Long Lost Leaves - Part III

[Aikanáro]

Tabrîl dipped her head slightly by way of acknowledgement, and then told Radagast, 'I shall turn back if there is anything worthy of report. If there is not, I shall return to you at nightfall.' That said, she glanced over towards Haldis' tent in momentary concern. The connection between herself and the mortal woman was not now so strong that it would block the path ahead of her, was it? Tabrîl reckoned not. She reckoned that whatever mystery it was that bound them, there was something of intent in it. Tabrîl would return, as she had said to Radagast she would, and a warrior did not break her word.

Confident that there would be no unnecessary complications, Tabrîl left the camp, and was soon riding northwards, towards the Hills. She chose her path deliberately, mindful that the others would have to follow. There was a sudden, momentary stirring of the wind that caused her to slow in anticipation, but it was nothing, and she rode on, taking careful note of her surroundings, expecting-

What was she expecting to find, that she thought the others might need protection against? Tabrîl didn't know. Perhaps there was nothing. Yet if there was something, she did not intend to be caught unaware by it, and so the uncertainty only made her more watchful as she continued on.

[Willow Oran]

Occupied as she had been with supervising the use and supply of provisions, Haldis had not had a chance to meditate, to familiarize herself to the surrounding land in that manner, and so had no way of knowing that the blustery morning was anything unusual until the whirlwind started shrieking.

She recognized the shrieking. She had heard it before, outside Dol Gulder, and if she had thought it sounded displeased by them at that time, coupled with the whirlwind, it seemed to her to be undoubtedly a warning. That was too obvious to be worth mentioning, so Haldis said nothing, and concentrated on calming the mules and horses, and when that was done, on re-gathering all that had been scattered, and packing it more securely.

Going about these tasks automatically, Haldis allowed her mind to wander, to open to the hills the way she opened it to the forest at home. It was harder here, and weaker with her attention split, but she could still feel Tabrîl, and she could feel the hills as the warrior picked her pathway through them.

Haldis secured the last pack and looked up, out at the hills. They were restless, uneasy. She hoped Tabrîl would be careful.

[feawen]

Nami spotted her last remaining item above her head in a tree. "Great, why is it always up and never down?" Jumping quickly up she plucked the remaining sock out of the tree.

[Ingwe]

-Placeholder, original comment deleted-

[Coffeehouse]

The northern winds from the Iron Hills had whipped into a full-blown storm and were sweeping down upon Aladji and Quickleaf.

It had been nigh on 7 days since they left Dorwinion, and they had enjoyed a peaceful ride beneath the blue skies. This latest night however the river and the wind had turned into a foaming frenzy. Quickleaf was lying out-stretched on the front of the dhow trying to tie up one of the ropes that kept the mast balanced. But the rope had loosened from its hold and was now dancing wildly in the wind.

- "Khooma-thum! Watch your feet Kviggliff! The railing is slippery!",
Aladji boomed behind Quickleaf, the captain trying to steer the dhow between the dangerous shoals on the Carnen.
- "It's..... imp....ossible to get...hold.....of!" Quickleaf groaned as another rippling wind of cold air gushed towards the dhow.
- "Use that oar!" Aladji shouted but the wind drowned him down,
- "Use the oar Kviggliff!" now bellowed with all the might his lungs could muster.
Quickleaf turned to cup his hand to his ear but at that moment a multitide of variously-sized objects shot towards the boat, hitting Quickleaf on the head and piercing through the sails.
- "Stars and moons what was that!?" Quickleaf shouted out.
- "Tsjharr-khol? It looks like charcoal!" Aladji howled back.
- "Charcoal!?" Quickleaf quite couldn't believe that, but looking down on his arms, amazingly enough they were covered with the spluttered remains of charcoal.
- "Why would there be charcoal in the wind!? Are the Iron Hills volcanic Aladji??"
- "Woll-kani-que... What you say? What is that?" Aladji bellowed in befuddlement.
- "You know! Mountains that go Boom! Lava! Very hot!"
- "Lava... Yes lava! Vhulkaffa! Vhulkaffa! No Kviggliff, I never hear of vhulkaffa here!" Aladji searched his memory but could not remember any recent vulcanic eruptions in the area, neither did he know that any of the hills were vulcanic.
- "Well if it isn't volcanoes then it must come from some fire-place!" Quickleaf realized as he spotted the remains of food burned onto the charcoal.

Why had a hail of charcoal spotted with burnt food rained down upon their boat?

[Earniel]

By the time Tabrîl returned from her scouting trip, all escaped socks had been captured and all the horses and donkeys were loaded with riders and travelling gear.

Tabrîl pointed them to a path that led north into the Hills. For three days the adventurers travelled without incidents. The Hills were quit and they endured no more whirlwinds. They did occasionally encounter some of the wildlife of the Iron Hills: mountain deer, ground squirrels and sometimes Eagles could be spotted high above the Hills, wheeling on thermals. The animals mostly seemed almost curious rather than wary, not accostumed to many human visitors in these parts of the Hills.

On the morning of the third day since entering the Hills, Radagast ordered camp to be set up. A camp he believed to be probably one of the last. They should be very close now to their goal, unless he had made some grave errors in interpreting the clues. He told the others they would camp here for several days while they would start looking for the markers in earnest in the vicinity of the camp.

[Coffeehouse]

And just as fast as the shrieking storm had arrived, it just as quickly swept southwards and disappeared beyond the running river of Carnen.

- "Ominous signs Elf! And look at my dhow, habba ghoo, it is a mess!",
Aladji growled in disbelief, dusting off the charcoal dust that settled on his tanned, bald head,
- "I shall have to make repairs now! And my meeting with the Dwarven representatives in the Iron Hills shall have to wait. The dhow before anything, even precious metals!"

Quickleaf felt sorry for Aladji, who had already taken great risks voyaging up-stream on the Carnen, and now this freak storm, what unluck! A week earlier they had been in the House of Prayers, where Aladji had payed tribute to his God, and asked for safe passage and fair weather. And this they had received Quickleaf thought, but this storm came, literally from a clear, blue sky.

- "I wonder dear friend, I wonder if darker forces are at work here! Your trade has always been favored, but I fear my presence on your dhow is giving you misfortune where you deserve none!"
- "Nonsense Kviggliff! I should think the company of a first-born a honour and a privilege! Even though you are a strange Elf!", he smiled,
and Quickleaf laughed with him.
- "That I won't disagree with!", but he looked northwards towards the hazy, bluegray tops of the Iron Hills, and Quickleaf looked more solemnly towards the Captain,
- "Yet Aladji, I fear this is not an occurence without relation to me. You know very well of my Fellowship and how I have been lost from them, but something tells me old Radagast has brought my friends close to the end now to a very long journey. And it would be wrong to think it an easy one. Our search for the Entwives was always a shot in the dark, but if my friends have reached the hills north of here I fear many things will come out of the dark quickly. And some dark things have very bad intentions! And for that reason..."

But here Aladji broke off Quickleaf and grabbed his hand and embraced it betwixt his two large sailor palms,
- "Before you ask to journey on, by yourself, because I see that's where this is leading, know that we are not saying goodbye here, and understand that I won't let you go without properly equipping yourself! You may be an elf but if you are to help your friends against such dark matters that you speak of you need to be prepared!",
and Aladji turned 'round and pulled out one of the crates stacked safely beneath a large blanket,

- "Kviggliff, here is my sword Emethael which I used in the War of the Ring. It's blade draped in mithril, it's cut is sharp and fine. Will you honour me by carrying it with you?"

[feawen]

Nami found her self a relatively comfortable place under a tree. "hello tree, you will be my home for the next few days ok? ....oh Nami this quest is making you mad!"
The sudden wind a few days ago had started talks about the shadow martins among the group, talks of their first entcounter with them at Abasi's and Quickleafs fight, often ended in hushed voices and sidewides glances as Nami had passed by. the loss of Quickleaf still nipped at her heart. its not like wispering will stop me hearing, im an elf. she had often thought as she passed by.
The quest seemed to be near to reaching its climax and as Nami thought on this she realised that, if she or anyone lived though this, she would soon be making the long jounary home and loosing her new friends.
Not wishing to linger on sad thoughts she wondered over to Radagast, "Is there anything i can do to help?"

[Midge]

After maybe five or six days in their most recent camp, Magor sat munching an after-dinner pickle.

"Aerin," he called out to the Elf. "Come talk to me." She came and sat against the trunk of a nearby tree. "Yes?"

"You and me - we should go looking for something. We all heard that seer tell Radagast what to look for - we'll know just as well as he will." Magor took another crunchy bite.

Aerin leaned against the tree. "I'll think about it." A few moments passed in blessed pickle-crunching-less silence. She wondered what they would find if they did go looking. She knew she was tired of making camp and telling stories every night. Her favorite times in this Company were the ones when Radagast would gather everyone up and talk about what was going to happen, or what something meant, or how close he thought they were to their goal. Often during the in-between times, she found herself wishing she'd stayed back at the town with the bar, or even just parted ways after being rescued from Dol Guldur. She was much closer to home then.

"Are you thinking about it?"

Aerin looked at Magor hard. "What is the matter? I haven't seen you wound up like this before. Usually you're the most laid-back of all of us - even in battle!"

Magor replied, "I guess I'm just restless. Going on a hunt for the Entwives - that's an adventure. Taking a pleasure-journey through rather dangerous lands - I've got better things to do." Aerin leaned against the tree once more. Magor was right. Finding the Entwives was a noble cause. Wandering the wilderness in search of naught but maybe death was... well, stupid. She stood up.

"I'll go ready Glaeren, then. You saddle up Shot and we'll go get some water to take with us. Are we going to tell anyone what we're doing?"

Magor grinned. "Naw, that will take all of the fun out of it."

While Aerin noted Magor's elatedness at being able to do something (and secretly shared it), she kept her face grim as she said, "I think it would be prudent to tell someone."

Magor stared at her. "What if there were no one else around? What if it was only you and me on this journey? We wouldn't notify anyone then. We don't need to do so now."

"I see your logic there. However, we're not the only ones on this trip, and if we do run into something so dangerous that we die, I think the others should know about it so they don't do the same dumb thing we did and die also. The whole point of our secret excursion would be in vain if that happened."

"Excuse me, I believe I can help both of you."

Startled by the interjection, both Aerin and Magor whirled around to see Blossomshade hovering over a space in the leaves of the trees.

"I could follow you. I'm big enough to help you if you get into trouble, I blend into my environment pretty well if you do happen to die (which I sincerely hope doesn't happen) until the enemies are gone, and I'm a member of this group as well. I could bring news back to the Company in any case."

Magor's grin appeared again. "Perfect! Let's go saddle up, Aerin! Blossomshade, we'll meet you at the northwest corner of camp, near the shallow place in that stream."

As she walked toward the "stable" where Glaeren was, Aerin was quite surprised to find that her only thought was a joyous, "And now we're off!"

[Midge]

Aerin wondered whether anyone noticed they were gone. It had been a few hours since she and Magor had left the camp. Blossomshade was following them at a distance - they'd agreed that two riders AND a walking tree were a bit of a conspicuous group.

She looked at Magor and asked, "Do you remember exactly what Teye said? Maybe we should have asked Haldis before we left."

"Nope, we shouldn't have." Magor sat back on Shot and recited:

"'There are four images I keep seeing in relation to your quest. One is of a narrow canyon, carved out of rock and dirt. Winding like an old river, but the water has since long disappeared. It ends in an enclosed grassy area before a wide, smooth cliff-face. There’s an red, staring eye scribbled on it. There is an eagerness connected to the image, as well as weariness and sorrow.' That's only the first one, but I figure we probably should find that before we go searching for all the others."

Aerin was shocked that Magor's memory was that good. "I lost Teye's visions after so long in the wilderness." All of a sudden, a memory from long before Teye's vision rushed upon her:

Radagast was sitting a little ways away from the group where she was eating breakfast. He was reading the documents she'd retrieved from Dol Guldur. After Radagast mumbled through a lot of orc-speak which Aerin did not care to listen much to, he outburst, "A rock with three spires, at a distance of four days starting at the point where the river Carnen leaves the hills. A better clue we will not find! There we must go."

Aerin smiled. "A rock with three spires, at a distance of four days starting at the point where the river Carnen leaves the hills. A better clue we will not find."

"What?"

"This was from the Dol Guldur papers, from before you joined our Company. We retrieved many bits and pieces of letters from the dungeons of Dol Guldur, and one of them was a letter from an orc-minion to a certain Khamûl detailing where they had trapped the Entwives."

"Well, we had camped at a distance of almost four days' journey from that part of the Carnen. I wish I had known this clue - my Ranger training kind of makes me a specialist in finding things like this." He dismounted Shot and climbed a nearby tree.

"What are you doing?"

"This kind of thing can't be that disguised that well around here, and we're right approximately where it should be. If we have the right angle, we should be able to see it."

Up in the tree, he slowly looked at all the surrounding areas, starting with the East. There was nothing South or West, but as he turned North, he saw a rock pillar, much like a sentinel, about a mile or so away. It seemed to end in a blunted point. He softly called out, "Aerin! We're headed North," then shimmied back down the tree and climbed onto Shot again.

[Acalewia]

Aelfwine had seen Blossomshade lumber off. She looked around and seeing no one else had noticed the ent-wife leaving, she untied Midnight and led her away from the camp and followed her.

Afew hours later, Aelfwine caought up with Blossomshade, along with Magor and Aerin, just as Magor was hopping onto his horse.

"You two eloping?" Aelfwine said, jokingly as she reined in next to them.

[Midge]

Aerin was confused. She looked at Aelfwine, then Magor and said, "Is this a joke?"

Magor, meanwhile looked at Aerin to see what she was thinking. After her response, Magor grinned and said to Aelfwine, "No. Not quite. We're getting on with this quest because we're just plain tired of sitting around telling camp stories. We're headed north from here, about a mile. Do you remember anything other than that three-spiked rock that Aerin mentioned?"

"We can talk on the way. Hyah!" Shot was off, with Aerin and Aelfwine loping close behind.

[Acalewia]

"A canyon with the Eye," Aelfwine searched her memory for Teye's visions. "And a hall with black pillars," She was riding side by side with Aerin and Magor. She wondered if their absence would be noticed within that large group of adventurers.

[Midge]

As they reached the pillar-like rock, Aerin could not help but notice how desolate the area looked, despite the presence of trees. Even Magor, who was usually way too chipper, was subdued by the feeling of the place.

"So - what are we looking for now?"

"There should be a cany-" Magor started to say, just as Aelfwine answered "A canyon that used to-"

They looked at each other as Aerin finished for both of them: "That's right. A canyon is somewhere around here. Whoever finds it first gets a pickle back at camp!"

For a few seconds the three of them simply sat on their horses looking around.

"Well, maybe we'll have to look for it. I figured a canyon would be pretty easy to spot, but it's possible it's not." Magor nudged Shot off to the right to poke around.

They began to search the area around the pillar for the opening to the canyon. Aerin noticed a grove of trees not far away and directed Glaeren towards them, thinking perhaps the opening to the canyon lay behind their tops. She had only gone a few yards into the grove when suddenly, all the tree-tops disappeared and Aerin saw only the grey-white sky. At the same time, Glaeren seemed to lose her footing and only by the quickest signal to back up did Aerin retain her seat. When she saw what made Glaeren trip, she called out, "Magor! Aelf! Come here!"

[Acalewia]

Aelfwine heard Aerin's call and turned Midnight toward where she's heard the elf's voice. She and Magor reached Aerin at the same time. Aelfwine looked down and saw the canyon below them at a steep drop off. It was barely wide enough for a horse to pass through with very little room to maneuver if they came across any danger. With all the bends the former river had, Aelfwine could see there would be many blind spots and told the others this. Secretly she was glad it was just the three of them and Blossmshade. If the others had come with them, Hedrem would have arrogantly insisted on going first and perhaps there would have been some argument.

[Midge]

"Well, Aerin, you clearly found our canyon," Magor said, steadily even though he was a bit shaken looking at some of those corners. He hoped Shot could make it. "Yeah, it'll be tight and yes, even blind sometimes, but we've got this far. We've got to see where it goes. By the bye, can I have the winning pickle? I know how you feel about them." Aerin sighed.

Assuming he'd get an answer later, Magor nudged Shot into the slot in the earth, followed by Aelfwine and finally Aerin.
___________________________________

After several hours of slowly inching forward in the stuffy corridor of earth, Magor stopped short.

"What's wrong?" Aerin asked in a hushed voice. The subdued feeling had preceded them ever since the pillared rock.

"I heard something around the next corner," Magor said. He took a breath and spurred Shot forward. As he became able to see around the corner, his mouth dropped open.

"What?" Both Aerin and Aelfwine spoke at the same time. Magor didn't answer; he only kicked Shot forward and took off. Aerin and Aelfwine, eager to be out of the canyon, followed him, not even knowing what was around the corner.

[Acalewia]

Aelfwine was glad to be out of the canyon, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to face what Magor had seen. But whatever it was he was riding towards it. When they caught up to Magor, Aelfwine gasped. They had found another sign.

[Midge]

Aerin rode out of that wretched canyon behind Magor and Aelfwine with her eyes closed. The stuffy air was lifting and she was finally in an open space, she could feel it.

When she opened her eyes, she was disappointed to not find herself in an open field or a shady glade like she might have found in the south. She looked at the four walls of what looked to be a huge pit - the walls were much higher than any man she'd ever seen. The wall across from her was different than the other three. Looking to her sides, she saw jagged cliffs which MIGHT be climbed if one was willing to take the risk. The other wall was not one for climbing, unless you were an insect and could stick or suction yourself to the wall, for it seemed to Aerin to be smooth as glass.
_________________________________________________

After Magor got over the excitement of seeing an open space, he quickly turned around and told his companions to keep quiet. "I heard the sound of rocks tinkling down the sides of these cliffs earlier." Looking around at the grass which had been smashed this way and that, and the boulders which had one clean side and one muddy, wormy side, and the spots of bare ground which obviously had only lately been exposed to sun and sky, he postulated, "I guess that wind phenomenon we experienced a few days ago started here. What hit us wouldn't have overturned these boulders, so here it must have been strongest, thus where it began."

He turned Shot around to face Aerin and Aelfwine. "Well, ladies, shall we make a camp here? I believe that now is the time to send our messenger back with the news, don't you?"

Aerin agreed. "I'll go find her. She wouldn't have fit down that canyon, and she may be able to even get in and out of this pit fairly simply." She rode off to find Blossomshade, who was, in fact waiting at the end of the canyon for a decision to be made. After Aerin informed her of what was going on, she heartily (for an Entwife) jumped up and started off towards camp.

[Midge]

A few hours after Blossomshade had headed back to the camp to get the rest of the company going, three adventurers were setting up a small camp with what they'd brought.

"I'm not sure we were planning on camping out here, so we didn't bring a whole lot." Aerin mused out loud.

Magor chuckled, "Well, you want to go back through that canyon to get our things?"

"No. I do not."

"I didn't think so. Well, it won't rain tonight - the air is far too dry, and we can sleep under the stars for one night. It won't hurt us."

The three of them sat around a small fire, roasting three small game birds that Magor had managed to bring down inside the enclosed field, and watched the light fade as the sun slipped down behind the trees. Aelfwine, who sat facing the smooth wall, looked up and gasped. "Look, Look!" As she got over her shock, she mumbled, "How horrible!"

Magor and Aerin whipped around and saw on the side of the smooth cliff an eye staring down at them. "How is that possible?" Magor wondered.

"I don't know how it's done, but when I was trapped in Dol Guldur, I saw the same effect often enough," Aerin replied. "There were several dimly lit corridors and rooms, and when a shaft of light would come through a crack and hit the walls just right, it would look exactly like that. There were terrible pictures all over the walls. It must be an art of Sauron's or perhaps the Orcs'. Now I wish we'd done a bit more research before deciding to spend the night here."

"Oh, cheer up, Aerin!" Magor said. "Blossomshade's been gone a while. Perhaps in a couple more hours, you'll see all the misfits that make up our company come marching up to the edge of that cliff. At least we can tell them we've found two signs instead of just one."

A few more minutes passed and Aerin spoke again. "I do hope you won't be disappointed, Magor."

"In what?"

"I've just remembered that I forgot to mention to Blossomshade to make sure someone brings back pickles to us."

[Acalewia]

Aelfwin chuckled
"Well in all the excitment I'm sure one wold forget," She said. She was tring not to look up too far. The Eye looking down at them gave her goosebumps. When she'd noticed the eye and brought it to the attemtion of her comrads, every hair on her body stood on end. She knew for a fact she would not be sleeping tonight.