Rauthain
Soon after Léspheria and Amandur had taken their leave, Maethor and Rauthain also rose to leave the whisperings and comforts of the inn behind. It had provided a brief and welcome rest to the rangers who now turned north, to search the streets of Bree. Splitting up, they worked, silently moving through the alleys and side streets, mere shadows passing between the sleeping households. All was quiet in the late night air. Only occasionally was it broken by a light seen flickering in some cozy room, or by the sound of a distant hound.
Meeting up once again where the road left town to stretch beyond it, the two rangers turned south once more, traveling together this time on the eastern fringes of Bree. The fields were rich and plentiful in the northern part of that quarter, and the thriving farms were tidy and well kept. No sign was seen of the buildings Léspheria had described at the inn, or of any nefarious characters that might provide direction of one sort or another. Clearly Barrold did not reside here, but if Naiore were skulking about it would have proved a trusting and ideal hiding place.
The rangers rode on as silent as the night itself, listening to the sounds of the evening for the hint of any untoward happening. As they continued south, Bree hill encroached on their left and they came to a crumbled and rugged spur where the land grew poor and farmhouses poorer. Stones of every size were scattered throughout fields and farmyards. Here they saw an ill kept and weathered building hard by the roadside that may have fit Léspheria’s description. It appeared dismal and grey in the moonlight. The door, framed by a tangle of spider’s silk clotted with insects, shone with a faint glint at its head. Upon inspection Rauthain found that a sizable chain passing though large iron rings in the door and it’s sturdy lintel had caused this anomaly of light. A great lock was hanging from its links.
Circling around he noticed that the few narrow windows were shuttered despite the heat of the summer evening. “What is this? It seems no one is at home at this late hour,” Rauthain said lifting the lock and letting it fall again. “Must have a king’s ransom concealed in here by the size of this lock!” he joked sitting down on a large stone near the doorway. “This has been a long and unfruitful evening for us, has it not?” he said sighing. “I must rest but a moment.”
“Rest as long as you need, Rauthain. For you will need your strength should we have some fortuitous encounter.” Maethor replied, sitting down in the shadow of the structure.
“And what then, when we do catch the one we seek?”
“I believe we must put that question to Amandur, but I would imagine that she would needs be brought in chains to the south to face her judgment, though truly I know not what part the elves would have to play in it. “ Then he added heatedly, “Perhaps she will have a kinder judge than me, choosing exile for her in some isolated place, though that would not be advisable! I would that she were lowered into the lowest of locked cells, a pit black and forgotten, a dark and brilliant gem buried deep in the earth, speaking her words into darkness…but mine is not the decision.”
“Neither is it mine.”
“Onward then.” Rauthain stated getting to his feet again. “ We will never get far in this endeavor nor learn of its outcome if I sit here all night.”
The night was indeed waning quickly, as Maethor and Rauthain made their way back to meet the others, hoping that they had some new findings to share.
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