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Fili and Harandir stood back from the camp. "You tell a fine tale, Ranger," he said, "but for all that you have offered to aid us, you have said little that we can use on our journey and much that has upset at least one in our company."

"I will counsel you on hill and vale, if that is what you desire. But what I have told, although it may not be of use to you, it will be useful to at least one in your company." He looked back toward the camp at Betta, and then very pointedly at Fili. "It is said that the love of dwarves is only for gold and jewels and the work of their own hands. I wonder, is there anything else that your race values beyond treasure?"

"We value our kin, and our honor," Fili said.

"And is that all?"

Fili's hand fell to his axe. "Speak plainly," he demanded. "What do you imply?"

"The northern lands are deadly. There are more than orcs that come down from the mountains and the sorcery of the Witch-king did not die with him. I would not bother to instruct a hearty dwarf in such petty danger, but your company is not made only of dwarves."

"You speak as if you expect some reward for seeing what is clear to all who have eyes. I tell you, speak plainly! You believe that my brother and I would put our guide in danger."

"You are all in danger here where you stand," Harandir told him. "I had hoped to accept Anbeth's decision on this matter. She seems to trust to your honor, but now I know better. Speak plainly to me. Tell me, will you guard her as you would one of your own kin? Why should I trust a dwarf to protect a woman of Gondor when with his own words he says that he cares only for other dwarves? She has already been injured under your watch, though you have tried to hide this fact from me. If you cannot swear that you will guard this woman, then I will not allow you to take her into the north with you. She will return with me to safe lands, and I will guard her better."

Fili scowled. He very nearly drew his axe to cut the man off at the knees, but his brother's words were still in his ears, and he held back his hand. He was about to answer in anger, but he realized what Harandir had admitted, and he burst out laughing instead.

"So! Betta has already refused to go with you, and you have decided to play your tricks elsewhere! Well, I would like to see you try to force her to do anything that she does not wish to do. She is as stubborn as any dwarf-woman," he said.

"As to her injury, that was a danger of her own making, and done by the same orcs that you failed to capture before they crossed Evendim. It was my brother and I who nursed her wounds and have cared for her since then. But if that does not satisfy you, then I tell you that my brother and I will protect her as well as we are able and as well as we would protect another dwarf in our company. To do more than that, I cannot promise, for the land to the north is dangerous as you say and none of us will be safe there.

Harandir's frown deepened and he did not look satisfied, but Fili was not finished.

"If that is still not enough for you," he added as he smiled and bowed and pointed back to their camp, "then do what you feel you must do. Tell Betta that you demand for her to follow you in any direction. I have argued with her often enough to know the folly of it. But it would be great fun to watch another man try."

Harandir's frown turned to a scowl. "And what if I should remind her that she herself has said that she would offer her life to me if I told her the history of this land?" he said. "After the tale I told, you know that she will not be eager to break any oath once made."

Fili's humor left him and this time he did draw his axe. "That oath was not rightly sworn. Even had it been, her words were that she would offer up her life after the quest is over." He hefted the axe in his hands. "But this is my oath, Ranger: If you or any man would try to hold those words against her, then you will see how far a dwarf's honor extends when his company is threatened."

Harandir's hand went to his sword, but it was tied and he did not draw. He knew that Fili was right and no true oath had been sworn. He did not know Betta as well as her dwarf companions, but he guessed that Fili was right there as well, and that this contest was over. At least the dwarf's anger proved his promise was true and that he would protect Betta faithfully. Harandir bowed and put up his hands. Fili put his axe away.

They returned to the camp, and Betta looked up as if she expected to see one or both of them bleeding. Fili nodded to his brother, and Kili was glad that Fili's temper had not gotten the better of him. Both man and dwarf, though scowling, were still breathing.

"Now we must finally part," Harandir said. "As to your path from here, you need not take the winding road any longer. Two days north is a great standing stone beside the remnants of a road that once was used for trade along the feet of Angmar before the Witch-king came. He widened it and used it to march his armies south and west, but the standing stones were there before him and they themselves are not evil.

"The road is mostly broken and in many places lost to growing things. It travels west almost to the southern edge of the Icebay of Forochel, although that end is much decayed. But a man that journeys east upon the road will in five days' time come to the Wall of Angmar, the boundary of this land. If you have survived long enough to reach it, then you will be roughly twelve leagues from the fortress of Carn Dum, and may the Valar keep you safe from that black city."

Harandir took up his bow and untied his sword. "I leave you with this last warning: should you reach the Wall of Angmar, do not pass over it. As cold and cruel as the northern lands will be, once you depart from Arnor and enter that unholy place, the wind turns deadly cold and hope fails even the strongest heart. The air is bitter and full of ghosts."

"What harm is there in ghosts," Kili said lightly, but his face was troubled.

You know your own council. I have said only that which I have heard, for not even Harandir has wandered so far."

"Thank you," Betta said. "I thank you for your advice and for other things. Good luck and good journey."

Harandir bowed to her. He cast one last, hard look at the dwarves and then left them. Fili stood at the edge of their camp to watch the man go, but the Ranger did not look back. His long legs carried him quickly over the snow and soon he had crossed the bridge and vanished into the fading shadows of night.

Kili yawned and stretched his arms. "A decent fellow, even if he was as grim and dull as old Fror, but why couldn't the man have stumbled upon us in daylight? I am tired of these long nights!"

Poor Kili, we put him through so much, and not a gold coin in sight... it's probably a good thing that he doesn't realize what dangers are waiting for him in the bitter north...

-paint