, he's not fighting so much as he is just being there with the men. Having him out here probably helps the soldiers be braver, so there is that. I still wonder what's wrong with him."
Moonbeam grumbled and hissed.
"He has a cold soul-fire and wants to stop fighting... he would let the attackers take his city..."
A rock soared overhead and struck a stone structure up on the second level. They watched as the elegant building collapsed in on itself in a cloud of smoke. Shouts and cries went up as a few people ran in the streets.
Yikes, hope no one was in that...
"Yeah, he almost wants to give up, but from what I've heard he wasn't always like that."
A shrieking cry echoed from high above, and they glanced up at its source. One of the fellbeasts had flown closer to the wall. The Nazgul's shrieking cry covered the city in darkness and smothered the light.
He wanted to hide and pray that it would not find him, and he shrunk back against Toothless's side. Other soldiers cried out and hid as the catapults went silent. He knew that he would have bad dreams filled with shrieks for a long time after today... if he survived at all, which was unlikely, and he should just drop his weapons and accept the end, and there was no reason to fight and resist, and...
"Courage, brother..." Toothless hummed.
The shadow passed as both Nazgul and fellbeast retreated higher into the darkness. The dark wings still circled high over the city.
"Why does it do that to me?" Hiccup whispered, shivering.
"It is not only you. Those living shadows are hunters of humans. They put fear in your soul-fires only by being near you," Toothless calmly said.
Hiccup bristled, very uncomfortable by that.
"False-life should not be," Moonbeam hissed.
Another rock flew overhead and struck a tower on the second level. The bottom half of the tower shattered, and the entire structure crumbled and pitched forward, falling onto the first level and crushing a barracks as it fell. That was the second such tower struck in short succession.
Several screams went up and were swiftly silenced, covered by the crashing roar of the stone structures topping into the street.
"Where are they... the rest of the pack and... everyone?" Hiccup gasped, looking away from the collapsed buildings.
"They should be here the next sun, whenever that is. It should be soon."
Hiccup frowned. Why was Rohan taking so long? More likely was that they were not coming at all.
"If they didn't give up on us..."
Toothless growled and nudged him.
"They would not do that! Do not be twisted!"
Hiccup knew that was true even before Toothless pointed it out to him. Rohan and the pack would never have betrayed them. They were just... delayed.
What's wrong with me? Maybe this is the Nazgul somehow...
"Yeah, you're right. They'll be here, eventually."
He stared up at the swirling clouds being battered about by the wind high above the mountain the city was carved into. The clouds were twisting and rolling as if two winds, one from the east and the other from the west, were doing battle up above. That was oddly appropriate, though it would be very nice to see actual sunlight again.
Howls, screeches, drums, the roar of flames, the cries of commands, and the twang of bows continued to fill the air as the night dragged on.
The ground outside the main gate was covered in a black sludge, which Hiccup knew was actually Orc blood. Countless hundreds of Orcs had fallen out there without even denting the main gate. There were so many bodies that it was hard for the Orcs to advance.
Faramir and Gandalf ran back and forth along the wall and shouted encouragement to the defenders. The shrill cries continued up above and out beyond the wall. Arrows kept raining down from the ramparts.
Then all the Orcs pulled back away from the walls. Even the fellbeasts and Nazgul pulled back from the skies above.
Hiccup stepped back from the overhang above the gate as all the bows went silent. The catapults kept hurling rocks into the night on both sides. He glanced back into the city and saw Toothless and Moonbeam resting on a rooftop.
What is going on?
Soldiers crowded around Gandalf and hounded him with questions.
"Mithrandir, what is happening!" "The Orcs!" "Have we won?" "Is it over?"
"This is not over! Be on your guard!" Gandalf cried aloud.
Denethor stepped up on top of the wall. The Steward was clad in silver mail underneath his dark fur coat. Denethor said nothing as he stared out beyond the wall. Then he suddenly stiffened and spun toward Gandalf while shouting frantically.
"They come for us! The wolf of fire will consume us all!"
"Steady yourself, Steward! What do you speak of?" Gandalf rebuked him.
Denethor openly laughed as a fell light gleamed in his eyes.
"I see so much more than you, Wizard. Open your eyes and listen to our doom..."
He's crazy...
But there was something different about the chanting in the beyond. The countless thousands of Orcs were shouting a very deep battle-cry.
"Grond! Grond! Grond!"
What does that mean?
Gandalf stepped over to the edge of the wall, and Hiccup similarly stared out into the darkness.
There was something very large, something like a siege-tower, being pushed toward the main gate. The siege engine, designed almost like a crouched wolf, looked like it was partially on fire. The fellbeasts flitted above it, as if protecting it. There was certainly no chance that either of the Furies could strike at it past the winged escort.
Toothless and Moonbeam must have realized that something was happening; they flew over and landed on the wall next to him.
"Grond! Grond! Grond!"
"What is that?" "The wolf's head!" "Ruin!" "Trolls!" "Woe!"
"Find your courage, Men!" Gandalf cried.
Toothless stepped up to Hiccup's side and snarled as he glared beyond.
"What is that?"
"I... think it will... break the gate..." Hiccup whispered.
They both saw all the fellbeasts flying above the siege weapon.
"And we cannot stop it?" Toothless sighed.
Hiccup gave him no answer since there was no need. The nine fellbeasts provided too much protection.
"Grond! Grond! Grond!"
The massive battering-ram drew closer, being pulled and pushed by great beasts and trolls over the mounds of the fallen in its path. Even as he watched, a troll turned away from the construct and ran out into the ranks of Orcs, killing wildly as it went on a senseless rampage. Another troll stepped in to take its place. The Orcs advanced at its side, archers with bows at the ready.
"Grond! Grond! Grond!"
Gandalf drew a heavy breath.
"Grond, they named it for Morgoth's mace. Spells of ruin and sundering lay upon this device."
"What can we do?" a random soldier asked.
Gandalf had no chance to answer before there was motion out beyond the city. A lone fellbeast, what looked like the largest one of all, flew closer to the city until it almost touched the protective bubble of light above the city. Shadows flew behind it and flowed from its wings as it hovered in place, or maybe the flowing shadows were only a trick of the light.
The Nazgul riding it shrieked a painfully piercing cry that sent most of the defenders on the walls to their knees in fear. It was so much more intense than the cry any other of the Nazgul had made so far. A wave of dread and despair flowed over all.
"Grond! Grond! Grond!"
Hiccup wildly clutched Toothless's neck while Moonbeam purred at his other side.
The Nazgul raised its sword high and cried aloud in an unknown tongue. There was a flash of darkness, and the protective light faded from above the city like a fire snuffed out by a rush of water.
There was a moment of silence.
Unhindered, the other Nazgul and fellbeasts raced forward into the darkness and filled the sky with their cries of despair. They dove for the catapults and crushed them. Defenders were seized in massive claws and thrown from the heights.
Shadows grew longer and darker. The stones whispered of ruin and hopelessness. The city was abandoned, betrayed by its allies. No reinforcements were coming. Men dropped their weapons and turned to flee the walls. They were all alone.
"Stand to your posts! Have courage, Men of the West!" Gandalf's clear and powerful voice broke through the spell of despair woven about the city.
Hiccup remembered to breathe and found his courage in the glow of Toothless's pendant and his and Moonbeam's soft purrs. And he remembered.
He was not alone.
"We are staying with you..." Moonbeam whispered and nudged his shoulder.
"Yes, you are flying with me from now on..." Toothless added.
"Okay, I will..."
They did not need to say why. They were not going to abandon the city while hope remained, but they needed to be able to flee together if the worst were to happen. If Rohan and the pack arrived too late or not at all...
"Grond! Grond! Grond!"
Faramir rallied the archers up above the main gate; their bows kept singing as a rain of arrows fell. Grond was in position directly before the gate. Nothing the archers could do could stop the massive, armored trolls, which were unharmed by arrows, from drawing back the battering-ram and then releasing it.
The flaming wolf's head struck the massive gate. The gate did not break, but the entire wall trembled with the strike.
"Grond! Grond! Grond!"
"To the gate! Follow me! Hurry!" Gandalf, still astride Shadowfax, led several battalions of Gondor soldiers from the walls and the barracks down into the courtyard behind the main gate.
The main gate shivered at another heavy strike.
Toothless, Hiccup safely on his back, hopped down from the house he had been perched on. He and Moonbeam landed to the side of the courtyard and stood together, glaring at the main gate while Gandalf and Shadowfax stood beside them.
Toothless looked around at the many soldiers, and he was very impressed that they showed no fear of him or Moonbeam. That may be because they had something far more scary to be afraid of.
He rolled his eyes and snorted, amused that they were not so afraid anymore
All the soldiers were wearing their thick, metal scale-armor, and they carried long pikes, big shields, and bows. The fighters up on the wall were still biting from up there with their arrows.
Even Denethor, despite his soul-fire of ice and fear, was here with the soldiers to give them courage.
The gate boomed with another strike.
"Grond! Grond! Grond!"
All the soldiers shuffled in place and wavered.
"You are soldiers of Gondor! You will stand your ground!" Gandalf roared in his voice of power.
Everyone else around him cheered.
And then a hush fell over all.
The countless bows went still. Voices were silenced as a cold darkness flowed in the air. The dust and fire-ash under his paws was disturbed by a wind.
Was there a voice on the wind? Some fell chanting from beyond the wall?
Motion up in the skies, high above the city, caught his gaze. The clouds themselves swirled in place, growing thinner as the winds fought with each other. A faint orange glow, a fore-flier of dawn, was barely visible for an instant.
Then the lightning flashed between the gate and the clouds with a deafening boom as the fire-wolf-machine struck.
The massive gate broke in two and swung open with a crash. But there was no horde of Orcs or trolls that rushed inside.
Smoke and mist flowed in through the destroyed gate.
"Steady! Whatever comes through that gate, you will stand your ground!" Gandalf shouted.
The fighters remained in place, pikes lower and shields lifted, as silence fell again. The mist stilled and began to fall away as something stirred within its depths.
He and Moonbeam bared their teeth and snarled as they saw what was approaching. They had fought these things in the sky from afar, and even that fight was a terrible one.
These fellbeasts might have been dragons once, maybe even something like Night Furies, but they were not now.
The largest fellbeast of them all, its gait awkward as it shuffled inside through the mist, roared aloud at the hundreds of humans gathered to fight. As terrible as it was, the black rider on its back and holding its reins was far worse. He knew its name, for he had dreamed of this Nazgul's twisted voice and heard how terrible it was.
The Witch-king strode in atop his fellbeast through the gates. No arrows flew forth to bite either of them. All was silent.
The Witch-king lifted a sword, which burst into flame, and screamed.
'Join us freely, lost one...'
Even he winced at how terrible the cry was, at how it pierced straight to his soul-fire and filled his thoughts with what would happen if he did not obey.
Hiccup would die. Moonbeam would die.
'You and your kind will serve me!'
Everything he loved would die. He would die.
Another will and soul-fire burned inside the empty shell of the Witch-king. That other will was one which he had felt before: Sauron himself.
'No dragon can resist my command and my strength of will!'
There was no hope. He had no choice. He had to obey.
Or did he?
Accepting the possibility of death was a choice also. He could always disobey and accept the consequences for as long as his will was his own.
If his own death might save Moonbeam or Hiccup, then so be it. He would give his life for them if he had to.
A power he had only barely felt before, now burned freely and drove out all weakness and fear.
No force or will from beyond his own soul-fire could control him now that he feared not for himself.
He opened his eyes and saw the blue glow surrounding him. That power-light, his pendant, and Gandalf's staff were the only lights in the courtyard now. Moonbeam rubbed against his neck out of fear, so he lay his tail over hers. Hiccup's whining of fear stopped, and his grip tightened around Toothless's neck.
He still grumbled when he saw what was happening in the courtyard. All the human fighters were fleeing in terror, their weapons and shields abandoned. They could not stand against this enemy.
None remained except himself, Moonbeam, Hiccup, Gandalf, Shadowfax, and a trembling Denethor, all against the Witch-king and his fellbeast.
The Witch-king reached up and removed its hood. An iron crown floated above the shoulders, and red eyes blazed without a head.
"A worthy effort, Wizard, but futile. The world of Men will fall!" the Witch-king's hissing voice from an unseen mouth filled the air.
"Go back to the void that awaits you and your master!" Gandalf shouted.
The Witch-king said nothing to that, and instead pointed its flaming sword at Toothless and Hiccup. So he shot a blast of flame at the Witch-king, just because he wanted to. The Witch-king waved an armored paw and deflected the shot into the wall.
"Lost one... you are a traitor to your kind. Do you not know the truth?"
He only snarled in answer while the fellbeast's maw dripped with mouth-water.
"I brought you and all your kind here to serve!"
Through twisted skies. A summons to a gathering.
Confirmation of what another had suspected. This was the creature that had brought him and the pack into this world. Or was it actually Sauron who acted through the Witch-king? Was there a difference between the two?
"I will not serve you or your Alpha!" he snarled.
"Yes, you will. I will break you."
Gandalf slammed his glowing staff into the ground and drew his sword. His blade was sparkling and crackling with lightning. His voice was filled with power and boomed from the sky.
"You are Nameless and Formless, craven shadow of Angmar! I am a servant of the Secret Fire, and I do not stand alone!"
The Witch-king remained motionless on his fellbeast, as if uncertain what to do as he stared with flaming eyes at Gandalf. Then the Nazgul raised his sword high as flames ran down the blade.
Everything paused as a very familiar sound echoed high in the sky above them. A shrieking that was different from the Nazgul grew louder.
They are here and not a wingbeat too soon!
Several Night Furies roared aloud from high in the sky as they dove. He watched them as they neared, only to realize that there were about half as many as he expected to see.
Five Night Furies touched down high up on the wall above the courtyard. Their mouths were aglow with purple fire which they immediately loosed.
At him and Gandalf.
He knew in that instant in which time flew very slowly that these were not his packmates. These were other Night Furies that flew for the Enemy.
There were others.
A blinding white light filled his vision as he reared back to take the hit instead of Hiccup. But nothing hit him.
Gandalf's white power-light had blocked the shots, much as the Witch-king had blocked his own fire. He still had no idea how that just happened, but he was very glad that the Wizard could do that.
The five Mordor Night Furies roared in defiance down at them.
"Azat agh dig goi!" the Witch-king commanded.
The Mordor Furies roared again as one and jumped from the wall, turning their flight out along the city wall.
"There were others..." Hiccup whimpered in shock.
"We are betrayed by the dragons! Flee! Flee for your lives!" Denethor scrambled to his feet and fled, screaming wildly as he ran.
"No! It's not them! It's..." Hiccup went silent.
The Witch-king pointed his flaming sword at Gandalf as a suffocating silence fell again. All the screams and sounds of battle faded entirely.
"Do you see now, Old Man? This is my hour! Die now and curse in vain!"
Gandalf held both his sparkling sword and staff out before him. Fire, as if kept secret until then, appeared, burning on his hand.
The fellbeast prepared to jump while Shadowfax fearlessly whinnied. Toothless also readied his fire to aid Gandalf however he could.
And new horns sounded from beyond the wall, breaking the silence. They were horns that he remembered from before at Helm's Deep and many times around Edoras.
Everything stopped.
The Witch-king's flaming sword died down as the flames and shadows retreated. Its burning eyes dimmed.
Then, at some silent command, the fellbeast launched itself aloft from the courtyard, flew up into the sky, and vanished over the wall.
In the stillness that followed, they could all see outside the ruined gate. The hordes of Orcs outside were running in chaos with the city and the assault apparently forgotten.
The horns blew with the northern wind. Further, faint roars echoed from beyond.
Rohan and the pack had arrived at last.