The Last Meeting

Trudge Trudge Trudge.

A few weeks ago we had parted with the small red haired creature -  she had disappeared every night and we heard strange growlings all through the night. she had agreed to scout ahead and behind us, and that was when we last saw her. Sometimes I still think I feel her following us, prowling and watching, but I'm ever sure. Olorin really liked her though, and found her conversation refreshing - he said she reminded him of another of her kind, called Beorn, but he never elaborated on that point.

Keep on walking.

We had been walking all day now, and I began to forget why we were even continuing, I wondered what happened to Brundt.I walked up to Isilindil's tall frame.

"Isilindil?"
"Yes?"
"What do you thinks happened to Brundt? And his ageing?"
"I don't know, Ruby. Don't fret, I'm sure we shall find him soon." she replied without breaking stride.

We passed a couple of trees, and I looked up to see that alreday these were being infected by the strange disease that was ravishing the lands around us. They're colours were muted and unhealthy growths had began to appear.

Suddenly, a startle from a bush ahead of us drew me out of my reverie - a middle ages man had sprung out of a bush, drawn his sword and was facing us!

"Come no further, strangers!" he shouted, brandishing his weapon. I recognised his voice slightly, which was rough and low.

"We mean you no harm" replied Olorin "we are only seeking a young man which may have passed this way. Have you seen him?"
"Ah yes... yes I have."
I grew angry with his manner, and stamped my foot.
"Well tell us which was then! What happened to him?!" I shouted angrily. Isilindil put her hand in my shoulder. The man stared at me.
"He met someone he didn't expect to, and came to terms with his fate. He is long, long gone by now."
"Well, which way did he go?" Olorin asked, with a questioning tone - I could tell he was pertrubed by something, but I wasn't sure what yet.
"Ah, in no direction, sir. He is long, long gone. The young man you seek is no more, no more at all!"

With that fateful sentence, he attempted to leave, but Olorin had drawn forth his staff from under his cloak and brandished it shouting,
"Stay you where you be, changeling of man! And reveal yourself!"

Suddenly, so suddenly, a crack sounded through the forest and when the last revebrations had cleared away, I realised who this man was.
I hadn't torn away any disguise, or suddenly realised what I had forgotten - it was if I had known all along - but my brain suddenly allowed me to know, that this was Brundt.

How he had changed - almost old now. I was suprised that this change of appearance didn't diminish my happiness and confusion about seeing him one bit.

"Brundt! What is the meaning of this?!" Shouted Ranewan, and Olorin questioned with his volumous eyebrows.

But as Brundt opened his mouth to answer, his eyes wide open as if we could see into him, into the young man that me missed, a loud whooshing noise filled the path.

It came from somewhere we couldn't see, although I didn't feel anything the trees swayed in this intangible wind.


Release my One.

A simple sentence was heard in my mind, and looking at the others I realsied that they ahd heard this too. Isilindil's reserve had melted away and she was gazing open eyed at soemthing I couldn't see beyond Brundt.

A few moments later we came back to reality, only to realise that somehow Brundt had broken through Olorin's bond and slipped away.

"Wh-what was that?" I asked, and coughed to clear my throat as if I had not spoken for years.

"I may know.... but I do know what it means." Olorin replied gravely.

"What does it mean?"

"That Brundt has chosen his side. It is time we acted on ours." and Olorin sighed.

The trees swayed in a wind which pricked the hairs on the back of my neck, and I watched the mountains roll away to greyness in the impossible distance.

~ Ruby Burrows

A New Hope

It had been a few weeks since I had registered any hope on finding Brundt; Isilindil, Olorin, Ranewan and I had been tirelessly searching for him, while the landscape changed around us, we kept our heads down, tracking a ramshackle path that seemed to lead us on a wild goose chase.

It was a cold morning when I woke up earlier than usual - we had been sleeping out in the open, as we were on an open moor. The misty early morning light chased the wind, and the tops of the grass rustled slightly as I moved, careful not to wake anyone up - I wanted to be alone.

I moved away from our camping area, breaking into a confident stride as soon I was sure that I was out of earshot. That was when I heard a strange noise coming from some undergrowth.

rustle rustle rustle SPLOT rustle rustle rustle SPLOT
 
I stopped walking an listened quietly. I could hear my blood pumping through my veins, and I kept telling myself that I was dreaming. Then I heard a small piping voice from underneath the moss.

"Always mess. Always mist. Never rest. And then that big brute comes tramping through my home. More mess. Always tidying."

I couldn't believe my ears - what was this? I cleared my throat loudly.

"Huuuhhhh!" Suddenly the chattering stopped, and a small area of the moss dislodged itself to show a small persons red head peeping up from the ground.

"Good mornin'. What you be's a wanting?" The petit mouth moved strangely, and I didn't know what type of creature this was.
"Oh... hello." I meant to say 'who are you?' or 'what are you?' but it came out as "Have you seen a young-ish man wearing a green cloak pass by?"
"Why, yes I have... you be's a wanting him?"
"Yes... do you think you could help? I'm his friend, we're trying to find him - will you come and tell my friends what you saw?"
"Big  fella' was a' tramping through my home... but I be's a obliged to help... I's a comin'." and the small, red headed creature disappeared inside it's home again, and then there was a series of knocks and booms from under the ground, and then a secret door disguised as moss opened from the ground. The creature heaved herself up, and we walked back to camp.

-Ruby Burrows

The Clue

I scuttled ahead of Isilindil, brushing noiselessly against the ground with my feet. I listened, then beckoned her forwards.

"Looks like someone was here for the night - I see footprints, and the area has been disturbed -look!" I pointed at an area of bush which had been broken, as though someone had stumbled through clumsily, or been hauled away.

"I agree" Isilindil brushed past me, and scouted out the area. We had been sent ahead by Olorin, attempting to find Brundt. We had followed his trail this far, Isilindil, Ranewan, Olorin and I, and we felt pretty close to wherever he was now.

"Do you think he's here, or near?" I asked. I felt my heartbeat quicken at the thought that we might find him now. I had thought of little else, I was so worried - even though I didn't know him very well, I felt a strange affinity inside for the silent man I had met in the woods.

"I don't know. We should probably go back and alert Olorin and Ranewan to this area."
"Hmm..." I looked around, and eventually my eyes alit upon an area of ground, which was turned up, and a bit muddier than the rest "Hold on..."

Walking over, I found that a scrap of what looked like fabric had been left behind, evidently torn off in a struggle of some kind...

"Look!" I gasped
"What? A clue?" Isilindil leapt to my side
"Isn't this the colour of Brundt's cloak?!"
"Maybe... we should take it back to Olorin and Ranewan anyways. Come on, Ruby, we should go back."

I gazed longingly at the ground, willing it to show some invisible clue, or to offer up Brundt safe and secure back to us.

But that was not to happen. Just another day of fruitlessly searching. Again. Tirellesly we had combed through the path we had taken, never leaving a stone unturned. 

"Take heart - this is the best clue we've had yet. We might yet find him." Isilindil, encouraging and hopeful as ever, always had somehting to say to make me feel better of a situation. I smiled at her, and tucked the scrap of fabric into my pocket.

"I hope you're right."

And we set back to find Olorin and Ranewan, and let them know of our knew clue.

Letter from a Stranger

Brundt warily looked around him, he was surrounded on all sides by a damp green moss wall dripping black ooze. Looking up Brundt's eye's meet brambles and thorns thick enough as to make seeing outside impossible. Three small holes in the brambles overhead cast small brave streams of light which danced about in conceit.

Brundt leaned forward quickly as the space began to grow contract with sudden force. Although he was not aware of it at the time, it wasn't the space that was contracting but rather he was growing.

A silver plate spotted with blue mold fuzz was pushed through a small opening in the wall which quickly closed upon the plate's back. Upon the plate was a small note, written in an elegant hand which was spotted here and there with dirt and crimson lines.


"I hope you do not mind your present accommodations. I cannot tell you who I am for it would put both of us in danger. Friends will turn to foe when blood relations are learned. I know what you seek. Parentage unknown. Know this-that your mother perished long ago from a broken heart. A mortal's eventual pain cannot be changed although it can be brought to pass quicker by those of us who believe it is better. 
- forever yours" 


~
Isilindil Telperien