-"Hir Angelnarth!", the elf shouted at him. "We are riding away, come on!"
-"Did you not hear me Tetheril? Get out of here, you are of importance, I am expendable.", he answered her in a sedate tone.
But the Harbinger wouldn't take it. She kicked her horse and moved in front of him, showing her determination not to abandon him for her own wellbeing's sake.
Angelnarth looked her in the eye, slowly treading around her horse, and in front of her again. "Tetheril, I am your superior in command here and I order you to flee. I will meet you later by the shores of river Bruinen, I promise.", the words came out of his mouth in the most earnest of ways. He was being persuasive.
And despite that, as if the words were never spoken out of Angelnarth's lips the elf led her horse out of the way and nocked an arrow on her bow, ready to fight alongside him. Angelnarth only turned and stared at her once again, this time without speaking at all. He offered her a very faint, almost imperceptible smile and extended his swords in front of him to intercept the the incoming enemy that was now closer than ever.
The sounds of running became more violent and intense and eventually two orcs leaped out of the thick vegetation with their weapons at hand. Angelnarth lost no time and with an efficient thrust of his sword, he pierced the orc that was coming on him from his right side, impaling its chest. Tetheril drew and loosed her arrow shooting down the other enemy with deadly accuracy. A perfect shot.
"Mere scouts!", the mortal said with disgust, pointing at the corpses. "Notice the lack of any weighty gear on them.". Tetheril paid great attention to the sky, turning her left ear to the direction the orcs came from.
"My hir! Volley incoming!", she shouted and quickly took cover behind a crumbling wall, while Angelnarth merely stood behind a wide pillar amongst the ruins, holding his swords close to his chest.. A heartbeat later, tens of arrows landed on the ground all around them, their sound echoing in the air like the melody of death itself. Tetheril closed her eyes shut, crouching behind her cover. No arrow reached their bodies, thankfully their cover was sufficient.
This time a lot of ugly, savage cries was heard from the north, the same way the orcs came from. A small company of enemies was upon them this time! "We are outnumbered, more coming!", cried Tetheril with a courageous voice. Angelnarth held his ground by the time, awaiting for the enemy's steps to be heard closer to him. His Noldorin swords made contact with the first half-orc's throat as soon as he came out of the bushes which were concealing the pair's location. The creature seemed utterly surprised during its last breath, as if he expected to find nothing but corpses around the area.
Several more enemies made their appearance from behind the bushes and trees, abominations made from the union of orc and man, like the ones before them. Angelnarth lunged forward to the one nearest to him and with a lightning fast swing of both his longswords he slit the opponent's neck once again. Quickly facing to the half-orc in his left flank, the Dunadan hurled his lightweight blade at it from a small distance, pinning the razor sharp weapon upon the chest of the enemy. He made swift, graceful dash to retrieve his weapon from the lifeless corpse, and continued his righteous slaughter. The heat of battle was gradually taking over him, paying less and less attention to Tetheril at the time.
The Harbinger had her own opponents to face by then as another couple of enemies made their appearance closer to her location than her companion's this time. She slid another arrow from her quiver, nocked and fired with such speed that it looked like a blur. The arrow pierced the belly of one of her enemies stopping him dead on his tracks. Seeing that the other ugly creature came through the arch of the ruin she was lying in, reaching her, she quickly crouched and twirled to her left, easily avoiding his weapon's swing.
With one agile movement she reaches for her sword, unsheathes it and pulls it across the half-orc's neck followed with a ferocious high-pitched cry of her voice. The enemy would drop to his knees and fall face first into a pool of his own blood. "Remember the plan!", she shouted at him, glancing back at their horses who were prancing around nervously.
She turned to face her companion, spotting him further away from his former location mercilessly assailing the enemy who was now running for his life away from the mortal's wrath. The elf saw Angelnarth brutally gripping one of the smaller in figure orcs by the throat and snapping it with relative ease. There was no remorse, no doubt. Nothing to slow him down, let alone Tetheril's warnings.
All Tetheril could do was empty the rest of her quiver upon the retreating enemy's backs, keeping a good distance herself, but protecting his flank and rear decisively with her skilled bowmanship. It only took moments before the last members of the half-orc company were lying dead around Angelnarth's feet.
The mortal's eyes spotted numerous lit torches in the distance in front of him by the time the massacre was over. Reinforcements of the enemy were on the way. He turned his back and stared at Tetheril, his expression stern and tense, almost dangerous looking. With a hand he moved the dirty and soaked with orc blood hair away from his face. "The horses...we must ride away while we still can. Your life is in danger!".
Tetheril lifted an eyebrow over Angelnarth's words, with almost an expression of amusement on her face as she directed her glances at the corpses laying around with an arrow stuck through them. She lost her merry tone completely upon a stare of Angelnarth's face and without saying a word she sprinted to the horses. She only glanced backwards once to make sure he was following. She saw Angelnarth walking slowly to her, placing one foot in front of the other, she could swear that each of them weighted a boulder's mass.
Angelnarth stopped for a mere moment and lowered his head towards the wet from blood soil. Tetheril's eyes met with his as he stood there, a man's figure in the dark, a malicious shadow of vengeance. And the night was still lasting.
