The Kinstrife

Part 37

In which we sail back to Pelargir, taking the opportunity for intimate conversations with Neithan regarding his intentions as the ‘3^rd Candidate’, in which Neithan decides on a policy of inaction; Aerin and Brand become retainers of Neithan; in Pelargir Ragnor has a interview with the Queen and a slightly more open discussion with his father, who claims he will put his plans for revenge on hold and that we should maintain the fiction of an estrangement between Ragnor and his father; Ragnor’s father grants him some small estates in South Ithilien but he will keep the day job; for many months life goes on as normal but in Spring of 1442 comes word that Prince Maeglin of Morthon has been murdered and Neithan summons everyone to him at the Ethir Garrison.

July 17^th 1441

Misternil cuts his hair, shaves and dons Gondorian style clothing in order to blend in. His skin is two shades darker than most Pelargirians but he should easily pass as a weather-tanned merchant, sailor or soldier – probably the latter, given his bearing and build.

Ilviren will captain her new ship (courtesy of Rastorin). The rest of us will travel with Ranmes aboard Neithan’s ship, who has apparently been waiting for us. The two ships to travel in (a very small) convoy.

I buy a bolt of high-quality silks for Granny Serni and suitable curios for Doronil and Father (total value about 40 crowns). I must ensure Father also gets copies of the maps from Kunbeshu’s voyage.

The first night out, Neithan joins Aerin and Brand and myself in my cabin to discuss his situation as a putative 3^rd candidate for the throne of Gondor. He has not yet made up his mind what to do, his instinct is to wait. He points out that technically his father is the legitimate heir to any claim the family might have to the throne and that he also has a sister. He believes his decision would be easier if he knew who was backing him (Neithan clearly has a paranoia about ‘manipulation’) and what they have to gain.

I advise that his candidacy is being championed by dark cultists at least partly based in Near Harad but with ultimate links to Mordor. At the least they seek the benefits sought by any kingmaker – preference and patronage, a say in policy.

My own opinion is that a ‘3^rd candidate’ may prove better for Gondor in the long term but in the interim there would be decades of civil strife. We have seen the trouble that a two-way civil war had caused; how can a three-way fight be any better?

The said dark forces believe a ‘3^rd candidate’, whoever that might be, would get mass popular support over Castamir and Eldacar by producing a long-lost symbol of Numenorean kingship but I’m not so sure it would be that simple. History is littered with rebels who raised their flags in the belief that the people would spontaneously flock to their banners only to find themselves waving their banners alone.

If Neithan does decide to make his move then the symbol, the Karma of Aldarion, will be useful. We think we know where to find it but it will need all five parts of a key, of which we have 3 parts (including the Serni jewel, which I am wearing) and a fourth part given to Neithan by Zimrakhil. We think we know where to look for the fifth part. Neithan says until he makes up his mind he will elect to hold on to his part of the key. (I, of course, have my own reasons for seeking the Karma of Aldarion but I continue to keep this to myself.)

I concur with Neithan’s policy of waiting but warn him that I doubt the Dark Forces will want to wait too long. When they see him apparently vacillating, they will try to force the issue, which might be achieved simply by letting Neithan’s lineage become generally known. For the moment he can wait but ultimately he will have to formulate an active policy for when passivity is no longer an option. For my part, I want what is best for Gondor and I cannot see further civil strife, particularly a three-way fight for the Crown, as in any way good for Gondor or its people.

I feel Neithan is unduly influenced by the disaster of his last foray on to the political arena. Then he acted precipitously and placed himself in an impossible position, imperilling himself, his men, Morthond and, by implication, Dor-en-Ernil. But having once acted hastily in error I think in his mind he is now reluctant to act at all in fear of action again going astray, as last time, confusing the wisdom of caution with resolute inaction.

We discuss his relationship with his father. Neithan’s action endangered neutrality of both Morthond and Dor-en-Ernil and Neithan’s uncle, Prince Maeglin of Morthond, disowned Neithan, effectively removing him from the succession. That seems a very extreme reaction to me, leaving Neithan’s sister as sole heiress to Morthond.

I ask if Maeglin is likely to reverse his decision but Neithan claims not to know. It is also very unclear what will happen on Maeglin’s death, does he actually have the power to bar his only male heir from the Morthond succession? In any case, his action almost certainly cannot effect any claim Neithan may have to the throne, though such a claim must still be secondary to Neithan’s father. (Though it seems likely that Neithan’s father cannot know of his own ancestry; if he does, he did not share the knowledge with Neithan before the latter’s disgrace.)

I ask if he has been keeping in touch with anyone in his uncle’s court; naturally he has a source of information but I get the feeling that it is very second hand and that, worryingly, Maeglin’s court is solidly behind their lord in their view of his nephew.

July 18^th

The second night Neithan crosses to Ilviren’s ship, where no doubt she will press her own agenda, something involving Colfen and the Benish-Armon cat cult, no doubt, but Neithan’s demeanour seems little changed on his return and I see no reason to press him on the nature of their talks.

July 26^th

We leave Neithan at the Ethir Garrison but not before Aerin and Brand become Neithan’s retainers. With our return to Pelargir on the 26^th, Aerin is no longer in my employ but I would hope to retain Brand as I find his advice and service very useful.

Back at Pelargir, Brand buries himself in a grammar of the Black Speech of Mordor and Aerin presumably returns to her practise, operating again out of Neithan’s house.

I, of course, face a round of political conferences. Fresh off the boat, I pen notes to the King and Queen but I’m relieved to find the Queen is happy to wait for the morrow for my report and I get no call from the King at all, despite Daeron’s suggestion that I may be needed to confirm his report.

July 27^th

Queen Mûrabeth receives me in her ‘work room’, adorned with heraldic displays of her family connections. She has read my report and spoken to Daeron, of course, who apparently praised my ‘energy and enthusiasm’. In return I observe how impressed I was by Daeron, one of the King’s better officials, in my opinion. But beyond this she seems quite content with what she’s already read and I am grateful that she doesn’t press the matter of the ‘3^rd candidate’, though no doubt she will pursue her own enquiries regarding that and I’m sure will take an interest in Neithan’s career.

This just leaves Father, with whom I wish to be more open so I advise him of the political reality behind the ‘3^rd candidate’, that Neithan is being championed by Dark Cults out of Near Harad and Mordor. I am relieved to hear father affirm that this news induces him to put any plans he had regarding this on hold for the nonce.

I also mention that I have reason to believe the coins found in Khoradûr’s chest would seem to have come from the Straight Man, whom Neithan links to the pirates operating off the Ethir and the coast of Dor-en-Ernil, therefore antithetical to the Queen’s faction, which presumably still means us. Father believes Khoradûr was playing both factions against each other to the gain of his true masters, the dark cults of Near Harad. The Straight Man is almost certainly a figure close to Castamir’s uncle using the Pelargirian underworld for their own ends.

We discuss options: naturally the poisoning of Doronil leaves us in a questionable position within the Queen’s faction but both the alternatives seem unacceptable. The ‘3^rd candidate’, whether Neithan or another member of his family, is apparently backed by dark forces, with which we almost certainly do not want to be connected. But the only other alternative is Eldacar, who would seem to be politically unacceptable to most of the Gondorian nobility and in any case would want no truck with our family, still ostensibly staunch supporters of Castamir.

Father thinks it would for the moment be wise to continue the fiction of our estrangement. He has decided to settle some manors on me. This would give me my own income, albeit nugatory, and he could then officially wipe his hands of me in a political sense. It would give me the option of allowing me to pursue my own political agenda, even exploring the possible restitution of Eldacar.

I am grateful to father for this, though I wonder how much he is simply distancing himself from a son whom he feels may prove to be a political risk. If so, I think he’s being a little unfair, as I have fulfilled my role at court more than adequately, I feel, and I think I remain in good standing with the Queen, at least. While I have sympathy for Eldacar, I am hardly in a position to pursue his cause and I cannot believe he would be willing to trust me if I did.

Last of all, I visit Granny Serni with 2 bottles of wine filched from Father’s cellars and some samples from the Umbar silks. I enjoy talking to my grandmather and I suppose I must be some sort of a favourite with her, since she saw fit to gift me with the Serni jewel. I ask why she chose to give it to me when she did? She replies that it’s been the custom in the family to pass it on to a member of the family other than the head (unless none other is available, presumably) with the idea that such a person would be better suited to make good of it.

Of course, this must be some sort of family mantra, as it appears no previous bearer down the generations has seen fit to do more than wear it, but she seemed to think I fitted the bill in the current generation and she still hopes I will find a good use for the jewel. Although she does not say so overtly, her words imply that it must have a use beyond the merely decorative.

I tell her father is to gift me with estates of my own and that once I have overlooked them and set them in order, provided they include a house worthy of the purpose, I would be honoured if she would pay me and them an extended visit.

July 28^th

Father gives me details of the estates. The Restalómë (literally ‘shadow-fields’) estates lie on the hinterland of Pelargir towards Mordor, in South Ithilien. Obviously, if the family’s worth was measured in landed income father wouldn’t be a merchant prince so I am not surprised that their income is poor, amounting to some 500 crowns per year – as Brand points out, about 10 crowns a week, so I think I will keep the day-job. However, the estates include the maintenance of a small town house (Restalómë House) in Pelargir and the small castle of Lómëtirion (‘watchtower of the shadows’) on the estates themselves. It may be that if I put myself in to estate management that the income might be improved, as I hardly imagine father has paid them much personal attention.

August 1441 to April 1442

I spend my time between working for father as Clerk of the Keys in Pelargir, the management of my new estates in South Ithilien and in a little duelling, in which I like to think I make a bit of a name for myself. By diligent management of my incomes, I manage to save enough to purchase a rapier of excellent quality, suitable to my station and ambitions and I return the borrowed blade to the Royal armouries. Lómëtirion is put in order and I make a date with Granny Serni to visit for a month or two in the summer.

Meanwhile in Pelargir, Ilviren passes on the information regarding Tarannon’s ‘villa’ in the marshes to the Straight Man, though I ensure the keys are returned to the palace. I later hear that the Straight Man sent a force to secure the Villa only for them to be massacred to a man by the cult of Benish-Armon – privately I am relieved to hear this, and doubly relieved that we did not spend a night in the fort.

Then in April I hear word that Prince Maeglin of Morthond is dead in suspicious circumstances; later that day I get word from Neithan to come to him in the Ethir Garrison. It’s possible that he’s forgotten that I did not take his fee as a retainer but I think I shall go anyway as I suspect that the Dark Forces have decided to move things along a little. Let’s hope Neithan has now decided on a more active plan. Personally I think his first priority should be to find out the disposition of the principality regarding him succeeding his father as otherwise absence of a strong hand may cause Morthond to implode to the disadvantage of all concerned.

To do list:

Survey my estates and produce a plan to improve them

Ensure Brand looks for the 5fth part of the Key of Fuinur’s Well

Who was Tevildo from the Benish Armon tomb in the Ethir Anduin?

Inquire after Perhaladin – might be a cult for Ragnor