Chapter 29. A Tale of Two Rangers

When they'd laid the Steward down upon a bed, the healer turned to Ferdibrand with a questioning look. 'If I may be of assistance, sir?' he said.

'Thain's orders,' Ferdi said shortly, and rather bad-temperedly he added, 'Have you a chair? Or must I stand beside him until he wakens?'

'That won't be necessary,' the healer said hastily, and it was not long before a chair was brought and placed beside the bed.

Ferdi sighed heavily as he climbed up. Everything was so very large here. Beds... chairs... It was bad enough that the doors were an unnatural shape; the doorknobs were set uncomfortably high, making him feel as if he had regressed to childhood once more.

'Is there anything else you'll be needing, sir?' the healer said with a bow. This Halfling was the special assistant of the Ernil himself, after all, and therefore it behoved him to extend every courtesy.

'Something to eat,' Ferdi said, and belatedly he added, 'if you please.' His mother had taught him manners, after all. 'And you needn't "sir" me, every other word you say.'

'As you wish,' the healer said with another bow, cannily leaving the "sir" off. He bowed once more and took himself away. This Halfling was certainly not as pleasant in manner as others he'd met, but then, from his understanding, the poor little fellow had observed the flogging of the Steward. No doubt the experience had unsettled him. Halflings were rumoured to have tender feelings and soft hearts, for all their tough core.

Ferdi looked to the sergeant, who stood just inside the doorway, though he'd dismissed his men.

'Well?' he said.

'I have my orders as well,' Haleth said.

Ferdi nodded, but had nothing else to say. Glumly he regarded the sleeping Man before him. "Steward", they called him, and yet he was nothing like any steward Ferdi knew back in the Shire. How could someone sign away a life, three lives, and go on to discuss spring planting? How could someone order nearly a dozen floggings in one breath, and still go to sleep at night? King Elessar had given the reins of his northern Kingdom to a ruffian, in truth!

But then, Ferdi had his doubts about the King himself. Elessar was a Man, after all, and Men were not to be trusted, not any further than Ferdi could throw them. Which, though he was sturdy and well-muscled, and as good at any hobbit at casting stones, wouldn't be far at all.

It had been a battle of wits, keeping the great creatures that were Men out of the Tookland when they overran the Shire, and Ferdi could not quite understand how Pippin could call some of them "friends". To Ferdi's mind, they were more like wolves than like hobbits, or perhaps a better comparison would be bears. Large, ungainly creatures, seeming harmless, comical, even disposed to be friendly, but dangerous all the same, and not to be trusted. Though there were no bears in the Shire at this late date, still, he'd heard the stories about them, seen the likenesses in drawings and paintings and pictures in books, even curled his toes in a shaggy bearskin spread before a blazing hearth.

Yes, he decided. Men had a great deal in common with bears. He remembered Gandalf's caution towards Beorn, the bear-man... skin-changer, Bilbo had called him, and how cautiously even a wizard had treated him so as not to rouse his temper.

The food came, a goodly quantity, and Ferdi was pleased to see that though the plate was man-sized, the eating utensils were sensibly scaled to a hobbit's hands. He thanked the woman who brought the tray, who though over-tall was pleasantly rounded, quite attractive by hobbit standards.

Haleth received no food, and after his first bite, Ferdi looked at the sergeant sharply. 'Here now,' he said. 'Don't they feed you?'

'I'm on duty,' Haleth answered.

'Well, I'm on duty as well, but that's no excuse to starve a fellow,' Ferdi said. Nodding at his plate, he added, 'Would you like some?' He could eat all, and then some, but the thought of eating in front of a starving man rather took the edge off his appetite.

'I am well, truly,' Haleth said. He had not breakfasted, facing a heavy flogging as he'd been, but he'd gone longer without food in the old days, and had heavier duty in his younger days, when he'd been a Ranger, regarded with scorn by the Breelanders, doing his duty regardless, and not knowing when or even if Aragorn would ever win the throne.

He had run a long way on short rations, and more than once. The longest race had been the chase to rescue Haldoron and Halbarad from the murderous Orcs who'd taken them, and at that they'd nearly come too late. Had it not been for the the sons of Elrond...

As if these dark memories summoned echoes in the Steward's mind, the man on the bed groaned and his hands tightened into fists. 'Orcs...'

Haleth called down the corridor, and then he moved to the side of the bed, leaning over the Steward, placing his hands on the man's forearms to hold him down. 'Steady,' he said. 'All is well.'

'Hal... Haleth,' the Steward said. 'Fly! It's a trap!'

'Steady,' Haleth said again.

'Orcs!' Haldoron said, and Ferdi's blood ran cold. 'Halbarad!'

'Steady,' Haleth said again, and then a healer was there, wetting a cloth from a bottle and holding it under the Steward's nose. He relaxed, and Haleth let go his hold.

'He will sleep more deeply,' the healer said, 'and the King ought to be here before he wakens again.' She bowed to the hobbit and took her leave, while Haleth moved to stand by the door once more.

'Haleth?' Ferdi said, raising an eyebrow.

The sergeant nodded. 'Haldoron,' Ferdi said, rolling the word round his tongue as if he wasn't sure of the taste, and then, 'Halbarad.'

Haleth said nothing.

'You are brothers, then?' Ferdi said, looking from steward to sergeant.

'A coincidence of names,' Haleth said. 'The Steward and I are kinsmen, but not close.'

'And Halbarad?' Ferdi said.

'The Steward's brother. He was lost in battle in the Southlands.'

'Ah,' Ferdi said. He remembered the name from stories the Thain had told him. 'A brave Man, from what I've heard.'

'He was that. As is his brother,' Haleth said.

Ferdi frowned. 'Taken by Orcs?' he said, and the words of the King to Merry and Pippin suddenly made sense to him. Looking more closely, he could see the faint marks on the Steward's wrists, resembling those of Thain and Master. 'It was my understanding that he was one of those who guarded the lands around Bree. There were Orcs there?'

Haleth nodded. 'Within a day's march of Bree and Archet,' he said. 'They had sent scouts into the Breeland, hiding in the Chetwood by day and prowling around the walls after the fall of night.'

Ferdi shuddered. 'What did they want?' he said.

'Likely to burn and kill and destroy,' Haleth said. 'Dark things were drawing ever nearer, and growing bolder. Wolves were heard howling in the hills around Bree, that winter, and spies were gathering around the Shire. Aragorn sent word to the Grey Wanderer, and doubled the guard. But these were Orkish spies, and we happened upon their hiding in the Chetwood. Blundered, rather. We had just crossed a stream, breaking through the ice, though fortunately it was not much above our knees where we crossed, and I was thinking more of the icy water that had seeped into my boots, than our surroundings. It was snowing, and a brisk wind was blowing, and so we didn't smell them, and saw no tracks. They were in the trees, and two dropped upon Halbarad before he knew what had happened. Haldoron called out warning and struck out with his sword, but more dropped from the trees to knock him to the ground.'

'And you?' Ferdi said, his eyes wide.

Haleth dropped his head. 'I ran,' he said. 'And they ran after me, like hounds from the darkest pit, howling with glee, and their arrows fell all about in a dark rain. But the wind gusted and pushed the arrows from their deadly course, and I dove into the stream, ducked under the ice, and came up some way downstream. And coming out of the stream I ran. I ran, not just to summon aid to save them, but to save myself. Shivering, I ran. Freezing, I ran. Had I stopped I'd have turned to ice, but I didn't stop. I ran...' His voice dropped, and his eyes stared, not at Ferdi, but at some distant vision of memory.

'And then what happened?' Ferdi demanded, not about to let the story end there.

'I found my chief,' Haleth said at last. 'I stopped, scarce able to draw breath, and my entire body clenched into one fist, too cold even to shiver, and the sons of Elrond poured something down my throat that made a great warmth from my gullet to my belly, and I was able to gasp out my message. And there was no time for dry clothes... but we ran, the four of us, though I was no match for the other three. Indeed, for some of the way the sons of Elrond took my arms and we flew! ... or so it seemed to me. But when we reached the place where the Orcs had swooped from the trees, they were already gone.'

'Gone!' Ferdi said. 'But what of Haldoron and Halbarad?'