The Full account of the passing of Hallabar Annundor, father to Fallidir

Here is the account of the passing of Hallabar Annundor written henceforth by his son, Fallidir Annundor: It was a night in mid to late summer, the weather was humid and warm. This was partly due to being stationed only a few yards from the Anduin, but also due to a storm, not by the making of the climate of this world, but of the doing of the black tower to the east. We had recieved orders from headquarters to make camp by the river as, rumour had it that the orcs were trying to cross the river by boat. Our orders were to stand our ground until new orders came, and so our company camped on the bank of the Anduin waiting for an attack or a silent arrow to find its mark. As would be understood the mood in the camp was somber, no one singing, playing music or even talking to one another. I stayed alongside my father that night, keeping watch over the river, ever silent ever vigelant. It was all we could do on the sleepless night, and nothing happened that night... to us. Because Orcs did cross the river, however they used a makeshift bridge instead, for Orcs that is surprisingly clever. And so under the cover of the darkness the Orcs did cross the river, but not where we expected and so managed to ambush our camps along the river. These we not ordinary Orcs, they did not just run in and try to kill anyone. No these orcs knew to attack anyone bearing an insignia of rank first, thus causing the rest of the soldiers to panic and ultimately rout. And companies upon the Anduin did last night, save ours, for in that night we were spared the battle by some twisted luck, we could all hear the sounds of battle, of our freinds and brothers dieing on both our flanks. And yet we remained untouched... until the dawn. With the rising of a sickly orange sun we saw the true horror of the night, already the crows and the carrion birds set upon the bodies of the freinds we knew in life, know nothing more than food for the birds and the orcs, it was a truely grim sight to behold and one I wish I never have to witness once again. It was on this sight that Hallabar, captain of the company and my father made the decision to head back to headquarters for reinforcements. So here we come to the tale of the passing of Hallabar, but before you learn the way of his passing it should be known of how he was so dear to me and why his passing was greatly grieved by those who knew him. Hallabar was described by most as a kind hearted, strong, witty old man. His strength was said to equal or double that of Lord Boromir, I do think this is a fable, as too the tale that he once wrestled a troll barehanded to the ground. And that his age was that of a dwarf lord when he died rather than that of a man, but again I am sad to believe these too are fables. Although there are some truthes that I shall share, Hallabar could easily carry a greatsword in a single hand and dance in his armour, it is also true that he was still able bodied enough to serve in the army for forty years. That is wife, my mother was from Eriador is also true, and it again is true that he always followed his orders no matter how fool hardy they may have been. This was ultimately his downfall. And so at mid morning of that fateful day Hallabar, my father and the leader of this group of men, ordered us to return to headquarters. So we collected our gear put out our fires and prepared to leave, this was the second mistake to be made in that pair of days, as unlike our coleagues we would have to travel through all the Orcs to return to the headquarters instead of the units that attacked in the night. We walked through the ruined streets of Osgiliath, always anticipating an attack at any time, we all believed we could feel the orcs watching us from everywhere, just waiting for us to show any signs of weakness for them to attack. They think they saw one and so, began the constant shower of arrows, stones and other missles upon us, we walked in formation of a box with shields facing every outside access and shields over our heads in the shape of a gull's wing to deflect the projectiles away from us. For a time this worked, all that could be heard was the bangs and the dings of arrows hitting off shields, armour, weapons and helmets, but then came the sounds of screaming, of the dull thud as lucky arrows hit their marks, of the sounds our freinds being trampled by us as we moved over their fallen bodies, most still alive for a time before orcs came to finish any that fell behind. This continued for a time, until one of the older men was hit, he carried the shield protecting my father, and so with the falling of this man I am ashamed to say I do not recall the name of, my father recieved the second arrow of an orc's aim. It hit him square in the heart, punching through his armour with ease, but he stood for a while after the arrow struck home, we all thought the arrow did not fully pierce the armour. But our hope was in vain, his legs buckled and he turned pale in my arms. Hallabar, the great man passed from this world. Disheartened, nay devastated the men soon broke and ran, leaving my father's body to be savaged by the cruel orcs and carrion birds, now fat from the bodies of our freinds, our brothers, my father. Less than half of Hallabar's company made it to the headquarters alive, and I wept for my father all through the night as did all who knew the great man of Hallabar. The morning after we returned we were ordered into the commander's tent, we were berated for abandoning our post upon the river and fleeing back here like whipped dogs. To hear this knowing how many of our freinds we lost, my anger consumed me. I lashed out at the commander and broke his jaw, I must admit in this log that it felt good to do it, but I do regret it. As I was arrested and eventually discharged from the army, without pay or pension from either myself or my father's service, my family's name discredited and now outcast from the kingdom of Gondor, to look for a new home in the north, my mother's origin of birth, Eriador. It should be noted that my father and his company were credited with the merits of high bravery in unsurmountable danger a year later, the officer who I hit was further disgraced and branded a fool for wasting such life and so my family's name was restored and the pension and pay was returned to our family. We were even offered a home within the white city, but we did not accept because from that home we would wake up to the sight of the grounds of which Hallabar died. So ends the account of Fallidir Annundor, of the passing of Hallabar Annundor, Captain and defender of Gondor, loving husband and devoted father. ~Fallidir Annundor