#halbarad; threads

[menelvagor]

❛ it’s the silence that scares me. ❜ (Aragorn for Halbarad) -✧- @withinycu

Halbarad stared out at the quiet lands before them, from where they kept watch in the darkness. It was a particularly silent night: no animals moving about or calling to one another, no orcs screeching, nor wolves howling. However, while this could be seen as peaceful, it probably meant some evil was brewing.

"Fell deeds are often plotted in silence and in secret," Halbarad agreed with a slight nod, not turning to his friend. "Where do you suppose they will strike next, as we have little indication?"

[menelvagor]

My muse pulls yours out of a freezing lake / Halbarad - Mithrellas -✧- @amid-ice-and-snow

Halbarad had made a very bad mistake.

And it had landed him in an icy-cold bath of lake water.

He had been on the hunt for an elf and an Orc patrol from a nearby hideout. The latter had been found first, and the elf only after a scuffle and a tumble into the lake with two orcs. The beasts he had slayed, but not in stealth, for the noises of their screeches and the splashing water surely alerted them all. Icy-cold claws Halbarad felt within his chest at the shock from the cold and the panic of the orcs sending out a large force for him. Then suddenly, he felt something tugging at his clothing and looked up into the face of an elf. Dark eyes widened slightly as he stared for a stunned moment. His missions had been accomplished, but he could take no moment to rest. He crawled up onto the bank but his fingers still gripped to the hilt of his sword as he shivered before his rescuer.

"Orcs..." he gasped out, pointing weakly in the direction he had found the hideout. "Coming... Get-" his voice faltered and with a groan he attempted a whistle. He tried again. "Must find- horse." Daemorn was lingering somewhere nearby under the trees.

[menelvagor]

"where are you going? the exit's over there!" / from Eilonwy to Halbarad -✧- @tcbefearless

Halbarad, admittedly, had made a bad decision in a split second. He thought he heard the orcs he had been pursuing in the woods enter into the cave he saw ahead, and being entirely over with this long chase, decided to finish them off inside. However, he had accidentally gone too far into a different passage and run into not the beasts but a woman. He frowned, wondering at her presence. But he was not allowed much time to dwell on it for he heard the growling and shouting of orcs down one of the other passages.

The ranger pulled his bow from his back and prepared an arrow in his hand as he prepared to deter one or two of them away, as much as he could in the gloom. He moved slowly closer to them in the passage until he was drawn off by the woman's voice. He hesitated for a moment but then whirled about and followed her. His chase would not be over yet - rather they would be at the chased end.

He pulled up beside the woman whom he heard more than saw, running with her toward where the entrance to the cave was. With her lead, they found the exit into light of day.

"Thank you, my lady," he said to her with a deep breath but before they could get far, he urged her off to the side of the cave's entry so that if the orcs followed out, perhaps they could take them by surprise.

[menelvagor]

❛  well, that's what friends are for.  ❜ / tirnel for halbarad -✧- @freewillds

Halbarad's lips quirked up into a little smile at the reply, for though he had not asked for help and intended to wrap up his injury by himself, Tirnel had stubbornly offered her own aid. No matter the ranger's initial intention, if one of his own stepped in to help, he could never say no. They had to trust one another, and they almost always did.

The bandage on his arm had been secured and he tucked his arm back in beside him while he took a drink from his water skin, it now feeling very light.

"Indeed, that is one benefit to friends. I thank you," he said, nodding a bit and glancing at the other rangers gathered around them. Several others had helped a few of those with injuries, both minor and more concerning. "This is another," Halbarad said as he held out the water skin despite it perhaps only having a drink or two of water left in it. He could go fill it up again later in the stream nearby. But he would offer up what he had to Tirnel.

[menelvagor]

❝ this ground harbors evil. ❞ ( for halbarad ) -✧- @starsinlegions

The ranger listened while he stared upward at the mighty cliffs before him, cut through the middle by a jagged crack that went deep into the mountains. Doom lay beyond it, and this he knew well. There was no denying it. There was no denying any of the warning. Yet, they must pass through the mountains.

Then his attention shifted downward, to the grey of the grass still clinging to the last of the winter frosts. He sighed as he knelt down on the cold earth, feeling the rough strands beneath his fingers. "Hmmm... Evil, perhaps at one time. It feels that what it holds is more treacherous, more angry," Halbarad replied. "Yet evil may we behold if we are kept on this track. Or if we are unsuccessful," he mused while his gaze shifted away as if he had fallen deep into thought.

Shadowy images flashed through his mind's eye, which was not a new feeling ever since he had departed on this quest to his lord and true king. Death lay beyond, but not for all.

[menelvagor]

Continued from here. For @amid-ice-and-snow.

Halbarad watched the movements of the most perceptive elf closely, following where he looked and how he pulled out his weapon.

"Drakes? We will have to be careful," he said softly, even as he silently began to prepare his own bow and grabbed an arrow. He looked out into the darkness but could not make out nearly what the elves could. Flashes of the beasts soaring above spraying fire or venom and clambering through the trees came into his mind - a warning.

"We can handle them if you can find out what else they have with them."

[menelvagor]

Continued from here. For @eaglestcr.

"Mithrandir spoke of their chieftains going east into Mordor." And he knew from his own journeys south there was a deep resentment of the North. "Perhaps it is time we go there and see for ourselves."

Halbarad turned to look at his captain, brows furrowed in his concern. "To Mordor?" he asked, as a shadow of doubt clouded his mind. He knew that nothing good would await them there, and what specifically was shrouded in darkness. "You mean to follow them all the way there?"

[menelvagor]

Your muse presses their freezing hands/feet on mine

(Crawls out of my hole to send you this @ofthevanyar for Halbarad, maybe in the university au?)

@ofthevanyar

Halbarad hissed as he felt Amarië's icy-cold fingers slide against his skin, her having had to delve underneath the layers of his shirt, sweater, and jacket, to reach the warmth held within.

"Hey!" he then exclaimed, trying to move away from the cold intrusion. "It is already cold enough as is!" He lifted his hand, which was fairly cold as he was recently outside and pressed it to her cheek.