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Old 01-16-2004, 07:26 PM   #56
Hilde Bracegirdle
Relic of Wandering Days
 
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Join Date: Dec 2002
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Sting

Thorn

After leaving a message at the Cat's Paw, warning Rama in their clan's curling script, for he perceived the tension might grow in Umbar regarding the Gondorians, Thorn returned to the palace, spending the rest of the afternoon scuttling about, trying to gain more information where he could. And after having spent quite a while in the kitchens and servant’s quarters hoping in vain for any crumbs of information to be let slip from Falasmir’s staff, he departed planning to wait for Ráma, hoping that she might have learned something of use to them. For little had been said by the servants, busy in preparation for the evening’s banquet. And now as the guests where arriving, he feared for his safety in any form he chose to cloth himself in, whether from being trampled or drawing attention to himself, to being recognized.

Carefully moving down the corridor, thankful for the potted palms that had been brought in to adorn the hallways, something caught his eye. The gauzy and blowing curtain reminding him once again of the guest’s quarters that the intricately patterned fabric screened from the more public areas of the palace. Quickly darting under the curtain before the guard receiving the invitees at the door caught sight of him, Thorn ran toward Wyrma’s room.

Now that the reception had begun, he had hopes of finding the chamber empty and Wyrma occupied elsewhere, so that he might have a second look, but as he neared the place he had to scurry for the dark dusty corner of an adjacent doorway. For he had heard a voice that struck a note of recognition in him, and suddenly a plainly dressed woman quickly exited the room tucking a weighty purse in among the folds of her robe. Too weighty indeed, to have been her own, given her appearance.

Pushing a dusty cobweb from his face and whiskers in an off-hand way Thorn pondered her briefly as she made her way down the hall. What purchase would Wyrma require that she would send her woman out into the streets of Umbar at night, weighted with gold? And when Falasmir had instructed his staff to see to her needs, as well. Something of interest may lie behind this, and at present it afforded him his best opportunity of the day.

Racing down the hall, Thorn found the woman just as she was pulling a side door to, behind her. Trying to fit under it, he found that he could not, but after a moment’s thought was forced to scale the door and squeeze through the gap between wall and roof tiles. Impatient with the delay and wobbling as he balanced the weight of his small body, he slowly made his way to the ground and down the path to the city behind the woman.

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 1:27 PM January 18, 2004: Message edited by: Hilde Bracegirdle ]
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