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Old 10-09-2008, 04:31 PM   #99
Legate of Amon Lanc
A Voice That Gainsayeth
 
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: In that far land beyond the Sea
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Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.Legate of Amon Lanc is spying on the Black Gate.
Shocked by the scene presented before him in the courtyard, Michael stopped at the door. The travelers were crowded around the motionless body of that old Hobbit, the one with the dog. The dog, however, did not seem to be happy and running around anymore. It was not clear to Michael what happened, but the outcome was obvious and the tweenager saw that this was not the best situation to go and ask Bunny about the journey. His newly found courage had faded again, and only a tiny spark of it remained in his heart. How came? Perplexed, he followed with his eyes the deed of moving the old Hobbit's body. Then, the travelers turned and headed inside. They passed him by, unattentive to his presence; one by one they were disappearing inside the inn. He stood motionless like a statue carved next to the doorway; until at the last moment a clash from the outside world roused his senses. Bunny, who was the last in the line, stumbled - who knows how she managed to do that on the flat ground - and she fell. Instinctively, Michael reached out his arms to catch her. Not fast enough, but he at least awoke from his frozen state and helped her to get up. Her friends have already disappeared inside.

"Thank you," she said. "Oh, this was so clumsy, sorry, I nearly crushed into you..."
Michael hesitated again. For a moment he had this uneasy feeling of talking to others, but then, pieces of recent events returned to his mind: his decision to go, and to ask Bunny... and now here she was, right in front of him.

"I - it's okay," he stammered, looking into her eyes. "Uh - erm - I am sorry whatever happened to your, err..." He stopped. He started to feel worse and worse. He had no idea what to say on such occassions, what worse, he had no idea what the dead Hobbit was in relation to Bunny. He was once again starting to sweat. Fortunately, Bunny finished for him.

"He is..." now she stopped for a while, too. An expression of something like a shock appeared on her face, as if she now realised the tiny difference of what she just said and what the truth was.

"He was my friends' grandfather," she corrected herself. "He was going with us..." and once again she stopped, too, apparently realising that she does not want to elaborate about her and her friends' plans to this stranger after all.

Now, said the strange voice in Michael's head.

"I - I was -" he started. Bunny gave him a puzzled look. "The... guy inside..." Michael continued, with not much better result. "He... he told me I should ask you if I could go with you," he finished in a trembling voice. "Erm... I mean, I told him... I know the North Moors... I have been to... There... If you needed any more... help..."

For who knows how many a time in the day, Michael Smallburrow felt like fainting in the next moment.
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