Xander stared out over the small valley and sighed at the sight before him.
Fifteen hundred Orc and Hillmen milled about in what could roughly be called 'Battle formation.' In truth they were only slightly better trained than your average mob.
The Hillmen were hungry wild-eyed savages that screamed and brandished crude rock and wood weaponry.
The orcs were only in slightly better shape. Old, their weapons ancient, some even holding the mass-produced 'Neck-Cutters' Sarumon had issued to his armies forty years earlier.
"Fifteen hundred beings that hardly qualify as footmen against four thousand horsemen of the Mark? This will be a slaughter and you know it father."
With a sigh Xander looked over at his commander, "Ameran, if my prayers are answered, it shall bring us a victory here and avenge our people."
"Of course father, none shall escape our wrath, their blood will water this field " The golden haired warrior swore with a smile before pulling his sword loose from its scabbard and signaling the army forward.
"So bloodthirsty, my brother."
Xander snorted at the soft-spoken words that managed to carry over the roar of warriors as they surged towards the enemy.
Turning towards his eldest daughter, Xander wondered again at how much she looked like her mother. His gaze was drawn to the small broach she fingered carefully as she watched the start of the battle.
Resisting the urge to growl at what that broach symbolized Xander turned back to the fight as well.
"So you would ask for mercy for these beings?" Xander asked as the first wave of horsemen crashed into the press of bodies.
Snorting at the question, Eowas, daughter of Eowyn watched the bloody work of her brother with satisfaction as he carved his way into the monsters that had been raiding their western lands for the last several months.
"Mercy? For these 'things' no father, nothing so dishonorable to those they've slaughtered." She said with feeling as she remembered the burnt out buildings of the last village these raiders had struck. "I feel he takes this too personally is all, it may… interfere with his perception and blind him to danger."
Nodding at her statement, Xander kept a close eye on the proceedings for several minutes before looking down in sadness. "The last settlement they hit was Edensmoore, a young woman by the name of Glyn lived there." Xander said softly as he looked over and saw the confusion in his daughter's eyes. "You may remember her as the dark haired lass whose token he wore at this last summers games." He said by way of explanation.
At her understanding look, Xander nodded. "They were to write up a contract this winter with both her father's blessing and my own."
Looking down as the last resisting group of the raiders were slaughtered Xander turned from it to the three unarmored men who rode with his personal guards. "See to it that the survivors are given a fair and just trial, those found guilty are to be executed at dawn three days hence." He ordered the judges that had accompanied him. One from Gondor, one from Rohan and one chosen from the Judges of his own lands.
They would be fair, of that he was sure. But given the evidence against the survivors, Xander would be surprised if a dozen were saved from execution.
The slightly uneasy feeling in his belly at the thought of those deaths on his head were all that was left of the initial revulsion he had felt the first time he had gone to view the death of another being outside of combat.
It had been an assassin, one of the few survivors of the Dark Lord's minions, the man had been responsible for the deaths of two of his personal guards and had actually made it into his children's room when he had been captured.
The disgust Xander had felt at watching the man die had only been overshadowed by the terror brought on by the thought of him actually succeeding.
Turning from the slaughter Xander, headed back towards the encampment his men had set up the night before.
Glancing over he saw the still troubled expression his daughter wore and nudged his horse closer. "So was I to find out after you were married or were you going to wait until my first grandchild was born?" he asked smugly as she looked at him in shock.
He smiled at her for a moment before looking down at the broach again. "From what I hear it is unseemly for a young man to court someone of your station without her father's consent." He said as she tucked the small object back into her cloak and reddened at his finding out.
Giving her a moment for the embarrassment to cloud her mind Xander turned back to watch where he was going. "Well, as expensive as that bauble seems to be it certainly narrows the possibilities down considerably. Perhaps Count Windhelm?" Xander asked with a casual smile as his daughter looked at him in understandable shock, the man was nearly as old as Xander himself after all. Thinking about it over his daughter's choked shock, Xander shook his head at the candidate. "No, he's a bit too antiquated for this. If he was courting you I would have had to deal with his giving a minutes report on everything you and he did." Xander said conversationally.
Thinking it over again, Xander frowned as another candidate came to mind. "Perhaps the Duke of Greenhall." Xander suggested as he thought of the fourteen-year-old that already had gained a reputation of chasing women.
Considering it, he shook his head again. "No, if it was he would have bragged about it at court already and I would have twenty nobles clamoring at me over your disgraceful habits, it being your fault of course as nothing could ever be his."
Looking over at her uncomfortable silence Xander finally decided to try one of the two names he actually considered a possibility.
Taking a moment to sigh, Xander looked at her "So if it's not Windhelm or Greenhall that leaves either the future guardian of Dul Amroth or…" Xander trailed off as she looked decidedly uncomfortable. "Or the much chased Prince of Gondor." Xander finished and nodded at her guilty nod.
Chuckling at the thought of the prince of one of the most powerful kingdoms being too scared to talk him, Xander shook his head as he remembered his own terror. "In that case I suppose we should request his presence so Ameran and your mother can properly scare him before he comes to ask." Xander said and smiled at her pained groan.
The rest of the walk back to camp was spent with her trying to convince him to keep it from her brother for as long as possible.