New Dawn

Chapter 5

I was also tasked in finding and eliminating any threats to you.

          In this, I have failed.

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L U M O R N E L

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     I winced, and if my body was a bowstring, I'd surely snap with tension. I held my breath, barely seeing the wooden doorknob in front of me as I listened so hard my ears hurt. Silence became deafening, the beating of my heart a drum everyone in town could hear.

          "That wanker is asking too much, ya know?" I heard the flutter of a card being laid down. The man's voice startled me, almost making me jump.

    Through the door crack, the other man—the one with his back to me—lifted his gaze away from his hand to shoot his companion a look. "You'd do best to keep your mouth shut concerning him. He's a... He's got those ears of his everywhere. Just before you joined, our best scavenger disappeared after he muttered something unpleasant about the lord."

    His companion turned his head, craning to see around the room, his big nose shining in the firelight. "I don't see no other person in here. The lady is upstairs and she ain't gonna snitch, neither is you."

    The man with his back to me shrugged. I got the instinctive feeling that that might be just what he'll do.

    Big Nose continued talking. "He's got his head in the clouds. Ain't no way we can find that mirror he wants in all of Middle-Earth. Especially when almost ev'ry household owns one.  I'd bet a months' wages on it."

    Again back-man shrugged. "He's got us men all over the continent, I heard he's even got some in Harad. Sooner or later a man will have found the mirror he's lookin' for."

    "I've heard he's got a beaut of a girl hangin' on his arm. Some say he has her wait on his every need, they're inseparable."

    Back-man snorted, picking up a card and organizing his hand further.

    "It's true!"

    "As true as my hand being a king's court."

    Big Nose paused, scanning Back Man's face. Then, he nodded to himself, deciding most definitely that Back Man did not have a hand of cards better than him.

    After a few moments filled with the sound of my roaring heart and the thwap of cards being played, Back Man spoke.

    The muscles of his nape flexed as he focused his gaze on his companion.

    "When're you scheduled to return to base camp?"

    "I'll be leaving in a day's time."

    Back Man sighed, laying down a set of cards, gathering a few dried beans, and discarded a card. "No, Gen, when are you to be there."

    Big Nose—Gen shrugged, picking up a card and looking sorely disappointed.  "In a fortnight and a week. I figure leavin' t'morrow will get me there in time."

    Back Man grunted a response, reaching down to scratch his ankle, lifting up his pant leg—but...

    He was reaching for a dagger.

    "That bow," Back Man nodded towards it, "will fetch a hefty sum, eh?"

    Absentmindedly, Gen nodded while assessing his cards. "I'd wager. And imagine the fame. Me—found Legolas Thranduilion's bow!" Gen laughed. "I'd like to see his face when he hears one of us scavengers found it!"