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Even before the sun was up, Luindal came knocking at Rôg’s door, and finding it unlocked, entered. ‘I thought you wanted our wits about us! Mine don’t gather until the day’s light is over the horizon!’ Luindal chuckled as Rôg sat up, knuckling the sleep from his eyes. ‘What’s that in your hand, you pushy Elf?’ Rog got up out of bed, the sheet wrapped round him. ‘It’s tea, and laced with honey. I can smell it.’ He held out his hand and wiggled his fingers at the Captain. ‘Come on. Give it over! And it better be strong if you’re expecting me to even dip one toe in that icy water!’
Two cups of strong tea later followed by a quick bowl of porridge, and Rôg was ready to go. He’d been up late into the previous night checking on the equipment they would need. Two nets – one small to accommodate the small sphere; a larger one to secure around the bigger palantiri. Rôg had gotten one of the Lossoth to help sew a tight fitting suit of seal skins for Luindal. With a thick coating of bear grease applied over his entire body before donning the suit, the captain should be fairly insulated against the cold. And finally, there were several airbladders sewn from sealskins, the seams sealed with pitch. They were blown up with air and tied off tightly to be used as floats.
‘You shouldn’t have to be in the water very long,’ Rôg said to Luindal as they walked up to the quarterdeck. The First Mate had already given the order to weigh anchor. The ship was on its way toward the sandbar that had been identified in the Lossoth document. ‘I’ll do the diving; all you have to do is be ready to secure whatever stone we find with the net and clip the net to the ropes that hang from the airbladders. They’ll show where the globe is while we move in with one of the longboats to hoist it in.’
The Sea-Spirit drew in as close as she could to the sandbar. It would not serve to have her run aground, so she anchored a little west of the area they planned to search. Two longboats set out from the ship. One with Rôg and the Captain in it, along with two Lossoth to row and two armed Elves. The other boat held most of the equipment and several more armed Elves.
It was only a short distance to the area just off the sandbar that Luindal wanted to explore. Rôg threw off his robe and slipped into the water his now sleek body pushing itself gracefully beneath the low lapping waves. He arched back up toward the surface and peeked his head back up to where Luindal looked over the side of the boat. ‘Get going!’ Luindal hissed as the seal regarded him with his large dark eyes. The captain scratched his chest, squirming a little in his suit. ‘This . . . thing . . . you’ve outfitted me with is beginning to get rather aromatic . . . if you catch my drift.’
Rôg twitched his whiskers and grinned, slapping a foreflipper on the water’s surface. ‘I’ve not only caught your drift, but so have the others, apparently.’ He nodded his nose to where the others in the boat had drawn up their scarves about their noses. ‘You’ll notice they’ve positioned the end of the boat your in, downwind from them!’ Before Luindal could make a rejoinder, Rôg dove beneath the water and began his search . . .
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