“Are you sure you want to do this Glorria? There is no dishonor going back home, I’m sure the Order would understand,” Torogethir stated in a last attempt to change Rannie’s mind as she prepared to leave.
“Sorry lad, but I’m not goin home” she told him as she mounted up on her horse. “Not until I finish this” she added and gave her a nod, clearly seeing it was a lost cause. Rannie started off towards the the road but stopped as she reached the edge of the ruins. “And the names Rannie…or the Rat. If ya ever in Bree, come see me and I’ll buy ya an ale” she told him with a wink before continuing to the road and towards Tinnudir.
The travel to Tinnudir, Rannie found to be so far her favorite part of the trip. The bright green of the land was dotted with ruins of various sizes that captured her attention as to each of their stories. What had caused their down fall into the abandoned state they were in now? Her eyes widened as she came closer to Tinnudir and the lake of Evendim came into view.
She stopped at the ancient bridge and just looked out at the water. It was truly breath takingly beautiful. After several minutes she gave her horse a little kick and crossed the bridge and into the dunedain settlement. With a smirk she noted that they all were much like Torogethir with their weather worn garb and grim faces. “May I help you my lady,” one of them asked and she snorted with brisk laughter.
“Aye, Torogethir said ya people might be able ta help me” she said, dismounting. The man looked her over, from head to toe then asked what could task could Torogethir think they’d be able to help her. Rannie gave him a smirk as she let another grim faced man care see to her horse. She showed him the broach as she explained to him much like she had did with Torogethir and as if on cue the man’s expression grew even grimmer then suggested that she speak with their leader.
If the other dunedain were grim, their leader looked down right forbidding. Rannie nearly asked him if he smiled would his face crack. “This is where you’ll most likely find their leaders and thus the documents you seek,” he explained pointing to a spot on the map that lay in the sand. “I must tell you this Rat…if you get in trouble I can’t spare a single man to get you out of it. We’re tightly pressed as it is.”
Rannie gave him a salute with a smirk. “Aye, aye” she teased then turned serious. “I don’t want ya people riskin nothin either. This is me job and ain’t no one needs ta put their necks on the line for me,” she told him and swore he almost smiled as he nodded to her and stating mumbling something about reviewing his opinion about rats. She smirked once more, not surprised. Nearly every one miss judged her and a small pang of lonliness struck her as she thought again that no one really knew her.
The next day, a few hours before the sun rose Rannie started towards the ruined city of Annuminas un-mounted since she did not know how long she would be and the horse would possibly draw unwanted attention. The leader of the settlement she suggested leaving at this hour to avoid tomb robbers or being seen by the angmarim. Slowly the city rose before her and even in it’s ruined state it appeared majestic to her.
Rannie paused, not wanting to get too close yet. Instead she surveyed her surroundings, to her right she had the enormous lake and to the left was a large rock faced cliff. She turned back, searching for a way up as so that she may best observe the city’s lay out. After nearly an hour she managed to find her way up to the top. The angmarim appeared to be located throughout the city in small camps which was going to make finding those orders to be a bit tricky.
She went her way back down the cliff and which much care approached the city till she could see and hear the angmarim well, nestled in a large bush on the side of the road. For the rest of the day and the next Rannie sat in that bush, unmoving listening to these men outside of the gates speak amongst each other and softly repeating their words to capture the essence of their speech. All while she watched how they moved, their gestures, and other mannerisms as well copying them as best as she could in from her hiding spot.
Finally when Rannie was confident that she had mastered their speech and body language she took a stone in her hands and waited. She didn’t have to wait long before one of the Angmarim came close enough. Here we go, she told herself silently and jumped from her hide out startling the red cloaked man. With as much might as she could muster she swung the end of her dagger with the plan hitting him on the head and knocking him unconscious.
He swiftly dodged her attempted to hit him but his footing was shaky. Not allowing him to gain it back she rushed him, trying to hit him again when the loose rocky ground gave way from his left foot causing him to balance and start to fall over the small cliff next to them. Rannie’s eyes widened as she attempted to grab him to keep him from falling but only grasped air as he toppled over. “Oh no,” she breathed as she peered over the edge seeing the man twisted in an unnatural position. “What did I do?”
