Sword and Arrow

Chapter 6

"You want me to do what?" Aragorn asked again.

"I want you to teach me how to use a sword." Beruthiel had shown up to the sandy-floored training ground lugging a sheathed sword. She'd practiced and practiced with her new bow for two weeks, but she still thought something was missing. "When we're out there somewhere" -she waved at the valley- "I never know when I might run out of arrows. When we're on Ranger missions, we have a horse with lots of spare arrows, but we're not going to have it like that now, and I might run out of arrows, so I want a weapon I can rely on, but the throwing knife is really easy to lose in a melee fight, and the saxe doesn't have a long reach-" She paused for a breath. "I want to learn how to use a sword."

"I don't know..." Aragorn said, hands on his hips. "It takes a long time to learn how to master the sword."

"Well, then don't teach me to master the sword," Beruthiel answered. "Just teach me how to, you know, hold it, swing it, kill something, not cut my feet off... I don't want to be able to best a knight in a duel or something, I want to be able to defend myself when I run out of arrows."

Aragorn studied her. She looked serious. "And you'll do everything I tell you to do?"

She shrugged. "Within reason. I'll do any exercise you tell me to do, but I'm not giving you my coffee for a month or anything." Her friend sighed and looked up at the sky.

"My plans have been thwarted," he said to whoever was listening. Beruthiel smothered a laugh. "All right, I'll teach you. But hold on, let me get the hobbits first."

"The hobbits?" she asked suspiciously. "Are you going to make me juggle them or something?"

"I- what?!" Aragorn spluttered. "Ruth, you're very weird sometimes."

"I get it from you," she said easily. "I was very well-thought-of before you came along." Aragorn raised his eyebrows. "Okay, maybe not that well thought of," she amended. "But what do you need the hobbits for, now?"

"I was thinking that I would teach them to use a sword as well," he said. "Iluvatar knows they'll need it." Beruthiel nodded.

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A few minutes later, Aragorn came back to the training ground, the four hobbits following him like little ducklings. "I've brought the sacrifices," Aragorn said in a grim voice. The hobbits, already nervous from the dark ranger summoning them, jumped back in fright.

"Aragorn," Beruthiel scolded him. He grinned at her in an apparent change of mood.

"I couldn't resist," he said. She rolled her eyes.

"Don't listen to anything Aragorn tells you," she told the four hobbits. "He's an old busybody." She elbowed him in the ribs. "Now, are you going to teach us?"

"Teach us what?" Frodo carefully asked. "What are you going to teach us?"

"How to make a proper sacrifice to the Valar, of course," the Ranger replied.

"Aragorn."

"Ahem. Sorry. You need to know how to use a sword," Aragorn told them. "It's a dangerous world out there, and we won't always be there to protect you." He gestured at Beruthiel and himself. "You need to know how to defend yourself. So, do you have blades?" The hobbits nodded their agreement. "Let me see."