The journey through the woods and terrain through and around Midgewater took most of a day even on Saeradan’s plucky little mare. I had to make camp halfway through tucked away in a safe little overlook so both my campfire and my horses wouldn’t draw attention. Orcs, goblins, wolves, and other beasts roamed through the rocky outcrops and forested trails just as Saeradan had said. I had already defended myself more than once from their aggressions and had run away on the mare, who Saeradan said was named Flower, almost as many times. Neeker seemed content to follow her without balking or falling behind even when fleeing danger.
And now, I sat across from a somber-faced Ranger and his campfire. I had galloped almost past his hidden area while escaping a pack of wolves when his aid helped chase them off. His tent remained tucked away near the upward slope of the nearby hill while a horse stood tethered nearby. Even the fire itself gave off little smoke. Our introductions had been quick yet simple. “I would have let you pass but for recognizing the mare you rode,” he explained after we had settled down. “I know Flower well. Saeradan sent you.”
“More or less,” I agreed. Candaith, though not quite as tall as me, was still above average height. It felt odd for me to only look down on him a little rather than the usual. Rangers, I reminded myself. The tall ones aren’t adopted in and wearing non-Westron names. They have a bloodline back to Númenor, no matter how diluted at this point. However, at his confused expression and the slow tug down of the fabric covering his nose and mouth, I explained, “Gandalf sent me to Saeradan in an attempt to find Radagast the Brown. Saeradan said he had come this way and that you might have seen him do so.”
Candaith’s features altered at the name of the wizards. He had a more critical once-over of me that seemed briefly wary before altering back to relaxed. “Radagast the Brown?” My sudden upwelling of hope died almost instantly as he shook his head “I have not seen him and know not of his passing, but there is a cold and a shadow that has come to these lands of late.”
I nodded at his words. “It has something to do with a gaunt-man and Agamaur, or something trapped in that place. That’s all that I really know, though. It’s why I’ve been sent to find Radagast; however, I’m under the impression that you came here to investigate the lightning up there.” I pointed toward the looming mass of Weathertop nearby. “Radagast apparently left sometime after you.”
He again shook his head. “He may have taken another path from mine to get here. Such is the way of wizards. It is said that he has powers related to nature and the beasts inside of it. If that is the case, then Radagast may have found his path far less challenged than either of our own, given the number of hostile creatures between Saeradan’s cabin and this place.”
“There are spiders in the Marshes big enough to ride, I’m told. I wouldn’t put it past him or Gandalf to do just that.” I gently lifted my hands to remove my own mask after I’d spoken. It seemed proper and right to do so, what with Candaith exposing his features to me first.
He chuckled without comment at first, but after I had set my mask aside, he scrutinized me closely for several moments. What is with all of these Rangers studying me like a new artifact? I wondered privately as I caught him doing so from the corner of my eye. First Saeradan and now this one? When I turned to meet his gaze and challenge him with it, Candaith relented. “Saeradan’s word comes late to the Lone-lands,” he replied instead. “If Radagast the Brown passed into these lands then perhaps hope is not lost in this place.”
Something about what he said left me uneasy. “Is it in other places?”
He pressed his lips together and his tone became grim. “I have returned only recently from a journey in lands far to the east, lands held firmly in the grip of evil.”
Alarm moved through me. My son lay to the east, over the Misty Mountains. “How far that way?” I countered. “And how long ago?”
He regarded me with more interest for my reaction. “Rhun,” he answered. “Months, given I just arrived. Though Northern Mirkwood is hardly any better.” As I relaxed, he chose not to press the issue. “Rhun has been under the control of Sauron for a very long time, though. The only hope of its redemption may be the final destruction of Sauron himself.”
I held my expression neutral as I looked toward Neeker and Flower. I couldn’t say anything about Strider and his mission nor of the Ring that one of the hobbits carried. “Then we can only hope it happens soon,” I replied evenly. It was hardly a lie.
“Too right.” He frowned at the fire as I returned my gaze to him. “When I returned from that journey, I learned to my dismay that evil does not stir in the East alone.”
I chuckled humorlessly. “No, it has a tendency to live everywhere.”
He glanced up at me again. “More than that.” His forearms settled on his knees and his hands rubbed together in idle thought. “Goblins now roam to the south, while their larger and more ferocious cousins among the Orcs spread through the Weather Hills like a festering plague.” I kept silent in the knowledge that he had more to say. I found my hunch correct when he stated, “I must find the main body of the Orcs.” His expression tensed slightly. “If you will assist me in driving back the Enemy in these hills, I will begin the search for Radagast the Brown. What say you?”
“Not much choice, is there?” I motioned at him. “You have tracking skills as a Ranger that I don’t. If I leave here, where am I going to go searching for Radagast on my own? I don’t have much knowledge of this area. Even if I did have an idea, if I found any information that would help us both out after I left, I don’t have the ability to find this camp without a guide or at least the time to familiarize myself with how it’s laid out in comparison to Weathertop there.” I nodded my head toward the massive hill with its ruins. “And, to be fair, if I’m here that long, I may as well help you anyway.”
He smirked a little. “You’re far cleverer than the average man. I would have mistaken you for a Ranger, yourself, were it not for the accent and the rather strange desire to wear a bird’s face over your own.”
I glanced askance at my mask and felt an answering smirk twitch up my lips. “Have you seen the thing its hiding? I consider it a blessing.” Changing the topic, I then asked, “Are there Rangers in the south?”
His brow creased. “How far south do you mean? We’re not the most numerous. Though I’m sure some of my brethren have wandered through those lands and beyond the same as I have in the East.”
And there are definitely none in Enedwaith or Dunland, I said silently. Not if the rumors that come from those lands are at all true. “I guess you aren’t named Rangers because you sit at home doing needlework.”
His laugh was pleasant and true even if it sounded as if he didn’t often use it. “Witty, too. Are you certain you’re not one of us?”
“My father died in one of Gondor’s battles when I was around five,” I explained with a lift of one shoulder. “Mother had no way to support me and left me on the street to save herself soon after. I’ve no idea where she went off to.” I stopped. “Or so I think. I wasn’t terribly old, and my memories of that time are vague. I’ve only really pieced things together from what I was told by people around me before I started wandering.”
“A Ranger by birth rather than by training,” Candaith said with a half-smile. “If you weren’t as old as you are now and still a child, you would’ve been taken in by one of us, I’m sure.”
I shook my head. “Only if you’d been there or I had been here.” I spread my hands. “Now, look at me. I’m a burglar charged by a wizard to help save the world.” I waved my hand around in a vague gesture to encompass where he had camped. “Beginning with this area, it seems.”
He slapped his hands against his knees decisively. “Stay here this evening and rest. Tomorrow, you can begin helping me while I help you. Search for Orcs among the Weather Hills, west of my camp, and thin their ranks. I will begin my efforts to find and track Radagast the Brown.” I didn’t say I’d do it, though, I nearly protested before recalling that I actually didn’t have much choice in the matter, as I’d said before. “It’s an offer that I can’t refuse,” I agreed drolly.
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