|
Thin-Gloomy returned the smile a little uncertainly, though he was relieved to learn that he had found a fellow hoard-seeker. Usually people never smiled to him, except the malicious, cruel grins and the few pitying smiles his appearance received. Thin-Gloomy decided he liked the ranger.
"Well, to be honest, I didn't like the elf either", Thin-Gloomy replied. Then he softened his words by adding: "That might be only because he's an elf, though..."
Realizing that his talk was idle gossip, he quickly changed the subject. "As for me, I come from the Iron Hills." Better a half-truth than to tell the man he was an outcast. "I too, seek this hoard."
His throat was dry, so he took a sip from his waterskin. "And for me it's the treasure that lures me." His own comment brought back the ranger's words and they echoed in his mind. "It is not the money that interests me though", he had said. ...and "I do not wish my true intent to be known by him yet."
"What else than money could lure a man to a quest for a hoard..." he wondered out loud.
|