The chilly wind blew over the cold lake Evendim, causing the surface to stir a little, creating a small wave, moving towards the beach. There, the wind blew into the face of a man, tall with dark hair, clothed in the outfit of the tomb-robbers and he turned around to look at his companion, gritting his teeth annoyed. “They’re late… As always! They have no respect for us!” he said in an angry but low voice. His companion, a short man with curly hair nodded and looked around before answering “That’s true, but if it goes well we’ll get gold. Enough gold to go further from these dirty tombs.”. From afar they heard the neighing of a horse and turned to look, something was moving near Barad Rath, both men fixed their gaze towards the ruins till they saw three figures on horses approaching. The tomb-robbers kept looking at them, waiting for the three to approach. Yet, without a word or a move one had disappeared in the dark, nowhere to be seen or heard.
The three figures were clothed in long burgundy cloaks with darker hoods covering their faces. The only reason they were seen from afar were the horses, when the third disappeared the other two headed towards the men on the beach. They stopped near the trees and dismounted, for some moments they remained there, looking around them to make sure that no one was there before moving ahead. They drew closer to the men and one of the two pulled his hood down as the air blew again, colder this time. The tall man inclined his head a little, showing, even though not feeling, respect for those that had called him and tugged his thumbs into his belt, raising his head, ready to listen. The shorter one remained unmoved by their presence; he only wanted to be done with this job.
The slimmer of the two hooded men raised his head, allowing the moon to shine some light on his face, revealing a slim face with big eyes, pale skin and red lips, with white yet some rotten teeth. “I’m glad you came here tonight!” he said sarcastically, “We want to… hire you. The payment will be good!”. The tall man nodded and looked at his companion before replying in a serious tone, showing his interest, “What can we do for you?”. “We want your services as traders an-” but before the slim hooded man finished his sentence the robber grunted and shook his head “I don’t think you’re here for what we find in the tombs!”. The slim man laughed at that, his laughter brought something grim and deathly that froze the blood in the robbers’ veins, if they could the two men would run away at once, yet that voice kept them there… Mesmerised.
“I couldn’t care less for the filth of the Dunedain in those tombs; I hope they rot in there with their forefathers!” he said and every vein in his slim face got wider, making him even scarier. The robbers nodded and the tall dark haired man replied, struggling to not talk in a shaking voice “What do you want us do?”. The slim man smiled, revealing his white teeth. “You will go to the Dwarven settlement of Kheledul, the Dourhands there will give you some carts you have to bring to us in one piece. The carts contain something that you must bring to Annudir in the North Downs. You will pass through the Shire and Bree and head North. I want you to look like traders. No one must know what you’re doing. If you succeed you’ll be rewarded greatly.”. The tomb robbers looked at each other furrowing their brows, it seemed an easy task but something was amiss. Silently they decided to agree and both nodded and the tall man responded.
“We will do that, but who are you?” he asked. “The less you know the better for all of us!” answered the slim man and produced a pouch out of his pocket, he gave it to the short man as payment. The robber weighted it in his hands and calculated that it contained a lot of gold coins, more than he had ever seen so far in his life and it was very heavy. He smiled greedily and nudged his friend with meaning. “Now go!” said the slim man. “Be in Kheledul in four days and leave when everything is ready…” The two men then started running towards their camp to assemble the rest, they had to be ready and clothed appropriately for the job…
