Of Wraiths and Kings, and Friends and Rings (Calling All Nazgul)

[Serenoli]

Two men sat in a smoky corner of the Red Herring, playing cards. Thats not uncommon... but Mrs. Miggin, the landlady did not approve of them at all, because they were both hooded and cloaked. Her inn was supposed to be respectable... folk that were ashamed of how they looked like should of tried the Rotten Cod, where they would have been considered strange if they hadn't been hooded and cloaked! And the King was there, too, what would he think? But Mrs. Miggins had no idea how to be politely strict to customers. So she just served their drinks and went about her way.

Completely oblivious of the occasional glares sent their way by her, Tolvadok and the Dwarf went on playing. They both had their own reasons for hiding their faces... for Tolvadok it was become a habit, and as for the Dwarf, he had seen too many lands not to know of the prejudice of people against dwarves... And somwhow this desire to remain incognito had served as a bond between the two, and although they had hardly spoken a word to each other, they had spent the last two hours together... playing and drinking in silence.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tolvadok watched Valandil sitting moodily at his table. He resisted the urge to probe the king's mind, find out what worried him. The Morgul Lord had warned him that the king's mind was not totally unprepared for such an assault. He turned his thoughts instead on the Elf- Mahtaliel, and shuddered at the thought that her filthy hands had grasped his neck. If he didn't hate water more than Elves, he would have been bathing in copious amounts of soap and water, to get the Elvish stench off.

The Dwarf (whose name was Ragin Darkave, but Tolvadok didn't know that) played his card- The King. Tolvadok smiled grimly, and played his- The Usurper. He knew he had the Dwarf stymied. There were only two other cards that could have deafeated his, and they were both in his hands... The Three Good Witches, and The Rebel.

He left Ragin to scratch his head over it, and wondered how successful he had been with Mahtaliel. He knew he had rather bungled the job... she was a sharp old lady, all right, and though he hadn't tried mind-reading any more, any mortal could have told she was slightly suspicious of him all the same.

The inn-door opened to let in Lily and Buz. They didn't notice him, but went straight on to Valandil. He could see Lily bowing to the King, and the King going red, and he remembered all at once the first time he had seen her when she arrived at Mordor. He had been very young, then... in years as well as in looks, and Lily had had a lot of fun making him blush at every possible oppurtunity. He wondered if Valandil would be getting the full treatment... that would be worth watching!

In a fit of inspiration, Ragin played The Fool. When Tolvadok arched his eyebrows at him, Ragin hastily said... "Well, haven't you heard of any stories where its the faithful Fool who saves the kingdom from the evil Usurper? I could tell you dozens!"

It was that which clinched it for the Dwarf. Tolvadok was by nature a warrior, and listening to a dwarf telling him fairy tales of a Fool and a Usurper with the occasional witches thrown in, was not his cup of tea. Besides, he was now too busy watching the three Elves at whom Valandil was waving, and enjoying the shocked expression on Lily's face. She had certainly not bargained for Elves when she set out to allure the King!

"All right, you win this round. Lets play another, shall we?" he told Ragin.The dwarf nodded, and began dealing. Tolvadok took a long sip of the white wine before him... he didn't like drinking much, but it seemed strange to be in an inn and not drink anything... and watched the curious mixture of men, elves and nazgul. He liked watching people... he didn't mind even Elves much from the distance... he just hated joining in, himself.