Rating: T
Sum: When Thorongil is threatened, Denethor will protect him, at any cost.
Disclaimer: Luckily I do not own Denethor. Unfortunately, I do not own any of the others either.
Frost
Clear Moon, Frost soon.
Proverb
Chapter 1
The hunter looked up from the moonlit tracks and smiled. He had followed his pray for so long now, tracking him from Rivendell to Rohan to Gondor.
But now at last the tracks were fresh. He was close, so close…
And with his brother moving in from the other side they would soon spring the trap around their prey.
Thorongil's days were counted.
OOOOOO
Something was off. For the last few days, the feeling of dread had grown stronger every day, and every day Denethor found himself looking back more often. His eyes never found anything that gave a reason for the feeling that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand upright, and still he could feel it coming ever closer.
But tonight, in the clear moonlight, his eyes had caught a glimpse of a shadow moving in the trees.
There was something hidden in the small forest right behind them. Eyes that moved, feet that followed him wherever he went.
He was being hunted.
OOOOOO
His eyes followed the man that moved so painfully slowly through the land, and he sighed annoyed as the man took yet another pause. Men! They moved ever so slowly, they slept ever so much!
The hunter shook his head, and retreated back into the shadows.
The man he followed was not his prey, he was simple his means of getting to it.
The hunter was unfamiliar with these lands, and he knew how well his prey was able to hide…
But the hunter would find Thorongil.
He just had to wait for the track to continue. "Go on…" he whispered softly to the rich looking man in the distance. "Hurry…"
OOOOOO
The steward's son leaned closer to one of his men. "Araval, my friend." He whispered softly, trying to look casual, as he felt the eyes on his back even now. "That trap Thorongil taught us… do you still remember how to build it?"
A year earlier that trap had saved the life of his father when he had been hunted by Haradhim assassins, and though Denethor had still seen no proof of the one following him, he was not going to take chances.
When Araval nodded he sighed in relief. "Then lay that trap again, for I fear we are being followed."
As his guard left to do as Thorongil had taught him, Denethor smiled.
Whoever had hunted them tonight, would no longer be hunting them tomorrow.
OOOOOOO
Denethor's smile did not survive the night, for the one following them did not fall for the traps laid in his path.
Araval did not return that night.
"My lord? Maybe we should just continue to Minas Tirith."
Denethor eyed the man standing next to him, and shook his head silently. He was not a coward. He would not come back.
"Nay." he said, looking at the forest behind him. It was really small. Just a few trees standing together, offering just enough space for a man to hide. It was not even worthy of the name forest. And its significance to Gondor was less than zero." Surround those trees. Set fire to it. We will smoke him out."
He so had had it with Haradrim assassins.
OOOOOOOO
It took some time to get the fire lighted, for though it had not rained or snowed in a few days, the air was damp of the coming frost, but eventually they succeeded.
"Come out." Denethor whispered, "Come out, come out, wherever you are…"
But whoever had followed them, did not hear or did not listen. No one came. Nothing was moving over the forest floor.
Until suddenly… "The trees! He is moving through the branches!"
The steward's son looked up and spotted the dark form moving there.
"Shoot him!" He ordered. "Don't just stand there! Shoot it down! SHOOT!"
With great satisfaction Denethor watched how the dark form tumbled and fell.
"Well, Cantamir?" He asked the archer rushing towards him with a report "Is the Haradrim dead?"
"No sir." The young archer replied uncertainly "And.. we don't think he is Haradhrim either, sir.
In fact… we are not even sure it is, human, my lord." The man said, looking away.
Denethor lifted an eyebrow. "Show me.."
TBC