Nozhdrul trailed a short distance behind Skaibad as the captain followed the Easterling into the back of the cave, where the prisoner was detained. No one noticed him as he shuffled along in the shadows, eyes cast down, cringing whenever a Man past him by.
He watched, standing to one side and well into the shadows along the wall of the cave, as Skaibad engaged the Easterling in a heated exchange. Their attention was drawn away from the prisoner, as was the attention of the other Easterlings drawn toward the confrontation. They laughed at Skaibad and Nozhdrul could see him grow angrier.
No one noticed the hunched shadow that dipped behind the barrels at the back of the cave, stacked near the prisoner’s cage. He was patient. He would wait and watch.
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‘Many are the strange chances of the world,’ said Mithrandir, ‘and help oft shall come from the hands of the weak when the Wise falter.’
– Gandalf in: The Silmarillion, 'Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age'
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