Chapter the Third: In Which Our Friends Set Out On Their Journey

“Places to go, people to see” turned out to be a lot easier in speech than in reality. They had no direction, no one specifically to see, and nowhere specifically to go. The group was as muddled as their quest. There was no definitive leader, and they gave into talking over each other and shooting down ideas as soon as they were spoken. It was a hearty affair that carried them several miles down the path before them.

Daneli let Nainarv and Lyne argue over which route to take, where to go next, and who they should question first with Khali sometimes interjecting, and instead chose to study the group at large. Bill and Khali had the same ruddy, reddish tinge to their skin that Daneli had, a tinge extremely common to West Lorien. Skin color in this instance seemed to predate even race, appearing in every creature that had origins in the west of Lorien. While Daneli's hair was nearly white, contrasting with the color of their skin, Khali's hair was black. Bill's hair was full of curls, but nearly as black as Khali's.

Lyne and Nainarv came from the same general area in the east, but Lyne's skin was darker than Nainarv's. Her hair was a sharp red, jutting out of her head in a thick, coarse shock. Nainarv, while his skin was a fainter shade than Lyne's, was still noticeably dark. 

Aramdir, happily chirping toward the front of the group, was also from the East, but unlike the vast majority of elves, he had fair skin, borderline pale that marked him as a native of Frostwood Forest and its surrounds. His hair was a dark, nearly black, brown, swept away from his face and pinned to the back of his head in an intricate style that Daneli highly doubted Aramdir had done himself.

Daneli saw other things in Aramdir too. His ears were longer and more pointed, his nose was smaller, his cheekbones were lower, and his face more round. His eyes were just a touch smaller than any Daneli had seen on elves in Beofalls, but they were the same brilliant green common to all elves in Lorien. It gave Aramdir a foreign yet familiar look to him, that Daneli liked. Aramdir looked unique, out of this world, but somehow still related to Daneli.

“You know,” Aramdir said, in that oddly chipper tone he had. Perhaps that was another thing different and unique to this particular elf. He had a lightness and a shameless joy Daneli didn't see often. “I’ve heard tales, tales of a man in the Vale of Omens who can see things.”

“Bollocks,” Nainarv cut in. “Enough with these tales, Elfling. They're already getting old, and we haven't even left the vicinity of Hifeld. If this is the way you're taking this job, I ought to do you in myself.”

“No, let him talk,” Khali said. She had a calm tone for a fighter, let alone a dwarf.

“I suppose you believe this talk to be useful,” Nainarv grumbled.

“Enough of you,” Lyne snapped, not near as calm as Khali. “You've talked enough for the rest of us, you have. Shut it and let someone else 'ave a turn.” Daneli doubted Lyne cared for the story Aramdir wanted to tell nearly as much as she cared for the chance to disagree with Nainarv, the way she had disagreed with every word out of his mouth thus far. 

“There are tales,” Aramdir continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, even after he'd paused with the interruption. “He can see things, and he can make you see things. He can conjure up your greatest desire, even if it is hidden from you.” Daneli remained silent, but Aramdir had the tone of a story teller. “We could go there now, and let him see into our futures, see this amulet we seek, and point us in right direction.”

“Bollocks,” Nainarv said, dismissive of this idea immediately.

“We haven't got any better ideas,” Lyne said, again jumping at the chance to disagree with Nainarv. Her disagreement made Aramdir perk up though, because this meant Lyne was agreeing with him, even if indirectly.

“Minore the Magnificent and his comrades visit the Vale of Omens,” Bill said, sounding about as pleased as Aramdir looked. He used his hands to paint the grand image of such a story.

“Right, Bill, you're the star of this here story. You set every decision in motion. Single-handed, no less. We're all following you 'round like bumbling fools, are we now?” Lyne drawled.

Bill seemed unperturbed at Lyne's assessment, because the smile on his face never even faltered. Daneli wasn't sure if that was reassuring or annoying, but they were sure that Lyne likely found it more so annoying than reassuring.

“I'm sure he didn’t mean that the rest of us aren't bumbling fools,” Aramdir said plaintively, coming between the two of them.

“Some of us are probably more prone to foolish bumbling than others,” Nainarv said suggestively, his gaze set right on Bill, and Aramdir who had come up behind Bill's shoulder.

“Probably more of us than some realize,” Daneli said calmly. They weren't prone to speaking often. They believed that one should speak once, but listen twice. Their job as a ranger entailed just that. Listening got them a whole lot further than speaking did. But there was something about the way Nainarv spoke that did things to Daneli. The man was negative, and if he continued to speak that way, he would poison the entire party with his negativity. If anything could kill a man quick, it was the absolute loss of hope. If Nainarv had it his way, he'd killed hope personally.

“I think it's a good idea,” Daneli continued. “Let us go to this vale of Omens, seek out this man �" his name?”

“Oh, I don't know,” Aramdir admitted. “Nobody knows. He has lots of them, I guess. I've been calling him Roger in my head, though.”

“Right,” Daneli said without missing a beat, because if they did miss a beat, then Nainarv would no doubt speak up in scorn. “Well then. We should go to this Vale of Omens, and meet this �" Roger �" and see if he can further our quest. If he cannot, then it is no fault, really. We need a direction; without one, we will never get anywhere, least of all where we need to be.”

“And if this is going to work,” Khali said, but she had such a calm to her tone that it was obvious she wasn't directly disagreeing with Daneli. “Then we need a system, a voting system. We vote on every decision. No matter what, we go with the majority, yeah? If you agree with Aramdir's idea, say aye.”

Khali fell quiet, and several ayes rose up around her, Aramdir's the loudest of them all. It was a majority vote. Lyne, Daneli, Bill and Khali all agreed with the direction. Nainarv was mostly notably the odd man out. Daneli got the idea that Nainarv would probably be the odd man out most often.

“Aye then,” Khali said. “We go to the Vale of Omens, decide what to do after that. No more bickering, it's decided.” Daneli, relieved to have someone with a calm and strong enough voice to silence the rest of them, was fully behind this plan. “No more bickering,” she added once more, this time to Nainarv and Lyne alike, as she moved past them, to set them all on the route to the vale.

With the declaration of an ending to the bickering, the party fell silent. Daneli found the silence comfortable. They could hear the footsteps of the rest of the party, they could hear the animals in the trees beyond the path, of the wind. But most importantly, they couldn't hear the pressing negativity around them. With a destination, it seemed, the atmosphere was a lot more optimistic. If this was really a dead end, they'd figure out what to do after that, but that was just the way these types of adventures went.

~*~

Truth be told, Aramdir didn’t care where they went. He was just happy to be on the road. The last couple of days had been the most exciting of his life. They’d been more scary and thrilling than leaving his birthplace of Frostwood Forest to move to Arley with his parents, and more fulfilling and inspiring than when he had made the decision to leave his parents and come to Hifeld. 

And he had been able to be useful already! He had worried about that. The others, it was easy to see how they could be of use to the party. The fighter was obvious, and so was the thief. The cleric was a harder sell, at least in Aramdir’s mind, but it was always nice to have the favor of the gods when you embarked on a mission like this. The cleric - Nainarv - looked sturdy too, so that was another potential fighting force should they run into trouble. 

Ordinarily, a wizard was a logical addition to any party, so Aramdir could see why Bill had been included, even if he was a bit of a crap wizard and a total mummy’s boy. The ranger was… wow. Aramdir didn’t have words for how majestic Daneli was. He gazed enviously at Daneli’s graceful form, striding easily along beside Aramdir. 

Aramdir was the only one who didn’t make sense. He hadn’t told anyone yet, but he couldn’t sing, so he wasn’t going to be much good at healing anyone. He’d brought his lute with him, but buggered if he knew how to play more than Mary Had A Little Lamb on the thing. And the short daggers he had at his hip would be all right in close combat, but he really hoped he could stay out of close combat, because he knew he wasn’t very strong or very fit. 

And yet he had been the one to decide the direction of the party. Being a bard was good for one thing at least, and that was the fact that most towns had policies that bards were given room and board for almost nothing, provided they could perform in some way. Aramdir could spin a decent yarn, if nothing else, so he’d paid his way by telling stories he had made up, mostly. He hadn’t had the sort of adventures that were worth the telling. He had heard tell of the Seer through another bard, passing through the same town as him. 

“Anyone fancy a bit of a sing song?” he suggested half-heartedly, and was relieved when he was shouted down, most vocally by Lyne and Nainarv. It was, Aramdir reflected, the first time the two of them had openly agreed on anything since they’d been summoned together. 

The six of them trudged on down the road in silence, broken only by the occasional squabble between Nainarv and Lyne, mediated by the ever-patient Khali. The only other sound was Aramdir’s heavy breathing. He was used to travelling, but not so much to keeping a pace like this. 

He was happy when the decision was made to stop. They knocked together a small, makeshift sort of camp a few yards back from the side of the road, which was really little better than a path by this point. Aramdir nobly offered to take the first watch and was slightly miffed when no one argued with him, the five of them all flopping down to sleep on the sweet smelling grass. 

Two hours later, his eyelids threatening to slam closed so hard that they may never open again, he debated who to wake up to take the second watch. Was it worth it? There was no way he was about to shake Nainarv, and he somehow couldn’t bring himself to disturb the serene-looking Daneli. Lyne would probably gut him without even opening her eyes. He yawned, and nudged Bill. 

“Oi, Bill. Wake up and take over, will you?”

Satisfied that he hadn’t let the group down, Aramdir was asleep before his head even hit the makeshift pillow. 

He was woken some time later by the sounds of hushed fighting. Alarmed, he slowly reached for one of his daggers. This was it then - less than two days on the road and it was all over for them. It took him a few moments to wake up properly and recognize the voices as Nainarv, Khali, and Bill. 

“I ought to beat you like the child you are,” Nainarv declared, glaring furiously at Bill who was flushed even redder than his usual skin tone. 

“Exactly. He is a child, and he made a mistake. No harm is done, so there is no need to act this way,” Khali reprimanded him gently. 

“I’m not a child, I’m a man, a fully licensed wizard,” Bill protested. 

“Well, which is it lad? Either you’re a child, and you couldn’t help your little mistake - a mistake that could have got us all killed or eaten by wolves, mind. Or you’re a fully grown man, and deserving of the beating I so badly want to give you.” 

“Child,” Bill mumbled hurriedly. 

“What’s going on?” Aramdir finally asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. 

“Yon fully grown wizard fell asleep on watch, leaving us all vulnerable to attack,” Nainarv snarled, nodding his head derisively in Bill’s direction. “Valuable asset, that one. So very glad he tagged along.” 

As much fun as it was to tease Bill about his delusions of grandeur, Aramdir could see his eyes beginning to fill with humiliated tears. He shrugged. “Well, it’s like Khali said, isn’t it?” he said in his cheeriest tone, which he knew would get right up Nainarv’s nose and take the heat off Bill somewhat. “We’re not hurt. No one’s out to get us anyway, right? We don’t have any enemies or anything.”

A not-too-distant howl ripped through the quiet night, startling them all into silence. 

“No enemies,” Nainarv scoffed. “Because there are no predators in the forests, no animals looking for food. It has to be people we’re guarding against, does it? Grow up.” 

After that, no one really felt like going back to sleep, so Daneli and Lyne were woken and they resumed their journey, guided by moonlight. Aramdir, being an elf, had decent vision even in this low light, but Daneli put him to shame. The two made a game of spotting obscure things in the half darkness as they brought up the rear of the party. Aramdir was glad of the game, because things had got awfully serious, awfully quickly. 

The sun was just beginning to come up when Khali and Lyne at the front of the group suddenly halted. Khali held up a hand for silence, but Bill didn’t see and continued chattering to Aramdir until Nainarv clapped one of his own big hands over Bill’s mouth. 

Lyne, crouched low, scuttled forward and pulled a mirror out of her pack to look around the corner. From his position, Aramdir held his breath, watching as Lyne shoved the mirror away and ran back to the group. 

“Bandits,” she whispered. “At least five of them that I could see. Big brutes, too. Looked like they wouldn’t be much afraid of us.” 

Daneli said nothing but reached back for an arrow, fitting it to their bow and tensing slightly. Aramdir didn’t know what to do. He pulled out his dagger, then went and hid in a particularly large bush. Khali and Nainarv readied themselves, Khali with her axe and Nainarv with his sword, and Lyne pulled out her shortsword. They stood in silence, surrounding Bill who was mumbling under his breath, concentrating on his hand, his knees visibly trembling. 

The bandits came around the bend in the path right on cue, laughing and joking amongst themselves. They paused when they saw the party, and it looked as if they were deciding whether or not to bother with them. That changed in an instant, Aramdir noted as he watched from the relative safety of his bush, when they saw that four of the five people on the road all had weapons readied. 

The largest of the bandits didn’t bother speaking, just pulled out a sword and charged them. Aramdir screwed his eyes shut, but opened them quickly again at the first sound of contact. Daneli had loosed the arrow, hitting the bandit squarely in the shoulder. It was hardly a killing blow, but the big brute seemed unable to use the arm with any real power, so it was something. 

Lyne dipped low now, and ran in, slashing at the bandit’s heels with her sword. He roared in pain and fell backwards hard, landing on the path with a thud that Aramdir could feel. The bandit reached for Lyne, and would have caught her too if it hadn’t been for Khali’s quick hand, reaching in and yanking Lyne back by the belt of her tunic. 

“I know, I know,” Lyne snapped at Khali, struggling to get down even as the other four bandits charged into the fray. 

Nainarv dispatched one fairly quickly with one stout blow to the head, and Daneli lucked out and put the next arrow right through the throat of another. The bellowing, struggling brute was of no danger to anyone as long as they stayed out of reach of his ham-hock sized fists, so Khali concentrated on a fourth and swung her axe, eliminating him with her first strike, and killing the downed bandit with her second. 

“I’ve got this, I’ve got this!” Bill yelped. Apparently finished muttering, he held up his hand, suddenly glowing with magical energy. Aramdir sucked in a breath. He really could do magic!

“Eternal Light!” Bill shouted, making a throwing motion at the last bandit’s eyes. The energy glittering in Bill’s fist flew toward the bandit but didn’t even make it halfway there, falling to the path and exploding in a dazzling burst of light. Nainarv and Khali cried out, shielding their eyes and Lyne flat out dropped to the ground to save her vision. 

Daneli, blinded, shot a third arrow which went far wide of its target, hitting a tree with a solid thunk. 

Their fighters were blinded. The sole remaining bandit was too, but he hadn’t been as close to the spell when it had backfired. Aramdir was the only one who could see, let alone do anything. Taking a deep breath, he leaped out of the bush and charged the final bandit, waving his dagger wildly. The helmet the bandit was wearing rendered his head an impossible target, and he was too far gone to go for the ankles like Lyne had…

Aramdir stabbed for the unprotected heart. 

The bandit gurgled angrily, fell, and lay still. 

Silence fell on the party as they surveyed the scene of the battle. 

Aramdir pulled his dagger from the bandit’s chest and wiped it hurriedly on the grass before sheathing it and bursting into noisy sobs. The enormity of what he had seen, what he had done, hit him all at once and was just too much. The fate of the entire group had rested with him in that moment. He had been tested, and proved himself not wanting. 

Daneli dumped their bow to the path and grabbed Aramdir in a tight hug, holding their little “brother” as he cried. “You did well, friend,” they soothed. “You did well.” 

Khali, Lyne and Bill all patted Aramdir on the back as he got himself under control, and even Nainarv thumped him heartily on the back. 

“A little more of that, bardling, and a little less useless chatter, and we’ll make an adventurer of you yet,” was his gruff comment as he gave his eyes another firm rubbing. 

Bill was looking rather guilty. “Sorry,” he said. “I was aiming to blind them, and…”

“And you blinded all of us,” Lyne snarled. “Maybe next time warn us before you try to get us killed?”

“It wasn’t a bad idea though,” Khali said diplomatically. “The execution needs work, but at least he was thinking strategically.” Lyne scoffed at this, and went to check the pockets of the bandits, coming back with a handful of coins and some extra provisions. 

Daneli put Aramdir back on his feet, saying nothing but smiling beatifically. Aramdir managed a smile of his own. 

“Let’s keep going,” he said in a voice that only trembled a little, and for once, everyone agreed with him.