Hello reader,

I'm back here ^^

Disclaimer: Middle-earth, as well as Lord of the Rings belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien. But a lot of characters are from me!

Dedication: to all authors I have read the stories of, forget-me-nots (formerly JE), because they read the chapter without asking! and Zoe, because you can talk to her about LotR and she likes to answer my impossible questions.

Legend:
"Conversations"
'Thoughts'
... dreams / visions ...
(my comments within the story)

Now comes part four. Danger...

Just now!
>>> <<<
Chapter 4 'Secrets Betrayed'

'Since when has my bed been so soft? 'Piero wondered when he slowly woke up the next morning. With pleasure he turned around to find that his bed was also wider than usual. With one leap he sat upright in the bed and looked around, disturbed. The room was filled with sunlight falling through a window. 'Where am I? ', Piero hit it like a blow. He wasn't at home, but in a village, more precisely in a healer's treatment room.It also dawned on him how he had got there, and that Sulnaur was lying in the bed next to him, who almost did not survive yesterday.
Piero let himself slide back into the bed. Pleased to be able to go back to sleep, he closed his eyes again and nodded.

... Piero stood in a dark room with a door. He opened it carefully and entered another room. It was lit up as bright as day and blinded him. When Piero's eyes had got used to the light, he flinched back. The ground was blood red and several dead lay in front of it. Piero took a closer look at the people and shuddered, they were people from his home village, people who came to their pub in the evening. Piero looked around and looked an orc in the face. In his left hand he held a bloody knife with which he had probably murdered shortly before. With his right hand he grabbed Piero by the neck and picked him up. Piero struggled and shouted for help, but nobody heard him. The orc raised the knife and wandered it to the throat of his victim ...The clatter of a tray made Piero wake up again. He sleepily looked for someone he could blame, which didn't take long. "Sorry. It wasn't my intention to wake you up." Apparently Sulnaur had dropped the knife on the tray from his hand. "It's okay. I didn't want to sleep that long anyway." Basically, this statement was a lie, Piero would have liked to sleep until the next morning because he was completely exhausted from the day before. "How long has breakfast been here?" Asked Piero as he reached for a piece of bread and cheese. Sulnaur just shrugged his shoulders. "Everything was already there when I woke up." Piero took a closer look at his counterpart. The Elf had rolled up the sleeves of his shirt so that one could see his bandage, which showed that the injury was bleeding again. Piero remembered his dream and decided to tell Sulnaur about it. "Earlier, when I was still sleeping, I dreamed that I was in a room where a number of corpses were lying on the floor.“Sulnaur watched his friend closely while he listened carefully.” Then an orc appeared and tried to slit my throat with a knife and then I woke up. "" Did you know the dead? " "Yes. They were acquaintances, just as one knew each other from short conversations. "" Some would say that it was a vision, "said someone. Sulnaur and Piero looked to the door, where Gerin stood dressed in a simple dark cloak and had listened." I think rather that it was just a dream. It reflected what I believe was yesterday's fight with an orc and your fear of death. Although it wasn't necessarily your own. " "What makes you think that? ", Piero asked perplexed, he hadn't expected that someone was listening and on top of that had such answers in store." Very simple. "Gerin took a few steps in the direction of the beds and sat down on the foot of Sulnaur's bed." Your day was very exciting and you were very exhausted yesterday, something like this often happens.In addition, this tells me my intuition and a little art of interpreting dreams and the like. "" Since when do healers interpret dreams? "Piero said his thoughts out loud." Never. You have nothing to do with it. "" But you or what? "The Rohirrim's voice sounded gruff than intended. But that didn't seem to bother the person he was talking to." I never said that I was a healer. It was you who said it was! ", emphasized Gerin particularly clearly." And what are you then? I mean you helped me. "This time Sulnaur spoke up. Gerin replied with a" passport ", loosened the bandage from Sulnaur's arm and placed his hands on the cut. Slowly he closed his eyes and concentrated. Piero saw nothing and thought Gerin just wanted to important, Sulnaur, however, stared at his hands when he pulled them back again. "You are a magician! "Sulnaur continued to look in disbelief at his hands and then at his arm.Piero still didn't understand. The wound was still there and no other abnormalities were seen. “Are you sure?” “Do you doubt me or your boyfriend?” Gerin complained, slightly nervously. "I'm extremely sure the pain is gone," Sulnaur tried to convince. But Piero was not persuaded. "Then show me something if you can do magic. I won't believe it until I see it." "You don't do magic for fun." Gerin tried to suppress the anger in his voice, which he found difficult. He clenched his fist for a moment and then moved to a drawer to get a new bandage. Piero looked after him angrily. "Crazy!" He hissed softly to Sulnaur, who could only vigorously shake his head. "It's really true. Believe me," the Elf whispered back. Both fell silent when Gerin came back and tried to reconnect the injury.
Piero was still irritable and still had an ace up his sleeve. "If you can do magic, why didn't you make the pain go away yesterday?"Piero was sure to have hit the mark and looked at Sieges at the addressee. Gerin felt caught, he could have used the spell yesterday and was red in the face with shame." I ... I ... I owe you you no explanation, "he finally managed with the greatest difficulty. He quickly finished his work and hurried out of the room.
"I was right. He's a liar," sneered Piero. "He's not," replied Sulnaur. “What do you have against him?” “I don't know. He's strange. And that tells me my intuition.” For the Rohirrim, that was the end of the subject and he didn't want to deal with it anymore. He turned back to his breakfast.

Gerin swept out of the room and left the house. He couldn't bear to be in a room or building with Piero. 'Why did he have to ask too ?! I'm so stupid. If only I hadn't allowed myself to be irritated. 'Gerin hung on to his thoughts and did not notice how he left the village and stepped out onto the wide steppe.Slowly he began to realize where he was and looked back at the town, Eros. He sighed sadly and sat down in the snow. 'Why does everything has to be so complicated? 'it shot through his head. Gerin froze slightly when the cold wind whistled over the pastures. He pulled his thin cloak tighter around his shoulders.
'Why didn't I do my magic yesterday? 'he wondered as he looked back over the last few minutes in his head. Brooding, he did not notice how a horse stopped in front of him and he was carefully examined by its rider. "Hey you," he said in a calm but commanding voice. Gerin looked up in surprise. 'A knight?! 'His gaze slid over the silver armor and the coat of arms of Gondor that adorned the helmet. “What can I do for you, sir?” The apprentice rose quickly and bowed slightly, as he had learned to do. "Have you seen a boy and an elf. They must have come through this place."With a gloved finger he pointed at Eros and Gerin stopped short. He knew nothing about the two of them, but he couldn't deliver them to this man either." Are you mute? "asked the knight, slightly annoyed." No. "Gerin had decided to tell him the truth. His intuition told him that the knight did not want any harm." The two are in the healer's house. "The traveler nodded as if he already knew and just wanted to make sure it was true." Good. Can you take me there "This time Gerin nodded immediately and set off towards the village.

In front of the door, Gerin looked for the small key to open the door. This jumped open with a soft click and he let the knight enter. His horse, like the other, was in the stable.
The knight's armor clattered slightly with every movement, so that Piero and Sulnaur sat tense in the sickroom and looked at the door.
The Rohirrim had a strange feeling when he heard the sound.'What is the nutcase up to now? 'he asked himself. He and his friend were amazed when the door opened and a knight stood in front of them and looked at them with questioning looks. "Hm. You have to be the two of them. Did you fight an orc yesterday?" He began. "Yes", Sulnaur answered in a firm voice, which Piero envied him. He had lost his voice in awe. "Good. Then I have to ask you to come with me." The man in the armor turned to the door and spoke to Gerin, who was standing there. "You will come too," he ordered him. Sulnaur quickly jumped up from his bed. "Why should we come with you? We don't even know you." Piero had to laugh inwardly. That's exactly how he would have reacted yesterday if he hadn't caught himself. “I,” began the knight, “am a messenger from the prince of swords and he wishes that I will bring you to him.” His voice was as sharp as a sword and brooked no argument. "And what does the prince want?"Sulnaur was automatically in a defensive position, as it was used in a duel." You will find out soon enough. "Unimpressed, the knight took a step towards the Elf and looked at him piercingly, Sulnaur looked back defiantly." But I can tell you that it is your fate to follow me and you will do it. To be sure, I'll tell you your names. "" This is no art. You probably asked Gerin. “He didn't,” Gerin spoke up. “Well, you are Sulnaur, son of the elven commander at Emyn Muil. "Sulnaur widened his eyes and nodded silently. 'How does he know