Darker Days RPG

[The Sixth Wizard]

Elfride unexpectedly opened the door with Cordelia and Garnae right outside. Reluctantly, Garnae broke off, and looked rather sheepish. The new arrival said something, but he was too embarrassed to hear it.

"Er, Cordelia, I think we may as well join the group now," he stated, going almost exactly the same hue as the redberries he used to pick at home. She nodded, and actually looked like she was going to laugh. He put his hand in hers, and finally walked inside.

[Mithalwen]

How long had it been since she had been kissed like that? wondered Elfride as she turned her back on the pair. The memory hit her hard enough to turn her giggle into a quiet cry of distress.

Three long years ago and in that very spot, Theomund had kissed her goodbye in the darkness before dawn. Their last kiss as passionate as their first but more tender and less tentative. A final embrace for her and their sleepy and sorrowful children, then to horse. Then a quick squeeze of her hand, a whispered word and a last glimpse of his lean handsome face in the lantern light as he had turned Leif and ridden away never to return.

Elfride became aware of hot tears starting to stream down her face. She could not face the company like this - neither those in the first hours of love or the soldiers in the first hours of a campaign. Until Hama arrived she was the eldest, they would look to her for leadership she could not give. Why was she crying now, so long after? A soldier's wife lives with the prospect of widowhood, accepts it as part of the price of loving a valiant rider of Rohan. It was the life she was born to; raised to be brave, be strong for those who depended on you to keep things going at home until they returned. And now she had filled her house with strangers so she wouldn't be alone and ...it hadn't worked. Her isolation crushed her.

Turning not to the great hall but to the kitchen she quietly unlocked the door that led to the walled garden and slipping the big heavy key to the garden gate into her pocket, passed through into the garden. The moon had risen and illuminated the path quite clearly, Elfride chose however to walk on the grass alongside, not that anyone would hear the crunch of her boots on gravel, those in the Great Hall were too far and too self absorbed.

She opened the gate as quietly as she could and was on the path she had ridden barely an hour before. Before on one side her lay the woods that led to the track and the main road, to the other lay the orchard and the little paddock they used to turn out horses that would be needed at short notice, it was also where they had taught their children to ride.

Chiding herself for wallowing in memory she went and stood leaning against the fence. She remembered standing here, her arms protectively around her three-year old daughter lest she fall from her perch on the fence, as Elfthain demonstrated his skill to his parents - his father especially - by riding over a series of little fences he had built there.

"Daddy - you aren't watching!" Elfthain realised that only Tilly, whose absolute hero he was, was giving him full attention. His father was nuzzling his mother's neck, making her promises Elfthain could not hear, of returning soon to raise horses and as many children as his lady wished for. Later they had all ridden round the estate returning as the sun set on their last day as a family, then a brief night and those last goodbyes.

Elfride let her tears fall freely. She would get it out of her system and tidy herself up in the kitchen before she rejoined the group. In the event she was missed she would say she had things to prepare for the journey - which was true though not the truth. So absorbed in memory was she that the hoofbeats she heard she thought were remembrance, the tall blonde soldier suddenly at her side could have been Theomund - but it wasn't, it was someone she had known even longer and his voice recalled her to the present.

"Elfride, what is the matter, what are you doing out here?" , Hama's voice was softer than usual. As she turned he saw her face clearly in the moonlight and understood.

Elfride raised her hand to her face in a gesture that refused comfort. Mastering her emotion she said "I think it will do me good to be away from here a while. I take it the King allowed your petition? " she added changing the subject.

Hama nodded "He has agreed to extend my leave of absence - that is the official line, this is not quite the usual method of dealing with wrongdoing - but these are not usual circumstances and will allow for greater discretion. I think your presence on the expedition sealed the matter". he added.

"Mine?" said Elfride mystified.... "Why should that make any difference?"

"Because Theomund died in his defence, he feels a special responsibility for you I think ... I may be wrong .. it was just an impression I got." answered Hama.

"So he sent you to look after me .... I don't need looking after" Elfride bristled slightly though she was aware that her tearstained face belied her words.

"I know, you told me that when you were six" replied Hama drily.

Elfride laughed and this memory drove out the others for a while. "I am glad you are coming with us - take your horse round to the yard. I will cut back to the house through the garden and meet you there - then we can really start to get ready". She smiled and they parted. A splash of water to cool her face from the pump at the kitchen door and noone need be any the wiser.

[Cordelia Harrison]

She felt him pull away. She looked up at him reluctantly, but then noticed Elfride. Her cheeks blushed deeply and she tried hard not to laugh nervously.

"Er, Cordelia, I think we may as well join the group now," Garnae said as he went red. She stroked his cheek softly and nodded. She sighed happily as he took her hand and they walked into the house.

Within, the group was deep in conversation. Mayonette was being supported by Thomas. The men were sitting around, looking iritable. She watched Mayonette as she looked up at her, then down at her hand. She flashed her a quick smile, before returning to her serious look.

[Mithalwen]

Elfride felt as if she had been away for hours so far into memory had she delved but in fact only perhaps twenty minutes had passed between her intrusion on Garnae and Cordelia and her return, composed to the same doorway. Hama had reacehd the yard and was entrusting his horse to Bredon's care. It was clear the old soldier was delighted to meet the General. She would have to rescue him. She was glad to have him at her side as she reentered the great hall. His presence avoided any need for his absence. Of the group the young soldiers, Leoflic and Edhener seemed most impatient but then they did not have the distractions of the others. They were leaning over the map strewn table and looked up as they came in. Hama was the focus of most attention but Elfride was aware that Leoflic's gaze rested on her a little longer. Certain her face betrayed her she turned away, ostensibly to pour a dring for the general.

Now he was here, her mind focussed less on the route they should take and more on the other practicalities - supplies of food, bedrolls and so forth - she would have to check all the party were properly equipped befor they left. She must think carefully of all the supplies she should take for her craft, both in case Sandrine needed treatment and for more general mishap or malady that might befall an expedition. She wondered if it were her mother instinct coming to the fore or a legacy of her father's insistance that good preparation was essential to a successful campaign.

She listened though to Hama speak, he had thought to ask at Edoras where Samuel held land. His closest property was near Underharrow - a village a few miles closer to the mountains where the Harrowdale narrowed alongside the Snowbourn. It was the closest village to the long stetch of woodland that ended up right at the foot of Dwimorberg the haunted mountain underwhich passed the Paths of the Dead. Though the dead had been allowed to find peace after the King Elessar had led them to battle in fulfilment of their oath, the woods were still somewhere where few of the Rohirrim, brave though they were would chose to venture without need, even if their conscious minds rejected the dark stories told of them. It would be an ideal place to hide a captive. It seemed the likeliest place to start looking.

[Crystal Heart]

Mayonette looked up as Hama and Elfride came into the room. She gave the General a nod and listened to what he said. Yes, that is where they had to go. Who knew what they were doing to her sister. They had to find her as soon as possible.

"Well then we head out that way. We leave at dawn. I suggest that all of us get some sleep so that way we can be fresh for the journey tomorrow," she suggested. The group nodded in agreement and headed off to the rooms that Elfride had shown them.


Before the animals of the earth rose the company stirred. They gathered supplies and packed the horses. The soft yellow of daylight graced the horizon as they mounted their laden horses and started out on the journey. General Hama was at the start, followed closely behind by Mayonette and Thomas.

Mayonette sighed as she watched the sunset. They were going to find her sister. That she knew. She only hoped that when they found Sandrina that she would be alive and not dead. That was her only prayer now.

[Cordelia Harrison]

Cordelia reigned up her horse and pulled it up beside Garnae. She smiled at him. The morning had been so fast that they had barely been able to say anything to one another. The memory of their kiss still lingered upon her lips.

"How did you sleep last night?" She asked him softly as they fell to the back of the group. She hoped that he had slept well. She had had wonderful dreams for the first time in a long time.

[Dimturiel]

Edhener had spent most of the night awake, lying on his back and gazing at the cealing. Only in the early hours did he manage to get some sleep, and that was soon enterupted, as they had to start their journey.

Edhener looked arround him searchingly, as he rode. His horse seemed restless, as if he could somehow remember another morning, many years ago, when he had taken this road. He had carried another rider then, a rider to which he was more atatched, but with which he would be soon fated to part. Edhener sighed. It was strange, he thought, that he had lost his horse in the battle of Pelennor, and survived, while his brother had died even if his mount had escaped.

He patted his horse. "You know these places, don't you, old boy?" he asked. "You remember them. How eager you were in that day! You ran so fast, your master could hardly restrain you. Well, you were young then. And so were we."