Parnard thought himself most kindly received by Veryacano, and was now strongly attached to him, much as a tiny barnacle cements itself to a hull of a mighty ship. The very sight of the tall elf filled his heart with happiness, and his bright eyes made his head spin with giddy delight.
He imagined himself to be an everlasting companion to Veryacano in all his travels, and in the few moments during which he prostrated himself before him, he had already planned a thousand ways to be of great usefulness and service to him. In his crack-brained folly, he even considered himself part of the Order of the Hammer. Now I am raised up, and a brother to them all – except that dread Lord Daegond, he told himself. This elf would often glower and stare unblinking at Parnard while drumming his fingers restlessly upon the hilt of his gigantic hammer - as if he were calculating the best angle for smashing my brains out through my earhole! - he thought, and Parnard was deathly afraid of him.
‘Lord Daegond is jealous of the favours bestowed upon me,’ he later wrote in his journal, ‘and unwilling to share our lordship’s love. Puffed up with prideful wrath he is, and fit to bursting, but I do not serve him. I serve the Lords Anglachelm and Veryacano, and they will not permit him to lay a finger on me.’ Yet Daegond wrought a watchful fear in his mind, and while he journeyed with the Order of the Hammer, he would not stray far from Veryacano’s side.
But then Lord Veryacano told him he was unfit to serve in his order! All Parnard’s dreams crumbled to dust, and his spirits were crushed - but only for a little while:
“You wish to be of service? Then you can help me with what I could not do on my own. And I tell you, by this you will be of the greatest service to all our people. You must help me convince Lord Anglachelm,” Veryacano told him. “Convince him to order all our available forces to Lothlórien to bolster the defenses, so that our Lady may endure the coming storm!"
These words of the Hammer Lord were a great encouragement to him. Lord Veryacano had a special task for him; he needed him to do what he could not, he said so himself, and he chose him to do it! He chose him, rather than Daegond or Estarfin or Maikanáro or anyone else in his order. He may not be able to fight beside them, but he could do something for Lord Veryacano that they could not, and not be reckoned a useless burden. Then Parnard felt as though he could jump off the mountaintop and fly through the air, his heart was so swollen full with joyfulness. He is a lord of matchless perfection, Parnard thought, gazing up at him in adoration. In his hand is power; the light of his eyes is glorious, and his wrath must be terrible!
“I will do for you all that you ask, my lord!” he burst out. Let him cease to wonder about the wicked men, and why they do what they do! Let him rather do what he can, and set his feet down firmly in this new track, and remember that his revenge against the men is only an old complaint in an aggravated world: he would not stand between the men and their perdition - that battle was lost. And so stirred up with freshened zeal, he flung himself headlong into this new task with as much diligence and industry as he could muster.
If he were a wiser elf, he would have known the dangers of serving two masters. The interests of one he may attend, while neglecting the interests of the other. One cannot sit at two opposing tables at the same time. Yet he had given his heart to both lords, and divided it equally between them. So eager and anxious was he to pursue their esteem, and have them place their confidence in him, it never occurred to Parnard that he was set at cross purposes.
