[Imladris]

Jarlyn peered over the top of the railing, his eyes boring holes into the drifting elven ship. The mooring lines hung limply, their arches almost trailing in the water. It seemed as if the air itself was resting from its fury the night before.

He glowered at the elven ship. Their sails were in rags, slime was smeared upon the hull. Elves had such an awful knack for complicating issues. Why did they want the Stones....why did the Corsairs want to see the Stones.

Seeing things that were best kept in whispered darkness tended to make one paranoid. It would suck the joy from life...you would always be afraid. You could not take the blows as they came, you would tense up, waiting for the blow, wondering how in Middle Earth they could ever stop it, how it could even be stopped. And the worry would eat away at them, like a parasite upon a host.

He heard a crash from behind him and he flung around. His fellow crew mates were pushing boulders from the mountain crags, blocking the entrance to the cave. His eyebrows shot up. Why would they want to do that?

With a shrug he dived into the water and began to paddle to shore. The water was cool, glimmering in the clouded sun. Pulling himself onto a bit of hard ground, he sauntered towards the cave entrance which seemed to be choking up clouds of dust.

"Why did you do that?" he asked incredulously to Marreth, gesturing towards fallen boulders. "Do you realize how you have complicated the issue?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jynne sidle up behind Marreth's shadow.

"We have trapped the vermin, killing them," said Jynne silkily. "The captain agreed to my plan --"

"Do not answer my questions, Jynne," Marreth snapped.

"So, you created a boulder slide to kill them?" asked Jarlyn. "It would have been so much easier to have a mock battle with them, pretend to flee before them, and, when they found the Stones, to set upon them in the night."

Marreth frowned and glanced at the rockslide.

"It would have taken too long," Jynne said smoothly, his dark eyes narrowing. "We would have run out of supplies skulking in the waters."

Jarlyn scooffed. "The Snowmen would have given us supplies. I think this was a convenient way for you to disguise your cowardice with cunning."

Jynne flinched. A grimace flittered across his face as he said softly, "I am not afraid of death. I value my life, and will do the utmost....to preserve it," he added in a whisper.

Jarlyn opened his mouth to retort when Marreth said, "That's enough, the both of you!"

Within the cave, there was a faint of scabbering, like rats trying to escape. A muffled voice began to shout.