<font color="red">SoR – The Scene of the Crime</font>

SoR – The Scene of the Crime

Author: * MacMorna Niafer - 16 Posts on this thread out of 2,980 Posts sitewide.
Date: Oct 18, 2007 - 17:01

After Nevvyn and I have readied our mounts, I walk over to the War Chief. He is in the midst of a small crowd and passing out assignments and orders for the day. As the group thins, he sees that I am standing there and assumes I am also awaiting orders. He starts to give me an assignment but I forestall him with a raised hand.

"As this is my first day o the search," I tell him, "I would like to return to that spot where the attack took place."

"But we have been over that area time and again," he replies with a scowl. "There is not so much as an ant or a grain of sand left uncounted!" He glances over at Nevvyn as the old wizard walks up.

"Humor me in this, Cath Milidh! I am needing to refresh my memory of the battle." He nods in grudging agreement. "And I would have the wizard come with me." I add. To this, his eyebrows raise, but he simply shrugs.

"Will you be needing reinforcements?" he asks, resignedly.

I clap my hand to the hammer hanging at my waist. "I think we can handle the squirrels and the rabbits," I answer with a grim grin.

One of the war band has brought Fenian’s horse. He mounts and his group rides out to the road and starts in the direction of Tara. I gather they will be searching the river bank some distance past my goal for the day. Nevvyn and I walk our mounts out to the road as well, and walk the short distance to the scene of the crime.

Nearing the attack site, we tether our horses on the grassy verge and walk the few remaining paces to where the Rian was taken. I take up a position somewhat south of the center of the road and move back and forth until I am satisfied. "This is where I was standing for the greater part of the battle," I announce, half to Nevvyn and half to myself. "Belenus and two guards were protecting the War Chief.. about here!" I stride over and make an "X" in the dust with my toe. "The three were facing outward, looking up and to both sides of the road." I draw three arrows to mark their views. "There were two guards further down the road." I go over and mark their positions. "They were fighting side-by-side, and looking to the northwest and southwest." I return to my original spot. "The horses, including the Rian’s, were all in the middle of the road and milling about. So, that leaves only one direction they could have taken her." I hold out my arms in a narrow "V", roughly centered on north. "The woods are dense here, all the way down to the river. However, they are thinner to the east and the west. Someone should have seen if they passed that way."

Nevvyn just stands there, nodding quietly to himself. I walk to the north edge of the road and across the verge. With my sword, I carve a white blaze on each side of a certain tree I had lined up. About twelve paces to the east, I repeat the process on a second tree. Just past this point there is a distinct pathway, where the searchers have gone up and down a number of times. I follow this down to the water’s edge and pile three stones as my third marker. I count my paces as 28 as I return to the road and the first tree I marked. From here, I hack my own path to the river, through briars and brambles which claw at me. At the water, I assemble another small cairn. From here to the other cairn and indeed, all along the bank, the earth has been churned up by numerous feet.

Nevvyn has followed me down the cleared path and now looks from me to the bank and back. "As you see, we have been through here many times," he observes.

"Yes," I mutter. "But did you or anyone penetrate this dense copse? I see no evidence that it has been disturbed in recent days."

"Several of the warriors tried," he tells me, "but the brambles become a solid wall only a few feet off the path we made. And you can see for yourself, just how thick they are along the edge of the water!"

"You can hide a lot of ants in a place this big!" I comment. The other cairn is some forty paces down river. I begin walking toward it, thrusting my sword into the brush at each step. Each time, I meet the heavy resistance of tangled and impenetrable undergrowth. By the time I pass the halfway mark, My arm feels as if I have been fighting a heavy battle. I see that Nevvyn is close on my heels and pushing his staff in even deeper. A few steps farther along, my blade gives off the distinct ching of scraping on stone. I probe the area to the right and left, finding stone at varying distances from the wall of thorns. I hack at the briers and discover that several are rather loosely held in the soil. These we both rip away to expose a jumble of large rocks. And hear the bottom of the pile, there is one flat stone which, according to the scrapes in the dirt, has recently been tilted into position. The two of us take hold and pull, jumping out of the way at the last minute, as it topples over and into the water. Behind it is a low opening which, if I were forced to, I could possibly crawl through.

(OOC: The next post in this part of the tale will be on the thread Along the River.)