They had encamped in a small spinney, occupying the space between several fields. Radagast muttered to himself and a number of wild creatures that had taken refuge with them. He sighed. "Am I forever to be paying for that one error of judgement?" He said to himself as he stood up straight and rubbed his back. A woodpecker flew up into the canopy. He watched it go and felt the heavy droplets of water that fell from the leaves above.
"Well, what news does your friend bring you?" Endereth enquired.
"Much of what we already knew about Fanghorn. Apparently the men who live in the shadow of Isengard believe it to be the work of renegade Hurons. I find it hard to believe such a fanciful tale but the Wood-Knocker thinks there may be more than a grain of truth in it. He is off to Fanghorn and will report back to us soon I trust."
"We will reach the settlement by nightfall I believe," said Mattius gathering cooking items together and kicking over the fire. Neither Endereth not Radagast helped him. Their eyes followed the path of the woodpecker even though it had long been lost to their sight. "Come on you two, I don't intend to do everything myself," he called out but good-naturedly, sensing their troubled minds.
"You are quite correct dear boy. Before the sun sets upon this day we will be in the streets that cling about the Tower."
"What will we do once we're there Radagast?" Endereth asked her old friend.
"We must see if the Council does truely meet at Orthanc. If it does not methinks we shall hold a convocation of our own. We are only a small part of this my child, there are others and whether they come by formal means or accidental ones we must make them welcome. They shall hold the key to all of this as much as we do."
"You're talking in riddles again Radagast," Mattius breathed gently.
"Really? I suppose so. Very little that I say makes sense to me. I grow old and fuzzy my young companions. I shall be relying on you, you know."
"These 'others' of whom you speak. Who are they?" Mattius asked.
Radagast bent down and picked up his own pack. He swung it up onto his shoulder and grinned at his friends. "Don't ask me, I probably won't even recognise them when I'm face to face with them." With that he turned and set off once more, leaping with an energy that did not match his mighty age, over the dry stone wall that encirled the spinny. "Come along you two. Isengard before nightfall!"
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Auriel
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