Ithilien shone in the sunlight only the men inside were sitting there, ready to face what ever horrors might be about to face them. Among them was Faramir, Captain of the Rangers of Gondor and the only remaining son of Denethor, Steward of Gondor. Faramir's skill of his bow was matched only that of Elves. He was a commander of great moral and men were proud to serve under him. Now, Faramir stood among his men, as though he were a mere average soldier. He slouched upon his six-foot yew longbow, as though it were a staff. He gazed out towards the vast plains of Minas Morgul, not daring to guess what may come from that place.
"What do you see?" he said to his lieutenant, Damrod, who had just appeared at his side. He was a loyal man, and a good soldier Faramir knew, but Damrod had never been in the position of having to face such an overwhelming number of orcs with such a small host. Faramir's men consisted of four hundreds, two hundred and fifty of which were Gondorian warriors of Minas Trith. Faramir had also managed to obtain from his father fifty citadel guard, their plumbed barbet style helm of mithril glinting in the dying sunlight, though the size and skill of each of those soldiers was enough to strike fear into the heart of any mere band of orcs. However Faramir's finest troops were positioned in the buildings on the frontier of Minas Morgul. Ready to kill anything that moved, Faramir's one hundred rangers were his brothers of the bow and capable of killing an orc by putting an arrow through his eye at at least two hundred paces.
Damrod seemed to have decided on his answer for he shifted and said
" I see a plain which by nightfall will be filled by at least one thousand orcs. Tell me, my lord, why do you keep our men here? For there is no victory nor moral here, only the death of many innocent soldiers"
Faramir seemed to consider his companions question because, with a look of weary sorrow on his face said,
" My father orders that we hold Ithilien for it is …"
" Your father is a fool Faramir and you know it! After the death of Boromir at Amon Hen, your father's mind has been lead into disarray; He has no thought for anything but Boromir's death at the present time. Denethor may be a fool but he is not stupid, he would not gladly send four hundred men to a place he knows they will not come back from". Damrod said this with passion, even though he knew he was out of line and could be demoted if he wasn't careful
" Alas what you say is true, but there is nothing we can do, we may not be able to defeat them outright, but our rangers are skilled enough to each kill one orc with every arrow they shoot…"
Faramir suddenly stiffened and looked east over the plains of Minas Morgul. It was too dark to see but a horn was being blown. It was a horn that no man, dwarf or elf would ever blow. "Arise" Faramir said hurrying down steps and rushing though alleys to his position among his men "arise, for they come".
