The King's Players RPG

[Pitchwife]

Coldan had had to get up in order to hit Aldarion's head with the nut, but it wouldn't have taken the playwright's urgent hiss to make him drop down again behind his bush as soon as he was sure he had Aldarion's attention. He wasn't quite as daft as Aldarion seemed to think, and although it irked him to talk to the man while grovelling on the ground, he could put up with it for the sake of secrecy.

At least Aldarion's reaction had made it clear that whatever he was doing here, he wasn't in league with Sador, which was a great relief. He also obviously thought the woman with him - the lady from Dol Amroth? - could be trusted, and from the way she had spoken about Sador earlier, Coldan was inclined to agree with his judgement (not that he had much of another choice).

"Harry and Asta are vaiting for me in ze street", he whispered in answer to Aldarion's question. "Ve hev come to rescue you, zinking you had been kidnapped, but apparently ve hev been mistaken. Ze others don't know ve're here, zey're still down at ze inn - at least Brinn and Rollan, Amdír and Sereth; I heven't seen Branor today, or Therian either." He couldn't quite keep an edge of sarcastic reproach out of his voice as he continued: "I might as vell ask you vat you are doing here, amusing yourself at a party in ze Sixth Circle vile our time is running out and ze troupe is falling to pieces. Sador zinks you care less zan a straw about us, and I'm beginning to zink he may be right."

[Anguirel]

"So," Aerwen murmured, eager to steer her brother away from the rather disagreeable subject of Aldarion's moral qualities, as well as to dismiss the uncomfortable thought that had imposed itself upon her vision, "what parts are you planning to apportion for this new Celebrindal of yours? And...to whom?"

"I'm surprised you have to ask," Sador replied dismissively. "The title character, the immaculate princess, Idril of ancient Gondoline, will be played by..."

"...the dainty and perfect Lady Gloredhel," Aerwen filled in, rolling her eyes a bit. "And then of her two suitors, obviously, the sly and insinuating high born noble, her kinsman, and the great-hearted, upstanding outsider, a hero of Men, will be played by yourself and Aldarion..."

"Well, yes..."

"Respectively..."

"No!" Sador cut in cheerfully. "That is my presence of mind, you see; not respectively, at all. For this evening, sister, my golden locks shall eclipse my...unreliable...gait. I shall make the player take Maeglin," he explained with satisfaction, "After all, he first made his name with a villainous part, and he can continue that way...while I show my quality as the valiant..."

"Yes, yes, very well, I understand. And Circilie? Didn't she say she wanted a comic role?"

"Conveniently enough, I have just such a one...Salgant of the Harps, a part I've swelled specially with bawdy songs and low wit..."

"And," Aerwen muttered, lowering her voice and blushing more strongly than the night could let on, "myself?"

"Don't trouble yourself at all, sister. I know how shy you are in company, and I have made no arrangements to further disturb your evening. Ah, that will be the dinner gong."

One of Lady Ecsichil's strongest - perhaps only? - beliefs was in the virtues of punctuality; and her predominant skill was in the orchestration of eating on a grand scale. These two qualities combined to make the sounding of her dinner gong an affair both impressive and precise; an enormous embossed iron shield, wholly impractical for use in war, was struck by a hammer that required two able bodied servants. The echo resonated with mighty efficiency, only gaining strength as it ricocheted around the branches and hedges of the garden. Sador nodded quickly at the sound of it, and said "Let's get into place. I've arranged for you to be on Aldarion's table, so I hope you aren't bored of him yet." Then he hauled himself awkwardly back over and through the Fornost window.

Aerwen followed him a couple of paces behind. She was smarting at her brother's insensitivity in failing to know her better, to offer her an artistic as well as mechanical role in the evening. But she was also, against her better judgement, a little frightened. The more she tried to dismiss it, the more she was certain the squat, furtive shadow in the corner of her eye had been a man - and she would swear, too, he had been no servant to Dol Amroth or Burlach.

[the phantom]

"Harry and Asta are vaiting for me in ze street", whispered Coldan in answer to Aldarion's question. "Ve hev come to rescue you, zinking you had been kidnapped, but apparently ve hev been mistaken."

Aldarion was taken aback by this- how had they discovered he was here, and why on earth would Coldan of all people be keen to rescue him? Perhaps his wrath with Aldarion had not mastered him completely?

"Ze others don't know ve're here, zey're still down at ze inn." Aldarion smiled and nodded at Gloredhel as she moved her lips, pretending to speak whenever Coldan did. "At least Brinn and Rollan, Amdír and Sereth; I heven't seen Branor today, or Therian either."

Aldarion sighed in relief upon hearing Branor wasn't present. With the spying notions he'd taken to lately he would be disasterous to have around.

"I might as vell ask you vat you are doing here," continued Coldan, "amusing yourself at a party in ze Sixth Circle vile our time is running out and ze troupe is falling to pieces. Sador zinks you care less zan a straw about us, and I'm beginning to zink he may be right."

Had Coldan said this sort of thing before Aldarion's meeting with Gloredhel, he likely would've snapped at him. But Aldarion was in better spirits now, and he also recalled that Coldan was here to rescue him after all.

"I'm here by invitation of Sador, and he specifically asked that I tell no one in my company," explained Aldarion. "I have no idea why, nor am I certain of what consequences there would be for us or our troop if you were caught here, but until I find out more I deem it unwise to go against the wishes of a man whose family wields great power over our business here in Minas Tirith."

[Pitchwife]

Coldan reluctantly had to admit there was some sense in Aldarion's words.

"Fair enough", he murmured. "But your lady here is right, you know - you should be very vary of zat man. I happened to overhear him speaking to some voman of ze house just now. He has a rather low opinion of you, and he means no good to you or ze Players, so much is certain."

He hesitated to tell Aldarion what he had learned, still not feeling sure of the playwright's loyalty, but made up his mind that, having come so far, he might as well err on the side of trust this time.

"I don't see ze whole picture yet, but apparently he's planning to alienate you and your lady somehow, zough vat he has to gain from zat or how it ties in viz our company is beyond me." Seeing the couple together had convinced him that Aldarion's female companion had to be the she Sador had referred to. "He also seems to zink you vill do anyzing to return to ze Svan Players, and he's going to offer to reinstall you viz zem if you do vat he vants. I hope he's wrong about zat, for if you do any such zing before our play is done I svear I'll kill you, if Asta doesn't."

He could tell Aldarion had a sharp answer on his lips, but Coldan cut him short. "No time to discuss. Vat do you vant us to do? You may not need rescuing now, but vat about later? I hev to get back in a hurry, or zere's no telling vat Asta vill do if I'm avay too long; you know how she is, and I'm not sure Harry vill be able to restrain her." Despite the need for haste, he couldn't stop himself adding, "I'm sure she'd be delighted to meet your new girlfriend."

Suddenly, as if to underline the urgency of his words, a deafening metallic clang filled the garden like the battering-ram of Mordor banging against the gates of Minas Tirith.

[Mnemosyne]

Brinn heard a tap at the door--far too furtive to be Rollan, she thought with a sigh of relief. She still desperately needed to be alone.

But she heard Thiliel's voice on the other side of the door, and knew that it would be a shame to turn away a girl who had nothing to do with any of this mess, and meant no harm anyhow. And supper, too! Her stomach rumbled in spite of itself.

"Come in, Thiliel," she said, and if she did not sound cheery, at least she didn't sound maudlin.

Thiliel set the tray before her. "Thank you, dear," said Brinn, hoping it would suit as a dismissal. But Thiliel lingered, just long enough for Brinn to feel that there was something she wanted to say.

"Is there something the matter?" said Brinn, not unkindly.

[Dimturiel]

Of course, begging Asta not to do anything rash involved a battle Harrenon was sure he could not win. The entire business from start to finish was rash, anyway. Trying to get Asta to renounce another part of her absurdly daring plan would lead him nowhere. By the way Asta was looking at him after his weak attempt to dissuade her, Harrenon could guess that the only thing he had succeeded was to irritate her further. Of course, he had known from the start that by begging Asta not to do something he would only annoy her, but he could not help it if she was always intimidating him.

“I won’t be the only one doing something rash,” Asta told him ominously. “You’ll be doing exactly what I tell you to do!”

“Asta, you really can’t expect us to try and force our way in there without knowing what is going on! I mean, it would be almost as bad as trying to barge into the Citadel itself! Please, can’t we just…well, wait for Coldan a while longer? Let’s give him at least five more minutes.”

But of course Asta would have none of that and Harrenon was promptly informed of all the gruesome torments Coldan and Aldarion could be put to in the span of five minutes that Harrenon needed to “pluck up the courage he did not have in the first place”(Asta’s words, and Harrenon did not even bother to correct her, since he could not honestly tell her she was wrong at that point). He was then told that he had a faithless character and that he surely possessed no conscience at all if he could so heartlessly abandon his friends instead of doing everything that was in his power to rescue them. It was when Asta told him that if anything happened to Coldan and to Aldarion, he would be mostly to blame that Harrenon could not stand it any futher and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

“All right, all right!” he said. “I’ll do whatever you ask. I’ll break down the door for you, if that’s what you want. Just tell me what to do and I’ll be right behind you.”

[the phantom]

So, Coldan overheard Sador, thought Aldarion, and says he speaks ill of both me and the company. If that's true, I can't imagine that his secret plans would result in anything but harm. But then why would he offer to place me back with the Swan Players? And how would he have the power to do such a thing anyway? That surely means that Amlach and Gloredhel's father was involved somehow.

A loud metal ringing filled the garden, and Aldarion knew their time was up.

"Go back to Harry and Asta, and tell them whatever you need to tell them to stop them bursting in," said Aldarion as the bell faded away. "We'll talk about this tomorrow before lunch. Right now I need to get inside and see if any pieces of this puzzle are revealed to me."

Aldarion turned and took a step, but stopped and added, "And don't worry about mounting a rescue tonight. Just get some sleep. My friend Amlach knows I'm here, as does Captain Bregolas of the Tower Guard and Lord Borondir. If Sador has half a brain he wouldn't consider for a moment kidnapping or anything similar."