[littlemanpoet]

Raefindan gestured to the ranger Erundil to lead the way, saying as he did so that they would willingly follow him, since he was the most likely to find Ravion. He asked Mellonin to follow Erundil, leading Gond as she did so. She agreed to with a curt nod of her head.

Since Aeron and Gwyllion were no longer officially members of their party, Raefindan felt that it was not his place to make a request of them as to what place in line they should hold to, so he let them decide. Aeron chose to take up the rear, Gwyllion with him. Jorje made it quite clear that he had every intention to dog Raefindan's steps.

They set off. It was a new direction, not the way they had come, even though it was the only way Raefindan knew to Minas Tirith. He assumed there must be another way. He was glad of it, for all that, for it meant walking wide of the home of the swamp elf.

They walked for an hour, slowly, for Erundil got down on hands and knees often, to make sure of his trail, saying that Ravion's skill as a ranger was making it harder for Erundil to track him.

Once, when this happened, Raefindan glanced behind him and saw Aeron, but not Gwyllion.

"Aeron," said he, "where is your sister?"

Aeron looked about him, dumbfounded. "I do not know. She was walking with me just minutes ago!" He made a face. "Well, behind me minutes ago. I think."

Raefindan turned to face the ranger. "Erundil! We have lost a member of our party!"

"Make that two, for Ravion's trail has confounded me in the dark. I may as well see to this other lost one." He stopped near Aeron. "When was she last seen?"

"We do not know," Raefindan said.

"Stay here while I test the trail behind us," Erundil said.

Worse and worse. They really did need Ravion, and this pointed it up as clearly as anything. Ravion would have forced his will on Aeron, no matter how difficult that proved to be, and would have made sure to keep track of all of them. Just over an hour under his leadership and their youngest and most helpless member was gone, drowned in a murky bog, for all he knew. Jorje had not even nosed or heard her disappearance.

Raefindan looked to Mellonin. "We needed Ravion. Such as this would not have happened with him."

"Do not blame yourself, Raefindan. This breaking of the fellowship has riven our group into aimless factions and it was Ravion who caused that."

Gond snorted, whether in annoyance at Mellonin's blame or something else, Raefindan did not care to guess. He shrugged in response to her well argued point, and looked back down the path, trying to peer beyond Aeron, to see if he could make out Erundil's hoped for return. He knelt down and scratched Jorje's ears. Jorje sniffed at his other hand, and whimpered. Gond snorted again. Maybe the horse could tell that something was a miss in their group. Raefindan heard sniffles and whimpers behind him. Mellonin crying again. He could imagine why. She liked her privacy in such moments, so he kept his face toward the path they had walked.

Gond snorted again, seeming more disturbed this time, and moved a few steps. It was dangerous in this swamp to move a horse in the dark, path or no path, especially without a ranger to lead them. Mellonin had stopped crying, so Raefindan felt it was seemly to ask her to keep the horse still. He turned to speak, but she was not holding Gond. She was not there.

"Mellonin?" The horse looked back to him. Jorje trotted forward and sniffed the ground where Mellonin had been standing, then sniffed the air, whining.

"Mellonin!" Raefindan sighed. "Just great."

"What is wrong?" Aeron said.

"Mellonin is missing too."

If Aeron had had a ready quip to comment on the good fortune of Mellonin being gone, it died on his lips. Instead he turned and called out his sister's name, fear and panic in his voice. Raefindan called Mellonin's name again.

"What is wrong?" Erundil asked, hurrying back to them. Raefindan gave him the news.

Erundil nodded. "I have found the place where this one's sister was last with us. I cannot make out the cause of her loss in this dark, though I checked the waters around that place carefully enough, and I do not think she merely stumbled into a bog. Have you enemies?"

Raefindan's heart went suddenly cold, and he watched Aeron's eyes go wide.

"The swamp elf!"

"Tell me of him," Erundil said.

Raefindan related his own experiences, but did not mention his dreams, even though he suspected the swamp elf regarding them. When he was finished, the ranger nodded.

"We should remain where we are, facing each other, until dawn. Do not sleep!"