[Regin Hardhammer]

As the fighting raged all around him, Marreth spent most of his time zealously protecting the Stone. In his earlier plans, he had envisioned the Corsairs launching a surprise attack on the Elven ship, not the other way around. No matter, he would soundly defeat Luindal's war host and then seize their ship along with the massive Stone on board.

Marreth slashed furiously with his sword as the invaders attempted to penetrate the ring of Corsairs surrounding the smaller Palantir. Marreth wished that he could put his treasure someplace safe so that he would not have to focus all his strength protecting it, and his men would be free to fight elsewhere on the ship. He needed to find a secret hiding place for his treasure! Should his worst fears come true and the Elves capture the vessel, they would still not be able to seize the Stone, since they would have no idea where it was. He could simply slip down below and retrieve it and make a hasty exit of his own.

But where could he hide it? He needed to conceal it somewhere that the Elves would never think to search. It was too large to fit inside his seachest, and they would be sure to look in the cargo hold. The place would have to be secluded and dark, but not overly difficult for him to reach in the event that he needed to make a hasty escape.

Then it came to him. With a grin, he reflected, Of course, I should put the Stone in the garbage chute.The Elves will never expect such a powerful weapon to be lying in the middle of moldy potato peels and empty rum jugs. The trash chute was in the corner of the kitchen next to the oven. It was large enough to admit a man and led to a storage hold below the ship in which all the trash collected and which was emptied out into the sea every couple of days by several unlucky crew members.

Marreth told his men to break ranks from their circle and noted that they were now free to chase down intruders in every quarter of the ship. No one questioned his orders. Then he quietly swept the Palantiri under his arm and broke away from the others, alerting no one of his plans. In the heat of battle no one was going to notice him retreating for a minute below deck. Creeping past the sleeping quarters and the mess hall, he reached the kitchen. Marreth's mouth watered at the sight of the goose that he had asked the chef to prepare for the officers’ dinner. It lay half gutted on the food preparation table. But he did not have time to think of eating: he must make sure the Palantir was safe, out of the hands of the Elves or their even more vile Gondorian allies.

His keen eyes scanned the room to ensure that he was not being followed. He had the strangest feeling that a pair of eyes was on him but that was impossible, since there was no place in the kitchen large enough for a man to hide. He thought he heard some rats scuttling about, but that was the only sound other than the distant din of battle.

He pried open the large wooden chute, squeezed downward into the opening with some difficulty, and bumped down the chute, landing on top of the trash heap. The stench was overwhelming. Marreth pinched his nose and scowled as he buried the Stone deep in the pile between a large mound of moldy bread and the remains of last night's fish. Glad that such an unpleasant task was done, his mind more at ease concerning the security of the Palantir, he shimmied back up the chute to the kitchen with renewed confidence. He must not be too proud, however: there was still a battle to be won. Marreth emerged back on deck and renewed his assault against the enemy, twice as terrible as before.