Chapter two: By a River
The sun set. Thendryt was almost finished saddling Bovad when Faorie rode in.
"Thendryt, you wanted to speak to me about something?" Faorie said with a calm expression on her face.
"Not here, follow me." He responded, mounting Bovad.
"Wait, why not just talk here?" She exclaimed, but he had already rode off. With a sigh, she followed.
Thendryt rode down to the river. He stopped when he found a isolated place out of sight and dismounted.
"What are we doing down here exactly?" Asked Faorie, clearly confused.
"The river will keep what we say between us and away from eavesdroppers." Thendryt responded. "Faorie... I need to find a certain Man." Faorie raised an eyebrow.
"A Man? There's a few in Imladris, but surely you didn't have to take me here to just ask about someone in.." His glare caught her off-guard. His green eyes were dead serious, it gave her an uneasy feeling. She hadn't taken much note of him in the Hall of Fire, a former member of the Warband reappears after three years? That glare made the hair on her neck rise. Something was not right with this Man.
"He would be of Rohan. Born near the eastern border. He is most surely disguised." His glare got less hostile as he described him, but he maintained eye contact.
"There might have been a Man like that in Imladris a few days ago, but I have already sent my report to Elisbeth." She started to get alert now, the mention of the Man set something off in Thendryt's eyes, they were too intense.
"Tell me everything you know. Every detail!" She almost drew her knife, he took a step towards her but suddenly stopped.
"I will not give out information that concerns the safety of the Vale to someone whom I've just met!"
He stopped, his eyes relaxing as he gazed into her green eyes. He could tell he had crossed the line. He sighed.
"I see now that I will not get anywhere without giving you some information in return..." He turned towards the river, sensing that Faorie was still on edge. "I am a member of a special Group, an organization if you will, that works from the shadows in the interests of Rohan." He paused, relaxing his shoulders. He turned to face her. She had lowered her guard slightly, but was still on edge. He counted three ways he could kill her in that instant, out of habit. He noticed she had very dark hair for an Elf from LothLórien. He continued.
"I was raised and trained within this organization. They sent me here to aid Imladris many years ago, however once in a while I would get special missions to carry out while being here. These would vary in length and danger, however the latest one was the longest of them all." He paused, making eye-contact. He thought he could see a glimmer of interest in them, but he couldn't be sure.
"Three years ago I was sent to hunt down this man. He had last been spotted in Bree-land. I left immediately, without telling the Warband." Her shoulder stiffened.
"You'd forsake the Warband that easily?" She asked, with a low voice.
"Please believe me when I say that I am and have always been loyal to Imladris and the Warband. because of that. Had I told them about this, they would have either followed me or tracked me down. If they got hurt because of my missions I could not bear it. No, it was my duty. Even if I hadn't been ordered to not speak with them I would not have shared this with them." He watched her, looking for a reaction. She appeared to relax a bit after his words.
"So I left, in the dead of night. I tracked the Man through Bree-land and into the North Downs." He paused, touching the scar on his right eye.
"When I entered Nan Amlug I got ambushed. I had walked right into a trap. Long story short, I was taken prisoner and brought to Carn Dûm."
"How did you manage to escape?" She asked, almost in wonder. To her surprise he looked away and laughed.
"Cats and birds." She raised an eye-brow. Surely he wasn't serious?
"When I got out I headed back north, towards Imladris." His gaze got serious.
"Faorie, the fact that I was captured means that he knew I was coming and where I would travel. There is a traitor within my organization. I need to find this Man and make him tell me who his contact is. If I cannot trust my superiors things could get very ugly, very fast." She gave him a skeptic look.
"He will try and deceive you. Make you suspect your friends of being traitors and spies. He has already told you this, has he not?" She turned her eyes away.
"I may have been gone three years, but I still have eyes and ears in this Vale. Listen, this Man is extremely dangerous." Something clicked within Faorie.
"Thendryt... I think I saw him on my way to the Stables, here, in Imladris!" Thendryt turned around, bolted for her and grabbed her arms, his eyes full of hatred and fire.
He said but one word. One word that went like and arrow into her heart. In a deep, almost threatening voice, he asked;
"Where?"
She tensed, backed away from him and ran. She ran as fast as she could. Towards the Last Homely House.
