[Arvedui III]

The sand flew out behind them as the company quickly left the village. The ill-will of the Haradrim was near palpable, so all were glad to be gone, even if they were heading into the desert with only the obscurest of directions. Rangar supposed he should have pressed his luck with the Haradrim at the inn, but judging by the way these people felt towards them, he thought that they were lucky for the leads they had. After all, one man had flat-out ran when Wren asked for locations to an apothecary Then, there was the possibility that Barodin was still lurking around. Rangar felt guilty, but he hoped that he had survived. Drowning is far too good for him.

Bregand checked his maps, and two respective sets of hills existed in the area. One lay near what looked by the map to have once been part of the Harad road, and the other was positioned farther to the east. Both were roughly a good two days walk away. Curious, yet ordinary. They ignore it. Which one is it, though? "Let's try the one by the road." Rangar said, and there were no objections. Truthfully, everyone seemed to be too tired or too hot to argue. Soon though, the desert proved to be much harder to navigate then they'd thought. Wind swept up the sand before them, blocking the path Bregand outlined on his map, all the while the sun seared down upon them.

Finally, they gave up for the day and took shelter under the relative shade of several dunes. Night fell with no moon, and a deathly cold. Rangar took first watch after the group had agreed to set off a couple hours before the dawn. Not in the devilish heat, but not in the near frozen conditions, either. Rangar thought he heard footsteps several times during his watch, but they came from a distance, and the sounds might have belonged to an animal for all he knew. Quite frankly, he barely cared. It seemed with all the company, that there was a certain, kind of unspoken barrier in place that kept them from feeling too much or too strongly. At least, that's how Rangar felt it was. And what if this Seer can't tell me anything. And what of a price for this knowledge. I have nothing to offer. It will be for naught, but I've gone too far now. Forced too many good people to, oh, nevermind. Don't think about it.

No longer able to keep his eyes open, Rangar woke Tareth, and gratefully huddled underneath his cloak for warmth as sleep took him. The next day they made good time. Bregand was in his element, and despite the sands, he reckoned the company was only half a day away from their goal by the time the sun forced them to stop. They were better. Rangar did not have watch that night, and for once slept without dreams; So it was a surprise when he was roused by Calmir for the pre-dawn start of their march. By the time the sun had risen, very uncharacteristic heights loomed ahead, one with something large and pointy on top of it. They had found the Seer.