Delioron stood quietly before Guard-captain Egelferth, who stared back at his cold, gray eyes in grim silence.
”I have been told that you are a scholar from Gondor”, Egelferth said after a while. ”A historian. A historian who has been sitting alone in this barren ruin all winter long doing excavations.”
”Studying history is slow work”, Delioron replied.
Egelferth looked around the ruins and found no signs of excavations or surveying of any kind.
”Everything about you is very mysterious, master Delirion, or whatever your name is.”
”I hate being mysterious.”
”Every fortnight you come to Walstow to buy more supplies. You spend a night as Hubyrt’s guest, eat at his table, sleep in his barn and pay handsomely for his hospitality with Gondorian coin. You started a relationship with Hubyrt’s daughter, Mildrith, and undoubtedly paid handsomely for her hospitality as well.”
”Are you a peeping Tom, Captain?”
”Come off it! You murdered her, you cold-hearted bastard!”
”What?”
”You butchered her like a deer! You left her body in a meadow north of Walstow!”
”And when did I do that?”
”You know when you killed her, you sick, evil beast, you homicidal maniac!” Egelferth clenched his fists. The veins on the back of his neck bulged. His eyes turned expressionless and hot like sapphires in the desert sun.
Delioron did not even flinch. He did not express his emotions in any way. Mildrith had warmed him and reminded him of the time before all the death and cold and gray, but she was gone now. There was nothing he could have done differently to change the outcome.
”So I killed Mildrith and then I came back here to wait for you in peace, even though I well know that everyone in Walstow has seen her with a man of Gondor named Delioron. A man who has been camping in the ruins of Amon Hen through the winter.”
Gradually Egelferth regained his balance, but kept his fists clenched. ”You are not what you seem”, he finally said.
”Nothing is.”
”Why would a scholar carry a sword?”
”It’s dangerous out here in the wilderness. You have already told me how dangerous it can be in Rohan.”
”I think I will put you under arrest and bring you back to Walstow”, Egelferth graveled. ”I have ways to refresh your memory.”
”You are a brave man coming here alone to arrest me if you think I’m a desperate homicidal maniac with a sword. Don’t you have the guards of Walstow at your beck and call? Why didn’t you take them with you? Or are they hiding in the bushes nearby?”
”It’s all just a game to you, isn’t it?” Egelferth looked suddenly very sad and very tired. ”A young woman has been murdered in a brutal, cruel manner. Cut open. Can you understand, master Delirion, that only a short while back she was a living, real person, and now she is dead? She walked, she breathed, she talked, she laughed, she had dreams and…” He fell silent and stared at Delioron. ”And there you stand and death is familiar to you, isn’t it? I can see it in your eyes. You are a killer, master Delirion, and you reek of death.”
”What are you going to do?”
Egelferth turned his back on Delioron, walked over to his highbred chestnut steed and mounted it with astonishing agility for such a large, burly man.
”Nothing”, he said. ”I will do nothing to you.”
Now Delioron startled for the first time. He had expected anything but this. ”What? What do you mean?”
”I believe that you did not kill Mildrith”, Egelferth said, looking down upon Delioron from his saddle. ”In fact we found some evidence to suggest that the perpetrator was an orc. But make no mistake, even though you are playing games here, I am not. I know that you’re not what you pretend to be. We have not had trouble with orcs in this part of Rohan for years. Is it a coincidence then that a spy is sent here from Minas Tirith and suddenly we have orcs running around in the countryside, killing young ladies of Walstow? And you, master Delirion, know more about it than you are willing to share. This is not the way to treat an ally!”
Egelferth kicked the sides of his horse, and the animal started walking towards the gate. ”I have no authority to banish you from Rohan, master Delirion, but you are not welcome to Walstow anymore, so you have to get your supplies somewhere else. Or better yet, go back home! As we speak, a messenger from Walstow is on his way to Edoras with a fast horse to tell King Théoden what has happened in Walstow. And Théoden will, without a doubt, send an official delegation to Minas Tirith to formally protest to your Steward Denethor for sending spies to Rohan, a loyal ally and friend to Gondor for many centuries. So as you can see, master Delirion, you are fast outstaying your welcome in our fair kingdom!”
Egelferth touched his helm with a gloved hand and rode out of the gate.
