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Old 05-11-2004, 03:24 PM   #204
Imladris
Tears of the Phoenix
 
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Tolkien

With a snarl, the merchant leaped onto his horse, drove his heels into his flanks, and dashed away from them, disappearing over a nearby knoll. Behind him he could hear the thudding of his servan'ts hooves. To think that a ragtag group had first of all taken a thief under their wing, second of all refused to return the necklace, and third of all threatening his steed -- he reigned the stallion in gently and dismounted. With loving hands he carressed the broad withers and inspected the neck. If there was so much as a puncture mark that girl -- nay, the Lord Fingon would pay in equal blood.

As for the Lord -- he was no more man than he was nobility, of that the merchant was sure. Turning to his servant who had stopped beside him, he said, "I do not believe that was a lord. If nobility, Fingon would have been a lady."

The servant nodded.

"The flesh of the cheek was too smooth, was it not?"

Again a nod.

"The step too light?"

The nod.

"Her spirit too delicate?"

A snort instead of a nod. "A true lord would have either thrown himself within the fray, or else let you and the ranger fight it out like men. Did you hear her squeak like a frightened child and did you see her hand tremble?"

"Yes. See how easily you call the lord a she? It must have been a girl...a peasant girl at that. Her hands has seen years of hard work and callouses to have been newly traveling."

"My master," said the servant, rubbing his aquiline nose, "why would the brother of a lord be a blacksmith?"

A toothless smile stretched across the merchant's thin face. Why indeed?
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