In An Age Before

by Phantom Bard

Part 298 posted, in which Helluin and the Riders of Norðr-vestandóttir Bý aid the Third Marshal Haleth in Rohan's defeat of the Easterling invaders. Brutal weather, disease, and failing morale play a part. Aldburg is no sooner freed of the eastern threat when tidings come of the Dunlending's invasion from the west. OCs galore as usual.

138. In An Age Before Chapter 138

In An Age Before – Part 138

Chapter Ninety-three

The Troll Shaws of Rhudaur – The Third Age of the Sun

With the coming of the Cardolan Rangers, the training of the volunteers quickened so that a fortnight later two companies of Rangers, one from Cardolan and one from Rhudaur, took their leave of Celenhár and followed the path north. On 30 Ivanneth they crossed the road and thereafter were seen by none. O'er the next few days a number of skirmishes were joined, but the outcomes were easily foreseen; bands of Hillmen who had waited to waylay travelers on the road disappeared. By 5 Narbeleth, the Hillmen sent to replace them had also disappeared.

On 8 Narbeleth, having passed their initial test as Rangers of Rhudaur and having bloodied their enemies, the companies returned to Celenhár, and on the 9th a second dozen volunteers accompanied Helluin and Beinvír and Lainiel north. The Rangers of Cardolan remained in the town, furthering the tutelage of the first and third dozens, which included the Lord Galor. 'Twas their intention to accompany the third company north after the return of the teachers. Upon the return of this final company, and with the cold month of Hithui, (November), then upon them, the plan was to further the Rhudaur Rangers' training for warfare in winter.

Upon 18 Narbeleth, Helluin, Beinvír, and Lainiel returned to Celenhár with the second company, having had similar success, and after a day's rest, the teachers, with the third company and the Cardolan Rangers, made their way north on the 20th. By the 22nd, when they again came 'nigh the road, their campaign against the Hillmen allied with Angmar had lasted three weeks. Being now wroth from their losses, the Hillmen had gathered some six score fighters in a valley camp behind the first ridge north of the road. Upon that ridge they had posted watchers, and with their forewarning, planned to assail the invading foes and o'erwhelm them with their numbers. Thither they waited, watchers and camp alike, with voices subdued, lighting no fires, and anticipating slaughter.

Now when the Rangers had come 'nigh the road they quickly noted the watchfulness of that place, the lack of birdsong or the activity of squirrels, and so they made no moves, but set a watch of their own. Ere evening they had marked the change of the watchers upon the ridge. At nightfall Helluin, Beinvír and Lainiel, with Dorondon and the Lord Galor fell back from the road and passed west a half-mile ere making their crossing. Behind the ridge they moved eastward with stealth, and in the dark of night marked the camp of the Hillmen, first by their scent brought down the valley by a scant breeze, and then by their hushed voices. Closer they approached and by midnight knew their count and had discerned their plan. Unmarked they withdrew and retraced their steps. In the second hour past midnight they returned to their own camp and made known all that they had seen.

"For the first time the enemy outnumbers us o'er four to one," Helluin told the Rangers, "but 'tis not so great an advantage as they may hope. Can each of ye shoot four foes in the dark?"

The question bordered on rhetorical, for they had been trained to do just such.

"One company shalt go a half-mile east and the other a half-mile west ere crossing the road. Make then your approaches remaining slightly upslope so as to entrap their camp from both ends of the valley," Beinvír told them. "Helluin, Lainiel, and I shalt dispatch their watchers upon the ridge and then assail them from the south."

"Stealth shalt bring ye 'nigh, and by surprise shalt many be felled in the moments of their confusion," Helluin said. "Give them no targets and shoot any that flee."

"Good hunting," Lainiel wished them.

The companies moved out in silence, west and east. Helluin, Beinvír, and Lainiel gave them time, waiting a half-hour ere they too moved. With the stealth of the Laiquendi which confounds all eyes, they crossed the road only a few dozen yards to the west of the watchers, stepping silently forward as the clouds above passed before Ithil, providing the cover of shifting shadows. Though a night may seem still, 'tis the motions of shadows, the fluttering of leaves, and the sounds of breeze and water that serve to obscure the movements of those trained to stealth.

The watchers knew not that they were hunted even as their attackers came upon them. Not even the hiss of an arrow or the twang of a bowstring marked their passing. Helluin, Beinvír, and Lainiel had come close enough to slay them with arrows thrust by hand. So they died, voicing no cries of alarm or pain, their bodies eased silently to the ground by their killers, as gently as a babe put to cradle by a loving parent.

Just as quietly the three moved down the back slope of the ridge, slowly and with such care that no step raised a noise to mark their passing. 'Nigh the bottom they marked the tumbled stones of the foundations of a farmhouse and barn. And finally they came within a few body lengths of the enemy's camp, each choosing their first target by his position, not because he was closest, but because he was least visible to the companies approaching from the east and west.

Now amongst the Green Elves such an attack would have begun in concert, for that kindred sensed each other despite being cloaked in stealth. Not by sight or sound did they perceive their readiness to attack, but rather by their sensitivity to the fëar of their comrades, and so a company of Laiquendi would have loosed their arrows all in the same moment, dropping their foes as one with no warning. Yet the Rangers of Cardolan and Rhudaur were mortal Men, and though their senses were more finely honed now than they had been aforetime, still no such perception did they share. So they waited beyond such time as they themselves required to move into position, and then they chose their targets and knocked their arrows.

Not by any signal did the attack commence, and so no forewarning did the enemy have. In one moment all was silent and at peace. In the next, a Man fell dead in their midst, and a heartbeat later arrows were flying amongst them, striking down their fellows right and left, for as soon as the first arrow shot was heard, all the others released. Twenty-eight targets were struck, nineteen to the death, the others severely wounded, and a heartbeat later another twenty-eight. The third and fourth volleys followed, but by then the Hillmen had scattered or dove for cover, yet already o'er three score lay dead with another thirty-odd stricken out of the combat by their wounds. Little more than a couple dozens remained unscathed, and none had seen their attackers. From behind boulders and trees they sought for their foes, clenching tight the hilts of their swords; the few amongst them who had borne bows had been amongst the first to fall. And now for the Rangers, 'twas for most to hold and cede to whosoe'er had a clear line of fire to dispatch those of the enemy who remained, for they had been trained ne'er to loose an arrow without a sure target. One by one the Hillmen were picked off, the arrows coming from three sides o'er the following minutes.

In despair the last three Hillmen abandoned their cover and stood together in a circle amidst their slaughtered camp, brandishing their weapons and shouting defiant challenges to the night. Thus they fell together, taken almost at the same moment.

Finally the Rangers walked into the camp and put to the sword those who had not died by their bows, and then they retrieved their arrows from the bodies of the fallen, replenishing thus their quivers whilst leaving no tokens behind. After some fourteen hours of preparation, the actual assault had taken barely the sixth part of an hour from first shot to last, and only those who had died upon a blade had seen their foes. The slaughter was full wrought, and as e'er, 'twas a shock to the first-time victors.

In the silence that followed 'twas Lord Galor who spoke for the dead.

"Though they were our foes and served the great Enemy of the north, they were Men of Eriador too. I bid they be laid together with their weapons upon the slope of the south ridge, above the creek that runs with their blood, so that their kin may find them and offer whatsoe'er rites they deem meet."

The Rangers of Rhudaur, even Cánégin their captain, moved to do his bidding, and soon the Rangers of Cardolan followed. Helluin, Beinvír, and Lainiel recalled the three soldiers of Rhudaur they had first met, laying their fallen foes alongside the road after that battle. Out of respect for their traditions, the three moved to aid them in their labor by bringing hence the bodies of the watchers upon the ridge top whom they had first slain.

After they were done, the companies met to decide their course, for as Helluin told them, "in one night ye have twice exceeded the count of foes slain by both prior companies, and after so successful an engagement t'would not be undeserved to declare this trial complete. We may leave upon the morrow and return victorious to Celenhár the second day hence, or we may continue north and return upon the 30th as originally intended."

For some moments all were silent, and the Men of Rhudaur understood that the decision rested with them. Torn they were 'twixt continuing in the afterglow of their success, or seeing the sooner their homes, bearing tidings of a battle won without loss against more numerous foes. Again, 'twas the Lord Galor who broke the silence.

"A great victory we have won after our fashion, yet dawn shalt bring the 23rd and another week we have to spend. The Hillmen we slew this night came from somewhere, and perhaps t'would be well to know how close the stronghold of our enemy lies."

And Cánégin the captain seconded his lord, saying, "I too deem t'would be wise to know how close dwell those we have bloodied this night, for they shalt not abide the discovery of our actions without seeking revenge. Valuable knowledge we could gain even if we take no more lives."

One by one the remainder of the company nodded their heads in agreement with their lord and captain, and so the decision was made.

"Take then some food and a few hours' rest," Helluin said. "Draw lots and set watches of two hours in groups of four, we move in the second hour past dawn."

In fact they would have a luxurious six hours off ere they marched again.

'Nigh dawn a cold drizzle began to fall and the scant breeze of the night afore grew apace, though neither gusty, nor driving. Still, with the rain falling upon their right shoulders, the Rangers broke camp and marched west in silence, following the creek downstream along the valley floor upon a much o'ergrown track. Soon they passed a ruined farmhouse a short ways upslope to the north. After an hour and a couple of miles, the sides of the valley had lowered and a path they found heading up the north ridge. This they took in single file, finding both the wind and rain increasing as they left the shelter of the valley. At the ridge top 'twas only the sharp eyes of the two ellith that marked a rising column of smoke blowing towards them 'neath the o'ercast, from beyond the second ridge to the north. This they deemed lay some two leagues distant.

"Thither lies a settlement of some size, for the smoke of a single campfire would not be so easily visible," Helluin said, though the Rangers still could mark it not.

"The trail continues north, downslope into the next valley," the Green Elf observed. "Soon we shalt need to abandon it lest we meet any coming, or going yonder."

"The next ridge is lower than this one and fails little more than a mile west, leaving the bottomlands of the next two valleys connected," Lainiel added.

"T'would surprise me little if a track wound 'twixt them 'neath the trees," Beinvír guessed, "with this path being a shorter way for those afoot; hunters and the like."

They searched the surrounding land again, and the ellith marked at a distance of less than a league, upon a rising ridge to the west that met the juncture of the two ridges before them, ruined walls and a broken keep, just to be seen 'neath the trees.

"I wager that in better days, a road 'twixt the two valleys ahead was joined by a spur leading west," Helluin said, "for thither perhaps lay the castle of a lord who held these valleys as a fief."

"So too he hath perhaps held the valley in which we camped," Lainiel said, "for thither a track once ran alongside the creek and the remains of two farms we passed."

Understanding now that they traveled a once populated area, the company decided t'would be best to leave the path ere descending into the next valley, and they made their way back eastward along the ridge top for an hour, covering thus a half-league ere they made their way downslope.

Descending into this second valley, they stayed amongst the trees, and ere reaching the bottomland the order was given for full stealth. The Rangers disappeared from sight, moving more slowly now 'twixt outcroppings, or from bole to bole, making no sounds and using the land to hide their movements. During their passage they marked the remains of another farm with a track leading west, and upon reaching the bottomlands, a broader, swifter creek. Some ways downstream lay the ruins of a building that could have been a mill, for its foundation stood hard upon the hither bank.

'Round noon the light rain dwindled, but the wind remained. It seemed the level of the creek had been little affected, and after searching upstream a couple furlongs, the company found a fordable crossing. The rain had obliterated any tracks, and none could tell if the Hillmen they'd fought had crossed hither, or had come by way of the roads that followed the valley bottoms. So, knowing not if any watched, the three teachers crossed the creek first and made their way up the further slope to the ridge top, scouting their surroundings whilst the Rangers waited unseen in the bottomland. Upon the ridge top the teachers saw none, sensed none, and heard none, either in the valley they'd just crossed, or downslope upon the far side of the ridge. Closer now, the column of smoke rose as aforetime from the valley beyond the next ridge. After a prudent wait during which no threat was revealed, Helluin made her way back down to the creek and beckoned the Rangers to cross.

Knowing they would meet no friends in this land, the Rangers went forward warily, climbing the slope from the creek in stealth to reach the ridge. Glad they were for the forest and the continuous cover of the trees. Silently they gathered, spread in a line along the high ground, to survey all that lay downslope with sharp eyes that sought for any telltale movement. Patiently they waited, hoping that if any others shared this land they would reveal themselves, yet as aforetime they saw 'naught upon two legs 'neath them in the valley. Upon four legs 'nigh the creek, a doe and two half-grown young drank their fill at ease. These they watched closely for any signs of nervousness, but after a time they deemed that the deer were not being hunted.

Now the order was given and the Rangers advanced down another slope and into the third valley. Still they saw none, yet once more they passed the remains of collapsed rooves, tumbled walls, and o'ergrown tracks. Whate'er farms that had wrung a living from this steep land had been ruined by war and abandoned many years aforetime. 'Neath the grey light of an o'ercast afternoon, seeing again and again the evidence of what had been in better days left the company somber. In their hearts they gave thanks for the grace that had spared their home from the fate these lands had suffered.

In wariness they crossed the bottomland, again fording a small stream, and then turning somewhat east, angled their way up the northern slope. The footpath they had taken earlier was well west of them now, reducing the chance of meeting any traveling by that route. 'Twas in the fourth hour past noon that they made the last ridge and surveyed the valley from whence the column of smoke had risen. That proof of habitation was now also well west of them, for their course had brought them so far east as to be within a half-mile of a higher ridge that ran north-south, terminating the eastern ends of each of the valleys they'd traversed. For another half-hour they waited and watched, again marking none moving in the eastern part of the valley, yet all knew that somewhere not so far to the west lay a settlement of Hillmen, their count unknown.

Despite the lack of sun 'neath the thick cloud cover, they reckoned less than two hours of daylight remained, and so the teachers ordered a camp set with watches assigned. Though they had covered but two leagues as the crow flies, their course upslope and down whilst maintaining their stealth in cold weather was wearying and closer to double the distance. For the sake of the volunteers from Celenhár, whom the teachers still deemed trainees, the halt was called. The Rangers settled for a night, cold and dark, for no fires would be lit. They sheltered amongst the trunks and boulders and hunkered down in their cloaks, gnawing rations and sipping water, and finally closing their eyes for a few hours of much welcomed sleep.

To be Continued