Chapter 8
Aragorn sighed. The few things he owned were packed and ready to go. The two dragons had already left for Rivendell.
Glorfindel, Erestor, Raenan, and the rangers were going to go their seperate ways today. Elrond was going to help his son get settled in Gondor and then he would head back as well. The twins and Legolas were going to stay with the man for a while longer.
Glorfindel had wished to help as well but decided it would be better for him to go back and relieve Galadriel and Celeborn from having to watch over Imladris as well as Lothlorien.
Aragorn way tying what he had to his horse and sighed slightly, then shook his head and finished what he was doing before helping the others get ready to go.
Lexandol had shown up in order to help. He would be moving into the house the next day.
Aragorn sighed as he mounted his horse. The small packhorse was tied to the bridle and would walk a ways behind him.
"Namàri my friend," he said to Lex, the mask he had worn the entire time he was here finally slipping away, "until next time."
Lex stood, looking surprised at the change, "Namàrië?"
The man chuckled slightly, "Farewell Lex," he grinned, the mischievous glint in his eyes reappearing, "watch out for those kids eh? They'll destroy the place if you let them."
The new captain couldn't help but grin, "I'm sure they'll stay away now. Thank you, though, for solving that problem for me."
Aragorn rolled his eyes.
Halbarad laughed, "Come Strider! If we are to reach Gondor by the time you wish we should be going," he grinned, "my chieftain."
Aragorn glared at him, "Hal..."
Lex just laughed, obviously thinking it a joke.
Aragorn looked slightly relieved, "Come then... farewell Lex. Amin ùva kena lle rato farn mellon-nin." I will see you soon enough my friend
The man looked confused but Aragorn just smiled. Lex suddenly seemed able to see his friend as a king, the way he sat and the very air around him suddenly seemed to have a royal aura. The odd vision vanished when the man smiled at him.
"Much will have changed by then," he spoke mainly to himself but Lex heard him and this only confused the poor man more.
He shook his head and smiled slightly, "Farewell..." he paused, "Strider???"
"Aye?"
"Where'd that come from? The name?"
Aragorn laughed, "Went to Bree with my brothers when I was 18... was given that name by the Breelanders!"
Lex shook his head in amusement and nodded his head slowly, "Farewell my friend... may we meet again in himes to come."
"We will Lex... we will," with that he turned the horse and left, the others following him out of the city.
.......................
Aragorn entered the borders of Gondor, glancing around and examining the area. He nudged his horse and it broke into an easy trot, heading towards Minas Tirith.
They had reached the city in a shorter span of time than they had expected and they entered it slowly.
Aragorn immediately went up to the citadel. Upon reaching it he entered the great building hesitantly.
Almost immediately he had guards on either side of him, asking what he had come for.
He blinked and cleared his throat, "I come to speak with the steward of Gondor."
....................
Aragorn opened the door of the house he was to stay in slowly. It was on the second level of the large city and looked rather plain from the outside.
He smiled slightly and stepped inside the bright house before ushering the others in.
Elrond glanced around the fair sized main room and smiled slightly.
Aragorn laughed, " 'T is not what you're used to for sure, but it is nice."
Legolas smiled and nodded, "Aye."
The twins immediately went about examining the house. Aragorn had trouble hiding the smirk growing on his face. No crack was to be left un-inspected.
When the two had finally satisfied their curiosity they put their stuff into the guest chambers which Aragorn has requested and went back out to explore the city.
"If you two get lost I'm not going to try to find you," the man warned, looking amused.
"We are NOT going to get lost," Elladan said indignantly.
As soon as they shut the door the ranger glanced at the other two in the room, "They're going to get lost."
Legolas laughed, "Why do I not doubt it?"
Elrond simply shook his head, "Well, shall we join them then so they don't get lost?"
Aragorn laughed, "Let's!"
......................
Their little jouney ended up taking them to the sparring fields a ten minute walk from the city.
Aragorn sat, leaning against one of the trees near the field and watched them.
The four sat quietly, simply watching the groups spar for quite some time in silence before someone noticed them.
The man walked over and just by the look he was giving them Aragorn knew he wasn't the kindest man.
"Enjoying yourself young man?" he sneered.
Aragorn couldn't be sure if the man was always like this or if he was just in a bad mood.
"You going to answer me?"
"Yes, I'm enjoying myself fine thank you."
The man sneered, "You think you can come here and just watch us? Steal our tactics huh?"
"Nay," he answered calmly, "I came here in order to relax."
"Well, you aren't going to be all too relaxed when I'm donw. Get off the ground. One round and I'll reach you not to stare.
Aragorn stood up and shrugged out of his over coat casually, laying it on the ground and following the man.
Their movements seemed to catch the other men's attention and they all stopped to watch. Aragorn knew what he was getting into. This man was obviously one of the better swordsmen.
The other man took up a ready position and Aragorn drew his sword out swiftly and brought it in front of him in a silver blur.
The other man looked slightly surprised but quickly hid it.
Aragorn stood in a defensive position and waited for the other man to attack first. When he did the ranger quickly blocked it and spun off to the side.
The two spun and blocked continuously, neither seemed to ever pause. The men surrounding them looked on with wide eyes. One man in particular however seemed more interested in the spar than the others.
After a moment the other man joined the spar, going against Aragorn.
The ranger blinked, -Well... this is unfair...- he grinned.
This seemingly unfair battle went on for a while before Aragorn brought his blade to the first man's neck. The human hissed in anger but backed away, knowing he'd lost. Aragorn wasted no time in taking his blade away from the first human and dropping to a crouch, avoiding the other's blade and spinning around, he then leaped back to his feet and these two fought for nearly half an hour before the other man's blade hit Aragorn's arm. They both froze, but a hit to the arm wont kill you and therefore the spar was still on. Just as the other was about to move his sword to Aragorn's neck the ranger leaped to the side and then in behind the man and quickly brought his blade in front of the man, a mere inch from his neck.
Aragorn then took his blade away and sheathed it. Not unaware of the gasp that went through the small crowd.
The other man turned slowly, sheathing his sword at the same time. Aragorn noted the shock on his face.
The ranger simply stood there for a moment before smiling at the other, "A good spar, and a good swordsman."
The other was silent for a moment, "I have not been beaten in many years."
Aragorn blinked but didn't say anything.
"I could use someone like you in my ranks!" the man smiled.
Aragorn grinned, "A captain? Is this an invitation?"
"If you wish it to be."
Aragorn laughed, "Gladly. Thank you captain...?"
"Teralin," he supplied, "you are?"
"Thorongil," he smiled.
The other started slightly, "From Rohan? I went to Rohan two years ago... Captain Thorongil? Why would you leave such a high position? You were highly respected from what I head, even a friend of the Prince!"
"Power is not what I seek; I went there because they needed help. They no longer need my help. When I heard that Gondor needed more soldiers I took my leave and headed here."
The man that had challenged him at first was already gone.
"What did you think of Goran's skills?" Teralin asked slowly.
Aragorn immediately knew this to be the other man he had fought, "Well... to tell you the truth... his actions were too driven by his anger. He is a formidable foe but he leaves himself open too often as a result of his actions. He needs to work on controlling his temper and on defending himself better."
"Those are the same conclusions I came to... no one else has agreed with me and it is the only reason he hasn't gone up in rank."
"That is probably a good thing... to raise his rank would put him closer to the front of the battle... there would be less protection and he quite probably wouldn't last long."
"Very true."
Aragorn smiled as they approached the four elves, "Well! I don't know about you four... but..."
"You want to go back?" Elrohir joked.
"Nay! Let's go find the archery fields!"
Legolas grinned, "Aye! Let's."
Aragorn laughed, "Perhaps we should send him back! I do not wish to be beaten so terribly."
"And terribly beaten you shall be," the elf laughed.
"Yes... I'm a terrible archer!" he joked, "If only I had better training."
Legolas laughed, "If on...," he froze, "wait a minute... I helped train you!"
Teralin laughed at the easy banter, "Would you mind if I accompany you?"
"'T would be our pleasure!" Aragorn smiled, "would YOU mind leading us to the archery field?"
The Captain laughed, "Nay, come!"
They bantered back and forth. After a while Teralin even joined them.
At one point while the twins were shoving each other back and forth the Captain had realized with a start that they were elves. He'd never seen an elf before but luckily he helf an interest in them and had learnt even their language at a young age. He didn't mention it at the time though, since he knew many wouldn't take to them the same way he did.
"Sinome hana," he said with a grin, hoping he's gotten that right. Here it (is)
The three younger elves started and stared at him in shock, Elrond just blinked and Aragorn laughed, he's seen the surprise on his face and had quickly figured out what it was. Though he had no idea the man knew elvish.
"Lle ista edhellen?" Legolas asked, still looking surprised. You know elvish
The man grinned, "Ah good! So I got that right!"
Aragorn laughed, "That you did."
Elladan grinned, "Come on, let's see if he can shoot like an elf as well."
"I pity you..." Aragorn said quietly, "you've become interesting to them..."
"That's a bad thing?"
"They enjoy their pranks..."
The End
A/N
starlit jewel- It was no problem... XP... sorry for taking so long this time tho... heh...
marbienl- ah... OO... Ish scared lol indeed, those two... I'll have to think of a way to get rid of them before that time period... hmm... lol thanx 4 the review! :P
DISCOMBOBULATEDCHEEZE- lol, hello... I DID check out yer web page... Very funny lol thanx 4 yer review... lol
Macilwen- lol, glad u liked it
Alexandra- Thank u! I'm very glad u like
mascara freak- Lmao that better? Or too long a wait? lol don't think the sequel will have the dragons... but will have Legolas Nods hmm... bread... lol
grumpy- lol, glad
Elven Kitten: Is staring down a well
Elf Side: What are you doing?
E.K.: I'm about to find out exactly how deep BREAD is
E.S.: What?
E.K.: Drops bread down the well
Gollum Side: Is sitting on the edge of the well watching
Hobbit Side: ARG! Must you throw everything down the well???
E.K.: Me? Sì!
H.S.: Gives up and walks off grumbling
E.K.: Umm... now what?
E.S.: You're asking me? ¬¬
E.K.: Yes... how stupid of me...
E.S.: ¬¬
SILENCE!!!!!!!!!!! FOR AN HOUR!!!!!!!!!!!
E.K.: I'm bored.
E.S.: ¬¬
Hears a sploosh
E.K.: What was that???
E.S.: The bread...
E.K.: ... wow... it is deep... stares down the well
E.S.: Rolls eyes anyhow, we may be slow in updating now because apparently the Microsoft Word program we had was a trial... everything we had written was converted to that and still is being converted and we can't work on the program anymore, nor is it allowing us to copy and paste onto a different program so the chapter we put up will have to be re-written. Sorry it took so long, we hope to actually buy the program or get rid of it so we can keep working on this... until next time! Namarie!
Elenmeoi
