Rûdhchamion was silent as he followed her. He was unsure to what this all would lead to. It had been quite awhile since he had been among the elvenkind, though he was a kin. His own people were wanderers, often called “dark elves”, for they shunned any form of community that dwelt within walls. The two elves stopped near a fallen tree near a group of bushes, still within sight of the gates. He absently began to rub his shoulder where he had been bitten. He gazed at the stars in the dark sky. A slight breeze rustled the leaves softly above them.
“I am called Rûdhchamion.” He began in a clear soft voice, ” and you I know, even before young Anarya greeted you, Tinuiel. I was there when the one called Legolas captured a group of men. You were there too, hidden in the shadows of the trees.”
Tinuiel listened silently, closely watching him. She sensed no deception in his words. “What is your interest with the captives?”
He paused and turned to face her. Could he afford to trust her, he wondered. She could have had him easily apprehended by the guards.
“I was tracking them in hope that they would lead me to the ones whom I seek.” He sighed, suddenly feeling the weariness within him. “I have already told Anarya, now I feel I should tell you as well, though I know not what the consequence of this may be. But I beseech that you would weigh my tale, and seek the truth in my words before you decide whether I be foe or friend.
I seek the ones who slaughtered my people, those that murdered my kin. It has been many summers since I began my hunt, and many foul orcs and their allies have paid with their blood. Still, the ones I seek were not among them. These men are not responsible first hand, but they are possibly allies to those who are.”
He sat on the trunk of the fallen tree and looked around. Taking in with his keen elvish sight the scene before him. “This is the first time I have wandered deep into Eryn Galen,” he used the old elvish name of Greenwood the Great. “My people have lived wandering along the Vale of Anduin, sometimes passing near Loeg Ningloron, the Gladden Fields.”
He looked at Tinuiel and fell silent.
|