Bor\'s Folly: Distance Accounted Long by Many

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 cold winds race along the earth, chilling the skin and fogging the breath. The moon is not visible in the icy sky above, but all along the horison save to the west, the shadows of stony highlands rise. The ground beneath your feet is difficult to see.

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

The highlands of the Druwaith are not the rolling hills of the Dor-en-Ernil they are sparse and jagged, rising, only to fall at unexpected angles.

Everywhere there is cold: a bitter, infiltrating cold.

Everywhere there are shadows: dancing deviously upon the rocks.

Imrakhor Bragollach stands, torch in hand, after two days march into the Druwaith. The pace of he and his Company has been slow. With the horses in tow, certain paths had been abandoned, those faster paths.

Cutting through the night, his words, \"I see no sign of the hill folk.\"

Lominzil comes near, pale and ghostlike shape wrapped in the torch\'s shadows. \"They will come to us,\" he answers, \"just as they once did.\"

[Calenloth(#27998)] \"I suppose they watch,\" Calenloth murmurs, to anyone who might hear. \"They watch our entry, our march. I suppose they watch us, even now.\"

She has pulled her cloak over her head to fight the cold, her hair spilling loose around her head from the wind that whips between the valleys. A small basket is tucked under her arm, the green ribbon binding it closed frayed along the edges.

[Cwen(#30783)]

\"Perhaps they do.\"

Cwens reply to Calenloth is short. Blue eyes mark the area curisouly. Her own cloak is wrapped tightly around her and hood is also drawn - yet pieces of her golden locks peek through.

[Fîndon(#29212)]

Thither Findon, bearing also a flaming brand on high.

\"Strange folk are they,\" Says he, glance flitting from Cwen, to Calenloth, to Lominzil and lastly, Imrakhor \"Perhaps they meant never to come and only to appint a path for us to tread, to find what\'er we will.\"

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

Imrakhor takes a few moments to mull the words of the others.

\"Meanwhile, we will keep moving. I fear to stop now, while the cold chills to the bone,\" says the Bragollach, pulling his own furs tightly about his body. \"We will sleep when the sun rises, if ever it does.\"

\"The sun will rise.\"

But Lominzil\'s eyes are cold, looking ever into the colorless dark as he makes to follow his knight.

(to Lominzil)

You hear a voice in your head, the faintest female whisper: \"Will it, Lominzil of House Girithlin? Or do you walk further into Darkness?\"

[Fîndon(#29212)]

\"It will,\" Says Findon upon the exhale a thin steaming sigh, as if in answer to their doubt, be it spoken or unspoken. Yet, he ammends with his own:

\"Though it may be long ere the dawn.\"

[Cwen(#30783)]

A look is passed to each. As they begin to move once more, Cwen states in a soft almost whisper sort of sing-song voice:

\"To contend with the shadows, to contend with the cold, as we venture forth, oh what mystery will unfold.\"

Falling back into silence she moves forward along with the group.

[Menelglir(#17324)]

Menelglir, silent in his place as he treads besides Calenloth, glancing now and then to the beribboned basket. \"Or..we wait for them. They will come to us,\" he says.

(to Findon)

You hear a voice in your head, the faintest female whisper: \"Long indeed, Findon of Gondor. Hold high your torch ere you forget the touch of its heat.\"

[Fîndon(#29212)]

Halting dead in his tracks, Findon turns a widened glance to one side, and then the other fixing there upon the Rohir Lady. His free hand reaches out to her shoulder. His mien is ashen grey his tone sharp:

\"What did you say?\"

Lominzil, though he does not see Findon, stops as well, chin lifted high in challenge.

\'That is not for me to know.\'

Turning to Imrakhor: \"Something is here.\"

[Cwen(#30783)]

Cwen is stopped by Findons hand on her shoulder. A risen brow and blue eyes focus on him intently.

\"What?\" she asks softly shaking her head. \"I said:\'To contend with the shadows, to contend with the cold, as we venture forth, oh what mystery will unfold.\' Was that wrong of me?\"

Obvious confusion is on her face.

[Fîndon(#29212)]

\"I...\"

The Telumehtar\'s level gaze on Cwen flags then, creases shaping on his brow evenly with her answer. Once, his glance is raised to meet hers, in which Findon shakes his head lightly turning away to the fore. \"Pray forgive me, lady.\"

\"I thought I heard something else entirely.\"

His glance now, roves restless.

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"Where is our goal this day, Lord Bragollach?\" Menelglir says, silent through the discussion, but speaking now.

[+POLL] Announcement: Findon(#29212) has changed the poll to: Cal = Gondorian for Dedication.

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

Imrakhor stops and turns to Lominzil, his torch lighting the young Squire\'s face. \"What did you say? We haven\'t seen a soul in days.\"

His torch travels further back, to Menelglir and he continues, \"This day, we walk. When the sun rises, we sleep.\" He begins to turn again to the fore.

[Cwen(#30783)]

Still in confusion, Cwens gaze is level to Findons. As level as it can be with their height difference, there is.

\"Do not give forgiveness, there is no need. It happens. But, what did you think I said?\"

With the curisouty marked in her tone eyes leave him not as they await an answer.

[Calenloth(#27998)] \"I had assumed as much,\" Calenloth replies to Menelglir. \"As in the forest. They watched. We approached. And again, we had to wait. How strange we must seem to them.\"

The basket clutched tighter, she walks, slowly, but her face peaceful.

The torchlight flashes over Lominzil\'s face, his eyes pale and wild, temples damp. He flinches away from it.

\"A soul, perhaps,\" he admits, his voice soft, dreamlike. Then, lower: \"She spoke.\"

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"They did,\" Menelglir answers Calenloth, voice quiet. \"But we walked by day. Slept at night. Why this, into blind darkness?\"

His eyes flicker toward the odd movement of the Squire--a frown creases his forehead. \"Lominzil?\"

[Fîndon(#29212)]

Though he will not look her, Findon\'s lips part to answer, but Lominzil speaks and this draws the Knight\'s glance nay, his attention in full.

\"I thought it a trick of the hills and my weary mind,\" But his voice is nothing like the Squire\'s firm, if anything. Except at the last, lower: \"There is some devilry at work here.\"

\"Squire, what did you hear? She spoke also to me.\"

[Cwen(#30783)]

Confusion remains. The woman blinks eyes moving a second too Lominzil, a brow risen, then back to Findon.

\"Perhaps the walls echo words oddly?\"

Yet, within silence again and as the men speak of hearing a \'her\' talk, she cannot help but ask:

\"Who said what?\"

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

Imrakhor finally rounds his torch back around to the front of the group. Not long after, there is laughter from the Dunadan: dark, fell laughter.

\"At last.\"

Surrounding spear-points, only now glittering in the torchlight.

[Calenloth(#27998)] \"Yes, but we sought them at night,\" Calenloth returns to Menelglir. \"So perhaps this is yet appropriate. And yet, at the same time, we wait.\" Another step, another sidelong glance to him for reassurance.

Her ears prick too, hoping to catch any whisper of the voice the men perceive. \"Here? She is here?\" Again, her eyes travel the darkness, the walls, the flickering shadows cast by the torches. \"But she is gone... But maybe... Trapped.\" She looks also to her basket, pensive yet again.

And halts at Imrakhor\'s words.

\"She asked me of Darkness,\" Lominzil answers quietly.

A swiftly-drawn breath, and Imrakhor\'s squire moves a step forward, placing him before his knight.

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"I think,\" Menelglir says, cautiously looking about, hand not anywhere near his sword hilt, \"that it has worked. Now see, Lady, your role has come, I think. Though how to show them this token we were given...\" He glances to the others of their group.

[Fîndon(#29212)]

Dismay passes Findon\'s mien: even upon Imrakhor\'s laugh -- a whisper escapes ere he raises his torch higher, permitting the dim light to cast a wider circle. His scant words are quietly spoken and not, it seems, in answer:

\"I see.\"

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

\"Tall Man laugh at spears. Spears will laugh in belly,\" comes a voice from the surrounding spearman. The voice does not yet have a face.

[Cwen(#30783)]

As no reply is given to her question, and she frowns. Still Cwen is unaware of what the men talk of and falls back into silence.

With the torchlight giving way to spear tips a deep and quick breath is taken in. Her body tenses, more so as a voice speaks from one of the holders of a spear. To that direction her gaze is cast, ever watchful.

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

\"Peace,\" spake Imrakhor, even as his Squire moves before the spearpoints.

[Calenloth(#27998)] \"My role.\" The smile upon Calenloth\'s face serene, but her eyes slip a trace of alarm as she again looks to Menelglir. The glimmering luster of the torches upon the steal of the spears, the hard voice through the blackness. A slender hand reaches upward slightly, grasping tightly upon the elbow of the Knight.

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"Peace,\" Menelglir echoes, looking to Calenloth and saying something even quieter. \"We bring greetings and a gift from your brothers.\"

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

\"Peace? Mountain Man\'s people hear peace before, in the days of Green and Plain. Then came Tall Man and then came Cold and Rock,\" comes the voice again.

\"What gift? Mountain Man have no brother but himself.\"

Lominzil falls silent, still as stone, unmoving from his vigilance.

[Fîndon(#29212)]

Silent, too, is Findon. His hand again seeks Cwen\'s shoulder briefly, along with his sidelong glance that, for the nonce, averts from the speartips posed against them.

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

Imrakhor looks to Menelglir, nodding.

And then his eyes tilt to Calenloth, where they sit unmoved.

[Calenloth(#27998)] And a step forward, the hand released. Another step, sweeping, like a forgotten dance, once grandiose, but now stilted and awkward.

From under her arm, the basket, rolled forward, a short tug upon the ribbon, and its contents disclosed. The pale hand reached inside, and a black creature creeps upon her skin, resting in her palm as Calenloth extends her hand toward the circle of spears.

[Menelglir(#17324)]

Calenloth does not get very far forward without Menelglir right behind her, at her elbow. THe Knight squints into the night, toward the ring of spears.

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

One of the spears is withdrawn. And then at last, there is a face. It is a dirty pudgy face, unaccustomed to the conceits of beauty. It frowns.

\"Long time since Mountain Man see Forest Spider.\"

Lominzil takes a short step back, glancing upwards at Imrakhor.

[Calenloth(#27998)] \"The Men in the Forest,\" Calenloth replies, softly. Steadily. Her eyes travel to Aegass, perched there upon her palm, almost seeming to gaze back at her. Another step forward, and she looks upward, scanning the circle of what might be faces.

But she focuses upon the one, the one who speaks. \"They said that you would understand. We bring you a gift, this spider, if you will accept. And we ask for your help.\"

[Menelglir(#17324)]

Menelglir waits in silence, watching the leader of the spearmen.

[Fîndon(#29212)]

With knit brow, so too Findon.

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

\"We take spider,\" says the leader of the Druedain.

\"We let Spider Lady live. And her friends too, we guess. Let us have it.\" The pudgy pukel-man laughs and extends his hand out to Calenloth.

[Cwen(#30783)]

Findons hand briefly upon her shoulder gives some reassurance. She relaxes a touch. Cwens eyes remain focused on all that is happening before her a hand brushing back some golden hair - and blue eyes watching intently.

[Calenloth(#27998)] A few steps closer, and the dark haired girl stands beside the man, her hand touching his, urging the spider to crawl from her own hand to his. The path trod, her fingers curl inward, retracting her arm back to her side. Her eyes almost glisten, but perhaps instead glow with the orange cast of the surrounding torches.

Calenloth pauses for a moment, closing her eyes slowly. As they open, she whispers, \"Care for him, as I have. But please, let him roam freely.\"

[Menelglir(#17324)]

Still Menelglir says nothing, though he moves forward, as well.

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

The leader of the pukel-men grasps Aegass. Not softly, but not tightly enough to crush it. He says, \"We care for it. We let you live. Now leave.\"

And then the spears are gone and so too the Druedain.

[Fîndon(#29212)]

Silence, for a moment. Then, Findon\'s breaks it:

\"Is this what we came for?\"

Lominzil, stirring, notes: \"She is still here.\"

[Cwen(#30783)]

The spears are gone, Cwen relaxes a little more. Little was seen past the torches and spears, but guesses are made. With a side ways glance she looks to Findon but her attention moves to Lominzil.

\"Who is still here?\" she asks, curisous and perhaps with a touch of annoyance to her tone - having no idea what is being talked about.

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

\"This is what we came for,\" answers the Bragollach Knight.

He pauses then, a pregnant pause, before saying, \"We will stop for now.\"

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"This?\" Says Menelglir, gesturing out into the night where the spearmen have departed. \"To be told to leave? To have Lominzil and Findon...\" he frowns, not quite knowing how to characterize that. \"Who is still here, as the Lady asks?\"

[Calenloth(#27998)] \"My role.\" Turning back to the company, the phrase repeated, the serene smile returned. Calenloth\'s eyes travel briefly to Imrakhor, and the girl nods, slowly, a lucent glow to her face, before the smile fades. Her lip quivers slightly, and she moves back towards Menelglir.

[Fîndon(#29212)]

\"\'Tis a question I dare not yet answer, nor consider at length,\" Says Findon, turning a glance to first at Cwen, and then Menelglir and he shakes lightly his head at the last. \"Not in the dark.\"

\"Come morning, Sir Imrakhor what then?\"

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

\"Quiet, Sir Findon!\" cautions Imrakhor.

Lominzil does not answer, only shivers.

[Cwen(#30783)]

Frowning a bit, Cwen simply nods and sighs, seeing as the answer gets no question tonight the issue is no longer pushed - at least, at this moment.

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"What is this?\" Menelglir asks quietly, the question directed to Findon and Imrakhor. \"What is amiss?\" He holds his ground, only glances to note where both women are.

[Fîndon(#29212)]

Silence, again. Gaze settled upon the Bragollach Lord, naught-saying and unflagging, Findon offers no verbal opposition.

At length he nods subtly, and turns away.

[Calenloth(#27998)] \"Does she... want us to leave?\"

The soft voice echoes from where once stood a circle of spears. \"If so, then we leave. But her voice I cannot hear. So instead we ask of you.\" Calenloth\'s eyes settle upon Lominzil.

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

There is silence from the Bragollach then, again, but longer.

At long last, he declares: \"Menelglir and Findon, you will lead the women back to Gondor through the Anfalas to the South. And then West back to Amroth. Stay to the course. The path shalln\'t be too hard.\"

[Menelglir(#17324)]

A quick touch to Calenloth\'s shoulder before Menelglir moves next to Findon. \"And of the Knight Herald\'s command?\" he asks.

\"I do not know,\" answers Lominzil to Calenloth, still visibly shaken.

[Cwen(#30783)]

Cwen looks around to each in the group, still she frowns. About to say something her words are stalled when Menelglir speaks. So, silence remains and her head lowers eyes cast to the dark floor at her feet.

[Calenloth(#27998)] \"No.\" Louder now, clear, Calenloth\'s reply rings through the darkness.

\"This is not an answer. This is not the end.\"

[Fîndon(#29212)]

Though his glance be drawn by Menelglir for a short time, Findon\'s answer to Imrakhor is thus: \"We will not, Sir.\"

\"Not yet. Though \'tis indeed the course that we must take.\"

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

A curious thing happens then.

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

While none of the company could hear it, there is the scampering of eight frantic legs upon the rocks. Up and over, from a distance accounted long by many amongst its species. Arriving within the Gondorians, it wanders between sets of feet before deciding on one and then climbing upwards.

Certainly, by now, Calenloth would feel Aegass returning in the night.

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

And there shortly after is the pudgy face of the pukel-man chieftain amidst the torches. \"Forest Spider ask that we give you help,\" he says.

[Calenloth(#27998)] But the re-entrance of the chieftain is barely noticed by Calenloth, who stands there, Aegass perched upon her palm once again, with a smile on her face reserved for but few moments of her life. The spider crawls to her shoulder, legs over legs, before returning to her still opened basket.

\"Thank you,\" she murmurs, the presence finally noted, looking to the Pukel-Man. \"We are most grateful.\"

[Conalmir(#31396)] Conalmir - no knight to follow - stands near to his friend, his gaze moving about.

Lominzil\'s shoulders tense with the appearance of the Pukel-Man, then relax with his speech. He sways.

[Menelglir(#17324)]

\"We are,\" Menelglir says, repeating Calenloth\'s words to the pukel man, tearing his gaze from Imrakhor as he does so.

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

Imrakhor looks slowly to Findon, his eyes settling upon the Knight with a disdainful honesty. The Bragollach Lord seems just ready to speak...

Before the Chieftain interrupts.

At that, he merely whispers in the dark, \"Look! Our fortunes change!\" And thus do his steps, boots in the night, bring him close to Calenloth.

[Conalmir(#31396)] As Lominzil sways, Conal reaches out to touch his back support? Reassurance? Who knows.

[(#29212)]

With an eyebrow lightly perched, Findon\'s gaze too turns astray in favor of hillman -- a blessed sight, to be sure.

Evenly, tells Menelglir quietly, \"(whispered) Like as not, we have shown our hand. Ware.\"

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

\"Come Tall Men, you will camp near us,\" says the Druedain Chieftain.

He motions for the Company to follow.

[Imrakhor(#30834)]

Imrakhor moves to follow the Druedain.

\"Well, come on,\" he says to the rest, the torch signaling his path.

[Calenloth(#27998)] Calenloth pauses a moment, fastening the lid of the basket, and once again, the green ribbon looped, pulled, and knotted, securing its contents. The smile remains on her face as she briefly turns to see Imrakhor nearby.

To the other side she tilts her head, seeing the two Knights whispering, and concern flashed across her face, she holds her position.

[Menelglir(#17324)]

A sidelong glance is given to Findon, along with a hint of a nod. \"After you,\" he gestures to both Cwen and Calenloth, expression solemn. \"I will follow.\"

Lominzil glances to Conalmir he smiles, briefly, runs a hand over his face, and follows the Bragollach.

[Calenloth(#27998)] A slight nod from Calenloth, she turns once again, extending her hand to Cwen. \"Come,\" she whispers to the other woman. \"Perhaps we should camp together tonight.\" She also moves to follow.

[Conalmir(#31396)] Conalmir\'s face moves in a smile - it doesn\'t touch his eyes - he moves after the other squire, glancing from side to side. His eyes touch Findon and then Menelglir, remain there a moment as if perhaps seeking something something, then move on.

[Fîndon(#29212)]

A nod in answer.

\"Coming,\" Says Findon his lightbearing hand the last.

[Cwen(#30783)]

Cwen takes the offered hand from Cally. Nodding a touch.

\"Good.\" she replies.

The Rohirric woman follows along with the group, light and graceful steps leading her where they go.

(to Calenloth)

You hear a voice in your head, the faintest female whisper: \"Well done, Calenloth of Gondor. Well done.\"

[Calenloth(#27998)] \"Wait!\" Calenloth freezes, her hand gripping tightly. \"I...\" But she relaxes, peacefully, the smile again crossing her face.

\"Thank you,\" she whispers. And the pace, returned.