The Account of Cainam Sselkcer

Dear Master Salmar,

I apologize it has taken me so many months to write you. I hope that this letter finds you well and that your burns have continued to heal. Regrettably, I have not been able to deliver the letter you bade I bring to Isengard and request that they take me on as an apprentice. Alas I fear that all is not well with Saruman the White. I remember you telling me of the majesty that was Isenguard and the lush grounds surrounding the majestic tower of Orthanc. I arrived to find the grounds decimated. The trees have been ripped from the ground by scores of goblins who in turn have built barrows deep into the surrounding earth. My heart sank to see such beauty torn asunder.

I dared not approach the tower but observed the region from the hills outside the perimeter of the grounds. The goblins continued their scourging of the countryside. They have begun construction of a dam and their need for wood has driven them to Fangorn Forest. The boldness they must have to bring an axe to those trees. I do not know what these creatures have planned, but I fear any plan that could be wrought from such wanton destruction.

After several nights of watching something caught my eye. In the middle of a moonlight night a giant eagle descended from the sky and approached the tower. Initially I thought it was going to land on top of Orthanc itself, but instead it merely flew along side it and I saw what I believed to be a man leap from the top of the tower onto the back of the eagle to be spirited away into the western sky.

I have deduced that if anyone knows what is going on inside that tower it is whoever it was that I saw fly off on that eagle. I have thus traveled west to Breeland. Here I have found my self in the service of some of the dunedain rangers as they seek to conceal the movement of a small band of hobbits. I dare not speak of what they carry, but believe me when I say that with these hobbits travels the fate of all the free peoples of middle earth. I can only hope that the small part I played has aided in their quest.

I now find myself tracking a band of adventurers known as Heren Lokion. Their actions have cost the enemy dearly and they have supposedly been essential to the success of the hobbits and their growing fellowship. I hope to catch up with them some place in the Misty Mountains and offer my services to aid their endeavor.

Please pass along my well wishes to your wife and let my family know I am well. I have enclosed a small sum of money to assist you with the repairs to the library as well as a few tomes to help restock the shelves. I have also included a salve that I was promised would aid in the regrowth of your eyebrows. I will continue to send you these letters as well as any other interesting tomes and tidbits I encounter as time and safety permits. Thank you for all that you have taught me, and please keep a watchful eye out for my family and our village.

Humbly Yours,

Cainam Sselkcer