I ask myself how did I end up in a cell in the middle of Bree-Land. Well before you can learn that you need to know who I was. My name is Leroidir and i was a man of Gondor, not just a man but a captain. I was a leader of men and a weapon against the darkness to the east. So how on middle earth did a Captain of Gondor end up so far from home. Well thats where we start, at home...
It starts with a city, but not just any city, the white city of Minas Tirith. This towering city comprised of five levels was full of life and prosperity it was the heart of Gondor and the shining beacon that gave men hope as they held back the growing darkness. I was not lucky enough to be born like most into a family or some royal bloodline, I was in fact an orphan. I have no memory of my parents nor a memory of how I ended up in the white city. The only home that i would come to know would be the streets of Minas Tirith. Life was not easy for me, I had to survive through tough winters and even tougher days of hunger and thirst but I did what i had to. I fought to surive, I fought for the clothes on my back and I fought for any food i could get in my stomach. the one thing i was always good at was fighting.
I kept fighting until I was old enough to enlist, the only way out of the streets was into the ranks of Gondors Army. They needed every able bodied man to fight against the east so they had to take me regardless of my background. This life of a soldier suited me. it allowed me to survive and it seemed that fate had something planned for me. I fought for many winters beside battle hardened men and new starters like I use to be. I had seem them fall in battle and I had buried many friends. But fate seemed to protect me throughout all the battles and all the dark times.
As winters passed and I kept fighting I had grew a name for myself within the ranks of men with a small company of men eager to follow me into battle. I had earned their trust throughout the winters as i had put myself in harms way to save them from a bitter end. These acts of bravery became noticed as rumours spread and a high honour was bestowed upon me, an honour i thought closed to the likes of me, a position as a Captain. I became a Captain of Gondor, sworn to protect every man, woman and child in the lands of Gondor from evil.
I continued my fight as a captain for a few more winters before I had seen enough of my brothers fall to the axe or sword that I realised that this was not a war we were going to win alone. There was only one person to talk to with these kinds of matters and that was the Steward of Gondor. A man well above my rank but it had to be done. After securing an audience with him I pleaded for him to allow me and my men to go out a request help from the other realms around us. The Steward saw this as weakness and threatened banishment for me and my men for these treasonous words. I could not let him banish my men, they had been through enough and did not deserve to lose their homes. I took the full punishment instead, I was banished from Minas Tirith, upon pain of death if i were to return for supposed treason for just wanting to ask for help.
The next winter was a downward spiral. Sent from the graces of the Gondorian Army I was branded a coward and a deserter. This made life very difficult to be in Gondor so I fled the land and made my way north west. Far away from anywhere that would even recognise a man of Gondor. To survive I did the only thing i was good at, fighting. I became a sellsword moving from place to place following the money. Being a sellsword was not ideal but it kept me alive or atleast I thought it would. I soon found that within the mercenary bands they did not look too kindly on sellswords that killed their own. even as a sellsword my values had not changed i was still sworn to protect, I might not be in Gondor but i would protect every man, woman and child from evil. It was this that was my undoing.
Little did I know that a bounty had been growing on my head due to my capabilities of dispatching mercenaries who threatened the lives of my employers. The led to my last night as a free man. On the side of a road I made camp for the night not knowing what had followed me there. Instead of facing me like real men they attacked during my slumber, catching me off guard with overwhelming numbers. surprisingly though I may have been battered and bruised but i was not killed, it seemed that fate wanted me alive. after waking from my half dead state I found myself inside this cell.
