The trip back to Bree-Land from Esteldin wasn't going well. Not two days on the trail and Traveller had started acting antsy, raking his hooves at the ground and flaring his nostrils, huffing as if to get a bad smell out of them. I knew those signs, the warhorse and I had ridden many miles together.
I started winding a bit on my route, riding up hillsides I really didn't need to go over, using the slow climb in elevation to survey my backtrail. It took me a few hours, but I finally spotted the reason my horse was annoyed. Orcs were trailing me. I imagine they'd picked up my trail and decided a lone rider was easy prey.
There must have been a dozen of them and I knew a few of them were carrying the heavy, laminated bone bows popular with their scouts. One well placed arrow from those could drop an armored man or horse. My choices weren't good. While Traveller was the best horse I'd had the pleasure of riding in years, even his mighty endurance could only keep me ahead of the orc scouts for a while. On top of that, if they were determined, riding to the nearest settlement could bring a world of hurt to the people there.
Even Trestlebridge, while well defended, would suffer if a party the size of that of my pursuers were to assault it. Turning back toward Esteldin would be a risk too. It was the only other refuge available and the orcs were between me and the walls and rangers there. If they pushed themselves, they could be at the only bridge over the river by the time I got there, leaving me with a fight on exposed ground against bad odds.
Tinnudir it would have to be then. I had friends there, the Wardens had no mercy for the likes of orcs nor bandits and I'd helped them prove it many times in the past. If this band wanted to hunt us, I would lead them a merry chase to a welcome they'd only remember for a short time before their well deserved end.
With a gentle nudge of my knee, I signalled my intentions to my trusty companion and he turned, snorting so that he nearly sneezed, as if to get the smell of the orcs out of the air and giving him the wind he wanted and a clear path to follow as we rode.
