Chapter two – Old friends, old memories

Thoron moved swiftly in the shadows of a black alley, in a small town, lost somewhere in Middle Earth. He had nothing to fear or nothing to hide from, but old habits are hard to die and some of them were quite nasty habits. He took the hood of his cloak off, uncovering his head, with his pitch black hair cascading over his shoulders. He entered a pub, the pub he went to night after night, ever since he settled there, a couple of years after he left the Silver Cloak guild. Fifteen years had passed since… since… Thoron shook his head, as if it would make those thoughts go away, as if it would make the pain go away, wondering why he had remembered that now, after so much time

He made his way deeper into the sleazy place. Everywhere he could see drunken men sleeping on tables, drunken men playing cards, drunks taunting each other, drunks falling to the ground, their red cheeks signalling a long night of alcohol. That's why he liked that place; everyone was so drunk that no one really noticed him. He could have his drink in peace. Or at least it was what he called that. No one from his past came there to bother him and that was enough for him. Again he shook his head. Why was he thinking so much about the past?

He sat at the counter and soon after the waitress came to him. He looked at her and examined her once again, as he always did. She had long, blond hair, caught in a pony-tail. Her face was round, and her cheeks were of a pale pink that contrasted with her soft, white skin. Her smile was so honest and so soothing to Thoron that he always wanted to see it. She looked out of place there, in a place full of bums and worthless drunks, but she owned the place and although she was rather skinny, everyone respected her and she ran that place with an iron fist that always had impressed Thoron.

"I was beginning to think you would never come. You have become part of the furniture here, a night without you seems somewhat hollow." The waitress teased, as she cleaned the bit of the counter in front of Thoron.

"How would I miss a chance to see that smile of yours again?" replied Thoron jokingly, gazing at her with his brown eyes.

"A charmer, as always! Will it be the usual?" The waitress didn't wait for an answer and instead took a bottle from behind the counter and poured some wine to a glass. As she gave the glass to Thoron, she continued. "You know, I still hope to see you finally settle down, get married."

Thoron smiled, as he lifted the glass and looked at the wine in it, taking a sip of it before answering. He closed his eyes and tasted the fine wine and as the liquid streamed down it gave him a feeling of freshness. That bottle was there only for him, only he drank that wine in the pub, it was a way for the waitress to thank him for some services he did some years back, when he had to get the pub rid of some annoying "guests".

"Have I said something wrong? You smiled, but I could tell it had sadness hidden behind it…"

Thoron looked calmly to her friend. It was amazing how she knew him so well, but instead of telling her what troubled him, he decide to play it cool.

"Nah… It most certainly isn't your fault." He smiled and shrugged his shoulder. "It seems my thoughts always drifting away today. But… you know me far too well, dear friend. Settling down is not for me." He paused for a brief moment and continued with a glow of mischief in his eyes. "Besides, I'm still waiting for you to change your mind about us!"

Rìn started laughing, the thought of she and Thoron together was so amusing she was always laughed very hard when he mentioned it. "Keep your horses out on the rain, and they will catch a cold! You don't…" She stopped suddenly and the laughing face was quickly replaced by a blank look, emotionless. Thoron frowned, knowing that look very well, and followed it.

Two large figures stood still at the pub door. They were both very tall and very muscular, wearing weather-beaten cloaks –that appeared to have been black a long time ago. The one on the right had long, raven-black hair and a beard of the same colour. On his left eye he had a big diagonal scar, partially covered by an eye-patch. The other man, the one on the left, was slightly smaller than his companion. He was much older than first one, but in no way did he seem weaker than the first one, in fact he looked like a mountain of muscles. He had greyish hair, with lock of golden hair falling to the left side of his head, and had no facial hair, but had instead, various scars, some small others bigger, although none was as big as the scar on the one-eyed man's face.

They searched the place with their eyes, until they focused their look on the counter. A pair of brown eyes was focused on them, and they smiled as they had found were they were looking for. As the beast-like men slowly and calmly walked towards Thoron, he turned to the counter again and drank the wine that was still in his glass, and at the same time he moved his hand to his belt, feeling better knowing his dagger was with him.

"These are bad news… Be careful…" whispered Rìn as she kept looking to the two advancing goons. The two large men sat at the counter, one on each side of Thoron. As they sat down, they were fiercely staring at Rìn and she stared back, her face showing little emotion.

"Don't you have something to clean, cutie?" asked the man with the eye patch, as he mischievously smiled at Rìn. Her face was still blank, but Thoron knew better as he saw the fury building up in her eyes and prayed to all the Valar that she would keep her temper and mind her own business. As what seemed to Thoron to be an eternity passed, the prayer seemed to have reached Valinor, because when Thoron thought she was losing it, Rìn simply smiled and asked if they wanted anything to drink.

"Two mugs of ale, please." Said the older goon with an oddly soft voice. Then there was silence. Thoron said nothing and neither did the two goons as Rìn quietly served the drinks the men had asked for. As soon as the mugs were placed in front of the two bullies, the harsh voice of the eye-patched man sounded again.

"Now beat it, we want privacy!" He patted Thoron's shoulder and laughed a bit. "We have some business to attend with our friend here."

"As you wish…" the sounds barely came out of her mouth, the fury in her face now more than evident to the untrained eye. As she walked away, she looked at Thoron, this time with concern in her eyes.

"That girl is fire! I bet she's tasty." said the man with the eye-patch with a snicker.

"Watch your tongue, Aldhèn!" Thoron said furiously as he faced the man at his left. "You might get burned." He added, this time more calmly, but still firmly. A wide grin appeared on Aldhèn's face as Thoron threatened him.

"Oh, you like her, heh? You always had a good a taste with women. I am eager to get my hands on her and taste those pretty lips." Aldhèn looked at Rìn again, licking his own lips as if he hadn't eaten for years and was contemplating a fine, warm meal.

"You were warned... You don't want to lose the eye you have left, do you?" Thoron said as he looked straight at Aldhèn's face. "I took one from you once, I can easily do it again!" There was no trace of a starving smile on Aldhèn's face now, only sheer rage. He ground his teeth as he moved his face closer to Thoron's and with a furious voice he said:

"Why don't you give it your best shot, little man?" Without even thinking, Thoron reached for his dagger and with lightning reflexes aimed it at the man's throat. But his arm suddenly stopped, a few inches away from giving Aldhèn a wide grin on his throat. The older man's hand was holding Thoron's arm with impressive strength, not looking at the two furious men sitting next to him, but concentrating on his mug.

"Sit tight and cut it out, Aldhèn!" The man said with a commanding voice and the other man hesitated but chose to obey, still piercing Thoron with his good eye. The older man now turned to Thoron, who was still furiously looking at the one-eyed man and still had his arm tightly held, and continued. "And you, sheathe that dagger! We came to talk, not to fight." Thoron slowly put his dagger back on his belt as his arm was released and took several deep breathes, as if the oxygen had the power to cool him off.

After some moments, and now calmer, he turned around and faced the older man. "Toman… it's good to see you old friend. I regret to say the quality of the people you walk with has diminished. You had better company in the old days." Thoron said, giving Aldhèn a quick look. "But something tells me all the trouble you had in finding me was not simply to catch up on the past. Am I right?"

Toman laughed, patting Thoron's shoulder, and drank the ale from the mug he was holding. "Those were definitely the golden days, weren't they? There will never be a team as good as the two of us…" he suddenly stopped and dropped the smiling face, now looking seriously to his old friend. "But things change, and yes, you are right. I have come here to take care of business, not to chat about old times." He paused and took another sip of his ale and stared for some moments before continuing. "You have done a great job ate covering up your trace… You've walked far, and we went to great lengths to find you…"

"Yeah… I always knew it was folly of my part to assume no one would find me here and that I'd be left alone. I'm surprise, to be honest, that you haven't come after me sooner… Tell me what business brought you so far, so you can depart as soon as possible!"

The big man hesitated for a moment. It was strange to see his friend again in those circumstances. But alas, he had is order and the sooner he completed his task, the better it would be. "What I have to say, you won't like to hear, but… you are to come with us. The boss has a job for you."

Thoron shook his head in disbelief. "I don't believe you've came all the way here to tell me that! You know very well, and so does she, that I no longer work for her. My time is over and I retired from that life, and you know why I did it." He got up from his chair and turned to the door, prepared to leave.

"The boss doesn't take "no" for an answer. You know that well, too well I would say. Besides, the only way out is death, and you seem pretty alive to me!"

"Humpf" was the only sound that came from Thoron's mouth as he walked towards the pub door. Toman got up, deciding to go after him, and as Aldhèn got up as well Toman stopped him.

"You sit there and don't move. I'll handle this myself!" he said in his commanding voice. Aldhèn stopped and looked furiously at Toman, but knowing better than go against his demands, he sat, ground his teeth again and looked savagely at the door that Thoron was passing through. Toman walked after Thoron and added to his mate: "And don't you dare to touch that girl."

Toman exited the pub and looked around. He found his old friend walking back and forth, shaking his head in anger and outrage, and stood there quietly watching.

"Cow! Who in Eru's name does she think she is?" Thoron was desperate. It was as if the nightmare was happening all over again. The pain, the suffering, the fear of falling asleep, knowing that the weak chains of sanity would be loose and the demons walked freely on his head… NO! This time he wouldn't let that foul women control his actions and his life. All that he tried to put behind, the friends, the enemies… the memories, it all came back in full force to haunt him.

He stopped his senseless pacing and faced Toman. He too was remembering the past. He shook his head as he realised that once again he had to return and tell The Boss that Thoron wasn't going to act according to the plan. "Don't make the same mistakes of the past." He advised his friend. "Be smart, think!"

"I am thinking. I am thinking that if that selfish cow doesn't want to hear my "no" from you, take me to her and I'll tell her right to her face. A BIG AND ROUND NO!" Thoron turned his back to the old warrior and walked into the shadows. "It was good to see you, old friend…" he added as he blended into the city's darkness.

Toman found himself all alone in the desert street. He shook his head in disbelief. "Stubborn fool." he thought, as he walked into the pub again