[littlemanpoet]

Loki the leech collector, it turned out, received less than half of the votes of the village. Nevertheless, eight was enough. He was a relatively unknown soul, having been away for years on journeys, the destinations of which, he kept to himself. Why he was named so, none knew. There was no such creature as a 'Loki' in any of the lorebooks: no werewolf, no wizard, no Ainur, no servant of Morgoth. Maybe, some supposed, the name was derived from the Common Speech, and meant a key that was not high up. Others scoffed at this notion as being too commonplace. Loki disabused neither opinion of its illusions. After all, he kept most things to himself, save his opinions of the other villagers. They did not take kindly to his airing of them. Especially one such aired that very morning.

"By Eru, both of those wizards must have been vying for the collection of my soul this night. Visions of fur and claw and tooth dominated my mind; I couldn't catch a wink. The wizarding pair of which the Watchers spoke must have lost nearly as much sleep as I in fighting over the reclaimation of my soul." He kicked a nearby puppy that had dared cross his path in the early morning. "Thankfully, perhaps, I neither lost my life in the scrap nor transformed into one of those foul lycanthropes."

"So you say, Loki," Nogrod grated. "So you say."

Celuien and her father mormegil pointed their fingers at Eomer. "You're wolfish toward our Kitanna!"

"But we're in love!" he countered. "Just ask her!"

"She can't think straight," Celuien returned, eyeing Eomer narrowly.

More recriminations passed between family units, but finally and mercifully lost venom and bite, for some of the villagers began to turn their minds and the talk to strategy. Gurthang started it.

"It's those blasted wizards, I tell you! That's the core of this problem. Those Watchers told us this would happen, and here it is. And what's worse? We can't even get rid of this Evil fellow ourselves! The Good Wizard has to do it for us. And until that time, we won't have any clue what's happening. Until the wizards are gone."

"To figure the wizards out," said the phantom, gathering in the attention of the others with quick glances to each in turn, "all you have to do is think about what the two wizards fear."

"Each other?" asked Naria.

"It's all about balance," the phantom intoned sagely.

"That's all well and good, phantom," momma Diamond said, "but I've consulted my Werewolf lorebooks, and they say: When a red fox and a brown cow frolic in the ocean, you will know who the Wizards are." Diamond screwed up her face in confusion and frowned crossly. "Bloody lot of help the lorebooks turned out to be." She threw her lorebook into the fire and the whole village watched it burn, most of them wishing it was the evil wizard.

Diamond's eldest daughter Lhuna was the first to break the silence. "Well, the wizards are standing with us. Why doesn't the good wizard just come forward and help us out?"

"Not so hasty!" the aged Cailín cried. "The young! Ack! Always ready to jump into the frying pan before the fire's been cooled!"

Nilpaurion stepped forward. "I'm a wizard."

"Which one! Which one!" the villagers cried.

"Of apathy. You know you're going to lynch me."

They stared at him for one pregnant moment.

"Ah, he's just faking," said Celuien.

At this point, the village debaters got hungry and thirsty, and they retired to the Salty Seal to refresh their minds and put an end to their famishing. Saucy held forth under his own roof, declaring whom he thought the evil wizard would pick as werewolves, but did not find much support. The villagers did, however, support his brewer's reputation by quaffing a healthy amount of his beers and ales, even little Lommy, who did agree with Saucy, though the others wrote this off to her inability to hold her ale well.

The votes began to pile up. Six suspects quickly received one vote each, which meant nothing and they all knew it. There was a gentle murmur as suddenly Loki received a second vote. Two more suspects were added to the list before Nogrod joined Loki with multiple votes. The crowed murmured. Diamond was heard to complain that she was not too keen on losing both her father and her husband in one day. Apparently, she was not heeded as her husband quickly garnered a small lead in the votes. The beerhall owner himself gained another vote, as well as his young little supporter Lommy, which drew the wrath of Roa, who insisted that her husband Sleepy would agree with her had he been in town, but he was wandering for the day for old time's sake. After a few more votes, Loki and Nogrod were again tied. Lommy received two more votes, then Loki a few more, with late votes for Lhuna and Roa, and a final for Nogrod. The result was decisive but not overly so.

"Loki," mormegil said, "today is your last day to leech. Speak your peace to whatever Vala you hold sacred."

"That would be not a Vala but Eru. I have done so."

As the sun was setting, the villagers led Loki, now bound, to the tallest tree, a beech, that spread its branches both high and wide. One branch extended like a giant's muscular arm, ten feet above the ground. A rope was slung over the branch and tied tight, then knotted and placed around Loki's neck. They stood him on a makeshift stool.

"Any last words?" mormegil asked.

"Yes. You'll be sorry."

"Zali," said mormegil, "you cast the final vote. Remove the stool."

She grimaced. "Do I have to?"

"I'll do it!" cried the phantom. Without a moment's hesitation, he saved his dearest from having to do the ugly deed, and kicked the stool out from under their victim. He dropped. His neck broke. All watched to see if he would change. He did not.

The villagers filed to their homes, leaving the unfortunate Loki to hang, and the late Elempi sprawled, still, at the base of the Watcher rock.

~ The Dead ~

Elempi, father of Diamond of the Battledore
Loki the leech collector

~ The Living ~

Diamond of the Battledore
Celuien the Healer and Cupper
Caranlondien the Sled-Team Driver
Roa Aoife the weaver
Nogrod the retired jester
Dancing Spawn of Ungoliant the Baker
Kath the minstrel
Lommy the little girl who steals other children's candy
Lhunardawen the jeweler
Glirdan with the giant crush on Kath
Valier the gardener
Sleepy Ranger the former wanderer
Kitanna the beloved of Eomer
Firefoot the artist
Alcarillo the old retired sea captain
Cailín the match maker
Oddwen the filthy, insane street urchin who steals chickens
mormegil the retired mariner and current mayor
Feanor the shepherdess with a love of alliteration
Zali the seamstress and beloved of the phantom
the phantom the loud, unpredictable, adventurer
Naria the servant who empties and cleans chamber pots
Jenny Hallu the unmarried maiden & aunt
The Saucepan Man the barkeep
Lalaith the frivolous aunt and guardian of Oddwen
Eonwe the freeloading husband of Lhunardawen
Eomer the adventurer & lover of Kitanna
Nilpaurion the ne'er do well hubby of Dancing Spawn
Gurthang the stable-hand