It was early afternoon when two Rangers approached the doors of the King's hall. Bearn, one of the door-wardens stepped forward, "What business do you have here?" He inquired. "We bring a message for the King," The slightly younger Ranger told him. "And it is quite important that we see him right away." Bearn nodded, "Very well, come with me."

He opened the doors and led the two Rangers inside and towards the throne where the King sat. "My Lord, these two Rangers say that they have important news for you," Bearn bowed and the two Rangers stepped forward in front of the dais. "And what news is this?" Aragorn asked as he looked the men up and down for a moment.

They were both cloaked and booted from their journey. Their cloaks were stained by many travels and they both looked slightly weary from their ride. Both were tall but while the elder was dark-haired with grey eyes the younger had fair hair and blue eyes. The younger was the first to speak.

"I am Mardon son of Mardung and this is Galimir son of Gamil. We have ridden many leagues to tell you that orcs have been spotted near The Brown Lands bearing the mark of a red cross." He told the King, "Never before have we seen or heard of such a mark, nor more than a little news of small sorties of remaining orcs from the War of the Ring."

Aragorn was silent for a moment as he reflected on the war all those years ago. Since then he had married Arwen Undómiel and fathered four children, a son and three daughters. He loved his family more than anything and he had wished that his children would never have to see war in their lifetimes.

"This is indeed ill news, how many have been seen?" He asked after telling his servants to bring some food and drink for the Rangers. "The largest was perhaps a few hundreds at most," Galimir spoke up. "Three or four hundred strong but I fear that that is only a small percentage of what is to come." Aragorn looked grave at this news, "Do you know anything about who is commanding them?" He asked.

Mardon shook his head, "No, but he has been given the name Herumor by those who have seen the orcs. They fear that he may be Sauron's successor as Sauron was the successor of Morgoth." He said as two servants came back into the hall bearing a silver flagon and cups, and white cakes. "Many had thought that Saruman was Sauron's only successor but now we have been led to believe otherwise."