[Ealasaide]

Airefalas took another sip of lukewarm, watery beer and looked around the nearly deserted common room of the Inn of the Crescent Moon. While not luxurious by any stretch of the term, it seemed like a respectable enough establishment. It was clean, anyway, and the pattern of blue and white tile work that covered the walls from the floor to the chair rails throughout the room and arched over the doorways was well-maintained and free of the ever-present layer of dust that seemed to cover so much of everything else in Umbar. The innkeeper looked like any other innkeeper in any one of a hundred inns throughout Middle Earth. There was certainly nothing sinister about the place, at least not as far as Airefalas could see. He wondered why the guard had seemed so reluctant to go there.

Feeling immeasurably better from having gotten both out of the sun and something to drink, Airefalas decided to make himself comfortable for the few minutes he had to spend before returning to the hospitality of Lord Falasmir's palace. He sat back in his chair and looked back over his shoulder to where the guard Raal still stood on post.

"Do you follow shipping at all?" he asked in a friendly tone.

"A little," Raal answered stiffly. "Lord Falasmir's black ships are the pride of Umbar."

“As well they should be,” rejoined Airefalas. “The sight of one on the open sea is enough to give any merchant captain pause.” He took another sip of beer. “Have you ever sailed on one of Lord Falasmir’s ships?”

Raal shook his head. “No.’ He hesitated a moment, then continued. “My cousin has crewed on the Black Eagle. He says it’s an amazing vessel.”

Airefalas nodded ruefully. “She’s taken lots of bounty, I suppose.”

Raal grinned wolfishly. “Lots. Whenever they take a merchant ship - particularly a Gondorian one - Lord Falasmir parades them through the harbor, banners flying. It‘s a magnificent sight.”

“I can imagine,” muttered Airefalas, thinking gloomily of the precarious position of the Lonely Star, berthed as she was between the Black Eagle and her sister. Another idea occurring to him, he half-turned in his chair. “Do you see all the seized ships?”

Raal nodded. “Most of them. The ones Lord Falasmir wants us to see, anyway.”

“Ah.” Airefalas nodded. He was thinking of his own lost ship, the Amarantha, that had been seized by corsairs some months earlier. Turning once again toward the table, he debated whether to ask the guard about her. Finally, he decided why not? He leaned back toward Raal. “There’s one in particular I was wondering about. She would have come in a couple of months back, a Gondorian ship, called the Amarantha.”

The guard looked vague.

“Pretty little ship,” continued Airefalas. “Square rigged. Three masts with a nice, high quarterdeck. She would have come in two, three months ago.”

Thinking hard, Raal came around and took the other seat at Airefalas’ table. He shook his head.

“One of her masts might have been broken.”

“Aha!” Raal nodded triumphantly, his memory finally jogged. “Yes! Blue trim along the sides.”

“That’s the one!” Airefalas nodded, his emotions a mixture of joy at knowing what had become of his ship and a lingering anger at how she had gotten there. Well, at least she hadn’t been scuttled, he said to himself.

“Why do you ask?” asked the guard.

“She belonged to my brother.”

“Ha!” Raal laughed triumphantly and leveled a thick finger at Airefalas face. “Umbar rules the seas!“ Airefalas pointed back and laughed rather wryly, not willing to admit that he had been the captain of the unfortunate vessel. Even so, he could see that the guard was beginning to relax some and decided to see what advantage he could take of it.

Raal shot a nervous look at the door, then signaled the innkeeper for a cup of red wine. “You know there is something else about that ship,” he added once he had taken the first sip of wine. “The captain of the lead ship who took her, the Ravenspar was arrested on his return to port. Something about pilfering the cargo. I guarded him for a spell before he was beheaded.”

“Purely for his own protection, I’m sure,” said Airefalas sarcastically.

The guard grinned. “Lord Falasmir’s spies had told him that the ship had left Dol Amroth fully laden, but by the time she got here, her holds were empty. All Lord Falasmir got was the ransom for the crew and the ship herself. Captain El Anouyi claimed he was innocent, but nobody ever did find out what happened to the cargo.”

“Hmm,” said Airefalas blandly. He knew very well what had happened to the cargo. He had pitched it overboard himself in an attempt to run a bit lighter in the water and perhaps gain a few knots of speed. Poor El Anouyi had had nothing to do with it. Nonetheless, beheading was good enough for him. His hospitality had left quite a lot to be desired. By the time the Amarantha’s crew had been ransomed and returned to Minas Tirith, they had been malnourished and half-dead from rowing. Airefalas had not forgotten.

He watched as the guard drained his cup and ordered another. Sensing Raal’s lowering defenses, Airefalas decided to take a chance.

“There is no caravan, is there?” he asked abruptly.

The guard’s expression closed like the door to a prison vault. “There is a caravan,” he said stubbornly. “It approaches from the north.” Pushing away the second cup of wine, untouched, Raal rose to his feet. He nodded toward the door. “It’s time we were going.”

Airefalas nodded and rose to his feet as well, knowing that he had pushed his advantage as far as it was going to take him. Raal may have had a fondness for wine, but he obviously wasn’t stupid. It was time they were getting back to the palace, anyway.