Chatterbox: Inkwell

So, who wants to read some fanfic? While thinking about my NaNovel (read: procrastinating) I had an interesting plot bunny for a Lord of the Rings fic with Ranger's Apprentice characters in it. And who am I to deny the creative urge? (read: I didn't feel like working on my NaNovel, and this was an interesting form of procrastination) So here it is, in all its glory.
Information:
Halt, Will, and Gilan are traveling. They get lost, and then they run into some most unusual people.
The story might contain spoilers eventually, but there aren't any yet (I don't think). Though it's probably better if you've read the books in question. No, I don't know where this is going either.
Constructive criticism greatly appreciated.
(BTW, you do know who I am, if you think about it. I posted here for a while, but then I left. Now I'm back. Feel free to guess as to my true identity.)
***
There were three people riding horses through the forest. One was a small, wiry man, with a gray beard that looked as though he cut it himself, in the dark, with a hunting knife. The other two were younger. One was tall and thin, and had a sword. The last was small and wiry, like the oldest, but this one looked like a teenager. All three had bows, arrows, and knives. All three wore mottled cloaks with hoods. And, if you looked closer, you would see that all three had a metal oakleaf on a chain around their necks. The two older ones had silver leaves; the youngest, bronze.
“Admit it, Halt,” said Will, stopping in the middle of a clearing. “We’re lost.”
Halt glanced back at his apprentice. “We’re not lost. Come on, hurry up.”
“We’re lost, aren’t we?” asked Gilan, coming up beside Will.
Halt rolled his eyes. “Why is everyone conspiring against me?”
“Does that mean we are lost?” asked Will.
“I have to admit,” said Gilan, “this place doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen.”
“It’s a forest!” said Halt. “You’ve seen forests, haven’t you?”
“Not this forest.”
Halt groaned. “Fine! We’re lost! Happy now?”
“Not particularly,” said Will. “I don’t like being lost.”
There was a sound of breaking branches, snapping twigs. Someone was coming. As if on cue, all three Rangers raised their bows, ready to shoot.
Three people on horses burst into the clearing. One was tall and lean, with shaggy dark hair. He held a sword. One, holding a bow and ready to shoot, was slender and pale, with long silver-blond hair. He was dressed in green and brown, and had pointed ears. The third was short, with a large red-brown beard. He wore a metal helmet and was armed with an axe.
“Greetings, strangers,” said the one with the sword. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”
“I would ask the same of you,” said Halt evenly. “We are armed as well, you know.”
The two men watched each other the way two wolves might, each judging the strength of the other.
Will felt a twinge of nervousness. Surely Halt was a match for this strange man -- wasn’t he? To take his mind of that, he aimed his bow at the short one. Gilan did the same to the blond one.
“Well,” said the strange man with the sword, “we would seem to be at a standstill. Tell me, what do you fear that you would not give your names?”
“I could ask the same of you,” said Halt, not moving. “And, as one of the King’s Rangers, I, unlike you, have the authority.”
Will breathed a little easier. Now that Halt had identified himself as a Ranger, things would go better.
Although it was surprising that these people hadn’t recognised a Ranger right away...
The man with the sword raised an eyebrow. “What a coincidence. I’m a ranger too.”
Will’s eyes widened. Gilan, he saw, looked puzzled also. Neither of them had seen this man before, which they should have if he was telling the truth.
“Interesting,” said Halt. His arrow did not waver. He could end this man’s life at any moment, and they both knew it. “Forgive me for saying I don’t believe you. I know all the Rangers in Araluen – you are not one of them.”