After a few hours of walking, Lieta was happy for the camp by the Brandywine. The past few days, she had been sparring or fighting those with better skill. She was sore and plagued with headaches from losing. When they stopped at the river, she was quick to head towards the water and strip down to her undergarments for a quick dip. The cold water was relief to her bruises and sores from walking. Where the ranger took off to, she didn’t know, but she assumed he was getting sleep. It didn’t matter.
It was quiet enough by the border of the Shire for her to think. Or fall asleep in a field of golden flower, which she did. The journey so far was peaceful, outside of Sigfread trying to rush everything and then stop. Hurry up and wait. She wanted to continue, even if she had been falling asleep prior to camping by the river.
Then it rained.
During the night, she had moved to where Sigfread found a place to camp. It was under a tree, close to the Old Forest. Naturally, she knew not to go there and of the tales about it being haunted by a wicked old man that ate others. Any other night, she might have stayed up to ponder the fears. Not this night. She fell asleep until the cold rain woke her in the morning. Then in the morning, she made sure to note a few things down about the boring trip so far.
They crossed into the Shire using the bridge. It wasn’t anything grand. Athlenah had taken her here before. She was sure that the name of the town was Stack or Stuck, but those sounded like silly names for a border town. The proper name of the town was the least of her worries. Sigfread used the ruins to cross and her horse, Pinky, was not having any of this climbing business.
“This is dumb,” she muttered as she and Pinky followed the smaller river west. The ranger handed her a map and gave her an hour to meet him in Budgeford. She had mounted up, taking the moment to rest her feet. Through mud and brush, they went. Lieta hummed a song to herself until there seemed to be shallows in the river before the crossing. She climbed down from the saddle and tested the river. It was all good until about her waist was deep in water and she fell.
The river was certainly not shallow. She considered herself luck that Pinky pulled her back towards the bank of the river. Being brought back to the Brandywine would have made the day pretty bad. She learned later that being sent back eastward wasn’t the worst of the day.
Sigfread wasn’t very happy to see her. He was just smoking under a gate, muttering that she made it in time. His nonchalant moods were off-putting at times and it irked her. Sure, he might have been some long living Northern Ranger, but he was surely an arse and she found herself thinking about what kind of woman goes and marries this stubborn milk-cow.
He stopped them again outside of Scary. She was left trying to convince the bounder there that they should be happy that strange travelers were offering help. She moaned about black mailing the Halfling into thinking that he and Scary needed their help. Naturally, Sigfread’s response wasn’t surprise. He was still an arse. Off to the mine they went then.
Lieta was as alright about it until she realized the mine was full of spiders. The teenage girl that had leaped from her horse to stop a wagon of arrow-letting brigands and survived the wagon flipping over its side was left to running out of the mine, tossing her clothes to get rid of the webs and hating the ranger even more. Then he had the gall to call her a fool about the whole thing as a town full of Halflings charged into the mine with torches to finish up.
They stopped for the night in Oatbarton. She was ready to take off her water filled boots and light a fire to warm up. Then the wicked man said no fires. The second day was a completely different kind of travel from the first. Of course, it was noted in her soaked, leather-bound book.
