Chapter 11

What a Ranger-King Does

April 17

Kopairin, Gondor

The entire house shook from the blast and Fioni let out a scream which several of her siblings echoed. Aragorn, Legolas and Valihondo were on their feet in an instant.

Saravesse came running with Pilin at her heels as Valihondo threw open the door and looked out. Standing beside him Aragorn and Legolas could easily make out the rising pillar of smoke against the moon and stars and fires blazing. People were screaming in the streets and torches were being lit at random all over the town.

Turning back into the house, Valihondo crossed the room and pulled down two swords from above the mantel. Pressing the small one into Saravesse's hands and taking the other himself he ran for the door again.

"Sara, keep the children in the house and if the danger grows take Swiftfoot and Mellthala and go!"

Saravesse nodded, a light burning in her dark eyes as she called each of her children to her by name.

Aragorn and Legolas followed Valihondo out into the street. The screams and commotion had reached a fevered pitch and as the three ran down towards the docks they heard another explosion somewhere nearby.

"It must be the shipment that came through!" Valihondo called as he dodged people running in the street, his sword tucked close by his side. Catching sight of someone he knew Valihondo hailed the other. "Captain Himadan! What is happening?!"

"Valihondo, we're losing the Duinlunta!" the Rohirrim called as he moved towards them, a sword in his hand as well. "It's the Gondorians."

"What?" It was Aragorn who spoke this time and as Legolas scanned the crowds of people he realized that none of the guards who had been sullenly stalking the streets moments before were anywhere to be seen.

"The Gondorians!" Himadan repeated, raising his voice over the echo of another explosion. "The moment the Duinlunta came into port they leapt up from hiding and boarded her; we had barely time to follow them, and no time to repulse them before they had control. All the ship's own sentries were killed immediately."

"Where are the rest of your men, Captain?" Valihondo's mind was working fast as he took in the grave news.

"They're on the Duinlunta and the docks trying to subdue the attack; I imagine the Gondorians didn't anticipate us and weren't prepared for an all out battle. I came to find you!"

"It doesn't make sense," Valihondo murmured as a group of people ran blindly past, leading their horses away from the Kopairin. "Gondorians wouldn't kill their own sentries and steal their own supplies."

"These men are not of Gondor," Aragorn said firmly, in some relief. "But we waste time, we must help."

"There's another problem, sir!" Himadan shouted as they made a run towards the docks. "It seems they've taken the Brebenk, and if it comes to a hasty retreat there's no way we'll catch that ship without a plan."

"Set up what's left of your reserve against the shores; we may have to resort to grappling hooks and chains if this gets any worse!" Himadan ran further on to obey Valihondo's order. The mayor's face darkened grimly as they pulled up in sight of the docks.

All was complete chaos.

The men of Gondorian uniform could be seen engaged in a fierce battle with Himadan's regiment and though the Rohirrim were putting up a good fight, it was clear they were coming off worse.

Aragorn could easily make out the strategy from where he stood; the seasoned mind of a captain could see it without difficulty. They were not interested in the shipment for themselves, though they were smuggling prized objects off onto a smaller ship that he assumed to be the Brebenk. Instead of keeping the rest, they were burning what they could and systematically destroying everything in sight.

Valihondo swore under his breath, drawing Aragorn's attention back to the others.

"We need to get them away from the ship," Legolas spoke up, moving forward and pulling out his bow.

"Yes," Aragorn nodded firmly. "Mayor, if we can get them running this way can you call up reserves to head off their escape?"

"Of course, but won't you need help?"

"The Rohirrim are still there," Aragorn called following after Legolas. "Together we should manage."

Valihondo barely had time to acquiesce before they had gone. Mirroring their haste, he hurried to organize what men remained.

Legolas and Aragorn leapt up onto the ship at the same moment, balancing easily on the rocking deck and moving to intercept the first band of Gondorian clad men.

Aragorn caught sight of the burly man who had been cruel to Pilin earlier and decided it was a place to start. The Rohirric sentry the man had been fighting looked up in shock as his opponent fell the deck without so much as a cry.

"Are there any of these men below?" Aragorn asked the startled man as he fended off another.

"We've been keeping them out of the main hold, but the smaller storage holds have been totally ransacked," the man reported grimly, running another of the enemy through with two hard strokes. "I don't know how much longer we can forestall them; we think there's a fire somewhere on board and we need to keep them from running back into Kopairin."

"No, that's exactly what we must do." Aragorn shook his head as he scanned the ship's deck for Legolas. The elf was locked in a close combat with two of the humans and his hood had fallen back, revealing his ears. Aragorn realized that it couldn't have been long before their secret was discovered, but right now that was the least of their worries. "We need to drive them back towards the town! Valihondo is waiting there to head them off. If we can catch them between us we should have them routed."

The man nodded at the change of orders and moved on to get the word passed to the other men.

Aragorn moved on down the docks, doing his part to push back swarm of enemies. He came up against one particularly fierce fighter who, if his Gondorian armor was anything to go by, was a captain himself.

As their blades clashed Aragorn became aware of the opponent's moves… the strange arching swing of the sword, the constant dodging backwards, the heavy reliance on his knife as a secondary weapon. Aragorn recognized them; he had met such skills before, but he could not tell where. His mind was racing to recall the correct counterattacks, but spared one heartbeat for relief: the brutish tactics were not Gondor's style at all.

He was surprised when the man he had been fighting lurched back suddenly, a slim arrow protruding from his throat as he collapsed with a strangled cry. Aragorn turned in time to see Legolas running towards him, an urgent look in his eyes.

"Aragorn," the elf breathed reaching his friend, "the Rohirrim may send these men out into the town but there is something we must attend to at once before the chance has passed us."

"What is it?" Aragorn asked, watching distractedly as the Rohirrim began to steadily push the enemy towards the edge of the Duinlunta.

"Across the way on the smaller ship I saw that they have loaded prisoners in with the spoils of this ship. If they are allowed a chance to escape, even if only a few of them, those prisoners will be lost."

The wood elf was correct, and his friend wasted no more time. Together they set off at a run towards the stem of the Duinlunta. The Brebenk was docked just in front of it and Aragorn could make out what Legolas had seen: a guard stood watch over the hold and occasionally turned to leer and call taunts down at the grate that covered it.

"He does not mean to keep it a secret, I see."

"I can sight him from here and cover you," Legolas said, drawing an arrow in one motion, "but you must be ready, my friend, for if the alarm is given we will not have much of an advantage; there may be more on the ship besides him."

"Right. Better not miss, then."

Legolas did not deign to reply but turned his aim towards the guard below. Aragorn waited for his friend to move first. The moment the arrow flew Aragorn leapt from his perch at the edge of the Duinlunta, hitting the deck almost at the same moment as the arrow struck the guard square in heart.

Running to the grate Aragorn saw that it had been left unlocked, for the purpose of loading more prisoners no doubt. Pulling it open he peered down into the darkness cautiously before jumping down below.

He was only slightly surprised to see that all of the prisoners taken were children, ranging from five to twelve years of age if he could guess it. There were not many, but he could see at once that they had been taken from Kopairin. Though this was a grave sight it echoed the thought that was now nagging at the back of his mind about the nature of these men.

The children were chained to the interior of the hull and were looking at him with mixed expressions of horror, surprise and delight. Aragorn immediately moved to a child whose name he attempted to guess by her sandy-blonde hair.

"Are you Sorni?" When she nodded warily Aragorn smiled. "Well your father, Valihondo, is outside and I'm here to take you to him."

Her eyes grew wider and she nodded eagerly. The other children began to clamor about their parents and several of the smaller ones began to cry — or rather, continued to cry.

As a father himself, Aragorn took great pleasure in releasing the children from the heavy chains. A search of the dead guard's body turned up keys which he used to remove the cuffs on the captives wrists as fast he could. He was aware of two more shots from Legolas above them and knew that someone must have become suspicious.

It was proving to be much more difficult than he could have anticipated to keep the children under control. Every one of the younger children were trying to find an older one to hang on to, the older children were all asking Aragorn questions at once, and the entire group were determined to get out of the stuffy hold as soon as possible.

At last Aragorn managed to herald their attention and motioned sharply for silence.

"We must be cautious," he said, addressing the older ones who nodded. "Everyone keep track of someone younger and when we get out into the open we will need to keep down and out of sight as much as possible, understood?" All the children nodded this time and followed him to the bottom of the stairs.

Aragorn went up first and jumped badly when he came face to face with Legolas. He jerked his sword away in mid-swing, exhaling with relief.

"Intending to decapitate me, were you? How brotherly."

"Mellon-nin, my senses are far too alert for that right now."

Legolas stifled a smile. "My apologies. You need not fear, though; I have taken down the guards that came too close. I supposed you would need help, so I came over. I have rigged up the gang plank as a bridge and it just reaches the shore, if you think we have time to get the prisoners across. We cannot risk putting too much weight on it, it's not a very sturdy crossing."

"Weight shouldn't be a problem," Aragorn replied wryly as he reached down to boost the prisoners up out of the hold. Legolas stared.

"Are they all children?" he questioned.

"Every one. We'll speak of this with Valihondo later."

Moving with as much stealth as was possible for such a large group of young ones, Aragorn and Legolas reached the edge of the Brebenk where the gang plank was propped.

The elf crossed nimbly over and awaited the children on the other side.

Pointing to Legolas' passage as example, Aragorn selected the eldest of the lads and watched with some trepidation as he carried a much smaller boy to the opposite shore. Legolas steadied them both on the bank and nodded to Aragorn.

Slowly, in groups of ones and twos, Aragorn sent them across. "Walk carefully, keep your eyes straight ahead, walk to my friend over there, and don't look down at the water," he advised them gently.

Aragorn was beginning to think the whole escape was proving too easy and he kept glancing over at the battle on the Duinlunta where it seemed many of the Gondorian clad men had been forced back on to land — there to face the Rohirrim and townspeople.

Due to very ill fortune, it was the last two children that finally brought the proceedings to a halt. The boy and girl were around the same age and Aragorn had allowed them to go together since they seemed to be siblings. About halfway along the plank, however, the younger child stopped and stared down at the rushing Anduin beneath them.

Her brother was pulling on her arm, but the child refused to move, shaking her head vigorously and crying for someone Aragorn couldn't make out.

Whether it was the noise that attracted the attention or whether their luck had simple run out, Aragorn had no way of knowing, but at once there was a crack of flint embedding in wood, an arrow shaft vibrated in the deck beside Aragorn's foot, and there was the sound of many more arrows hissing in from the Duinlunta.

Meanwhile the small girl, ignoring her brother's pleadings, had tried to sit on the plank, causing it to bow ominously. The plank was quite as unstable as Legolas had predicted and the concentrated weight of both children in the center was only making it worse.

"Legolas!" Aragorn called, sending another arrow towards the archers on the Duinlunta. "You must get them away from here!"

Legolas glanced from his friend to the two children on the plank and then to the group of frightened children standing beside him.

The elf was torn. "Come!" he shouted at last to the boy on the plank. "Come on, we must go!" The boy shook his head and refused to come, still urging his sister to get up again. Legolas stepped onto the end of the plank, but jumped back as two arrows hit beside his feet. Several of the children screamed and one of them started crying again.

Legolas's decision was made: he had to get the children somewhere safe before coming back for the others. Turning to the captives he quickly moved them back towards Kopairin, away from the fight, glancing back over his shoulder in time to see Aragorn roll away from a close scattering of arrows. Turning back to the children Legolas picked up the crying girl as he herded the others ahead of him.

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Aragorn was quickly running out of ideas. It seemed that the more he ducked and dodged the attack, the more arrows were fired at him. There were now at least three archers sighting him from above and he could only hope that the Rohirrim would notice before long. Then there were the two children still stranded in the middle of the plank and judging by the creaking of the wood they would soon be in the water if they did not move. To make matters worse the fight on shore, turning in the townspeople's favor, had precipitated a retreat and there were, even now, Gondorian clad men moving steadily towards the Brebenk for an escape.

As much as he didn't want the men to escape, Aragorn knew only too well that there was little he could do against their numbers.

The only piece of fortune left to him was that the archers were completely ignoring the two escapees. Whether that was because he was the more immediate threat or because their fire could not easily reach the plank wasn't clear; however the observation drove Aragorn to a conclusion which only the ranger in him did not pass up as foolhardy. The time had come to leave the ship, and quickly. Aragorn ducked under another arrow, wincing as it caught him across the forearm, and came up just beside the plank.

He caught the eyes of the boy who was looking up at him, completely at a loss.

"Can you swim?" Aragorn yelled out and the boy nodded. Aragorn returned the nod in a single jerk of his head before scrambling up onto the edge of the Brebenk and leaping straight for the middle of the plank.

Predictably, the moment he struck it there was a loud crack as the wood snapped cleanly in two, dumping Aragorn, the crying girl, and her brother into the tossing waters of the Anduin. The moment he hit the surface, Aragorn flung his arm out and caught hold of the girl. The lass was now fairly shrieking with terror, but her brother seemed to have caught on and was struggling for the far shore, fighting against the current which was attempting to carry him down stream.

With the added burden of a small child Aragorn was pulled a ways down the river before he managed to fight his way to shore. The girl was thrashing and his chest burned as he heaved her up out of the water. Her weight was taken up and as he peered up through his streaming hair, he saw that her brother had caught hold of her and was holding her close, the water dripping off the pair of them in streams.

A passing eddy lifted him up and pulled him away again. Scrambling for purchase on the bank he felt his fingers pass through the liquid mud before he was caught by the current, drawing him further downstream were the banks rose straight up. Aragorn's hands scrambled to find a hold on something, anything, and to his great surprise caught hold of a hand. His grip tightened automatically and he was jerked suddenly upwards and then dragged forward onto the firm ground.

"Now Strider," the familiar voice scolded as Aragorn cleared muddied hair from his face, "you were not intending to travel down the Anduin and leave me alone with the children and the irate townspeople, were you?"

Aragorn spat out water. "If such a thought had crossed my mind, your highness, I certainly would not divulge such intentions to you."

Legolas grinned at that and gripped Aragorn shoulder as the man regained his breath. "Are you alright, my friend?" Aragorn nodded slightly and tried to wave the elf off. "I would take your word on the matter, but for your ill-temper," Legolas continued with a barely concealed chuckle.

"There was nothing wrong with my temper before you came," Aragorn jested, and pushed the elf away gently. "I see you found a place for the children."

"Yes," Legolas nodded, helping Aragorn to his feet. "It was a simple matter of finding one of their homes, which, with so many children to choose frome, did not prove very difficult. I returned in time to see your impressive leap."

Aragorn rolled his eyes. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"And so it must have been, for you have not only saved the last two captives but come out of it in one piece yourself. Mostly." Legolas' attention had been drawn to Aragorn's bleeding forearm.

"It's nothing."

"It never is."

Aragorn was about to retort when a creaking sound of released rigging caught his ears. He turned back in time to see the Brebenk pulling away, accompanied by the angered shouts of the Rohirrim who were sending volleys of arrows at the departing ship. Several Rohirrim still stood battling on the deck of the vessel.

Aragorn cursed silently under his breath. "I had feared that would be their next move," he admitted as he stepped away from the bank.

Legolas caught sight of the last of the Rohirrim falling beneath their enemies aboard the ship and shut his eyes against the image. When he opened them again he was in time to see Aragorn moving towards Valihondo, followed closely by the two children he had rescued. The mayor met them halfway.

"It could have been worse," he said, by way of greeting. Blood dripped from his left temple and he had a nasty bruise forming across his throat, but otherwise seemed without injury. He did, however, look thoroughly worn and watched in barely veiled disgust as the Berbenk was taken down stream. "A lot worse," he added after a moment. "We could not have done so well without your aid." Valihondo turned to the two friends at last, his gaze coming down to the two children. "I heard that you were especially busy relieving them of their captives."

The boy was holding onto his sister's hand and seemed to be searching for a face he knew. Aragorn gently drew them closer, shielding them from cold breeze. "Yes, you will find your daughter among them, Valihondo. Legolas took most of them to one of the houses in town."

Valihondo's face lost some of its strain and he let out a sigh of relief. "I thank you. For that you have my eternal gratitude and I place myself in your debt."

Aragorn smiled at that. "No debt need be paid. You do your duty well here and in so doing you pay Gondor and Rohan a great service daily."

Valihondo smiled a little at the words, but he suddenly seemed to be peering at Aragorn with unusual attention. As if something in the other's appearance had seemed familiar, but he was having trouble deciding why.

Eventually he turned and looked back at where the men were beginning to gather the wounded.

"It is difficult," he said softly. "We've now lost half Kopairin's protection, though I suppose they were no real protection from the beginning. Certainly Sara will be happy to see them go…" Valihondo trailed off, his hand wandering idly up the side of his face. "Oh, dear." The words came in a sigh and Legolas and Aragorn watched him curiously as he glanced back at them, a rueful expression now decorating his bloody and bruised face. "She made me promise not to injure myself."

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As it turned out that Sara was too happy to see them alive and Sorni back home to do much real scolding. She did have a few choice words about all the blood, then startled Aragorn and Legolas by including them in the motherly reproaches.

She ordered Aragorn to have Valihondo bandage his forearm and wouldn't leave Legolas alone until he finally let her clean out a nasty welt on his cheek.

Valihondo took all of this in stride and Aragorn accepted the treatment with immense good grace, but Legolas, having never before suffered a wife's abounding concern, was not sure what to make of the ordeal and couldn't understand why he could not simply brush her worries aside like he so often did Aragorn's.

At last, with injuries seen to and children in bed, Valihondo told the entire tale to Saravesse from beginning to end. She listened intently, inhaling sharply at a few points, and at the end let out a relieved breath and said, "Well, I will be glad to see those men gone. I never approved of their behavior, but it is distressing to hear that the Gondorian military had so many traitors among them."

"I do not think they were Gondorians at all, my dear," Valihondo demurred and glanced at Aragorn.

"I agree with you. I believe there is something else beneath this; in fact, I wanted to tell you my—" Aragorn was cut off as there came a hard rap on the door.

Rising to his feet, Valihondo opened it, admitting Captain Himadan who looked quite a sight worse than Valihondo had.

"Mayor, there's something we need you to see to," Himadan said in one breath. "We've captured one of the enemy."

Authors' note: I (Sarah) wish to announce a slight change in scheduling; but first, an explanation! When posting our previous stories Hannah and I have traded off posting days — there's a fair bit of prep that goes into replying to all you wonderful people and formatting a new chapter for posting, and that system allowed each of us to get a break every other chapter. We love doing every bit of this, and want to continue to be prompt in our updates, but here's the rub: Hannah's new job takes her out of the house a lot, whereas my job is home-based currently. Since she's not home more than half the week, I have been posting the updates by myself — but since I still do have work, and I have no every-other-chapter-break-periods, I can't seem to keep up… So! With many apologies for how many times I've done this without meaning to (including just now with this chapter), I am now changing our updates from once every other day to once every third day. We hope this doesn't bum you out too much! We are frightfully fond of all of you. - Sarah on behalf of the herself and Hannah