Arangilas gives his friend a gentle smile and looks at his tattoo again.
They both kept them hidden for most of the time with a leather bracelet.
Four triangles forming one bigger. The middle -upside-down- triangle was coloured black. Each corner of the triangles were marked by a small black circle.
“Come now friend… Let’s not dwell on these things right now. We have more important things to address, do we not?”
The man nods in agreement and fetches a small parchment from a pocket in his vest.
The little note has a triangular symbol on the top left corner – similar to the tattoos the two men bear.
He unfolds it and hands it over to Arangilas.
Arangilas gives it a long look, stroking his beard as he reads.
The list consists of a row of names and a few notes to the right of each name. Some very well known to Arangilas – Some he has never heard of before.
“Not many people here with names that rings out from the past, Gwandor vell…”
The man notices that this fact seem to trouble Arangilas.
“Alas, no… But that does not mean that the others are all lost… I have found more – even spoken to some without revealing my real name and my purpose with them. But some have adapted to other ways, other lives, and some have families now as well. We should not bother them in all this”
Arangilas nods.
“Of course…”
Arangilas reads the list all over again
“And you are absolutely certain that all of the new names here are to be trusted – and that there are no rogues and mercenaries on this list?”
The man nods silently
Arangilas gives his friend a smile of contentment as he starts to write down a few names of his own. His mind dwells on his own last words; rogues and mercenaries… no… he was definitely done with working with that type of people… And he was not about to be going down that road again.
***
By the time Arangilas had come back from the Northwind Free Company’s mercenary camp in Evendim, he had lost all touch with the man he used to be and was known as. He had lost all his integrity, his sense of justice, his love for the small things in life and nature, and worst of all… He had divorced his wife – Breaking her heart and ruining her life completely…
In his process of reinventing the Knights Of Eriador he had decided on making them grow from just being the nine – to being nine officers and as many followers as possible – to create an army… He was obsessed by the idea of them becoming a substantial force to be reckoned with on the battlefield – blinded by the thought of glory, riches, fame and power…
And they had grown… grown a lot… grown to fast…
He had let himself be caught by the curse of man… just like the story’s his father had told Arangilas as a teenager. Story’s like the one of the nine men of Númenor, three of them being "great lords" of who had been loured into following the dark lord of Mordor by the temptation of getting riches and power through a few enchanted rings… they now served him as something far worse then men…
Yes Arangilas had let himself get blinded by the possibility of riches and fame… Something he did not originally even believe in. He was not raised that way, not with values like that…
He had always put respect for all living things, honesty, honour and virtue first.
Now he was just a shadow of his former self, and the others noticed it.
Blaecwyn was the first to leave – understandingly… and then others followed her…
But Arangilas still did not see how led astray he was, and continued his work with the Northwind Free Company…
And now he had gotten another opportunity handed in his hands through Jordi…
He would just maybe…maybe finally get his revenge over his father.
Jordi was plotting to lure Mitchem out with her two sisters – also members of the mercenary company. When he would come for them – which they were sure he would – they would kill him. And they wanted Arangilas’ help with doings so. Arangilas was quick to accept.
The disloyal Gondorian Commander had done some gruesome things to his girls… and put them through torture and horror Arangilas would not even wish on his worst enemy…
They all had their good reasons for wanting their father dead… Though Jordi was the one that was obsessed by it…
Arangilas had started to see Jordi for what she truly was, but the chance of getting to her father was too big of an event to break of their contact.
He had however become very good friends with her half sister, Iduan.
Iduan was not a typical mercenary at all… in fact she hated that life…
She was a very skilled hunter – and Arangilas had several times gone on scouting missions with her – all orchestrated by the Company.
Through his talks with Iduan, Arangilas slowly and finally started to understand and see the consequences of his choices around following Jordi’s word, his collaboration with the Company, him neglecting the Knights – and last but not least – his betrayal towards Blaecwyn and his own integrity as a person.
One day Urien had called upon Arangilas to discuss some matters with him.
Arangilas could not believe his ears when he heard what the mercenary leader had planned for his followers.
He had bought the deed for a whole small town south of Bree… and they would travel there soon. He himself would become lord of this land and he would wed Jordi so she could produce an heir to his land, as he called it.
He wanted the knights to become its protectors – like a personal elite guard.
Arangilas and his knights would be given a large house to use as their headquarters, and they would be paid handsomely for their services.
Arangilas had seen this as a chance to maybe make amends when it came to the knights – and slowly start to get things back to how it used to be.
And the whole idea had been well greeted by the remaining knights.
Arangilas started to distance himself from the Company, and spend more time with his knight friends. And things very much started to go back to how it had been before all the trouble had started. He more and more felt like the man he used to be. But he was troubled…
There were too many ghosts haunting his mind when he closed his eyes… This whole ordeal had cost him dearly. And he felt so much shame towards what he had become…
Arangilas had broken almost all contact with Jordi… And she had found someone else to manipulate. Gnarbryt, the man who was destined to take over Urien’s role in the community when he would decide to finally retire. A good man, and Arangilas had a lot of respect for him. Jordi had apparently failed to give Urien an heir…
((to be continued))
