Don't miss the previous chapter (not that anything important happened in it :P) I'm not sure if the notification email was sent out for it. I didn't get one.
Love xx
Katya
Algun walked into the courtyard, followed by a courtier carrying her saddle-bags. She could see stable squires fussing around eight ponies prepared for their company. Four Dwarves from the Erebor Guard stood aside, discussing something quietly. Neither the King, nor the girl were in the yard yet. Algun looked around and saw Ein half sitting, half lying on a bench by the wall, his bag under his shoulders and his head. His eyes were closed, his body relaxed. The pipe hanging off his lip was unlit. Algun decisively approached him.
"Good morning," she announced haughtily.
She immediately heard how unpleasant her voice sounded. She searched her mind, wondering the reason for her annoyance with the Dwarf - and couldn't find any. And yet, she didn't seem to be able to shake it off.
He opened one eye and grinned at her lopsidedly, biting into his pipe.
"Morning, Mistress Algun," he said and sat up with a groan. He stretched his arms up and arched his back. "It seems I'd come too early, and our other companions are late."
"Perhaps, they've overslept," she said venomously.
Ein picked up his pipe and looked down into the bowl, seemingly ignoring her words. Algun pressed her lips. She was fighting the temptation to hint to him how blind he was in his infatuation with the scap of the girl.
She heard the guards and the squires greet the King who entered the yard. His manservant Nyr walked after him with the King's bags. Algun couldn't help but admire the King's appearance: he wore a heavy, fur collared cloak in the traditional dark blue, over his coat and his brigandine of the same colour. All his travelling gear seemed rather untried, and it wasn't of Algun's making. His famed sword, Orcrist the Goblin Cleaver, was clasped to his back. He greeted the warriors and then turned to Algun and Ein.
"Good morning, my lord," Ein said, lighting up his pipe. "Although it seems, it's not so good to some of us."
The King raised one eyebrow questioningly, and Algun threw Ein an irritated side glance. He was clearly hinting on her disgruntled attitude. If only he knew!
"Where's Master Eorwyn, Nyr?" the King asked his manservant.
Algun sharply turned away and marched to her pony. She'd rather he didn't try so hard to keep up the pretence he didn't know where his doxy was!
"Master Eorwyn and the squire with her bags should be down any moment, my lord," she heard the screechy voice of the manservant.
Ein asked the King something quietly, but Algun wasn't listening. She turned her attention to the squire helping her with her sacks.
A few minutes later the bookkeeper finally joined them.
"Birdie, you're here!" Ein hollered, and a few Dwarves in the yard threw him surprised looks.
Algun wanted to peek and see how the King reacted to such liberties from the rake, but she willed herself to continue fixing the clasps on her saddle. She was Algun from the Clan of the Blacklock! She was above such things!
"I have a gift for you, mighty warrior!" Ein continued his frolics, and Algun couldn't help it anymore.
She looked over her shoulder and saw Ein pull out a peculiar weapon out of his saddle sheath. It was a long - for a Dwarf - but seemingly light war scythe. It had a relatively slender handle and a curved blade on its end. The King and the guards stepped closer, curiosity on their faces.
"It's a Mugr Zikikrathkh," Ein explained and twirled the weapon in one hand. The blade drew a double loop above his head. "The Bearclaw. It weighs little, it has leverage, and it has range. Perfect for a quick but light fighter."
The handle lay in the girls outstretched hand.
"I don't— It is such an exquisite weapon, and—" the girl of course started mumbling.
Algun gritted her teeth, and then Ein leaned to the girl's ear and whispered something. Her cheeks flushed with bright blush, and Algun saw her throw a quick look at the King. And then she nodded and stepped back.
"You'll have to teach me then," the girl said. "I know nothing of such weapon. Or any weapon, to think of it..."
"You managed to strike me yesterday at the Grounds," the King said with a chuckle.
"But that wasn't—" the girl started, only to be interrupted by Ein.
"My nose still hasn't healed either," he said and pointed the index finger of his gloved left hand at his long nose. "And you were unarmed!"
The lassy emitted a ridiculous giggle, and Algun had just about enough of this double extolling of the undeserving harlot.
"Well, time's wasting," the King announced, and everyone started moving.
After the bags were strapped to the saddles, and a short discussion of the order of the ponies in the procession was out of the way, Ein suddenly asked the bookkeeper, his eyes twinkling, "So, Master Eorwyn, whom are you choosing as your riding companion then?"
Algun gawked at the Dwarf in confusion.
"Since we all know you can't ride," he intonated pointedly, and the girl once again blushed furiously.
"You can't ride a pony?" the King asked.
She shook her head shyly. Algun scoffed and swiftly mounted her pony. The guards were in their saddles already, watching the conversation with curiosity.
"I think I should have the honour," Ein sing-songed. "Being the lighter Dwarf," he said with a cheeky grin. "Since I'm about fifty years younger and… more agile."
"You yielded in a fight with me, lord Ein. Your agility hasn't been confirmed," the King answered.
Algun couldn't believe her ears! They argued over the girl, like two younglings who knew no dignity! She knew Ein had a mischievous streak, and he clearly was flaunting his talents to impress the wench - but the King? Why was he playing into this preposterous farce?!
"Perhaps, we can draw straws..." Ein tapped his finger to his chin feigning pensiveness.
"Shouldn't I be the one—" the girl started in an uncertain tone, and suddenly the King wrapped his hands around her waist and flopped her into his saddle sideways.
She emitted a pathetic squeak, flailed her arms, and awkwardly started shifting, trying to throw one leg over the pony's back. The animal threw her a look that seemed appropriately sarcastic to the irritated Algun.
"Here we go," the King threw to Ein, who responded with a boisterous burst of laughter.
The King pushed his foot into the stirrup and easily flung his large body onto the saddle.
"Hurry up, master swordsman," he said. "You don't want to be left behind."
Another bout of gleeful laughter was Ein's answer.
The squires handed the warriors their weapons. The Bearclaw and the girl's bow travelled into the King's saddle sheath. Her pony was tied to the saddle of one of the guards, who rode at the end. Ein was in the head of the formation.
Algun's position was between two guards, behind the King. One of them was somewhat familiar to her: he was her assistant's distant relation. They struck a conversation outside the Erebor Gates, and she almost forgot her aggravation when she heard the girl's laughter.
Algun didn't want to but took a gander. The hussy was leaning back, pressed into the King, and he was whispering something into her ear. They surely made no attempt to hide how informal their relationship was, Algun thought and gritted her teeth. Even when she, a Dwarf and an heir to an old and noble bloodline, was his official betrothed, she had never behaved thusly! Had he lost his mind?! She saw the guard near her gape at the love-birds, and Algun cut her eyes at them.
Their path lay East, to Mirkwood and through the woods, where they were intending to take the Old Forest Road. It was said that the Elves had worked hard on clearing and renovating the road, and it was somewhat fitting for a small company to travel by. Then, they were to proceed to the Old Ford, where the Old Forest Road crossed the River Anduin, about forty miles downriver from the Carrock. It was decided that their company would avoid any dwellings of Men as it was unknown whether either of the members still carried the flux that had afflicted the Lonely Mountain and how the bodies of Men would react to it.
They intended to ask for assistance from the Elves, nonetheless. It seemed like the most prudent way to cross the woods. Algun spurred her pony and approached the King and his… baggage.
"My lord," she asked, purposefully avoiding looking at the girl. "Has it been decided who is going to approach the Elven camp?"
"That would be Master Eorwyn and lord Ein," the King answered.
From the corner of her eye Algun could see the girl shift and look at the King over her shoulder.
"They both had recovered from the ailment, while no one else had endured it," he added.
"I didn't know lord Ein had been sick," Algun grumbled.
The two of them had spent the evening of the day before yesterday together. He'd stopped by her shop, and they discussed some minor details of the preparations for the women's arrival. He had seemed well, as chatty as usual, and had left her shop after a light supper they'd shared. He lived alone, she knew. He didn't even have a manservant, having never gotten used to having someone 'brush his boots,' as he always said with a merry laugh. There would be no one to take care of him when he was afflicted.
"Besides, the Elves know Master Eorwyn," the King said with a chuckle. "What was that ridiculous name they've given you, Master Eorwyn?" he addressed the bookkeeper, and the difference in his tone scraped at Algun's hearing. There was so much flirtatious tenderness in his baritone when he spoke to that yellow belly!
"Dinessel," she answered meekly. "It means 'a silent girl.'"
"They clearly didn't know you well, Master Eorwyn," the King rumbled cheekily. "You're quite talkative when you want to be."
She threw him another of her sheepish looks but said nothing. His eyebrows jumped up, as if to ask her why she wasn't talkative now. Algun understood, though. The girl was probably mortified by Algun's discovery the previous night - and rightfully so. She should be ashamed, and feeling unworthy, and… know her place, Algun thought angrily.
Algun gave the King a quick nod and fell back into her place in the procession. Her mood was dark.
