[rutslegolas]

Aidwain and his companions waited patiently as Veradan talked to the two people who looked like Rangers.Aidwain obsevered that one man from the common room was particularly in terested in their company.And he meant to ask one of the rangers whether he was slinkard sort of a person.But then Veryadan arrived with the two rangers and becokoned them to sit with them.They had a very pleasent and fulfilling dinner of meat and mutton and some green stuff that tasted like chicken which Aidwain did'nt like it at all.

Butterbeer had given them a private room so they could talk in private as they certainly wished to do.

A few minutes found the eight of them in a small room with a fire. There were a few chairs, but not enough, so Butterbur brought in a few more stools. “And if there’s anything more you need, just ring the bell on the table there, and I’ll come runnin’. Always a pleasure, anytime . . .”

Menecar shut the door on the burbling landlord and turned around with a grin. “Just like his father,” he said, shaking his head.

“I will close these,” Silrûth said, crossing to the window. Swiftly she swung the shutters to and barred out the night.

Luinien was looking quizzically, almost expectantly at Tarondo. Catching her eye, Tarondo glanced at the door and then back. “Would you be so kind?”

“Of course.” Luinien picked up a stool and set it down by the door. She eased it open, peered swiftly down the hall in both directions, and noiselessly re-closed it. Sitting on the stool, she leaned her head back against the doorjamb and winked at her brother. Her hand rested gently on the hilt of her dirk.

Nearly everyone else had found a seat, but Osric Falkur still stood in the middle of the floor, his brow furrowed. He glanced speculatively at Tarondo, then turned to Thoronmir. “Who is he? The twisted man hiding in the shadows?”

“Fen Shepherdspurse,” the Ranger replied. “One of the brigands who took cover under the Shadow in this area, and nearly the only one to have survived this long. We try to keep aware of him, but he is very sly and has no love for us.” He spoke quietly, a wry smile on his lips.

“And the other?” Aidwain leaned forward, his eyes glinting in the firelight. “The thin one, who watched us the entire evening?”

“That was only Andas Loudewater, a local farmer,” Menecar spoke up. “I expect he was taking refuge from that sharp-tongued termagant he is married to.” He paused, frowning. “Surely he could have nothing to do with any of this,” he said, a note of protest in his voice.

“That is not the issue, Menecar,” Veryadan interposed. “We have no reason to believe either Shepherdspurse or Loudewater of being involved in anything. At the same time, we are not going to assume they are not involved. Especially when both have showed particular interest in us.”

Tarondo nodded. “This is simply part of being aware.” He stood up and paced slowly across the floor. “The problem is, we don’t know what is going on, much less who is behind it. We are here to discover exactly what is happening and who the enemy is. Only then will we take action, if we can. The King gave us strict orders to keep as safe as possible. He would rather have a report on the trouble than our deaths proving that there is trouble.

“Thoronmir and Menecar, what can you tell us? We need specifics on these attacks, and the more recent the better. Right now, that is the place to start.”

Thoronmir nodded. “We have that. Four weeks ago, there was . . .” he paused. “If you have a map I can show you more clearly.”

“Here.” Veryadan rose and extracted his map case from the pile of their gear. He pulled out a roll of parchment and spread it out on the table where the lamp stood.

“This is marvelous!” Thoronmir said.

Veryadan smiled slightly. “It’s by way of being my vocation. Now, tell us when and where everything happened.”

Then the two rangers described the places where most of the attacks took place,and Veryadan marked each of them with an "X" .Meanwhile Aidwain had been throughly bored of this dissucsion and he wished only for a good night's sleep,but then he was waked from his stupor by Thoronmir ( one of the rangers) "How far into the Trollshaws would you say they have come?",he asked to Aidwain.

" Well we can certainly say that the base of the attacks is not from the Trollshaws,we elves regularly patrol the Trollshaws but except on some occasions where we had to fight some trolls , we found nothing,but we did sense some evil in trees , what it is we do not know?"

At that time Aidwain noticed that one of the Ranger had opened the door and was peering outside,out of sheer suspicion he asked

“Ranger what are you doing?”

“Someone was trying to get in here so I blocked the door.” Answered Menecar

“Could you come over here and tell us where some of the attacks happened?” asked Veryadan

“Sure, I would love to.”,said the Ranger .

Aidwain settled down on his stool and with some thoughts of sleep still lingering in his mind began to listen to Menecar...