Borleg sat looking down on the ruins of Ost-in-edhil from his hillside perch. He and the small but strong force he commanded had travelled here on the instructions of Saruman. His orders were to observe and to record all that happened or might happen here, any comings and goings no matter how small, and send the notes back to Orthanc courtesy of the crebain, the oversized raven-crows which trafficked between them. There had been little enough to report. An occasional Ranger rode thru without stopping or camping, but other than that, nothing.
This morning the crebain had a rather obvious note. He carefully unwrapped it from the leg of the bird, one he never handled without the heavy leather gloves -- the birds might be willing messangers, but they did not suffer themselves to be handled except by Saruman without a great deal of fussing and pecking.
In Saruman's bold hand was written,
Quote:
Borleg,
Storwolos' forces encountered the strawheads, but failed to eliminate them. Smrtan now commands them. You will know what to do should the forgoil arrive before Smrtan and his men.
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It was signed, if signature it could be called, with the letter "S" beside the insignia of a hand imprinted in white wax.
Borleg scrawled out an acknowledgement, clumsily attached it to the bird with the gloves, and sent the black fowl on its way.Considering what it was Saruman told him to expect, Borleg was more than happy to wait and watch from a distance.