Nothing fills up a heart with bitterness more than being mocked and misused. Parnard looked in the glass, but he did not see his freshly polished armour. Instead, he gazed upon the jagged scar on his ear. I will never find a wife now, he thought. What maiden would love this marred face?
He recalled the dragging through the woods, and the jeering faces of his tormentors, and the pain they caused him. I should overlook it, and bear it as best I can, he told himself. But it was not enough for his wild heart. It burned black with anger, and for the first time in his life, he considered revenge.
It was a great dishonour and shameful to be bested by a group of rude rabble. The Woodmen said that by their own fear and folly, most of the bandits met their doom in the Greenwood. Yet were there not many other evil men in the world, just like them? They are a plague upon the land, these oppressors of the poor and weak, and they rejoice in their wickedness: their gluttonous thievery, their barbarous cruelty, and all manner of naughtiness. They are an abomination, these men, and should not be tolerated, but punished and restrained. I demand justice! I will take revenge; I will be satisfied. But Lord Anglachelm cautioned me not to leave Imladris. Well, it was not an order, was it? I cannot simply sit idle - ha! I might as well be one of the chairs in Lord Elrond’s house, all the good that I do around here. But even a chair is a more useful thing. Me, I am useful to no one, and have neither value nor honour amongst the Order. That is why Lord Daegond looks down upon me and ignores me. And that is why Lady Rildheldiel and the rest of those folk would not even give me the time of day in the Hall. Well, I shall show them. I will avenge myself for my suffering, and seek repayment in blood, for it is my right, and just, and then we will see who is useless!
