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Old 05-16-2006, 06:27 PM   #16
Firefoot
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Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 7,646
Firefoot has been trapped in the Barrow!
After parting with Osfrid, Scyld did not immediately return to his task of guarding Linduial. Gurth would be fine for a little while longer. Instead, Scyld made his way into the room adjacent to Sorn’s study, curious about Sorn’s plan for Osfrid. There was a particular spot in this room, about two-thirds of the way down the wall between the rooms… there. By some fluke in the architecture, Scyld could hear everything in the other room almost perfectly if he listened closely. He had discovered this years ago and found it extremely useful.

"…I want you to take yourself to the Mead Hall of Eodwine. I shall give you a day or two to prepare, if you wish. There, you and your Lady will try to blend as you can, and find out more about the Lady Linduial. What might we gain from this? Is that what you are thinking?" At this point, Scyld heard Sorn get to his feet, and tensed, ready to break from the room. He had no business in here, and now was not the time to be caught. “Apart from her pride and vanity, this little Lady of Dol Amroth must have a weakness! I wish to find a person she holds dear. Do not fret, good man, we shall not steal another person! Simply find out someone she would be sore to see hurt..." Scyld nodded to himself. Of course; this made perfect sense and was not wholly surprising. Having found all he wanted to know, he slipped out of the room.

Before going to relieve Gurth, he found a half-full bottle of mead – not nearly enough to make Gurth drunk, or even to make him tipsy. He knew that there was plenty of the stuff down in the cellar and could have saved himself some effort by just getting it from there, but he felt no inclination to let Gurth know where all the beer came from. Scyld had seen Gurth drunk a few times before and did not care to repeat the experience. The idiot was exasperating enough when you could communicate with him; when he was drunk he became downright dangerous. Scyld also found a light this time to take down into the cellar; he did not care to spend all his time guarding Linduial in the dark. He left the bottle at the top of the stairs as incentive to get Gurth out of the cellar and descended once more into darkness.

Both Linduial and Gurth looked up at his descent, but it was Gurth who spoke first. “Mead?”

“Yes, Gurth, it’s upstairs,” said Scyld, as always feeling as if he were talking to a particularly dull child. His lip curled in disgust as he pointed. “Up – stairs.” After a bit more prompting, Gurth figured it out and off he went in search of his mead. His monstrous dog, if dog it could be called, thankfully followed him. While not precisely afraid of dogs, Scyld certainly did not like them, least of all this one of Gurth’s.

He noticed Linduial watching this exchange with a faint smirk on her face. Scyld met her look with a blank stare and commented, “Enjoyed your time with the good master Gurth, did you? Perhaps if you are very good I shall let him get drunk next time. A right little party you two could have down here.”
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