[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Rauthain

As night fell, Rauthain became restless and seeking conversation to ease his burdened mind, again spoke of their quarry. “It is no wonder that the elves have not spoken of Naiore. I expect it is as much caused by who she is, as what she has done, twisting life upon her stony will. Highborn and heartless she is, an aberration, dark and unfathomable as a pathless cavern, loving, nay reveling in the dissonant themes that started before the awakening of time. Perhaps this to is why she allowed herself Menecin, for he could express his pain as fully and eloquently as no other, and she could examine the sinister beauty of his suffering like exquisite tracery, fine running tendrils through his life, eroding his strength. For her passion lay not with him, but in the crushing of his spirit for her cruel interests.”

The two rangers lapsed into a long silence, before Rauthain began.

“But where does fear take root in the fearless, Maethor? This is what I have wondered. Kaldir was dauntless and through this very trait fell victim to the Ravennor. We knew him, Hanasían, myself and a handful of others, for we were there the day he was lost.” Rauthain stopped as he realized how true this was. For though he now knew Kaldir to be alive, the ranger he had set out with many years before had never returned.

“That day, as we were making our way along the Mitheithel, we fell among an ambush near its headwaters, at Raven Falls. It went badly for us and we lost one of our number early on. But this had served to enrage our band the more, and we fought fiercely. Before long we had pushed the orcs back into the crevices and folds of the mountains. Kaldir was in full pursuit and followed the enemy further than I dared go. So I turned back to look for the others. Two were unaccounted for in the end. Kaldir and Hanasían. Hanasían we found dazed and near drowned by the falls when we returned.” Rauthain paused.

“I had watched as Elendir, our captain, stood at the base of the falls taking in the situation and planning what course to follow, but he was greatly agitated, knowing the full weight of our mission, and was reluctant to delay further. So we buried our dead and pushed forward expecting Kaldir to catch us up, for he was an estimable ranger, wary and full of stealth, not reckless in his decisions, and I had just seen him with no more than a scratch upon him.”

“One day and then two passed with no sign of him. After finally reaching the battlefield and fighting along side our beleaguered brethren in the north, we repeatedly had word from our captured enemy that Kaldir had perished. In the end, I chose to believe them.”

Rauthain breathed deeply, adjusting his cloak and baldric as he rode with Maethor along side. “So now I search for the one who has a greater share in Kaldir’s outcome. Orcs alone could not have bent his mind so, but the training of the Dark Lord and the knowledge of one they call the Ravennor who was brought to bear against him.”

“But I have spoken too much and you grow weary listening to an old man's regrets.”

“It is a large burden you bear, Rauthain” Maethor acknowledged. “But the decision to leave Raven Falls was not yours to make. Your captain would have accounted for Kaldir’s skill before ordering you onward.”

Rauthain did not answer, but was lost in his own thoughts, he was at the Mitheithel once again watching Kaldir disappear from sight, and than speaking with Elendir at Falls in the grey dusk. 'He will find us again,' he heard himself say. 'He will be alright, on his own, for no harm has come to him in the fray.'

Rauthain remembered how after the third day Kaldir’s name was never spoken. And how Elendir assumed full responsibility for the outcome. It was never brought up between the two of them again.