Leofmund's Journal: 21st days since arriving in Bree
Meet with Stymie again. I am pleased she is safe, and cared for. Working with horses seems to be what she likes, that’s promising. But there is much anger and sadness that i don’t quite know how to relieve. She has lost a lot, like me. Home , family, maybe even her will to return one day - all burned to ashes in Thornhope. I do not know how to break the news that i must return.
I was pleasantly surprised to find riders of the Mark this far north. Of course i had no way of knowing if they were deserters, so i trod carefully until i was satisfied they were not. The war trapped them on the wrong side of the Gap, forcing them north. I dared to hope that i wouldn’t need to return to Rohan on my own, that I could join other riders with the same goal. That hope now seems lost with the bickering at yesterdays meeting. It seems to me most of them are all too comfortable in their new halls.
I tried my very best to explain the need for urgency. The sacking and burning of Thornhope was not an isolated event. I fear for the entire Westfold. My eored were desperately short of men even as I left, I can not help but wonder how many still draws breath. I must return! My eored needs me, the Marshal needs all the able men he can get. Why do they linger, squabbling over a scouting mission? Scouting!? If I find the River Isen favorable...the flickering lights dimmed by the dark winter night... the Gap itself lightly defended.... then I will spur my horse to push through!
My horse...my trusted Wyne! Never will i leave you to Dunlending thieves or Orcs. You and Estylwen is all i have left. We will reach Rohan together or not at all. I am not oath sworn to these men in their Bree halls. They cannot force my hand! I owe my allegiance to my Captain, and my King!
