"This is nothing but a great opportunity for the village, " said Inziladun, when it was found that Lommy had, by some mysterious agency, survived the night. "Now, if only we had some idea of who the spies might be..."
"Here. Let me help you out." Guard-lieutenant Shastanis Althreduin, his face grim and set, stepped forward. "I am a spy! There is no way, I see, for us to win– so let us die with glory!"
"Seize him!" the others cried, rushing forward. "Tear him limb from limb! Throw him to the serpents! Skin him alive!"
"Nay," said Shasta, glaring at them with such pride and fierceness that they fell back in dismay. "Ye shall not slay me, dogs of Southrons! For Gondor!"
And he threw himself on his sword.
"Shasta!" gasped he who had called himself Captain Pitchwife of Umbar, running to the dying man's side. "My last comrade shall not die alone!" He turned the gaze of a cornered wolf on the assembled Haradrim. "Do your worst, minions of Mordor!"
But when the others finally gathered up the courage to lay hands on the false Corsair, he neither spoke nor moved, merely gazed straight ahead with fixed eyes that even now were lightening to uncanny Númenórean grey. Lommy examined him and declared that he was dead on his feet.
"If's almost as if he just...willed himself to die..." she said in wonder, making the protective sign of the Serpent.
This fearful portent (as many took it to be) cast a momentary shadow over the company, but this was lifted as they beheld the longed-for sight of the last two spies transforming in death into their true, hateful shapes, and realised the struggle was over.
"Finally," Sally proclaimed, "She Who Now Walks Among the Gods has been avenged! All Hail Acolyte Thinlómien, Saviour of the South!"
Great was the rejoicing that day, greater still the next when all the populace flocked to see the triumphal parade. Trumpets played, guards in jewelled armoured marched, sorcerers performed dazzling displays of magical pyrotechnics and Pomegranate and A Little Green led troops of slave-girls in a succession of graceful and intricate dances, while Lommy herself rode down the Imperial Avenue in a gilded howdah mounted on the back of a white mûmak. Even Lottie was allowed to give a public demonstration of her magical skills, and, for once, nobody was more than mildly singed. (The only frown to be seen was on the face of Treasurer Inziladun, who had to keep an eye on expenses.)
Magnificent as the celebrations were, they were eclipsed altogether by those held shortly afterward when Thinlómien the Glorious, Saviour of the South, mounted the Serpent Throne as the newly-crowned Empress of Harad!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Living
Sally –Messenger girl.
Pomegranate –Entertainer.
A Little Green –The Empress's favourite snake-charmer.
Lottie –Accident-prone sorcerer's apprentice.
Inziladun –Minister of the Treasury.
Lommy! –Court physician.
Dead
The Empress of Harad. Mod.
–assassinated in her sleep.
Bom Tombadillo –Greatly afflicted beggar. Ordo.
–multiple stab wounds.
Eruhen –Court eunuch. Ordo.
–burned to death on the Empress's funeral pyre.
Rikae –Empress's handmaiden. Royal Executioner.
–garotted with own wire.
Nogrod –Camel and coffee trader. Spy.
–poisoned with own merchandise.
Galadriel55 –Professional assassin. Captain of the Guard.
–neck broken in stairwell fight.
Legate of Amon Lanc –Legate of Khand. Ordo.
–crushed to death by an enormous waggon.
Steve –Court Jester (from Umbar). Envoy of Morder.
–sliced up by the spies on Night Four.
Boromir88 –Wealthy mûmak breeder. Spy.
Trampled by own mûmakil.
Shasta –Particularly attentive guard-lieutenant. Spy.
Threw himself on his sword.
Pitchwife –Captain in the "Provisional Royal Númenórean Navy" and emissary of Angamaitë IX, Lord of Umbar. Spy.
Chose death by the grace granted of old to the Men of Westernesse.
Village wins! Acolyte wins!