The outpost was becoming a bit more familiar to him than it previously had. Sedryn had been venturing out daily, patrolling the road all the way down to the Last Bridge. He did not know what he was looking for, exactly, but figured it was better than sitting idly around the small settlement. The residents always seemed pleased when he brought them more boar meat to salt for winter, at least.
He knew why he lingered there, but was not sure what kept him from going further. Returning to Bree with what he had discovered made his gut turn. Remaining there at Ost Guruth made him feel a little closer to someone he had barely known and left behind too soon, but it was not even that reason that prevented him from leaving. He did not want to be wrong.
His mother’s words still rang in his ears as he walked out the door.
“Do you not believe I have already exhausted every chance I had of finding him? He is gone, Sedryn. You will only find heartache and disappointment if you go searching for him, and you may find some things you do not wish to know. I have told you everything. The truth. His truth. Please…let that be the end of it.”
She had been right, but she had also been wrong. His father had a colorful past, it was true, but that was not what his mother warned him about. His origins, the lands he came from which were allied with the dark Enemy he heard so much about, had come for his father and he had let them take him back there. From what Sedryn had learned, it had not been against his will. That was what his mother did not know, and that truth would be as hard for her to bear as it was for him.
What Sedryn had not discovered was why. Why, after such great lengths of distancing himself from his tribe had he returned to them so willingly? It made no sense. He would have to reveal all of this to his mother, and he did not want to see how she would react. And worse, that truth would have to remain a secret to protect both of them.
When the weather started to turn colder, he finally made the decision to move on further south. He would make another attempt to cross the river and discover what news he could in the lands beyond it to the south.
