Arkadhur, secret meeting with
Ademar
A Guest room,
@Rillewen
“
A most effective distraction,”
Arkadhur agreed, pushing his tongue into his cheek idly, as his unexpected ally busily envisaged obtaining his prize. But as
Ademar readied himself to conclude their negotiations,
Arkadhur watched the Gondorian from the intrigue of hooded lids. It had not taken much. The nefarious Twin did not even seem sure that his target was actually in the city, but still he was prepared to go to such trouble, risking his participation in a gaol break that might just crack his only mask, all in a hope of flushing out his prize. All just in case she was come here. What am I missing, the master of disguises wondered.
Mar had asked to be on duty during the week of the fayre … There must be something of the fayre then that he knew might draw his quarry here, and now .. maybe she would try to meet somebody at that fayre, maybe to sell something …
Arkadhur was growing far more intrigued in the other man’s affairs than he had ever expected to. And it was making his head hurt with how much he knew not. Distraction indeed ! It began though to occur to him that, for all of his boast and swagger, clearly
Ademar was possibly in as much of a quandary as he was himself. And for all that, perhaps he need not fret so for the reach of a duplicitous Gondorian, who could not even obtain one small girl …
Quite all that he had accomplished, while still a young boy, flashed through the Umbarian’s mind, and he blinked away the hasty dismissal. It would be unwise to underestimate anybody. And certainly such a scorpion as ‘the Smirk man’ over there.
Arkadhur considered his options in a musing silence, even as he was served the rather expected jibe about the dungeons. There was no delusion there, that getting in would be substantially easier than getting back out. What research he had done into the matter had revealed only one previous jailbreak out of Minas Tirith. Some sort of ghost queen, if the stories were true, in the days when the city was still licking it’s wounds after the war. And that had landed in a mass amount of corpses and fierce vows from the Tower Guard that it never should occur again ! Without help, there was no way that
Arkadhur could ever hope to pull off such a bold move right under the noses of the Tower Guard. It was dangerous even with such an assist. For not least of all was the chance that
Ademar might still betray him, to bolster his own favour with their mutual employer. For another, this might in fact be the other brother, feigning some act of his own to trap an Enemy who had no place else to hide ..
There were too many details which the other man was clearly too obsessed with the endgoal to bother with, and that of all things was what troubled
Arkadhur the most. The Umbarian was all about the details. And even if he could trust that
Mar would do his part, the Gondorian had suggested such dismissive attention to so many potentially significant matters. Had he even considered what this amazingly astounding little girl who knew that
Mar was after her, would do when she saw that Guard’s face at the gate ?! She’d have to rely on some other convenient means, perhaps, of being snuck past the gate rather than risk confronting him. That might just bear some further thinking about for a start ..
Maybe
Ademar could smooth things out with the
House of Halsad, if this all went the right way ? The surprising suggestion was .. enough to drag the man out of his own derisive debates. Well
Mar could not be any use to him at all, if this great debacle went pear shaped. And he still wasn’t sure whether he trusted the man, or if it was safe to not …
“
Why thank you sir, to you, and once again,” the maid smiled, and bobbed a curtsey before inching in around the silk-tongued Tower Guard.
Abruptly dismissed from any further time he might have of his ‘friend’,
Arkadhur bowed his head out of deference before the unofficial ‘official’. “
Yes. I will be in touch,” he promised, and watched that other leave before he allowed a release of breath.
“
You really are doing an excellent job,” the Umbarian told the maid then, even as he sank back down onto the bed she wanted to make neat.
Ademar may not have concerns that exceeded his one focused obsession, but his ‘friend’ liked to keep his options far more open.
“
Sir,” she protested, with an undermining giggle. “
We all do what we can do. Sir.”
“
Lowendir” the liar corrected her, running one hand down his wispy false beard as he rose. The young woman was almost his match in height, which surprised but did not deter him. “
And what is your name ?”
“
Why, I am Roselly” the maid turned her long face to a side, and glanced him up and down in return. “
Roselly Korsey” she curtsied again, and giggled.
“
Good to know,” was the response.
Arkadhur made past her, and then halted, as she made to catch him. For a moment they two stood far closer than their never knowing one another might state wise. “
I wonder,” the Man caught her brown eyes as they fluttered, and raised her gaze back to meet his own. “
Do you think you could help me with something, Roselly ?”
“
People call me Rose, really,” she nodded.
Unfurling the wanted poster, the Umbarian raised it, slowly, so she might properly observe it. “
Lots of people come in here, and lots of people share their words in secret. Don’t they Rose ..?”
She supposed so, but stepped back now, rather disappointed that he did not seem to be flirting with her after all. She did not fancy the look of him in the slightest, she’d already decided, having had the opportunity now to consider the whole of his appearance. Still, she did not dislike to be complimented, and flirting was always a kindness .. A shrug was all he got, for changing the anticipated subject toward one with less intrigue. To her.
“
You’d tell me if you saw this .. person .. wouldn’t you ?” he pressed.
“
Well I don't know,” another shrug. She was as dismissive as
Ademar, this girl, not interested in things which might turn out to be important. He would have to make sure she remembered ..
“
And you are Roselly, you said ?” he made to clarify, and she raised a hand.
“
Rose” they said together. Her, ever so slightly less enthused now.
“
I’ll make sure to remember that,”
Arkadhur assured her. “
You’ll remember me, won’t you, Rose ?”
“
You’re Lowendir” she managed to recollect, and barely veil the process of swallowing her unease. He smiled, slowly, and approving.
“
That’s right. Good girl,” the compliment was no longer invited. But it made a brief attendance all the same. “
A truly… excellent … job,”
Arkadhur removed himself of the scene, and the need to entertain himself around people for a while. He had a lot to do and little time to achieve it. Still, what was it the girl had said .. ‘we all do what we can do.’
He knew what he could do.
Roselly watched the strange man leave, the fingers of one hand clutching at the unbuttoned collar of her throat. The bed and it’s required neatness forgotten. As ‘
Lowendir’ rounded the corner and properly disappeared, the young woman released a breath she hadn’t been aware that she’d been holding.
“
Good girl,” she snorted, brandishing her duster at the window now that it was entirely safe to do so. Which was when it came into her mind. Girl .. Hmm She had maybe seen someone who looked something like that, with a flash of red hair... Sneaking into the great library ? Oh she could not recall now quite when. But she would not be telling that strange man anything about it, that she was assured of. She maybe should not have told him her name, but then .. how could she have known where their conversation would head off ? And what could that little detail matter, really, in the grand scheme of things ?
(This particular piece of RP shall be continued in the Dungeon thread and also in the Northern Fiefdoms thread
)