Irwfrith stood next to the meadhall and inspected his horse which seemed to be heavy weighted down by the equipment he had placed on it. He couldn't help to find pity for the horse, for it was carrying on provisions and equipment for three persons. Wulfreda and Leofmund had both set out two nights ahead, Irwfrith tried to figure out how far they could had gotten by now if they wouldn't had run into the brothers. "Can't have gotten longer than Brunien" he thought. It would be a hard ride if they were to catch up with them, with only brief moments to rest, if any at all. He now heard voices coming from the entrance of the meadhall. Seems his father was done babbling inside the meadhall. He took the reigns of the horse and moved it to the front yard.
His feelings were more than mixed when he saw who was waiting for him there. To great relief he saw Melowen waiting, clad in full wildling attire. Next to her a masked man was sat in the saddle of his horse. First unsure of who it might have been, Irwfrith soon recognized the posh words of the noble Tidhelm, greeting him as Irwfrith approached. Suddenly Irwfrith felt a rock being put on his chest, the thought of traveling the wilderness with a noble was far from appealing to him, but there was little to do or say as the noble seemed willing to aid. "Ferawyn is not coming?" Irwfrith asked as he mounted his own horse. The two other riders shook their heads together, it may have been for the better that Irwfrith was masked himself, so that the others would not see the satisfaction on his face. "A damned noble is more than enough burden..." he thought to himself, "...a nagging teen would most likely make me throw myself into a trollcave.". He chuckled quietly to himself and nodded to the others saying it was time to depart. Melowen and Tidhelm informed him that Waelden of the Riders were awaiting them at the gates of the homesteads.
At the gates they regrouped. Irwfrith gave the group a briefing on which route he had planned. It was early evening and his wish was for them to reach the last bridge by daylight. In disguise of nighttime their journey was more than swift. It also seemed morale was high within the travelling group, Tidhelm had begun tinkering on songs for the complaints he had already found of the journey. If there was any form of complaints Irwfrith had to deal with, it did make it more enduring to hear them through lyrics.
As they passed the Forsaken Inn it still surprised Irwfrith to see that the giant hole in the roof had yet not been repaired. According to Melowen, it had been like that for years. Irwfrith merely shook his head as he failed to understand the priorities of Bree-landers. A discussion broke out, Tidhelm seemed eager to declare the brothers as oath breakers, Irwfrith was fast enough to silent him, telling him that he didn't want to hear that talk if they did find them. After this the company increased the speed, with haste they rode through the Lone-lands.
The moon had begun to lower itself from its highest position in the sky when they reached the last bridge. Morning was merely a few hours away. Irwfrith dismounted his horse, and when doing so he noticed steps and hooves leading away from the main road, down the left side of the bridge, towards the banks of the river. When reaching the river the footprints ended, yet, in a distance he could see there was a small island in the river, merely parted from the banks by a small branched stream flowing from the main river that was about knee-deep. Suddenly he recognized where he was. As it was here he had set camp with Veronya when they were traveling from Rivendell to Bree a few months back. He passed over the stream of water and beckoned to the other to follow him. Tidhelm grumbled greatly at having his feet become wet and wasn't amused at all for having to follow, but he did so in the end, along with the other two.
The edges of the island was covered in bushes and trees, leaving a clearing in the middle of it. Irwfrith noticed charcoal of the burnt firewood from a previous campfire, along with some bloodied bandages. Someone had clearly used the site for camping before, and possibly a place for tending wounds, whether it was anyone of the company Irwfrith and the others was looking for could not be answered. The company decided to set camp where they were for the rest of the night in wait for the first rays of light. Tidhelm seemed eager to push forward in the nighttime, but was quickly convinced it was not a good idea after Irwfrith shared the warnings he had gotten from Elves, of trolls roaming the roads and forests in the nighttime. Tidhelm grumbled and sat down to dry his feet and boots in front of the newly made campfire, Melowen also decided to take the opportunity to rest. Irwfrith sat down by the campfire as well, to his regret, as he soon felt fatigue getting the better of him. It was the third day that had passed with him merely having moments of rest. Taking the first watch he soon enough began to struggle to keep himself awake while the other rested.
A rather loud splash followed by a grunt made him sharpen his senses again. It had become lighter in the skies and the sun had started to rise beyond the peaks of the misty mountains. Irwfrith bolted up to his feet, turning around to the direction he had heard the noises from. Melowen and Tidhelm had also awoken, but did not pay much attention to the sound. When they saw Irwfriths reaction they soon enough followed him to the bushes at the edges of the small island. Irwfrith motioned to them to try and remain quiet, but without much success. Irwfrith slowly approached one of the bushes to lower its branch and see what the source of noise may have been. It was to much of his surprise that he found himself staring at two large yellow eyes.
Both the orc and Irwfrith let out a scream of shock. Followed by a silent moment of confusion and decision making from both parts. It seemed the wind favored none of them in order to notice each others smell. But now, at merely an arm-length from each other, Irwfrith found the stench almost worse than the sight. The initial reaction of the Orc was to leap at Irwfrith, without much thought of the risks, and possibly haven't noticing Melowen or Tidhelm standing behind Irwfrith. Irwfrith fell to the ground, with the orc mounted on him, Irwfrith didn't do more than hold his arms up to fend off the flailing claws of the beast. Tidhelm was fast to draw his dagger and dig it deep into the back of the orc who arched his back and groaned loudly from the pain. Melowen followed in line, having already drawn her sword, she pushed it deep into the chest of the orc. Irwfrith could feel the warm splatter of blood hitting his face and chest, a moment of relief came over him, knowing that he was well protected. The orc slumped down onto Irwfriths chest and continued to bleed and stink on top of him. It was to great annoyance that Irwfrith had to ask the other two to pull it off him, who merely stood by and grinned at him.
After being pulled to his feet by his companions, he went down to the river to wash off the worst of the stains. The company decided to investigate where the orc had come from and what he was doing by the river stream. Melowen and Tidhelm headed further into land as Irwfrith scouted the river bank. Within a few moments of wading through the knee-high waters, it was to Irwfriths great amusement to find a wooden cage lowered into the water containing several fishes. He pulled it up from the water and went to find the other two. "Seems we ruined someones breakfast!" he said with a chuckle to the others, who had felled another orc. They all soon agreed that they shouldn't linger more and that it was time to move on with the fishes as their rightful claim for the glorious victory. They all went back to the campsite and packed up everything they needed. Within minutes they were passing over the last bridge and into Trollshaws.
The remaining journey went quite trouble-free. Having followed the main road for a longer time they soon turned south into the woods and elevating terrains of Trollshaws. They decided to keep away from elven settlements for the time being. As they reached the top of the hills they were taken back in awe by the view of Trollshaws in daylight. Such a vast and fertile land as far as the eye could see. In the distance Irwfrith noticed a glimmer inbetween the tree crowns, it was Bruinen reflecting the sun. They began riding down the hill towards the water, Tidhelm had asked what the river was called and what it meant, to his suprise Irwfrith said that Bruinen meant Loudwater, due to the thundering noises it created in Rivendell. "But it's still here! It should be named Stillwater!" Tidhelm implied, compiling a new song of complaints including hunger and wrongful naming of rivers.
The fisherman Garbert was standing outside his house repairing nets as the company arrived to his house. He seemed suprised at first but after a closer look he said; "More of you?! What's the world coming to when a fisherman can't have some peace without outlanders coming to visit each day!" Irwfrith and the others seemed curious about his previous visitors, having questioned him they soon found out that the two groups ahead of them had met up at the fishermans house, and then moved onwards together. Tidhelm told Irwfrith to give the fisherman the cage of fishes as thanks, but the fisherman seemed less inclined to wish for them when he found out of its connection to orcs. Tidhelm didn't take too well to the fishermans rejection of the gift and cursed him, riding away from them, but in wrong direction.
As soon as Tidhelm had returned after realising he headed into wrong direction, they managed to find a way to wade through the river that was not too deep for horses to move through. The noble looked as silly as ever when he tried to keep his shoes from being soaked as they waded through, keeping his feet high and shouting in triumph once they had passed. On their way to Gwingris the subject of conversation mostly involved the origins of elves and their diets. Much of it was said in good laughs, but Irwfrith shifted slightly of unease when Tidhelm started to wonder what Elf seed would taste like, if they were the product of trees.
Finally they had reached the skirmish camp of Gwingris, where they would leave their horses and dress into appropiate attire. Irwfrith began removing all his clothing and storing them somewhere safely, then removed all the equipment he was to carry with him. He looked at the large backpack with proviants both for himself, Wulfreda and Leofmund, becoming a bit bitter that they weren't able to get the others to await their arrival. Once Melowen and Irwfrith had rolled themself in some dirt they headed into Gwingris, while Tidhelm remained among men at the camp. Speaking with the head of the settlement, they were soon told that the other company had been spotted by patrols somewhere in High Hollins, but not drawn their attention as a threat of any sort. Thereby being left alone. Melowen and Irwfrith thanked for this information and headed back to the camp. It had already become evening once again.
After having enjoyed the grilled fishes they had "caught" during the morning that day they all retired to bed for much desired sleep. As he layed down he took out the letter the fisherman had given to him. The letter was from Wulfreda, so much was clear, however the rest of the letter was something he had difficulties to decipher. Being a man of the wilderness in Riddermark he had never properly taught the art of reading. With it being the first time in a few days the words on the letter soon enough started to swirl around on the paper, out of pure fatigue he fell asleep with the letter upon his chest.
