[Garen LiLorian]

Some time earlier...


The air was thick and warm. The moon shone coldly down, reflecting off of the Forgoil's dwelling-places, and giving the whole scene an chill. Gormel bared his teeth in an animalistic smile as he loped through the streets of Edoras, confident in his band to quiet any disturbance his appearance might create. Indeed, a sharply indrawn breath betrayed the presence of one of the Strawheads, out for an evening stroll perhaps, but it was quickly followed by a spinning blade, and a choked sigh. Gormel never paused.

He reached the Inn. Golden light spilled from its windows, and the sounds of merrymaking floated forth into the night. Gormel paused at the entrance to the stable, and motioned with his free hand. Two figures, cloaked and hooded, slipped past him into the stable. Gormel allowed himself a noisy exhalation of breath then, although his sharp eyes never ceased roving the landscape. This was the most dangerous part of the operation, he knew. One discordant sound from the four-legs, and the cursed Northerners would stream from the building like a kicked anthill.

Rhana would be inside now, blindfolding the beasts and persuading them to come quietly, while Bhurthnin, his loyal second, stood by to dispatch any beast that caused trouble. Better to arrive a few horses short than be caught in the act, he thought, and showed his teeth in what could be taken for a smile, by a blind man. A blind man facing the wrong way, on a moonless night. Maybe.

A soft nicker brought his attention back where it belonged. Rhana was leading the horses out, silent as a wisp of cloud. She had swathed their hooves in cloth. Gormel nodded approvingly. For a foreign mercenary, and a woman to boot, she had her uses. Several other "uses" flickered through his dark mind, and he grinned again.

He caught Bhurthnin's eye, and raised one eyebrow. His second showed his blade, clean of blood but for a spot on the hilt, and Gormel nodded again, less happily. He was displeased that the man had merely clubbed whoever had been in the stable, and would deal with it later, but he couldn't waste time finishing the job properly now. The time for secrecy was nearly at an end, then it would be a race back across the Riddermark.

Gathering his band around him, he led them back through the streets of Edoras, out the gate, and down the hill into the night.