[Eönwë]

"I'm glad to see you of all people."

Dan had seen Erbrand coming out of the Scar, seemingly in pain. He was trying to hide it and put on a brave face, but Dan could see that Erbrand had been in some sort of fight or struggle. He did not look injured, but was hurt nonetheless. What could have done this? thought Dan. He was a strong man, one not easily beaten in a fight, and so Dan was at a loss. His immediate thought was that it must have been someone from one of the surrounding lands, someone under the lordships of the land landlords that had opposed Eodwine's rule.

He thought back to that fateful day. The had all seen Eodwine, sent away in a wagon in the night. Sent to Edoras, where they hoped he could have been healed. They had seen the grief in Lady Saeryn's eyes as her newlywed husband was borne away into the the darkness before dusk. She had hardened her heart, determined to stay in the Meadhall until the landlords had left, to stay strong and defend her household even when she was in despair. He held an admiration for the woman. And they had heard that Eodwine had been sent to Minas Tirith to the Houses of Healing, where the skill of the Gondorian healers would tend to the eorl. The people of the Meadhall had moved on from the initial shock into despair, which gave way to a distant sadness as those of Scarburg realised that their Eorl might never return.

Dan had thought of leaving this place and moving on to Edoras, but he had searched inside himself and realised that his allegiances lay with the people of Scarburg, and even though their lord was lost, he would stay to help rebuild the Meadhall. And besides, though he was still considered somewhat of an outsider, he had been accepted into the Meadhall and had made some friends, like Erbrand...

This thoughts had returned to the present, shaken out of his daydream. Erbrand was standing there, looking at Dan expectantly, waiting for a response.

"What happened?" Dan had asked, not having time to think of a more tactful way to address the situation at hand.

Erbrand paused for a moment, and it had seemed to the Drûg that he had not yet organised the events in his head, and was still trying to piece the events together.

"I... I was sitting out in the Scar, as you know I do, hoping to find tracks of an animal to hunt. But alas, there was no normal quarry. Several days ago I had seen tracks - prints - not of an animal, but of a man, and I knew they were not my own."

Dan winced, dreading the story to come, and filling with guilt. He was trying to work out what he would say, and how he could justify his passed actions. The dazed Erbrand continued.

"I heard a rustling in the trees, but as I came closer I realised that it was not me ambushing it, but it (and it was a person), was ambushing me. And I was attacked." At this, Dan's face filled with regret, knowing he could have prevented this, and that he could have made the Scar a safer place if he had not kept his promise. But Dan was a man of his word, and would not betray someone he had made a promise to, even a mysterious and seemingly (at the time) harmless stranger.

"Then he hit me over the head with the notched end of his staff. And when I woke up, I was alone, with only my knife and Traveller beside me," he finished.

Dan looked at Erbrand expectantly, but he seemed to have fallen silent, waiting for Dan to respond instead.

"So I suppose you want me to go back into the Scar with you to track down this attacker and bring him to the Meadhall."

"Yes, to put it plainly," replied the bruised Erbrand. "But it seems to me that you know more than you say, as you do not seem surprised at this news."

"Alas, it is true. I know who the rapscallion is. And I know his name, or at least the one he gave me. Oeric, he calls himself."

He looked as Erbrand as the other man seemed to piece things together, and looked at Dan in realisation. "So when you..."

"Yes, I did indeed meet him. I have never so far not successfully tracked my quarry. But also another man did I meet there, Scyld."

"So you..." began Erbrand.

"Yes, I lied. I lied to Eodwine and I lied to all of you. Oeric said that he needed time to prepare before he arrived, and I believed him, I believed the lying scoundrel!" Dan broke down for a second. After recomposing himself, he continued. "So I brought Scyld to the camp instead of Oeric, because he was willing to come, he wanted to enter in Oeric's place, and I let him!" Dan stopped for breath. His stomach clenched with guilt. "I was going to... was going to... tell Eodwine, but I kept on putting it off, hoping that the problem would sort itself out, that Oeric would be true to his side of the promise, but I was mistaken. And now he has attacked one of us."

Dan stopped. The guilt came flooding in, his heart was pounding, and he could feel his ears ringing. He waited for Erbrand to say something, anything, just to shift the focus away for himself, even for a second so that he could compose his thoughts.