The Pretender Chronicles - To know my Enemy

Yussef

There is the rap of knuckles on the door which leads to the chambers occupied presently by the Master Scout, Ceredir, among others. \'Tis Yussef who stands thither clad all in brown, spear in hand, girt for war as it would seem, save for his head that is unclad.

The day has grown old the daylight that falls through the windows, as illuminated beams of air, waning. But there is yet brightness, and the sky spied without seems clear, the city behind walls and domes in ceaseless activity.

The youth again lifts his hand to knuckle the door.

[Yîldîrîm(#24191)]

The door opens, a crack at first, a dark, beady eye peering at the intruder, followed by the full opening of the door, allowing Yussef entry into the room.

[Ceredir(#1394)]

Ceredir, sans greencloak, is pacing the main room here. Back and forth, back and forth, restlessness making him burn a path in the floor. He pauses, looks up hopefully toward the door.

Yussef

But the youth enters not.

\"Will you send out the as--...\" His southron words are halted as his glance is thrown into the room. \"That one,\" He concludes, a nod toward the greencloaked.

Yussef stands back a pace.

[Ceredir(#1394)]

\"I have a name.\" The so -named \'as...\" steps forward, coming toward the door.

\"Tis Ceredir. For what am I wanted?\"

Yussef

\"Very well.\"

Yussef\'s black glance lingers a while on the Scout\'s face, his westron carrying a none too subtle dialect, a sinew the only visible proof on his hollowed cheek in the intermission as his jaws work. Then, after a while, his spare hand gestures down the hallway.

\"Let\'s walk.\"

[Ceredir(#1394)]

\"All right, then,\" Ceredir says after a moment\'s hesitation. \"Let\'s walk.\" He steps past the guards and into the hallway.

Yussef

The young guard of Alphros\' service bows his head in acknowledgement cut short. He stands back another pace, and his hand again gestures like so firmly with his whole hand as if offering the other to go first.

But by his set jaw, and the firmness of his glance, it is no request. His tone is impassive as Yussef says: \"They say you are an assassin.\"

[Ceredir(#1394)]

\"They say many things about me, yes,\" Ceredir says, smirking slightly as he steps out into the hallway. \"Yet...well...\" he glances to the open door to the chambers of the group from Gondor and hesitates.

Yussef

\"Well?\" Yussef answers only.

[Ceredir(#1394)]

Reaching behind himself, Ceredir pulls the door shut firmly. \"What do you mean by an assasin? Other than the obvious definition.\"

Yussef

The youth\'s -- though, this scarcely sets them apart alike but wholly alien both -- brows rise lightly. \"A cowardly killer who uses subterfuge and poison. What else would I mean?\"

\"I wish to know if it is true,\" And again he gestures down the hall:

\"Walk.\"

[Ceredir(#1394)]

\"Then no. I am not an assassin. I have never killed a man that way.\" Ceredir grimaces and walks down the hallway, clearly having no choice in this matter. \"Captain Azradi...she perhaps has said this of me? At one point I had the intention of being an assasin. But I never carried through with it. And at the time it would not have been cowardly.\"

Yussef

Assuming a position an arm\'s length behind and half again that distance, Yussef paces onward. The question goes unanswered.

\"It would not, eh?\"

\"What stopped you? Are there many assassins in Gh-...\" his tongue halts briefly on the name, \"--...Gondor?\"

[Ceredir(#1394)]

The Master Scout\'s steps slow, but subtly so as he tries to gain some time on this walk to wherever it is they are going.

\"If your homeland was threatened...if your wife, your mother, your sister, your daughter...if their lives were all at risk because of an enemy, and you had the chance to eliminate that enemy, would you use any means possible to do so? Would it be cowardly to use subterfuge? Especially if you knew you would die in the attempt as a certainty?\" Ceredir poses the question, hazarding a quick glance over his shoulder toward Yussef.

Yussef

\"Maybe. I am here for my family,\" Yussef answers, his glance not straying from the man of Gondor for a moment, and so it is that his glance chances to meet Ceredir\'s. His tone remains impassive -- though the words merit wry annoyance:

\"Is this how the folk of the stoneland make conversation -- answering questions with questions?\"

[Ceredir(#1394)]

\"Sometimes, yes,\" Ceredir replies, then grins wrly. His voice drops. \"I must be careful in my answers, even to you. Not until I speak in private to Lord Alphros can I speak freely, and even then, if he deems it, I may not.\"

\"But...to answer your earlier question...\" Ceredir shrugs, speaking normally again. \"Other matters suddenly became more important, and I abandoned my plans. So...thus...I am not an assasin. Unless thinking so makes me one, but even then I would argue it was an act of war, not subterfuge and cowardice.\"

Yussef

They pass a stairwell on the circular hall the voices that rise -- doubtlessly in Haradaic -- from it muffled but wether they come from above or below is impossible to ascertain.

And they pass it by without course adjustments, by word or gesture by Yussef.

\"So it is not true,\" He says now, with a nod. \"Unless you lie, or hide it with semantics, which is the same.\"

On the note of war, he continues: \"Are you a captain of your army?\"

[Ceredir(#1394)]

\"It is not true. Not in my mind. Though...when I was here last..\" Ceredir frowns and sighs, stopping completely and turning to face Yussef. \"The reason that Lady Azradi says that of me is that last she saw me, I was here to assasinate the Lord Alphros. But...now it is up to the Lord Alphros to judge that himself. If I am an assasin and blatantly known as such, why would I return? It is easy to scorn me with that name...but it does not logically follow. Too obvious. We shall see.\" Ceredir shrugs and makes no movement to keep walking.

\"I am a Master Scout. It is not quite the level of a Captain, no. Though it is an officer\'s rank. Why do you ask?\"

Yussef

Again the guardsman\'s eyebrows arch lightly, even as he halts his pace. His naturally widened glance flicks by Ceredir\'s hands, his spear leaned further back over his shoulder its spiked lower end raised -- but the movements are halted near enough as soon as they begin.

\"I wish to know my enemy,\" Yussef says, and his tone is unchanged for all that.

\"Please -- this is how you say it, no? -- walk.\"

\"This is a... low rank?\"

[Ceredir(#1394)]

\"Where are we going?\" Ceredir asks, his eyes going to Yussef\'s weapon ere he hastily resumes walking once more. \"Yes, a low rank. Like...a sergeant or a lieutenant, if you know what that is. I command some men, but do so at the will of the Marchwardens and Rangers.\"

\"What if I am -not- actually your enemy? Lord Alphros and I, after all, share the same heritage. What if our purpose and our causes--Lord Alphros\'s and mine--are one?\"

Yussef

Yet again, Ceredir\'s question is unanswered it seems the guardsman is unwilling to share anything at all.

\"A low rank,\" He confirms with a nod, his gaze narrowed now on the Scout\'s greencloaked back. \"But if you sought to kill him before, is it not within reason to suspect you are here to try again? For all your words of shared cause, your past... actions do not help you. And even if you speak the truth, it is for Lord Alphros to decide if you are the enemy. Until that time...\"

\"Their ways are yours. I wish to know them however Lord anAzulada decides.\"

\"What are these Marsh Wardens?\"

[Ceredir(#1394)]

\"If the Lord anAzulada decides I am the enemy, then why should I tell you our ways? And if he decides I am not the enemy, then we work together in fighting and again, you have no need to know our ways. No?\" Ceredir grimaces.

\"Marchwardens,\" he corrects the young man nonetheless, \"are more akin to Captains.\"

Yussef

\"You are wrong,\" Yussef answers, \"Knowledge is always a good thing.\"

They arrive now at the doorway where they started.

The guard halts there. \"I am Yussef ibn Yussef al Asad. I have enjoyed our conversation.\"

He lifts a hand to knock on the door.

[Ceredir(#1394)]

\"Then I am honored to meet you, Yussef ibn Yussef...\" Ceredir fumbles the rest of the name, giving an apologetic smile.

\"I am Ceredir..but I have no family name, though by all rights I should. It...\" he pauses, voice lowered. \"It is one of the reasons that brought me back to Lord Alphros. Though you think I may lie still, as does the Captain. But...I seek the changes that a king of Gondor will bring.\"

[Ceredir(#1394)]

The scout now looks at the door. \"What is this place?\"

Yussef

\"Then I hope you tell the truth,\" Yussef answers as his hand is lowered, and the door opens with a low creaking noise though only by a little. And Yussef\'s black gaze narrows a little as he looks to Ceredir. But his voice remains as it has been up until this point. \"For your sake.\"

\"These are your quarters.\" He offers a word in Haradaic to the wardens within, and the door swings ajar fully.

The hollow-cheeked youth affords a glance within, \'ere he looks again to the object of his speech, bowing his head lightly. \"Good day, eh--...\" A crease on his brow, \"--...Master Scout.\"

He walks past the man, and away.

[Ceredir(#1394)]

It might be a small victory, being called Master Scout rather than assasin, and Ceredir pauses at the door to watch the Harad man walk away,his own expression quizzical. He turns, enters the guarded room. The door is shut firmly behind him.