Chapter 49. Thorn: Waiting and Watching

Though Bucca had anticipated that Galdor's Company of Elves and Men – now supplemented by a complement of Hobbit archers – would depart immediately for Norbury, the Fortress of the Kings, that was not to be the case. Instead, Galdor led his forces out of the Wood and onto the open meadowland of the Marish, though they stopped short before reaching the boggy ground closer to the River. Under the open sky, with the River sparkling in the distance, they halted and made camp.

'Out in the open?' Bucca asked the Elf-lord. 'Is that wise?' And then he blushed, for who was he to question his Captain?

Galdor smiled. 'Point noted,' he said. 'I appreciate your taking the trouble to air your concerns to me; indeed, I value your plain-spokenness highly! There have been Men of my acquaintance in the past who held the Firstborn in so much awe that they forbore to speak... Yet know this, Bucca of the Marish! Even the most venerable of the Eldest or the wisest of the Wise may stumble – may take a decision based on what they assume is true... and therein lies disaster.'

Just as Círdan assumed Isildur would destroy the Ring that Gil-galad and Elendil had given their lives to secure, Galdor thought to himself. But this is not the time to talk about that disaster, not when we are soon to face the forces led by the mightiest of the Nazgûl, those fearsome Nine Servants of Sauron.

Instead, the Elf-lord said, 'We have moved away from the Wood to call attention to the Company on the part of any enemy scouts or forces or even individual hunters that might be seeking the blood of your People.'

'But what about spies?' Bucca said. 'Here we are on the plain, out in the open! In plain sight, as it were...'

'Indeed,' Galdor said, but he laughed. 'And so, perhaps we will serve the purpose of drawing some of Angmar's numbers away from the main battle plain!'

'I thought we were intended to support the King as archers, not bait!' Bucca protested.

Sobering, the Elf-lord said, 'Your pardon, Bucca. Indeed, archers were called for, and four-score have you brought us – and likely spared only with great difficulty from your father's defences, at that!' Squarely meeting the Hobbit's gaze, he said, 'We wait here for several purposes: one of them, indeed, is to draw the Enemy's eye from the advance of the main body of the Army – but not as bait!'

Bucca nodded grudgingly. 'And?' he said.

'We await my Lord's summons,' Galdor said. 'The Lord Círdan's thought was this: to wait too close to the Wood, where your People are hiding, would draw too much attention to that place. We do not want the Enemy to order his forces to redouble their effort to reduce the remaining portion of the Wood to ash.'

'Indeed not!' Bucca said hastily. 'I can see Círdan's point.'

'But neither can we march northward to Fornost until we receive the order to do so,' Galdor said. 'For a single company, no matter how doughty the warriors, would quickly be overcome and slaughtered by the vast forces Angmar commands.'

'They could as easily march southwards and wipe us out,' Bucca argued.

But the Elf-lord chuckled, though there was no humour in the sound, and his smile did not reach his eyes. 'He will not,' Galdor said. 'He may suspect that we are posted here as "bait", as you originally surmised, and that in allowing us to draw a portion of his forces southward, he'd be vulnerable to attack from the main body of our Army, coming from a different direction.'

'So he might think we are being dangled as bait, but he also thinks it trickery, and so he refuses to lunge at the hook and thinks, thereby, that he safeguards himself... leaving us relatively safe so long as we linger here?' Bucca said slowly, working through this circuitous thought.

Galdor smiled. 'We are not lingering here for the sake of our safety,' he said, 'though that may be an added benefit, so to speak. Our presence here may well draw the attention of some of the unwelcome hunters who menace your People in the Wood; no doubt they will watch us well yet offer us no menace, so long as no one strays beyond the bounds of our camp when darkness falls...'

'But for how long?' Bucca asked. Though he was glad for relative peace for the Hobbits hidden in the woods, he'd thought that time was pressing. He might not have hastened to assemble a body of archers had he known the situation might be otherwise. He might have held his tiny son for longer, and sung more songs.

Galdor was still smiling. 'Hurry up, as fast as you can, and then wait a bit, or perhaps somewhat longer,' he said, 'has oft-times seemed to be the motto of every large army of power. How well I remember the feeling from the days when Gil-galad was our High King. For our part,' he added, his gaze returning to the Hobbit as if from a far distance, 'our orders are to wait here until my Lord Círdan's signal, whereupon we will ride to the North. Other parts of the Alliance will be coming down upon Angmar from the West and North, and we will hopefully catch him – and crush him – in a pincers of sorts. At least, that is the plan as I know it.'

'And so we just sit here?' Bucca said. 'Playing the role of bait for the Dark Captain and a lure for his hunters in the Wood?'

Galdor laughed, sounding as merry as a child. 'Your words are arrows, sharply-tipped and skilfully-aimed to stir the Sea-longing in me, whether deliberately chosen or not!'

Taken aback, Bucca stammered, 'Truly, Lord, I meant no discourtesy...'

Sobering, the Elf-lord looked kindly at the Hobbit. 'One day,' he said, 'we shall go fishing together, my friend, whether on the rolling Seas or the River that flows by the fields of your farm.'

'I'll look forward to it,' Bucca said. Assuming the Alliance should prevail in the upcoming clash. Assuming the both of them were still standing when the matter was settled.

As if the Elf could read Bucca's mind and heart, he nodded and said, 'Of course.' But then he added, 'We need not sit idle while we wait. In fact, I had sought you out just now...'

And Bucca realised that for all their easy talk, Galdor had – of course – come on purpose to find him in the middle of the camp where the Halfling archers had been placed, ringed about with Men and Elves. As if we represented some sort of treasure or valuable resource. But it is more likely that we are the most vulnerable of all the Company, and so we are afforded the greatest level of protection our Commander can provide. 'How may we be of service?' he asked.

The Elf-lord laughed again. 'Straightforward and to the point,' he said. 'We Elves can talk around a subject for days... all that aside, I thought we might practise together, my knights of Gondor and Rhovanion and your archers. It was Aranarth's thought that you'd be less vulnerable on horseback than on the ground. Will you explain his strategy to your archers, and give his tactics a try?'

'We march in service of the King,' Bucca said, 'and so we must honour his command.'

'Aranarth is not a king, he says,' Galdor responded, lifting troubled eyes to the horizon. 'He says he will not be a king in exile so long as his land is held captive...'

'We are come at the summons of the King,' Bucca said stubbornly, drawing the Elf-lord's gaze back to his face. 'As we understand things. So in answer to your question: yes, we will test and try Prince Aranarth's tactics, and we shall practise, that we might effectively carry out his strategy, what ever it may be. And it may well be that this is the last call of a King my folk will come in answer to, whether Aranarth and his remaining brother should fall in battle, or he should still refuse to take the crown for whatever reason. Though in future time, we may wait in vain for the return of the King, we are here, and we are here now, to do his bidding and in answer to his call.'

'Well spoken and fair,' Galdor said, bowing to Bucca and touching his fingertips to his forehead in acknowledgement of the Hobbit's courage and honesty. 'Very well. Walk with me now, and I will explain the strategy and seek your advice for carrying it out in the most effective way. And then, while you are sharing the necessary knowledge with your fellows, I shall notify the Riders to assemble on the field with their horses and weapons for the first of how ever many drill sessions may be granted us...'

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