It was clear to me that the title of my last post attracted little attention, and since I wanted to continue the story, I will create this new post!
It was hard work being an outlaw. All the running, stealing, fighting, drinking, sleeping and flirting with pretty maids takes up a lot of time in a decent man's day. Especially when those God-Forsaken Dunedain come sniffing up your trail for pilfering the pockets of some rich noble. To be honest he kind of deserved it though.
The forest was deep and green. The leaves rustled above like a sarcastic round of applause as the two men vaulted over boulders and leaped around twisting, mottled roots. Behind them were the valiant guardians in green, the Dunedain. After the realm of Arnor fell, they decided to become a form of vigilante police force, roaming middle earth, punishing wrong-doers.One of the men dived to the side as an arrow glided through the air and landed with a loud Thunk in the tree, inches from his head. Suddenly the forest dropped off into a steep, sharp precipice. The first man leaped through the veil of leaves around him and slid down the muddy side of the ravine, and out of sight. The second man followed suit swiftly, and the Dunedain came to a halt at the edge of the pit, peering over the edge for a sign of their quarry.
Below an unassuming boulder, lying at the bottom of the pit, slumped the two men. One whispered the other. 'Tight fit Ducat?' The taller of the two men, Ducat, shifted uncomfortably. He had long, brown hair, and a face that could have belonged to a king, had it not been grimy and scratched after months of hard travel. He was well over 6 feet tall, and was surprisingly strong despite his skinny build.One his back rested a simple longbow, with a quiver full of arrows, and a rusting iron short sword hung at his belt. 'Not all of us are blessed with a perfect example of the human form such as yours, Frederick.' Frederick, (Or Freddy) was shorter than his companion, and shared his slender build. He did not however, share his royal looks. Although not an ugly man, he was not the equal of Ducat in looks. He also bore a bow and short sword. Both the men wore a simple raiment of green and brown to hide against the mud and leaves. Outlaws always need to hide.
The dunedain quickly tired and left. What was a few coppers from a rich noble, when they could be out hunting orcs? Ducat heard them trudging away, and carefully made his way out from beneath the boulder. 'Come out Freddy, it's clear.' Freddy climbed out after him, and the two men brushed themselves off. 'It's a long walk to the nearest town, shall we head out.' 'No better time than the present.' The lonely pair began again the slog through the woods. After a few hours of tiring hiking, Freddy suddenly put a hand on Ducats chest. 'Ducat, you hear that?' Ducat stopped to listen, and heard the noise of something moving through the forest, too big to be an animal. He smelt something too, almost like a marsh. 'It can't be-' '-Orcs!' The pair drew their bows and slunk into the bushes after their fresh prey.
The orcs came into view moments later. They too were stalking some unseen quarry. 'What could they be after?' 'There!' Freddy pointed out a flash of blue, shining cloth between the branches and leaves. A woman emerged from the trees, garbed in a beautiful flowing, blue dress. The orcs were ready to pounce to, axes raised. 'On 3 Freddy, 1-' '2' '3!' They both launched arrows into the bush the orcs crouched in, and with a thud the two corpses fell into the road in front of the woman. She screamed and fell back. Ducat quickly ran out to help her, with Freddy following close behind. 'Hello my lady!' Ducat introduced himself with a deep, sweeping bow. The woman climbed to her feet. Up close Ducat could see that she was indeed pretty, with piercing blue eyes and long, auburn hair. She looked quite unimpressed with the pair. 'You're wrong, I am no lady, just the daughter of the local priest.' Oh great Ducat thought to himself, Another elf-worshipping religious nut. Even so he continued his courtesy. 'You are certainly beautiful enough to be a princess.' Freddy chipped in from behind. 'And such a princess will need a handsome king to court her.' 'And you two would know of such a lordly man?' 'My lady' Freddy replied. 'May I present to you, Ducat, king of the forests, speaker to birds, lord of the leaves!'
'More like king of the mud!' The woman snorted and walked on. Ducat and Freddy fell in behind her. 'Where are you going to my Lady?' 'Out into the forest to collect herbs.' 'Perhaps you could use some noble guards such as us-' '-The wood is a dangerous place, as you have seen!' 'I don't think so.' 'Why so cruel my Lady? We have only sought to defend your royal highness!' The woman looked up and Ducat felt her eyes drilling into him. 'Very well, I suppose you may be of some assistance, you see, my father may have a job for you. Just follow me back to the village and he will explain our proposition.''Any task completed in your name-' '-is a noble task indeed!'
Soon the woman had picked her herbs and they were heading back to the village. The village was surprisingly large and well decorated. Flowers hung from buildings, and lamps were lit around the streets. 'My father's house is through here.' The woman gestured to Ducat and Freddy to enter a large, grand building. The door opened with a creek and they stepped inside. A man stepped forward to greet them. He had the same piercing eyes as the woman, but his hair was grey, and he wore the flowing blue robes of a priest. 'Ah!' He croaked. 'My daughter found some suitable men for my task! Sit down, let me discuss my proposition with you.' Ducal and Freddy took seats by the priests roaring fire, and settled down to listen. 'There have been some strange rumours around my church, concerning the management and order of the faith. Strange orders have come down the line, instructing us to do things I would not consider, priestly.' Ducal and Freddy leaned in closer. 'Things like: Collect a church tax of one gold piece from each churchgoer, instruct your village guard to punish anyone caught not practising the faith or attending church on Sundays, very strange things indeed!' 'What do you want us to do about it?' 'I wan't you to go the the faiths headquarters in middle earth, and find out whats going on. You will be payed handsomely for your trouble. When you have found out, return to me and collect your reward!' Freddy was incredulous. 'Thats in Lothlorien! It would be madness trying to sneak in there!' The women looked up at them with her big, blue eyes. 'You say you are nights of the forest. Surely it can't be such a problem sneaking into a forest?
'I can't believe we took that job.' Freddy complained as they sat in the back to the cart, that lurched and bumped beneath them. 'You could never deny a woman could you?' 'We need cash Freddy, don't question my judgement just because it happens to be a beautiful lady giving us that cash.' Freddy sat in a moody silence for about three hours before he fell asleep. It would a long journey to the borders of lothlorien, nearly 3 days ride. Ducat was beginning to regret taking the job.
New bit starts here!
Ducat definitely regretted taking the job. His buttocks were numb from the ride, and he could still feel the carts lurching when he lay down and closed his eyes. He stumbled off the cart, trying the get his stiff legs moving again. Freddy hobbled down behind him. 'What do you say to a bind of ale?' Asked Ducat as they wandered towards the centre of the village. 'Nothing could be finer right now!' Freddy responded enthusiastically. Soon they were sat down in the tavern, sipping at their foaming mugs. 'You been thinking about how we're gonna get in to that damned wood?' 'No.' "Well I have. I though maybe we could steal some priest robes from the local church, and go in disguised as priests!' 'How are we gonna steal priest robes?' 'You talk to the priest, distract him, and I'll nick the robes!' 'Ok, I'll role with this.' 'Lets finnish our ale, and then we'll head out.'
Ducat was halfway though his mug, and he and Freddy had started discussing what they knew about the golden wood. 'I've heard they've got archers in their trees, and they never miss a shot.' 'Really, well I heard-' Freddy was interrupted as a dwarf, with a long, tangled brown beard sat down at their table. He was wearing a long red coat, and had a chain shirt below that. Ducat and Freddy were momentarily dazed at this new-commer, who had seemingly invited himself to their conversation. The dwarf leaned in, and in a gruff voice spoke: 'Heard you talking about busting into the Golden wood.' 'Um, yes we were.' Ducat was confused at this interruption. 'Think an old dwarf like me could tag along? I can fight if that's what your here for.' Freddy was first to respond. 'Well, I'm sure we'd love you to accompany us! Some Dwarven Muscle is just what we need on this venture!' 'That's good to hear, so whats our first step?'
Ducat and Freddy hurriedly explained their plan to the dwarf, who introduced himself as Dwundin. 'Well then, lets get started!' They trio strode out of the tavern trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. Whistling as they slowly made their way to the church, walking in seemingly aimless paths to detract attention from themselves. Freddy entered the church first. The priest was adjusting the alter at the front of the church. His white, gold robes shimmered in the sunlight. 'Father!' Freddy called to the old man. 'Ah! Hello young man! Are you here to learn of the truth of Eru?' 'Actually I'm looking find dome information about something.' 'Oh yes, go on.' 'Is it true that you've been receiving strange requests from the golden wood recently, like, tax the churchgoers, things like that.' 'Yes that is true how did you know?' 'What I want to know father is, has anything else been requested? Other odd things?' 'Why now that you mention it, there was something.' The priest rummaged in his deep pockets until he pulled out a piece of parchment. 'They told us the recruit boys into the church order to become monks and priests.' 'Whats so strange about that?' 'You see, the odd thing is that they have requested that they all look like this man.' The priest held up the parchment, to show Freddy the image it bore. To Freddy, it resembled Ducat a lot. 'Do you know who that is young man?' 'I must confess I don't father.' 'That's the ancient hero, Isildur.'
Ducat had snuck into the priests quarters behind the pulpit, whilst the priest was distracted. He tip-toed around, rummaging in chests, draws and cupboards. He found nothing until he came to a great, oak wardrobe. 'Got it!' He murmured as he slowly opened the doors. Just as he had expected, two pairs of white and gold, shining robes hung in pristine condition. He took them town from their hangers, and made his way out of the room. He saw that Freddy was still talking to the priest, and the priest was showing him some kind of picture, but how was he going to get out of the church without him seeing? He decided to try and hide behind the pews.
Freddy had kept the priest talking for a long time, now he was going on about apple shortages. Was Ducat nearly done? Suddenly he saw the priest crane his neck to get a better look at something. 'Hmm? Whats that?' Freddy saw the glint of the golden robes, and Ducat's hair obvious behind the pew. Suddenly the reality of the situation dawned on the priest.'Stop! Thief!' Ducat got to his feet and sprinted for the door. Freddy spun on his heel and followed quickly. As they hurtled from the scene of the crime, the priest hobbles into the street. 'Stop them!' He cried to two nearby Dunedain, who quickly followed in pursuit. Ducat and Freddy were fast, but the Dunedain were faster. Freddy could feel their breath on his neck, when suddenly he heard a great roar of: 'Baruk Khazad!' And heard the Dunedain collapse in a heap, complaining loudly. Freddy looked over his shoulder to wee Dwundin get to his feet and dust himself off. He quickly followed them as the group disappeared around a corner, leaving the Dunedain behind them.
Cool Stuff happens next time! Tell me if you liked!
It was hard work being an outlaw. All the running, stealing, fighting, drinking, sleeping and flirting with pretty maids takes up a lot of time in a decent man's day. Especially when those God-Forsaken Dunedain come sniffing up your trail for pilfering the pockets of some rich noble. To be honest he kind of deserved it though.
The forest was deep and green. The leaves rustled above like a sarcastic round of applause as the two men vaulted over boulders and leaped around twisting, mottled roots. Behind them were the valiant guardians in green, the Dunedain. After the realm of Arnor fell, they decided to become a form of vigilante police force, roaming middle earth, punishing wrong-doers.One of the men dived to the side as an arrow glided through the air and landed with a loud Thunk in the tree, inches from his head. Suddenly the forest dropped off into a steep, sharp precipice. The first man leaped through the veil of leaves around him and slid down the muddy side of the ravine, and out of sight. The second man followed suit swiftly, and the Dunedain came to a halt at the edge of the pit, peering over the edge for a sign of their quarry.
Below an unassuming boulder, lying at the bottom of the pit, slumped the two men. One whispered the other. 'Tight fit Ducat?' The taller of the two men, Ducat, shifted uncomfortably. He had long, brown hair, and a face that could have belonged to a king, had it not been grimy and scratched after months of hard travel. He was well over 6 feet tall, and was surprisingly strong despite his skinny build.One his back rested a simple longbow, with a quiver full of arrows, and a rusting iron short sword hung at his belt. 'Not all of us are blessed with a perfect example of the human form such as yours, Frederick.' Frederick, (Or Freddy) was shorter than his companion, and shared his slender build. He did not however, share his royal looks. Although not an ugly man, he was not the equal of Ducat in looks. He also bore a bow and short sword. Both the men wore a simple raiment of green and brown to hide against the mud and leaves. Outlaws always need to hide.
The dunedain quickly tired and left. What was a few coppers from a rich noble, when they could be out hunting orcs? Ducat heard them trudging away, and carefully made his way out from beneath the boulder. 'Come out Freddy, it's clear.' Freddy climbed out after him, and the two men brushed themselves off. 'It's a long walk to the nearest town, shall we head out.' 'No better time than the present.' The lonely pair began again the slog through the woods. After a few hours of tiring hiking, Freddy suddenly put a hand on Ducats chest. 'Ducat, you hear that?' Ducat stopped to listen, and heard the noise of something moving through the forest, too big to be an animal. He smelt something too, almost like a marsh. 'It can't be-' '-Orcs!' The pair drew their bows and slunk into the bushes after their fresh prey.
The orcs came into view moments later. They too were stalking some unseen quarry. 'What could they be after?' 'There!' Freddy pointed out a flash of blue, shining cloth between the branches and leaves. A woman emerged from the trees, garbed in a beautiful flowing, blue dress. The orcs were ready to pounce to, axes raised. 'On 3 Freddy, 1-' '2' '3!' They both launched arrows into the bush the orcs crouched in, and with a thud the two corpses fell into the road in front of the woman. She screamed and fell back. Ducat quickly ran out to help her, with Freddy following close behind. 'Hello my lady!' Ducat introduced himself with a deep, sweeping bow. The woman climbed to her feet. Up close Ducat could see that she was indeed pretty, with piercing blue eyes and long, auburn hair. She looked quite unimpressed with the pair. 'You're wrong, I am no lady, just the daughter of the local priest.' Oh great Ducat thought to himself, Another elf-worshipping religious nut. Even so he continued his courtesy. 'You are certainly beautiful enough to be a princess.' Freddy chipped in from behind. 'And such a princess will need a handsome king to court her.' 'And you two would know of such a lordly man?' 'My lady' Freddy replied. 'May I present to you, Ducat, king of the forests, speaker to birds, lord of the leaves!'
'More like king of the mud!' The woman snorted and walked on. Ducat and Freddy fell in behind her. 'Where are you going to my Lady?' 'Out into the forest to collect herbs.' 'Perhaps you could use some noble guards such as us-' '-The wood is a dangerous place, as you have seen!' 'I don't think so.' 'Why so cruel my Lady? We have only sought to defend your royal highness!' The woman looked up and Ducat felt her eyes drilling into him. 'Very well, I suppose you may be of some assistance, you see, my father may have a job for you. Just follow me back to the village and he will explain our proposition.''Any task completed in your name-' '-is a noble task indeed!'
Soon the woman had picked her herbs and they were heading back to the village. The village was surprisingly large and well decorated. Flowers hung from buildings, and lamps were lit around the streets. 'My father's house is through here.' The woman gestured to Ducat and Freddy to enter a large, grand building. The door opened with a creek and they stepped inside. A man stepped forward to greet them. He had the same piercing eyes as the woman, but his hair was grey, and he wore the flowing blue robes of a priest. 'Ah!' He croaked. 'My daughter found some suitable men for my task! Sit down, let me discuss my proposition with you.' Ducal and Freddy took seats by the priests roaring fire, and settled down to listen. 'There have been some strange rumours around my church, concerning the management and order of the faith. Strange orders have come down the line, instructing us to do things I would not consider, priestly.' Ducal and Freddy leaned in closer. 'Things like: Collect a church tax of one gold piece from each churchgoer, instruct your village guard to punish anyone caught not practising the faith or attending church on Sundays, very strange things indeed!' 'What do you want us to do about it?' 'I wan't you to go the the faiths headquarters in middle earth, and find out whats going on. You will be payed handsomely for your trouble. When you have found out, return to me and collect your reward!' Freddy was incredulous. 'Thats in Lothlorien! It would be madness trying to sneak in there!' The women looked up at them with her big, blue eyes. 'You say you are nights of the forest. Surely it can't be such a problem sneaking into a forest?
'I can't believe we took that job.' Freddy complained as they sat in the back to the cart, that lurched and bumped beneath them. 'You could never deny a woman could you?' 'We need cash Freddy, don't question my judgement just because it happens to be a beautiful lady giving us that cash.' Freddy sat in a moody silence for about three hours before he fell asleep. It would a long journey to the borders of lothlorien, nearly 3 days ride. Ducat was beginning to regret taking the job.
New bit starts here!
Ducat definitely regretted taking the job. His buttocks were numb from the ride, and he could still feel the carts lurching when he lay down and closed his eyes. He stumbled off the cart, trying the get his stiff legs moving again. Freddy hobbled down behind him. 'What do you say to a bind of ale?' Asked Ducat as they wandered towards the centre of the village. 'Nothing could be finer right now!' Freddy responded enthusiastically. Soon they were sat down in the tavern, sipping at their foaming mugs. 'You been thinking about how we're gonna get in to that damned wood?' 'No.' "Well I have. I though maybe we could steal some priest robes from the local church, and go in disguised as priests!' 'How are we gonna steal priest robes?' 'You talk to the priest, distract him, and I'll nick the robes!' 'Ok, I'll role with this.' 'Lets finnish our ale, and then we'll head out.'
Ducat was halfway though his mug, and he and Freddy had started discussing what they knew about the golden wood. 'I've heard they've got archers in their trees, and they never miss a shot.' 'Really, well I heard-' Freddy was interrupted as a dwarf, with a long, tangled brown beard sat down at their table. He was wearing a long red coat, and had a chain shirt below that. Ducat and Freddy were momentarily dazed at this new-commer, who had seemingly invited himself to their conversation. The dwarf leaned in, and in a gruff voice spoke: 'Heard you talking about busting into the Golden wood.' 'Um, yes we were.' Ducat was confused at this interruption. 'Think an old dwarf like me could tag along? I can fight if that's what your here for.' Freddy was first to respond. 'Well, I'm sure we'd love you to accompany us! Some Dwarven Muscle is just what we need on this venture!' 'That's good to hear, so whats our first step?'
Ducat and Freddy hurriedly explained their plan to the dwarf, who introduced himself as Dwundin. 'Well then, lets get started!' They trio strode out of the tavern trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. Whistling as they slowly made their way to the church, walking in seemingly aimless paths to detract attention from themselves. Freddy entered the church first. The priest was adjusting the alter at the front of the church. His white, gold robes shimmered in the sunlight. 'Father!' Freddy called to the old man. 'Ah! Hello young man! Are you here to learn of the truth of Eru?' 'Actually I'm looking find dome information about something.' 'Oh yes, go on.' 'Is it true that you've been receiving strange requests from the golden wood recently, like, tax the churchgoers, things like that.' 'Yes that is true how did you know?' 'What I want to know father is, has anything else been requested? Other odd things?' 'Why now that you mention it, there was something.' The priest rummaged in his deep pockets until he pulled out a piece of parchment. 'They told us the recruit boys into the church order to become monks and priests.' 'Whats so strange about that?' 'You see, the odd thing is that they have requested that they all look like this man.' The priest held up the parchment, to show Freddy the image it bore. To Freddy, it resembled Ducat a lot. 'Do you know who that is young man?' 'I must confess I don't father.' 'That's the ancient hero, Isildur.'
Ducat had snuck into the priests quarters behind the pulpit, whilst the priest was distracted. He tip-toed around, rummaging in chests, draws and cupboards. He found nothing until he came to a great, oak wardrobe. 'Got it!' He murmured as he slowly opened the doors. Just as he had expected, two pairs of white and gold, shining robes hung in pristine condition. He took them town from their hangers, and made his way out of the room. He saw that Freddy was still talking to the priest, and the priest was showing him some kind of picture, but how was he going to get out of the church without him seeing? He decided to try and hide behind the pews.
Freddy had kept the priest talking for a long time, now he was going on about apple shortages. Was Ducat nearly done? Suddenly he saw the priest crane his neck to get a better look at something. 'Hmm? Whats that?' Freddy saw the glint of the golden robes, and Ducat's hair obvious behind the pew. Suddenly the reality of the situation dawned on the priest.'Stop! Thief!' Ducat got to his feet and sprinted for the door. Freddy spun on his heel and followed quickly. As they hurtled from the scene of the crime, the priest hobbles into the street. 'Stop them!' He cried to two nearby Dunedain, who quickly followed in pursuit. Ducat and Freddy were fast, but the Dunedain were faster. Freddy could feel their breath on his neck, when suddenly he heard a great roar of: 'Baruk Khazad!' And heard the Dunedain collapse in a heap, complaining loudly. Freddy looked over his shoulder to wee Dwundin get to his feet and dust himself off. He quickly followed them as the group disappeared around a corner, leaving the Dunedain behind them.
Cool Stuff happens next time! Tell me if you liked!
