Adventure of Tuiwen 2

From the concealed rise, Tuiwen watches three Orc scouts descend through the fir-shadow toward the road’s weak passage. Their spacing reveals a signal leader between two runners, each keeping the others in sight.

Beyond the trees, the wagons continue along the opened road, their creaking wheels softened by moss and damp earth. Eldred’s Woodmen guard the column, unaware of how near the scouts have come.

Beside Tuiwen, the two Lean Beasts remain poised among roots and stone. Their ears track the Orcs below, but neither moves without her direction.

The signal leader pauses at a bent ash branch and raises one hand. One runner angles toward the road; the other slips toward higher ground, preparing to carry the warning farther.

Mist drifts between Tuiwen and the wagons. The hidden rise gives her a clear view of every approach, while the Orcs remain ignorant of the eyes above them.

Tuiwen’s command sinks through the damp earth. Roots surge beneath the firs, coil around the three Orc scouts, and wrench their weapons from their hands without crushing them.

The signal leader is seized first, then both runners. Green roots bind their legs and arms, closing every escape route while the wagons continue beyond the trees.

The Lean Beasts remain poised beside Tuiwen, untouched by the spell. Their alert posture reveals a second advantage: one scout’s ash-marked satchel lies open, exposing a rough map of the wagon road and nearby approaches.

The roots hold fast as Eldred’s guards advance around the hidden rise. The road remains open, the scouts cannot signal their allies, and the captured map gives the defenders their planned approaches.

Tuiwen kneels beside the bound Orc Scouts and searches their satchels, belts, and concealed wrappings with swift, methodical hands. The Lean Beasts watch from the roots.

She finds charcoal route marks, a folded sketch of the wagon road, and a small bone whistle whose three tones correspond to positions along the forest verge.

Within the signal leader’s satchel lies a strip of dark cloth marked with crude signs: wagon count, guard strength, and a planned diversion toward the western settlement.

Tuiwen also uncovers a sealed scrap bearing a route beyond the scouts’ position, leading toward a concealed gathering place south of the road. Its ink is fresh.

Eldred takes the sketches for the guards while Tuiwen keeps the whistle, cloth, and marked route. The captured scouts remain unable to signal, and the column moves under informed protection.

Tuiwen places the bone whistle, route sketch, and marked cloth beside the living signal bough. She sends their meaning through the network: the Orc Scouts’ gathering place lies south of the road, with a western diversion planned.

Green light carries the warning from post to post. The northern column alters its course, the southern force turns toward the hidden gathering place, and the Woodmen tighten their protection around the wagons.

A second pulse answers from the north, followed by a steadier glow from the southern route. Allied columns begin converging on the marked ground, while the captured scouts remain unable to warn their gathering force.

The network’s reach is confirmed, but one signal post answers slowly, leaving the exact timing of the northern column uncertain. Tuiwen marks the delay for checking as the converging forces close around the Orcs.

While the wagons continue along the opened road, Tuiwen slips ahead with the Lean Beasts. She leaves no bent fern, displaced stone, or audible breath to mark their passage.

The Lean Beasts spread through the fir-shadow, moving wide enough to scent either flank while Tuiwen threads between roots and moss. Behind them, the Allied Columns advance without slowing.

From a low rise, Tuiwen surveys the road, the southern verge, and the concealed ground beyond. No Orc signal moves, and no watcher detects the scouting party.

The beasts find fresh ash beneath the roots and lead her around it. Tuiwen follows the trace to a hidden approach, confirming the enemy’s route without disturbing the marked ground.

She returns by a separate line, still unseen, and reaches the advancing wagons with the Lean Beasts. The column remains protected, while Tuiwen now knows the southern approach is clear of immediate ambush.

Tuiwen continues along the concealed line toward the advancing wagons, keeping low beneath the firs. The Lean Beasts fan through the undergrowth, their paths widening her awareness of the quiet road.

She crosses the fresh ash trace without disturbing it and reaches the next rise, where the wagon road lies plainly below. The columns continue forward in ordered silence.

A hidden thorn catches her calf as she descends the far side. Tuiwen stumbles onto one knee, scraping her palm against stone, then rises and presses onward without breaking the beasts’ pace.

She reaches the wagons’ forward flank and signals the nearest guards with a raised hand. No enemy movement troubles the road, and the column keeps its formation beneath the trees.

The Lean Beasts settle briefly beside her, alert but calm. Tuiwen has advanced beyond the hidden approach, though the sting in her calf and the torn skin of her palm mark the cost of the swift passage.

Tuiwen leaves the wagons’ flank and slips into the fir-shadow with the Lean Beasts. They spread wide through the undergrowth, masking her passage while scenting the ground ahead.

The beasts guide her around the fresh ash trace and toward a shallow hollow. From its rim, she sees three Orc scouts assembling below, their weapons ready and their attention fixed on the road.

Tuiwen studies their discipline and signals. One keeps watch over the wagons, while the other two inspect the southern verge and mark the safest approach for a larger force.

The Lean Beasts range farther and return without alarm, confirming no hidden mass surrounds the hollow. Beyond the trees, the Allied Columns continue their advance, still unseen by the scouts.

Tuiwen withdraws along the covered slope with a clear measure of the enemy: three forward scouts, disciplined signals, and no larger force yet assembled at this position. She returns toward the wagons unseen.

Tuiwen returns to the wagon column through the fir-shadow, the Lean Beasts close behind. Eldred turns from the road as she reaches the lead guard.

The Woodmen widen their formation without abandoning the road. Guards take the flanks, scouts watch the fir margins, and the wagons remain ready to move.

Tuiwen lays her hand against Radagast’s living signal bough and sends the report through its green-lit channels: the enemy is located, the attack is prepared, and movement awaits the allied columns.

Green pulses pass from bough to bough across the forest. The allied divisions settle into their attack positions, while Eldred’s guards hold the wagon road and await Tuiwen’s signal.

Tuiwen presses her palm to the living bough and sends the command through Radagast’s network. Green pulses race toward the Allied Columns, carrying the order without delay.

Across the forest, answering lights flare in sequence. The Allied Columns surge toward the marked ground while the Woodmen Guards close ranks around the wagons.

Eldred drives the Woodmen Guards through the fir-shadow. The Orc Scouts break from concealment as roots and arrows cut off their retreat, while the Lean Beasts rush along the flanks and the attack closes from every road.