Bor\'s Folly: It Leads Down
A tale freshly told of the Gondorian
The answer is approached.
Druwaith: South of the Isen
In the land south of the great steel river, this land called the Druwaith, the cold winds from stony highlands blow hard in chase of the river\'s path. The soil beneath is soft and silty on the floodplain, but ever more rocky as the grey line of the great river grows distant.
The daylight is never enough to match the cold winds, and never does the body grow warm enough. The sea is not far to the west, but still yet out of sight but the highlands can be seen in all other directions, rising...
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
Though adjacent, there is little about the two camps that is alike. The Druedain have carved a living arrangement with the wild over many, many years and though rough, it is comfortable enough. The Gondorians arrangement is a rushed affair and has survived through one night, another, and it now borders on a third. The travelers sit around a campfire, eating what they can.
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
Imrakhor bites at a piece of jerky, looking absently into the fire.
[Menelglir(#17324)]
\"Squirrel, is it? Or jerky?\" asks Menelglir, biting off a piece of jerky and looking at it dubiously.
[Calenloth(#27998)] Calenloth picks slowly at a shapeless conglomeration of what might have been some meat, salted beyond recognition, but appears unphased by the adjustment. \"At what point does it become jerky?\" she smiles. \"Perhaps eventually it returns to squirrel?\"
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
\"I did not ask the tribesman. He only called it jerky,\" says Imrakhor, swallowing what concoction has been bitten betwixt his fingers.
[Menelglir(#17324)]
\"Better not to ask. Meat is meat,\" Menelglir says with a grin. \"Not certain, though, that it can return to jerky.\"
[Calenloth(#27998)] \"I wonder,\" the girl muses, \"what their meals are made of. Perhaps they hunt some creature we have not observed? Though doubtful they would share their secrets.\"
Her glance travels to the nearby camp, seemingly silent. \"Do they watch us, even now?\"
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
Imrakhor seems ready to respond to Calenloth when a trio of Druedain approach the camp. The headsman is one of this trio, and he speaks.
\"We talk to Spider Lady now. Ask her questions.\"
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
The Lord Bragollach looks aside to Menelglir and shrugs.
[Menelglir(#17324)]
\"And may I listen while you talk to her?\" Menelglir says, standing up.
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
\"Tall Men may listen. Just as before. Spider Lady not first Tall Lady to whom the Mountain Men speak,\" says the headsman of the Druedain, standing before the Gondorians with a short spear in one of his hands.
[Calenloth(#27998)] Calenloth rises, slowly, the plate set aside for the moment. \"Please,\" she insists of the Druedain, \"Ask me what you will.\" She looks upon the weapon in the headsman\'s hand, \"That,\" acknowledging the weapon, \"should not be needed, for my friends mean no ill intent.\"
A glance to Menelglir, a slight nod, and longer look still to Imrakhor, before her eyes return to the Druedain. \"A long time, the other Tall Lady, she did arrive?\"
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
Imrakhor is the last to stand, but he does at last. He looks to Calenloth and then the headsman, who he watches hold up a hand to the Nimothan lady.
\"Ah, Mountain Man is not wrong then. You come for the Lady from Before. There will be time for question later, maybe, Spider Lady. But Mountain Man want to know: what does she feed to Jungle Spider to make it speak?\"
The headsman\'s gaze is unwavering and serious upon Calenloth.
[Fîndon(#29212)]
Findon, thither, blinks at that.
Though he keeps his silence.
[Calenloth(#27998)] \"Aegass.\" A wide smile across her face, joy, for the small creature raised by her hand, love, for a faithful companion, and pride, for the unexpected.
\"He, I fed upon the insects and pests of the food I gathered for my friends. My own thoughts, I fed him, for he stayed by my side in our moments of darkness. But as for his voice?\" Calenloth grows contemplative. \"His voice, he has had all along, but waited for the moment \'twould be heard. That is how he speaks.\"
[Menelglir(#17324)]
\"Food, I think,\" says Menelglir. \"And tender loving care.\" He says this a straight face and nary a glance to the woman.
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
The Druedain headsman rubs his beard.
\"Foodbug\" he whispers aside to his companions. \"Foodbug.\"
And then, back to Calenloth his eyes return. \"Spider Lady wants to know of Tall Lady. So I tell, like father told me, like father told him.\"
\"You hear ship crash into rocks and many men come from it like ant on a mound. They all look to Tall Lady and Tall Lady lead them away. Then second ship, black ship, and more ants out of it. Tall Lady come to Mountain Man first. Her face broken by sadness. Mountain Man do not want Tall Lady\'s sadness, send her away. She go off. To cave. Disappear. Never come back out.\"
\"As for Tan Men, Mountain Men deal with Tan Men.\"
[Calenloth(#27998)] Menelglir\'s words draw a quick turn of the woman\'s head and a slight curl of her lips before her eyes focus upon the headsman. \"Sent away, you say?\" Calenloth nods, slowly, thoughtfully. \"Then she is gone. But a memory? Or can you sense her, still?\" Her words wink into silence.
\"And the men that came with her, they went with her into this cave?\"
Lominzil sits in silence, chewing.
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
\"No memory. Just silence. All of them. Into cave. Into silence,\" says the headsman. \"Mountain Man stay away from cave. Smelly, cursed plance.\"
[Fîndon(#29212)]
\"Not silence, headman,\" Says Findon and he says it quietly. \"She has a voice yet, I think.\"
[Menelglir(#17324)]
\"And then it is into the cave we go..\" Menelglir says, glancing to the others. \"That much is clear.\"
[Calenloth(#27998)] But this time, Calenloth instead looks to Findon, her glance locked upon the Knight for a moment in disbelief. \"And you as well?\"
The gaze withdrawn, she breathes deeply, before again, she asks of the Mountain Men. \"Why cursed, this cave of which you speak?\"
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
\"Mountain Man live in rock and cold for many years. Cave has no other exit or Mountain Man would know. Tall Lady die in there. Cursed.\"
It is then that Imrakhor interjects to Menelglir, \"That much is clear.\"
Lominzil looks away, into the dark.
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
The headsman looks to Menelglir then Imrakhor, then he laughs. \"Mountain Man not so stupid. We know you come to see the Tall Lady. We will take you.\"
[Menelglir(#17324)]
\"Into the cave?\" Menelglir asks in surprise. \"Or,\" he grins, \"I suppose to its mouth. So that we can meet our deaths.\"
[Calenloth(#27998)] \"Truly?\" Surprise upon Calenloth\'s face at the unexpected words of Menelglir, she pauses for a moment, before she too nods. \"The offer is generous.\"
And she turns to Imrakhor, awaiting his answer.
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
\"Gather what you must,\" is Imrakhor\'s answer. \"We leave at once.\"
Wordless, Lominzil rises, bringing only his sword.
[Fîndon(#29212)]
Likewise, Findon.
But not wordlessly.
\"Sir Imrakhor,\" Says Findon, leveling his gaze upon his intended interlocutor. \"We should have words.\"
[Calenloth(#27998)] And a basket joins Calenloth, tucked snuggly under the sleeve of her cloak. She blends into the group.
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
\"Which words? Choose them wisely,\" says Imrakhor, moving to procure his longsword and shield from nearby.
[Menelglir(#17324)]
A longsword is already about Menelglir\'s waist, but he holds off on collect shield and helm, instead stepping to stand next to Findon. His brows wrinkle slightly--he looks to Findon.
[Fîndon(#29212)]
When it comes to it, it is just the one, as it happens. Findon says:
\"Caldur.\"
Lominzil stands still.
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
\"So you have said it. Now can we go?\" asks Imrakhor, lifting his sword and shield into the air. \"Come Menelglir, Lominzil,\" he motions.
[Menelglir(#17324)]
\"Speak Findon--what more do you have to say now, though? You know we are not charged with interfering with this quest. What would you have now, then?\" says Menelglir, though he looks to Imrakhor.
[Fîndon(#29212)]
A pause.
\"Fair point,\" Says Findon, looking sidelong at Menelglir. At back at Imrakhor: \"Fine then. It will keep.\"
Lominzil follows obediently, trying not to look at any of the Knights.
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
As the Company turn off to follow the Druedain headsman, the rest of the tribe gather at the edge of their camp. Many, indeed, shake their heads.
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
The path is long and twisted, and it is night even with the aid of torches, the Company struggles to keep up their Druedain guides.
It is some thirty minutes march through brush and rock before they arrive a simple, uncovered cave mouth. Even in comparison to the darkness outside, it seems cloaked entirely in the darkness midnight\'s black.
The Druedain stop many steps before the entrance to the cave, the headsman saying, \"The rest, your choice. Mountain Man no more responsible.\"
[Menelglir(#17324)]
\"Torches,\" says Menelglir. \"Sword and shield and helm...but no torches.\" He looks about as if looking for torches to make or borrow from the Mountain Men, then looks dubiously into the cave.
Lominzil smiles, passing Menelglir his brand. He crouches at the entrance, facing the dark with a scarce-seen, fey smile.
\"This is it?\" he wonders aloud. \"The answer to the query, the end to the quest?\"
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
Sir Imrakhor joins Lominzil at the entrace, distancing the first pair from the Druedain who move no further towards the cave.
\"It leads down,\" notices the Bragollach, looking in. \"How fitting.\"
[Fîndon(#29212)]
Brand held on high, Findon draws also near the entrance without apparant heed of the Druedain\'s warnings.
\"Down there in the dark, Queen Firiel,\" says he.
\"What shall we find, think you? Bones, dust, or naught?\"
[Imrakhor(#30834)]
\"Perhaps nothing,\" says Imrakhor with a fleeting grin yet he is the first to enter, torch in hand, and he begins to descend the cave.
Steeling himself, Lominzil says, \"Or more, perhaps,\" and follows his Knight down.
[Menelglir(#17324)]
\"The voice, surely,\" Menelglir says. \"Or darkness. Surely.\" A glance to Findon. He enters.
[Fîndon(#29212)]
There is a twitch about the corners of Findon\'s mouth at that.
He, too, follows.
You hear a voice in your head, the faintest female whisper: \"Welcome.\"
The silence is all-encompassing a thick, enveloping presence that lingers heavy in the air.
And it is humid and narrow, this cave, allowing for only two to walk abreast. The path leads steadily downwards, the air sparser, the light dimmer as one descends further and further in the earth.
After some time, one would come to an area where the cave widens. Into a small alcove to the left and a large opening to the right...