[Susan Delgado]

Thorondruin rode well ahead of the others, still mopping at his gushing nose. If that creature ever so much as touched him again, he lose something more valuable than his pride. If he was as foolish as Thorondruin knew he was, then he probably wouldn't live to regret it. The next time he-Thorondruin's thoughts were interrupted by Livia turning around as much as she could in her current position and said qietly, "Why did you do that?"
Thorondruin stared at her for a moment. This was the first time she'd been even halfway civil to him since he'd known her. He muttered, "Shut up. I didn't do it for you."
Her face fell. With a whispered, "Oh," she turned back toward the front.

No one spoke for hours. The rain fell, the wind blew, and everyone thought their own thoughts. Around midday, Thorondruin and Livia looked around as Himelelek aproached from behind.

"There's someone following us," She said quietly.
"Is there?" He sighed. This was just not what he wanted right now. "How many, how far?"
"I'd say two or three, perhaps a league back." She grinned tightly. "They're trying to be quiet back there. They don't know one of us is an Elf."
Thorndruin sighed, "All right. Ozracles, Carathon, come on up here."
Carathon obeyed, but the barbarian only grunted.
Thorondruin stopped and turned his horse to face the recalcitrant barbarian. "Oz, get up here! Now!"
Muttering imprecations, Ozracles rode up to the others. "What?"
"Himelilek says we're being followed. You and I are going back to investigate, while Himelilek and Carathon wait here for us to return. Understood?" Everyone nodded and Throndruin and Ozracles turned back down the path.

"What did the Elf say about the people following us?" Ozracles asked as they rode.
"Everyone's full of questions today, aren't they? She didn't say anything, just that someone is following us. Now be quiet, we don't want them to hear us coming," but it was too late. Even as Thorondruin warned the other to silence, a large man-not as big as Ozracles, but big enough to serve-riding an equally large horse burst out of the bushes and grabbed Ozracles' reins as he galloped past. Ozracles attacked the man with his sword, but the somewhat wild swing combined with the horse's sudden forward lunge caused him to tumble over the horse's rump and land in a heap on the ground. Throndruin swore and took off after the would-be horse thief, but it soon became obvious that the man was more familiar with the forest and Thorondruin was quickly outdistanced. With a last curse at the man's fleeing back, Thorondruin trotted back to where Ozracles was still sitting on the ground, clutching a nasty cut on his forearm. When he fell off the horse, his unsheathed sword had fallen with him. Being a proper barbarian, Ozracles always kept his weapon honed to a razor edge and when he'd fallen, the sword had struck him in the arm, nearly severing it; only the bone had stopped the blade. He was fortunate it was only his arm that had been hit, and not something more sensitive, like his head. Thronrodruin frowned and reconsidered his last thought. His head was certainly not the worst place Ozracles could have been hit. He barely used it, after all, so how necessary could it be?

Thorondruin suppressed a grin as he approached the man sitting on the ground. "What's this, a barbarian caught off his guard?"
Ozracles growled a curse and threw a rock in Thorondruin's direction. "Shut up and help me! Gah! Didn't you even get the horse back?" He shouted, angry and emabarrassed at having fallen so ignominiously. Thorondruin shrugged.
Ozracles tried to get to his feet, but fell back immediately. He'd lost a lot of blood, was still losing it, and obviously needed help. Thorondruin dismounted and tore strips from the barbarian's cloak to use as a tourniquet. "Can you ride a horse?" He asked.
With help, Ozracles managed to get to his feet, but he couldn't mount the horse by himself, and, being bigger than Thorondruin by six inches and at least a hundred pounds, Throndruin could not help him, so they ended up walking back to where the others waited.

[ September 21, 2002: Message edited by: Susan Delgado ]