My Lord has heard Lord Veryacano say that I arrived to talk the company out of searching for him. I say that this is a wrong-headed assumption, and the reasons for my accompaniment were to gather news for the remainder of the House waiting impatiently in Imladris, and secondarily, to see what resulted from his leadership. I will admit that it seemed near impossible to recover your Lordship, but I was under the mistaken assumption that he had been devoured by a fell-beast on the battlefield – how I came to this conclusion I am not entirely sure, but oftentimes there is not much value in the hearsay which bubbles out from a Vintner’s lips.
Although it may be confusing to hear our two very different accounts, this letter will give your Lordship a true picture of the events that transpired during our search for his illustrious person. Discrepancies in events are common, and oftentimes are noticed when comparing one account with the other. These, presumably, are the results of erroneous information; but the fog of war frequently obscures a commander’s perception. Lord Veryacano has seen many battles over the long years, and his strong desire to find our Lordship was the one fixed thought in his mind. Any objection to his plotted path, or the means with which to achieve his singular objective, was viewed by him as a terrible fault, or offense, which would undermine his goal. However, one may disagree with one part of an argument, but it does not mean the entire precept is condemned wholeheartedly! Oftentimes, there is a lack of subtlety of thought, when one feels very strongly about his convictions. In addition, Lord Veryacano has not seen any of my manuscripts to compare his to them, nor has he asked for my opinion on any matter; and for these reasons, he is unable to place the events in their proper perspective.
First and foremost, I am glad to say that we had no mortalities, though I had a bad accident involving a wicked device meant for capturing wild beasts of prey, which was hidden under a pile of leaves, and clapped itself around my leg, thus causing great pain, detaining me in the woods, and separating me from my sole companion, Telpenaro, who, to his credit, very reluctantly left my side to get help. Thereupon, being alone and pinned down, I was attacked by a wandering orc scout, that treated me much as a tailor treats a pincushion, and stuck me full of arrows that were dipped in the foulest of orc poisons. But before the evil creature could finish me off, my companions came, slew the orc, and took me back to camp in a deplorable condition. I hate to mention it to my Lord, and trouble his already burdened mind, but I had one hand on the door-knocker of Death, and near expired. However, Lord Veryacano did not seem to notice my writhing sufferings, or care very much at all about it, in fact. As far as he was concerned, I should have been more careful so as not to stick my foot in the trap in the first place: but accidents are called accidents for a reason, because they happen, on accident, and thereby cannot be avoided, and do not simply happen by intent or any willfulness on the victim’s part, but by chance and without expectation. And as I was licking my wounds, so to speak, after this accident, and trying to sort out my addled brains, Lord Veryacano compelled me to hurry, hurry, hurry forward, and threatened to leave me behind, abandoned! in the dark woods known as the Gravenwood, which only proves how anxious he was in his determination to find our most noble and glorious Lord, and I cannot fault him for that, or for being vexed at the thought of delay.
Your Lordship may hear from Lord Veryacano of some incidents involving maps, in which I am unfortunately involved. Again, I would hasten to inform him that these were accidents, and I certainly did not mean to drop Lord Veryacano’s map in the fire, nor did I mean to besmirch another, when I confused it for a napkin. I did try to make amends, and replace the burned-up map with a most beautiful one, highly detailed and fit for a king! – but Lord Veryacano thought it grossly unsuitable, and I was greatly dismayed when my efforts to procure a substitute map appeared useless, and he became wroth again. Afterwards, I noticed how he began treating me with even greater contempt, if that were possible. Yet I overlooked it, as I have overlooked the rest of his reproaches and insults.
By this time in our journey, his nerves were greatly frayed, I think, but there was worse to come! We arrived in the windswept, denuded land of Enedwaith. Thereby Lord Veryacano recommended Nirhen, Lord Estarfin, and Naergon to scout ahead, but instead, they turned around, and went the other way, whence we came, and summarily destroyed a village of the Dunlendings, and burned the place to a cinder. When questioned by Lord Veryacano, Nirhen admitted to doing this dastardly deed. Naergon and Lord Estarfin remained silent; clearly, they went along with her destructive urges, and were unable to stop her on her rampage across the countryside. I thought Lord Estarfin to be very innocent, and felt very sorry for him. And when Lord Veryacano heard of it, he became wild with anger, and when Lord Belegos heard of it, he became astonished, and declared his intent to return to the Valley, after exchanging bitter words with Lord Veryacano, who called him a traitor. We have not heard anything from Lord Belegos since - I am greatly worried for him.
The changed mood of the lessened party was to have a marked effect on our plans, and our outlook, generally, but it did not slow our paces. We had our first encounter with the Horse-Men, when we reached a settlement. They are, as your Lordship knows, at war with the Dunlendings, and Lord Veryacano ordered that we capture one of these men, and take him as a present to the Horse-Men. He was treated quite poorly, dragged along the road, and clobbered in the head by Lord Ancalasse, because the fool man would not hold his tongue as I advised. But afterwards, the leader of the tribe of Horse-Men, Grimbold, refused to grant us passage across the river Entwash. This delayed us for many days, as we had to circumvent many enemy encampments, and we became lost, though Lord Veryacano would not admit of it. Eventually, we found the right path, and crossed over the river, without being discovered.
A very wide area was covered, until we reached a place of flat terrain, the grassy fields of the Horse-Men. Thereupon we were spotted, being unable to conceal ourselves, and overtaken by mounted soldiers. They commanded us to put down our weapons, and Lord Veryacano told us to do it, but Nirhen would not obey Lord Veryacano’s command, and she was struck upon the head by Lord Tindir with a mighty blow. It was with great embarrassment that we were marched off to their village, and forcibly squeezed into a storehouse. A day later, after an anxious period of waiting, we were released, and our weapons given back to us - Lord Veryacano spoke to the Men, in private, and convinced them to let us go. To my chagrin, he did not ask for my help with any negotiations with the Men, but this, by now, had become commonplace treatment for the Ambassador of Vanimar, and quite frankly, I was not very much surprised. Nirhen was banished to the Valley, and left us, but followed our trail in stealth, again disobeying Lord Veryacano’s orders. But sometimes good can come from bad actions, as we saw later, when her cold anger served our cause well, and killed many of the Enemy.
Thereafter we wandered again in circles, following Lord Veryacano from one false lead to the next. At one point in our strivings, Lord Estarfin was injured, when nobly defending us from an attack of orcs, but he made a speedy recovery, thanks to the skills of Laurelindo, who has shown himself to be a capable healer, and has gained much from this experience, though I think his confidence in his ability is wanting. Finally, we found a token of the Enemy which led us to believe our Lord was taken north, to the Tower of the Necromancer.
So much for the rest. Your Lordship knows how the tale ends, and how we were able to recover him from the clutches of the Enemy. I have endeavored to tell the story of the events leading up to his safe rescue, so that my Lord may judge and criticize the actions of those taking part, but time prevents me from going into much detail, as it is late, and we are meeting at first light to discuss our plans for the War. If your Lordship has any questions of my tale, no doubt he shall call me to his presence, and I shall do my best to give an account of matters, and tell him anything he should wish to know.
Your most humble and obedient servant,
Parnard Teludarion
Ambassador of House Vanimar
