A raven soared overhead in the mid-day, when the sun was its highest. Sedryn had sheltered from its watchful gaze in the shade of a large boulder which had rolled down from the rocky passes above. He had long heard of the black birds being used as spies and as nefarious messengers and while he did not necessarily believe them, he thought he had better not chance it so far from home. He did not share his mother’s affinity for them. The trail through the fords of the Bruinen was indistinct and changed with the seasons of the great river. Twice he had lost his way and had to circle back to find the East Road again, or what he could see of it.
While he waited, he ate a bit of dried meat and read through a carefully rolled parchment he had carried with him. The ink had smeared in the writer’s haste, but the penmanship was unmistakable as the same from other notes he had discovered within the box of letters and notes his mother had produced for him. His father’s writing was not very easy to read, and he thought perhaps it was on purpose that he made it so. What better way to pass a secure message than to make it illegible to almost everyone?
Lily,
I beg that you make no attempt to come for me or discover where I have gone. May you take some comfort in knowing that I am safe, but more importantly, that Bor is as well. Please let that be enough. So long as he remains within the borders of Arnor, he will be protected, I swear to you. I will not deceive either you or myself into believing that I will ever return to these lands, but please understand that it is for the protection of yourself and more imperatively, Bor.Forgive me. I am sorry this is the way of it.
Always,
Gwareth
The borders of the long-forgotten kingdom of Arnor were easy enough to identify and stay within, but the answers that Sedryn sought were not found there. He had skirted the Bruinen for days, daring himself to cross it, but something always held him back. Today, he decided, would be the day he would defy it.
He peered out from the rock and looked around, shielding his eyes from the glare of the sun. Seeing nothing but high wispy clouds in the clear, cold afternoon sky, he gathered his pack and weapons and secured them to make the ford across the river. The edges of it were icy, but the constant flow kept it from freezing. It was time to test how water-resistant he had made his boots.
The ice crunched beneath his footing, making it unsteady as he stepped out, but a sound stopped him in his tracks and made his blood turn to ice. A black raven was perched on a tree on the opposite shore, squawking and screaming at him balefully. Sedryn squinted up at it and as it turned its head, he noticed that one eye was clouded over and grey while the other remained shiny, keen, and black. The recognition was near instant, for it was not the first time he had encountered the creature. It had trailed him through Andrath, and followed him north to Amon Sul, where it circled overhead and kept watch. It was just out of sight during his spring jaunt through the forests of the Trollshaws, and now, months later, it was here like some mysterious harbinger.
But what could it be trying to communicate to him? Was it merely a bird who had taken an interest in him? Had he unwittingly fed it some months back and now it continued to haunt him in search of more food? Were the superstitions true, and it was a spy for the Enemy? Or was fate toying with him?
The bird continued to call down to him, unrelentingly. He could have sworn he heard the words ‘Go back!’ amongst the squawking and screeching. Sedryn hesitated and frowned up at the bird, then stooped to pick up a stone and hurl it up at it.
“Leave me alone!” he screamed at it, zipping stones and pebbles at it until the bird flew off in a flurry of black feathers and shrieks of annoyance.
Once it was gone, he trudged on through the shallow, frigid water, grumbling as it seeped into his boots. He would need to try again to waterproof them. He reached the other side a few minutes later and started to run. The feeling returned to his cold toes as he deftly scrambled up the hill adjacent to the river and then skirted along the river’s edge from the hill above it.
Back on the other side, the raven returned, perching in a tree to watch him and squawking its disapproval at an empty ravine.
