Bird on a Wire - Part 1
Bird on a Wire - Part 2
Bird on a Wire - Interlude 1
Bird on a Wire - Part 3
Bird on a Wire - Part 4
As the moon rose that evening over the Brandy Hills, it found the trio already reassembled on a low ridge just below the fortress of Hillshire. The ranger Braichanar had just arrived as Xanderian was finishing the tasks of adjusting the straps on Audea’s armor more properly, so as to afford her more comfort and most especially, quiet her steps. In truth, the elleth had undertaken the task also to help sooth the girl’s impatient nerves. As far as Audea was concerned, every moment wasted was another drop of Hawke’s blood, and she had not hesitated to explain that. As the last buckle was closed, the ranger spoke. ''I spotted their camp. It is half their number, no sign of your Viper.'' He glanced at Audea. ''There was a blanket covering what looked like a body.''
Audea’s stomach dropped at the last statement. “.. They wouldn't, though. No, no, they need him alive an' breathin'. Don't they?”
“I suspect he was asleep, or unconscious, beneath the blanket….” explained the ranger, as if already regretting frightening the Breelander.
Xanderian nodded her agreement. “As I know from experience, Hawke is far more pleasant, amenable and easily handled when unconscious so I do not blame the brigands in the least for keeping him so. What concerns me more are their numbers. They seem to have split up, perhaps with the Viper going ahead with three of their number...unless those three have simply withdrawn to a different vantage…” She raised an eyebrow and looked at the ranger pointedly.
Braichanar knew well what Xanderian was afraid of. ''I took a wide berth to seek out sign of the other three to make sure they did not lurk in ambush, but any tracks were lost when they crossed the Brandywine, if indeed they crossed it. I saw only the three, and they look alert.''
Xanderian nodded softly. "If they knew their fellows were watching over them they would be lax and slovenly or at least appear to be...these are not disciplined men, which means their vigilance is born of fear.
Audea released a soft 'oh,' which was shortly followed by a relieved sigh. "Righ'. Aye. O' course, he’s just out cold". She merely looked between the two of them then, doing her best to keep up, though their words surely did confuse her.
Braichanar adjusted his hood against the rising chill, scowling. “Disciplined enough, or armed with foreknowledge enough, that they escaped mine and my brothers' notice until I picked up their trail. If not for your pursuit, they could easily have made their way to Ered Luin unbothered.''
Xanderian began sorting arrows in her main quiver, nodding softly. “I would expect this was their leader. I have spoken with him, and faced him directly....he is not a Dunedain but still a hardened professional. He would be skilled at moving goods, or captives, unseen. He has the stink of a slaver about him among other unsavory scents.”
Audea perked up suddenly. “Wait, bu'.. y'said the Viper was no where t'be seen, righ'? Jus' the other shites?”
The archer and the ranger both nodded. Xanderian put a hand on her shoulder. “Indeed, so it would seem. No doubt his acumen was needed to ensure the Angmarim who control Kheledul do not simply sell the lot, Hawke and Brigands as well, as slaves and pocket the profit. We have had…experience with the business of Kheledul, my sister and I. I do not feel Agdarom the Viper is near...but if I see him, he is a dead man. I promised his doom to his face....I will not turn aside from such an oath and I am a patient huntress indeed."
Audea scoffed, her voice full of unusual vehemence. "Course he is as good as dead! I'd love t'see him squirm while his c-.." She forced her mouth shut before she could continue, ending with just a quiet hum.
Braichanar cast a look at Xanderian but shook his head. ''Come, lest you wish to leave your companion in the care of these brigands. We should not waste the cover of darkness. The time approaches.''
Xanderian slipped the larger quiver over her shoulder, fixing a smaller second quiver to her belt on the left beneath Lovelorn, but paused. “If you permit brother...Audea, a word.”
The girl turned, having already drawn her sword nervously, and Xanderian cupped her chin in one pale hand, speaking into her gaze. “Braichanar and I will deal with the bandits...you must see to Hawke. Move to him when we give the word and see to his condition, and shelter him. He is your charge in this matter, dear one.”
Audea nodded her understanding, her jaw setting. "Aye. We should go though, like he said. Don't got much time."
Braichanar asked a final question as he pulled his mask back into place. “Do we shoot to kill, or do you wish one or more to remain alive?”
Xanderian smiled with the ruthlessness of her people as well as the practicality of a soldier. “They will have no knowledge we could use, the Viper is careful. I have already seen that. Slay them so our backs are secure.”
Braichanar nodded tersely and turned to lead the way, his tall frame bent low as he made no noise passing across the grass. The two others moved carefully in his footsteps.
Braichanar signaled to them and spoke in a quiet whisper as they came to a small branch of the Brandywine. ''See that you do not splash. It is a strong current, but shallow.'' He looked at Audea. ''Do you need to brace yourself upon one of us?''
Audea was already panting quite noticeably. She was carrying a lot that she was not used to, after all. At Braichanar's question, her brow furrowed, and she immediately opened her mouth as if to protest against the silly idea.. before she noticed how truly rapid the current is.
Xanderian took her hand, making it unnecessary for her to answer. Audea offered a short smile to Xan, squeezing onto her hand rather tightly as she did so.
Braichanar waded across, unphased by the extremely cold water. He turned to consider his two new companions as they followed, the elleth seeming not to disturb the water at all as she helped the armored townswoman across tenderly. Not for the first time thus far he thought what an odd pair the two were. He had heard tales of this Nightwind, fighting shadow on many fronts since before even he had been born. What interest did this first born soldier of the West have with the captive they sought, or more relevantly, what was simple, kindly Audea of Bree to her? Perhaps there was far more here than there seemed to be at first glance.
As the two returned to dry land, he gestured silently towards the towering ruin seen up the next hill. There was smoke from a small fire drifting into the starry sky.
Xanderian spoke, her voice pitched so that even a few feet away it would go unheard. “Are the three positioned where we might take them from a distance?”
Braichanar spoke in that same quiet voice, just loud enough to be heard over the nearby falls. ''Not all three. Ascend, staying in my shadow. They have set a watch on the west side, he may be felled easily first. Afterwards, we shall encircle the camp and make short work of the remaining two.''
The elleth nodded sharply, Heartbreaker already in her hand crooning softly to itself as Braichanar drew his longbow and fit an arrow to the string between two fingers, waiting for Audea's sign that she understood.
Audea looked between the two of them for a moment. Then, she spoke up, trying to keep her voice down. "Do I go straight for the body?"
Xanderian shook her head. “No...not until the two have fallen...” She gave a soft bird call, rising at the end. “When you hear that...go to him. Not before”
Audea nodded her understanding, shifting a little nervously as the trio slowly ascended the hill, staying low as the ruins that crowned the hill came into view, lit by a poorly tended campfire.
Two brigands sat near the fire, one dozing and the other seated against the pillar, blocked from view so that only one outstretched leg was visible to the trio. The third was standing watch on the small rise above their position, though even he was clearly beginning to doze off, occasionally startling back to wakefulness.
Braichanar bent low to one knee and drawing his bow powerfully sent an arrow into the night. It struck the sentry silently who fell without so much as a gasp, slowly rolling down the hill to settle at the trio’s feet. Audea stared down at the corpse, the arrow jutting from its chest, open eyes staring up at the moon, and nodded resolutely to herself. The other two guards remained unalerted as the ranger looked at Xanderian.
Xanderian slowly nocked an arrow. Heartbreaker seemed to be singing in low, lilting tones. For a moment the ranger thought he could detect words in some ancient tongue, but the sounds were too soft. As he listened however, his thoughts were drawn to images of the open, boundless forest and a warm, secure campfire…sitting with his brethren celebrating a great victory, mugs of ale and hearty greetings marking the feeling of triumph and fervor that filled his breast. Then he shook his head and the images were gone as he watched the elleth slip away soundlessly to find a position where both remaining brigands were in range.
Xanderian moved as if she was not there at all, slowly reaching the position she wished. Then she raised Heartbreaker and let fly, the arrow silent as death itself, going through the throat of the brigand near the pillar, tacking him silently to the stone itself...a single twitch and he stilled, as if still just resting there lazily. The archer had a second arrow nocked before the first had traveled 3 feet yet as the brigand slumped, his companion by the fire twitched awake, by some misfortune sensing that something was amiss. His eyes went wide and he jumped to his feet, ducking low and moving to crouch over the form near the tree, covered by a tattered blanket. A blade gleamed as he raised his hand.
At that moment Braichanar pounced, leaping from cover and firing his arrow before the man could complete his mad vengeance. The arrow took him through the throat and he stood, clutching at the shaft. As he gurgled a second arrow, fired by Xanderian, went through his eye and out the back of his head. He stood for a moment, seeming almost confused, then crumpled, falling over his captive as if protecting them from more arrows.
The elleth glided to the ruin, scanning quickly to be sure none were hidden...then she sounded the soft bird call, rising at the end as Braichanar also cast a quick, keen glance around the hilltop then echoed the bird call. It was over.
Audea chewed furiously on her bottom lip until she heard the familiar bird call. Leaping out from behind the tree, she then rushed pell mell up the hill to the ruins, searching for the blanket-covered body.
As she arrived she paused. The two bodies were corpses, the camp otherwise still and empty save for the captive. She stepped over one dead brigand and pushed the other’s corpse off the blanket covered figure. She tried not to think about the blood stains decorating the ratty, moth-eaten cloth as she pulled it away desperately to find....a body, but that of a young woman. Her throat had been slit long before, perhaps a day. She had dark hair like Hawk, and as she looked in horror at the girl Audea realized that she recognized her. A simple farm girl from one of the outlying farms near Adso’s encampment. She had seen her in the Pony many times though she did not know her name, with a local boy as she recalled…though of course it didn’t matter now. A note was pinned to her chest with a knife, the blade sunk through the paper and into the woman’s breast. It read in crude Westron: Continue to follow and we clip the lovely bird's wings.
Braichanar stepped closer. ''This was a delaying tactic. That is not your Hawk, I take it.''
Xanderian sighed. “Professional indeed is the Viper. He sacrifices half his number to slow us, and deliver another message. By Elbereth he will beg to die before this is over.” She looked to the ranger. “I thank you brother, but this was in vain. Perhaps we have cleansed the wood of dangerous refuse, but our quarry eludes us still.”
Audea looked away and sank down to the stone, her voice expressionless, “No..not Hawk. Jus' someone tha' got all caught up in this... She didn't deserve t'die. I wish I knew her name…I should. I should know her name.”
Braichanar bowed his head. ''Goheno nin. I am sorry your hunt was not successful this night.''
At the man’s words Audea pivoted on her knees to face away from the body as if it had all suddenly became real. Her desperate hopes of just a few minutes before seemed to flow out of her like water, leaving her wasted and empty. Her hands lifting to cover her face so that she might release a muffled scream of pure rage and despair into her palms.
As Braichanar knelt to the body and draped the poor excuse for a blanket over it respectfully while murmuring something in Sindarin, Xanderian watched Audea scream and then moved to seek clues to their next move, whispering to herself. “Even so is a soldier made from a girl. Even so was I made what I am.”
The ranger was also examining the camp, giving the girl her privacy, and noticed a bent, stunted tree. A bloody rope was left around its trunk, obviously where Hawk has been held before they had moved on with him. He knelt and took it in his hand, examining the dried blood. The captive had been alive and well, well enough to struggle against his bonds.
Audea lowered her hands from her face at last, a frown crossing her lips as she tilted her head to look up to the night sky. A look of frantic determination was burning in her eyes that would have shocked her sisters or childhood friends. When she spoke, there was a fire in her words even as it had a touch of hopelessness behind it. "We'll stop them. We have to. An' when we do, if y'don't mind... I'd like t'have a final word with the Viper fellow myself."
Braichanar rested his head against the tree, filled as well with frustration, and noticed something curious. Scratched into the bark low down near the base, there was something to be read. He rose and turned to Audea. ''Look near the tree, Audea of Bree, and have hope.''
Audea turned around slowly. Her expression softened as she looked at the base of the tree where the ranger indicated. Unknown to his captors, Hawk had scratched out a message there by some means. The letter 'A' and what looked like a seagull had clearly been cut into the bark.
She looked up at her two companions, a cavalcade of emotions on her face…hope, fear, anguish, rage…love. Beyond all of that, the message had an effect Hawke could never have anticipated. He may have meant the message as a farewell, but all it did was harden the resolve in the girl’s soul to refuse to accept such a parting. The desperation was gone, replaced by confidence and pure conviction, a readiness to do whatever it took to save the man she loved.
It was clear to the elleth that this Audea was someone entirely different from the simple songstress who had wept in her arms at the Prancing Pony, wondering if the mercurial Hawke really cared. Different from the girl who had staggered out of Bree in a daze along the Greenway in borrowed armor with a newly blooded sword.
Xanderian nodded in simple recognition of her rebirth and bowed to her as she stood. “We now have only one recourse...we ride for Kheledul.”
