[Manardariel]

"Mistress, listen to this!" An exited apprentice came bursting into Anarya´s forge, almost making her drop the knife she had been working on.
"Buck! Don´t you ever do that again, you hear? I almost dropped this!"

He hastily apoligized, then started talking again, his tounge moving faster than even the fastest of the king´s horses could . Anarya let her attetion level drop to the barest minimum. Once again she wondered if it had been a good idea to make a boy this young her newest apprentice. Buck, who´s father was a poor craftman, spent ages telling her about the smallest happenings all aound the town. Suddenly, however, she thought she had heard the words "dissapeared" "swords" "work".

"Buck, what did you you just say?" she asked, tentively.

"I said, another child has dissapeared. And everyone´s sayin´ we should fight back, because the trees have gone to far. And that we should get to work and start makin´ swords and such, because everyone´ll want armour. That´s what I said, and now´ll be off, if you don´t mind, ma´am."

Thoughtfully, Anarya watched him dissapear. He was right, if there was talk about fighting, paople would turn to her. Anarya´s forge "The Red Forge", on the main street of Isengard, was one of the best of the town. For a moment, she thought of the trees´ victims. She knew one of them- Orodeth had been her nephew, only an infant, when he had been taken. Anarya forced her tears back. She needed to concentrate on her work. But while she heated iron for a sword she swore to herself:
"If there´s a way to get those trees under control, I will be part of it. I swear, I will."

[ May 01, 2003: Message edited by: Manardariel ]