For the "Swordplay or Defence" prompt.
“Yet your losses in general much lower than other garrisons,” Denethor notes smoothly. “Rangers seem remarkably adept at avoiding engagement with Mordor…”
A vicious thrust; but expecting it, he parries. “While inflicting more damage than any other company, my lord. But to increase patrols, I need more men.”
He once enjoyed his father’s verbal sparring; duelling wits for pure pleasure. But these last months his mood grows dark and bitter; he’s out for blood. How long, with Boromir gone, before he goes for the kill?
“And its edge was hard and keen” – Anduril on its reforging, as described in LoTR Book 2, Ch 3, The Ring Goes South.