Caine glanced down towards the road, drawing one long knife. “We have company…”
Eduwiges moved to where she was partially covered by the window frame and took aim with her bow at the older man slowly ascending the hill, clearly searching. “That…isn’t that the funny little mayor? Morden or….”
Nethrida cut her off. “Ordan, Mayor Ordan. As long as he is alone, lets see what he has to say.”
Reluctantly Eduwiges lowered her bow just as Xandilif rose to stand in front of Finchley. “If he is all by his lonesome..” said the elf, “…then something has changed, and likely not for the good.“
Finchley peered down the path and noted Orden's presence and immediately frowned, one hand going to the hilt of one of her daggers, just in case while Nethrida, nursing her illness, took a deep breath and opened an eye just long enough to glance around "Maybe he was... Sent to find us... Report it back to the militia...?"
Carneryn grumbled in an annoyed fashion "Why ESLSE would the Mayor be coming out alone? This just keeps getting more stupid."
Addiela did her best to remain hidden as she glanced down to study the mayor. "He didn't strike me as the type that does things himself; more like the type that has people do it for him and one that always has another to protect him. If he's tracking us, I'd assume it's by another's skills."
Xandilif sighed. "Or the little bastard has jumped hosts again....we ain’t sure what he can do at this point.
Eduwiges stretched and yawned, almost nonchalant, 'I am sure he is up to no good, everyone on their toes.' She picked her bow back up and nocked an arrow. ”Any bets on where I hit him?”
As Eduwiges drew the bow back, Ordan gazed up, raising his voice. "Are you people up there? Nethrida? I think you must be, since this is one of the places I would go if I were you, and I already tried the ledge over the hidden cove and the northern smuggler’s cave...so likely here.''
Caine shrugged. "At this point if he keeps yelling down there we will certainly have company, or screams for that matter….so might as well let him up'
Eduwiges glanced at Xandilif. The elf nodded, and the woman reluctantly lowered her bow.
Finchley frowned even deeper and looked to the Caine. "Is that really a good idea. He wanted an innocent man hanged and assumed he was guilty and... what if Mans switched to him instead, like Lif said?"
Nethrida interrupted weakly. "I... Dont think we've got any other option. Caine is right, if he keeps shouting the others will no doubt... hear him... And... Those places he mentioned... Would've been the only other places... To quickly flee to..." she sighed and attempted to at least sit up.
Ryn helped Neth sit up and surprisingly nodded in agreement "Don't want the mob of fools back on us again... And we can't run again." she paused looking over Neth "Not with the adorable idiot so ill."
Xandilif rolled her shoulders, stepped out into view and waved, gesturing for the old man to approach. Glancing back to Finchley, she muttered “Worst comes to worst, he will be easier to kill silently close up, Babygirl.”
Reasonably sure of safe conduct, Ordan climbed the rest of the way up the hill with surprising agility. "Ahhhh, it is good to see you all well...Captain Nethrida, friends, Sir Knight.." he patted Finch on the arm. "Young fellow....."'
It was noted by all of them that the heavy gold chain of office he wore was no longer around his shoulders...and there was a somewhat battered but clearly well cared for shortsword in his belt.
Finchley immediately stepped away from the mayor, unable to disguise her distrust, and her hand still rested on the hilt of her dagger. "I take it you weren't with the crowd then? You weren't deceived too?"
Xandilif smirked softly. "Whazza matter old man, leave your chain by the swimming hole?
Ordan opened his eyes a bit wider, seeming surprised by the array of arms and mistrustful stares but not afraid…mainly amused. "Well....I must be a good deal more fearsome these days than I thought...." He chuckled. "As for the Chain, first born, I fear I have been...let us say, unelected. The council has voted, and the mob endorsed their judgment...I am no longer mayor of Linhir, I am just Ordan.” He looked around slowly. “Once, in another life, I spent a good deal of time hiding up in this tower myself. it is quite comfortable, unless it rains of course...'
Finchley shook her head. "If you were unelected then why come to us? It ain’t like we're in good with that mob at the moment." She crossed her arms and mumbled quietly, "I'm surprised you didn't agree with 'em. You were happy to assume someone was guilty before."
Nethrida blinked a few times, seeming a little suspicious. "Indeed... What brings you here...?" she inquired with a somewhat tense tone in her vice. Beside her Ryn glowered while Addie remained quiet, just listening and keeping her eyes moving between everyone
Xandilif smiled to herself, looking around the tower and then at the sword on the old man’s belt, reflecting on the nimble way he had climbed up the hill and the cool, insolent confidence in his manner. "Yeah, I had that feeling....so how did a Blood Eye cutpurse end up being the Mayor of fecking Linhir, old man?
Eduwiges stepped back a little when she heard Lif utter the words Blood Eye. Getting her muley look back on her face she dropped the bow and pulled her sword Baedu Druit from her back but left it sheathed, stepping forward towards the Mayor.
Caine silently reached out a hand and gently rested it on Edu's shoulder...."Gently, Eorl...talk first, then smash.'
Ordan for his part was keeping both hands visible."There, there Miss, I know you have no reason to believe this, but I mean you no harm....and as for what I used to be, I should have assumed I wouldn’t fool a firstborn. Yes, Ord used to be a thief and Under Boss with the Blood Eye in Pela...He took an arrow in the knee, watched the river flow past him, laid low for a year or so, and nice Mr. Ordan opened a shop in Linhir...'
Finchley looked conflicted for a moment. On one hand, who was she to judge someone for turning over a new leaf. On the other hand, he almost refused someone else that right and she had doubts that his intentions in remaking himself were rooted in any desire to do better. So, for now, she remained silent.
Addiela found the way he was speaking about himself quite odd and her brows furrowed. "I doubt that one is just able to leave that cult, sir."
Ordan smiled at Addie. "Well Miss, I know there are some that see it now as a cult, and maybe these days it is...but back then, for me at least, it was just a racket....a way to make some money with your wits if you didn’t mind a bit of stealing and strongarming and had a bit of trouble with authority....in my defense I was young and wild, and it was before those Angmarim butted in.'
Ordan returned his attention to the full company. “As for why I am here....Mayor Roric made clear I was not welcome...and besides...I wanted to bring you this..."He held out a heavy brass key.
Nethrida’s eyes remained suspicious, until she saw the key. Though she did not recognize it, it did rouse her curiosity a great deal. Addiela 's eyes meanwhile had narrowed toward Ordan since he said that he was with the Cult of the Blood Eye; if looks could kill he would have been a dead man.
Xandilif looks around at the wary gazes and nodded."Keys don’t mean much without locks.”
Eduwiges crosseed her arms and locked eyes with the former Mayor, 'Talk is cheap, did you think to bribe us for your life old man? You admitting to this blood eye cult was not very smart...'
Caine leaned forward, one hand still on Edu’s shoulder. “Whatever happens, we have some questions to ask first, Eorl. When Captain Kraddock and I spoke to you old man, when you first asked us to stay, you were...well....AFRAID of something. We let it slide then, but now I need to press the point. If you know anything more about all this, now is the time to tell us, before these lovely ladies tear you apart.'
Ordan sighed a bit and looked at Eduwiges...."Well...to answer your questions if I can remember ‘em all....first, I don't know what dealings you have had with the Blood Eye, but I left just as things began to change. I had no patience for Angmar mumbo jumbo and a lot of folks I still hold dear got chewed up by Erach and those bastards. From what I know of em, I can’t blame you for being riled up about them.'
Turning to Caine, Ordan would look even less comfortable...."Afraid, Sir Knight? Yeah...I was afraid, still am....but that is a another story...long and short, something came to this town, something I had come across a long time ago, around the time the Blood Eye joined Angmar...and it scared me down to my boots.'
Looking back to the company, Ordan smiled. “and lastly...this key....is the key to Yula's clinic.'
Finchley sort of waved her hands in front of herself as if to indicate that she would not be doing any tearing apart! But then she froze and looked to the former mayor with an uncharacteristically serious expression on her face. "Wait. Did you say Erach?"
Ordan nodded. “I did, sport. Erach of Caralium was his full name....he was the Angmar bastard who…well...did what was done.'
Carneryn scrunched up her face "What good does the key to Yula's clinic do for us? We can't really get back into town, and we already know who's done it...and who is this Erach?" she trailed of looking infuriated.
Addiela took in a deep breath to calm herself before opening her mouth to speak, “Erach of the Guild of the Unsealed, he is the one that killed Xanderian..." She then looked to Ordan. "What is it that he did? You are at our mercy now and as such, you should speak what you know."
Xandilif grew quiet and serious at the mention of Erach....but reached out to take the offered key as Eduwiges stepped up to the old man agressively, 'You best do what Addie says, and talk, talk fast. That name is cursed among us. How do you know it?'
Ordan noted the change of tone, as well as Edu muscling in on him, but would not seem overly affected...he had clearly been intimidated by professionals. "It seems you have some history with that bastard as well, eh? Well, I may not look it now, but I was a pretty fair cutpurse in my day, back when the Blood Eye was just another racket making a living on the street, same as the Pela Rats or the Golden Brothers. Gondor was putting the pressure on, and someone, don’t remember who now, suggested getting a patron, someone powerful to basically help grease the wheels and turn the heat down....and the thought of Angmar came up. They had been doing a lot to black the eyes of both Gondor and Rohan back then and that appealed to the boys.'
Ordan looked a but misty for a moment, his mind in the past. “So Sarick, the Boss of the Blood Eye ended up making a deal with this Angmar fellow, named Erach....very smooth, very...well....impressive I guess. Only thing is, almost from day one, things started getting....strange. Sarick began getting sick...like he was wasting away....and more and more of the boys started listening to Erach and his lads, instead of Sarick. Before I knew it we were passing on easy money to pursue some “plan” from Angmar.”
Finally, he had had enough, and Sarick went off to Angmar, to try and fix things...we never saw him again, at least not alive.” Ordan looked down, pausing before he could continue. “....and things just got worse from there, but by then I was gone...you want more you should find Dee, if you can, she could tell you more.'
Finchley turned her gaze towards some unspecific spot upon the ground, eyes looking somewhat haunted and glassy with all this talk of Angmar and what had happened to Xan. She blinked away her daze spared a glance in Lif's direction before returning her attention to Ordan. "... Why are you tellin' us all this? Why help us? You seemed fine with condemnin' an innocent man to hang. I... can see you have good qualities. But I can't think that you're a good person. Or that you have pure hearted intentions. It ain't somethin' that makes sense. So... why? What do you want?”
Nethrida pursed her lips in thought as she listened to Ordan speak, and then nodded at Finch "I was... About to ask the same... What do you benefit from this? Perhaps to reclaim the Mayorship of Linhir?" she inquired with a somewhat suspicious, albeit worn tone.
Addiela's coldeyed expression showed that she was just as suspicious as the others. "It is rather curious that you spoke so freely of things that would pique our interest, ex-mayor; and I find it hard to believe that it is just some coincidence or the babblings of one up in age. A good cutpurse knows that keeping his mouth shut is the most important and wouldn't want to anger these powerful people you speak of by exposing them, knowing the cost of doing so. In other words, ex-mayor, this all smells of a trap." She looked over to the key in Lif's hand.
Xandilif rubbed the key slowly...."I think I follow why you gave over the key, there is more to this healer Yula then we saw it first...but their point is good...you ain’t dumping this bag for no reason....and what was it that scared ya?
Eduwiges shouldered around Xandilif, 'Your cult killed my father and tried to kill my friend, not to mention,' she gestured to the other, 'all of us. So I suggest you cease bandying words and tell us what the feck is going on and what you are really doing here.'
Ordan shrugged, eye growing harder, no longer seeming the affable old mayor. "What this "cult" you talk of was, or did, I have no idea..like I said, that was after my time....and why I am here telling you tales of the old days is that they are part of what you are in the middle of now, and I have scores to settle. No, I am not a nice man, nor a hero....but I am not some Angmar man, and I am not partial to whatever that THING is that has taken lodgings in MY city. After 30 years I sort of think of it as mine, and before I am done, I want to know I did at least a little right by it, as much as I can.'
Finchley frowned and steps over to poke Ordan somewhat hard in the shoulder. But not too hard. He was still an old man and she couldn’t be that mean. "Hey. This city ain't yours. Never was since you pretended to be someone you weren't. So if you really care 'bout doin' right, then start now and promise on your life to be honest with us. I... don't much like makin' people promise on somethin' like that but, well..." She smiled a bit and glanced towards Edu and Addie. "I don't think they'll give you much choice. But give us what help you can and be honest and don't stab us in the back. Promise on your life."
Nethrida closed her eyes for a moment. "Indeed... You claim much, but if you turn your back against us there wont be a corner of this earth you can hide from me..."
Ordan shrugged. "I have nothing against any of you, so I have no reason to lie...the people I have things against are the ones who want all of you dead, so enemy of my enemy is my friend, no? There is an awful lot about Linhir that ain't always clear, not even to a local girl I guess. I have had no truck with Erach, or whoever that damn gnome is that I seen him with last, for these past 30 years...but one or the other is in Linhir, I can feel them.'
Carneryn slung her sword over her shoulder again "What good does knowing about this 'Erach' do for us right now? And what will we find in Yula's clinic that would matter at this point?"
Xandilif closed her hand on the key. "You miss the fact that old bat was wearing a funeral tabard when you found her, Scarface? You think Ane put her in that after she slit her open?”
Carneryn scrunched up her face "What difference does that make? Like you said, we already know what's done it."
Finchley paused for a moment and then murmured, "Wait…Why... does he have this key anyway?" she looked to Neth and whispered, "Neth, after you found Yula... you said you took her body into the officials aye? And we still never quite figured out what she was doin' down by the water that night either... Mans probably got to her first but maybe she saw somethin'. Or knew somethin'. I don't trust Ordan as far as I can throw him... Which probably isn't too far but you catch my drift."
Carneryn pinched the bridge of her nose "What more could Yula have known that we don't already? It's not like we know how to remove the bastard... What would some healer from a backwater town in Gondor know?"
Addiela shook her head, still focused on the old man, "It sounds like you view the enemy of your enemy as your ticket to reclaiming -your- city, sir. We shall not be doing this for your sake, but for the sake of the innocent that are being preyed upon by this evil. If you do care about this city as much as you say you do you should be willing to help in it liberation, even if that means that you are no longer mayor again once everything is said and done. Are you willing to risk your life for your people, sir, or are you going to throw this off on us just as you sought to throw off the judgment of this killer on the knights?"
Looking back at Addie, Ordan nearly laughed. "Liberation? That is a sucker's game if ever I heard of one. I told you, I am no hero....I just want to fix the people who turned on me good. I have no desire to be mayor again, my time is nearly done. As for what you can do with that key...all I know is Roric's new fiancé was determined that the clinic be locked up out of "respect" for the old woman, and no one go in without her leave until she had had a chance to "tidy it up". That sounded pretty suspicious to me, and I saw they had left Yula's effects on the table. So I palmed the key on my way out..nice to know the hands still remember....'
Addiela shook her head at the man, "No, you're certainly no hero.. nor are you any better than the ones you want vengeance against, sir." She sighed and looked to Ynna who moaned quietly, still not coming around. Xandilif had hit her a little too hard. "If we truly want to get into this place... using one or more as 'bait' might be enough of a distraction…”
Finchley smiled wryly and sort of slumped against the crumbling but somehow sturdy stone wall behind her. "So there's nothin' for it, is there? We've got to somehow get back into Linhir. But how? Mans probably knows our every move."
Xandilif looked at the key...."Before you go running off to see who gets to sacrifice themselves, this ain't no front door key...it is too old and worn, and too big....
Ordan wouldn’t seem bothered by Addie's barbs but smiled at Lif. "Not the front door, the secret back door. Most all of Linhir has old hidden passages down to the seashore, tunnels under the town. I imagine even your farm has a couple, Nethrida. Linhir is a town that was founded on smuggling, back in the day...I figure the key opens the coastal tunnel to Yula’s clinic, and from the look of it is has gotten plenty of use. Too much, it makes me wonder what she was up to.”
Nethrida frowned a little at the thought of her beloved home as a smuggler's haven. She did not like the idea, but there was no denying it. "The... White City is not far... Neither is Ost Anglebed... Or Ethring...Linhir is in the perfect location for…such things."
Finchley smiled a bit for a brief moment thinking of the meals at Nethrida’s farm but then turned serious again. "There is the matter of Neth..." She glanced to the guardswoman. "You're in no fit shape to go trudgin' around the seashore and down hidden passages."
Carneryn looked between Neth and the others. "Then someone has to watch Nethy and her mother…but we also have to do something. Unless I am needed I will stay."
Lif shrugged “So Trouble and Scarface stay up here picking out curtains...anyone else care to opt out of this little visit?”
Caine smirked. “I will stay as well, keep an eye on them, hopefully get word to Kraddock.”
Eduwiges nodded grimly. “I for one am ready to go invade this clinic...It is about time we stopped hiding and found some answers.”
Xandilif nodded back to her. “Lately every time we look for answers we find more questions…but lets give it a shot as soon as night falls..what could possibly go wrong?”
The company just stared at her.
The Banshee sighed. "Yeah...forget I said anything..."
