[piosenniel]

‘No, stay with me.’ said the Elf, answering Bird’s question. ‘Mithadan will do fine at the meeting. Cami and Rose can vouch for him. And it certainly appeared Loremaster had accepted him.’ She changed the subject.

'Are there any other ways into the Locks, other than the entrance I saw last time from the perimeter road?'

Bird rode within the Elf's hood. 'There are others, Pio, but they require that you pass through the Main cave to access the path leading past the Old Tombs and the smithy and beyond those, the Locks.'

'Then we will keep to this road.' said Pio, picking up her pace.

They had soon reached the entrance that led to the Locks. Bird reminded her there was a single guardhouse just down the path to the Locks. ‘You will have to find the entrance to the Men’s area yourself. In truth, I have never gone there, nor have any of the Hobbits.’

Pio drew back well into the shadows and pulled her cloak tight about her. There were two guards in the small guardhouse tonight - talking casually, it appeared, and playing some sort of game. She heard one of them swear as the other made a fortunate move, then saw him clap the other on the shoulder as if to congratulate him. She waited until another round of the game had passed. She saw one of them say something to the other, and both broke out in laughter. She took the opportunity and slipped quickly past them.

Bird directed her to the area that the hobbits were kept, and she quickly surveyed it, fixing the details of the area in her mind. She was careful not to be seen by any of the hobbits there, not wishing to frighten them. 'Where is Daisy kept?' she whispered to Bird.

Bird directed her to the small, isolated cell that the Hobbit was kept in. Listening carefully, she could hear that Daisy was not yet asleep. She could hear her soft steps as she paced within and the occasional sigh as she stopped to lean against a wall.

Pio looked about the outside of the cell. There was only a small grate at the base of the locked door that she could see would provide her a way to speak with Daisy. There were no guards in the immediate area, as far as she could see. With Bird acting as lookout, she knelt down and spoke softly through the grate.

'Daisy! It is Pio. Are you alright?'

The Hobbit thought, 'Now I have gone mad. I am hearing voices.' Her good Hobbit sense got the better of her then, and she knelt down by the grate. 'Pio?! Is that really you?'

She heard the girl's voice break, and the sound of it broke her own heart. 'Yes, little one. Mithadan, Cami, and Rose are meeting with the Elders. Cami and Rose will be staying here, now, until the rescue day. I came to tell you I will come for you three nights from this. Can you hold on until then?' The Elf held her breath awaiting the answer.

Daisy stifled a small sob, and said 'yes'. Pio took a deep breath, relieved. Had said 'no', she would have taken her from the cell then.

The Hobbit steadied her voice and told Pio of the keys and the knife she now had hidden. 'Is it a single key you speak of, or a number of them?' asked the Elf. 'A full set of them to the Locks, I think.' said Daisy. 'That news lightens my heart, little one. Can you keep them safe and hidden from from the guards?'

Pio heard Bird give warning that someone approached. 'I must go now. Someone comes. You need stay strong only a little longer. I will come for you as I promised.' She stood quietly and melted into the shadows of the cave.

A single guard passed by, unheedful of her presence. The Elf waited several moments straining her ears for the sounds of any other movements. There were none.

'Take me now to where the Men are kept.' she said to Bird, clinging to her shoulder once again. She could hear the small sigh as her friend protested she did not know where the entrance was. ‘Then I will find it on my own.’

‘Can you show me the storeroom you spoke of?’ Bird directed her to where it stood on the east side of the path that led from the perimeter road to the Locks. It stood just outside the Locks space itself, down from the guard alcove, and seemed to abut up against a stonework wall on its northern and eastern edges that ran from the Locks entry road to the perimeter road. ‘Curious!’ she said to herself, recalling that when she had traveled the perimeter road previously, she had seen another thick stonework section of wall along the interior of that road that ran halfway to the New Mines entrance. Now that she thought about it, she seemed to recall glimpsing that same stone as the back wall for the guards’ alcove. More curious was the fact that the stonework ran from the floor to the low ceiling of the cavern in this area.

‘And this is where the Hobbit found the gap in the wall and saw the chained Men?’ Bird nodded her head ‘yes’. The door to the storeroom was locked when she tried the handle. There was, she noted, a large gap between the bottom of the door and the dirt flooring. ‘Just enough room for someone Bird’s size to slip through.’ she thought.

Bird looked askance at her, antennae twitching irritably. ‘Alright! I guess I can look around for you!’

Pio looked at her and laughed softly. ‘I knew it! But don’t go now. I want to search for something I know must be in this area.’

She could not find what she was looking for along the stonework wall that ran northeast of the storeroom. The Elf sat and thought for a moment, running all that she knew again through her mind. ‘By the One!’ she swore softly to herself. Bird looked at her questioningly. ‘They have hidden it well. I will need your help to get into it.’

Bird was to be sent back out to the perimeter road, where the path to the Locks entered. She was to make what disturbance she could and draw the two guards out to look for the problem. Pio instructed her that she needed ten minutes see what she could find, then Bird needed to distract them once again.

‘Are you crazy?’ hissed Bird in a whisper. ‘Perhaps!’ said the Elf, ‘But do it for me anyway – that is, of course, unless you want me to simply take out those two hindrances.’ A throwing knife appeared in each of Pio’s hands, her fingers grasped the blades in readiness. Bird resigned herself to this dangerous plan, and moved into position.

Pio watched the two guards, cudgels in hand, amble up the path to see who was causing such a ruckus. She slipped into the alcove, picking up a ring of keys thrown on one of the tables, and worked her way along the back wall. There it was! Her keen eyes saw the door-like shape cut into the stonework wall, and her fingers found the small keyhole beneath a rough edge of stone. A few tries of various keys and she had it open and slipped in quietly, closing it tight behind her.

She stood, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness. She could hear no sounds as of someone coming toward her. In the distance she saw a small smoky lamp that sat on a table. She advanced toward it, looking for who might have left it, but found no one. ‘It probably was one of those two guards playing their games in the alcove.’ she thought to herself. ‘Who would want to sit in this gloom watching other Men locked away like animals?’

‘This is good.’ she thought, as she crept about the area, peering silently into the cages at the chained figures. ‘At night, the Men are no better guarded than the Hobbits.’ ‘And why should they be.’ she thought to herself. ‘Who would defy Gorthaur and come to rescue them?’ None save the small band of foolhardy companions she found herself a part of.

She was careful to make no contact with any of the Men. There were not many of them, and the ones she could see were in dire shape. But there was nothing she could do for them now.

Pio finished her inspection of this appalling place, noting each detail of it, then returned to the door. When she thought enough time had passed, she cracked it open and saw the guards once again leaving the alcove. She thanked Bird silently and slipped out of the alcove, locking the door and replacing the keys. She waited in the shadows, until the guards returned, shaking their heads and gesturing in an irritated manner. Some time passed before they returned to their game. Then she slipped silently passed them and went quickly to meet Bird.

‘Don’t ever make me do that again!’ protested Bird, as Pio lifted the Neekerbreeker to her shoulder. Her eyes belied this complaint. There was a certain impish gleam that flared in them.

‘I do need one more thing from you, Bird. Can you enter the Men’s Locks and see if any are healthy enough to make it to safety if we should free them?’ Bird supposed that she might be able to do this, but couldn’t guarantee it. It would be hard to make contact, but she would try.

Pio thanked her and told her she could tell Levanto what she had discovered when he came the night of 21 Cermië to give any final instructions for the rescue.

They made their way quickly back to the part of the caverns where the river exited. Bird had now changed back to human form and watched as the Elf slipped quietly into the water. ‘Remind Mithadan, if you will, that I will see him at the ship. I will see you in a few days, Bird.’

She waved once and slipped beneath the surface.

[ October 23, 2002: Message edited by: piosenniel ]