Part 4

“Hello?” said Eowyn.

The man—she was sure that she had seen a man—had disappeared, but he could not, she was equally sure, have gone very far...

She rose to her feet, pushed the stopper into the vial, and slipped the vial inside her jerkin. “There is no need to be afraid,” she said, though her hand had automatically moved to the hilt of her sword, “we mean you no harm...” She craned her neck, trying to see beyond the trunks of the dead trees. “Do you live nearby?”

Cautiously, she began to move forward. “Do you know what has caused this?”

She sensed rather than saw her quarry move, and she responded quickly, darting through the next stand of trees.

The man froze again. He was almost invisible, dressed head to foot in a grey cloak, with the hood pulled low, so that his face was totally hidden.

“Wait,” said Eowyn, for he had started to back away. “I just want to talk to you—no! Wait!”

She took another step towards him, and the man suddenly stooped, snatched up a rock, and hurled it at her, and—as she ducked—Eowyn caught a glimpse of his face, pale and sickly-looking, and hideously mottled with patches of blue.

And, to her eternal shame, she screamed.

...

“Melmenya!” Legolas, who had seemed oblivious to anything but the state of the trees, was at her side in an instant.

“I am fine, Lassui,” she said. “Fine. But...”

She grabbed his wrist and, dragging him behind her, set off in pursuit of the stranger, following his footprints through the thick, sticky mud but, after a few yards, the ground suddenly became rockier, and the tracks disappeared.

“Where has he gone?” said Eowyn, looking this way and that. There was no obvious place for him to hide.

“And why is he so timid?” said Legolas.

“Perhaps because he is ill... Disfigured. And he may know nothing about the forest...” Eowyn sighed. “It will be dark soon, Lassui. We should be getting back to the horses.”

“Have you taken your sample?”

“Yes. But I think I should also take one from the normal ground, so that Arador can compare them.”

Legolas smiled. “Come...” He offered her his arm, and Eowyn took it. “Where is Arador?”

“He went to take a sample of water.”

But, when they reached the stream, there was no sign of the young man.

“Arador?” cried Eowyn.

“Arador!” shouted Legolas.