Sorry it's been so long. I've been busy, and it will probably be a long time before I post another. Hope you enjoy this one, even though Legolas isn't in it. Enjoy!
Tinwe survived dinner with the King for the rest of the week. After the first night, Thranduil seemed to give up grilling Tinwe and went to talking about day to day activities with Legolas, speaking to her only when it was necessary. This suited Tinwe just fine, and she was happy to let the two of them talk.
Despite her lack of progress impressing the King, she was making much more progress with her work on the Guard. She had excelled at endurance and tracking, and had improved at archery without the pressure of the first day. Her teammates were fairly green at all of these, but they tried hard and were gifted enough that they worked well together and balanced each others' strengths and weaknesses. Nithron was exceptional at swordfighting. Glennodad had great instincts when it came to tracking. Tegalad was a phenomenal archer for his age, and Hirgon had proved himself in the endurance challenges. They all had different personalities too, which kept practice interesting. Nithron was quiet and reserved, and Tegalad was quiet but persistently cheerful with a smile on his face. Glennodad was very outgoing and had warmed up to Tinwe instantly. He made her laugh a lot. Hirgon was pleasant but seemed wary of her, as if waiting to open up until he knew her better. Tinwe could not fault him for being cautious, and he was never rude or inconsiderate, so she gave him space to see if he liked her or not.
Early during the second week of practice, she stood with her group, talking quietly as the sun peaked over the trees to the east, waiting for Tincore. She turned her head as the sound of hooves reached her ears, and she looked around to see Tincore riding up to them, looking over the various groups spaced out across the practice field.
"We are changing practice this week," Tincore said, his voice carrying across the field even though he wasn't shouting. The recruits immediately came forward closer to him, eager to hear what he was planning. Their interest grew as a handful of senior Guardsmen rode up behind them. "We will instead be going out into the field and tracking and eliminating a host of goblins that are currently crossing through the southwest corner of our land. Our scouts estimate there are about two score total, but they have broken up into smaller raiding parties, which we believe are going to attack the villages of Men near our borders. We must not let them get that chance. You," he said, indicating the two groups to Tinwe's right, "will be tracking the first party. You," he said, indicating Tinwe's group and the remaining group, "will track the second. You will be put under the direction of experienced Guardsmen. You will treat them as you would treat me, and do as you are instructed. Retrieve your horses and be ready to ride in half an hour."
As soon as Tincore finished his speech, there was a rush towards the stables. Tinwe was caught up in the movement and soon found herself in front of Alagos, preparing the mare for the long trip. It would take a couple days to reach the far end of Mirkwood, and she didn't know how long it would be after that until she returned.
As she was straightening her saddlebags, she heard the door to Alagos's stall creak. She looked up and saw Faelon leaning on it, smiling.
"Need any help?" he asked, watching her work.
"I think I'm good," Tinwe said, turning back to Alagos and straightening the bags on her back. "Are you going out on this adventure with us greenhorns?" She had noticed he had his bow and sword strapped to his back.
"Yes I am. And as luck would have it, I have been assigned to babysit your group."
"Whose luck is that, then?" Tinwe said, leading Alagos towards the door so Faelon had to move. "Yours or mine? Because it is going to be very difficult for me to follow the chain of command with you as my supervisor."
"Better watch that cheeky tongue of yours too, my dear," he said with a grin. "As of now you have to follow my orders."
"Very well, I shall refrain from hurting your feelings. Shall we?" Tinwe mounted Alagos with a smile and began trotting out of the stable. She passed Faelon's horse Arath on her way out, and shortly after Faelon caught up to her and the two rode silently back to the practice field to wait for further instruction.
Once the recruits had all assembled and been divided into their two new groups, each with three senior Guardsmen to help, Tincore addressed them again.
"Now I give you and your leaders free reign to decide how best to dispatch your respective targets. Remember, this is not a training exercise, and you could get seriously injured or killed if you do not follow orders or do not follow your training. Good luck."
"Cheery peptalk," Glennodad muttered to Tinwe as the Captain rode away. She couldn't help but smile. But it quickly faded as Faelon and the two other Guardsmen turned their horses to address the assembled recruits.
"I am Naranganon, and these are my comrades Thalionon and Faelon," the first said, indicating the other Guardsmen as he introduced them. "We will be riding until sundown with only a brief stop at midday to rest the horses and eat. Tonight when we stop to make camp we will decide what to do about the goblins. Off we go."
Tinwe and her companions trotted after the senior Guardsmen obediently. The other group of recruits and their guides followed shortly afterwards.
Tinwe was unhappy about the lack of information they had been given. But she knew that complaining would do no good. She followed silently instead, having to settle with what little she had been told.
"What do you think is the best way to kill the goblins?" Tinwe turned, surprised to see Hirgon looking at her as they trotted into the forest.
"If I were facing them alone, I would get out ahead of them and determine their most likely course, setting up a series of traps along the way to disorient them and thin their ranks instead of getting into a direct confrontation. However, with this many people to fight them, we have considerably more options. What do you think we should do?"
"I think we should set up small attack groups. Have one attack from the trees with arrows, then as the goblins start looking up, have another group attack from the rear of their group. Disorient them, as you said, but with less time and effort put into traps. We wouldn't have to track individuals as they split up either, which I think could happen if we used your plan."
"Valid point," Tinwe said. "I do like your idea. We will have to discuss it tonight as me make plans."
They fell silent after this exchange. There was no chatter among the recruits, and the senior Guardsmen seemed focused on the task at hand, not bothering with idle chatter.
Tinwe watched Faelon for awhile. He seemed calm and comfortable, obviously at home in the forest. There was even a small smile on his face as they trotted along the path south. He didn't even appear perturbed by the fact that he was essentially there to, in his words, "babysit" her and the rest of the recruits. He seemed downright thrilled about it actually. Every once in a while, he would look back at the recruits to see how they were doing. Once, he caught Tinwe watching him and winked at her. She smiled back and returned to her thoughts about how best to utilize her skills to kill the goblins. She was determined to use this chance to stand out, whether in leadership or as a warrior. It was important for her to be recognized as extraordinary. She knew that as a female, she would have to work twice as hard as any male in order to be received as an equal. At least with Faelon there she knew someone would respect her opinions.
It was an uneventful day. Apart from the brief break at midday, they rode straight through until dark, when they reached a clearing that had obviously been used as a camp many times before. A fire was quickly built and a meal served. They were still half a day's journey away from the predicted path of the Goblins, so they felt a fire was worth the risk for a hot meal. After dinner, the two groups split once again to discuss strategies for the following day.
"Despite the way we usually do things in the Guard, Captain Tincore has decided to let you as recruits decide what strategy you want to use tomorrow," Naraganon said as the fourteen members of their group sat in a circle. Tinwe could not help but think about the night not so long ago when she had sat with her friends and listened to the tale of fourteen other individuals on a quest through this forest. She smiled despite herself, thinking about her friends.
"I believe we should split into attack groups and strike them on different sides to confuse and disorient them. We could thin their numbers and box them in so we can pick them off at will with a group of archers in the trees." Tinwe frowned when she saw it was not Hirgon who suggested this, but Arthonnen instead. She suspected he had been eavesdropping earlier and had decided to put forth Hirgon's idea as his own, but she couldn't know for sure. Pointing it out would be petty and childish anyway, so she kept her mouth shut. She just hoped someone would come up with a better idea so she wouldn't have to side with him. She didn't want to appear petty and childish in front of others, but in her own head it gave her a great deal of satisfaction.
"We could just attack from the trees and not risk lives in a direct attack," suggested one recruit Tinwe didn't know.
"The risk there is that they could split up and we would have to track down all the individuals who got away," said another.
"We could just use bows on the ground and shoot any that try to get through."
"That relies pretty heavily on archery skills. I think we should incorporate more skill sets into the process."
"I agree. We shouldn't just rely on bows."
"You will all need to have excellent archery skills in the future and will rely on them heavily," said Thalionon. "There may be times when you have to use a skill set that is not one of your strengths."
"Tinwe suggested earlier that we set traps along their most likely route to thin their rank and disorient them," Hirgon spoke up. Tinwe turned to look at him in surprise. He had shot down the idea earlier and she was surprised he brought it up now. "Can I see a map?"
Thalionon handed him a map. "This is the route that the Goblins are taking," he said, running his finger along the route.
After a moment, Hirgon spoke up again. "Here, there is a stream that flows nearby. If we can drive them towards that river, we can pin them in one area then catch them in crossfire. See this bend? If we get them into this particular spot, they will only be able to escape to the southwest, so we can easily pin them in with a few archers and swordsmen while the others attack from the trees on the far bank."
"It is low risk and eliminates the possibility of any escaping," said Tegalad, peering at the map. "But how did you plan on getting them into that exact spot? It does deviate from the path significantly."
"I can do that," Tinwe said, looking up at the map. All eyes fell on her. "Let's face it, they are more likely to chase a lone elleth through the woods than an elf. If I were to lead them to that point, someone could have a rope set up for me to use to get into the trees on the opposite bank, and from there we could easily pick them off."
"That's very risky for you," said Naranganon, watching her closely. "Would you be willing to take that risk?"
"I am confident I will be able to simultaneously be within view and out of range of their weapons," Tinwe said. "The most dangerous parts will be trying to get their attention and climbing into the trees at the end, and with the archers stationed at the end, that will eliminate some of that risk."
"What about the beginning?" Faelon said, his concern evident. "You will be alone and vulnerable."
"Don't worry, I can handle it. I was thinking that maybe I should shoot one of them and provoke them into an attack. There should be at least one person at the rear to make sure none of them fall behind and escape, so I shouldn't be totally alone."
"I will do that," Naranganon said. "Then we will have five archers on each side of the bend, and two swordsmen to the sides ready to move in and prevent their escape. Any volunteers?" Nithron and another recruit volunteered. "Excellent. Faelon, you will take four archers on the northern bank, and Thalionon will take the other four on the south. Anymore concerns?" No one said anything. "Good. We move out at dawn. You three have first watch," he said, indicating Nithron, Glennodad, and another recruit. The meeting broke up after that.
Tinwe glanced over to the other group where Erynion and the other recruits were still talking over their strategy. She was pleased with how their strategizing had gone. She was going to play a crucial part in the plan, and it had been partially her idea. As she leaned against a tree trunk to get comfortable for the night, Faelon walked up to her and sat down next to her.
"Are you worried about our strategy?" she asked, noting the look on his face.
"Of course I am. This is an incredibly convoluted plan that relies heavily on your shoulders as you assume all the risk. You're sure you are up to it?"
"Relax, Faelon. Of all of us, I have the most recent experience with asymmetric warfare and have spent years evading capture by hostiles. I never told you about my near death experience, did I?"
"No, but I'd love to hear it. As long as it doesn't make me more nervous for you." Tinwe smiled.
"It might, but I'm going to tell you anyway." She proceeded to tell him about being attacked by Orcs and how the necklace had saved her from death. There were a few recruits within earshot who grew still to listen. She recounted everything from her attack up until she met Legolas at Pelennor Fields and then dispatched the Orc who had stolen her necklace.
"And then I had to stitch Legolas up, since I felt guilty at being the reason he was injured. I still feel guilty. It should have been me."
"Well he obviously forgave you," Faelon said with a smirk. Tinwe punched him lightly.
"Doesn't mean I don't feel guilty."
"Well that was a good story, but I'm not sure it made me feel any better about tomorrow."
"If you're that worried about it, you can set up my escape route."
"Very well, I will," he said, standing up. "Now get some sleep. Best to be well rested for tomorrow!"
"Alright, alright. Goodnight Faelon."