Leídan Aznawar of Khand

Going into Kruk Mabur was no use, it was deserted and in ruins. The fertile lands had been left to the wild. Eremir didn’t want anyone to in there and all of them agreed. The next morning the group left to go further east. Slowly, but surely they would reach the cross point where the two rivers joined again. Instead of going into Khandur and the lands beyond, Leídan decided to take the lower river that led toward the Ered Harmal. It was easy to pass the cities of Talazhan, Enmahabh and Kruk Boyadla. A road led all the way toward Sturlurtza Khand. At the great city went a road to the deep south. Narish could there pass through the lands of Lurmsakûn, Arysis and Siakan toward the Chyan Empire. Half way between Enmahabh and Kruk Boyadla a wheel broke from the carriage they had with them. The other wheel was stuck in the sand and those inside got some bruises by the sudden stop. Leídan ordered to stop and hold a rest, even it was in the middle of the day. With the broken wheel, they had to abandon the carriage and no further on horseback. None protested against it, and an hour later they rode further.

It was almost homeland here, now coming closer and closer toward the Ered Harmal. The land here deep in the east was fertile, green and rich. The river became broader and broader carrying much smelting water coming from the high mountain chain. Hundreds generations of the Azumenúkhad tribe had been born here. The little group moved on, each of them caught up in their thoughts of home. For the gates of Sturlurtza Khand they stopped. Narish Daratur was the first of them who said his farewells. It was quite emotional, because the women had grown fond of his presence, and the men respected him. They all knew they would not see him ever again. While Narish turned his horse upon the south road to Lurmsakûn, everyone waited until he turned around to see them a last time. Beyond Sturlurtza Khand lay the land of the Azumenúkhad, to where Leídan and Neida belonged. Muïda, her son Amenur and Nawúe belonged to it as well. In four days they travelled to Laorki, where Burtz Reidan expressed the wish to leave and go back to his tribe. Leídan took him aside, despite the protests of the others. “I can understand your desire to return to your family. I know we are no friends, but nonetheless I have to say that I grew respect for you, and I am thankful you stayed with us.” Burtz bowed his head. “The same likewise. I had never expected you set all of us free. I have one wish, I want to take Eimear with me.” Leídan nodded. “She is like everyone else free to go. If she want to come with you, then you have my blessings. Plans perhaps to marry her?” Burtz had to smile: “Yeah, it has not escaped your attention. But yes I like her, and I hope she wants to come with me. In the time she travelled with us, she never mentioned her homeland, so I guess she got nobody there. And in me she has at least someone. We may be enemies, but we are not barbarians, and we respect our females highly.” “I believe that, Godspeed on your travel then together, and may you reach your tribe safely,” said Leídan and walked away.

Burtz and Eimear left indeed together. As Leídan had thought, Eimear had no kin anymore in the lands she came from. As a young girl, she had lost her family in a raid by Orcs and herself had been captured and taken to Mordor, where she had lived a part of her life in slavery, sewing clothes for the Orcs. In her teens she had escaped and gotten over the mountains. But fate had driven her in slavery again in the city of Tir Ethraid at the border of Gondor. And a slaver had taken her into Khand to a servant girl. Now she had found love with Burtz and she had gone with him to the Angashaghur tribe on the plains of Khand. Life could be very capricious. Alandur from Gondor and the elf Eremir stayed with them and travelled to deep in the lands of the Azumenúkhad, the first signs of being tracked none of them missed. It was a merry group now together. Alandur became more and more interested in the life of the Azumenúkhad, and asked even if he could join the tribe. But as oldest among them of the humans, Nawúe just smiled and said that the Elders would decide that. Otherwise he had to return to his homeland. Eremir remained a closed book where he came from, or why he had dressed himself as a human. Leídan surmised that the man would see all the new times also, long after he was dead and his bones gone to dust. He found it very difficult to imagine how Eremir really experienced the world around him, and perhaps that was why he was so silent and thoughtful. So Leídan put the elf out of his mind and concentrated on finding the tribe, which was not as easy as it seemed. Still they had to travel for miles, but the lands and the mountains were known, except for Alandur and Amenur. The boy was in awe and rode around with an open mouth looking at the white high peaks of the Ered Harmal. Against the immense deep blue sky, the view was magnificent. They all agreed that this was the most beautiful part in the world, and they believed it was paradise. And so Leídan returned home with Neida, after his adventure to the West.

End