The Last Ring-bearer - Kirill Yeskov [143]
Score one for me, Tangorn thought, else why did you volunteer an explanation right away? Maybe these Elves aren't as perceptive as rumor has it. Aloud he said: "I just wanted to ensure that you are, indeed, Elandar: you mentioned the name Linóel, and that's what I was looking for. Very primitive, of course, but…" he smiled a slightly bashful smile, "actually, could you please remove your half-mask?"
"As you wish."
Yes, his interlocutor was undoubtedly an Elf: he had vertical rather than round pupils, like those of a cat or a snake; one could also ask to take a look at the tips of his ears, hidden under the hairdo, but there was no real need. You've made it to your goal, knight. Through the mossy forests and churning rivers, through treacherous bogs and snowy peaks did the noble knight struggle, until the magic ball led him to the Uggun Gorge, with burned slag for ground, bile flowing in the streams, and no grass. There did the Dragon abide in his lair under the granite boulders… Actually, as long as we're in the ancient ballad mode, let's be frank: rather than the noble knight, you're his tricky armor bearer whose only task is to steal up to the entrance to the lair, throw some poison bait inside and run away immediately. It will be up to Haladdin to battle the great worm once he emerges, but the doctor will only have a chance if the monster gobbles the poison bait first: the well-sealed package you had retrieved two hours ago from the Seamen Bank safe where it had spent all this time together with the mithril coat and some other stuff. Sure, this is hardly knightly behavior, but our task is to rid the world of the dragon, rather than to make it into children's books.
"You're satisfied, I hope?" the Elf broke the prolonged silence. Scorn shone in the depth of his eyes like a pair of bluish swamp gas flames.
"I suppose so. I don't know Elandar personally, but the verbal description seems to match." That was pure bluff, but it seemed to have gone over smoothly; in any case there were no more ways to check. "Should you not be who you say you are, now is the best time to drop out, believe me. The thing is that the information I'm about to entrust to you may cost some of Lórien's higher-ups their heads, so they will most likely hunt its keeper as vigorously as Aragorn's men are hunting me. Clofoel Eornis' son will be able to handle it appropriately while, importantly, staying alive, unlike any lower-placed Elf. It's a well-known axiom that dangerous information is destroyed together with its carriers; I'm sure you understand what learning what one is not supposed to know, even accidentally, means…" With those words Tangorn glanced meaningfully towards the exit Algali had used.
"Yes, you're right," the other man nodded calmly, having followed Tangorn's glance. "I am, indeed, Elandar, while you, Baron, since you know Lady Eornis' internal title, do indeed know how Lórien works. But I'm afraid that you're overestimating my rank in the hierarchy."
"Not at all. You're to play the same role as I am – that of an intermediary. The information, as you've probably guessed, is meant for your mother. Moreover, I have reasons to believe that clofoel Eornis is not the ultimate addressee, either."
"Ah so?.." Elandar drawled thoughtfully. "So Faramir did manage to obtain proof that certain parties in Lórien have indeed befriended Aragorn and are about to use the Reunited Kingdom as a trump in their game against Lady Galadriel… Is the Prince of Ithilien hoping that she will return the throne of Minas Tirith to him as a reward?"
"I repeat – I'm just an intermediary, I'm not empowered to name any names. Why, does something in this scheme seem unlikely to you?"
"Theoretically it's quite plausible… maybe too plausible. It's just that – no offense – I don't trust you personally even a little bit, Baron. There's way too much noise about your person. Aragorn's people do seem to be hunting you, but you're suspiciously lucky, first at the Seahorse, then at that Castamir puddle.