The Wizard and The Prince

11

The group, beside's Veryan, Thorin and Gandalf sat at a long table, food being brought to them as Elvin maiden's played the harp. They weren't very pleased by the green food, finding no meat on the plates, but they shouldn't expect any either.

Veryan, Gandalf, Thorin and Elrond came walking in, taking their own place at a different table. As they sat down, plate's of food were placed in front of them, Veryan and Gandalf having no problem with the lack of meat.

Elrond was handed the sword Gandalf and Thorin had found in the Troll cave, Thorin have taken it for himself to use. "This is Orcrist, the Goblin-cleaver. A famous blade forged by the High Elves of the West, my kin. May it serve you well" he finished as he handed Thorin back the sword.

Gandalf handed over his own sword "And this is Glamdring the Foehammer. Sword of the King of Gondolin. These were made for the Goblin Wars of the First Age. How did you come by these?" the Lord asked as he handed back the sword to Gandalf.

This time, Veryan was the one to speak "We found them in a Troll-hoard, on the Great East Road my Lord. Shortly after we were ambushed by Orcs" 

Elrond turned to Veryan, puzzled "And what were you doing on the Great East Road?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three explained as much as they could. Day quickly turned to night, as Gandalf, Elrond, Veryan, Thorin and now Bilbo along side Balin stood in the castle's halls.

"Our business is no concern of Elves" Thorin remarked as he eyed the Elvin king in front of him with the upmost distrust.

"For goodness sake, Thorin, show him the map" Gandalf replied, once again getting annoyed by the Dwarves stubbornness.

"It is the legacy of my people. It is mine to protect, as are it's secrets" he shot back, not listening to Gandalf one bit. 

Veryan sighed and glanced at Gandalf, shaking his head when he got his attention. He turned to Thorin, leaning on one of the many pillars "I don't mean to bug, but your pride will be your downfall. Lord Elrond is one of the few in Middle-Earth who can figure out that map"

Thorin glared at him, not liking being told off by the latter, but soon reached for his inner pocket, and pulled out the map, handing it over to the Lord.

Elrond opened it up, looking through it's content "Erebor...What is your interest with this map?"

Thorin was about to answer, when Gandalf intervened, not really trusting Thorin to say the right thing at the moment "It's mainly academic. As you know, this sort of artifact sometimes contains hidden text...You still read ancient Dwarvish, do you not?"

Elrond didn't speak a word as he stopped in front of the moonlight, shining the map over it, trying to see something.

"Moon runes? Of course" he smiled in realization. Bilbo stared at him confused, and the older turned to smile at him "An easy thing to miss"

That did much to nothing in letting Bilbo understand. "Well, in this case, that is true. Moon runes can only be read by the light of a moon of the same shape and season as the day on which they were written"

Thorin glanced at Elrond, who just finished speaking "Can you read them?"

Elrond nodded and gestured for the group to follow. They walked through the castle ground's, and reached a carved out arch, leading right outside. There in front of them was a glass table, right at the edge of the rock hill they were standing on.

"These runes were written on a Midsummer's Eve by the light of a crescent moon nearly 200 years ago" Elrond explained as he walked up to the glass table, placing the map onto it.