[TheLadyAerowen]

Waking up to a few noises, Alearindu straightened up quickly, and glanced around for Volondil who had been on first watch. She finally found him kneeling over another figure, which appeared to be the size of a man. She watched, staying quiet as Gandalf also walked over to the stranger and asked him his name, also giving him a drink. Her ears also caught the name 'Mat Rushlight' and she thought back. The name didn't sound familiar. Alearindu shrugged and went back into a light sleep.

Waking again a few hours later, Alearindu quickly and quietly packed up her night gear. As she did, the sun began to rise from over the trees. She turned to watch, and grinned. Another scouting trip. And hopefully, this would be the last one until they reached the Castle.

Mornen trotted over to Alearindu and snorted. She patted his neck and nodded to Gandalf when she caught his eye, then vaulted onto his back, and quietly left the camp.

Alearindu cantered Mornen steadily for about an hour on her scouting trip. She hadn't run into anything yet. Just as she was about to turn back towards the company, Mornen stalled and snorted. Alearindu peered forwards, and saw a thin strand of wire, that appeared to be made of metal, directly across the path. It seemed to be about chest high if a man were to walk into it. Alearindu sat on Mornen in a slight bit of confusion, then signlaed Mornen to back up a few paces, which he did quiet willingly. She dismounted him and patted his neck, then walked forward slowly.

She found the wire again, and very gently placed her hand on the line. As she was walking slowly and concentrating, Mornen suddenly let out a shrill whinny. Alearindu winced, and jumped, causing her hand to pull on the wire. She tensed, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. She then followed it until it brought her to one end, and found out the wire was fastened to a nail that seemed to have already been disturbed. She walked to the left-hand side of the trap, and found the exact same scenario. Both ends of the wire and each tree limb looked the exact same.

At first sight, and now, Alearindu thought it had just been to stop and/or cut into a horse or human or elf. But there just had to be more to it than that. It was too simple. Once again, Alearindu searched the left side of the wire, and found it only to be embedded beneath the nail. It didn't seem to trigger anything, but there was only one way to find out.

She walked under the wire to the other side, and placed her sword on the under side of the wire, and then pulled up quickly. The wire snapped and fell to the ground with a slight twang. Alearindu stood in tension as she waited, once again, for something to happen. She sighed softly as nothing did, and decided that it was only a simple trap, though that still didn't seem right. She bagan to walk over to Mornen again, as she heard two similar sounds.

A dagger emerged from the slit, just under where the nail had held the wire, in the tree right next to her, but she was standing to the side, therefore it passed harmlessly by, landing on the ground a few yards away. Another dagger emerged from the other side of the wire, from the other tree, and sliced cleanly through Alearindu's tunic, and grazing her side. Her hand immediately flew to her side and applied pressure to the wound.

After a few moments, when it seemed nothing else was going to happen, Alearindu walked over to Mornen, and opened one of his saddle-bags, producing a bandage. She removed her hand, and lifted her tunic a bit to check the wound. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. She sighed a little, and wrapped the bandage snugly around her waist. She took her water carrier and poured a little onto the hand which she had placed over the wound, and washed the blood from it.

Alearindu then walked back to the two trees, and picked up each dagger. She cleansed the one that had sliced her, and decided to give them to Gandalf when she returned, then placed them in one of Mornen's saddle-bags.

Despite her small injury, Alearindu continued on for an hour more, but found nothing. She had figured that she might be running into a heavier trap-type area as she got closer to the castle, but proved that theory wrong. She had come to the conclusion that the trap she had run into earlier had been for the Orcs to prisoners to bring to the Castle. She felt the cold-feeling grow as she and Mornen drew ever closer to the Castle Maladil. She turned Mornen around, back towards the Company, and signaled him into an easy gallop, not looking back.

They made it back to the camp after a few hours, for Alearindu had let Mornen walk the last twenty minutes to cool him down after their long gallop. Alearindu then signaled him over to Gandalf, and once again, reported;

'I encountered one more set-up on my two hour trip, about half way through. All of these traps are interesting. This one, was a very slim metal wire. After a few observations, I cut one end of it, and nothing immediately happened. But then, two daggers shot out from the trees, underneath where a nial had held the wire in place. The first one went by without any harm, but the second nicked my side.' Alearindu winced and shifted in her saddle, but continued. 'It wasn't deep, I'm fine, it should heal quickly.' Alearindu then opened Mornen's saddle bag, pulled out the two daggers, held them by their blades, and extended them to Gandalf. 'These, are the two daggers. I decided to pick them up and bring them to you. I've looked them over, and they don't look like anything I've ever seen before.'