[Susan Delgado]

Fool women, Thorndruin thought sourly. He'd have to keep an eye on them. Though he didn't speak Sindarin, Hithduiniel's voice had sounded a bit too cadenced to really be the ravings of a lunatic. She'd almost sounded like she was reciting a poem. Which meant that Himelilek had mistranslated, which meant she and Hithduiniel were probably in collusion. He glanced over at Ozracles to judge his reaction, and he did seem agitated. That was no judge, though; he always looked agitated.
This time, though, he looked slightly more agitated than normal, but he wasn't looking at the Elves; he was staring around them at the plain and the trees. Since the barbarian had no thoughts to be agitated over, he had probably seen something amiss.

"What's the matter?" He called to the other man.

Ozracles looked around, apparently annoyed at having been interrupted. "What?"

"What are you staring at? You've been scowling at the trees for an hour now."

Ozracles shook his head. "Just wondering where that idiot boy went to. He took the horse too."

Thorondruin shrugged and turned away. They had other horses, and Carathon was a burden. They could get along without him. He turned instead to Himelilek. "Here, you said you knew where the Silmaril is. Time to pay for your passage. Where is it?"

Himelilek looked at him out of the corner of her eye and he frowned. She seemed to be laughing at him. She turned slightly toward Hithduiniel and said something in Sindarin. Hithduiniel looked surprised for a moment and then began giggling. She continued this irriting activity for some time, ignoring Thorondruin's scowls.

"Himelilek," He repeated with an outward calm he didn't feel.

"Yes, glorious leader?" She responded, still smirking.

Thorondruin ignored the disrespect. "Where is the Silmaril? What aren't you telling me?"

Himelilek reined in her horse and rose up in the saddle to look around. Ozracles paused and watched what she was doing. After several moments of staring into the distance, she said, "Oh, it's that way, I think."

"South? We've been going North. How long were you going to allow us to keep going in this direction?"

Himelilek shrugged and prodded her horse into moving again. She went North.

Ozracles frowned. "How far is it?"

She looked back and smiled sweetly. A terrible smile. "What?" She asked mildly.

"You heard me. How far away are we?"

She shrugged again. "Can't be more than a few hundred miles. They live far South, you know." She rolled her eyes at the mens' blank looks and explained: "Beren and Luthien. The people you're planning to steal the Silmaril from. Are you coming?" This time, she turned her horse South and urged it into a gentle canter. The others could do no more than follow, though some of the men looked slightly murdeous.
Only Hithduiniel caught a glimpse of Carathon hiding a distance away and watching them. He was all alone and she couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He didn't even have his horse anymore. Wait...she looked closer. He wasn't alone at all, someone was watching with him. It almost looked like-She pulled her horse into a stop so quickly it nearly sat back on its haunches. That was Lenilos over there! He'd followed her! She nearly sent her horst toward him, then thought of the figure in the sack. She couldn't leave someone in such a situation, and anyway, if she left now, she'd be caught again and so would Lenilos. She'd do it tonight, when they all were asleep, and she'd take the sack-figure with her. Quickly she caught up with the others, acting as if nothing had happened.

[ November 15, 2002: Message edited by: Susan Delgado ]