I HATE THE MIDDLE AGES!
Chpater 12: Arrival at Gondor
(The return of the King)
Hermione fell on her face just as she did when she went to the quidditch world championship in her world. When she got up she saw that she was standing in front of the gates of Minas Tirith.
“Who goes, identify yourself in the name of our lord Denethor!” the guards at the door shouted to her.
“My name... My name is Hermione Jean Granger! And I am the istari chestnut! I come by command of Mitrandir, Gandalf the gray to speak with your lord!”
The guards told her to wait and she had to stay in front of the huge gates for several hours until dawn.
Hermione meanwhile saw the city-fortress and was surprised, Minas Tirith did look like the fantasy castles that were shown in her fairy tales, but at a more massive level.
The gates were opened and Hermione entered the city, some guards told her that they would escort her to the seneschal and Hermione followed them.
The city was as impressive from the inside as it was from the outside and consisted of several levels, massive gates guarded both the entrance to the city and the second level, and the rest of the levels lacked these, except for the last one which led to the top of the city which consisted of a horizontal esplanade dug in the same rock, rock that divided the city into two large segments.
Throughout the entire journey Hermione suppressed the will to vomit, as people threw their organic waste out the windows and the stench was strong, at least in the city of King Théoden, the wind although cold, was constant, however in Minas Tirith, no breeze appeared.
The castle was at the base of the esplanade, Hermione entered the throne room and was amazed by the place, was not baroque style, but neoclassical with black and white polished pillars that gave the whole place a majestic and sober atmosphere at the same time.
Elegant dark blue bleachers led to the throne, but Denethor as a seneschal of the kingdom, sat at the base of the bleachers and saw Hermione severely.
Hermione was intimidated by the man’s expression, it was a mixture between the disapproval expression of his teacher McGonagall and the clear aversion on Snape’s face.
“Very good morning, my lord Denethor, seneschal of Gondor," Hermione said to him solemnly, giving him a bow, "I come by command of Gandalf to serve you sir.”
“Good morning? Do you consider good morning the fact that the orcs are invading my kingdom?” He said, and Hermione felt as if she had been slapped.
“Excuse me, my lord, it was not my intention to offend you in any way, I regret my misguided words, I only came to help in what my humble abilities are capable," she said and Denethor's expression softened a little.
“All help is welcome, and before going into detail regarding the services you wish to render to my city, I would like to know the details by which my son Boromir, is found in the healing houses as we speak.”
“Then Boromir is alive!” Hermione gleefully said, but the monarch’s expression darkened again.
2Excuse me, but I am happy that Lord Boromir is safe and sound.”
“More convalescent I would say," said the king and Hermione noticed how his voice began to break because of the delicate situation of his son.
Hermione decided to wait for Denethor to speak again, and once he was back on his feet, he ordered to tell him about her trip from Rivendel. The girl was surprised that the man knew about the fellowship's journey and decided to tell him everything, including the coming of Aragorn.
“The best thing would be not to lie," she thought and was right, as the seneschal knew of the presence of his friend.
“And then Mithrandir, he intends to bring this mountaineer by the name of Aragorn before my presence, will it be possible for him to reclaim his claim to the throne? A right that due to time no longer belongs to him.”
"If it doesn't belong to him, why the hell don't you sit upstairs?" Hermione thought.
“My lord, politics does not concern me, I can only tell you that the man named Aragorn already guided the ring bearer to Rivendel, so I suppose that he continued the journey with the fellowship because of the friendship that was born towards the ring bearer.”
Hermione was very nervous, she was risking a lot of things with the information she gave to Denethor, the security of Frodo and Aragorn, the success of the mission, but somehow Denethor already knew all this. The only thing she didn't know was how Boromir got to the capital of Osgiliath.
The seneschal was pleased with the witch's report and thanked her for the help given to his son. Hermione asked Denethor for permission to go to the healing houses and he ordered one of the guards to take her there.
The healing houses were large and pleasant places, and Hermione was able to visit Boromir, who was unconscious from the fever. The women in charge of the place did everything they could, but the condition of the man did not improve.
“How I would have liked to learn healing magic, but at school they didn't teach it either," Hermione thought. "Here they can only treat fractures or superficial wounds, it's a good thing Boromir has no internal bleeding or other fate he could have, I hate the Middle Ages."
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Hermione went to Osgiliath and met Faramir's lieutenant, the captain informed her that his master would soon arrive and asked Hermione to help as much as possible. The witch carried out the enchantments she did with Rohan's men and prepared to attack the orcs, however, the city was chaotic and Hermione could not do much, so she decided that she would help better in Minas Tirith and decided to return to that place. Fate imposed that when the witch left Osgiliath, Faramir along with Frodo, Sam and Gollum arrived in this city.
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In MinasTirith, Hermione began to perform the usual enchantments. At first the soldiers were reluctant to accept Hermione's helmets, but the archers convinced them of their usefulness. Then the witch turned to the walls and was surprised to see that they did not have the classic medieval defenses of cast leaded cauldrons that were so often seen in movies and books.
“We don't have as much lead, or huge boilers to contain lead," one captain told the girl.
“That doesn't matter, the first thing I want you to do is to bring the thickest normal boilers and all the lead and oil you can get together.”
The men brought him all the things she asked for and with the spell Engorgio increased the size of the cauldrons and had them placed and secured on the walls at all levels of the fortress and placed only a few small pieces of lead or small amounts of oil. Hermione's plan was to use the Refill spell to increase the amounts of molten lead or boiling oil in the boilers.
The men were impressed to see how each of the cauldrons was overflowing with lethal liquids, but Hermione felt that this was not enough and went to speak with the seneschal.
“My lord, the field from Osgiliath to Minas Tirith is completely clear and its uniform surface, it gives free field for the siege machines of Sauron to arrive without problems, you my lord, should order that the men build a series of defensive walls all over the land so that at least their advance is slowed down," Hermione said urgently.
“There are not enough men and material available in stone or wood to do what you suggest," said the seneschal in a tired tone.
“Then let us place at least as much debris as possible at the foot of the outer wall so that the assault towers do not reach the battlements," Hermione insisted.
“Do whatever you want, everything is lost.”
Hermione did not understand the fatalistic attitude of the seneschal, but since he gave her free rein to act, she bowed and left the place, lest the man change his mind.
Hermione could not erect walls with magic, but she could with her Featherweight spell make it much easier for men to carry stones and wood. Too bad the city was too big and could only surround it with a weak defensive wall, she could not dig ditches and fill them with combustible liquids, because it would require a lot of effort and not even her fill spell would be enough for so much liquid volume.
“At least we have already placed the rubble at the base of the outer wall," said a sweaty witch, when she was informed of Gandalf's presence.
The girl rushed to the magician's room as the meeting with Denethor was over and was surprised to see Pipin with him.
“Pipin, what are you doing here? Where's Merry?”
The hobbit explained how he "stumbled" on the palantir and Gandalf congratulated her for organizing the city's defenses. Hermione told Gandalf how Denethor knew a lot about the fellowship of the ring, especially Aragorn.
“Do you think Denethor has spies in Rivendel?” Pipin asked him.
“That's an absurd idea, but I'm intrigued about how he could figure out so many things," Gandalf replied.
“What if Denethor also has a palantir?” Hermione asked.
“That would explain many things, Denethor saw inside the palantir and the enemy showed him visions of defeat and death, but those images are not the future, are simple tricks of the enemy.”
“Should we tell Denethor?”
“No Hermione, Denethor would not admit to having been deceived by Sauron, the best thing is to leave things as they are.”
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One night, Hermione, Gandalf and Pipin talked about the war and the opportunities Frodo and Sam had to reach the Doom Mountain.
“Forcing your eyes you can see how the Doom mountain throws lava in the distance," Hermione said.
“Gandalf, do you think the Nazgul come flying in these winged monsters?” asked Pipin, who had heard that a nazgul had attacked Osgiliath by flying in a kind of winged serpent (Faramir and his men did not mention the presence of the hobbits to anyone.
“I don't know Pipin, I hope not, otherwise our strategy to defend the city from the top would be useless.”
“But if we have to go down just one level lower, we wouldn't have a view of the entire battlefield," Hermione said.
“I know, the layout of the city is like a hand extended to the front and the walls are not curved, but straight," he said when a beam of green light shot out of Minas Morgul into the sky. Hermione could not help but take a couple of steps backwards as Pipin did, Gandalf held them from behind cheering them on.
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The next morning, Hermione and her friends watched Faramir and his men escape chased by the nazgul riding winged monsters. Gandalf went to the rescue of the men and Hermione along with Pipin went to meet them. Faramir saw Pipin strangely, and so they learned of Frodo's whereabouts.
“I can't believe it! If I had waited for Faramir, I would have met Frodo” Hermione complained.
“You couldn't do anything Hermione," Gandall said, "fate decreed that Frodo should continue his path alone.”
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Hermione was making the final preparations for the city's defense when a commotion was heard at the entrance to the fortress.
“What's going on?” the witch asked.
“Faramir had an argument with his father and now intends to take up Osgiliath again," said Pipin.
“It's crazy, they can't make it.”
“Faramir believes that he will be able to achieve this with the magical armour of his armor, that the arrows will not harm him.”
“And then what? I already explained it to him, that magic will not prevent his bones from breaking and bleeding inside if he is attacked with swords or mallets.”
“Even so Hermione, he wants to try.”
The girl hurried to Faramir's and heard how Gandalf's words did not echo in the man.
The witch whispered and Faramir looked away and decided not to undertake the suicide mission.
“My duty as captain is to defend my kingdom without unreasonably risking the lives of my men," Faramir said, and withdrew with his men to the stables.
“What was that, Hermione?” Gandalf and Pipin asked her at the same time, but Hermione looked down, she looked depressed.
“It is the spell Imperio, one of the spells forbidden in my world, anyone who uses them is condemned to Azkaban, the prison of the magicians... And I used it...”
“You had no choice, Hermione," Pipin said, rubbing her back to cheer her on.
“It is true Hermione, otherwise Faramir and his men would have gone to a certain death.” Gandalf replied by smiling at her, which encouraged the witch since it was a long time since she had not seen the wizard smiling.
In the afternoon Faramir went to meet Hermione, he looked upset.
“What did you do to me?” he said with an angry expression.
Hermione was frightened and told him by shaking what he had done. Faramir watched her silently.
“I acted impulsively after arguing with my father, now I see that what I tried to do was crazy," Faramir said with a frown.
"Don't do it again," concluded the man and walked away from the place.
"Heavens, for a moment I thought he'd hit me," Hermione thought, nothing surprised her anymore about this misogynistic and brutal world.
TO BE CONTINUE...
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