In the end, the eighth lute's demise was in its abandonment. Left discarded in a nest of leaf litter at the edge of the Ithilien woods. Someday, a far roaming wanderer might stumble upon the bleached, wooden skeleton, strings long since corroded, and wonder who might have left it there. Ryheric was again luteless, in the meantime.
An extreme and bloody business had been finalised, the lute lost in violent circumstance, the twice-chipped curved southern blade reclaimed, then a long road. Eventually, Ryheric found himself in Breeland once more.
