Henneth Annûn Story Archive

          Halbarad watched as Strider lunged and crossed blades with Iauron. The two circled each other and just as he thought Strider would win the match, Iauron placed a well timed blow, knocking Strider from his feet.

          He couldn't believe it. Iauron was not a great swordsman…this should have been an easy test for Strider. Halbarad shook his head and headed for the young man sitting in the grass. If he couldn't keep his thoughts on what he was doing, someone would get hurt.

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          Sighing, Strider looked up at the hand Halbarad offered him. He was not thinking clearly today. Iauron should never have bested him. Had this been a true battle, he would be dead, instead of sitting on his rear end in the grass.

          "What are you doing?" Halbarad asked, taking Strider's hand in his, pulling him to his feet. "You had him until the very end."

          "My thoughts are not on the training today."

          "I can see that. Where is your head? Are you thinking about that problem you told me of earlier?"

          "I…you see…she's…."

          Halbarad groaned. Then he started to laugh. Strider had found a woman? He had hardly been in the village long enough to get settled, let alone find a woman to be pining over.

          "Who is she? Is it that sweet little thing Gwenneth, Aewon's sister? Or is it Echon's daughter, Thanwen?"

          "No…neither of them…not that they are not both very pretty. No…you do not know her, Halbarad."

          "Well, whatever maiden has captured your heart, keep her out of your thoughts or someone is bound to get hurt. Swords are sharp for a reason, Strider."

          Strider glanced at the bloody cut on his forearm and nodded his head. He had to get Laeriel out of his head, or Halbarad would be right. Someone would get hurt. And it would probably be him.

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          "You should have a healer look at that," Iauron said, nodding at the cut on Strider's arm.  They had sparred all afternoon and into the early evening. Now they had finally called it a day and were heading for much needed food.

          "I will have Ivorwen clean it later. For now, I think it's okay. You want to spar again tomorrow? I promise I will be more focused," Strider asked, heading for his grandmother's home.

          "I would like that. But I am to leave on the next patrol with Thurin tomorrow."

          "Tomorrow? I thought the next patrol wasn't due to go out for another week."

          "The patrol came back earlier than expected. They didn't run into any trouble for a change. Halbarad thought since we had some good luck, it wouldn't hurt to send out another patrol."

          Strider nodded, becoming very quiet. He said his goodbyes to Iauron and headed home. After he got cleaned up and got something to eat, he needed to go see her. He only had tonight left with Laeriel before she would be gone for close to a month. He knew he couldn't change her mind about going, but he wanted, no needed her promise that she would be careful.

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          Arwen watched Estel as he paced the bedroom. He had a frown on his face, as he tried to determine exactly what he should tell her and what he should withhold. She wanted to shake him, she was so frustrated. She had to know the truth, one way or the other. It did not matter whether her feelings were hurt or not. She had to protect her children. The only way she could do that was to have the truth.

          She knew that he had loved Laeriel, had spent a lot of time alone with her, and he had kept her secret. Ivorwen had found out about their love affair. What happened after that? Why, if he had loved her as much as it seemed he did, why were they not together? What had happened to bring him back to her?

          "Estel…you cannot keep things from me. Just tell me the whole story. What happened next? Did Laeriel go on patrol?"

          "She did, even after we argued about her not going. I couldn't leave and it was obvious that she wasn't going to stay."

          "You knew this about her. Why did you want to change her, if you loved her so much?"

          "I only wanted to keep her safe. I loved her and I didn't want to see her put in any danger. But she seemed to find danger, no matter how hard I tried to protect her."

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          Iauron and Innas walked point, swords drawn, their steps placed strategically so as not to alert the Orc band they had spotted on their way back to the village from Michel Delving. Thurin, Aloet, Saelon, Adan and Huor followed slightly behind, weapons drawn, ready to attack at a moment's notice. There were only a half dozen Orcs in this band, easy prey for the seasoned rangers of the group.

          One hundred yards from their prey. They could hear the Orcs grunting and arguing. If they were lucky, the enemy would fight amongst themselves and they would come out of this without a fight.

          Eighty yards out of the enemy camp. Another perusal of the camp revealed three more Orcs. Great, they were outnumbered nine to seven. Still they had the element of surprise on their side.

          Forty yards to go, the rangers start to spread out. Iauron and Innas still taking the lead and heading toward the camp from the center of their group. The remaining members of their troop flanked out three to one side, the other two to the other.

          They were nearly upon the camp; just twenty yards left to cover, when a twig snapped under foot and alerted the enemy of the danger. The Orcs grabbed their weapons and with the element of surprise abandoned to them, the rangers attacked.

          Thurin sent arrows raining into the encampment. Two of the Orcs fell, arrows embedded in their filthy bodies. He tossed aside his bow, pulling his sword as another Orc advanced on his position. He could hear metal clashing against metal, grunts of pain and shouts of battle all around him.

          Focusing on the fight before him, Thurin raised his sword and blocked the blow coming at his head. The force of the swing nearly knocked him off his feet. Stumbling, he caught himself before he fell. He swung his sword, catching the Orc across the belly, spilling its guts. Black blood spattered over his chest and face, causing Thurin to grimace.

          Looking around, he found that all the Orcs were dead, the rangers milling through the corpses. Thurin slowly stood, leaning on his sword to steady himself. Frowning, he noticed arrows in the Orc he had sliced open. Arrows that he hadn't fired. Elven arrows. Looking around, Thurin finally found the answer to the Elven arrows. The warrior twins of Elrond, Elrohir and Elladan.

          Hearing his name, Thurin turned toward the other rangers. He raised his hand, signaling that he was fine. He took a step toward the other men, found he was dizzy and losing his equilibrium. He started to call out to his companions, when his vision became blurred and then all went black.

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          Thurin opened his eyes and found a set of grey-blue eyes looking back at him. It was dark, the only light from the fire that roared just beyond the figure that knelt beside him. He struggled to rise, only to have a firm hand push him back to the ground.

          "Rest, Thurin. You have sustained an injury," he heard the elf say.

          "Injury?" Thurin asked weakly.

          "An Orc blade to your thigh. We have cleaned and wrapped it as best we could. You need a more skilled healer than any of us here. We are three days from Anthatal. We can get you the help you need there."

          Thurin groaned. Going back to Anthatal in less than one piece was not going to bode well for him. No, not at all. Especially when Strider found out.

          "Rest, young ranger. You will need your strength."

          Elladan watched as sleep overtook the young ranger. He turned to look at his brother and grinned. At least now he knew why Elrohir had felt the young ranger was so different than the other rangers. Why he was so secretive.

          "Will he be okay?" Elrohir asked, keeping up the charade.

          "He needs to rest. It will be a hard three days home. But once we get Thurin back to Anthatal, Estel can see to his wounds."

          "Dan…do you think Estel knows?"

          "He knows, Ro, he knows. Thurin is going to hear one of Ada's lectures, courtesy of Estel."

          Elrohir grinned. The three of them had been on the receiving end of those lectures many a time. He was positive that Estel had at least three or four of them memorized. It would be quite fun to actually be on the giving side for a change. Not that he was going to get between Estel and Thurin. Oh no, he was going to be well away from that reunion.

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          The group of seven rangers and the twins arrived in Anthatal five days later. The three day trip took an extra two days thanks to the untimely fever Thurin developed. Thankfully, the leg didn't fester and there didn't seem to be any trace of poison in the wound. But still the twins were worried about the leg. It wasn't healing.

          Halbarad met the party as they rode into the village. Once he saw the twins, he sent for Strider, knowing that the young man would be anxious to reunite with them. He noticed right away that there were injuries amongst the returning patrol, mostly cuts, scrapes and bruises. Except for Thurin.

          The young man had a bandage tied around his upper left leg, the stark white of the cloth stained with crimson blood. He could barely sit on the horse, even with Elladan holding him tight against his chest. The paleness of his features alarmed Halbarad more than anything.

          "Dan! Ro!"

          Halbarad turned to see Strider rushing through the village, sweat upon his brow and a dirt smudge on his cheek. He and a few others had been training in the far woods, brushing up on some tracking skills.

          "Estel!" Elrohir called. He had already dismounted and was helping Thurin off Elladan's steed.

          Strider reached his side and wrapped an arm around Thurin. "What happened?"

          "He's been wounded. An Orc blade caught him along the thigh. We did what we could, but you are the better healer," Elladan explained sliding from the back of Alyaran.

          "Let's get him to his home. I can care for him there," Strider said, leading the way to the small wooden cabin.

          "I will go get the healer," Hal said, heading off in the other direction.

          "No! Halbarad, I can handle this. Thurin will be alright. My brothers and I can take care of him," Strider said, maybe a little too forcefully.

          Halbarad nodded. He knew the two young rangers had formed a unique bond during their time after the warg attacks. It seemed that their friendship was going to grow even more.

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