immediately. As someone who had grown up with five siblings, Robb could appreciate the lack of squabbling that brought with it. It was a sign of no little maturity to let someone else be the leader, and if he was honest Robb had not expected it from a group of boys their age.

Still, several boys looked at Deor to respond, Haleth and Eadwine among them, and that was answer enough. Usually, Robb would have appointed a man of his own choosing, but with boys going into their first battle—no matter how safe Aragorn thought they would be—he felt it more prudent to select someone these children already listened to.

"Alright." Robb nodded. "Deor is the eldest here, is he not?"

Deor's jaw slackened and he pointed at himself even as the other lads responded in the affirmative.

"Me?"

"You, Deor. Do you have siblings?"

Deor swallowed, suddenly pale, but inclined his head. "A younger sister, Lord Robb. Dreá. She's down in the caves with my mother and grandmother."

Robb smiled. "Well, this will be very similar to keeping an eye on her. You won't have to do anything too difficult, Deor, I promise."

Turning to the group at large, Robb said, "I want you all to stay in this room until either the battle ends or I come to you. You can talk amongst yourselves, but keep your voices down and stay alert. You don't want anyone—or anything—to surprise you, aye?"

The boys mumbled in agreement, some nodding their heads.

"Right. Now, Háthor, Eadwine, do you have your bows?"

Both lads had told him they had some experience with archery, and after seeing a demonstration of their abilities earlier, Robb had felt inclined to let them utilise their skills in battle.

"Yes, milord," Eadwine answered, and Háthor held his bow aloft.

"Excellent. I'm sure you remember the rules, so can you tell me again?"

"Don't aim at anyone we do not want to hit," Eadwine recited. "And don't shoot when there's one of us near the tar—near the Orc."

"Very good. Yes, Háthor?"

"We should keep our arrows pointed down to the ground, too," the boy mumbled. "When we are not aiming at anyone, I mean."

"That's right, perfect."

Robb jerked his head towards the embrasures in the wall. "I want you both to keep close to these and watch out for anything that comes near, alright? But do not shoot until you are absolutely sure whoever is approaching is an enemy. Our cavalry is down there, as are some of our foot soldiers. And nobody else will get to this gate at all unless the Deeping Wall is damaged. If that happens, you will hear it and I will be with you soon after. So for now, stay calm but alert and you all will be just fine."

"Yes, Lord Robb."

Nodding once more, he turned back to Deor.

"Deor," he said, "I trust you to have everyone follow those rules. Do you think you can do that?"

The boy was still pale but his voice was strong when he responded. "Aye, I do."

"Perfect. Any other questions?"

Haleth raised his hand. "What if we do need to retreat?"

Robb sighed but gave the boy a faint smile. "In that very unlikely event, you get out of this room as quickly as possible and bar this door—" he patted the doorway he had entered through with the palm of his hand— "with anything you can find. Don't go up these stairs, they are a dead end and if bad comes to worse you'll have to fight while going upstairs. Backwards. The door is the easier solution, believe me."

He caught Deor's gaze and the boy gave him an almost imperceptible nod.

"Now, I trust you all not to give Deor too hard a time leading you." Robb smiled at them. He could hear the sounds of the army outside, now, even through the walls. It was time for him to go.

"All will be well."

He rapped his knuckles against the stone wall in parting as he left.

_____________

❄️
_____________

Happy Holidays!

I hope you can find it in yourselves to forgive me for the fact that this chaoter was still not the Battle of Helm's Deep. Unfortunately conversations wanted to be had.

HOWEVER next chapter will absolutely begin the battle which I can say for sure since I've already written it.
When will I update next? Who knows. All I can say on the topic is that I get less views the quicker I update so to feed my ego I usually leave it for a longer time. I'm not even going to pretend to be ashamed about that.

Also, I just realised Wattpad won't let me format text in justification. What's that all about?