Chapter two: Gondor.
Sam stayed close as we followed Boromir and his guards through the ruins, as we walked, more men began to appear out of nowhere; they watched us warily, hands on bows and swords. On the north side of what I could hear was a river; there was a vast plain of land between us and a large white city in the distance.
"Take a good long look, which is where you both will be sent." I gaped and blinked hard, as if to convince myself that Sam and I weren't dead at the bottom of a hole, never to be seen again.
"Captain, your father is here!" Someone called and Boromir sighed heavily, shaking his head as his brother, Faramir, looked at the ground.
"You should go to him for he shall only stir trouble elsewise." He said quietly and perhaps he though Sam and I couldn't hear him, but we could.
"Can he not give us but one moment of peace?" Sam cocked an eyebrow and fought to hide his smirk. "Wait here." We were commanded and it wasn't like we were going anywhere else, not with an army watching us like hawks would a bunny.
"Where is he? Where is Gondor's finest, where's my first-born?" I watched as a man search through the crowd, I decided that he looked like a boar hound, what with those low hanging jowls? Never in my life have I seen a fully grown man shudder and force a smile onto his face when greeting his father, but today was a day for firsts.
"Father, we were about to return to the city and announce our victory!" Boromir called, embracing his father, though half-heartedly as Faramir hung back, staying closer to us than his family.
"They say you vanquished the enemy almost single-handedly." The boar hound said proudly, but Boromir shook his head and gestured to his brother.
They exaggerate. The victory belongs to Faramir also." Beckoned by his brother, Faramir smiled tightly and stepped forwards, trying to ignore the scowl his ugly father gave him.
"But for Faramir, this city would still be standing. Were you not entrusted to protect it?" The man asked condescendingly, raising his eyebrows as his youngest son looked at his boots.
"I would have done, but our numbers were too few." He replied truthfully and still his father remained high and mighty.
"Oh, too few were you? You let the enemy walk in and take it on a whim." The man stepped closer, looking down his nose at the young man. "Always you cast a poor reflection on me."
"That is not my intent." Faramir argued, shaking his head as the dog man scoffed and opened his mouth, Boromir shaking his head.
"You give him no credit, and yet he tries to do your will." Turning away from his father, he came storming back towards me and Sam, who had been trying to look nonchalant as he inched us away from the family feud going on and yet, the dog couldn't leave Boromir to put a word in his brother's defence. "He loves you, Father."
"Do not trouble me with Faramir. I know his uses, and they are few." I could see the look on Boromir's face, sheer disbelief that his father could be so cruel and careless, throwing around statements like that with little to no worry. "We have more urgent things to speak of. Elrond of Rivendell has called a meeting. He will not say why, but I have guessed its purpose. It is rumoured that the weapon of the enemy has been found."
"The One Ring...Isildur's Bane." Boromir whispered, rubbing his jaw while giving Sam and me the stink-eye, undeserved.
"It has fallen into the hands of the Elves. Everyone will try to claim it: Men, Dwarves, wizards. We cannot let that happen. This thing must come to Gondor. It's dangerous, I know. Ever the Ring will seek to corrupt the hearts of lesser Men. But you, you are strong…and our need is great. It is our blood which is being spilled, our people who are dying. Sauron is biding his time. He's massing fresh armies, he will return and when he does, we will be powerless to stop him. You must go and bring me back this mighty gift." Boromir pulled away, looking both disgusted and nervous by his father's proposal; turning his back, he walked again towards us, seemingly making his mind up about the task set to him.
"No. My place is here with my people. Not in Rivendell." Boromir decided, his father frowned and chased after him, robe flapping behind him like wings.
"Would you deny your own father?" He growled as Faramir hurried over, giving his brother enough time to think of his escape plan.
"If there is a need to go to Rivendell, send me in his stead." He suggested hopefully, desperate for a chance to prove himself in his father's eyes.
"You…oh, I see a chance for Faramir, captain of Gondor, to show his quality. I think not. I trust this mission only to your brother…the one who will not fail me." The man sneered hatefully and I was hard pressed to hold onto Sam as he tried to give the old bastard a piece of his mind. A few feet away, Boromir slumped and sighed, sounding just as defeated as he looked. "And who are these two?" The man asked, finally casting his eyes over the two of us with the same disdain and reproach he did with Faramir.
"They are lost travellers but I will take them home on my way to Rivendell." Boromir said dejectedly, calling for horses and provisions as his father nodded and looked us over.
"The lad looks strong enough, why not leave him here?" Sam clenched his jaw.
"Begging your pardon, but I'm not going anywhere that isn't with Ada." He grounded out and I waited for the other man's reaction. But he simply nodded.
"Do as you wish." He then turned and left the four of us, content with the revellers.
"You will wait here with Faramir while I gather my things." Boromir said flatly, heading into one of the standing buildings and disappearing. I exhaled sharply and met Sam's eye, Sam who was still fuming with the Boar hound's treatment of Faramir.
"Just who did he think he is, talking like that?" He suddenly exclaimed, throwing his hands up and shaking his head.
"That was Denethor, steward of Gondor and our father, have a care how you speak of him." Faramir replied sullenly and I watched Sam frown.
"After all that down treading he just did, you're defending him? What a dead beat dad." Patting his shoulder, Sam huffed and crossed his arms.
"I was a stone's throw from giving that man a piece of my mind." He swore and I nodded, laughing.
"I know you were."