Estarfin

Tolbold Tatersfield almost swaggered as he walked into the ‘Elbow’s Bend’, nodding greetings to familiar faces, and noting with a hint of pride how most of the others stood back for him to approach the bar.

He winked  at Henepa, ‘A tall glass fer me, and one fer Sarno, if yer don’t mind.”

“Are you recovered from our hunt?” Danel asked Parnard as she watched him sharpen a long knife.

“Recovered? Of course. Swan-hoof is being well-looked after in the stables; we have plenty of meat to last throughout this season; and friend Estarfin seems to be his old self again. All is well!"

Danel made a tight, strained smile. “You are right that Estarfin is much like his old self again. I do think this place is doing him good."

For me, the problem with Men is straightforward.

Estarfin hates them!

"This filth cannot be allowed to roam where they will," declared Estarfin, his bright eyes scanning the surrounding hills searching for more enemies. Wordlessly, Parnard held out his wineskin, an offering designed to distract and placate. 

"No, we shall need clear heads to clear this nest of vermin out," said Estarfin.

(This story continues from  Return to Cuivienan )

We sat under the stars awhile, drinking in the light of their memories. After some time Estarfin moved seemingly absent mindedly to tighten the straps on his pauldron. Our converse on Cuivienan finished for the moment, my thoughts had moved on to another matter. 

“I would commission something from you,” I asked Parnard, as we sat together again by the small lake. “A cloak, hooded, so I may hide my hair at need.”

He awoke early after a night of little sleep, and strange dreams. The memories of them were only vague in the pale morning light, becoming as intangible as the early morning mist as he tried to recall the details of them. His stomach turned as he sat up from the thin mattress of furs that had served as a bed. His muscles ached from the hard floor and he let out a low groan as he stretched. Dawn was upon them, giving him light enough to look around his surroundings and his companions.