Chapter Four

After Túven left, Aragorn entered the village hall and took a seat around a table with the other men. With a series of questions, he was able to find out the source of the conflict. Red had been out hunting with some members of his family, and when they returned to the village, his home was on fire. The villagers were working to put out the fire, and once the fire was extinguished, they sifted through the remains of the house to try to find some sign of Red's son, Berwen. When there was no sign of him in the house, Red had been greatly relieved, at first. Since Red's wife had passed away two years earlier, Berwen was all he had left. He and his wife had had no other children. Knowing that his son had not perished in the house had been the best news he could have heard. But when time passed and his son did not return home from playing with his friends, doing chores, or exploring the surrounding woods, Red became convinced that he was not returning home because he could not. There must be someone preventing him from coming home, someone who had kidnapped his son and burned his house to cover his tracks. Since Cedric had not been seen since before the fire, and was from a rival family, Red was sure that Cedric had taken his son. In retaliation, and in an attempt to force Cedric to reveal the whereabouts of his own son, Red had taken Cedric's son. Red assured Aragorn that the boy was well, but would not tell Aragorn where he had hidden him. Red still insisted that when Berwen was returned safely, he would return Cedric's son to him.

When Aragorn asked why he thought Cedric was behind his son's disappearance, he was told of every grievance Red's family had against Cedric's family going back many generations. Apparently, the town was split in two by the two largest families. Any time any evil befell someone, they blamed the opposing family, and there had been fights and battles many times over the years over trivial and not so trivial offenses. Aragorn did not know yet if Cedric had taken Red's son, but he now saw how Red's kidnapping of Cedric's son had resulted in the battles between the two families that had destroyed so much of the village. He knew he would have to tread very carefully in trying to determine the truth of this matter. These people had distrusted each other for so very long that they would easily believe the worst of each other and were quick to act on their distrust, justified or not.

After hearing the tale, Aragorn was able to convince the group of men not to make any further attacks on the Wolfe family until he could talk to Cedric and make every attempt to find out the truth. Aragorn knew that their cooperation would only hold as long as Garman's group did not attack. He sincerely hoped that Túven and the other Rangers would be successful at tracking down Garman and getting him to agree to stop the attacks while the incident was investigated by an impartial third party, namely Aragorn and the rest of the Rangers. Feeling the responsibility he had taken on himself as a weight on his shoulders, Aragorn rose and left the men to seek out the healer's house. He wanted to check on Rumen before speaking with Cedric and attempting to determine his version of events.

Aragorn had arrived at the healer's home before Rumen awoke, and though the cut had already been seen by Hannah, the healer, he felt it his responsibility to examine, clean and treat the cut just to be sure. The young Ranger had awoken while he was treating the injury, and Aragorn was able to speak with him. At Rumen's questions, Aragorn told him what he had found out from Red and the others as to the cause of the conflict. Rumen, like Aragorn, had been astounded that people would be willing to cause so much destruction to their own home simply to hurt their neighbors. When Aragorn was sure that Rumen would be well after some more rest, Aragorn paid a visit to Cedric. Two Rangers were standing guard over him to be sure that he did not attempt to flee, though Hannah had not appreciated the thought and made them stay outside the room. Since there was no other exit from the room, they had not argued and had done their best to stay out of her way.

Hannah glared at him as he came through the door to Cedric's room. Aragorn held up his hands in a gesture of peace. "Please, I mean him no harm, nor do I wish harm to anyone in this village. I only want to help. If there is a way to restore peace to this village, I would like to find it. Will you allow me to speak with Cedric and find out what he knows of this conflict?"

After a moment, the edge left Hannah's expression, and she nodded, gesturing for Aragorn to take a seat near the bed.

"Thank you," Aragorn said before turning to Cedric.

Before Aragorn could speak, Cedric struggled to sit up and looked at Aragorn. "You and your men saved my life. I want to thank you for that. How is the young man who was injured?"

"He will be well with some rest," Aragorn said. "The injury does not appear to have been too serious."

"I am glad," Cedric said. "I saw you talking with Red. Did he tell you where my son is?" Cedric watched Aragorn's face with a desperate expression. He wanted his son back more than anything else.

"No, I was unable to get him to reveal that information. He did assure me that your son was well and had not been harmed, but he refused to tell me where he had hidden him. I intend to talk to everyone involved and attempt to determine the truth of the matter. I am hopeful that finding the truth will lead to your son being returned. Can you tell me why he thinks you took his son?"

Cedric's face showed a mix of relief, anger and frustration. "I did not take his son. His family has long distrusted mine. Whenever something goes wrong for anyone in the Atwood family, they blame someone in mine. Berwen, Red's son, and Keane, my son, are friends. They have played together from the time they were very young, and Red never liked that. I was not happy with it at first, but Keane was happy, so I allowed it. I like Berwen, he is a very nice young man, completely unlike his father. I would never harm the child, but the first thought in Red's head was that I was the reason his son is missing. I assure you, I had nothing to do with this. I was out in the field the entire day. My cousin was with me, he knows that I was not here. But Red would not believe anything that a member of my family has to say. Garman is another cousin of mine. When he found out that Red had taken my son, he declared battle upon the Atwood family. I want nothing to do with it, I only want my son back."

Aragorn believed him. The desperation in the man's voice was true, and Aragorn did not feel that he was lying about the rest. Cedric was not behind Berwen's disappearance or Red's house burning down. Before he would commit to that idea, however, he knew he needed to talk to the cousin who could vouch for Cedric's whereabouts when Berwen went missing. There were still many people that he must talk to before the truth would be revealed. After he obtained a list of people to talk to from Cedric, Aragorn excused himself and left the house, assuring Cedric that he would do everything in his power to find his missing son.