Bird of Prey

Aragorn gasped at the destruction in front of him. Half of a hillside had been blasted away by the large explosion that had woken him and his friends from their sleep that night. He had judged it to be fairly close from the thundering boom that he had heard, but they had walked more than thirty leagues before they had come across the edges of the devastated zone.

Gimli grunted feigning nonchalance but Aragorn could see by his raised eyebrows and the way he kept fiddling with his axe handle that he was just as unnerved as the Ranger was.

The crater was nearly three leagues in diameter and the blast had even felled trees as far as twelve leagues away. However no trace was left of the trees that had once stood where the blast had taken place.

The ground was charred and smoking in the crater and nothing living could be discerned from his vantage point. He couldn't imagine what could have caused the explosion; even the device that Sarumon had used to breach the walls of Helms deep had been far weaker. He was brought out of his contemplation by a light touch upon his shoulder.

"There is something at the center of the blast" Legolas pointed into the crater. With his races enhanced vision Aragorn knew that the fair elf could see things that Gimli and he wouldn't be able to see until they got much closer.

"Can you tell what it is?" Legolas shook his head

"No, but whatever it is it is not very big, it may be something left of what caused this".

Aragorn nodded and dismounted from his horse tying it onto the branch of a nearby fallen tree.

"If dwarves were meant to ride horses we'd have longer legs." Gimli grumbled.

"Hurry up, wouldn't want to be left behind by an elf" Aragorn quipped as he walked into the crater. A smirk crept onto Legolas' face as a muffled clank and grunt resounded behind him.

"Sodding smug prancing elf" Gimli grumbled as he picked himself off the ground and followed after his two companions.

…

Aragorn froze in surprise and shock when they got close enough to the object to tell what it was.

"It's a woman!" he exclaimed. Gimli and Legolas both glanced sharply up and their gazes fell upon the woman at the epicenter of the explosion. Her appearance was striking. She had long brilliant white hair and her skin was paler than even Legolas' fair skin. Her lips were some dark color that wasn't quite black, but the strangest thing about her was her clothes.

She was wearing armor as peculiar as the rest of that day's events. Her boots were thick metal armor with wickedly sharp spikes sticking out of the heels leading into leather leggings which accentuated her athletic shape.

Her torso and right arm were covered in thick plate armor but her left arm was strangely enough left bare exposing a red design on her upper arm that appeared to be made out of blood. Her armor was topped by what looked like a fine wolf fur collar.

Off to her side was a long black staff with a blue crystal nestled in the grip of gnarled wooden tendrils at the top and a heavy knob of metal covering the bottom end. A peculiar weapon but Aragorn couldn't deny the deadly grace of its design; though it was so well crafted it almost looked more like a work of art then a weapon of war.

"Humph…the lass looks like she's no stranger to battle" Gimli commented pointing out several scars on her exposed skin including one that started under her left ear and disappeared under her armor on the opposite side of her chest. Legolas let out a low whistle

"Few mortal creatures could survive a wound like that." Despite the scars marring her skin Aragorn was struck with her otherworldly beauty.

"Is she alive?" he queried his elven companion. Legolas dipped his head to her nose and listened intently for any sign of life. Aragorn and Gimli fidgeted in anxious anticipation waiting for their friend to reveal his findings. After spending nearly a minute hunched over the woman's body the blond haired elf suddenly jerked upwards and excitedly gestured them closer.

"She's breathing but her body is weak," Legolas frowned as he met Aragorn's eyes, a serious look upon his fair features as he continued "and there is a disturbing feel to her. I do not think she comes from this world."

…

The first thing she noticed was that she hurt everywhere. The pain seemed to start in her head and migrate through her body until it ended behind her eyes leaving her reluctant to open her eyes.

The pain was only exacerbated by the feeling of being dragged along the ground by someone with a short rolling gait. She couldn't remember what she had been doing that would have left her in such a sorry state. In fact now that the pain was starting to fade, she realized that she couldn't remember much of anything.

She forced her eyes open ignoring the lingering pain she was still experiencing and was greeted with…not much. She could see blackened smoking ground in her limited field of vision, bare of trees or any other plant or even rock bigger than the end of her pinkie finger.

She felt a fluttering of panic in her chest as she realized that she didn't have a clue where she was. She could see that she was on some sort of litter and was being dragged by someone huffing and cursing in a strange tongue.

With difficulty she managed to raise her head enough to turn and look over her shoulder and was met with the sight of a short, stocky, and very hairy dwarf dragging her across the ground. She puzzled over how she could tell he was a dwarf if she couldn't even remember having seen a dwarf before.

She couldn't discern anyone else in the area so she assumed he must be alone. She winced as the litter thumped over a particularly large bump jarring her sore body. A small whimper escaped her mouth before she managed to choke it off.

The dwarf stopped and turned around to stare at her with a pair of warm brown eyes. A grin split his face as he exclaimed

"Well, lass I see that you're awake already. You must have the constitution of a dwarf!" She met his eyes and attempted to speak but found that she couldn't on account of her throat and lips being parched from lack of water. The dwarf gently set her litter down and removed a water skin from across his shoulder.

"Here lass" he offered it to her "I don't know how long it's been since you last had a drink but from the look of you, you could sure use one."

She smiled in gratitude and tipped the water skin up to drink from it. She nearly coughed the cool liquid back out as she belatedly realized that it wasn't water in the container at all but was in fact some sort of alcoholic drink that tasted like the liquid in a tanning vat might taste. She grimaced as the burning liquid poured down her throat but welcomed the moisture it provided as she once again felt capable of speech. She began talking in a hoarse rasp that cleared up some as she spoke.

"Where…where am I…what happened?"

"Now that is a very good question that we'd all like answers to" a voice from her other side said, startling her and causing her to jump. She looked over to her left and saw two men standing beside her, one with dark brown hair and a short beard and the other with blond hair and a clean shaven youthful face.

"I'm Aragorn" said the bearded man whom she recognized by his voice as the one who had spoken. "And this is Legolas of the elven and Gimli of the dwarf lords" he said gesturing to each one respectively. "What should we call you?"

Her brow furrowed as she thought about the answer to his question, which it occurred to her shouldn't have required much thought to answer.

"I…I'm not…"she began but then a name came to mind that seemed to feel right.

"Hawke…Alex Hawke…I think." She finished hesitantly.

"A fitting name" replied the blond man with a welcoming smile.

"So… where are you from and how did you come to be here?"

She bit her lip in thought then replied. "I can't remember…I can't seem to remember anything."

…

Aragorn glanced over at Legolas who hadn't spoken since the woman had awoken nearly an hour before for a few brief minutes. The elf's brow was troubled and he looked deep in thought.

"What troubles you Lethalin?"

The elf considered his answer carefully before replying.

"I am not sure…there is a feeling about her…I sense that she is more than she seems but I cannot describe exactly what it is that tells me so."

Aragorn nodded. He trusted his friend's senses. No one really knew the extent of the elves abilities, including the elves he was sure.

"She must have something to do with this" Aragorn waved his hand around behind them indicating the denuded area of the forest.

Legolas nodded "I can feel wrongness about the cause of this…It was caused by sorcery and there is an evil intent still present in its essence."

The sensation had Legolas feeling very on edge and he couldn't shake the icy touch between his shoulder blades that was conferred by the malevolent hunger that had permeated the crater. As they reached the woods where trees still stood tall and strong and where pale autumn sunlight filtered through the trees to land in dappled splotches upon the leaf strewn forest floor Legolas felt the warm embrace as the trees welcomed one of the fae back into their domain.

The trees had always spoken to him, ever since he was a child. He knew that it was one of the things that had kept him alive through the dark times that he and his companions had traveled through. The warnings of the trees had saved his life a number of times giving him enough time to leap into their branches and avoid the orc patrols and other dark creatures hunting him.

The trees were speaking in muffled tones now, barely enough to register in his mind. But what he did gather from their behavior was that they were uneasy, they knew something unnatural had occurred and the feeling persisted. As the sun grew low in the sky Aragorn gestured to a small copse of trees in the middle of a clearing.

"There's as good a place for a camp as any. Let's break out the gear and pick watches, there are dark things still left in these woods and they may have been drawn here same as us."

The companions unpacked their bedrolls and Gimli unhooked the litter carrying the unconscious woman from one of the horses and pulled it into their camp. As they settled in to camp Aragorn started a small fire building up a short wall of rocks around it to make it less visible to whatever creatures may be lurking in the darkness that surrounded them.

He could see by the set of his friend's shoulders that Legolas was drained from the feeling that he had been sensing in the crater and knew that he needed some rest. Aragorn laid a hand upon Legolas shoulder

"I'll take first watch and then I'm sure Gimli will want second, so you can rest until third watch."

Legolas nodded gratefully and lie down upon his bedroll and promptly fell asleep much to the amusement of their dwarven companion.

"Hah, told you no elf could outlast me, I've not slept for two days and you don't see me falling asleep so quickly."

Aragorn smiled as he remembered why they had been traveling through the forest before the strange explosion had been heard. A small village on the borders of the Alvenhille forest had sent pleas to Minas Tirith for help.

Ostensibly some band of roving outlaws had been raiding caravans into and out of the village. Entire caravans had been found burned and surrounded by the corpses of their guards but with no clue as to who had done it.

Though this usually would have been delegated to one of the captains under his command Aragorn had been feeling stir-crazy from all the governing and politics in the human capital and needed to get his hands dirty, so he had left the city under Faramir and traveled with his companions to investigate the strange occurrences plaguing the village.

…

Legolas was scanning the trees on the edges of the clearing, listening to them groan and creak in the light breeze when he heard a moan come from behind him, this one from a human. He turned around and watched as the woman, Hawke he reminded himself, sat up in a manner betraying the soreness of her body.

She opened her eyes and they were a beautiful almost luminescent cobalt blue that met his own gaze with a calm confidence that spoke of the hardships that she must have endured in order to possess the collection of scars visible to him.

"It is good to see you awake Hawke, we were not sure what injury you had taken that would leave you unconscious as you were." She blushed

"Umm…actually I'm not really injured…sure I feel like I was dragged behind a horse over some very bumpy ground until the rider decided to stop for lunch, but I don't feel like I've had any knocks to the head and I don't feel any lingering effects of a fever, I was just exhausted. It felt like all my energy had been drained from my body. Just talking to you earlier was straining my endurance."

She slowly got up from litter they had made for her and looked out towards the dark woods.

"How long was I out?"

"Almost a full day, we found you early yesterday morning and it is only about two hours until sunrise today." Legolas replied

"You're sure you're not injured? That was quite the blast that you were laying in the middle of."

Alex stretched and flexed her muscles after her long slumber.

"Yeah, I'm fine really, I'm not sure what caused that but I can tell you it wasn't natural and if whatever caused it is still here we need to be extra careful."

Legolas spoke to her while staring intently at her face, trying to read her expression and verify the truth of her words.

"So you do have some idea what caused that explosion back there?"

She shrugged

"Well, I seem to remember some things, nothing of my own personal life…" a look of frustration and sorrow crossed over her features before she continued "but I can remember things about villages, cities, governments and the countries that I had been to. Enough to know that what happened back there was the result of powerful magic, very powerful magic."

She watched his face as she said this but saw no change in his expression.

Legolas frowned "I have a friend who is a wizard and I have never seen power like this before except…"

His voice faded away as it occurred to him where he had last seen magic this powerful and destructive. Sauron. Hawkes expression grew thoughtful as she recognized the expression on his face. She scooped up a rock off the ground and began to fiddle with it, tossing it from one hand to the other and rubbing it between her fingers.

"I'm guessing you've seen something like this before…and it isn't a good memory."

He shrugged "Not a good memory perhaps but not a terrible one either, it could have turned out much worse. As it happens it was the best ending we could hope for…it's just that this…" he looked around as he searched for a word "mysterious magical explosion could mean that our foe was not as defeated as we thought. To see him return once again…" He shuddered "especially as our people have not fully recovered from our last war with his forces…would likely be disastrous for all the peoples of Middle Earth."

Hawke looked up at him sharply "Middle Earth? Where is that in relation to Fereldan?"

The blank look on Legolas' face told her all she needed to know.

"You've never heard of Fereldan have you?"

Legolas shook his head apologetically.

"What about the Free Marches, Kirkwall, Starkhaven, Oley, Navarra, Par Volley…Deventer?" She finished pleadingly.

Legolas sighed "I know all of the lands in Middle Earth, which is to say all of the lands where any civilization has ever existed and I know of none of the names of which you speak. I'm sorry but wherever you come from it must be very far away. I am not sure how you got here but I do not think it is possible to return."

She looked at him in shock for a moment stunned at the revelation. Home, the place where the key to remembering her life was, was so far away that even this elf who claimed to know all of the land that any person could reach had never heard of it. It was possible that she might never get home. Despair began to grasp at her heart and lungs making breathing difficult before her determination rose into her chest and banished it.

"Nug shit!" she pronounced "If I got here there must be a way to get back and I'm going to find it. I don't care how difficult it is!" She angrily tossed away the rock that she had been holding.

"And where will you begin?" Legolas asked her.

She was about to answer when a branch snapped in the forest drawing her attention. At the same time Legolas heard the trees warning him of danger.

"Wake the others." He said picking his bow and quiver up from where they had been sitting against a nearby tree. Before she could move more than a few steps dozens of dark shapes suddenly sprang from the trees and ran for them howling and screeching in horrible voices like steel sliding through loose shale.

Seeing that their shrieks had awakened Aragorn and Gimli who were now scrambling out of their bedrolls and towards their weapons she altered her course to bring her to her staff where it was tucked into her litter on the ground.

Legolas fired several arrows at the approaching creatures scoring several fatal hits as he saw several of the dark shapes fall and trip some of those following behind them but he knew that he would not be able to fire fast enough to down them all before they reached the camp.

He continued firing arrows until they got within 6 paces of him, then carefully tossed his bow onto his bedroll and pulled his short daggers out from his belt leaping to engage them as Aragorn and Gimli stepped up beside him and began to cut down the creatures that were attempting to flank him.

"Haaa…that's two for me pointy ears!" Gimli gibed from his left side.

"I'm on eight…make that nine" Legolas replied.

Gimli promptly roared and charged into the thickest mass of attackers he could find swinging his axe left to right and felling enemies with each blow.

Aragorn fought their foes with precise and economical movements each swing of his sword cleaved limbs and each thrust pierced flesh, but Legolas could see even more creatures emerging from the woods and rushing to attack.

Aragorn's sword cleaved the head off the last of the first wave of attackers and then the three companions turned to face the oncoming rush of blades and sharp teeth.

Gimli had just raised his axe to strike at their attackers when Legolas felt an electrical tingle on the nape of his neck as he felt a surge of power so great that it momentarily stole away his breath.

A wall of flame the color of the deepest lake suddenly burst from the ground in front of the trio setting many of the creatures on fire and sending them screaming and flailing in a futile attempt to put out the flames that burned hungrily at their flesh.

The three warriors turned around to see a spectacular sight as Hawke was standing behind them holding her staff in her right hand with the stone in the top glowing with a mesmerizing blue light and her right hand wreathed in flames the same unearthly blue color as the flames that had sprung up in front of them.

Hawke lifted her empty hand as if lifting an object and Legolas turned around to see nearly a dozen of their attackers rise as high as the trees around them before slamming violently back into the ground.

Hawke then raised her staff and slammed it into the ground while simultaneously a bolt of lightning arced from the sky and slammed into another of their foes blasting it and several nearby foes into charred pieces that lay smoking on the ground.

When only one enemy remained alive Hawke gestured at it and it ceased all motion as if frozen solid. The three men stared at her with astonishment. Legolas was the first to regain his senses.

"How…how did you do that?! Who are you?"

Hawke looked at them for a moment before answering. "You already know my name and for now that's as much as I know about who I am, as for how I did that, by your reactions I'm guessing that none of you have ever seen a mage before…" She looked accusatorily at Legolas "I thought you said you had a friend who was a wizard…haven't you seen magic before?"

"Aye lass" Gimli replied "but I've never seen him do anything that looked like that…that…" failing to find a word that could adequately describe what he had just witnessed the dwarf simply waved his axe at the smoking pile of corpses in front of them.

"Magic is usually much more subtle than this" commented Legolas "I have never seen a wizard use it in battle to this effect." They all stared around once again at the destruction that this one woman had caused in mere moments.

"What are they?" Hawke asked

Gimli walked over to one and turned it over so he could see its face better in the slowly approaching light of dawn.

"Orcs" he spat out in disgust. "Filthy vermin. I thought we'd chased them all much farther into the north. We haven't seen any of their sort outside of Mordor's boundaries for more than 2 years now."

"Perhaps they're what's troubling the village we're heading to" Legolas suggested.

Aragorn looked troubled "If so than they're much more organized than they should be. Several of the caravans have showed signs of being ambushed. There's no way a roving pack of orcs is smart enough to plan an ambush."

He looked up at Hawke once more "We need to proceed to this village and find out what is going on there, but once we've dealt with that we'd appreciate it if you would come with us to meet our wizard friend. He may be able to tell us more of what happened that brought you here."

Hawke flashed him a smile "Of course, I'd love to meet this wizard friend of yours, perhaps he can explain what I'm doing here and exactly why no one seems to have much experience with magic like mine. But first…" She pointed towards the immobile orc standing in the center of the field. "I believe we have a prisoner to interrogate."

"He's still alive?" Legolas voiced incredulously.

"Of course." Hawke replied. "I wanted to know why we were attacked so I've immobilized him, but I can release him so he can talk, I'm sure we can handle him well enough for that." Aragorn nodded gratefully at her.

"That was good thinking. You may have just given us our first clue into what's happening in this area."

Legolas looked at his friend. "How do you wish to persuade him to talk?"

Gimli grinned brandishing his axe. "I was thinking, let me practice my axe throwing, that ought to scare the piss right outta that creature."

Aragorn chuckled "No Gimli, I don't think we'll likely need to do any more frightening tonight. I'm quite certain that after Lady Hawke's powerful display moments ago he likely is already more than terrified."

Hawke lifted an eyebrow at his use of 'Lady' and then lifted her left hand and conjured a glowing ball of blue flame to rotate several inches above her hand. "If not I'm sure I can correct it."

The four companions walked over to the remaining orc and gave it a thorough onceover removing any weapons that it possessed including a poisoned knife in its belt.

Aragorn looked at his dwarven companion "If you would hold it please Gimli?"

Gimli gave him a glare and then proceeded to secure the orc's arms behind its back in such a way that at any sign of movement a slight application of pressure would cause intense pain in its joints.

"Now, we're going to release you, I'd suggest you don't struggle or my friend here will tear your arms off."

"Aye" chuckled Gimli "An then I bet the pretty lass who fried all your smelly pals will burn you slowly from the feet up until you tell us what we want to know."

Legolas looked over at Hawke with a blank look. In response she raised her hand with the flame and fed a little more energy into the flames causing them to jump and dance as if hungry for the orc's flesh. Aragorn could see the foul creatures eyes grow wider in fear.

"I see we understand each other. Hawke, if you please?" Hawke extinguished the flame and snapped her fingers releasing the orc. It collapsed to the ground whimpering. Aragorn bent down to its ear and spoke to it in a whisper, the threat in his voice even more evident in the deadly quiet tone it was delivered in.

"Now tell us, why did you attack us and who is your master?"

The ugly creature spoke in a rasping voice. "We were hungry and there has not been game in this area for too many days." Its eyes unconsciously flitted over towards Hawke before it continued "and manflesh looked very sweet and tender."

Legolas felt a cold rage swell in him at what it had been considering. The thought of what the foul creatures had all intended to do to them and this one's particular interest in their female companion had his pulse increasing. With a start he realized that he was feeling very protective of Alex Hawke, which he found amusing given her apparent power and deadly capabilities.

He leaned forward and whispered into the orcs ear. "Your species is a blight upon Middle Earth. I will hunt you down until there are no orcs left no matter how long it takes because the Eldar are immortal. Age does not slow us, sickness does not ail us and time does not dull our memories. Long after you are dead I will still be waiting in the shadows with my blade poised to strike and rid this world of your kinds' poisonous influence. Answer all of our questions or I promise that your end will not be swift."

Aragorn's expression remained stoic but inside he was filled with incredulity. He had never seen Legolas this angry, never in the years that they had fought side by side had his friend's voice ever been so full of rage and deadly earnest. He did not doubt the truth of his friend's words or the conviction behind them but he was left wondering from whence they had come.

Aragorn leaned in drawing the orc's attention back to him. "Now, who is your master, who is leading you?"

The twisted beast stared past him into the forest. "His name is…" Then he grunted in sudden pain and his skin changed color, becoming a darker shade of black than it already was and began distending.

"Get Back!" Aragorn shouted and everyone backed away several paces. "Hawke can you restrain him again?!"

She stepped forward swiftly. "I can do better." She gestured, forming a circle with her hand and staff and a shimmering bubble enveloped the stricken orc. Moments later the orc dissolved into a semi-liquid mass and spread across the ground contained within the bubble.

"Well…this might make questioning him a mite more difficult." Gimli suggested.

Legolas frowned at the dwarf. "What madness is this that he would be destroyed before our very eyes whilst explaining who his master is?"

Aragorn nodded thoughtfully "That was no coincidence. Someone powerful in the arcane had spelled him to protect themselves. Something very wrong is going on here."

"Agreed" voiced Hawke "The 'orc' obviously had a master and that master does not wish us to discover who or what he is."

"We should continue towards the village" Legolas suggested "The master of these orcs could be responsible for the recent troubles that they have been experiencing."

"Agreed, we should keep moving." Hawke motioned towards their horse. "Though we only have three horses."

Gimli perked up. "Do ya know how to ride a horse lass?"

"I'm not sure." She frowned "I can't remember ever having done it."

Gimli grinned "That's alright between your long legs and my skill we'll be riding better than pointy ears over there in no time. You can ride with me."

Hawke chuckled as Legolas was caught in a sudden coughing fit.

"I accept."

They then packed up camp and began heading towards Rhondin, the village that had been their original destination.

…

Shortly after they had started towards town they had discovered that Hawke was indeed familiar with how to ride a horse, although she was a little out of practice. Gimli had been delighted to learn this and had been more than happy to continue sharing his horse until they managed to procure another animal at the village of Rhondin.

Aragorn couldn't help but admire the regal grace that Hawke managed to convey even while riding behind Gimli. Something about the inherent confidence in her posture screamed nobility to Aragorn.

He still wasn't sure who she really was, where she came from or how she had arrived in Middle Earth but he was fairly certain that where she came from she was a powerful person. He noticed as her attention was drawn to the town that they were approaching.

…

The large village that they were approaching seemed to give off a feeling of familiarity that niggled at the back of Hawkes mind. She knew that something in her memory was trying to make itself known but the memory proved elusive.

Every time she attempted to grab at it and bring it to the forefront of her mind it slipped away to become even more distant. With a frustrated sigh she gave up and continued to scan the village; sating her curiosity over the first settlement she had encountered in this new land she found herself in.

As they entered the village she could see many of the villagers peer cautiously at her companions, noticing as they let out small gasps upon recognizing exactly who had come to give aid to their community. Their eyes grew hopeful and postures relaxed.

She could feel the gaze of several of the village folk linger on her, no doubt appraising her strange garb. A large man with a back hunched from a life of hard work stepped out of the small crowd that had assembled in front of them, dropping to a knee in supplication.

"My king, it humbles me that you would come yourself to see what curse it is that troubles our homes. I am Hugo. Though we have little need for a leader in our town, the people have chosen me as their spokesperson. Anything I can provide for you is yours your highness."

"I am sorry that we could not have been more prepared for your arrival. Had we known you were coming we would have prepared…something." The man licked his lips nervously before continuing.

"I'm afraid that none of the people here know how to greet someone of your station." A faint tremble could be seen in the man's shoulders and he kept his head bowed before them.

Hawke glanced over to see a frown on Aragorn's face. He dismounted and placed a hand on Hugo's shoulder kneeling in the dirt to look him in the eyes as Hugo's head lifted in surprise at the touch.

"I am only a man, just as you are." Aragorn pleaded "Do not bow to my title or to my deeds. If you must show respect to me, show it for the man that I am, and by treating me as a friend. I have no need for the ceremonies of nobility when I once spent much of my time in villages such as this."

Aragorn smiled kindly. "Do not fear the wrath of a king for failing to aggrandize my presence. I care not if you treat me little better than an honest traveler. Nothing more is required." Aragorn helped Hugo to his feet "and please do not bow to me, or call me "your highness". If you must use a title to address me, "lord" will be fine though you are welcome to use my name."

Hugo's face split into a grin as he shook Aragorn's hand. "Thank you Lord Aragorn. Our village appreciates your concern for our wellbeing and is most gratified to know that you have come yourself, bringing with you your honorable companions."

Hugo then turned to address Aragorn's companions. "To have such heroes as Lord Gimli, the hero of Helms Deep and Prince Legolas, son of King Thranduil and Lord of Ithiriel in our village is an occasion that will be remembered long after my bones have turned to dust."

Turning to Hawke he offered an apologetic bow of his head. "I am ashamed to admit that I do not know your name milady."

Hawke inclined her head in return.

"You may call me Hawke, and do not be troubled, I have traveled a very long way and it has been a very long time since I have seen other humans. I am not remarkable enough to have had any tales told about me."

Hugo blushed and bowed his head self-consciously. "Begging your pardon Lady Hawke but anyone who had seen you would have spread tales of you. Yours is not a beauty that many would forget."

Hawke felt a blush heat her cheeks. "I thank you for your kind compliment, but I am sure that there are many more beautiful women than I."

Hugo appeared distressed at her disbelief, so Legolas steered the conversation to more pressing matters.

"What can you tell us about the attacks on your caravans?"

The mans' face grew somber as he turned to the elven prince.

"A lot of good people have died in the last three months. We have lost nearly 4 caravans every week. No one will send caravans into the Ironwood forest anymore and few of our own get through."

"It has become dangerous to even wander far outside the village. Many of us had begun to worry that the danger plaguing us would even work its way into our village so I organized the rest of the carpenters in the town and we began construction of a wall around the inhabited parts of town."

"We began training a militia one week ago and instituted a strict curfew. No one is to wander alone at any time and everyone is to be inside the walls before sundown. The walls are not finished but with the militia members and a few volunteer sentries we can watch all the uncompleted areas."

"It's not much but I hope that it will be enough if whatever is attacking our people begins to get bolder. However, our most pressing issue right now is food. We are starting to run low."

"A stream runs through our town and we have several wells so water is not an issue but any hunters brave enough to venture out into the forest never return."
"Many of our young people have armed themselves and accompanied the caravans in an attempt to see more of them return with food from the villages we trade with but it seems to make no difference how many people we send with them."

A sob shook Hugo's large frame as tears began to well in his eyes.

"My daughter accompanied one of the last caravans to leave. She was an excellent hunter."

A humorless laugh forced itself from his chest.

"The best in the city to many a man's shame."

He looked up at Hawke and she could see the immense weight of the sorrow bearing down on the proud man before her. She dismounted from her horse and approached him, encircling him in her arms.

"It's going to be alright." She cooed. "We will find your daughter and bring her back to you." She left out that they might not find her alive.

"Thank you." He managed in between heaving sobs. After a few minutes he released her and drew back, visibly pulling his emotions back into check.

"sh…she's a young woman, short like her mother, I reckon she's probably at least thirteen inches shorter than yourself Lady Hawke." He tightened his hand on an amulet hanging from his neck.

"Her name is Bethany." Hawke felt as though the world had imploded on her. Her vision began to blur and dim around the edges as she drew in a shocked gasp. She swayed precariously on her feet and was grateful when Aragorn grabbed her shoulders and helped her to find her balance again.

"Alex, are you alright? What's the matter?" She shook her head and steadied herself against him. "I'm not sure." She gasped. "I know that name. I mean…I should."

Noticing that Hugo was looking at her with a mixture of concern and fear she realized she should elaborate for his benefit. She rubbed her face with her left hand.

"It's very confusing but I can't remember much of my life beyond the last couple of days. That name…it stirs something in my memory, not so much a memory of a person but…a memory of feelings connected to that name. Whoever Bethany is she was very important to me. Do not fear I am sure that the Bethany I remember is not your daughter. I have not come bearing ill news regarding her fate."

The fear faded in his expression but the concern remained. "If you need somewhere to rest my house has several rooms, enough to house all of your companions. If you would prefer I am sure we could find other people who would gladly house you or you could stay in one of the…recently emptied houses. I do not believe that their owners would begrudge someone using their homes to protect those still in the village.

"That's quite alright." Aragorn replied. "If it is no hardship on you, myself, GImli and Legolas would all prefer to stay together. Lady Hawke may prefer her own sleeping quarters."

"Of course." Hugo agreed. "If she would like there are several women who live alone or with small families who could house her." He looked at Hawke. "What would you prefer for your housing arrangements?"

Hawke glanced at Aragorn in appreciation for his offer of privacy before turning to Hugo to answer.

"Which area of the village is most vulnerable to being breached by an enemy force?"

He hesitated before reluctantly replying.

"The north side is almost a solid wall of tall buildings that with a few modifications we made should now be impenetrable, the east side has a deep gorge not far from the wall and the west side has several felled trees that we dragged into position to fortify the wall."

With a sigh he continued. "However, we haven't quite finished the wall yet so the south side of the village is open to attack. We've posted the most guards there, but until the wall is complete I won't be able to rest easy."

Hawke nodded in satisfaction. "Then I will sleep in a house close to the south side of the village." She put up a hand to forestall any arguments from her companions. "I have ways of ensuring my safety."

Turning to Hugo she resumed speaking. "I want you to reassign all the guards within one hundred paces of where I'm staying to other parts of the perimeter, I can handle some of the perimeter while I am sleeping in your town. When I go out to look for your daughter and whatever is responsible for these attacks you will need to reassign them but I can help make the village safer while I'm here even while I'm sleeping."

Hugo looked from her to her companions in disbelief.

Legolas spoke, his voice cutting through the silence like an axe through thin ice. "I believe that she can do what she says. I have seen her perform remarkable acts in the short time that we have been traveling with her. Gimli and I will also sleep somewhere on the south side of the village to be better able to defend your people if something should try to attack from there."

Aragorn shook his head in bemusement at Hawkes' continuing ability to surprise him.

"Very well." He said. "I will rest in your home with you to get a better idea of what the state of your town is and to coordinate our actions with your own. My companions will sleep where they have chosen."

Hugo's expression showed his reluctance to expose their important guests to such danger but knew better than to question the commands of the four of them.

"If you say so, I'll make sure your wishes are respected…but is there no way I can convince you to have at least one sentry guard your area Lady Hawke?"

Hawke shrugged "If you insist I will consent to one guard staying in the house with me but I must insist that no one go near the section I am guarding during the night. If they do it will make it more difficult for me to defend it and the experience would likely be very uncomfortable for anyone straying too close to the gaps in the wall."

Hugo sighed in relief. "Then I will ask my sister to stay with you for a short while and see that you get all the rest you need. If you will all follow me I will find suitable houses for you to stay in."

…

"WHAT HAPPENED?"

Grelnak ducked as another large rock sailed at his head to shatter against the rock wall behind him. The cold voice pierced the shadows again as the Uruk'Hais master screamed in rage.

"How could you fail to discover the source? The magnitude of the energy expelled left a clear trail to follow, straight to the object responsible."

Grelnak snarled "I am not incompetent, we followed the trail. I split my forces in half and approached it from both sides. When my group reached the area there was nothing there but some tracks, someone got there before us. We followed the tracks until we found the other group...they were all dead."

Grelnak shuddered in memory of the scene they had happened upon. "It looked as though nature had gone wild. Many were burned, some had been struck by lightning, others were broken and smashed as if they had fallen from a great height, one appeared to have been melted."

"Melted?!" The voice shrieked.

"Yes, master, there was a large puddle of orc blood and small pieces of flesh along with one suit of armor."

"hmm, the failsafe was triggered, but failed to ignite, that puddle that you saw should have ignited and killed whoever was interrogating him, it's a trick that I have found…useful in the past. It has never failed before. Something strange is going on here."

"You must take a larger group this time and scour the villages and roads near the area, anywhere that a traveler could have reached, I believe that someone knows what occurred there and now they have escaped with knowledge of our forces. We cannot allow attention to be brought to us; the plan is almost ready to begin. You must silence anyone who knows about us. Find them or I will take the gift of intelligence I gave to you and give it to someone who can accomplish the tasks I give them!"

Grelnak bowed and hurried to do as his master instructed."

…

"Is it true…what they say about you?"

Hawke turned to the middle aged woman behind her and raised her eyebrow. "I've been in your village for only a small number of hours, what could "they" have to say about me already Allessa?"

Allessa glanced at her feet in chagrin before grinning shyly, proving that she had heard the amusement in Hawke's voice. "They say that you are a spirit and that you have come to our village to free us from this evil that has hounded our homes. They say that you are a warrior the equal of any man."

Hawke let out a derisive snort. "A spirit indeed. I am a warrior and I am going to help with this trouble that preys upon your village, but I am no spirit. Why would they think such a thing?"

"The people of this village are frightened and desperate. We all saw and heard the explosion west of here four nights past. Ever since my brother Hugo returned to the inn serving as a garrison for our militia to tell everyone that the king himself had come to aid us with a strange and mysterious companion, the men have been prone to wild and fanciful imaginings about her origins."

A blush crept to her cheeks. "Some of the men were there when my brother greeted you. They were quite enamored with you and were very prolific in their description of your appearance. Some believed that you were a beautiful spirit that had come to Middle Earth from the Beyond and that that was the flash of light that we saw."

"Also with the strange orders that Hugo had given them to leave your section of the wall unguarded there has been some speculation on your" Allessas eyes met Hawkes before quickly looking away "abilities."

Ah, yes. Hawke knew that now they had finally reached the portion of the gossip that most concerned Hugo's sister. She nodded in understanding. "Yes, I thought you might be rather curious about that as your life will depend on them just as surely as my own."

"I d..didn't mean to pry. I'm s..sorry I wouldn't presume to demand such answers of you, please forgive me Lady Hawke." Allessa stared intently at a spot on the floor.

Hawke laid a comforting hand on Allessas shoulder. "You have every right to question me. As I understand it my abilities are unheard of in this land. Where I come from they are more common. You need not fear that my claims are untrue….but perhaps a demonstration?"

Allessa looked up at Hawke and saw a surprising amount of warmth in the younger woman's eyes.

"You truly don't mind my curiosity?"

Hawke chuckled. "Of course not, I always thought that the old saying about curiosity killing the cat was rather ridiculous. Should we all stick our heads in the ground when we see something new? Of course not, knowledge is power, the more a person understands about the world the better they can react to any situation they might find themselves in."

"Knowledge can allow a person freedom that they otherwise might not know to look for. Too many people blindly believe in something simply because someone else has told them it is so. It is very wise to wish to learn more about something that can mean life or death."

Hawke shrugged "Also you will know how best to convince the other people that it would be a bad idea for them to venture near this house during the night. Please stay close to me while I do this."

…

Aragorn strode purposefully around the village examining the defenses that had been prepared and the changes made to existing structures to make the village safe. The wooden barricades were well built and solid leaving no gaps to squeeze through and virtually no purchase with which to scale the walls, unsurprising from a town that's entire income was based off of lumber.

He had also checked out the gorge to the east. It was wider that any man could jump across and deep enough to cause serious injury but he would see to it that Hugo posted a few guards in strategic positions anyway just in case, the orcs from the War of the Ring had possessed some very advanced engines of war, while they did not yet know what was attacking the villagers, surviving orc forces were a possibility.

The west side was not particularly secure. While the felled trees would prevent a massive attack by an army they did precious little other than provide cover for smaller numbers of attackers who might try to infiltrate the village. Aragorn would have to look into ways to make them more formidable to navigate.

The south side of course was completely unprotected by any defensive walls or structures but Hugo had already organized the lumberjacks in the village to duplicate the western barricades so any modifications that were used on the east side defenses to make them impenetrable would also solve the same problem on the south side.

He had also managed to spy on the militia training grounds and had thought they were doing an admirable job, though it was also quite obvious that only one of the trainers had fought in any conflict other than the odd bar brawl. There were a few skilled archers, probably the few hunters whom had not journeyed with the caravans in a doomed bid to protect them and restore trade with the outside world.

Small puffs of dirt rose from the ground around his feet as he walked behind the houses bordering the "sparring" grounds, though from the looks of things was really just the area where the militiamen would gather to watch two of their fellows attempt to punch each other's lights out.

Hearing a small sound above his head Aragorn raised his eyes to the roof above his head spotting the familiar figure of Legolas squatting on the edge of the roof smirking down at him.

"Getting soft in your old age my friend?" The elf remarked with that cocky smile still stretching his lips.

"Of course not," Aragorn laughed. "I saw you climb up on the roof shortly after the tavern where those men were talking about our new companion."

Legolas let out a short bark of laughter. "I had thought you would be sufficiently distracted by their conversation to fail to notice my ascent but I see that your senses are as good as ever, those eyes in the back of your head still seem to be functioning. What were you doing on your long walk?"

"I have been evaluating this villages security." Aragorn replied.

"And?" Legolas prompted raising an eyebrow.

"The north side is completely secure from anything short of a battering ram or climbing apparatus. Very few guards are needed for that wall, and then mainly just to alert people to anything outside and to watch for someone attempting to throw a grappling hook over the wall."

"The east side is also fairly well off. That gorge is a good size and will need only a few men to watch it. The west and south are going to be a problem as the dead trees just aren't secure enough against small numbers of people but we will just have to find something to improve that."

"However the militia is a pretty sorry looking mess. If whatever is attacking these people is as dangerous as it seems then they're hardly going to slow it down." Aragorn's face grew somber with the realization of how grim the town's future prospects seemed.

Legolas turned around to grab something behind him on the roof and when he reappeared Aragorn chuckled with amusement. Legolas grinned in return as he handed Aragorn the sword that he had thought still with his pack in Hugo's house. "Care to give them a lesson?"

…

"Come on you louts, how do you expect to kill anything like that!? You all look like you're chopping the heads off of chickens! Are you here to become mighty chicken slayers!?" When one of the younger recruits opened his mouth as if to speak the drill instructor leveled a glare on him that snapped his jaw shut and straightened his spine. "For any of you idiots who are wondering, the correct answer is no sir we're here to learn how to defend our families."

This time it was one of the giant lumberjacks, whom spent most of their time, when not cutting down or moving trees, which they didn't do very much of now they were stuck in the village, at the bar drinking away their wages from their trees that the carpenters had purchased from them, who spoke up with a deep bass voice.

"How are we supposed to do that when we don't even know what it is what's killing our people. What if it's spirits? Everyone knows steel won't harm them. This is a waste of time anyway. Now that the king is here it's only a matter of time before the army shows up to deal with our problem. We don't have to do nothin', they'll take care of it for us, why risk ourselves?"

"You're a fool Lodan." Aaron let the irritation he was feeling bleed through into his tone.

"We don't know how long it will be before the army gets here. If they even sent any men, which they might not have since the king decided to handle this himself, we don't know when they'll get here.

Aaron emphasized his next point by jabbing a finger towards the burly lumberjack. "Do you want to risk the lives of everyone in this village by lazing about in the hopes that someone else can spare us all the trouble of defending ourselves. I fought in the last war against the Dark Lord Sauron, I've seen orcs firsthand." Interested muttering as well as a few exasperated snorts greeted his words.

"If what's threatening us is orc's then I have a good idea about how to fight them and you would do well to listen to me. I've seen what happens to those who aren't properly prepared for battle against them. Yes the king and his companions are great warriors but what kind of men would we be if we could not help them defend our own homes."

"What would the kingdom say about us if through our own helplessness one of them should fall in battle defending us because we were not fighting alongside them." A few shameful faces turned to their feet in answer.

A young woman stepped forward and nervously cleared her throat. "um..well I don't really know about everyone else but I'd like the king to be proud of us rather than leave thinking that we're cowards."

A cheer of agreement rose from most of the villagers while Lodan and his friends remained silent. "hear hear"

When he heard a voice from behind his shoulder Aaron was immensely pleased that he had managed to rally the villagers.

"Good to hear that the people here still have spirit."

Aaron spun a quick 180 and saluted with a fist to his heart. "My king."

Aragaorn smiled at the man he had seen convincing the villagers not to give up. "Well done Mr...?"

"Summers, my Lord, Aaron Summers and I thank you for your words, though I've managed to convince them to learn again, I'm afraid they're going to need a lot more training before they're truly ready to fight. I was a captain in the army of Rohan at the battle of Helms Deep."

"Perhaps we could help to bring them up to speed, this many people is quite a job for one man to train." Aragorn suggested.

"That sounds like some fun perhaps Gimli would care to join us and help. If you would please send someone to retrieve him Captain Summers… he is likely in your tavern." Legolas added with a sigh.

"Of course" With a nod of his head and a quick gesture one of the young men left to retrieve the dwarf.

…

Twenty minutes later when Gimli finally made it onto the practice field to help with the training, remarkably sober, he found Aragorn and Legolas already hard at work teaching their recruits the basics of swordsmanship and archery.

Aragorn's group were practicing several basic strikes and parries on each other with crudely made wooden swords as Aragorn did not think it wise for them to use sharp blades yet, especially as he had seen quite a few of his swordsmen nursing bruised and tender fingers and shins from overenthusiastic swings by their partners.

Peering over at Legolas' group Gimli could see most of the women and a few men, likely the remaining hunters, firing arrows at straw targets with a decent amount of skill for the most part though it was obvious that a few of the women and even one or two of the men had never touched a bow before, as evidenced by the arrows sticking in the ground a few feet in front of the archers and even some behind them.

"Allright, the dwarf is here." Roared Gimli "What is it that you want me to do Aragorn?"

Aragorn gave his men and women a few instruction before heading over to Gimli.

"I have a special job for you my stout friend." Aragorn pointed to the fence where Lodan and several of his fellow lumberjacks were loitering, refusing to participate in the drills.

"Do you see those men?" He asked

"Aye, the ones who look like their favorite toy has been taken away and now they're poutin' about it like children. Would those be the ones you're talkin' about?" Gimli inquired disdainfully.

Aragorn chuckled at his friends description of the men finding it rather apt at describing his impression of them. "I'd like you to whip them into shape and show them how to use those axes of theirs for more than bullying a few townspeople."

Gimli hefted his broad axe before chuckling darkly and heading towards the sullen lumberjacks. "With pleasure."

…

"Listen up ladies cuz I'm only going to say this once."

Lodan turned towards the voice in astonishment. Was this dwarf talking to them?

One of the other lumberjacks apparently believed so and directed a sneer at the short figure approaching them. "I'm afraid I can't hear you from way up here, maybe you should get a stool and then come back." A few others sniggered at the comment.

Gimli decided that they looked much too pleased at the comment made by the smartmouth pal of theirs and decided to punctuate his words, sweeping his axe handle at the legs of the man who had spoken in a lightning fast move taking his feet out from under him and dumping him to the ground in a heap.

His axe then swung around and picked up even more speed before burying itself six inches deep into the ironwood stump right next to the fallen man's head.

Placing a foot on the stump near the axe Gimli leaned over and whispered in a deadly voice. "Can you hear me now?"

Shocked and frightened out of his wits by the dwarf the man nodded his head frantically before slumping in relief when the dwarf yanked his axe out of the stump in one seemingly effortless pull.

"Now, as I was saying," Gimli continued not sparing the man another glance. "I can see that none of you feel like defending this village but I could really care less what you want to do as what you need to do is get your lazy asses in motion and train with the rest of the people here who actually care to try and help fix their current troubles."

Gimli fingered his axe threateningly

"Anyone who thinks they're already good enough and don't need to train will have to fight me and if they win they can do what they choose but if they lose then after we're done training today they're going to spend the rest of the night building the towns defenses, and they won't get any beer."

For many of the men the last addition made up their minds. They knew they couldn't beat the dwarven warrior in combat and they had no desire to be deprived of alcohol that night.

With a great deal of muttering the men all moved out onto the field some muttering under their breaths and Lodan glaring hatefully at Gimli's back as he followed him.

Gimli found an open area on the field and gestured for the men to surround him in a semicircle before addressing them again.

"Now I'm sure that yer all familiar with your axes and how best to swing them when cutting into a tree and hitting an enemy really isn't all that different except that you have to be careful not to commit as fully to a swing unless you're sure that it will connect, which is why most of your strikes will have to be smaller faster strikes designed to stun your enemy giving you a moment to wind up and finish them."

Gimli gestured back toward the stump where he had approached them.

"Against a small number of opponents the move that I used back there is a good choice but if you find yourselves facing a half dozen or more enemies at one time that will leave you too open to a counterattack. You'll need to jab at their face and stomach with your axe handle and parry their strikes against you. Let's begin practicing, like so."

Gimli proceeded to demonstrate a few basic strikes that would unbalance an enemy and also showed them a sensitive spot on the torso directly under the rib cage which on an unarmored opponent was a very debilitating area to strike.

Aragorn glancing over and saw that Gimli had gotten the malcontents under control and was instructing them as well before returning his attention to his recruits.

Several hours later it was beginning to grow dark enough that Aragorn was about to end the drills for that day, to the disappointment of some of his more energetic recruits and the relief of the rest, when he noticed one of the men drilling with Gimli swinging his axe viciously at his sparring partner's head barely missing killing the man when the axe slipped out if his grasp and flew through the air heading straight for the back of Gimli's unprotected head.

Aragorn made to cry out knowing it was already too late. Time slowed down allowing him to feel the hopelessness of the situation already wearing down on his spirit as he watched the deadly blade fly towards his still unaware companion.

Aragorn's yell finally burst from his lungs though he knew there was no way the dwarf could react fast enough to dodge the axe, when it suddenly bounced of an invisible barrier in front of the dwarf.

Gimli whirled around to see the axe fall to the ground inches from hitting his head. He looked up just in time to see a surprised Lodan staring back at him just before a blast of force threw Lodan and everyone else within a ten foot radius of him of their feet.

"You despicable filthy ungrateful piece of shit!" screamed an enraged voice from the shadows between two of the buildings bordering the practice field. Everyone turned to see Hawke stalking into the clearing with her staff raised and pointed towards Lodan. "Does your ego not allow you to bend knee before anyone. Are you really so centered on yourself that you cannot even foresee the consequences of your actions?"

Hawke reached down and grabbed the front of Lodan's tunic picking him up off the ground with surprising strength and glaring into his eyes. "What did you think would happen if you killed one of the kings closest friends even if it wasn't on purpose, which I know it was, I've been watching you and I saw what you intended before you even swung your axe?"

"I'd have killed him" Aragorn's blank tone carried to every ear present. Aragorn bared his teeth in a smile that had nothing to do with being happy. "or fed him to whatever is hunting these people."

Hawke tilted Lodan's head back to her. "You hear that, it sounds like I saved you from committing an incredibly dimwitted action." She jerked his face towards her own until he was only inches away from the burning fury in her cobalt eyes.

"I think you should thank me."

"Not on your life bitch" Lodan growled not wanting to admit how intimidated he was by the brightly glowing eyes that were boring into his own.

Hawke dropped Lodan to the ground and raised her hands as if she were about to shove someone and ignited them with an unearthly blue flame.

"How about on your life?" she hissed and then brought her hands down.