"What were you thinking?"
Orodreth took a steadying breath. "I thought that it would have been very objectionable to have a whole pack of Orcs coming down my pass in the dead of the night, uncle," he said, slapping his hand onto the map in front of him with a little too much force. He squared his jaw and bit the inside of his cheek, before he continued: "I admit that I should have asked about the person of the scout who reported the sighting. However, my captain of the night guard has never before committed such a blunder, and how should I know that a man I put my trust into would trust a boy who no man nor woman of my Isle knows? And how should I know that the boy was still under Morgoth's influence?"
He took a step back from the table and started to pace the council room of the tower in agitation. He had lost twenty good men in the Fens of Serech, eight to the ambush the Orcs had prepared for them, twelve to the treacherous fens themselves. The nine who had come back had reported that the Orcs had laughed at them, had termed them mice lured by rotten cheese, and had congratulated the 'scout' who had let Orodreth's men into their trap.
It was distressing enough that the Orcs had started to use Sindarin, but it was another occurrence that had been reported to him, one that he had never heard of before, that made his stomach roil and gall burn on his tongue - the 'scout' had spoken in the Black Speech.
"Uncle," he turned to Finrod again, knowing that his worries were written plain on his face, "What if this is a new strategy of Morgoth? What if he is twisting the spirits of the slaves he has taken - what if he is breeding spies?"