View Single Post
Old 05-14-2007, 11:00 AM   #392
Hilde Bracegirdle
Relic of Wandering Days
 
Hilde Bracegirdle's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: You'll See Perpetual Change.
Posts: 1,488
Hilde Bracegirdle has just left Hobbiton.
Carl

Lindir’s pronouncement that they had already been spied upon by hidden orcs, along with his speculation that some stealthy visitors might appear in the night left Carl feeling distinctly on edge. And the hope of rain after the oppressive and seemingly endless dry weather, normally would have been welcome news to the farmer, but now it only added to the tension with its uncertainty and timing. If only those orcs would pipe down! the hobbit thought as he struggled to follow his thoughts to some sort of conclusion while a commotion and howling jeers emanated from the pit.

Try as he might, Carl’s anxious mind couldn’t get a firm grip on the reasoning behind Lindir’s decision to spare the orcs for now, when so many around them had suffered from their likes. But his brain kept circling back to the notion instilled it him that they were myth-like, filled to the very brim with evil. Surely those very beasts would skin and salt Man, Elf or Hobbit, free or imprisoned, given half a chance…make sport of it too! The slavers had been a hazard, to be sure, but at least you might have the hope of reasoning with them. But Orcs? The hobbit shuddered pondering it, and took his place in the line forming to transport water to the edges of the pit. He couldn't help but wonder if the decisions of elves were to be trusted once they had been around for more than a few hundred years, or so. He for one, couldn’t sleep a wink while those orcs were in the camp. But then again, Lindir didn’t appear to need much sleep, did he?

It was not long before water was being splashed about the pit, garnering more loud shouts and jibes from the orcs trapped below, as the small rivulets snaked their way under the grate that covered the hole. The imprisoned creatures’ pointed words were all the more injurious for the grains of truth that they bore, as their barbs condemned their treatment at the hands of their captors. So effective this tactic was to the uninitiated that hobbit quickly excused himself, saying that his injured arm was not yet ready to heft the large buckets of water, let alone buckets of buckets. But the truth of it was that the insults had struck his conscience, with a sting greater than the one in his arm.

And so as the first raindrops fell, he took to searching about the camp far from the pit, gathering what he could to help defend against the anticipated attack, and ever mindful that he should keep on eye out for what they might need should they see the light of day again.

Last edited by Hilde Bracegirdle; 05-15-2007 at 02:03 PM.
Hilde Bracegirdle is offline