The Kinstrife
Part
50
In
which Ragnor gains a desk in the Sealord’s
Tower - the Cor Aran HQ - and learns how the Cor Aran works; Triwath reveals a
paucity of intelligence from Mordor; Brand learns the last known whereabouts of
the 4th part of the Key – the Chamber of the Karma beneath the Sealord’s Tower; Ilviren thinks
Neithan might be in Tarannon’s ‘Villa’; Ilviren reveals she’s been hired to ship a clandestine
something out of the Sealord’s Tower at midnight; the
Chamber of the Karma is empty but Brand finds a secret chamber beneath a plinth
that contains the 4th part of the Key to Fuinur’s
Well and documents proving ‘Beruthiel’ was in fact an imposter
– the Ancalimë of legend.
It’s
official! I’m now a Cor Aran witchunter;
I have a first floor office in the Sealord’s Tower
and a weekly budget of 20cr to hire supporting staff. Aerin,
Ilviren and Pimm all sign
up for 5cr/week but while Brand is happy to join in our witchhunting
endeavours he thinks it inappropriate to take an official appointment or pay.
Reading between the lines, I think his reluctance is at least partly connected
with the Cor Aran turfing
the Loremasters out of their lodgings in the Sealord’s Tower. With 5cr going spare and knowing that if it’s
not spent someone will just take it away I recruit Sern
– we may have need of his sort of specialised skills.
Everyone in
the office (obviously it’s shared with others) seems to know who I am and take
care to greet me formally and politely but no one volunteers anything about
themselves, their work or anything about how the office functions. But what
they all want to know is to whom I report. There’s no sense in evasion so I’m
quickly defined as ‘Castaher’s man’. There are many
factions within the Cor Aran but the two most
dominant are those pertaining to the Queen and the King’s uncle, Morlaen. It seems Castaher’s faction are generally regarded as part of the Queen’s
faction, which jibes well with my family’s official political connections.
Once this
news gets around other members of Castaher’s or the
Queen’s faction make friends. Barahin is particularly
friendly; she’s two desks down the room and she shows me where everything is
and how the office works – I now know where to get parchment, quill and ink,
and how to requisition provisions, transport and records from storage.
Barahin
also gives me a quick introduction to factional politics. Castaher’s
adherents are a small clique which almost everyone, including us, regard as
part of the Queen’s faction in terms of power-politics, but within our little
club we like to think of ourselves as less impulsive (and, I get the feeling,
more intelligent) than the typical Queen’s man. I expect the Queen’s faction
thinks we’re a little elitest and aloof, which is
fine by me – I’m sure my personal skills can bridge any perceived gap between
the two.
The other
major factions are Morlaen’s, which we have as little
to do with as possible, and the King’s own faction. I’m by no means certain
that the King’s men either outnumber or wield more influence than either the
Queen’s or Morlaen’s men. Of course, one day the King
will pass on and then Castaher’s men will become the
core of a more powerful faction which will doubtless attract many of the
current King’s faction.
Barahin
runs a Cor Aran network in Minas Anor.
Listening to her describe its operation (sensitive information deleted, of
course) I’m surprised to realise how efficient the Cor
Aran is, bearing in mind it’s only four years old and so riven by factions.
Barahin
takes me down to the Upper Halls (yes, you read that right – the ‘upper’ and
‘lower’ halls are a vast series of chambers beneath the Sealord’s Tower extending under the waters of the Garth).
In these seemingly endless rooms are stored Cor Aran
intelligence reports, broadly speaking by place of origin and within each
section alphabetically, far more than could possibly be processed.
I appraise Barahin regarding my brief and ask if she knows of any Dark
cult activities in Minas Anor. She says no but
introduces me to Triwath who apparently tracks dark
cult activities across Gondor and beyond her borders.
Whatever his faction, Triwath must be a good man to
keep in with as it seems my brief is to apprehend those he names.
Triwath
is aware of a wide range of threats from Harad, the
Storm King and Mordor. The biggest threat is doubtless the recent
assassinations in Morthond and Belfalas but he has
little information on these so I duly promise him a report of Brand’s findings.
But, Maeglin’s and Adrazôr’s deaths apart,
his greatest concern is with the lack of intelligence coming out of
Mordor. Early in his reign Castamir sent a Cor Aran expedition
to reconnoitre Mordor but, under weak leadership, it ran out of food and was
riven by internecine strife between factions. Weakened from within it was
ambushed by orcs and only one man returned alive.
Triwath
says the expedition never penetrated beyond the barren wasteland that is
eastern Mordor.
I suppose
like most Gondorians I hadn’t realised how little we
know about Mordor. If Triwath is even partially right
then it makes sense to investigate such an unknown so close to our borders,
even without its history as the centre of Sauron’s
power in the 2nd Age. Triwath suggests Mordor
is overdue for investigation, which presumably means returning to Minas Ithil. It’s something to think about, but I’d like to talk
to the survivor of the original expedition first.
I meet
Brand for lunch. He’s searched the Loremaster records
and he reckons the 4th part of the Key to the Well of Fuinur is kept in lower halls beneath the Sealord’s Tower – the Loremasters
had the run of these until four years ago. It should be the in Chamber of the
Karma, wherein was once held the Karma of Aldarion before its theft – which I
suppose is either poetic or ironic, depending on your viewpoint, since we need
the Key to retrieve the Karma.
Brand also
relays speculation by Ilviren that Neithan may be
being held in Tarannon’s Villa. It’s well fortified
and a place of great importance to the cult. I recall Ilviren’s father thought
the Benish Armon cult would
be more likely to keep him moving within the marshes but it’s likely that
Neithan will wind up there at some point. Obviously it would take a major
military effort to assault the Villa if defended but I promise to relate the
information to Castaher who I assume is co-ordinating
the troops searching for Neithan.
That
afternoon I write the report for Triwath and drop it
in his in-tray. Then I pay a visit to Bauglir to give
him my letter of ‘commendation’ for Hwiniel in Lond Ernil – along with a verbal
sketch of her character and her recent involvement in the assassination of Adrazôr.
He seems happy to know her talents are available.
Then, with
the afternoon wearing in to evening, I trip down the stairs to pay a visit to
the Chamber of the Karma. The chamber lies at the heart of the lower halls at
the intersection of two corridors but I’m a little disappointed, having tripped
down such a lot of stairs, to find it entirely empty. The octagonal room
has a central plinth on which presumably the Karma would have been before its
theft and there are murals on the walls and ceiling depicting events pertaining
to its origin, but the room itself is bare, even of the boxes of records stached in other rooms.
However,
something about the room (and indeed the architecture of the Sealord’s Tower above) puts me in mind of the Tower of the
Moon in Minas Ithil, and the way things were hidden
there – a job for Brand, methinks, on the morrow – while this is not a tomb,
I’m sure Brand will love to raid it anyway.
So I bring
the team, and Brand, to visit, showing them my desk and enjoying the discomfort
of Ilviren and Sern at
finding themselves at the heart of the Cor Aran
headquarters – bet they never thought they’d see the inside of the Tower
without thumbscrews.
After a
short tour of the Tower I take them below to the Chamber of the Karma, where we
can talk in more privacy. On the way Ilviren reveals
that she’s been hired to ship something out of the Sealord’s
Tower around
I can see
where this is leading and I can’t say I’m happy about it. We know nothing of
how many are involved in this. It could very well be at least ‘semi-official’,
in which case I, a Cor Aran officer of at least 2
day’s seniority, would be poking my nose in matters best left untouched (if
they wanted movement of the shipment to be general knowledge they wouldn’t ship
it at midnight).
But if a
faction within the Cor Aran are engaged in something
illicit and to the detriment of Gondor – or our
faction within the Cor Aran – then they need to be
stopped. But then it may be our side involved – and I can hardly take the
matter to a higher authority within the Cor Aran in
case I’m tipping off the very people engaged in the illicit shipment.
And then,
if we choose to get involved, what of numbers? Even with Brand I would be
leading a team of just three, since Ilviren would be
in a boat outside. Even if there’s a single miscreant, if he has more than a
couple of guards we would be outnumbered – and at least two of my team must be
considered non-combatants. After myself Ilviren is handiest in a fight but she would be in a boat
flanked by at least two potential enemy, possibly more…
I think the
thing to do is go straight to Castaher. If he tells
me that it’s none of my business then I can ensure that I and my team are elsewhere.
On the other hand, if this news raises his hackles he can authorise executive
action and lend me non-Cor Aran troops to provide the
muscle.
So we reach
the Chamber of the Karma. As I’d hoped, it doesn’t take Brand long to reckon
that the plinth moves and he senses something arcane beneath. Ilviren flexes her sailor’s muscles and it moves to reveal
a compartment in the floor with three scrolls and something that I immediately
recognise as the 4th part of the Key. I examine it closely and
confirm that it fits the Serni jewel before secreting
it about my person. Now there’s only Neithan’s
portion to find.
While I’ve
been examining the Key, Brand has been reading the scrolls: one of which is an
account of Earnil’s last words to the one survivor of
his fleet regarding the disposition of certain oilare
seeds to forestall the curse of the last priest of Melkor
in Umbar.
Another is
a chilling declaration by Fuinur in which he defies
the ‘curse of death’ in Adunaic; to my mind the most
significant phrase is ‘by the power of the kuilëondo I
have summoned out of the living waters of nenduhir
those nameless things that gnaw at the foundations of arda’.
I’m not
sure what the kuilëondo is but I suspect it will turn
out to be the red jewel of Beruthiel. More significant in my opinion for what
we need to do is the implication that when we open Fuinur’s
Well we will find ‘nameless things that gnaw at the
foundations of arda’ – that sounds like a hard fight
to me against things unclean.
But I can’t
help wondering where I’ve heard the name ‘Nenduhir’
before – and then it comes to me, this is the name of Kunbeshu’s
ship! The one he held a party on board in harbour to celebrate the Council
passing the budget in Umbar. I remember thinking the translation from the
Quenya sounded vaguely unclean, ‘Seeker of Dark (as in night) Waters’. So it
seems Kunbeshu must have connections with Fuinur and his Well –was that what
Kuneshu was really seeking when he sailed south?
The third
scroll is essentially the ‘true’ story of Beruthiel…
It seems
her true name was Berethiel, the daughter of Tharondur, King of Arnor, who
sent her south to marry Tarannon on his succession.
But alas her ship was wrecked in a huge unnatural storm off Tolfalas
and all aboard were drowned save for Berethiel
herself, who was left senseless on the shore, not even knowing her name.
In an
effort to aid recovery of her mind, she was brought to the ruins of her ship
and on finding a red jewel in the sands she suddenly claimed to recall her name
before swooning dramatically.
With her
identity confirmed she and the King were wed and then he took off to sea to
pursue his war against Harad. Meanwhile his nephew, Earnil, left Tolfalas the charge
of an underling in so he could take command of a fleet of ships provided by Berethiel’s father as part of the marriage alliance.
But in talk
with Tharondur Earnil heard
that Berethiel was renowned for her bright golden
hair, which is remarkable among the Dunedain, and Earnil knew that the King’s new wife had hair as black as
any Numenorean. Ergo she wasn’t Berethiel at all.
Amidst much
twoing and froing, Berethiel slid in to madness – from her diary it seems she
felt ‘other memories’ were intruding. Somehow she gained the cats of legend who
seemed to guard her closely and whose behaviour caused her to become reviled in
Osgiliath. (It was at this time that her name became
corrupted to ‘Beruthiel’ – ‘Woman of Malice’ – by which we know her today.) And
she bore a child whom we know sired the line of Morthond.
It seems to
have been Earnil who finally asked her for her true
name, which by now she had recalled, and she said ‘Ancalime,
daughter of Fuinur’. It seems the Haradrim
had destroyed Berethiel’s ship and left Ancalime to be acclaimed in her place, so that Ancalime would bear a child of the line of Fuinur to become King of Gondor.
So our
suspicions would seem confirmed but there is still some doubt over who was the
other woman washed up in the Ethir at around the same
time, she who became ancestress to Ilviren. Was she a
daughter of Ancalime, as the diary of ‘Beruthiel’
claims, or was she the supposedly dead Berethiel?
Does anyone know the colour of her hair?
Interestingly
the Ethir folk seem to have formed the cult
spontaneously at around the same time and apparently aided the escape of Belphegor, an Umbarian taken
prisoner by Tarannon.
It is now
time for lunch. I must hie to the Palace to consult Castaher – to give him Ilviren’s speculations regarding the
whereabouts of Neithan and to ask if he knows ought of this
To do list:
Talk with Castaher regarding Neithan’s
whereabouts and the
If Castaher agrees, set an ambush within the Sealord’s Tower for the
Order a
suitable present for Estel to celebrate her official
status as Princess of Morthond
Get names
of contacts in Minas Tirith from Triwath
Talk to the
survivor of the 1st Morder expedition
before journeying to Minas Ithil and Mordor
Bury
Adrazôr & attend Aradan’s formal enthronement as
Prince of Belfalas - Tirazôr
should probably be buried with honours too
Survey my estates and produce a plan to improve
them – consider Pimm’s offer but be cautious