Part 2
Aragorn was awoken by someone shaking his shoulders. The man groaned and slowly opened his eyes. A tall man who appeared to be in his thirties was kneeling in the mud in front of him. He had long black hair and grey eyes. The man was smiling and looked to be very concerned.
The man looked the young man over from head to foot. He looked absolutely terrible, soaking wet and ragged. He asked kindly, "Are you alright?"
Aragorn was surprised to be asked that question, although he didn't really understand why. He answered, "Yeah."
The man gave him a wry smile, "Well you look kind of hungry to me. Why don't you come back to camp with me?"
The young man considered the other human's offer. He seemed genuinely concerned for him, but he was still unsure. Aragorn didn't want to get hurt again. His stomach growled loudly, and he realized he was hungry. "I guess I could use a little something."
The older man laughed, "I'd say you need a fresh set of clothes too. You're going to catch a cold running around sleeping in the rain every night."
Aragorn followed the man back to his camp and found it was not more than a few yards away. The man had obviously been gathering fire wood, and stumbled across him sleeping beneath those large willows. The man took a seat on an old log on one side of the fire, while Aragorn sat down on the ground on the other side.
Now that Aragorn had gotten a closer look at the human, it was obvious he was one of his kin from the north. He was a ranger from the north, distinguishable by his familiar ragged dark clothing. The young man picked at the wet grass absorbed in his own little world. He was startled when the man held out a plate of food.
"Are you sure you're alright, son?"
Aragorn took the plate from the kind ranger. "I'm sure. I was just thinking."
The man cocked an eyebrow, "Must've been doing some really deep thinking."
The human didn't want to talk about what was bothering him. Realizing the conversation was heading in that very direction he quickly changed the subject. "So what's your name?"
The ranger realized that he shouldn't push this young man. He was as jumpy as a jack rabbit. He shook his head slowly. It didn't take him long to figure out that the boy was a runaway. And by the looks of the cloak, he guessed he had run away from Rivendell. He answered the boy's question, "My name's Halabrad. I could ask the same about you."
The human wondered what name he should use. He didn't want to use his birth name, it still sounded so odd. His elvish name was also out of the question. The only one that still felt right to use was his mother's name for him. "My name's Strider."
Halabrad smiled in sudden recognition. So that was who this was. Well then the ranger had an idea of what was wrong, but he wasn't going to push. And he certainly wasn't going to let on that he knew the boy's mother or who he really was. "Well Strider, how do you like your breakfast?"
"I like it very much. Thank you so much for helping me out."
The man chuckled, "Well you sure looked like you needed it. So where are you headed anyway?"
In all honesty Strider didn't know. Where could he go? One of the human villages he supposed, but somehow that didn't seem right. "Um, I'm not really sure."
Halabrad smiled. He was glad the boy didn't know where he was going. He was going to keep an eye on this young man if he could. He asked casually, "Are you any good at tracking orcs?"
Strider looked at the older man strangely as he answered, "Pretty good at it I guess. Why?"
The ranger leaned back on his elbows and asked, "Well I'm in the middle of tracking a group of the filthy beasts, and could really use another set of eyes. All the other rangers are occupied for the time being. What do you say?"
Strider couldn't believe what he was hearing. One of the ranger's of the north wanted him to tag along with him. He had always been fascinated by the rangers and had always wanted to be one. Maybe that was what he could do. Now don't get too far ahead of yourself, he just asked you to tag along on a quick trip. "Sure, I'll give you a hand."
Halabrad clapped his hands together. "Excellent. Now let's get you some dry clothes. Then you can help me pack up camp, and then we'll get started."
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Strider followed close behind Halabrad as they walked through the forest. They leapt nimbly across a small stream, and over several fallen logs. The young man's thoughts were for the time being focused on the task of looking for orc tracks. Suddenly the man stopped in the middle of the path and crouched down. "Here, see these prints?"
Strider did see them, they were indeed orc tracks. But since the pair had managed to find tracks at all meant that the orcs had been here very recently. "They split up and go in two different directions."
Halabrad nodded gazing down both paths. "Strider, will you take the path on the right. See if you see any of them in the valley down there. I'll check the cavern at the end of the left path. We'll meet back here. Be extra careful, alright?"
The young companion nodded and crept off down the right path. When he was out of sight, Halabrad whistled. A hawk flew down and landed on a nearby branch. The ranger then pulled out some willow bark from his pack and wrote a quick message. He then rolled it up, and placed it in a small tube attached to the bird's leg. "Fly away Reshe. Come back soon my friend."
The bird took off and flew toward Rivendell. Hopefully Lord Elrond would receive the message in a day or two. No doubt Elrond would be worried sick about the boy, and he wanted the elf lord to know he was safe. Reshe was a messenger bird that Halabrad had trained to take messages to and from Rivendell. He had no doubt that Elrond would receive the message.
The older man then started down the left path to check for orcs in that cavern. After checking the cavern, and finding signs that they had turned west and headed toward the misty mountains, Halabrad returned to the clearing. The young man was already there waiting. "Did you find anything?"
Strider nodded, "There are several orcs in the valley down there. I counted fifteen."
Halabrad started down the right path, "Well then let's get those creatures out of the territory. There's a village near here, and the filthy rats of Mordor don't belong here."
The older ranger felt the young man following close behind. He motioned with his hand for the boy to crouch down when they reached the end of the path. Sure enough there were fifteen orcs in the valley just below them, a small hunting party, which was no doubt trying to wreak havoc on the nearby villages. He whispered, "Strider do you see that big one there? That's the leader. You can always tell because they are the largest in the group. Take them out and the others run around like mindless idiots."
Strider chuckled. He liked this man, and found he could learn so much from him. He watched as the ranger gave off several elvish hand signals and then slipped behind a tree nearby. The young man knew what to do. He squatted down lower behind the log, and moved himself into position to intercept the creatures.
Halabrad's bow gave a twang and the lead orc fell dead, an arrow to the back of his head. The other orcs panicked. Several ran in the direction of Halabrad who quickly dispatched them with his sword. About five of them ran up the hill toward Strider, when they say their friends being attacked by a ranger. They got a huge surprise when they reached the top.
Strider jumped out of his hiding place and cut down one of the orcs, and hewed the head off a second. The other three recovered in time to actually put up a fight. The human cut one below the knees and then stabbed him in the stomach. He dodged a blow aimed at his mid-section and stepped away from another swing. He parried a blow and then drove his sword in the orc's abdomen. The final orc fell dead before Strider had time to recover.
Halabrad was standing in the middle of the valley with his bow still in his right hand. The other orcs lay dead at his feet. He had shot the final orc with a well constructed arrow. He slowly climbed back up the hill. The older ranger was panting a little and set a hand on the boy's shoulder. As the two started back up the hill he encouraged, "Not bad for your first time in the wild. Not a scratch on you. Come on we'll head for the town of Bree. Then we'll set out for the ranger village. I can introduce you to the rest of my team."
Strider followed behind Halabrad and his new companion. He asked, "Why am I going with you?"
The ranger asked, "You don't have anywhere else to be do you? And besides I thought you might want to be a ranger."
The young man ran after his newly found mentor. So he was finally a ranger, his one dream had finally come true. The two continued on down the path and Halabrad began to sing the old walking song. Strider couldn't help but join in.
He couldn't help but let out a heart felt laugh when Halabrad added, "We make quite a pair don't we. And here I was thinking I was the worst singer in the ranger core. I think lad you've got me beat!"
A/N: Thank you so much to all my beloved reviewers. Sadly I don't have time to actually leave responses to you this weekend. I do remember that one of you pointed out the fact that Aragorn seemed a bit out of character. I know it seems that way, but I had an idea that the calmness we see in the books developed over time. But that's just my idea. I'm not trying to force it on you. Well from now on updates should come every Saturday unless there's a Real Life interference. Okay well I need to go. For those of you reading A Deadly Choice an update ought to be up either tomorrow or Monday.
God Bless
MusicDreamer