Grave-grubbing?

Near the Top of Bree Hill

The road that climbs up from Bree below narrows abruptly here. You find yourself on a small and rocky path, which juts out from the side of Bree Hill. The summit of Bree-hill rises above you. It is not far, but might be precarious to attain. This location nevertheless provides a commanding view of Bree proper, which spreads out from the hill\'s western slope. Barely visible to the southeast is the village of Staddle. A large rock sits alone at the top of the hill, worn smooth over the ages, providing a quiet seat for contemplation for those seeking it.

Obvious exits:

BC leads to Bree Cemetery.

Up leads to Top of Bree Hill.

Down leads to Smial Rise - At the Smials.

================================== Bree Time ==================================

Real time: Tue May 11 15:12:54 2010

Bree time: Dusk <20> on Highday of Autumn - November 26,1449

Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous Moon

Breelands Weather

The dusk autumn air is cool but pleasant around you. The day sky still dumps copious amounts of rain down upon you.

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[Nob(#16122)] Evening is falling - the long golden autumn sun sinking behind a bank of clouds that sits and broods on the western horizon, so that part of the hill is sunlit and part is in shadow. A young Breeman with the ubiquitous brown curly hair and a hard face is walking slowly down from the top of the hill carrying a sleeping boy. At his heels there is a second child, this one a girl. They both look to be about 5 or 6 years old.

From the direction of the cemetery, a rustling. Someone - or something - is ferreting about in the long withered grasses behind the gravestones, where deepening shadows lurk. And there, behind one of the markers, something moves - a shapeless grey blur that could be either sheep, crouching man or an entity rather less pleasant than either.

[Nob(#16122)] Toby looks up sharply, instantly aware of the noise. His head turns and he says something, his voice low so that the words cannot be distinguished from far but the little girl who has been skipping along behind him looks up at him, and then laughs. Her face filled with delighted, impish glee, she runs towards a nest of boulders a little ways along the hill away from the cemetary, and crawls into a low dark hole. Toby is behind her, shaking her brother awake and helping him into the same hole.

He turns around then, pulling a long dagger out of a crude sheath and walking quietly towards the noise. Behind him, muffled by the wind that hisses through the grass and around the rocks, one of the children is crying softly. Probably the boy, rudely awoken.

The rise and fall of voices carries on the wind, perhaps, but Toby\'s soft footfalls do not. As the Breeman comes closer he will see that the grey is indeed the hunched form of a man, both hands busy with something in the grasses. His back is turned toward Toby but something, perhaps merely that uncomfortable sense of nearness, causes him to glance round. \"After something, are we ?\" The words are in singsong Common.

[Nob(#16122)] Toby scowls, and doesn\'t loosen his grip on his dagger. \"Who\'re you?\" he demands. \"An\' what\'re you grubbin\' around for?\" He doesn\'t look behind him if the man hadn\'t seen them before, he will get no indication from Toby as to the existence of his children or their location.

The man - Brev, it is - springs lightly to his feet, carefully watching the dagger. He is taller than the other, perhaps a little shy of six feet, but slender. \"What do you think?\" he answers with a snort. \"Think I\'d have the least interest in digging up gnawed bones?\" His tone is contemptuous. His left hand holds a loop of twisted cord his right, ominously disappears beneath his cloak. \"Heard the locals reckon this place is haunted, one of the rabbit-men was babbling on about it ...\"

He shows no awareness of the children or their hiding place.

[Nob(#16122)] \"Haunted.\" Toby snorts. Then he frowns, puzzled, though he never really takes his full attention away from where Brev\'s hand is hidden under his cloak. \"Rabbit-men?\" His eyes flick up to the man\'s face - is he touched in the head? Finally, he says, with a nod at the rope, \"Can\'t catch ghosts with that...\"

\"True.\" Almost unwillingly, the corners of Brev\'s mouth twitch. \"Can catch rabbits though - the four-footed kind, not yon half-sized creatures from the town.\" The mirth fades from his features and he states bluntly, \"You\'d best put that dagger away, stranger, unless you\'re after a little dancing with steel. I don\'t take kindly to threats.\"

[Nob(#16122)] \"Hobbits,\" the young man says, enlightened. He jerks his head to the north, then. \"There\'s a meadow yon, seen lots of rabbits in there.\" And his knife-hand drops a little as the stranger seems more inclined to talk than to fight only to lift again as Toby\'s scowl returns - angry this time, not perplexed. \"Never threatened you,\" he says equally bluntly. \"Don\' know you, nor what you\'re wantin\'. I ain\'t goin\' to get caught for not havin\' a knife.\"

A bark of laughter is the response to Toby\'s final statement. \"Kiern, what do you call a drawn dagger then? You\'re not the only one with a knife,\" he shrugs his cloak aside to reveal that his right hand is resting on his dagger hilt, \"just others of us keep them sheathed. Specially in these parts.\"

He peers at the other man, dark brows pulling together in a faint frown. \"Local? You have the look to you, but the ones I\'ve met would be quivering in their shoes at the sight of a weapon - whether it\'s from fear or outrage.\" A snort.

[Nob(#16122)] Still scowling, and clearly resentful, Toby reluctantly lowers his own dagger. An inch or two. He\'s not attacking but neither will he be intimidated or forced into anything! \"Bunch of fat old women,\" he says scornfully, then shrugs. \"Yeah, I live here.\"

Brev\'s lips start to twitch at that first statement, though he refrains from comment. \"You have my commiserations,\" he says drily. \"Me, I\'m just passing through. Had a few things to do in town. Not sure I could stand another winter here.\"

The hand holding the snare cord drops to his side the other remains near his dagger and he is poised on the balls of his feet, ready to move at an instant\'s notice.

[Nob(#16122)] Toby shrugs again, but for a minute he looks - wistful. Then, now that it is his idea and not following an order, he lets his dagger hang down by his side. \"Where..\" he starts to say, when a high clear voice says, \"Dickon\'s crying, Daddy, he doesn\'t want to play anymore.\" And the little girl appears leading the boy by the hand.

Toby\'s head snaps towards them, and he takes a step away from Brev, going down on one knee and holding out his arm for the children. His eyes are unwavering on Brev\'s face, and the hand holding the dagger has come up a bit again. \"Told you t\'stay,\" he says harshly, and the girl\'s face crumples.

Brev\'s tense stance loosens a little as the dagger is lowered. Alas it is not to last. When the child emerges and starts to speak he glances from young man to little girl and back again, an odd expression on his features. Almost, it might be pity.

Then the dagger-point comes back up. He hisses softly. \"Kiern, man, think I\'m going to eat them? I have no interest in weans. They cry too much.\" Indeed, he too takes a step back lest one of the teary pair try to attach itself to him.

[Nob(#16122)] The young man\'s gaze stays on Brev\'s face until he takes that step away, and then Toby sheathes his dagger and picks up the little boy. He puts his hand on the girl\'s head as she wraps her arms around his leg, and says more gently, \"Don\'t cry, Tess. I ain\'t mad. Only you got to stay when I tell you, right?\"

A sniffle and a muffled \'Yes.\'

\"Don\'t never know who a body might run into,\" Toby says to Brev, then. It might be an apology at least, it is all he will get.

Only when the dagger is sheathed does Brev\'s hand move fully clear of his own weapon. \"In /these/ parts?\" is his return comment. \"Worst I\'ve come across was some lunatic woman by the pond. And sp- uh, Elves, in the woods. There\'s been trouble then? Goblins? Goblin-men?\" His gaze is warily alert, and the shadows of the gravestones that had previously held no fear for him are given another sweeping glance.

[Nob(#16122)] Toby shakes his head. \"Not here,\" he says. \"Orcs an\' th\'like, they\'re east. Just men, but they c\'n be bad enough.\" His face twists as if he\'s eaten something sour. \"Elves!\" he spits. \"Always singing lies at a body.\" Convulsively, he shivers.

Brev grunts softly at that first assessment at the other he snorts. \"They serve their own ends,\" he offers in response. \"Some of them act like men are no more than beetles underfoot. Still ... they bleed just like we do. Figure they can\'t be so high and mighty after all.\"

That information given, he returns to watching the children. \"They weren\'t - uh, coming in here?\" he queries. Maybe the setting of snares will have to be abandoned.

[Nob(#16122)] Tessa is braver (and less sleepy) than her brother, and she shifts her grip on Toby\'s leg enough so that she can stare at this strange man. Toby looks down, just as pleased to not talk any more of elves, and shakes his head. \"We were headin\' home,\" he says. \"Been up top.\" He nods towards the rocky peak of the hill. He gives the other man a crooked half-smile as if he has read his mind. \"Won\'t scare off your rabbits.\"

Brev looks faintly relieved. \"Then don\'t let me keep you,\" he offers flippantly, hands re-coiling the snare cord.

Noting the girl-child\'s stare he comments, accompanied by a tilt of one eyebrow, \"Lass, I have two legs, two arms and a head just like every other person round here. Anything else is private.\"

[Nob(#16122)] The little girl giggles as if Brev has told the funniest joke she\'s heard all day. But Toby scowls, instantly offended by the man\'s flippant, dismissive tone, and takes her by her hand, all but dragging her off down the hill.