Hytorax

[Arat-Falathion]

"I thought you had this all figured already..." Glimdrell said with a sigh and stepped down from his horse. "It isn't easy to enter a fortress, a city surrounded by high walls, designed to keep unfriendlies out, -if one isn't welcomed..." A sudden change in the elfs face caught Hruads attention. The elf had gotten an half evil smile on his face, as if he had an idea.

"So you meen that we need to be welcomed in order to enter?" Hruad motioned. "Indeed yes," Glimdrell replyed. "That, or being captured..." Hruad shook his head.

"Anyway, I take on my shoulders to scout out the surroundings this night. I'll see if I can find any hints on how to get in..." Glimdrell motioned into the shadows even before anyone had time to reply or argue, and he was gone...

[Earniel]

"Mind pointing that somewhere else?" asked Tareod as he pushed the knife with one finger a little further from his face.

"What are you doing here?" demanded Imarwyn as she sheated her knife. "Do NOT tell me father changed his mind!" she warned him.

Tareod looked apologetic. "Mother became worried a few days after you left. And it's been weeks since we've heard anything about you. She litterally threatened us to go look for you."

"I've been rather busy these last few weeks, I even haven't slept in a normal bed for quite a while. It was a little hard to send any news home. Besides I also thought I had proven enough that I can take care of myself. I'm not coming back yet, you can tell her that."

Tareod made no reply but picked up the bundle that Imarwyn had dug up, he unwrapped the cloths and held a rohirrim helmet and short mail shirt. "So that's how you got by the borderguards unnoticed."

Imarwyn shrugged. "I knew mother would make father change his mind. I figured you wouldn't be able to track me any time soon if the borderguards didn't see me go to Enedwaith."

Tareod smiled. "Rágo is looking for you in as far as Gondor right now. If it wasn't for recognizing Merrah I would have simply returned home without any sign of you. I can understand why you hid this gear. But why did you come back for it now? Are you in trouble again?"

Imarwyn snorted. "I haven't been into real trouble ever since I cut the tail of your horse because you had pulled my braids. And we both know how long THAT was ago." She took the mail and helmet from Tareod and walked back the horses. Her brother followed her. "Although," she continued, "I must confess some real trouble may come up soon now. And I might need that chain mail. Speaking of trouble, have you ever heard of the Hytorax?"

Tareod frowned. "That's a fairy tale, Imarwyn."

"Fairy tales have sprung from the grass in great numbers these last years. The Hytorax is a very real fairy tale. I would tell you the full tale as far as I know it, but I must get back to Néred quickly if I wish to be of any help there before the end." She started to pack her belongings again.

"Then you can tell me underway." said Tareod decisively. "I am not going to let you go back there alone. Plus if there is going to be any trouble in Enedwaith we must learn enough about it to warn Rohan if need be."

[Arat-Falathion]

The elf motioned for the branch, clearing the sight for the gates of Néred. The elf had stealthily made his way through the planes and was now close enough to clearly discern what happened at the gates, out of distance for human sight ofcurse.

The evening was due, and the sun was on its way behind the horizon, painting the sky in a glorious red. The port was fully opened, though he guessed that it would close soon, as nightfall was at hand. Seemed like this was upon the hour of the evenings shift of gateguards, for two new guards came and replaced those that were already standing there, leaning against their spears, looking weary at the end of todays duty. One of the new guards motioned to speak, and Glimdrell strained his ears, trying to hear their conversation.

"Time to go to bed lads!" One of the new guards spoke to the stationed gateguards.

"Finally you arrive, what took you all day!" The guard staggered his support back from the spear and onto his feet. "I really don't understand the meening of guarding the gates, not even a mouse has tried to get through the gates all day, or week for that matter."

"You are absolutely right" The new guard reasoned. "But we must follow orders..." The tired guard shrugged and patted the two new guards at the shoulders as his comrade had turned to enter the gates. "You'll find it difficult to stay awake. Even with the sun stinging in my eyes, sleep found me!" The two new guards chuckled lightly as the other guard walked in the gate, catching up with his comrade.

The swift elf quickly searched over the area, quickly gathering geographical info and laying his strategy. Before the next minute had stroke, he was on the move back to the company...

[Arat-Falathion]

Glimdrell stepped into the camp, getting everyones attention as he suddenly appeared from the shadows.

"Alright, here is the deal." He said jumping onto a small boulder. "There are two guards at the gates. Not having too much to do, their awareness won't be at the extreem. I did not spot any guards on the walls eather, but I believe they are waiting us..." Hruad nodded. "Yes, we haven't used to have gateguards at this hour. They are truly awaiting us..." Talk spread out among the party.

"May I have everyone's attention again please!" The talk died away, and yet again Glimdrell had their full attention. "Alright, here is the deal. This will be a move relied on stealth, so I'm sorry to say Boulderhead and Brushbark will have to be left behind, atleast for the time being. If things really start to heat up inside the walls, I wouldn't mind for their support. But for now, I believe that our comming to the city would best be unnoticed..."

Hruad shrugged. "And how are you supposed to get the whole company past the keen eyes of the gateguards?" He said with an unbelievebal tone in his voice.

"In the moment of distraction..." Glimdrell replied simply. Glimdrell motioned for Glistenfae to stand up. "Me and Glistenfae will draw the attention of one guard each. In this moment the rest of the party will have to get inside the citywalls, so everything will have to happen fast and without failure..." Glistenfae nodded eagerly, she had been rather bored on her way back from the Barrows.

"Ok..." Hruad motioned. "It is the only plan that we have, even if it does sound hard to get through... How do you suppose we'll do our approach over the open planes before the city?"

"The sun is dissapearing behind the horizon, the eyes of men see shadows where none are in the darkness... they also tend to see nothing at places where the swift one walks. Remember what I said, the ones in charge truly awaits us, but the guards seems not to be fully informed. It doesn't seem like they are on special lookout for anything. I truly believe this will go as easily as we ever want it to..." Glimdrell smiled confidently.

"So are you with me on this or not?" Glistenfae nodded eagerly, while the rest of the company seemed a little unsure weather to go for this or not, but with time, one by one seemed to rais their hand in approval, finding no better solution."

Glimdrell nodded as the last one raised his hand. "Boulderhead and Bushbark, you two guard the camp and horses back here, and wait for any commotion before you act!" The ontor and ent nodded, though didn't seem very happy to be left behind like this. With a sudden liep Glimdrell jumped down from the boulder and started into the light vegetation, the others sprang up and followed him as best they could.

Glistenfae cought easily up with the elf on his side. "So what strategy do you have laid down for me?" She asked eagerly.

"I'll go inside the walls, right under the nose of the guards." Glistenfae nodded at Glimdrells plan. "Then I'll start a commotion in there, that will hopefully make one of the guards leave his post. The other guard will hopefully also try to see what is happening, and in this moment I want you to liep behind him and inside, then start a commotion on that opposite side of the gate and hopefully get the last guards attention and he'll walk away from his post."

Glistenfae nodded, though didn't seem confident with the plan. "And you think that this is going to work? They are not stupid orcs you know..."

Glimdrell agreed. "I can't promise it will work..."

Glistenfae giggled. "So in this moment of confusion, the rest of the party will enter the gates as swiftly as possible right?"

Glimdrell nodded. "That is my plan yes, hopefully we won't even have to paralyze the guards, leaving them with the thought that we only were a cat or a dog..."

Glistenfae chuckled. "This plan is truly risky, but you managed to sneak behind me once" The reminder stinged in Glistenfae's stomack, a certain need to hit Glimdrell found its way into her mind, but she had to resist and threw the thought away. "I believe that if you can trick the sences of an elf, then a human should be no match."

"Sorry for putting you to sleep that time, it was really in the best intention..." "BEST INTENTION?!" Glimdrell quickly motioned for her silence, they was getting close to Néred now, and the proud citywalls could be seen in the far distance. Glistenfae sent Glimdrell an unplessant grin, but Glimdrell shrugged indifferently. "We are on the same team here..." Glimdrell reminded, and Glistenfae's grin grew even wider.

Glimdrell suddenly stopped, waiting for the party to gather. "Alright, we need to go more carefully from here. The open plane towards the gates will prove the true difficulty."

[Arat-Falathion]

"Glistenfae and me will go ahead of you, I would really be more confortable if the rest of you crawled from here, if Elise could put some kind of shroud upon you that would help?" He left the desition to the sorceress and turned to Glistenfae. "Ready?"

****

Swiftly the two elves sprang over the open plane, trying to stay away from the sidevision of the guards, who were appearantly telling eachother jokes of some kind, for they laughed in turn and together and seemed to have a good time together, rather oblivious to the plane before them, representing their duty.

The sun was now creaping its last rays of light behind the horizon, leaving the open tundra to the hidious darkness of night. Glimdrell had the feeling that the gates would be closed at that time, but he crossed his fingers and kept on moving with Glistenfae right behind him.

The last few feet before they entered the shadows casted by the high walls they too crept as silently as they could. They were close enough now to faintly hear what happened inside the walls, and that was a sure sign of getting in close...

Glimdrell drew his surcoat tight around him, and truly dissapeared into the covering shadows of the walls. Even Glistenfae lost track of him. Suddenly he was upon her. "Wait at the wall for the first guard to leave..." he whispered as he once again dissapeared into the shadows.

Glistenfae sighed, but could really not do much else then what she was instructed to do. Silently she crept in beside the wall, staying firmly out of the guards sight.

****

Glimdrell moved as silently as all his cunning could produce. Silently motioning forward in a prone, his magical surcoat swept around him, merging him into the shadows. Truly this was an act that would need his full consentration and years and years of training and experience.

He reached the end of the wall, where the gate was carved into the strong bricks towering up above him. The two guards was standing under the gate, leaning on their spears, and talking about a comming event in the town. Some kind of happening to please them all. What it was all about was hard to figure, for Glimdrell came in the middle of the conversation, and it wasn't of interest to him eather.

He knew he needed a little conversion, something that would draw their attention away from his spot, even if it was only for the split of a second. He quickly searched the ground for any hard objects that he could throw into the grass ahead of him, and quickly felt the form of a perfect sized stone under his hand.

Keeping his head low he threw the stone with minimal movement, its impact into the grass on the other side of the gate cut the guards conversation in mid-sentence and they quickly turned towards the direction from which the stone had landed.

Glimdrell knew that there was no time for second judgment on his chanses of slipping through. Quickly he moved behind the closest guard and inside the gates, swiftly bringing the inside wall between himself and the guards, out of sight, a moment of safety.

"What was that?" The one guard shrugged as he turned back on his comrade. "Probably a mouse or something..." the other reasoned. "Well, the boss said we should be weary of any sound or distraction... Let's close the gates!" The other guard sighed. "I really don't think it would be nessesary to protect the city from a mouse..." The first guard shrugged again. "We are closing the gates I tell you!"

The sound of heavy doors being pulled over sand and stone, and the aching sound of rusty doors caught Glimdrells keen ears and he sighed. Ofcurse the plan couldn't go about just as he had planned, now what was he to do?

[Servant of the Dark Order]

Many miles away, a shadowy figure patrolled across the land. Wrapped in dark mists of cloth, it was spying on the machinations of one of its comrades, who was gathering up 'subjects' from a small village to use in experiments. Experiments, the shadow knew, that were already destined for failure.

Suddenly, it sensed a call from the north. More important developments were afoot. The shadow turned from its spying immediately, and flew out, across the land, towards its master...

[Lief Erikson]

"Swift isn't stupid, yes he can understand what we're saying!"

"Good," Hruad said to Adrian quietly. "Then we can make use of him. They've closed the gates up there and Glistenfae doesn't have much to do. I don't know what Glimdrell is planning now, but we can't just wait for him to do something. He made a disturbance that distracted the guards' attention. It's time that we showed what that disturbance was."

"They can't throw those spears, can they?" Adrian asked, staring at the guards fiercely. "Because if they can, I'll kill them both- after I kill you."

"I doubt that they can be any better than that Athalt's men were, and you know how easily we escaped from them."

"All right then."

She knelt down beside Swift and spoke softly in his ear. He moved forward eagerly and ran across the plain, his paws dancing lightly over the ground in the same places where the elves had ran. He reached the wall and leapt away from it into sight of the guards.

Swift instantly had their full attention and Glistenfae dashed noiselessly along beside the wall's base toward the door.

The hair on Swift's neck bristled and he snarled at the guards, snapping at them, dancing toward them and away again the instant their spears got close.

Glistenfae was standing right behind one of the guards now. Reaching out, she picked the key out of his pouch and danced back several steps over to the doorpost. The guard started to glance back in that direction, apparently barely noticing the movement, but Swift snapped at him fiercely and grabbed onto the side of his spear for a moment.

Yelling, the guard dropped the spear and drew his sword. His comrade tried to stab the wolf with his own spear, but Swift danced away again.

"Let's get some help, someone with a bow," the guard holding his sword said, turning toward the door.

"We're soldiers, surely we can take one wolf by ourselves," the other answered.

"I think our commander might want us to report this though, anyway," the other one said again. "It could be a warg scout. You know what the king ordered."

His comrade nodded and reached into his belt pouch. He felt around in it and then turned to his fellow guard. "The key is gone!"

"You must have dropped it. You only had it a moment ago . . ."

"Someone stole it from me! Someone invisible!"

The other guard stopped moving and turned, staring at his face. "You probably left it in the lock."

He walked back over to the door, but the lock was empty. Glistenfae was on the other side of the door now, with Glimdrell.

"Then we're locked out with this creature and who knows what else!" the other guard said.

The one at the door was staring at the ground, scowling to himself.

Swift leapt forward and scratched the first guard's hand. He gave a cry and stumbled back. The two guards were huddled together at the door. The wolf stepped away from them and growled menacingly.

Hruad now had his back to the wall as well, and he and the others were softly making their way toward the door. They were in the shadow of the city's wall.

"Perhaps if we shout loud enough, someone will help us," one of the guards offered.

"No need for that. Our leader will come when our watch is over."

"But what'll we do about the missing key?"

"Find it, now while we have the chance! I don't believe in invisibility, personally. You might have dropped it over there, while we were fighting the wolf."

"I suppose that's possible," the other admitted doubtingly, and they walked over toward the wolf again, picking up their spears and extending them toward it, keeping the creature at bay.

It backed up willingly, but as they turned their eyes toward the ground, snapped and darted forward.

Their attention instantly snapped up to the wolf again.

"Here, you watch the wolf while I look for the key," one of the soldiers said, getting down on his hands and knees and scouring the ground.

His comrade drew his sword and put his spear back down, turning back to the wolf. It kept in front of them, staring at them fiercely through its bright yellow eyes.

Then the door shut, and Hruad couldn't see any more of it.

"We're in."

[Sicirus]

ooc: sorry I could not post for awhile. I took the activity bus last night and ended up at home around 8;30. Lovely huh?

ic: We entered the great city while Swift danced around with his large pink toungh hanging half way out og his large mouth. Our two elves had lentered the gates as well leading us in with the key stolen from the guards who desperatly wanted to aboid becoming wolf chow.
I laughed silently to Aasar and Adrian. Yet Adrian looked worried at her beloved companion hopin the guards were as slow as expected.
We headed off into the city towards the doors of the castle leading us to the king. But then we knew our challenge would be getting into the great fortress without being arrested.

ooc:Ok were are we going in the city???????

[Arat-Falathion]

Glimdrell and Glistenfae suddenly heard a click in the gatedoor's lock. They waited... The possability for this to be the guards was bigger then that it would be the company, Glimdrell knew. Silently he made up his mind. If this indeed were the guards, he would take them out and get the key. Slowly he bent around the corner, trying to get a glimps of the opener of the door, and he sighed out in relief. The company had slid through!

"From here we must really be carefull with every step, we do not want to attrackt any attention..." He smiled at the others. Indeed had they proven sufficient to him now, after they had tricked the guards. His belief in their ability to fulfill this quest was growing, and they advanced towards the castle...

[Mathron]

Aasinav smiled. "This goes easy indeed. I wonder if the king, or the sorcerer behind him, realizes how badly guarded they are?"

[Lief Erikson]

"Are you suggesting that this might be a trap?" Hruad asked, looking at the scholar piercingly.

[Mathron]

Aasinav shrugged. "We should keep our eyes open, to be sure. But I was simply making mention of how poor the defenses seem. Although it is possible that the sorcerer's attention is engaged elsewhere... I could not say."

[Arat-Falathion]

"So you meen to say the guards at the gate were only acting stupid? That they actually let us in on purpose?" Glimdrell said with a doubtfull eye at Aasinav. "You indeed say they already know of our presence here?"

[Lief Erikson]

"He's suggesting it," Hruad said, glancing at Glimdrell. "There is a chance, and we already know that someone was spying on our camp at the Barrow Downs."

"But they took the Hytorax out and didn't keep it."

"Good point," Hruad said. He turned his eyes to the street before them. "There's little we can do about it though; our mission lies ahead. We'll have to be careful, though, particularly if the defenses at the citadel are as weak as they were here. The sorcerer should be on his guard by now."

"Do you think it would be possible for us to storm the citadel?" Brilindil asked.

"They'd increase security around the king at once, and it's the king we want to reach. Perhaps we should wait till morning before making an attempt to get into the citadel, for then more people will be moving in and out with their various petitions.

"You and I know the citadel, Bril, and there are ways in. Particularly if I can get Dolais' help."

"Who's Dolais?" Aasinav asked curiously.

"A representative a region. He has been my friend for several years, so I think I can safely approach him. And through him we will probably gain entry."

[Tessar]

"Probably?" Elise said with a slight arch of her eyebrow.

"If it's only 'probably' then I believe we should find another way. I would rather not dwell on what will happen to us if the sorcerer catches up with us or is lead to us."

She was tired, perhaps she was being too cynical, but this sorcerer was extremely powerful. It would take both her and Aasanave's full strength to repel him, and that was assuming that Aasinav was not in league with the sorcerer. There, she was being far too cynical now. She would simply have to trust him.

[Arat-Falathion]

"Good point!" Glimdrell nodded to Elise. "Though I believe we are caught in a net here, quickly tightening around us... The more we delay, the harder our cause will be to acompish! I believe this connector may be our only way to get in contact with the king. I could always go ahead and spy out the area if need be?" Glimdrell cocked an asking eye at Hruad.

[Mathron]

"I don't see," says Aasinav, "That we have much choice. Unless you plan on simply charging in to a direct confrontation with the sorcerer, straight through all of the castle's soldiers?"

He raises an eyebrow, glancing at Elise.

[Arat-Falathion]

"I do not believe any of us sees that as a possible route, Aasinav." Glimdrell shot quickly in.

He knew that such a confrontation, man to man, eye to eye, would keep him mostly out of the combat. He preferred to go unnoticed, silent his victims before they realised the terror unleashed upon them. This would be made hard in such a confrontation.

[Sicirus]

ic: I watched as the the tall people discussed the plans of entrance and how a trick could have possibly have been set for us tgo fail.
What about us?' I asked Elise.
"Are we to help too?" Adrian and Aasaniv nodded behind me.

[Arat-Falathion]

"Fear not little one. I am sure you will get your share of the final adventure in this quest." Glimdrell smiled at the hobbit who so eagerly tried to become part of the important discussion that took place.

"So let us call it settled and planed then?" Glimdrell looked askingly on Hruad. "With the first light of dawn we'll contact Dolais, your friend, and from there we'll just have to see what happens..." Glimdrell giggled, indeed he liked this exiting feeling of the unknown. Would Dolais help them, or would he betray them? Indeed it was a walk on the edge, but still the safest aproach to the citadel.

"Now, let us blend into the shadows for the rest of the night and get some rest! Agreed?" Glimdrell shot an eye at his companions. It wasn't that long since they had camped outside the city, he knew. Though they would need all the rest they could get before the cunning approach for the comming day. The day of the Hytorax and the day Néred once again should rise above the shadows that now klinged so tight about the city.

Glimdrell felt confident. They would not fail! He felt a light rush of adrenaline through his veins as he thought of the danger they were going into, and he smiled...