Hodhon is alive! He dragged himself into Archet yesterday, and the local weapons trainer brought him to me. Apparently he feigned death after having been wounded in the attack, and managed to sneak away afterwards. He managed to patch himself up, and had been wandering the roads looking for me ever since. And he brought the standards! Apparently the Blackwolds did not see a few pieces of cloth on sticks as worth looting, but they're priceless to me.
So now my valet has been promoted to my herald. He can't take the place of three fighting men, of course, and his weapons training is limited, but he can swing a sword and carry a standard, and that is all that is necessary—at least until I can find a party of fellow adventurers to assist me in my quest.
I am relieved to see him beyond what I can say here. He has been by my side since I was a child, and to see him alive and his old, taciturn, comforting self again has given me more hope than I ever thought I would feel again. Now, off to investigate Angmar!
