Druda awoke early and quickly packed her belongings, making sure the small wooden box containing the recovered necklace was buried safely at the bottom of her pack. Entry and exit from Bree was controlled by the four large gates in the towns’ wall. Druda was keen to keep a low profile following the events in the Prancing Pony the previous night so had decided to leave via a slightly different route. Her rooms in the Mudgate district of Bree had been chosen carefully. The Mudgate was the worst area in the city; it housed not only the poorest of the poor but also the best pickpockets, cutpurses and thieves. Its small narrow alleys made it difficult for the Bree Guard to patrol, so many did not bother. Narrow streets also meant that the roof tops on either side of the street were incredibly close to one another which not only blocked out a good deal of light but also provided Bree’s less desirable types a whole network of pathways across the towns rooftops. It was this network and the areas crumbling walls that would provide Druda with the perfect conditions to slip in and out of Bree.
Opening the small window Druda stepped out onto a small ledge and hoisted herself up onto the Pinnacle of the gable roof. To Druda, who grew up running along the tops of Shire fences and walls, the narrow walk ways across the roof tops were effortless to navigate. Down below Bree went about its business unaware of the figure travelling above them. Within a few minutes Druda was standing on top of the wall that surrounded Bree. The crumbling masonry and well established foliage provided Druda with an easy descent to the ground below.
Her destination had been clear as soon as she saw the necklace; if she wanted to know more of its origins then she would have to take it to Rivendell. This strange turn of events had meant that rather than renting a pony for the trip back to The Shire Druda was now on foot with a much greater distance to travel. Getting a pony from Bree would be out of the question and would draw too many questions; no one travelled much to the east past the village of Staddle or the outskirts of Chetwood, least of all a Hobbit. People would be looking for the thief responsible for the missing necklace and the less she was seen the better as far as Druda was concerned.
Druda made her way east into the wilderness, she kept the road within sight only joining back up with it a day later in an effort to avoid the local farmers who transported their crops to Bree Market via the same road.
Over the coming days green fields and woodland gradually gave way to the more barren exposed terrain of the Lone Lands. It would still take several days before Druda would reach the large stone bridge that marked the beginning of the Trollshaws. Until then Druda now stuck rigidly to the road it was all too easy to come across fierce wolves or worse out here in the wilderness.
