The Kinstrife
Part
42
In
which Prince Castaher makes landfall; Brand blames
the Storm King; we plan how to get Estel to safety; Neithan
arrives and views his parents’ bodies before being briefed on our plans
regarding Estel and the funeral – he agrees for Estel to become Mordulin’s ward; we
finalise plans with Estel and Mordulin
over a convivial funeral lunch in which Ragnor fails
to make small talk but luckily everyone is distracted by the drunken entertainers;
the funeral – Neithan publicly grants Estel in to Morduin’s wardship – Aradan really annoys Castaher
with Maeglin’s will; the wake – Castaher
talks to Aradan in private; news arrives that Prince Adrazor of Belfalas is stricken
by the same thing that killed Maeglin; Castaher
orders Brand to investigate and appoints Ragnor as
Royal emissary to protect the King’s interests – no we don’t get any money.
Misternil,
Brand, Ilviren and I stay up all night in case of
alarms but the night passes uneventfully.
Yet another
ship puts in carrying Castaher and Lothriel (Mordulin’s sister). Mordulin misses breakfast to greet her sister on the quay –
evidently the two are close. I send a formal request for an audience. The reply
is gracious and polite, the work of a skilled politician, in summary saying
that an audience is possible if if I deem it vital
but Castaher sees no pressing need to converse
otherwise. It is not a rebuff so I pen a (hopefully) equally gracious reply
thanking him for his understanding.
Brand does
see Castaher (with Ilviren
as moral support) to discuss the funeral. Brand later tells me that Castaher wants a report on the death of Maeglin.
It is only
now that Brand reveals that he considers Maeglin’s
death to be linked to the Storm King! This is news to me and it troubles me
that he chose to speak of this to Castaher before
advising me. Evidently this is something Brand has come up with in the last few
days. Presumably he has good reason for linking the two, though to my mind a
linking with Adunaphel, Harad
and the Mirror of Fire seems more likely. On the other hand he probably knows
more about the nature of the forces of darkness than I do.
Now it
might be that the Storm King is involved – I’m sure all the Dark Cults are
linked if we go back far enough – but nonetheless he is probably outside Gondor’s reach. This was one of the arguments we used in
Umbar last year and to my mind to suddenly play on a supposed link to the Storm
King is going to make our (my) efforts in Umbar look very ill-advised. For that
reason I ask Brand to downplay any supposed Storm King connections. Brand says
he will couch his speculations in Quenya grammatical ambiguity. We agree to
present the facts of the case as per Aradan’s
evidence.
Afternoon: Brand, Aerin and Ilviren familiarise
themselves with the funerary catacombs at low tide – there are no bones or
bodies as the tide washes these out to sea; I hope Brand isn’t too
disappointed.
We plan
what to do with Estel. We can’t get her out during
the funeral, she is a principal mourner and people will notice. There will be a
wake after in the Royal chambers. Aradan intends to
reveal the will during the funeral. If Neithan agrees for Mordulin
to become Estel’s guardian, Neithan can state this
publicly during his funeral oration. Since etiquette demands Neithan speaks
first, hopefully the news of Maeglin’s last testament
will be uppermost in everybody’s minds and Mordulin
will be able to leave almost immediately as the tide rises.
Ilviren
reckons Mordulin’s ship is fast but hers is faster.
To my mind, the ideal would be for Neithan to publically
put Estel in Mordulin’s
hands and then Mordulin and Estel
sail on Mordulin’s ship.
It would be
best if neither I nor anyone connected with me is outwardly involved in this
matter and I want to remain behind to get a feel for the political
repercussions of all this, which I suspect will be serious. However, if Castaher manages to blockade Mordulin’s
ship in harbour or they are prevented from reaching Mordulin’s
ship then Ilviren’s ship is an option.
Of course,
tides and weather may prevent Neithan from arriving, especially as he is
deliberately leaving his arrival to the last minute, if Neithan doesn’t arrive
in time, I will speak in his place. I really hope that doesn’t happen but I
grimly start work on a speech.
From a
couple of previous meetings and a fair number of third-party accounts, Castaher is a dutiful son of his father and intelligent
with it. He not only supports his father’s policies he understands them
on quite a deep level. Some people, however, say he is hen-pecked and his
judgement may be swayed by his wife. If this is so, tomorrow should prove very
interesting indeed.
The morning
tide brings Neithan’s ship in to harbour and it is
with some relief that I throw my speech on the fire.
This time
it is my turn to skip breakfast to meet someone on the quay. Neithan is in
black and frankly revelling in tragedy. Mourning suits him and he knows it. He
intends to view his parents’ bodies and will of course attend the funeral but
aside from that he will use his ship as his accommodation to avoid embarrassing
the many people who probably think he’s the worst thing about a Morthond
funeral (Mordulin and Castaher,
to name but two).
Brand and Ilviren warn Neithan to prepare himself as his parents died
through black magic. He asks for a few minutes in silence by himself with the
bodies of his parents. Then I brief him on what we’ve learned – Aradan’s eyewitness report, Lorin’s
observations, the Fourth Man, our plans for Estel and
Maeglin’s will. Neithan agrees with our plan for Estel, which is a relief as I have no idea what else we
might do with her.
We will
lunch as Brand’s guests, which gives an excellent excuse to invite Estel so she can speak with her brother. I ask Neithan
whether he would invite anyone else and he replies ‘no’ as if by reflex, but
then he amends this to include Aradan, whom I was
about to suggest myself. I take it on myself to word the invitation to Estel so as to include Mordulin
should she deem Neithan’s company bearable. We need
to talk to Mordulin anyway and to my mind it makes no
sense for co-conspirators to refuse to liaise.
Lunch
Estel
duly arrives with Mordulin and Aradan.
Estel goes straight to Neithan who takes her in to a
private room (evidently brother and sister remain close despite Neithan’s rift with his father).
I take the
opportunity to brief Mordulin that Neithan will publically give Estel in to her
guardianship during his funeral oration. Mordulin
says in that case she will leave with Estel right
after the funeral. I offer Ilviren’s ship as an alternative should for any
reason her own ship have trouble leaving harbour and she arranges flag signals
with Ilviren.
My attempts
at small-talk with Mordulin fall very flat indeed so
I move to advise Aradan that Neithan will also be
speaking. Aradan makes a point of stressing that
Neithan will be speaking first, which makes sense in terms of both etiquette
and political drama.
Meanwhile Pimm and Ilviren get a little
drunk but their antics seem generally taken as local colour. Luckily Brand
portrays a perfect image of grave decorum, befitting his coming roll.
The Funeral
The
mourners all meet up, forming discrete parties. Those speaking officially:
Brand, Neithan and Aradan, to the front. Neithan
gives a short, simple speech but in perfect Quenya effusive-restraintive
tense – not quite impenetrable but I can see everyone is too busy working out
what he means to think much about the content.
Then Aradan speaks. Obviously we all know what he’s going to
say. Mordulin already has Estel
close by her and Ilviren seems to be hovering close
as well. I don’t think anyone will be thinking of violence but it pays to be
careful, so with Misternil guarding my back I choose
to keep an eye on Castaher. As Aradan
waves Maeglin’s will from the lectern, Castaher’s face turns as grim as thunder.
The Wake
The service
over and Maeglin and Miriel’s bodies consigned to Uinen’s embrace, we leave the catacombs for the Royal
apartments but even as we leave I notice that Castaher
has re-established control over his emotions, his face is completely impassive
as we leave. However, as soon as we arrive at the palace Castaher
buttonholes Aradan and demands a privy audience.
This seems
an excellent moment for Mordulin to spirit Estel away. Ilviren departs for
her ship just in case it’s needed. Neithan wants to retire to his ship but
before he goes I need to know the party line if I’m still to represent his
interests. ‘I shall respect my father’s wishes’ is, in my opinion, beautiful in
its elegant simplicity and utter deviousness.
Then a
steward comes for Giladan who leaves for another part
of the palace. We learn that a ship has arrived late. It is flying mourning
colours and flying the Belfalas flag. Has the Prince
come late to the funeral? If so, why hasn’t he joined us in the palace?
We all try
to find the meaning of this but it is Brand, in his roll as
master-of-funerary-ceremonies, who learns that the
ship brings tidings that Prince Adrazôr has been taken gravely ill. He is only
90, this is deeply suspicious. I send word to Neithan asking him to rejoin us
as quickly as possible.
Secretly I
suspect that the phrase ‘taken gravely ill’ hides a more serious affliction and
that in fact the Prince is dead. It’s a form of words that has been used
before, to preserve the fiction of a political lemya-imma (literally ‘tarry the
same’) while the heir is found and arrangements made for a smooth succession in
what might otherwise be a crisis situation.
If my
suspicions are true it will put Aradan in a difficult
situation. At the funeral he held up a parchment that puts resolution of the
Morthond succession in the hands of a powerful man at the heart of his power.
But if Prince Adrazôr is dead the Belfalas succession
passes to Aradan, and he is right here, far away from
his power. Not that Castaher is the type to resort to
violence to resolve the issue, but Aradan’s position
is far from ideal.
And some
people might say Aradan’s announcement at the funeral
was self-serving, that he is seeking to deliver Morthond in to his own hands. I
would say that anyone who knows Aradan would know
this cannot be true. Nonetheless some will say it is so. And on top of this Aradan has to deal with the death of a loved father. I am
truly glad I am not in his place.
It’s just
as Neithan arrives that he, I and others receive summons to attend upon the princes
in the library. It seems my fears are to be confirmed.
We find Aradan and Castaher standing
together, apparently in agreement. But it seems things are even worse than we
feared. How can things be worse? It seems Prince Adrazôr has been struck down
by the same ulco
(literally ‘evil thing’) that killed Maeglin. Adrazôr was still alive when the
ship left (he is a lot younger than Maeglin) but failing fast.
This is
horrifying news. Brand is sure it takes many years toil to learn and great
power to wield such magics, yet here we have two
princes of Gondor struck down by the same means, and
doubtless the same hand, within the space of a month. Where will it end?
Castaher
instructs Brand to voyage to Lond Ernil.
His task will be to discover how Adrazôr was stricken and who might be behind
this foul outrage.
Now I am
sure Aradan intended to return to Morthond, to
provide political leadership and serve as his father’s tyaro (agent) while Adrazôr decided
the long term political solution. However, now Aradan
and his brothers have to return to Lond-Ernil. Castaher
must report to the King, his father, on today’s developments, and I doubt he
will relish that task at all.
But this
leaves Morthond in limbo with no one looking after the interests of the
principality. In light of this, I ask what the princes intend to do about it?
It seems Morthond is to be left to its own devices – which I suspect means that
neither Aradan or Castaher wish to voice their plans for Morthond (or the
lack of, for surely plans take time to concoct) to each other.
Obviously I
was preparing the ground to volunteer my services as steward (I have little experience
in such administration but I am a quick learner and surely I could do no worse than
Heruvorn in Minas Ithil).
But then Castaher says I am to go with Aradan,
Giladan, Tirazôr and Brand to
Lond Ernil as Castaher’s emissary to ‘represent the King’s interests’! He
says he will give me letters of appointment in the morning.
Obviously I
keep a smile of grave decorum on my face but this is not welcome news. I am unoffially Neithan’s
representative and in my heart I feel Morthond should go to him or his sister.
Yet Castamir would take Morthond as an apanage for
one of his sons, to increase the authority of his crown within Gondor. Being the King’s emissary would put me in a
difficult position and obviously puts a barrier between me and Aradan. But I am hardly in a position to refuse.
Thinking
about what entourage I can take with me, I ask if any salary is forthcoming
with this appointment. Apparently not! I must pen a letter to father explaining
the situation. Let’s hope he sees fit to continue my salary as his Clerk of the
Quays as I can barely afford what entourage I have.
I think Misternil’s position is vital as I need a guard at my back.
I shall also need legal advice so I shall ask Pimm if
he is willing to serve. I don’t really want to drop Brand as I regard his
advice as invaluable but what about Aerin? I can
afford just 3 retainers as long as I am willing to live like a pauper myself.
But as the King’s Emissary I will be expected to maintain a certain standard of
appearance.
I need to
know exactly what Castaher expects of me, what is the
party line, but that will be a natural part of the conversation when he gives
me my letters of appointment tomorrow. And I must consult with Neithan before
he departs.
I think I
must get to grips with politics at all levels quite urgently.
To do list:
Learn from Castaher what exactly is expected of me
Talk to
Neithan about his wishes – and explain just what is possible and what is not
Establish
what is to be done about Morthond – it can’t keep the Royal army out long
without strong political leadership
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