Elder Dorin had charged him with the task of finding the stone and so Garinor had to protect it at all costs. He took a few steps forward as if he was going to submit and then he ran into the farmer and knocked the wind out of him. The man fell back and hit his head hard on the ground, stunning him.
Garinor ran. He scrambled out of the rocky bowl and darted further east, out of range of retaliation. He didn’t know for how long he needed to run, but he kept pumping his feet until they threatened to collapse underneath him. At last he stopped and sank down, still clutching the stone in his hand.
He ate a quick meal, then he examined the stone again, wondering at its importance. It didn’t make sense to him that the farmer would try to seize him for this nondescript piece of rock. As he examined the crevice along its side, he remembered the stone arrowhead Elder Dorin had given him. He had said it would unlock the key to what he was looking for.
He retrieved the pointed stone from his pocket and he tried to fit it into the small slot, but he found it hard to hold the arrowhead accurately. He tried sliding one of the back corners of the stone into the slit, but that didn’t work either. He fretted over it for several minutes, then decided to give it one last try before putting it away for another time.
He squeezed the back edges of the arrowhead between his thumb and forefinger. With the arrowhead pointing toward the rock, he pushed downward. It appeared as if the tip was going in and so he squeezed harder, trying to force it inside. But the arrowhead shattered and sliced open his fingers instead.
He muttered in annoyance and frowned as his blood dripped all over the stone. He put his finger up to his mouth and then noticed another pain entirely. His left hand, holding the stone, started to burn. It felt as if he had plunged his hand into a fire, but he also knew instinctively he couldn’t be harmed by that heat. He pulled his bleeding fingers from his mouth and he passed the stone from hand to hand. The rock was burning. As he watched, the small crevice disappeared.
He didn’t know what it all meant, but he needed to find a place to wash out his fingers. He slid the hot stone into his pocket, which protected him from most of its heat, and then he set off looking for water.
He gazed to the paths that led to the north and to the east. He needed to choose between them. He knew the king was toward the north and now that he had completed Elder Dorin’s task, he wondered if he should head in that direction. It was mid-afternoon and the sun was heading lower into the sky.