Long Lost Leaves - Part III

[Midge]

"Am I sharing?" Magor joked. "That depends on what I'll get out of this deal. You gonna groom my horse for me?" He laughed out loud and Aerin wondered what was so funny. He told her, "Taking care of my horse is probably my favorite thing to do, other than riding. I wouldn't trade that for all the pickles in the world. And if I had both, no way would I give the pickles away for someone to do my horse's grooming!" He winked at Aelf and retreived two more pickles, one for her and one for Aerin.

"Whatever I can do for some damsels in distress!" he said, sitting down. Aerin took the pickle and told him, "I was not in distress about not having a pickle, especially since we just had dinner. But thank you." Then she ate it.

[Acalewia]

Aelfwine laughed at Magor's comment. She laughed even more at Aerin's puzzled look. She took the pickle Magor handed her.
"You and the damsles in distress. Always the hero," She said with a grin and a wink.

[Midge]

"Speaking of a damsel in distress, I know of one near our 'stable' who needs me now," Magor said, fairly hopping to his feet and running to tend to his horse. Aerin realized she still didn't know the horse's name.

"What is his horse's name?" She asked Aelfwine as they munched their pickles.

[Acalewia]

"Hmm," Aelfwine said. "I can quite remember. As much as he talks about her I should know," She laughed. "But he does love that horse more than anyone could love a creature," She smiled.

[Midge]

Magor jogged to his horse, A Shot in the Dark (Shot for short) and began brushing her down as she munched some oats he'd given her. As he was doing this, he noticed a dark figure brushing another horse. Who is this? he wondered and spoke it out loud. When he'd said as much, the figure looked up and Magor recognized another Rider whom he'd seen plenty of times around Rohan, but had not noticed on this trip much. Perhaps that's because I'm hanging around all these women, he thought, laughing at his inner sarcasm.

"Friend, I don't know your name, though I know your face. Would you do me the honor of first introducing yourself, as I will do in a moment, and then going off to a hunt? My name is Magor and I am a Rider of the Mark, as I know you are as well. What we will hunt I am not sure, but the moon is rising and the beginning of the night is an excellent time to find something to shoot and then eat. Will you join me?" He waited for the Rider's reply.

[The last sane person]

After returning from scouting around the camp and further ahead, Redplate quietly came back into camp to retrieve a bowl of stew from the cook fire, and inform Radagast of his discoveries. Once done with that, Carnehillion went over to his horse and gave her a good brushing. Bahar was happily enjoying the rub down, and using her human as a scratching post, when she noticed the young man approach another mare in the small herd and proceed to groom her. Bahar nudged Redplate and gave a low whicker, causing him to look over his shoulder and notice the young man for himself.

Ah, what's his name... Magor. I see the young lad finally pried himself away from the ladies' circle. Carnehillion grinned in the darkness, and continued to groom his mount and watch as Magor did the same. He looks familiar though, where have I seen him before?

Carnehillion bent his mind in thought, as he adjusted Bahar's headstall, as to here he might have met the young man before the quest's beginning. Meduseld. Must've been when the lad was sword-sworn as a Rider. Redplate continued about his business, packing up what tools he didn't need into his cantle bag when Magor hailed him.

"Friend, I don't know your name, though I know your face. Would you do me the honor of first introducing yourself, as I will do in a moment, and then going off to a hunt? My name is Magor and I am a Rider of the Mark, as I know you are as well. What we will hunt I am not sure, but the moon is rising and the beginning of the night is an excellent time to find something to shoot and then eat. Will you join me?" He waited for the Rider's reply.

Carnehillion nodded to the man by way of acknowledgment, "I'm Carnehillion Redplate, second Marshall of the West Riding. Waes Hael, fellow Rider of the Mark! I know your name and martial bearing well enough Magor of Westfold. T'was four years ago, that you made your sword oath to Eomer King. I am glad to have another rider on this venture."

Redplate hid a grin as he saw the young man's face flush with recognition and continued. "I would glad accompany you on the hunt, what with the last of our meats being slowly used by ways of stews this past month. Are we to be mounted or afoot, to sword or to ship our bows?"

[Varnafindë]

Barufiniel was happy about Tabril's praise of her song - she appreciated that the older Elf wasn't just being vague, but pointed out what she found good about it.

"Yes, I am proud of my grandmother and of her sacrifice,", she said. "I will add the song to the teachings of my people, as you say - what little of them are left here in Middle-earth. So many of them have travelled to the West ... I suppose that next time someone leaves, I should send a copy with them, to have it truly added to our teachings. It would be good if my people in the West could sing it, too. There will be more people there who knew her."

Perhaps she will even be there herself, she thought to herself. Glorfindel was returned from Mandos, and so was Finrod, and probably others. Perhaps Arindis as well? But that would be mere speculations.

[Midge]

"I would use my bow, certainly. I can use it mounted or walking, so whatever method you find favorable is what we can use. I have not been in these woods before, but considering it is autumn, I would guess that deer would be easy to find in a forest like this. What would you prefer, Redplate, friend?" Magor took hold of his bow after finishing Shot's brushdown.

[Midge]

When Redplate jumped onto his horse, Magor did the same. It had been a very long time since he'd been on a hunt. At least since before he joined this group, certainly. Fortunately, Shot had not forgotten all her training on silence over almost any terrain; this was crucial on the plains of Rohan, with nary a tree to hide behind in the case of surprising an enemy.

They set off, step by quiet step, into the woods outside the camp. They had been searching for nearly twenty minutes when a thought occurred to Magor. After double checking to make sure he wasn't spooking any wildlife that was potential dinner, he quietly asked Redplate, "Should we have told someone we were going hunting?"

[Midge]

When Redplate shook his head, Magor resumed his quiet scanning of the forest. After another half-hour or so, he noticed a movement out of the corner of his left eye - it was remarkably close to them. Instead of risking scaring the animal by alerting Redplate to its existence, Magor instead slowly raised his bow while nocking an arrow. As he did so, he also turned his head so that he could see the animal more clearly. It was a large stag, and when Magor saw this, he wanted to bring it back more than ever. He took aim, sure that by now Redplate knew what he was doing. After a deep breath in and out to steady his aim, he let fly with the arrow.

[Midge]

Magor and Redplate plodded into camp astride their horses. After the long hunt, all four of them were tired. The two men put their horses away and Redplate headed off to his tent, where Magor assumed he just fell onto his bed into an immediate sleep, the way a real man would. Magor, on the other hand, made his way over to Haldis's tent where she still had a light on. Of course she's still up, Magor thought. After making sure she didn't mind him coming in, he hoisted the huge cut of meat he'd just killed and dressed higher and asked, "So... does this mean I can have some more pickles?"

[Earniel]

With their fresh meat-supply replenished, and their pickle-supply surprisingly diminished, the adventurers had a decent night sleep. The weather that had been pleasant all night, slowly changed during the morning. The sky remained cloudless and sunny. But a fickle wind was picking up, with moments of calm followed by sudden gusts that ruffled hair and reached with cool fingers under warm blankets that weren't tugged in well enough.

The shifting wind unsettled the horses and sabotaged any attempt to have a warm breakfast as making a fire in this gusty weather was dangerous.

The adventurers were trying to break up camp as well as they could when a deep boom rolled over the hills, like thunder, even though the sky above remained clear. Another boom followed a minute later.

"This is no ordinary weather!" Radagast yelled over the wind.

In the rosy morning sky, the adventurers could see the twisting winds rising up from the Hills in the north to form a whirlwind. It rose high. Several more booms followed, as if somewhere in the Hills a siege engine was battering down the gate of a fortress.

At the camp, the gusts of wind intensified as the whirlwind grew. Some people tried to calm the skittish horses while others moved for cover. Then accompanied by the last loud thud, the wind carried a multi-voiced shriek, filled with frustration and anger. When the shriek died away, the whirlwind in the sky collapsed on itself immediately. The gusts of wind were gone so suddenly, that many of the adventurers who had been fighting the wind to stay upright just a moment before, now toppled over as they all of a sudden met no more resistance.

Radagast and his companions suddenly found themselves on the ground of their overturned camp where the wind had tossed themselves and their belongings around. The sky above showed not a trace of the windy weather they had experienced just earlier, in fact it had all the hallmarks of becoming a pleasant and sunny day.

[Midge]

Aerin held out her hand to steady Magor as he got up.

"What was that?" they both asked at the same time.

[Acalewia]

"What in Middle Earth?" Aelfwine said as she picked herself up. She looked around as the others began to pick themselves up. "What was that?"

[Earniel]

"Well, that was unexpected," Radagast said as soon as he had finished picking himself off the ground. He brushed dirt from the rim of his hat.

"I daresay those were our shadowy marten-friends, if that scream was anything to go by. We do seem to run into them everywhere we go. They can't be more than a day's distance away."

He looked around. Small and light items had been picked up by the wind and strewn around. Tents had been blown over. The horses stood close together with Haldis' pack-donkeys. All of them were obviously still nervous, but none of them had fled.

"My," Radagast said as he surveyed the messy camp with surprise. "Such power! I never expected them to be able to do all this."

[Acalewia]

"I don't think there is much we can expect, save for more trouble," Aelfwine said as she began to help with the clean up of the camp.

[Midge]

"Are we expecting that power to be for us, or working against us? Knowing that will make one of two very different outcomes to this journey," Magor muttered to himself. Aerin shook her head, thinking the exact same thing as they gathered various articles of clothing, knick-knacks, and other items blown out of their rightful places.

[The last sane person]

Fighting his way out from under the wreckage of his collapsed tent, Redplate finally emerged into the daylight with a curse as he surveyed the windswept mess that was camp.

"By Manwe's BREATH! What was that?!" he grumped as he set about picking up and attempting to untangle his tent and personal goods. He gave a grunt of appreciation when he looked up and found Bahar more or less where she was bedded down for the night.

Stock still and every muscle a quiver with anxiety, Bahar flared her nostrils and gave a slight nicker over to him and a pensive toss of the head. Carnehillion stopped what he was doing and went over to ease her nerves, as she was still anticipating another unexpected natural outburst, giving her a calming brush down.

While stroking her muzzle, Carnehillion quietly addressed Radagast, "Did those martens follow us from the very onset, or did we release them from Dol Guldur? Were you aware of them when we left your house? I kept an eye out for them ever since we first noticed them. For me that was back when Quickleaf and that Abasi fellow had a fight. I can't say I found much of a trace of them when we were on the river, or when we went into that town. By the looks of it, they beat us here and have been waiting."

[Earniel]

"Well, I do have to admit not being able to say precisely what will happen or whether there will be trouble when we meet the martens face to ...whiskers," Radagast said as he had finished dusting himself off.

"However," he said as he lifted up the canvass of his flattened tent to see how the contents had survived. "However, they may just have done us a favour. Not by sending us camp a-tumble, mind you, but if these creatures are also looking for the Guardian -which I think they are- then that place where they created that whirlwind, is a very good place to start looking ourselves."

The canvass of the tent had protected much of Radagast's belongings, for which he was glad. Even the Dol Guldur scrolls were still protected in the leather binding he had placed them in. He was so intent in checking that he didn't quite catch Carnehillion's question at first.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm quite sure the martens came out of Dol Guldur, Carnehillion," he said after the rider had repeated his question. "The Elves surely would have seen them before, after all, they had camped there for quite a while at my request to guard the entrance before we arrived. But you are right in that the martens have beat us to the Hills, they seem to know where to go better than we do. Yet... I daresay they haven't beaten us to the Guardian yet."

[Acalewia]

"If they know where to go better than we do," Aelfwine said, various objects in her arms. "Shouldn't we just follow them? At a safe distance that is,"