On the 24th day, we left that swampy part of the Tauremorna when Lord Veryacano led us away under the trees and across a small river to the southeast. He seemed puzzled, as if something he expected never came into sight, and would often pull out the map that he copied from Grimbold’s men, and stare at it blankly. I believed we were lost, after walking two leagues, and lying weary in a moss-covered hollow, the fog rolling in cold and damp, so that our garments were stiff with frost. Undaunted, Lord Veryacano set out from this inadequate shelter at a brisk pace, whilst I, only carrying my pack, lagged behind, making note of the forest and leaving signs, in case we were traveling in circles. By early afternoon, the woods opened into a broad grassy plain. Upon a hill in the middle stood a walled Man-village, partially ruined by recent battle, wreathed in grey smoke. We heard no sounds, and it seemed deserted, but we were a great distance away, and the haze dimmed our sight. Nevertheless, we looked upon it in silence for some time. Our lordship asked two volunteers to scout, and see what transpired behind its walls. Lord Estarfin stepped forth, and banged once on his shield. His grim resolve saddened me, and the thought of him killing any survivors within that burned-out wreck saddened me more. It boded poorly for the rest of us, when no one else volunteered, which is very ill of the Hammer Order, and it vexed me greatly to think that his comrades would have him go alone; and I would have gone with him, only I grew cautious, thinking Lord Veryacano would not allow it, and he might have even laughed, and Nirhen would find reason to mock me again. But then Lord Veryacano said he would go, and so the two of them left before I made up my mind.
We waited impatiently under the shadowy eaves of the trees, watching the village and listening for some sign of trouble. Nothing was heard but the calling of the birds, and the sad wind in the leaves. Telpenaro and Laurelindo sat talking a short distance away. I stood uneasily in silence a great while, thinking of my kindred, and how it was we were once united in our goal to find our Lord Anglachelm, but now there was disharmony of spirit amongst us, brought about by actions that, though calculated to promote harmony in the immediate term, actually led the opposite way. The Lord Veryacano very often takes it amiss when others do not fall in with his way of thinking, and I was unwilling to excite his anger by mentioning it to him, but so far, I could not see how our efforts had benefited Lord Anglachelm one whit. It was hard to keep up hope in my heart with Lord Veryacano’s frequent reminders that he would rather die than not do as he sworn, and rescue Lord Anglachelm from his captors, and I feared that none of us would live long enough to see the end of this task. We were such great fools to leave the Valley, but I, not forgetting my duty, shook off these gloomy thoughts, and putting on a cheerful face, walked up to Lord Tindir. He, voicing my unspoken thought, said that we have waited long enough, and should discover what became of our scouts, to which I naturally agreed. However, we did not need go far to find them, for just a little way from our camp, we met the lords returning to us, unhurt.
Lord Veryacano told us the Horse-Men and the Wildings had done death to each other; the invaders had done more, from the look of things. Then he brought out a strange crossbow from under his cloak, carved all over with horses with long, slender tails upon the stock, and a braided design ‘round the lath. I could not examine the bolts, as he took them away, and showed us an ugly crookedly-drawn map he found. Looking at it, we saw the doomed village was named Torsbury, and that our path led us past it. It was deemed that we would venture from the woods after nightfall, else be ridden down by mounted horsemen, or espied by the Wildlings from the hill-top village. Goblins were spotted too in the vale around, saddled on giant warg, which troubled us to hear. Very wary we must be, and travel only at night, or we shall share the same fate as the people of Torsbury, and find it very difficult to recover Lord Anglachelm.
