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Tarn
Nilak had finally found a hiding place and Tarn was so relieved to have stopped descending further into the caves that he crept in behind the other Lossoth man, despite the alcove in the rock being so small and cramped that he began to wonder if this was what being buried alive would feel like. He wriggled about until he managed to fit his long legs into the crevice in such a way that they would stand no chance of becoming trapped there. The rock was cold and slimy with salt water caught in the cracks; this was obviously a place which filled to the brim with water at high tide. Tarn raised himself up onto his arms a little to be free of the clammy stones.
“Yes, this is a good spot” he said to Nilak quietly. “I suppose some of those elves will come down here. So we just lie and watch.” For a while, there was nothing to see, and little sound apart from the incessant dripping of water, a sound that soon began to get on Tarn’s already edgy nerves. Nilak extinguished the lantern and they were plunged into oppressive darkness. The walls seemed to close about even more tightly and Tarn struggled to breathe steadily. Then he felt a slight breeze on his cheek, and heard a faint whirring sound, as of birds’ wings. He sensed another noise, one which he could not hear, but felt as an uncanny flickering in his eardrums, as though the air pressure had altered. He kept as still as possible, holding his breath and after a minute he exhaled in a rush.
“What is it?” whispered Nilak, in as low a voice as he could manage.
“Something went by” Tarn whispered back. He couldn’t work out what type of creature it was, whether it was a bird or an insect, but he knew something had passed them by. Tarn was an instinctive hunter and knew the ways of animals, and he knew that what had just passed by was not a draught of wind.
Minutes later voices began to drift into the tunnels, as mingled and incomprehensible as the sound of waves at first, but gradually changing. A woman’s voice came echoing down the tunnels, musical yet filled with fear, then it grew quieter. A group of men approached, making a lot of noise. Tarn heard shouting, followed by laughter, and a torch revealed a group of three, two elves and Galhardir. Tarn realised what the Lossoth boats had been doing at the Elven ship yesterday; they were forming an alliance. “Idiots!” he thought to himself angrily, as he and Nilak slowly crept as far back as possible into the shadows, like two spiders hiding from the light.
Tarn watched the party search the cavern and couldn’t help but smirk as he thought of these elves and their Lossoth companion, rummaging around in the silt, vulnerable and entirely innocent of the spies who watched them.
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