A Place to Belong

Chapter 2: Old Acquaintances

The harsh light of the mid-day sun forced her closed eyes open again. Braerka lay half asleep of the branch of an old oak, waking from a short nap. She had taken well to her life in the wilds of middle-earth and loved especially to be among the trees of the forests. The elves of Lothorien and Greenwood had taken to calling her 'The Shepherd of the Forests', as she spent so much of her time in them.

She lay there with the vastness of the Ettenmoors behind her, a light breeze was billowing past her, she messed with the blue crystal at the end of the chain around her neck, and she remembered her brawl with those men in the tavern the night before. She smiled at the memory. She had found out the man leading the group went by the name of Karsen and was known for his forward and unforgiving nature, he was also the leader of a notorious group of bandits called The Black Eyes.

The name came from the masks they wore on raids, jet black with no holes for their eyes, it was said to be unnerving to look at. Their most notorious member called 'Dead Shot' was a crack-shot with a bow and arrow; he always aimed for the head, particularly the eyes. He never missed. It was because of him that they were well-known throughout most of middle-earth.

"You had better watch yourself lass, they'll be coming after you, ya know!" the old drunk outside the tavern had told her. Braerka had laughed into herself on hearing this, she wasn't worried. Karsen could barely stand after his small encounter with her, if the rest were as 'well-trained' as him, they'd be no problem for her, the dead-shot guy however was slightly concerning, but if the 'blacks eyes' were smart they would do best to avoid her altogether in future.

She let her mind wander from that to the task at hand. Not two days ago, had she been handed a new contract by the assassin leader in Bree, Kembal, and she was not looking forward to completing the task, when she had read the name of her target, her heart had dropped and all had seemed to stop for her. Her target was none-other than Thorin Oakenshield.

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"I will not kill him Kembal, not without good reason!" she had told him.

"You must, otherwise your life is forfeit!" he had warned her, pushing the contract into her hands. "The words of our canon state that we must complete all contracts given to us"

"Then give it to someone else!" she retorted, throwing the contract in his face, it fell to the ground.

"It has to be you..." Kembal shouted to her as she stormed away. She stopped, turned and regarded him with sharp eyes, he bent over to retrieve the contract, "...you are the desired assassin for this task. Only you can take his life."

She had looked at him then, with livid discerning eyes and disbelief written over her face. "Who made the request?"

He did not say, he only handed her the parchment, she scanned down to where the person's name should be... it was blank. She sighed deeply, nodded to him and walked away the contract in hand, she had no desire to kill an old friend, worse yet a former father figure, but she would see it done, one way or another, or be killed herself.

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She was pulled from her inner turmoil by a loud bunch of travellers astride ponies. Bunch was a weak word to use, there was fifteen of them, the most noticeable being an old man, with a tall, grey pointed hat and a beard to match. They were chatting amongst themselves, and very loudly at that. She eyed those of the group she could see from the angle she sat at, deciding whether or not to make herself known to them. She decided against it. She sat on the strong branch of the oak, listening to their inane babble, picking up a few words here and there.

She watched them pass, and when they had moved a fair distance from her, she leaped into action, once again slipping her satchel over her shoulder and letting her bow join it. She ran along the strong branches of the trees, smoothly leaping from one to the next, swinging to some adjacent branches. She was quick and quiet and soon caught up to them. As long as they stayed near to the treeline she could follow them easily.