[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Thorn

By the time he made it back to Falasmir's palace the sun had already climbed well above the horizon and the grounds were busy with slaves, their watchers ensuring preparations were made for the day. Unfortunately, Thorn would have already been missed at the stables this late in the morning, and he prepared himself for the inevitable confrontations that usually followed such a display of independence in Falasmir's household. Ignoring the pain in his leg, Thorn approached the gate. He had sincerely hoped to pass through unhindered, but a rather large and zealous young sentry of his acquaintance stopped him as he tried to hurry through the passage.

"Were are you going master horse trainer?" the guard shouted, hooking his upper arm, as he passed by.

"To see to the horses," Thorn replied quite simply, looking the sentry in the eye.

"It is a bit late, don't you think."

"Yes, I was detained in town," Thorn said truthfully, though he made no attempt to describe being wedged in a packed storage closet all night, a rather serious mouser lavishing all its attentions solely on him through the small hours of the evening. Nor did he plead the case that this same animal had deemed it necessary to catch hold of his leg as he had squeezed under the door. And in the morning he found he had truly spent overlong as a sand rat and had experienced a rather rough struggle when trying to assume his more customary shape, especially given that the closet had been loaded with bags of new grain. But all his focus now was on requesting leave so that he might return to warn Ayar of what he had heard, and see that Narika was safe, and this without jeopardizing the strategic position of Falasmir's employ.

"What sort business has kept you away from the palace all night, for you have been gone all night, am I not right?"

"I had the good fortune to overhear a conversation, that might interest Lord Falasmir, and wanted to find out the details before asking his leave to pursue it. Unhappily, I fell in with some bad company," Thorn remarked revealing the streaks of brown blood that traced lightly the length of his leg. "I have only just been able to return."

"It seems the horse trainer needs training himself," the large man smirked clapping him on the back. "I would be only too glad to show you how to fight more effectively."

"That may prove worthwhile!" Thorn said trying to appease the guard. "But now I must go speak with Falasmir's steward and face his wrath, before it is too late for me."

"Go then, speak to him if you can discover him! And I will hope to find you later."

"I will look forward to it." Thorn said before quickly distancing himself from the man.

Looking briefly back to the wharf, he could still distinguish the three ships sitting shoulder to shoulder on the water's edge. Nothing seemed amiss that he could discern. The Gondorians evidently were still viewed as the quests of Umbar. Striding down the incline to the lower levels of the palace, he took no small joy this morning in sending the cats gathered there scurrying, as he pondered all that must be done. He must leave quickly then before Falasmir had a chance to spring his trap, when it might become harder to leave without suspicion. If only he knew that Ráma was safely away. Resolving to stop at the Cat's Paw to see if his note had reached her, he entered the broad portal.

It did not take him long to find who he was looking for. Busy after the reception of the previous night, the graying old man was pacing back and forth in a large storeroom with a dog-eared ledger under his arm, sharply ordering the counting of platters and candlesticks, goblets and vases before they were carefully wrapped and returned to their closets.

"Ah, I see you have returned at last!" the man announced distinctly, with evident irritation. "How thoughtless when you know the newly brought horses are awaiting your tutelage. I have a mind to see to it that you are not allowed to leave the premises at all, you impertinent scapegrace!"

"It was unavoidable sir, I assure you," Thorn remarked. "And I hope that this error might be forgiven me for I have learned of the birth of a remarkable colt, deep in the desert. He is already taller and stronger than all his age, and of excellent linage. I had hoped that I might be granted leave to see if it might be purchased for His Excellency's stables, for this opportunity is exceedingly rare. It would be well worth the delay in the breaking of the new steeds if the rumors prove true."

"You leave the grounds all night and are late to return, and then ask leave to go on this goose chase into the desert? I have enough trouble without your abandoning your position or taking your duty so lightly," he said twisting the end of his scanty beard in thought.

“But if you had heard them speak of it, sir! It is if one of what is called the Mearas in the north, had been born in the desert.”

“I mere drunken tale, doubtless”

“No, not so. I came to hear of this in the bizaare, among a most respectable gathering. That is why I am so keen to leave immediately, before some nobleman’s agent acts upon the news!” And so Thorn wove his story artfully, tempting the overseer with a vision of Falasmir's great joy in receiving such a magnificent animal through the old man's foresight in sending Thorn to investigate. And little by little the old man succumbed to the pleasant thought of increasing his own stature in the potentate eyes, allowing Thorn in the end but a niggardly amount of time. But it was all that Thorn required, and he took it with thanks, all the while wondering where he was to find a horse resembling a mearas for Lord Falasmir’s stables.