The Kinstrife
Part
52
In
which Mordulin greets our heroes; Aerin
reveals that she’s been summoned to help Estel
interpret her dreams, which involve her brother, Neithan; Ragnor
gives his present to Estel and then has a moderately
full and frank discussion with Mordulin; he advises
of the King’s plans to marry Estel to Castarion; Mordulin intends to
take Estel to Morthond after the Day of Ceremony; Estel tells Aerin that she sees Neithan
in the throne room at Day of Ceremony with an evil blade about to make a ‘bad’
decision; Ragnor and Estel
visit the throne room; Ilviren learns that the blade with
which Neithan killed Ornendil was stolen last night;
Brand leads the investigation of the Royal Archives.
The Houses
of Healing are run by Teriath who it seems is
expecting us and sends a runner to tell Mordulin. Mordulin turns up an hour later, giving us time to unpack
and freshen up.
Mordulin
thanks Aerin and Brand for coming. She has left Estel in the King’s House at the Citadel of the Stars where
she and Mordulin are staying. Mordulin
describes the damage to the Tower of the Stars; enough rubble has been removed
to allow recovery of the Royal Archives but she is concerned that the
foundations may be been damaged when the Tower fell. They way she describes the
damage reminds me of the recent damage to the Sealord’s
Tower in Pelargir.
A scholar
named Mithrandir has suggested there may be things of interest and left a
scroll of a spell to help the loremaster responsible
– to whit, Brand, who chortles over the scroll with avid delight.
I offer my
condolences for the deaths of Mordulin’s father and
brother. Brand outlines our findings regarding their deaths and I warn Mordulin about Iriel, the Benish-Armon cult and their kindred to Neithan.
At this
point Mordulin mentions Estel’s
dreams and Aerin reads a portion of Mordulin’s letter that refers to Estel
dreaming of Neithan in the Dome of the Stars. This is news to me. Aerin wonders if Neithan could be in Osgiliath
in the Ethir enclave (several hundred volunteer
labourers)?
Mordulin
plans to sail with Estel for Lond
Ernil after the Day of Memory, a week hence but will
arrange for official papers for us all to allow us to move freely within the
city. I ask for mine to be in the name ‘Curuhuan’ as
I wish to remain incognito.
Evening
Aerin
and I visit Estel and Mordulin
in the King’s House. I offer the silk and the broach and chat to Estel in a friendly fashion for a few minutes. Mordulin and I then withdraw leaving Aerin
to discuss dreams with Estel.
I advise Mordulin that I’m now Cor Aran
working for Prince Castaher – I think honesty is the
best approach in this case – and offer my frank opinion that he may one day
make a very effective monarch and that Gondor could
do worse – and has done in the past.
Estel
is now the leading heiress in Gondor and
Castamir has his eye on her as a wife for his youngest son, Castarion,
which would make Morthond an appanage to the Royal
family, for the next couple of centuries at least. Castarion
is ernest, he lacks the
‘edge’ of the rest of his family and might make Estel
a good husband – she could do worse. This is, of course, confidential but I
think Mordulin and eventually Estel
should know of the King’s plans.
Meanwhile Mordulin’s brother, Giladan, is governing
Morthond for Estel. Mordulin
thinks Estel should join him there. I have concerns
over this. Giladan is a superb administrator but is
not a leader of men. He may not be the man to foil an overt threat – and Benish-Armon may perceive Estel
as vulnerable there. However Mordulin thinks Estel would be farther from the Ethir
and safer in Morthond than in Minas Anor or any of Gondor’s northern cities.
I raise the
subject of Neithan: she doesn’t want to discuss him but I remind her that when
Neithan kills someone he shouldn’t others tend to suffer. Mordulin
takes my point and I change the subject to the forthcoming Day of Memory, not
wishing to push her further and she describes the festivities, if that’s the
right word.
Meanwhile Aerin has learned from Estel that
she’s been having a recurring dream of Neithan about to make a bad
decision, like when he killed Ornendil (Mordulin’s betrothed). Estel sees
Neithan with an evil blade in the old throne room. Aerin
wonders if Estel might not be dreaming of the past
event but Estel says she sees the new Cor Aran building in the background so the time is now or
the near future.
Aerin
and I visit the throne room on the way back to the Houses of Healing. The
throne has been moved away from a collapsed wall, the ceremonies for the Day of
Memory will take place here and here is where Estel
sees her brother with the ‘evil blade’ about to make a ‘bad’ decision.
But what is
this decision? To rebel now or later? Rebelling now
would mean failure, which might prove ‘bad’ for Neithan but not necessarily for
Gondor. Or is it simply an opportunity to wreak
vengeance on Angbor? It was Angbor’s
betrayal of Neithan on the bridge in Osgiliath that
directly caused Neithan to kill Ornendil. Neithan
clearly felt ‘wronged’ by that betrayal (though not as wronged as Ornendil in my opinion) and might very well yearn for
revenge. Calimon will not be present personally but
he will certainly want a flunky to observe.
On the
other hand there are connections between the pirates and Calimon’s
father, Morlaen. Perhaps Morlaen
also has connections with Benish-Armon? In which case
the recent magical assault on the Sealord’s Tower in
Pelargir might have been the cover to smuggle this ‘evil blade’ Estel claims to have seen in her dream.
But if
that’s the case, on whom might Neithan use the blade? Has Benish-Armon
warped his mind to the point where he would kill Mordulin,
or even his own sister? I’ve a feeling that it would be much harder to make him
kill Estel. He has shown an abiding feeling for her
that I don’t think even the Cat cult’s dark magics
could overcome in the time they’ve had him in their grasp.
However, Mordulin is another matter: she has made her own feelings
toward Neithan very plain. More importantly Mordulin
is an embarrassment for Castamir and his counsellors, including Morlaen. Mordulin’s popularity
means the current regime cannot be seen to move against her but if she were to
be killed at the hands of Neithan, who also killed Ornendil,
then the circle would be squared and two major nuisances disposed of to the
satisfaction of the powers that be. I think I must offer my services to Mordulin as a bodyguard.
Seeking to
glean information on the work of the Ethir labourers,
Ilviren learns that last night someone cut the
throats of two guards and stole the sword that Orodreth (the prince now known
as Neithan) used to kill Ornendil. Oh joy! It seems
my guess regarding the machinations in the Sealord’s
Tower the night of May 29th were wide of the mark but I don’t
suppose it really matters which ill-omened blade Neithan wields when he comes
to make his ‘bad’ decision. Aerin and Brand view the
bodies – they’re dead! But at least there’s no taint of dark magic about them.
It occurs
to me that Neithan at some level doesn’t trust his own judgement, which is why
he has purposely avoided making any decision of importance regarding his
heritage. In which case he should definitely not wear the crown of Gondor – a king’s actions may prove good or ill but a king
who never acts is arguably worse than either.
We spend
the day helping Brand sift through the Royal Archives. The lowest levels are
mired in slime from the floodwaters in to which we descend by ropes, wearing
waders. The floor is still ankle-deep in water and strewn with damaged books
but Brand reckons a lot are salvageable.
We find the
strongroom door open and evidently cleared but Brand
finds a hidden chamber. While trying to access it I take a fall on a heap of
rubble but luckily escape hurt.
There are
what look like drains high in the wall that are undoubtedly the source of the
flooding. Why in Middle Earth do you put drains, presumably leading to the
river, high up in wall of what is supposed to be a secure strongroom? If a drain is needed, surely it should be in
the floor?
There’s
also a door at the far end of the strongroom with a
large wheel and metal rods, apparently a locking device but linked to the
drains, judging from the sign in Quenya warning that ‘incorrect usage will
activate the pumps’. Sern has no idea how it works
but Brand uses the spell from the old scholar’s scroll and divines the nature
of the mechanism.
At Brand’s
direction, Sern opens the door to reveal stairs…
To do list:
Volunteer
to be Mordulin’s bodyguard at the ceremonies of the
Day of Memory
Visit Minas
Ithil
Talk to the
survivor of the 1st Mordor expedition before entering Mordor
Survey my estates and produce a plan to improve
them – consider Pimm’s offer but be cautious