The Kinstrife
Part
24
In
which we disembark and settle in to the Drunken Southron;
we take a guided tour of Umbar in the afternoon; we discover the remains of the
Temple of Melkor is under Earnil’s
Tower on Tol Cirya; in the
evening, Ilvirin takes us on a tour of the dockland
taverns, in which we meet Rastarin, an (allegedly)
reformed pirate; we discuss politics; Ilvirin
mentions her father is a cultist; we find the Street of the Smiths; Ragnor has an interview with governor Telemnar,
the Queen’s father; we discuss politics and posit an exploration of the
Haradwaith to find the source of the Cult of the Dark Lady; Brand locates Bergil’s house on the Street of the Smiths and we find it
was recently purchased by the late Celebrindor; we
apply to the Governor for access to Celebrindor’s
estate as ‘interested parties’.
Afternoon
It’s
mid-afternoon by the time we’ve all disembarked and settled ourselves in the
Drunken Southron, a home-from-home run by a retired
sailor called Perian.
I am
advised that King Castamir’s representative, Daeron, has already arrived and is staying at a Royal
residence in the centre of Umbar. (Strange how one of us isn’t advised of the
other – I wonder how often the King and Queen talk to each other?)
Brand wants
to find the remains of Melchior’s Temple and we all
want to see the sights of this magnificent city so, at Brand’s suggestion
(while he pens letters to Governor Telemnar, Squire Gordacar, Daeron, Commander Marmedon and Captain Mardil
advising them of my arrival, with implied requests for audiences), I ask master
Perian to find us a guide and we all embark on a
short tour of the places of interest.
Umbar is a
city constrained by its own walls; unlikely the suburban sprawls of Pelargir,
Umbar instead reaches upwards to form a very compact but highly populated city.
Our guide
first shows us the Governor’s Palace. Actually it looks too small for a palace,
little more than a large town house but built in the Old Numenorean style with
pillars and frescoes, etc. This is a working building and we are not allowed
inside for the nonce. From there we’re shown the Town Hall, a large building we
will be seeing a lot of in the next few weeks as this is where the Great
Council will be held. We see the great chamber with a gallery above for the
public to view proceedings. Quite impressive!
The East
Gate and a very tall, striking tower wherein are the quarters of the City
Watch. Again access is prohibited as they are very busy. Not far on we’re shown
the Theatre, a building of which Umbarians are
inordinately proud, currently showing a comedy on the merry fall of King
Eldacar, complete with pratfalls, no doubt.
The guide
does a good line in background stories, often centred on a ghost or an unhappy
end, as he continues to show us the Houses of Healing, the Loremaster’s
Hall (by-the-by, Brand now claims to be a full loremaster
– I hope he doesn’t expect a rise) and various guildhouses.
I find the
architecture rather stirring but Brand is beginning to chafe at the lack of
temples dedicated to evil gods. He presses the point, gaining a filthy look
from our guide, who then confesses that when Earnil
(nephew and heir to Tarannon) slew Zimrakhil, the last High Priest of Melchor,
Earnil levelled the temple and in its place erected
Tar-Cirya, also known, appropriately enough, as Earnil’s Tower. Tar-Cirya is on Tol-Cirya, the island in the bay where the navy is
currently constructing a new naval base. The island is relatively uninhabited
but access is restricted due to the construction work and naval security, of
course.
On
returning to the Drunken Sailor, I am advised that the Great Council will
formally convene in early July. I need to see certain people but overall it
seems we have roughly a fortnight to amuse ourselves before duty calls.
It’s not
yet dark when Ilvirin suggests a dockland pub-crawl.
With nothing to otherwise occupy my time I accept and we all, Aerin, Brand, Pimm, Ilvirin and myself all tour
the dockyard taverns.
In the
fourth inn, Ilvirin encounters someone whom I can
only call ‘an old shipmate’ (funnily enough we stop changing pubs at this point
and I get the strange feeling that Ilvirin was
searching for this woman all along). Her name is Rastarin;
I’ve never met or heard of her before but she immediately endears herself by
buying a round for everyone.
Rastarin
reckons Umbar is a weird place – very loyal (by which she seems to equate
‘weird’ and ‘loyal’). She goes on to comment that Neithan and Ilvirin’s father are both good men, in a tone that suggests
that good men are in short supply.
Ilvirin
advises Rastarin that Neithan wants Rastarin to command his ‘auxiliary police force’, with the
implication that they will be used against the pirates. However, I am more than
a little disquieted by Ilvirin and Brand intimating
that they know of a good place to quarter this force. I’m certain they’re
thinking of Tarannon’s Fort, which is already
promised to The Straight Man and in any case I think we would not be doing Rastarin any favours by giving it to her.
Rastarin
says she’ll talk to Neithan but she’s not willing to take up the position
herself. However she does see merit and is willing to donate three ships to the
cause and put Ilvirin in command of one, as Rastarin is temporarily short of one captain, after a
disagreement over ownership of the contents of a hold.
Ilvirin
then produces a coin, which she claims to have been given by The Straight Man.
I recognise it immediately as very similar to those coins we found in
Khoradûr’s trunk. Rastarin admits to having dealt
with The Straight Man in her time but volunteers little information about him.
Then the
conversation turns to the Benish Armon
cult and Rastarin claims it’s rife in the camps on Tol-Cirya full of indentured labourers, mainly recruited
from the Ethir and serving as navvies.
Ilvirin
touches on Beruthiel’s diary (I must remind myself
never to impart any discretion to Ilvirin as she
seems to spill every last item of information gleaned in the last three
months). Rastarin says if we want to find out more we
should talk to Zimrakhil (no, not the dead priest – I
hope – but one of the brothers involved in creating the Southron
Confederacy) as he has had dealings in those parts relevant to her story.
At last,
which Rastarin answers a call of nature, Ilvirin’s verbal indiscretion works the other way and she
tells me that Rastarin used to be a pirate but with
an implication that she holds some moral ground above those pirates currently
troubling the Ethir and the West Coast of Dor-in-Ernil. Rastarin was in
some way sympathetic to the Ethir fisher-folk but she
was forced out by someone called Lannaigh, who treats
the Ethir natives with contempt.
Ilvirin
tells me her father is ‘rather high up’ in a cult that directly opposes Benish Armon. She’s surprisingly
evasive when I ask what cult but eventually she admits it’s called Perhaladin. I’ve vaguely heard of it but I’ll need to look
it up in the Loremaster’s Halls for details.
Talk then
turns to meta-politics, which in Umbar means the nature of the threats, to whit
Cult of the Dark Lady versus The Storm King. I regard the Storm King as
semi-mythical but Aerin confirms he does exist. The Raj first heard word of him
some 400 years ago. Then about a hundred years ago, the name was implicated in
a serious of assassinations across the Raj.
Finally,
the Storm King sent an invasion force of the Army of the Southern Dragon (just
one of his armies, apparently, though I’d like to know where this intelligence
comes from) but it was defeated in the mountain passes to the south. He is
since rumoured to be consolidating his power before attempting another strike.
With this
small talk the evening draws to a close and we make our way back to our beds.
I receive a
formal invitation to attend upon him at the Governor’s Palace this afternoon
but the morning remains free. Ilvirin reminds me that
Bergil’s alta-parma mentioned the Street of the Smiths in Vinyamar as a place where he hid some treasure in a
‘low-roofed storage chamber in a dark room’ belonging to someone called Zorahathôr.
Brand
quickly discovers that Zorahathôr’s family name was Calenal so it should be a simple matter to discover the
precise building. But all we have time for is a quick look at the street
itself, where we can identify no building that might be regarded as
‘low-roofed’ – this is Umbar, after all; anything under four stories is
‘low-roofed’ here.
So
Brand and I meet with Governor Telemnar amidst the
luxury of the palace (whilst unimposing on the outside, inside it looks every
inch as sumptuous as any governor’s palace).
He is fairly old but looks fit and well. His manner is haughty, suiting his
position, but he’s respectful enough to me.
I begin by
conveying greetings from his daughter, Queen Mûrabeth,
and he in turn welcomes me to Umbar. Talk quickly turns to the matter in hand.
Telemnar
reckons the Sea Faction is simply trying to promote naval interests (to a man
with a hammer, every problem is a nail). He freely admits that a hazard exists
to the south in the form of the Storm King but feels the Dark Lady Cult is a
much more immediate threat and just the most recent of a slew of cults that
repeatedly emerge in the area of the Haradwaith.
As an
aside, it seems Telemnar, like most people, is
unaware that the Dark Lady and Adûnaphel are one and
the same, as Brand discovered in Minas Ithil, “The
legend of Adûnaphel of Lurgalûr
is an ancient one among the tribes of the near Harad.
Variants upon it are especially strong among the Nûrniag,
Dônan, and Haruze tribes.
They tell of a fearful warrior queen and dark sorceress who inhabited a tower
named Lurgalûr in the southern foothills of the Ephel Dúath. I have been shown
this supposed tower, a well-fortified but uninhabited ruin. Any sign of the
Dark Lady having long since vanished.
“The deeds
ascribed to Adûnaphel are various, frequently
involving blood sacrifice and worship of Melkor. This
legend can be assumed to be the basis for the Cult of the Dark Lady, an
unpleasant but fortunately uncommon group found in the eastern Harondor. It is despised for its vile practices by the Haruze warlords and the death sentence is pronounced upon
all its followers. Although I have seen poor wretches executed for membership
of this cult, such irrational hatred does it inspire I have never been able to
find real evidence it exists outside the fevered minds of the Haruze. The merest suggestion of association with the cult
is sufficient to destroy livelihoods and reputations in some parts of Near Harad and accusations of association are frequently used by
one warlord to justify his treatment of a defeated party.”
He sees the
Southron Confederacy as a golden opportunity to turn
a collection warring tribes in to a civilised state, with an army trained and
equipped by Gondor and Umbar, eventually to form a
buffer zone to protect Umbar’s desert frontier.
Playing Sauron’s advocate, I posit the point of view that creating
such a state and giving it an efficient, drilled army operating in the Gondorian manner, might one day result in that army being
used against Gondor but Telemnar
reckons the state could ultimately be made a reliable
This seems
a little optimistic to me, given our current inability to maintain cohesion
within Gondor, let alone those province immediately
adjacent that are reckoned by most to be naturally governed by Gondor. We haven’t even managed to colonise Mordor, after
nearly 1500 years!
I ask Telemnar what he wants from me. In reply he touches on the
subject of the Queen’s previous envoy, Rîvonthel. It
seems there’s no mystery over what happened to her. In Telemnar’s
view she became ‘unreliable’, so much so that he ordered her on a mission to Harondor to keep her out of trouble. He basically wants me
to stay out of trouble too.
Speaking of
unreliable agents, I mention Khoradûr. Telemnar
immediately apologises for having recommended him, which it seems he did
sight-unseen, as the man was in turn recommended by Zimrakhil
(no, not the priest but the other one again – though I’m beginning to wonder if
there might not be a deeper connection). Zimrakhil is
also truly sorry. He had known the man from childhood but had no idea he had
gone to the bad.
Telemnar
keeps returning to the subject of the cults of the Haradwaith and claims this
is yet another example of the evil emanating from the area.
I offer to
make a reconnaissance in to Harad. Telemnar, exuding a sense of keenness, produces a map and
sketches out the area in question. It’s a good 500 miles east of Umbar. It will
need a true expedition with guides and provisions as well as the support of at
least some of the indigenous population and must wait until after the Great
Council but if the Queen is willing to read a written report, I may have a lot
more information for her (and others) by the time I make my formal delivery.
Brand and I
repair to the Loremasters, where Brand uncovers more
about the Calenal family. Some forty years ago, in
1402, Adrahil Calenal owned
a house that unfortunately burned down, along with most of the rest of the
Street of the Smiths. Sadly, none of family survived and, without heirs, the
site passed to the Crown.
The ruins
were demolished and cellars filled with the rubble. The plot remained vacant
for a year or two before someone bought the plot and built a domicile known as
the ‘Red House’ on the foundations of the Calenal
house.
Just
recently, the Red House was bought by an engineer of Minas Ithil
called Celebrindor! (Yes, the very
same!)
This is too
much of a coincidence. Suddenly I think it imperative that we see inside the Red
House. Luckily, we can advise that since Celebrindor
died while perpetrating a felony (after all, I can attest that I saw Pimm nail him to a wall with a crossbow bolt), his estate
passes to the Crown. Pimm (who now appears to be
practicing law) advises that we can name ourselves as interested parties and we
hatch a loose plan to gain access or even possession.
Now I’m
sure that, judging from the glint in their eyes, Ilvirin
and Pimm are thinking mainly of a treasure-hunt, but
I think it more than likely that Bergil may have been
using the word ‘treasure’ in a more poetic sense, at least partly. Evidently Celebrindor thought so too or he wouldn’t have bought the
house. Definitely not a coincidence, I think.
As far as
we know Celebrindor had been in Minas Ithil for some weeks prior to his death so it seems
unlikely that he’d had a chance to visit his new property and somehow I doubt
he would trust an agent to search the place for him (after all, he didn’t trust
his hirelings to rob the Moonswan without his direct
oversight) so, if there was anything to be found, I think it likely that it may
still be there.
I have an
appointment with Squire Gordacar this afternoon (it
seems Umbar has a culture of afternoon visiting, which suits me), so we have
the morning free again.
With Pimm’s advice, Brand and I draft a letter to Governor Telemnar explaining the circumstances of Celebrindor’s death and that his estate is forfeit to the
Crown. We apply for possession or access to his estate in Umbar as ‘interested
parties’. Brand then spends the rest of the morning reading up on Tol-Cirya.
Leads to be followed:
Inquire
after Perhaladin – might be a cult for Ragnor
Talk to
Squire Gordacar
Gain access
(or even better possession) to the Red House on the Street of the Smiths
Plan a
visit to Earnil’s Tower on Tol-Cirya