The Other Ranger [ Lord Of The Rings x Silmarillion ]

Vengeance Granted

"I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
And I've been waiting for this moment for all my life"
- In the Air Tonight, Phil Collins

Nothing immediately attacked them. They continued to hear howls from various directions, mostly North. It was possible the wargs were busy attacking some poor woodsman. Many woodsmen had settled near or in the land protected by the Beornings.

It was quite sudden that the howling stopped. That put the company more on edge than ever. They felt watchfulness around them. There was something coming.

Elladan was the first to see the wargs.

"Ai!" he shouted, drawing the attention of the others.

The warg leapt forward and Elladan sidestepped the massive creature. Miril grinned, eager for vengeance. Elladan sunk his two swords into the creature's flank. It howled in agony and he barely had time to remove his swords before it spun around and faced him straight on.

Meanwhile the three full blooded elves were tangling with two other wargs. Glorfindel and Mirmegil used their swords to keep the wargs occupied while Garavon repeatedly stabbed either when one turned away.

Miril and Elrohir raced to help Elladan when suddenly a large, white warg separated them. Elrohir looked between Miril and his brother, unsure who to help.

"Help your brother!" Miril yelled at him. "I've got this completely under control!"

Elrohir nodded and continued to his brother's aid. Miril meanwhile was faced with one of the largest wargs she's ever seen. She smiled.

It leapt at her and she rolled away to the side. Unfortunately it managed to rake her arm with its claws, though the damage was mostly superficial. Miril, angrier than ever, hacked at its snout. It yelped in pain.

The white warg's pelt was splattered with red blood. Its red eyes narrowed in anger and it bared its teeth. Miril laughed.

"Come on," she taunted it. "Come and get me."

The warg ran at her. She slid under its belly and stabbed upwards. The force of her blow combined with the speed the warg had been traveling meant her sword was ripped from her grasp.

That wasn't good.

The white warg was dead, but she was reduced to a long knife, a weaker, smaller blade. She was also sprayed with warg blood all over her face. A warg slunk towards her unseen, smaller but more agile than the others. Maybe an adolescent.

Miril barely managed to catch sight of it before it landed on top of her, knocking her to the ground. Using her knife, she hacked at the beast's face, stabbing it in the eye. It wailed, releasing her. Miril scuttled backwards, trying to get to her feet.

It was about to charge again when Glorfindel stepped between her and the warg. He had his sword and a flaming brand. He said something along the lines of "begone, foul creature," before stabbing it with first his sword and then the fiery stick.

The warg howled in agony, tearing away at top speed. The other remaining warg soon followed. Everyone looked around at the multitude of dead wargs. There were four, large carcasses.

"Food for a month," Elrohir muttered, only half-joking.

Glorfindel stepped up to Miril and offered a hand in getting up. She took it gratefully.

"Well you look horrible," said Elladan as he noted the amount of blood that covered her face and chest.

"Isn't my blood," she assured them. "It's the warg's."