Hunter of Thunder

Chapter 3 – The Hunter

The wild men looked up as the thunder got closer.  It was a warning.  They knew that the Hunter would be coming.  One of them ran to the back of the cave and picked up their prisoner.  He had woken at the sound of the thunder aswell.  Hope rose in his heart.  His dark eyes looked around as the wild men carried him out of the cave. 

The prisoner was quite a contrast to the wild Dunlendings.  But any longer out here and he may begin to look like them.  His blonde hair was already turning dark from dirt and grim.  He was determined not to stay that long.  He saw some orcs pass by them, there must be someone else out here and not just the Hunter.  Anyone that passed through these woods knew about the Hunter; and they either feared him or loved and respected him.  In the prisoner's case, he had never met the man, but he had ceretinly heard about it.  And as he thought about it, not many people had met the Hunter.  No one knew his name, he was simply known as the Hunter of Thunder.

The Dunlendings dropped their prisoner on the ground with a thud.  The man grimaced, his side already ached.  The wild men talked among themselves for a moment.  They seemed to be debating about something.  Finally, they turned back to the prisoner and looked at him with their angry eyes.

The prisoner spoke in a hoarse voice, "Why don't you kill me now and finish what you begun so long ago!"  Maybe this would be the end now…

The Hunter ran down the hill, his senses alert.  A dark horse followed after him, but once he entered the woods, the horse waited just outside of the trees.  The Hunter moved through the woods as one that has lived there all of his life.  Perhaps he had. 

No one really knew the Hunter's true identity.  He was a very dark man, to look at him.  But of course, that was mostly because he was only out when it was dark.  So many did not know either who he was or what he really looked like.  And that is what scared them.

So, the dark Hunter hurdled over a log and seemed to stop in mid air before his feet even hit the ground.  He paused like a mountain lion listening for it's prey.  His head snapped to the right and he ran off again. 

The orcs laughed at the young Rohirrim boy that lay in front of them.  Éorinaë looked utterly disgusted.  He would not be humiliated by these foul creatures, never in his life!  His hand drifted over to his sword, but one of the creature's metal boots came down on his arm.

"Don't you even think about it, horse-master, you're stayin' right here," it growled, showing it's hideous teeth. 

"Let's kill him!" another orc shouted.

"No," said the one with his foot on the boy's arm, appearing to be the leader, "He'll make a good prize.  We will take him with us."

Suddenly, lightning lit up the sky and thunder shook the ground.  The orcs looked around.  "It's a warning!  It'll take too much time if we take the boy, leave him here!" another orc croaked.

"You superstitious fool!" the leader growled, "There is nothing out here that can hurt us, it's only a little storm."

And if on cue, it began to rain…and a dark figure appeared behind the leader, his sword drawn and held before his face.  The rest of the orcs yelled and the leader didn't even get to turn around before he was beheaded.  Only half of the orcs stayed and fought, the rest ran off into the woods.

Éorinaë regained his sword and jumped up, his sword arm a blur.  He back away, during the battle, from the dark figure of the Hunter, back towards Crysto.  The horse had stayed back from the orcs, unnoticed for the most part.

Finally, the rest of the orcs saw that they would meet their demise here and ran off, leaving only the Hunter, Éorinaë and Crysto.  Éorinaë looked at the man, fearing that he would now kill him. 

"Are you going to kill me too," the boy said, but it wasn't a question.

The Hunter made no reply.  He was looking at Crysto.  Rohirrim, he thought.  The Hunter nodded to Éorinaë and ran back into the woods, leaving the boy standing there.

After standing there, watching after the Hunter, Éorinaë turned back to Crysto.

"Come, lad, let's go," he said mounting the horse. 

Crysto picked an easy path as he trotted along.  Éorinaë's quick eyes spotted the tracks of wild men.  He followed them carefully.  They finally got closer and Éorinaë jumped off of Crysto and walked quietly to a near by tree and looked out from behind it. 

There where three wild men and one man that had to be their prisoner laying on the ground.  He was of Rohan!  Éorinaë was completely sure, the man had to be.  The boy's heart jumped for joy and he almost ran out, but then he remembered the Dunlendings.  Again, Éorinaë drew his sword silently.  He brushed back his hair, one side stained with blood. 

He gained up his courage and charged out with a yell.  The first Dunlending didn't stand a chance and met the same fate that he had done earlier that day, a cute throat.  The others, unfortunatly, where not as unprepared and had time to pull out their weapons.  Éorinaë met little resistance with the next, but over powered him easily.  Quite a feat for a boy of eleven.  The last wild man was a harder challenge.

This time, it was Éorinaë who was charged at, but he blocked the attack.  The wild man was much taller than Éorinaë and tried to bring his sword, if it could be called that, down on top of him.  Again, Éorinaë blocked it, but he was forced to his knees, the man was so strong.  But the skills of the boy surprised the Dunlending slightly and he lowered his guard.  Éorinaë took his chance and lundged forward with his sword, meeting the wild man's chest.