[maikafanawen]

Ihwesta watched horrified as Gilbereth collapsed. Ainemetion began to shout but the tracker silenced him quickly.

"Draw no attention to ourselves." Then she faced the Caged. "At the cost of his life, Gilbereth has given us our means of freedom. Since dawn is upon us we will have the advantage. Take up all your hope and your courage." She bent down and retrieved the key half buried in the dirt earth where Gilbereth had bunged it and unlocked the cage.

Ceros moved forward. "Ainemetion, come with me. We're going to hide the bodies Gilbereth plowed through so they aren't discovered by Rhtalk too soon. Then Ihwesta, Thillersk, and Rydian, I want you three to recover our weapons and any others you can find. Rhtalk's put them in the warehouse just near the East wall. It's sheltered so you might run into some latent orcs. Be careful." Ihwesta bowed her head in respect towards Ceros and then the three elves left the Cage.

She stopped beside Gilbereth and knelt down beside him. It was most terrible to lose him. Of all the companions, he had been most mistreated. Sorrowful emotions filled her heart and she prayed quickly and quietly over his body. "Be at peace," she concluded quietly. The she leaned forward and kissed his forehead. As a second thought she turned back to Eruwen who stood silently besides Arië in the Cage. "Do something with his body," she commanded tenderly. "We can't leave him like this. And take anything of value from him that we might return to his mother." Looking again at her dead friends she added, "I grieve for her."

Under cover of the sun the tracker and two hunter brothers made out again for the East wall. Ihwesta passed by the dead orcs: five total counting the two near the execution block. She bent down by one of them and searched him quickly. On him she found a wicked looking knife.

She grinned and held it up for Thillersk and Rydian to see. 'Find one,' she mouthed. In a moment, the three each held an ugly but sharp dagger.

"Taurëwen, Lady Dorienne," Ceros continued, "let's get the others ready to go."

It felt strange to Ihwesta, walking out under broad daylight, no more than ten feet at a time away from orcs who were awake, but near blind in the sunlight. Her main fear was the Nazgûl Dorienne had told her about. Was it affected by the sun? The tracker didn't think so. Then another thought hit her: was there more than one? Hopefully not. Keeping a watch out for Rhtalk the three made their way to the small shack of a warehouse.

They found it right where Ceros had said it'd be. It was very crude and appeared to be relatively unused. "Check around for orcs before we go in," she whispered. The two brothers nodded and gripping their own filched weapons, snuck around through the walls and piles of scrap. Rydian encountered the first one and neatly slit its throat, stuffing the corpse into a rough sack and he shoved it one of the unused storage sheds. He picked up four more bags from the pile and handed two to Thillersk. In a few minutes all were full and harbored in the lean-to.

When they had returned, Ihwesta used her knife to cut through the poorly constructed lock and opened the door cautiously. Inside they found a treasure more valuable to them than a ton of mithril. In the closest corner there laid a pile of swords of all makes and nationalities. Among them, Ihwesta located her own sword and those of the others in her original group. On the wall hung Thillersk's and Rydian's bows along with a quiver of arrows. "Why didn't they destroy these?" Thillersk asked suspiciously. Rydian fingered his bow, one eyebrow raised in doubt.

"Or at least keep them locked up more securely," the younger said. Then he stepped back. "I don't like this Ihwesta." The tracker looked around quickly and shrugged.

"It's too late to second guess. Gilbereth's done it now, bless his soul," her voice wavered and it took a moment for her to finish. "And we've got to move now." The brothers exchanged wary glances and then began to gather all the weapons they could carry for those waiting in the Cage.

"What about mail?" Thillersk asked, holding up an iron vest. Ihwesta looked at it and nodded. "Might as well. Grab one for all the men. I'll collect some of the thicker leather for the women, I'm not sure how well those would fit us." Finally they had everything stowed in three of the burlap sacks and made their way back to the Cage.

It must have been something short of a miracle that brought them back undetected. A new hope was kindled as the sacks were opened and weapons were returned to their owners, or those that could wield them.

"It didn't take you long enough," Ceros noted worriedly.

"I know," Ihwesta said. "But even if we run into someone now we're armed." Then she looked at the Succumbed. They hadn't moved or even acknowledged the sudden presence of weapons wrought by man and elf smiths. Dorienne and Taurëwen approached then, distraught written noticeably on the latter's face.

"We can't take them," Dorienne announced quietly to the two elves. Ihwesta met her gaze heatedly.

"Maybe not, but I'd rather die than leave them," she argued. Dorienne shook her head and moved closer.

"Then you probably will, child." Ihwesta rolled her eyes and helped to get the entranced into a tightly huddled group that the rest could guide and maneuver through the camp.

"We'll stay tight to the East wall where the executioner's block and the ware sheds are. The orcs thereabouts have already been taken care of so we'll cross little trouble. Ainemetion returned then, an excited look on his face.

"It's very clear, Ceros. I'm afraid I'm feeling a bit overconfident at the moment." Ihwesta and Arië exchanged worried glances. Anything could go wrong.

"Ready?" Ceros asked everyone. There were murmurs of concurrence and gripping their weapons firmly, the elves exited the Cage making for the East wall and ultimately, the exit.