Stories of Arda - Lord of the Rings Fan-Fiction Archive


	About Us News Resources Login Become a member Help Search

The Ranger and the Hobbit by Cairistiona	15 Review(s)
Lexilooper	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 1/22/2026
"Sticklebacks," Halbarad muttered under his breath as he paced around the fire. He tossed the remnants of supper – the bones of a pheasant – into the fire and wiped his hands off on some soft leaves of lamb’s-ear that he also tossed to the flames. He and the rest of the Rangers in the east Shire patrol were camped to the southeast of Chetwood, between Bree and the Midgewater Marshes, where they haunted the edges of the Great East Road, keeping watch for anything that might come along to pose a threat to the Shire. HALBARADDDDDDDDDD I MISSED HIMMMMMMM <33333 I was not expecting Denlad shot him an amused glance. "‘Sticklebats’? Hobbit habits are rubbing off on you." hehehe "’Tis a handy phrase. And there are worse habits one can pick up," lol yesss I may pick it up too. I love how Halbarad's like you know having "sticklebacks" in your vocabulary can come in useful" sage nod XD <3 Halbarad countered. He scrubbed at his face with both hands, running them down his cheeks and beard and then around under the long tangles of his black hair to massage the back of his neck. He blew out a long breath as he stared into the early evening sky. "I am worried." yessss There’s overstating the obvious, Denlad thought. He wiped the last smudge from his sword and tucked the rag back into his pack as stood to slide his blade back into its scabbard. "And here I thought all that pacing and huffing and puffing was simply a sign of the indigestion that plagues those of your advanced age." LOLLLLLL XD I surely missed Denlad as well <333 "Keep your cheekiness to yourself, Denlad. I am worried about Aragorn. He should have been back by now." yessssss oooh yes so he is not alone on this patrol, exactly. Not meant to be for long, anyway. That makes me happy. I love how they mostly stick somewhat together even in their solitary patrols, for safety in numbers and in friendship <3 "I’m sorry," Denlad said, immediately contrite. "I have my own hobbit habit in sometimes hiding deeper feelings behind foolish jests. I too am getting concerned, truth be told. But he’s not overly late yet. Maybe he simply chased something farther afield than he intended." awww <33 Denlad "Or maybe something chased him. And caught him." He hitched his sword to a better position on his hip. "No, something is not right. I’m going after him. Take reports from the sentries as they come in; see that the patrols here are covered as they should be. You know what to do. Aragorn was headed east. He said he wanted to skirt the Great East Road on the north side past the Marshes, to check on the area near the Weather Hills. I do not know if he planned to go beyond Weathertop, but he may have, and let us hope that is all that has delayed his return. I don’t know how long it will take me to find him, but if I am not back by four days hence, gather a patrol with horses and set out after me. I will leave cairns." mmm yess leaving Denlad in charge <3 "I would rather you didn’t go alone." "No, I need you here, Denlad." Denlad planted his feet wide apart and crossed his arms. "Eledh is fully capable of taking reports and bringing a patrol if need be." YESSS HE WILL COME Halbarad glared at him, but Denlad had no wish to lose this battle of wills. Halbarad was his senior, in years and in rank, and he would obey should Halbarad absolutely order him to stay behind, but just as Aragorn was as a brother to Halbarad, he was nearly a father to Denlad, and he would not see himself left behind, not when his own unease flowed in such a tumultuous cascade through his gut. AWWWW <:(( HE WAS NEARLY A FATHER TO DENLAD <33 father-heart Aragorn would be filled with joy to hear that I love this balance of "I will obey...but only if none of my cards work. Only if absolutely necessary, for I will not go down without a fight." healthy respect of authority but using and sharing and fighting for his own judgement and desires as well Halbarad’s scowl did not waver, so Denlad played his trump card. "If Aragorn is injured, he will need my healing skills." HEHEHE a great trump "So be it," Halbarad grumbled. "I simply pray you will find it a wasted journey." A corner of his mouth suddenly quirked upward. "Perhaps your company will vex me so that I will have no time for worrying." AWW YES :)) cute "That’s the spirit!" Denlad grinned, then slapped Halbarad’s shoulder. HEHEHE THEY'RE SO CUTE that's the spirit! "Fear not. We will find him. But before we rush into the night barehanded, you find food for us, and I will alert Eledh." It suddenly occurred to him that he was ordering Halbarad about as though he were nothing but a green recruit. "Ah, that is, if that meets with your approval." aww hehe he's like oops I'm ordering him around "You will be taking over as Chieftain if Aragorn is not mindful of his place," Halbarad said with a soft laugh. He waved his hand. "Go, find Eledh and inform him of our leaving. Then hasten back, for I will leave in a quarter hour, with or without you." LOL <33 Aragorn raised him well yesss making all haste They moved quickly on foot, slipping with the silence of mist through the wild lands, heading east. Years of patrolling this area left them knowing nearly every stone and twig, and as they passed they looked but did not find any sign of Aragorn, save an odd track that may or may not have been left by him. hmmmm "Is it his?" Denlad asked as they bent to look at one such vague mark in the dust beside a clump of grass. "It must be. It’s the right size, and this is the direction he said he’d be going. And it’s off the road, as he usually travels. It cannot be anyone else’s." aww yay <3 seeing signs he was here is just. comforting. especially when missing him, to go, he stood here! They shared this space! Scant assurance, or so Denlad thought, but he did not say anything. He looked instead to their back trail and took what small comfort there was in verifying that no man or creature seemed to be following the same trail. hmmmmm <:( And so the hours passed until sunlight faded too much for them to see. They stopped to rest for the night, and daybreak found them traveling at speed once more. They ran throughout the day, speaking little, even when they stopped briefly for a mid-day rest and a meal. hmm how long had it been since he left? How does this now match up with where we left him? do these two days equate to the two(?) days Aragorn had been wandering since being stabbed? I think it was two days. Perhaps one? Ah, I found the place. Aragorn does not even know how long it's been, so I will guess two. also, their journey is making me rethink how long "if I am not back in four days" sounded. Like that seems a long time to wait, but...if they are to search all the way to Weathertop perhaps, and then come back, that's a double-journey, and for all they know they may find Aragorn wounded and not be able to return so quickly. As the afternoon wore on, it seemed every step drove dread deeper into Denlad’s soul, and he found himself battling an onslaught of fearful thoughts. There are too few signs... we’re missing something, surely... <:(((( No, he immediately chided himself. Aren’t we all skilled woodsmen who can pass over a land leaving behind naught but a shadow? And Aragorn is the best of us all. It is no small wonder we are finding so few signs. mmm yes true Fear immediately countered. But a man, no matter how skilled, will leave signs, and more than we have found. Those we have seen are so vague... what if we have passed Aragorn by completely, and he lies wounded in some ditch an hour behind us, breathing his last? <:((( thankfully not, if perhaps only for Ferdinand <3 But they would have seen signs of that, surely. If Aragorn was hurt or ill, his signs would then become obvious, for an injured man cannot be so careful in the trail he leaves behind. mmm true, he must have been injured farther on So, Denlad told himself sternly, stop worrying. Unless some flying beast swooped down and snatched him off the face of Arda, Aragorn must surely be unharmed, and they would find him. hmmmm well All the same, he couldn’t help casting a fearful glance upward at the empty sky. <:((( he's like IS THERE A FLYING BEAST So his dreary thoughts continued through the hours until the gloaming deepened toward night. They came then upon an upright stone, a standing black shadow looming some thirty feet into the air, looking like it could have been thrust into the ground by the angry hand of some giant in long ages past. It was a well-known landmark, one the Rangers used often, and it marked the place Aragorn generally liked to camp when he patrolled this region. But tonight, with the early rising moon casting its cold light on the blunt peak, Denlad thought it looked somehow fey and terrible. He shivered. "I like not the feel of this place," he whispered. hmmmm it feels like the barrow-downs Halbarad squatted and laid his hand on the remains of a fire. "Cold. And at least one dew has fallen upon it. He has not been here in at least a day." yayyyyyy a certain sign Denlad chewed his lip. "We must wait until morn, then, to find his trail. I do not trust my eyes to see anything in this darkness, and he could have walked off in any of a hundred directions." "Likely not a hundred, but certainly a dozen. You are right, though. We cannot go blundering into the night after him." mm true <:( they must stay here So they settled themselves at the base of the rock and passed a restless night, lighting no fire and taking turns keeping watch, for although they had neither seen nor heard any beast or man, there existed every possibility that something evil lurked in the blackness, something that may have attacked Aragorn and may even now have its sights on the two of them. somehow I do not think that same evil has its sights on them. Aragorn took care of that :). Denlad tried to sleep when Halbarad spelled him on watch, but it seemed every small noise brought him to heart-pounding wakefulness. Truth to tell, this night reminded Denlad far too much of the days they had spent along the Hoarwell, chasing–and being chased by–a Nazgûl. Aragorn had nearly met his end during those dark days.* Denlad peered into the black shadows cast by the moon. Yes, this was far too much like that moonlit night nearly three years ago. mmm yesssssss He liked it not one bit. <:(((( NOT good memories of his Chieftain and father-figure coming to the brink of deathhh and when he left them he was still in dangerous straits as was Halbarad, the other Rangers must have been in agony waiting for news But the long night passed, and nothing leapt at them from the shadows, and though neither of them felt very rested as dawn lightened the eastern sky, Halbarad started right away on the search for tracks, and Denlad followed suit on the opposite side of the rock, which in morning’s cheerful light looked quite harmless. Denlad shook his head at his own folly. Letting darkness so rattle his calm like he was nothing more than a frightened child; it was shameful. <:(( it's okayyy dark evils really do exist and stalk about in yours world, it is right to be wary He squatted down to better see the ground. For a long moment, he remained motionless, only his eyes moving as he looked methodically over every square inch before moving to his right a pace and repeating his careful study. His eyes lit on a broken branch and he hurried forward. On the ground beneath it was the faint outline of a man’s heel. "Halbarad!" OOH YAY Halbarad hurried over and looked. "At last! That is Aragorn’s; there can be no doubt. He has a cracked heel on that boot and was complaining about it to me only a week past." SKAJDSF YAYYYY I love hearing of the little domestic things like complaining about a cracked heel on his boot <3 especially in the moments like this where normalcy seems far away They both moved forward and Halbarad found another sign. Aragorn had headed north, at a normal pace. Whatever danger may have befallen him certainly had not chased him from this campsite. They hurried as fast as they could without losing the trail, until finally, shortly after the sun’s highest hour, a movement in the sky some miles off caught his eye. "Halbarad," Denlad gasped, pointing. Vultures, many of them, circling in a black column of death. SKSAJ "It is not him," Halbarad said. "Likely a dead stag." or perhaps a dead bandit :) Denlad heard the desperate plea underlying Halbarad’s words and said nothing. It was his own frantic supplication as well. They hurried on. <:(((( Denlad thought his knees would surely give way, so shattering was his relief. He moved upwind of the decomposing body... the body that was decidedly Southron in garb and coloring and completely the wrong height to be Aragorn... and sent upward a silent but fervent prayer of thanks. yesssssss yay <3 "I wonder who he is. Or was. He has been dead at least a day, perhaps two," Halbarad said. He bent down and, holding his shirt over his mouth and nose with one hand, rolled the body over. He peeled back the man’s coat. "No weapons, and there is a grievous wound in his belly. If I know Aragorn, that is the mark of his sword." He pulled the body onto its side and looked. "The blow severed the man’s spine, see?" yessssss does that cause a quicker death? Or is it just a technique he uses Denlad grimaced. A Ranger he may be, and one not unused to the grim details of violent death, but he still had no desire to gaze long nor close on such wounds when the man who bore them was so long dead. "I will take your word for it." lol very fair "I am sure that is Aragorn’s work. I have seen him deliver just such a wound, more times than I can count." yessssss good good <3 Denlad turned away from the grisly sight and looked at the dusty ground. There was a jumble of footprints all around the man’s body, some clear, some smudged as wind slowly did its work to erase them. It was obvious that quite a struggle had taken place. There was evidence that at least one man may have stepped into a gopher hole. Perhaps the Southron had, and that had given Aragorn his opportunity. But then Denlad frowned as he found a dark spot, rusty brown and almost black. He knelt and touched it with his finger. It was dry. oooooooh ooh ooh And no mistaking: it was blood. But whose? hehehe He looked back at the man’s body. This stain was too far away to have come from the Southron, if he had indeed fallen where he had been stabbed. And he could see very little blood on the man’s clothing. Likely the blow had been instantly debilitating, if not fatal, and so there could have been little in the way of bleeding except what might have pooled beneath the body. That meant this blood could very well have come from the man’s opponent. He leaned down, his face inches from the ground as he studied the footprints, trying to hang onto a desperate but frail hope that the Southron’s foe had been someone else. After a moment, his heart sank. He found the familiar cracked heel print, and several more bloodstains. There could be no doubt. "Aragorn is wounded." YESSSSSSS HEHEHE I love seeing the thought process reasoning through what could have happened and what could not have and how it must be Aragorn...and the the heel print confirms. Halbarad hurried over. "May Valar grant him grace to survive until we find him." awww <33 He hurried past, following footprints that, far from the steady if elusive pattern they had shown up to this point, were now very obvious and very erratic in their placement, the sign of someone wounded and struggling to keep on and no longer able to hide the sign of his passing. Here and there were more blackish stains on the ground, and then under the shelter of a bush, Denlad found another stain, and a place where a man had knelt. yessssss yes the erratic clear footprints confirming his state and struggle, Aragorn wounded and near passing out cannot really hide his tracks well mmm he stopped He bent down and picked up a small piece of dark blue fabric, stained nearly black at the edge. "Aragorn’s shirt," he said, holding it up. "He must have used it, torn it... made a bandage." skasdjfsg I love this tracking <33 seeing what Aragorn had done, things he himself barely remembers Halbarad nodded; there was nothing else to say. They hurried on. YESSSSSS I am getting excited they are on the trail now

Mirach	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 12/12/2009
I hope you don't mind that these reviews are coming after the second reading - at least they will not frantically demand the next chapter =) I can imagine the shock of both rangers when they discovered a human body on the trail, that must have been a really unpleasant surprise. Good that the Southron does not resemble Aragorn at all... And after recovering from this shock, they find the bloodstains, and these are not the Southron's this time... Being around Aragorn, one must have iron neves to absorb all the shocks that he prepares them... not that he would be doing it deliberately, but still. Anyways, good that they have his trail! Author Reply: I don't mind at all when and how you leave your reviews--I'm very flattered you're giving this a second reading! That's praise enough right there! You make very excellent points... it would take a lot of emotional stamina to keep up with all the shocks Aragorn metes out. Even from the age of two, he was wrenching at Halbarad's heart strings (if Halbarad is indeed older than Aragorn, as I imagine him to be), although that wasn't exactly his fault. But then he up and leaves for years and years as Thorongil, then he comes back only to disappear looking for Gollum... and I'm sure when he did return he likely had more scars and more grey hair, and that would have been very hard for a kinsman like Halbarad to take, I would imagine! Thanks for the review and I'm glad you're enjoying the story another time around!

Lily Baggins	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/4/2009
Well, I'm confident that Halbarad and Denlad will find Aragorn, given those expert tracking skills. But I'm still in suspense! Oh, I so love Denlad. Please don't ever kill the poor guy off. And Halbarad is just as loyal as ever. sighs happily

Linda Hoyland	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/4/2009
Aragorn is very lucky that his friends care for him and will try to find him. I would not like to be in such a creepy place in the dark!

Minerva Organa	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 11/1/2009
Bwahaha. Halbarad and Denlad. My day is complete. So glad they're in this story too! Author Reply: Oooh, I made your day complete! Yay! Yes, Denlad and Halbarad feature in this as much as Aragorn and Ferdinand, so enjoy. :) Thanks for the review!

Silivren Tinu	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 10/30/2009
I was wondering if Halbarad would show up in this story. I should have known that no one would be able to keep him away. ;-) Halbarad really has good instincts where Aragorn is concerned. I wish I could tell Halbarad and Denlad that Aragorn has already been rescued... kind of. g I liked the refence to "At Hope's Edge" and I'm beginning to think being a ranger really wouldn't be good for my nerves, lol. I wouldn't want to have to worry about a Nazgul or something just as nasty and dangerous leaping at me from any shadows. shiver Somehow I think Halbarad and Denlad will be quite surprised when they finally find their missing chieftain - pleasantly suprised, I hope, if a certain author doesn't have other plans. Loved it! :D Author Reply: Me? Have other plans? blinks innocently Why ever would you think I had other plans? Ahem. Thanks for the review! Yes, Halbarad had to show up... at this point in their lives, they were likely all by joined at the hip. And where Halbarad shows up, so does Denlad, even if he does have to twist Halbarad's arm a bit. g And no, my nerves couldn't take being a Ranger, either, I don't think. Glad you enjoyed this! Thanks again!

Ellynn	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 10/30/2009
This is great! Your writing style is excellent, and the story is very interesting and tense; while reading, I feel like watching a great thriller movie. I'm looking forward for more. :) Author Reply: Thank you! I like knowing that my stories are vivid enough to feel almost like movies... that's the kind of story I enjoy reading, so to hear it from others about my own is very encouraging! Thanks again!

Midnight Promise	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 10/29/2009
blinks, looks up Where is the rest? o-o mutters about evil authors ;) Yay! More rangers, woot woot! :D Awesome job, can't wait for more! -MP Author Reply: Hee hee... have to wait for more. :) Thank you for the review... more on Monday!

6336	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 10/29/2009
I believe you mean Sticklebacks, a kind of fish, found in streams in England. No reason why Aragorn couldn't have met up with another Hobbit! More please, Lynda Author Reply: Ah, thank you... I'll get that fixed next spare moment. :) I'm glad you're enjoying this enough to want more! Always encouraging to hear. Thanks for the review and the correction!

Dreamflower	Reviewed Chapter: 2 on 10/29/2009
Oh dear, Aragorn's friends are so worried, and with good cause! But I can imagine how surprised they will be to find he's been rescued already-- by a hobbit! I'm looking forward to the encounter. grin Author Reply: I'm sure they'll be very mystified by a hobbit out in the wild! Thanks for the review!

First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page

Return to Chapter List