Hellrien followed the road east of Gondamon. Somewhere around here should the man named Colbert reside, somewhere near a place called Thrasi’s Lodge. As she rode along she thought about Pall, the dwarf healer. She missed his company. Suddenly she realized that now, when Theawynn and all her friends from the Sworn Brotherhood were gone, she needed some kind of replacement until she got used to being a drifter again.
Thrasi’s Lodge turned out to be a large hunter’s lodge on the fork of roads to Kheleledul and Duillond. A lot of adventurers and hunters traveled across the area, and the owner had built a stable and a paddock around the yard to accommodate their mounts.
A smiling, blonde dwarf and his somewhat surlier partner appeared on the yard as Hellrien rode there. But she took a note of the bows they were both holding in their hands and kept her own far away from her weapons.
”Good day”, said the blonde dwarf with a smile. ”I am Thrasi.”
Hellrien stopped her horse and returned his smile. ”Good day, gentlemen”, she said, bowing cheerfully. ”My name is Hellrien. Can I buy some food here?”
”Of course, miss! My broad-beans are quite famous.”
Hellrien stripped the saddle from her horse. Thrasi’s surly companion took the reins to give the horse water and to rub it. The lodge was cool and half-dark, and a good aroma rose from the stewpots on the stove. Thrasi went to stir the pots proudly.
Soon Hellrien was sitting at a table in front of a low, hatch-like window eating broad-beans and salted rabbit-meat and drinking Thrasi’s strong, home-brewed thistle-mead to wash it down with.
”Do you know a man called Colbert? A human man?”
”Of course! He lives beyond the woods north of here. He brings us fresh meat often and in exchange we transport the things he needs from Gondamon for free. Colbert is a nice old man, miss Hellrien, but a little mad…”
”Really?”
”I’m afraid so.” Thrasi spun his finger in front of his forehead. ”He’s a bitter man, miss Hellrien. When he’s drunk, he keeps babbling about treasures, a whole sea of ancient Dúnadan treasures and how one day he will uncover a huge treasure… the treasure of all treasures!”
”I came looking for him”, said Hellrien. ”I have tidings for him.”
”He will like that! Colbert is a lonely man.”
A little later Hellrien paid two silver for the food and drink, and after paying three silver more she got herself a huge clay jug of Thrasi’s home-brewed thistle-mead.
”Colbert will like that too, I’m sure”, Thrasi grinned knowingly.
”He’s not the only one, friend.”
”Beware the burial mounds of Emyn Hoedh, miss Hellrien. It is said the hills are haunted. It eludes me how Colbert can live in such a place by himself.”
Thrasi waved Hellrien good-bye when she left, and spurring her horse on she reached the hills a couple of hours before sunset.
The ruins of the ancient tomb were not much more than a heap of stone anymore. Statues of the great heroes of the past seemed to stare at Hellrien condemningly. She wasn’t comfortable about her business here, considering all the blood she had spilled and her own ordeals in Evendim to put an end to a large tomb-robbing operation there just recently. And now she was going to ask for advice and assistance from another, if old and eccentric, tomb-robber in Ered Luin. The irony of it didn’t escape her.
The tomb had been built upon a secluded nook on the root of cliffs surrounding it from west and north. From south and east it was surrounded by low mounds and knots. The atmosphere around the place was ominously eerie and oppressive. Hellrien saw traces of excavations everywhere. Big heaps of grit and piles of stone surrounded the tomb. The soil was muddy and wet and almost barren.
There was a whizzing sound, and an arrow splintered against stone in front of Hellrien’s horse.
”Get your hands up, woman!” a voice roared.
Hellrien obeyed. A grey, somewhat hunched creature stepped forth from behind a corner of the mausoleum. An old, crude bow was aimed straight at Hellrien.
”What do you want?” the old man snapped.
”I bring greetings from healer Pall, Colbert”, Hellrien said solemnly.
Colbert stared at her. ”Who?”
”Pall, from Gondamon.”
”You know him?”
”I do.”
”Well, that changes things.” Colbert glared at her suspiciously. ”Are you sure you’re not stupid enough to imagine I would have something worth stealing around here, woman?”
”I’m positive you have plenty, but I wouldn’t dream of stealing anything of yours”, Hellrien replied, covering her smile with her hand. ”I’m interested in treasure hunting and heard you could give me some tips. That’s all.”
”Did Pall tell you about that?” asked Colbert.
”Yes.”
”Golly! That dwarf must have forgotten I’ve become old and potty. I can’t teach you anything, girl. I have been cheated myself!”
”Nonsense”, said Hellrien.
Colbert looked at her. His dirty, wrinkled face was glowing with shame. ”What’s your name, girl?”
”Hellrien. I come from Thorin’s Gate.”
”Golly! And you came here to learn how to dig for treasures?”
”Partly.”
”Alright, you can stay with me. I apologize for shooting at you. I am a little suspicious.” Colbert looked at the sky. ”The sun will set soon. You’d best follow me before darkness falls. Take your horse with you. You don’t want to leave it out here for the night.”
A little later they sat in what had once been the second floor of the mausoleum eating, partly Hellrien’s provisions and partly the hill doe Colbert had felled with his bow. The tomb was built of stone, but the roof and big chunks of the walls had crumbled away ages ago. Wind howled eerily in the corners. She could see old treasure chests, broken urns and trinkets here and there – Colbert’s treasures. It was a chilly and spooky place, and Hellrien could feel the oppressive ambience of the place almost physically. She couldn’t understand how anyone could reside in a place like that alone, but Colbert didn’t seem to mind. The old man appreciated greatly Hellrien’s mulled wine, and when she offered him Thrasi’s thistle-mead he was beaming like the sun.
”Colbert”, said Hellrien when they had managed to light their pipes. ”How can you stay here? Isn’t the place haunted?”
”Yes, there are all kinds of ghosts here, girl. They come out at nights. But they won’t harm me. They are the only friends I got left… they keep me company at nights.”
Hellrien shuddered at the thought. ”You have been to Fornost, Colbert, haven’t you? What’s it like?”
”Yes, the Deadman’s Dike… it was once a great city of an ancient Kingdom that once ruled over these lands, hundreds, maybe thousands of years ago. There are a lot of treasures to be found there. Most of them have of course been found and unearthed already over the years, the easy pickings. There are riches over there still, there’s no doubt about that, but what’s left is not easy to scavenge. It’s a dangerous place, a place where orcs, worms and worse things roam. I would not go there alone. That’s why I’m here and not there… it’s impossible to scavenge anything worth of any value from Deadman’s Dike without a big band of hardy adventurers.”
”You told me you were cheated, Colbert – how did that happen?”
”I was once part of such a band myself… a group of treasure hunters banded together to intrude deep into Deadman’s Dike. We faced many perils there, many fell creatures, and some of us died… but by the Valar, it was worth it! We found the treasure, the treasure of all treasures! It would have been enough to make us all rich beyond imagination for the rest of our lives… but for some, nothing is ever enough. We were celebrating our good fortune in Trestlebridge, I had a bit too much to drink, and…” Colbert’s face had reddened with shame again. ”When I woke up, they were all gone. With the treasure, of course. I tried to track them down for a while, but found no trace of them. And even if I had, what could have I done? What could have I done to claim what was rightfully mine, girl? They had decided they didn’t want to share it with me, and I was all alone against many. That was the last time I ever had a partner”, Colbert ended his story bitterly.
Hellrien felt bad for the old man. She realized that Colbert had been doing this for a long time, most of his adult life. Unearthing old trinkets and baubles from ancient ruins, enough to barely scrape by when he sold them, dreaming dreams of treasures and riches. And now he was an old, bitter, crazy man, who had given his best years chasing his dreams. Only it was too late. Even if he did manage find his ’treasure of treasures’ one day, he would not be able to enjoy it anymore. Digging for treasures was the only thing he had left now, the only way of life he knew.
Suddenly Colbert’s pale blue eyes narrowed. ”Did you say you came from Thorin’s Gate, girl? What in the world were you doing there?”
Hellrien related her story briely to Colbert. She told him about the Sworn Brotherhood and what she believed must have happened to them in Fornost.
Colbert shook his head. ”There was no wizards there when I was there, woman. But that was long ago. I don’t know what has been going on there since I left. But I do remember a place… if you can get past the Norbury Gates, you will find a permanent camp where all adventurers and treasure-hunters gather. There are always people there, at least in my time there was. They would know everything that goes on in Deadman’s Dike.”
Hellrien drank thistle-mead. She was considering it. If she could get to this camp, if such a place existed still, could she find out what had happened?
”Colbert”, she asked, ”do you still remember the layout of Deadman’s Dike? And the position of the camp?”
”I do. I can never forget.”
”Can you draw a map for me? Of Deadman’s Dike, the camp and everything else you remember?”
”A map?”
”Might as well try some treasure hunting in Fornost”, said Hellrien, grinning ironically. ”See how the other side lives.”
”I can draw you a map”, Colbert complied. ”But you must stay the night here, sleep right next to me. He he he hee – it’s been forever since I had a spry young thing like you sleeping next to me. Don’t look at me like that, woman! I’m joking. I’m an old man, my womanizing days are long past. I wouldn’t know what to do with a woman if I had one. But I’m also serious! You can’t leave tonight.”
”Why not? You said the ghosts are not dangerous.”
”I said no such thing, silly girl! I said the ghosts won’t harm me. I’ve got myself some protection.” Colbert put a hand under his shirt and dug up some kind of talisman he was wearing around his neck, dangling it before Hellrien’s eyes. ”They come out at nights, but if you stay close, they won’t harm you either.”
The hair on the back of Hellrien’s neck rose when she heard a sudden scraping noise… and something that sounded like rattling of bones. Old Colbert saw how she had turned white as a sheet and grinned. ”They might make some noise, though… You haven’t seen anything yet! They’ll give us quite a show. It’s a good thing you brought so much of that thistle-mead! It’ll make the night pass quicker.”
