The Great Quest

In the outskirts of Rohan, in the dark of night, a clandestine meeting took place. Soldiers of Rohan, one by one, drifted into a small, abandoned building. Within, only a small candle burned in one corner, and the rest of the building lay dark.

Soon, all had gathered. Their captain came forward, surveying them silently. He finally spoke, his voice the sound of the wind whispering through tombstones. "We have delivered the captivess safely, and I believe the one we sent them to is none the wiser. The masster will be pleased."

One spoke up, boldly, "Then why do we yet remain?"

"Our orderss stand! The master commanded, and we shall yet fulfill his purpose!" The captains eyes flashed, as he stared dreadfully at the one who spoke out.

Yet the questioner asked on, unaware of his danger. "Sso why do we sstay here? Ssurely elssewhere we could find thosse we ssseek."

The captain took a step forward, and then lunged, suddenly, catching the other by the throat, and snapping his neck with one sharp notion. "Sso is the fate of those who dissobey. As for hiss foolishness, those we delivered may be of no concern to uss, but they may draw the one we yet seek here, where we lay in ambush!" He looked around, as if daring another to speak out. When none did, he strode from the building, and slowly, one by one, the others left as well.

Mal nodded his appreciation for the assistance to Evron, and said, "We have but recently come into your fair land, and are weary and on a quest of personal vengeance. We seek after those who have wronged us, and we seek to undo the harm they have done. Pray tell, would you know of two elves, named Dania and Narsh?"

Evron frowned. "Wronged you? I must tell you that these were counted enemies of the kingdom, and have been imprisoned by my ruler. No harm, so far as I know, has been done to them, but they will be held captive for as long as King Theoden and Lord Thaldsan say."

Mal feels a moment of startlement, but easily cloaks it. And glad he was that this rider had mistaken his speech!
"This is surprising news, and quite interesting indeed. If these two elves have, indeed, been imprisoned in your kingdom, then I believe our journey shall take us there next, if at the least to perhaps gain the chance to praise your ruler's wisdom!"

"King Theoden has no need for people to travel there merely to praise his wisdom. But if you wish to travel there, I will by no means stop you. You are probably weary from your journey. We will escort you to Edoras, and perhaps you can discuss your business here with Lord Thaldsan."

Evron took the reins of his horse in one hand, and began to lead them out of the woods. It wasn't long before they left the trees and came onto a road, winding away among the hills and shrubs from here on.

"I will take you to the outpost I command for the night," Evron was saying. "And in the morning, we shall go to Edoras. I have a little business to deal with there myself."

Mal said musingly, as though speaking to himself, "It should be interesting to see Edoras - I have been far from cities for some time now."

As the group stopped their trek, near nightfall, Evron led them down a side path to a small fortification, wherein a number of his men stood alert. Evron explained that these newcomers would be resting there, and some small areas were found within for them to sleep upon.

As they settled down, Mal turned to Faradin and Slythre, and said, "The goblin snuck off when the wolves attacked - I am quite curious who he is working for, indeed."

"Aye," responded Slythre, "and what do you think of our new companion?" She gestured towards the dwarf, who was already fast asleep upon the hard rock floor.

"Dwarves are known for their trustworthiness and loyalty," Faradin spoke up, "and this one seems a kindred soul and adventurer."

Mal nodded. "So it seems indeed. Now, I shall rest, and hope for no more strange nightly disturbances, which are becoming all too common for my liking."

With that, he found a spot for himself, and lay down to sleep.

For once, the night passed peacefully at without event. When morning came, they breakfasted at the outpost, and soon proceeded out of the outpost's gates, continuing their journey to Edoras.

Trees grew fewer, and soon they were passing through peaceful grassland, dotted with houses and farms. Within a few hours of travel, they passed over the rise of a hill and saw the walls of Edoras come into view.

"There it is," Evron said with a smile. "Beautiful, is it not? Inside it is the famed Golden Hall, in which sits King Theoden, and his high lords."

He spured his horse forwards and they rode quickly down hill, coming up quickly to its gates. As soon as they saw Evron's face, the guards stepped aside, permitting them to enter.

After leaving their horses with the guards, they walked up, passing the soldiers and soon reaching the courtyard.

The doors at the other end of the hall opened, and Lord Thaldsan strode out.

He glared at Evron for a moment. "What are you doing here? Your orders were to go back to commanding the border guards, and you return only three days later!"

"Forgive me, sir, but there are new matters that have come to light, which I must discuss with you."

Thaldsan straightened his blue cloak and turned his imposing stare on Mal, who looked back at him blandly, completely unintimidated.

"And who are these others that you have brought with you?"

"This is Malagar," he said, motioning with his hand, "Their leader. And these are Slythre, Faradin, and Gungar."

Thaldsan nodded to the others and turned his gaze back to Mal. "And what is your business in Rohan?"

Malagar nodded to Lord Thaldsan, saying, "We are glad to come to such a place of esteem and culture as Edoras, good lord. My companions and I have spent many days in the wilderness, and have been under attack by dark and evil forces numerous times. We come to Rohan for, we hope, a measure of safety."

He pauses, and a dark light grows in his eyes. "As well, we
learn you have two elves here, named Dania and Narsh, who have been imprisoned. We have been hunting after these two individuals for quite some time, and would gladly see they meet their just fate!"

Thaldsan cocked his head, looking at them with surprise and slight interest.

"Executions are given by the crown, and their crimes against us have not been considered great enough as yet to warrant the death penalty. Interesting that they have offended to such a great extent. I assure you that they will be punished for what they have done, and are having their questioning now."

*Sorry I can't do a longer post, got to go!*

Ulrog crouched over the dead fox and greedily shoveled its remains into his fanged mouth. Until he found another bow and arrows he'd have to rely on carrion for food. But being an orc, that didn't worry him.
What did worry Ulrog was that now he would have to report to his master. He could no longer follow the group. Not only would they be watching for spies now, but they were with the men on horses. The master would want to know about that. There was a good chance he would get punished, but the punishment for running away would be far worse. There was nothing else for it, Ulrog decided. Tommorow night he would contact the master.

"So she wouldn't give in to your initial overtures?" the Nrake asked.

"It is hardly unexpected," Vardor said. "I expected to have to use more persuasive methods before we began."

The Nrake sniffed the air, looking up at the night sky before turning his dark head back to his master. "My lord, something is wrong about the scent. The shadow magic is near, I think. And its wielder does not have peaceful intentions."

"One who owns the shadow magic is dangerous, but hardly enough to cause harm to me. It would take a great deal more power than merely the shadow magic to destroy me. Now I have still one more embassy to make to the eagles, so I will not be here for much longer. You must take care of Dania’s questioning yourself."

The Nrake’s head nodded in agreement. "With pleasure, my lord. I have long looked forward to this meeting, where I shall again smell her scent, and we will force her to deliver up the key."

"You may use whatever methods you see fit," Vardor said with a thin smile. "Our great quest is almost over. I must go, that fool orc may have some information regarding the shadow magic. His sense did blur with its for a time, before they separated."

Ulrog quickly made his way into a dark clearing, ringed by sombre trees. This was the spot the master had told him to find, when he had something to report. It had taken him most of the night to get here. He waited for a short while and then a dark figure seemed to appear between two of the trees.
"Why have you stopped following?" The voice was icey cold.
"Well, Boss, they got me. I didn't tell them about you or anything, even though they tortured me. It was this dwarf that saw me. They can see really well in the dark, dwarves and...."
Ulrog was cut off by a sharp look from Vardor. He was going to get it now. When Vardor spoke his voice was strained. It was clear he had very little patience tonight.
"Just tell me everything you saw."
Ulrog took a deep breath and began.

When Ulrog finished recounting his misadventures and information, Vardor was silent for a long moment. "Strange I was not informed as soon as they entered Edoras," he said to himself.

Ulrog shifted his weight uncomfortably onto the other foot.

"You cannot do any more good looking after them in the city. But there is another job I have in mind for you." Vardor turned his head to the side. "Somewhere near the Entwash is a woman my orcs were following. I cannot say exactly where, as my men have failed to report for some time. She is quite beautiful by human standards, with blue eyes and light brown hair. She owns a bow and arrows, and . . ."

"I know who you're talking about sir," Ulrog interrupted. "I saw her meet the others at the river a couple days ago."

Vardor turned back to him. "You saw her meet them?" he asked in a quiet voice, actually overlooking Ulrog's rude interruption.

"Yes, sir. The tracks probably won't be too hard to find at this point. I could double back and find her in short order."

Vardor just stared at him for a moment before responding. "See that you do. And use caution. She is either a much better fighter than I thought or has found herself a guardian. I had sent a large group of orcs after her, and none of them returned. Be wary, and bring her to me unharmed."

"Yes, sir," Ulrog said, thankful at having actually avoided punishment, but not looking forward to such a dangerous mission. But what could be worse than the danger he'd just gone through?

Malagar bowed low to Lord Thaldsan, and gesturing to his companions, said, "We thank you for the hospitality of Edoras, lord. It has been a long and tiring journey for us, and if it would be fine, could we find a place where we can rest later this evening?"

A thought seems to come to him, and he asks, "As well, if you are questioning the elves, and they prove to be difficult, if you bring us before them, we may be able to help you learn information from them. Now then, if you can direct us to a suitable place of accomodation, we shall remain thereabouts, should you need any assistance."

Once the party has left his presence, and is alone in a place they can rest in privately, he turns to the others, and says, "Well, things have certainly become a trifle more complicated. What are your thoughts on where we go from here?"

"Our path is pretty well set, already," Slythre whispered back. "You've done the best you can, but I'm not going to leave it entirely on his choice. We'll talk more when we reach our rooms."

Thaldsan soon showed them to a large building relatively close to the courtyard, but still passed the main amount of guards. "You may stay in these rooms," he said, pointing to one for each of them. "You'll find changes of clothing within, which I believe will fit you. Perhaps tomorrow we can discuss your reasons for being here. I didn't recieve an entirely straight answer from you before, but such things are better left for the morning. Would you like to go down for your dinner, or have it brought up?"

"It can be brought up," Gungar answered.

Thaldsan nodded, and grabbed Evron by the elbow, ussuring him out. "I have some private discussion to be held with you."




When they were gone, all of the companions joined in Mal's room. The sky had darkened to night, but the fireplace lit up the room.

"I think that we'll have to take more direct methods," Slythre said. "We don't know as yet how important of prisoners they are, but I doubt that simply waiting on Lord Thaldsan will get us anywhere. If we can find the location of this prison, I expect that we will be capable of breaking them out. I don't mean entirely by attack, some strategy will certainly have to be used."

The trio, an elf, a human, and a wolf were seated around a campfire, looking into the flames. Around them was a large meadow, and nearby a hill, its shape now ominous and sad, bringing tears to the eyes of the elf and human whenever they looked at it. Elrov stirred the fire with a stick, looking again into its firey substance, his thoughts far away.

The wolf's eyes glowed yellow in the darkness, and it looked around briefly, scenting the air before looking back at the other two, in its uncomfortably intelligent manner.

"So this wolf was left with you by the group at the stream?" Elrov asked.

"Yes, and it has been a great help to me," Ayna said. "It has dispatched two orc groups that were pursuing and attacking."

"How much longer will it remain in your company?"

The wolf shifted slightly.

"For as long as it wishes to," Ayna said. "And I'm not sure we should be talking about him in third person, on my journey, he has seemed to me of equal intelligence to a person."

"What are your plans now?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure. I see that I arrived with my warning too late. I suspected that something like this might happen, and travelled here hoping to be in time to warn them. I guess that I'll return to your meadow with you, if you will keep me for a week or so before I continue my travels."

"Certainly," Elrov said as he stirred the fire once more. "It will be good to have you here."

"Thank-you. In the morning, we will start, but until then, I need some sleep."

Elrov stood up and walked out of the firelight, unrolling a blanket from the saddle of his horse and tossing it to her. Then, he sat down beside the wolf, looking up at the stars.

After Valdor had left Ulrog started to scrabble around at the base of some of the trees. Knowing that he would need to come back here Ulrog had stashed some of his spare gear and he soon found the small parcel, wrapped in rags. In it was another bow, some arrows, a rusty knife and a small wooden box containing some foul smelling grey paste. Ulrog smeared the stuff onto his arrow heads.
"This ought to do it", he muttered to himself, "One touch of this stuff and she'll be fast asleep."
But that didn't deal with the wolf. Ulrog had no doubt that it had killed the other orcs. He had seen the strength and ferrocity hinted at in its movements. His poison just wouldn't be strong enough to knock it out. Also it would probably smell him a mile off. The very thought of getting anywhere near the thing terrified him. But right now Ulrog wanted to get as far away from the master as possible. Somehow he had avoided punishment so far and he wanted to keep it that way.
There was only a few more hours before dawn. Gathering his belonings, Ulrog set off.

"Before we make plans for a rescue we should take time to learn more about the situation here," the long silent Ranger said.

"I traveled in this land almost twenty years ago when I had just come of age and wished to prove myself. I remember seeing Theodon, and from what I saw, and more importantly from what his people said of him, he is an honorable man. This Thaldsan though I did not hear nor see when I was here, and something about the man troubles me. I don't trust him."

Mal nods in response to Faradin's comments. "Aye, something strikes me as unusual about this entire situation - how Dania and Narsh came here, and why they are considered criminals. They last were captured by those foul figures that had been plaguing us, and I wonder how they came into the possession of this Lord Thaldsan."

Slythre spoke again, worry in her voice. "I wonder where those dark armored beings have got to, as well - their path led here, so they may well be nearby."

"Let us hope we shall have not to deal with them. We should try, tommorow, to meet with the king - and failing that, to try and gain entrance into the prisons."

He broke off, as servants entered the room with trays off steaming food. As the meal was placed before them, they broke off their discussion to delve into it, ravenously. It was simply fare, but warm and well cooked, and after days of cold rations it was a grand feast. After finishing a while later, the servants took the empty trays away, and the adventurers simply sat there in silence for a time.

Mal's thoughts drifted, and he wondered what had come of Harnauro, and whether the girl they had met had truly been a spy. Eventually, he shrugged the matter off, and realized the others had begun discussing plans again, turned to join back in.

To anyone observing the pair walking through the middle of town, they would have looked like no more than a captain of the Rohirrim and his aid. Had anyone been close enough to hear their conversation, however, they would like have had a far different opinion.

"You are sure they are in Edoras?" The captains voice was as cold as normal, but it was also tinged with an excitement about the news.

"Yess, Thaldsan's lackey brought them in today. They are staying near the kings residence, and in well guarded buildingss."

"That shall be no problem. I can eassily see to having our men take up the watch of those buildingss tommorow night, and they will be none the wiser."

"Iss it wise to strike so ssoon, after what happened to our comradess?"

The captain paused in his stride, turning his deathly gaze upon his subordinate, who bowed his head low in submission. As he hurriedly spoke up again, his voice hissed and chattered in anxiety. "I am not quessstioning you, ssir, but should we not wait till the othersss reach the masster and ssend uss aid?"

The captain stared at him for a moment longer, then turned and continued on, the other breathing a sigh of relief. "You have a point, but we still must sseek to take him on our own. Only one is of import, although I sensed in another a strain of the ancient blood, though weak. Still, once we have the one, the resst will be left to you to toy with."

His companion bowed low in thanks, and said, cautiously, "Sso we sstrike tommorow night?"

"Aye. With all our force and the element of surprisse."