Adventure of Tuiwen 2

Tuiwen leaves Rhosgobel at first light, carrying her completed report and Thranduil’s request for every detail of the eastern hunting band. Radagast remains behind to receive the Council’s replies.

By midday she reaches a fortified Woodmen settlement above broken ground. Its timber palisade overlooks gullies and shelves of stone, where the eastern route disappears among scattered firs.

Eldred waits at a guarded watchpost, his muscular frame wrapped in a weather-dark cloak, short light-gray hair bright against the palisade shadow. Amber eyes remain fixed on the ravines.

He leads Tuiwen to a narrow shelf below the watchpost. Ash smears mark the stone, while bent grasses and three small cuts in a birch trunk point east, then sharply back toward the settlement.

Below, the broken ground offers several concealed paths. Beyond the palisade, Woodmen move between storehouses and gate towers, unaware that the eastern trail may already be watching them.

Tuiwen kneels on the narrow shelf and studies the ash, bent grass, and cuts in the birch. Rain has blurred the surface, but the pattern remains legible.

She distinguishes several boot prints from the settlement’s traffic and follows the freshest impressions across the stone. The scouts approached from the eastern gullies, avoided the open slope, and returned by a lower route.

Tuiwen traces the marks without disturbing them. The hunting band counted five figures, with two heavier beasts, and divided briefly at the overlook before rejoining near the concealed path.

The tracks reveal their purpose clearly: the band mapped the settlement’s sightlines and marked a quiet approach from the broken ground. Tuiwen now knows where their next probe is most likely to emerge.

Eldred guides the settlement defenders into concealment among the stone shelves and fir shadows. The gate remains quiet, while the false openness draws the eye toward the overlook.

Tuiwen studies the approaches and chooses the lower path as the killing ground. Loose stones are shifted, sightlines are preserved, and every hidden position can answer the others.

Five ash-marked figures and two lean beasts enter the broken ground, drawn toward the apparently undefended overlook. The hidden defenders hold until the entire band passes the marked stone.

At Eldred’s raised hand, the lower route closes behind them and the settlement defenders rise from concealment. The hunting band is trapped between the shelves, cut off from Dol Guldur and unable to carry its information back.

Tuiwen’s spell sinks into the soil. Roots surge through the shelves, and green tendrils coil around the orcs’ legs while tough vines seize their weapons and pin them against the stone.

The two lean beasts strain against the sudden growth, but thornless runners bind their limbs and draw them harmlessly to the ground. The trapped band can neither flee nor reach the eastern gullies.

The Settlement Woodmen emerge from their cover and disarm the bound orcs. The living tangle holds firm without crushing them, leaving the defenders free to secure the prisoners and the approach.

Across the broken ground, the ambush is complete. The settlement’s approaches remain guarded, the eastern route is denied, and the captured hunting band stands unable to carry its report back to Dol Guldur.

Tuiwen approaches the two restrained beasts while the Settlement Woodmen keep the captured Orcs secured. The vines hold gently, leaving both animals alert but unharmed.

She studies their paws, jaws, eyes, and breathing, then follows the faint magical residue through the thornless runners binding them. Their bodies are lean, long-limbed, and built for endurance.

Tuiwen recognizes the truth: these are not wargs. They are natural hunting beasts, bred and disciplined by the Orcs, with a foreign command-scent woven through their harness marks and restraint.

The beasts watch Tuiwen without the cunning malice of wargs. One flinches from the Orcs’ scent; the other lowers its head when the magical vines loosen, confirming fear and conditioning rather than allegiance.

Tuiwen’s inspection is complete. The beasts are ordinary creatures twisted into instruments by training and binding magic, while the captured Orcs remain the source of the deliberate threat.

Tuiwen’s spell flows softly through the thornless vines and into the two Lean Beasts. Their tense limbs ease, their breathing steadies, and the animals lower their heads without fear.

The foreign command-scent fades from their harness marks. One beast cautiously drinks from a Woodman’s offered bowl, while the other turns away from the restrained Orcs and watches Tuiwen with quiet attention.

The calmer beast noses along the ground, then pauses beside a narrow cleft between the shelves. Faint ash and broken harness fibers mark a concealed trail leading east, away from the settlement.

The two Lean Beasts stand calmly within the loosened vines, no longer weapons of Dol Guldur. The hidden eastern trail is now visible, and the Woodmen have gained willing guides rather than frightened captives.

Tuiwen steps toward the eastern cleft and gestures beyond it. The two Lean Beasts rise together, then follow her willingly, noses low to the stone.

She traces the Orcs’ path from the broken harness fibers and ash, distinguishing their returning trail from older tracks near the settlement. The route descends between shelves of rock.

The Lean Beasts lead Tuiwen through a narrow ravine, pausing where the Orcs scraped marks beneath an overhang. Beyond it, crushed grass points toward a concealed hollow.

Tuiwen follows the complete trail and finds the former holding place: a cold camp hidden from the settlement, with discarded bindings, trampled ground, and a western exit toward the hunters’ next route.

Tuiwen studies the cold camp without disturbing it. The trampled ground reveals five resting places, arranged around a clear view of the settlement’s eastern approach.

Discarded bindings show the Lean Beasts were secured here before the ambush. Their handlers kept them apart from the Orcs, likely to prevent noise or scent from betraying the camp.

Tuiwen finds charcoal marks beneath a flat stone: three lines recording the watchpost, the lower ravine, and the settlement gate. A fourth line is crossed out beside a water symbol.

The pattern makes the purpose plain. The Orcs were not preparing an assault here; they were charting responses, testing which route could draw defenders away from the gate.

Tuiwen has the answer: the camp was a reconnaissance post, and the crossed mark identifies a planned diversion at the gate. Eldred can now warn the Woodmen and Thranduil with certainty.

Eldred marks the ground with a charred twig. The Woodmen withdraw from the gate in quiet pairs, leaving only a convincing handful visible among the towers.

Tuiwen places the Lean Beasts along the concealed western route, where their calm presence masks the freshest trail. Stone shelves and fir shadows conceal the waiting defenders.

The settlement now presents the weakness the Orcs expect, while its true strength waits beyond their chosen diversion. Every approach is covered, and the western road remains secure.

Far among the broken shelves, a faint scrape answers the silence. The ambush is ready before the enemy’s larger force can turn its plan into action.