Searching around Duillond.

She arrived at Duillond to find a group of guards having recently returned. "What news?" she asked the one who acted in charge.

The fair haired son of the Falas raised his head. There was blood on his thick leather gloves.

"And you are?"

"Yrill of Eregion, now staying at Numenstaya. I rode after hearing your Captains request for help. I appear to have two missing friends, so this matter is of personal concern."

He nodded. He was, after all, an ellon with quite probably friends and family. "Sergeant Elgaer of Celondim. We have nothing the Captain likely did not tell you. There was a skirmish of some sort down nigh the lake. Sometimes we have over-bold goblins in that area, coming from Rath Teraig, but their is no sign of goblin work. The ground nearest the Lake is quite muddy still, and holds many footprints of Men, too heavy to be any of our folk unless in full armour, too wide a stride to be Dwarrows. Nearer the edge of the trees the ground is hard. They were struggling there, it looks like two captives and around twenty captors. That is as much a planned attack as any I have seen. They wanted who they took."

She nodded. So far it was as she suspected. "Any bodies? blood?"

Elgear drew a deep breath. "A bloodied long knife like an elleth would use. The Captain took it with him. Several pools of blooded grass. We recently found a body, fallen in the undergrowth."

"A Man?"

Elgaer nodded again. "Short and stocky, like many of the inhabitants of Breeland. He had been run through with a fine sword. The blood led back into the trees where it looked as if they had lain in wait. There was hoof marks from two horses running east. One at the least was injured."

She reached out and clasped the Sergeant on this arm. "My thanks. It it acceptable for me to take a look at the area?"

He nodded. He looked a little weary. "Of course, Yrill. We can use all the help we can get. The Captain has ridden back to Celondim himself, to raise a few more to search with us. Men will not likely have gone further into Lindon. They must have headed back to the Breelands, or just possibly north, to Evendim's ruins. They can't have got far without being seen. Not a group that large. What are they thinking of?"

So she bid her farewell and promised to report anything else she found to the Sergeant.

Yrill found a second body. A Man with his throat ripped out, hastily thrown into the undergrowth. She knew little of Parnard's fighting capabilities, but she did know Danel was capable of such an act in extremes. It did not look to her like something Captain Culufinnel had planned, nor any other Elf.