ENOUGH !!!
* Gandalf's voice burst through the storm of rising and fell voices, silencing all others. *
Poppy Took, you can walk, with a limp?
* The Hobbit nodded, eyes wide, as Gandalf handed her a dusty burlap sack tied with rope. She slumped over to one side, nearly losing her balance. * Why, it weighs half as much as I do! What's in here, Gandalf?
* The wizard took back the bag, opened it, spilled out the contents in a clinking heap on the ground, smiled gently. * Enough gold for you to live like a princess in the largest smials in the Shire for years to come, my dear Hobbit. But this treasure is not yours. Nor is it mine. This gold was entrusted to me by Master Elrond, as expense money to be used for fighting all servants of the Enemy along my road. I shall ask you to serve as ambassador and carry it, alone, into Castle Maladil, to present to the Lord of the Castle, who should be our ally. For they called him OrcBane, and I would hold him to that name.
Nardol, you see who braves the perils of Laurëondo ... those society deems weakest. We face ghosts whom none of the free peoples have dared face in thousands of years. A villain from the Second Age, keeping captive the fëa of innocent ... or once-innocent ... Elves, and spirits of Men, who had themselves no voice in the decision of a madman. But not ghosts alone, now. Orcs have dealings at the Castle. In the Second Age, worthy warriors such as you would have confronted a villain such as Maladil, to win well-deserved riches and renown in song. Your services would stand us in good stead. What say you?
[ December 20, 2002: Message edited by: Gandalf_theGrey ]
|