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"It is not up to me whether anyone else tries." Scyld was becoming increasingly baffled, and his fear had not abated one bit. He did not understand her, and his dry wit availed him not at all in this situation. He wished she would fight back, yell at him, or even just say nothing and sit there in sullen silence. Instead, she seemed to be trying to help him. Help him! Even if I lived and argued for you… Why? Why was she doing this?
"But whether you try is," Linduial replied.
“But technically I do not know anything. No one, Sorn least of all, ever told me these things; I only overheard that he was sending people to Edoras to find people you wouldn’t want to see hurt. He gave no orders for them to actually be hurt; perhaps he only means to find out who they are and threaten you about them. I don’t really know anything about what Sorn intends to do.” Now Scyld was starting to hit his stride once more. Everything he had said so far was true, if of questionable morality, but now it was time to start riding the fine line between truth and falsehood.
“And in truth? I am not sure I want to know. The less I know, the less that can be held against me. What Sorn chooses to do is his affair.” This was not wholly true; Scyld lived by the motto that the more he knew, the better off he was – as long as no one knew that he knew. He would have to be careful with how much he told Linduial. “And it will do me even less good if I try to stop him and he kills me. I am no fighter; that is certainly not a skill Sorn ever taught me. I have no doubt he would not hesitate to kill me, and if he decided to, he probably could.” The lie came easily to his lips, despite the nagging feeling of guilt that was beginning to tug at his mind. But why should he feel guilty at all? Why should he feel any moral responsibility towards her whatsoever? How did she make him feel this way?
“I do not know why I tire myself explaining these things endlessly,” he cut himself off. He was venturing into dangerous territory again. “Or why you pretend to care. You try to lead me on with honeyed words and expressions of good will – but for what reason? Surely,” he mocked, “you have no honest reason to care for one of your captors. You only lead me on so that I will help to save your friends.”
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