Faramir Fiction Archive

Fairborn (PG)

Written by Paul Price

26 August 2011 | 24652 words

Title: Fairborn
Author: Paul Price
Rating: PG
Pairing(s): Faramir

This is a sixteen chapter short novel detailing curious events and various adventures in the twentieth year of Faramir and Eowyn’s marriage. The adventures and events concern them, their children, their friends, the countries of Gondor, Rohan, Dunland, and Harad, and enemies they did not know they had.

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h3. Chapter 14: Erkenbrand and Unverfurth

Erkenbrand had received the message from Damrod and had acted quickly. He pulled together most of the remaining troops in Rohan. This was about one third of the entire muster of Rohan, as most the other two thirds were with King Éomer in Dunland. Erkenbrand planned to defend Helm’s Deep, his home, as King Théoden had done twenty years before. He thought that the Dunlending Army would not enter Fangorn Forest because of the threat of the ents, but he thought wrong.

As his army approached Helm’s Deep, Erkenbrand found an advance force of Dunlendings in the way. Unverfurth had safely led his troops through Fangorn. In doing so, he had cut one day off of his march time to Rohan. Thus, Erkenbrand would have to fight a battle in the open field, rather than defend his fortress. Further, as Erkenbrand expected to have more time to pull his army together, his troops were strung out along the road from the mustering place near Edoras. Thus, he was still organizing his troops, when the Dunlendings began to move toward him. He had expected the Dunlending advance force to wait until the rest of their army arrived before attacking, but he had underestimated them. King Unverfurth was an aggressive general, and had promoted captains who were aggressive, brave, and talented. The captain of his advance force, Captain Hafwulf, was the best of these new captains. Hafwulf saw that the Rohirrim were not organized for battle, and quickly led his troops to an attack, even though he was slightly outnumbered. His attack caught Erkenbrand unprepared, and routed the Rohirrim. Erkenbrand was wounded rallying his troops, and was captured by the Dunlendings. The Rohirrim troops were in total disarray, and the troops and their captains were not sure who was in command. Most of the troops headed to Edoras, and some went home. Meanwhile, Captain Hafwulf and his advance force used the captured Rohan standards to trick the skeleton garrison at Helm’s Deep into opening the gates for them, and so captured the legendary fortress. It was a dark day for Rohan.

When King Unverfurth arrived in Rohan, he found Helm’s Deep and the Underking of Rohan, Erkenbrand, in the hands of his troops, and the Rohirrim army in confusion. The wounded Erkenbrand was led, as a prisoner, to meet King Unverfurth at Helm’s Deep. Erkenbrand saw a short, somewhat pudgy man with light brown hair and grey eyes. The eyes gave an impression of great intelligence. In the short time he stood before King Unverfurth, Erkenbrand noted that the King was performing many small tasks at the same time. He appeared to be energetic as well as intelligent.

“I have heard of you.” Said Unverferth to Erkenbrand. “You captured my father here twenty years ago, and you treated him well. He spoke highly of you.”

Erkenbrand was silent. He did not know what to say in this circumstance. He did not remember any of the Dunlending prisoners from twenty years ago. Finally, he said, “I hope I can speak just as highly of you in the future to my son.”

“I intend that you shall have that opportunity. I did not come here to conquer Rohan, but to maneuver your armies out of Dunland. However, it looks like I can conquer Rohan, despite my original plan.”

“Tell me, how did you get through Fangorn?” Asked Erkenbrand.

“I marched through it.”

“And you had no opposition from the ents.”

“None. The Brown Wizard had told me there were few ents left. Additionally, she said the ents hated the orcs and Saruman, not Dunlendings, so we had no reason to fear the woods.”

“And you trusted this woman, this Brown Wizard?”

“My father always said “Trust, but verify!”, so I did. I sent a large party of horsemen through Fangorn a month ago, and they found no opposition.”

“Who is this wizard? Is she with you?”

“I do not know who she is, but her suggestions are always profitable if followed. She is not with us. She has her own agenda and it seems to coincide with ours, currently. She is off on her own business.”

“You may not hold Rohan long. King Éomer is on his way with his army, and I did not lose many of my troops in my defeat.” Said Erkenbrand.

“I do not want to hold Rohan at all. I just want Rohan and Gondor out of Dunland. If Éomer and Elessar will sign a treaty, then I will leave Rohan in peace. However, I do not think the orcs will do the same.”

“The orcs? What do they have to do with this?”

“They have grown to great numbers in the Misty Mountains, and they treat the Brown Wizard as their sovereign. She hates Rohan so much that it is almost beyond hatred. I have never seen such extreme passion before.”

“For an enemy, you are giving me much useful information. Are you sure I will live through this?”

“Yes, you will. Unlike previous leaders of Dunland, I do not wish Rohan ill. Yes, I do not think you have treated us fairly in the past, but my father taught me that the Rohirrim treated the Dunlending prisoners well twenty years ago. This is not the act of an evil people. When my father overthrew the previous King, he changed Dunland in many ways. We are far more prosperous than in prior times, and our prosperity has softened our desire to reclaim our former lands in Rohan. We now understand that Dunland is a land worth living in. We can prosper there, as we prospered in Rohan in ancient times. Also, my father changed the army. As you have found, our army is better trained and led than previously. I do not advise Rohan to continue this war, if Rohan is to survive. Our army is better than yours, and very capable of defeating you.”

Erkenbrand listened and did not quite know whether to trust the King’s words. The words sounded too grandiose to be real. He decided to reserve judgment and see if King Unverfurth’s actions supported the words.

“If you bear Rohan no ill will, then why have you been attacking our border for the last several years?” Asked Erkenbrand.

“We have not been attacking you. The Brown Wizard’s brother and his outlaw followers have been attacking you. It is true that he recruits Dunlending malcontents to his cause, but I can not control that. I discourage it as much as I am able. I have told Éomer and Elessar this, but they believe it is fiction. They invaded us to stop the attacks, but the real culprits escaped into their camps in the Misty Mountains.”

“Why should I believe this?”

“You are our prisoner, so it is irrelevant whether you believe me or not. I need to convince Éomer and Elessar. I would have thought their spies would have confirmed my story by now.”

“You think we have spies in your country?”

“Of course, you do. A spy is just someone who gives you information you want. Given the intermarriage and commerce between our peoples, there are many spies, intentional or not, providing information to both sides.”

“Spying is an act of war.” Said Erkenbrand, angrily.

“Nonsense! Spying is an act of survival. Every nation needs to know what its neighbors are doing. Otherwise, it will fail to recognize its enemies, or its friends.”

Erkenbrand was not sure if he trusted King Unverfurth, but he was sure that Unverfurth was unlike any previous leaders of Dunland.

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