For Haleth was a woman of great heart and strength.
~ Of the Coming of Men into the West ~
"Father!" She screamed.
Haldad swung his mighty battle ax around his head, his fire bright hair catching the last of the sun's rays. The orcs had attacked them early in the evening, right before the shadows descended. The daylight was poisonous to their dark hides, leaving the Haladin with uneasy nights behind their makeshift stockade. The horde of Morgoth would come in waves into the wee hours of the morning, the dismal light of dawn finding bodies of men hewn against the fresh wood of their crude shelter.
Haldad gnashed his teeth, his red beard blackened with the blood of the vermin. The blue war paint underneath his fierce green eyes smeared down his cheeks. Haleth brought her short sword down hard on the forearm of her foe, hacking it to the bone and sending the creature writhing in pain to the damp earth. She looked back towards the east where Haldad stood, utterly surrounded.
"Haldor!" She turned towards her twin where he wielded the jagged blades of his two swords. Haldor turned towards his sister, his eyes wide as he immediately noticed their father's predicament.
Haleth was distracted by another larger orc lumbering towards her, his self-mutilated face pinned with nails and rings piercing his leathery skin. He gave her what looked to be a smirk with rotting teeth, bringing his scimitar high over his head. Instinctively, Haleth ducked between his massive legs, rolling over the gory ground to the other side. Before the beast could turn, she sunk the blade of her short sword in the exposed area of his crude armor at the dip of his shoulder blades. The creature gave a sickening wheeze as his lungs burst. The orc fell to the ground, gasping as blood bubbled from its thin, white lips.
Haleth looked back towards the east. Haldad was embattled against the largest of his foe. Haldor was still a few paces off from coming to his aid.
"Father!" Haleth screamed again as an arrow flew from nearby and sunk into Haldad's thick neck.
"Father!"
"Haleth, wake!"
Haleth sat up fast from her sleeping mat in the tent she had once shared with her family. With bleary eyes, she glared into the face of Hagar who knelt beside her, his wrinkled face riddled with concern. She pushed her unruly black curls from her face and looked down to see she had clutched a short knife in her sleep. She let the blade fall to the ground in a daze.
"Twas just a dream, lass." Hagar clamped a steady hand on her shoulder, "You were only dreaming."
"I wish it was only a dream." She mumbled, rubbing a calloused hand over her face, "How long have I been asleep?"
"A couple hours. Lay back down, you need more rest."
"I need to see to my people."
"They have been seen to, the elves have fed them."
"Yes, but they need to see me." Haleth answered, standing wearily from her mat without a look to her friend, "I need to be with them now."
"They need you healthy and hale."
"I will be fine, Hagar." Haleth answered firmly, throwing a vest of bear fur over her yellowed white shirt. She tucked the shirt tails into her loose, brown pants and began to search for her worn boots, "Truthfully, I have slept enough."
Hagar stood and walked over to the entrance of the tent, crossing his arms over his massive chest. Hagar had been her father's first cousin and closest friend. Now he was her only adviser as she stood as leader of her people. It was a role she had never expected she would need to play, even as her father had come to be the first leader the Haladin had ever known. She was thankful to have him at her side.
Haleth paused beside him before leaving the tent and looked up into his face. She offered him a weary smile and laid a hand on his arm. The man shook his head, his lips pursed in concern. He narrowed his eyebrows.
"I worry for you, lass." He admitted, "The graves of your father and brother are still fresh and you haven't slept in days."
Haleth nodded, "I have a greater responsibility than merely to myself. I must see to what my father began. We cannot fade into the night as the enemy desires, we must live to see a better day. A day Haldad foresaw."
Hagar's jaw dropped slightly as though he would speak and his eyes clouded over in thought. However, he seemed to change his mind, bringing his mouth into a tight line.
"As you wish, my lady."
The honorable title coming from the man who had been a second father to her since birth stunned Haleth for a moment. She merely nodded in return and ducked out into the bright, afternoon light.
As she emerged into the short courtyard of their ruined stockade, Haleth glanced across the mass of weary, bloodied men and their gaunt women and children. She caught Rochma's eye as he glanced up from sharpening one of his lethal throwing knives with a flint. His expression hardened, the fierce glow of mid-afternoon catching the red in his hair like veins of gold in mountain rock. He lifted an eyebrow in challenge.
Haleth stiffened her spine and met the provocative glance of her childhood friend. He would not intimidate her that easily. With a curt, careless nod, that she knew would irk him with its arrogance, she made her way towards the rough shelter built to house the wounded towards the west.
A woman to lead us would surely mean our doom, Rochma's words following the death of her brother and father echoed in her mind, making her blood run hot with their presumption, Haleth is a girl of sixteen. She is not fit to lead us any more than my little sister sucking on her shirt sleeve and weeping at every sound in the night.
Haleth's boots sunk into the mud mixed with rainwater and blood outside the shelter overflowing with wounded bodies. She knelt beside a young man not two years younger than her where he sat in the filth by the splintered door frame. A dirty rag was pulled tightly at an angle across his young face, covering what she assumed remained of his left eye. His parched lips parted as he gazed into her face.
"Shela!" Haleth yelled to a young girl helping a limping warrior, "Do you have a water skin on you?"
The wide eyed girl nodded and tossed Haleth what remained of her water skin. Haleth caught it with one hand and tipped the boy's chin back.
"You fought well, Mairen." She commented firmly as she poured the water into his open mouth, droplets rolling over the downy fuzz of his cheeks. His youth was heartbreaking, "You brought honor to your house."
"Thank you, my lady." He murmured wearily as Haleth dabbed the skin on his chin with her sleeve.
"Where is your mother?"
Mairen did not meet her gaze. His dark blue eyes shadowed by sleeplessness grew distant. Haleth understood his silence enough. Mairen's mother had always been a weak hearted woman. They would probably find her bloated body floating in the flotsam of the river where she had thrown herself in out of despair.
"Do not fear," She said firmly, "We will see to your needs, brave warrior."
"My lady?" A strong voice came from behind her.
Haleth looked up in the strong sunlight to see an elf behind her. He looked strikingly clean and unaffected by the chaos and blood of the aftermath around them.
"My Lord Caranthir requests your presence. May I escort you?" He offered.
The request sounded more like a command to Haleth. However, she owed the Elvish Lord the lives of all in the stockade. She nodded and turned towards Mairen once more, squeezing his thin shoulder firmly.
"Bless you, lady." Mairen murmured, attempting a tragically brave smile.
Haleth fought down the lump in her throat, "You as well, Mairen."
She stood to her feet and stood tall before the elf. He eyed her indifferently.
"Take me to your Lord then." She replied, brushing her hands off on her shirt before following him out of the stockade.
