Heart of a Dragon

Chapter 1: A Very Grey Interruption.

An Orc host marched through the hills, wading through the long grasses of the lands of Lake Evendim. Holding mottled banners and clad in iron armour, they carried swords, knives, scythes. Their eyes were full of evil intent as they glared at the far horizon.

'How far till that Shire?' one grumbled. 'I ain't gonna lug swords all the way there without rest!'

'Quit your groaning, maggot!' the leader snarled. 'These lands ain't safe!'

'Safe? Safe, he says!' the Orc exclaimed. 'There's nothing in these stinking plains except dead grass!'

'Quiet!' the leader hissed, glancing side to side in fear. 'There's hunters in these lands! The Master wants us to get rid of them so we have control over Eriador!'

'Hunters!' the Orc mocked. 'I see no hunters!'

'Then perhaps you are blind.' A smooth voice said behind him.

The Orc host whirled around to see a figure cloaked in dark green surveying them with distaste.

The leader growled, brandishing his spear.

'Blind, and foolish.' The Ranger slipped off her hood, glaring at the host with startling silver eyes like the winter moon. 'These lands are under our protection.'

'And how do you intend to kill a whole host alone?' the leader sneered. 'No single Man can kill a host of Orcs, let alone a woman.'

The Orcs laughed at her, baring teeth in lechery.

'But I am not alone.' The Ranger smiled coldly. 'Hado i philinn!' (1)

Arrows arched across the clear night sky, hurtling towards the Orc host. The host panicked and broke apart, and the Ranger ordered: 'Dagohuin!' (2)

Dark figures rose from the grass, unsheathing swords and daggers, advancing forward and surrounding the host, who tripped on their dead as they retreated backwards.

Like wild animals, they growled at them and shook their weapons defiantly. And like wild animals, they were easy to kill.

Brushing her white hair behind her shoulders, the Ranger drew out her sword, no longer smiling at the Orcs.

'You killed a small girl from Bree a few days ago, when she was out riding.' She said sharply. 'You showed her no mercy, so we will not. You will feel the cold blade of death across your throat as she felt it.'

The Ranger ordered the advance, and they came at the Orcs in a bristling wall of steel.

The Orcs charged at the Rangers instead, and were most cut down immediately. The fight turned to a skirmish as the Orc's line broke.

The Ranger herself was dancing through the Orcs, slicing necks and stabbing chests. These Orcs were for fighting commonfolk, the weak and helpless, not a trained company of Dúnedain Rangers.

Her company left her the Orc leader, who was forced to his knees as the Ranger traced a dagger across his shoulders.

'Who is your master?' she demanded. 'Speak, and I will give you a swift death.'

'You fool! Our master will destroy you!' the Orc snarled in Black Speech.

'Perhaps.' the Ranger replied back in the same grating tongue. 'But if this who he keeps company with, I am sure his death will be easy.'

'He will kill your family, the Necromancer!' the Orc roared. 'He will kill your father, then your mother, and keep your sister for our plaything—'