Prologue

The view from the top of the tower was just as spectacular as always. Lorien was beautiful in the spring time, with all the lush green foliage covering the land and the freshly melted snow revealing the new grass on the mountainsides. Wildflowers were starting to dot the landscape with splashes of blue and purple and pink, and even from his vantage point up this high, the shadowed figure could hear the faint sounds of birdsong.

He reached down and stroked his pet, laying on a cushion beside his chair. “Good boy,” he crooned. “So quiet and patient today, while I decide what needs to be done.”

The hound yawned and stretched, displaying a flame flickering ominously in his throat.

“What do you think, Astus?” he continued. The hound sat up, scratched vigorously for a moment then cocked his head to the side, as if asking for clarification. And as if the hound had spoken, he replied. “I mean, do you think that the stories are true? Should we even intervene?”

Astus yipped softly as if in agreement, then arched his back luxuriously as his master scratched between his ears. “That’s my good boy,” he murmured. “Yes, we will intervene. The time is fast approaching when we will have no choice, will we Astus?”

As Astus got up and took himself outside for a short walk, his master reached for a roll of parchment. On it, he wrote a message detailing the matter at hand: the existence of a certain amulet, hidden somewhere in the wide expanse of Lorien. It was a message tailor made to appeal to the greed of its recipient. He was careful to extol the great wonder of the amulet, its rarity, its beauty… and, of course, its value.

With a snap of his finger, he summoned a messenger out of the shadows where he had been waiting. “You will take this to Hifeld,” he ordered. “Deliver it to The Collector. There will be no need to wait for a reply.”

Astus wandered back in just in time to see the messenger scuttle off down the mountainside. He flopped back down at his master’s feet and yawned again.

“Things are happening in Lorien, Astus.” The man reached down to stroke the hound. “Things are happening, and I think you and I may well be the catalyst.”