~~The Ambitious Corsair~~
Part II
As a young boy Gimilthôr worked hard at the harbour, with most of his effort going into keeping out of sight from angry slavers who made port – he became quite good at that. But when the captains of Umbar arrived, he would stand upright and hail them. He quickly learned all their names and the names of their ships, and through stealth he would listen in on their meetings and learn of their raids across the sea. Ere long he was noticed by one of these captains and from that came his first voyage at sea aboard a smaller vessel, albeit while doing not the labour of a sailor, but of a slave at the end of a whip. Even with one so young, they did not hold back to tear his back if he lingered. Four summers passed before he first held a line in hand. His eagerness in that task was rewarded with more tasks that befit a sailor, but he knew that the way to corsairhood was through blood and cruel will.
Before Gimilthôr came of age, he had already held a slaver’s whip in hand aboard one of the Great Ships. These were the largest and most heavily armed in the Umbar fleet. Slaves toiled above and below deck. Above deck they did much of the labour he had done. Below deck they manned the oars, providing the ships with their infamous speed. Here it was that young Gimilthôr learned the value of rowing slaves. They were the heart of a good ship, but they died too easily through the cruelty of their corsair masters. Gimilthôr knew then that a better treatment of slaves would also grant more speed and offer more winnings.
But whipping slaves was slave work too, and if Gimilthôr wanted to sail his own ship one day, he would need to show his strength in the eyes of the captain. But during raids he was assigned to stay with the ship and watch offshore how the corsairs pillaged and burned the land, bringing back spoils and slaves. And with every coming raid he was denied a hand in battle. But Gimilthôr could suffer only so many dishonouring charges, so that, with the next raid, he snuck off board and swam ashore. By the time the guards aboard the ship learned he was gone, it was too late.
There he was standing on some sandy shore deep in the southern regions of the world. He followed the smoke inland and after many strides through arid land he came at last unto the raiding party. But the captain was most displeased with his disobedience and he would have left him there in the desert if he had not pleaded a challenge by combat. He figured him too young to win from any of his doughty warriors, but at best his loss would amuse him. Hence, he asked his corsairs who would accept the young boy’s challenge and one volunteered. Then he beckoned one of his men to offer Gimilthôr an axe. But as he tried to lift the axe he was surprised by its weight, and they laughed. He then asked for a weapon more befitting his stature, and they threw him a dagger.
The skirmish that ensued was never in his favour. The corsair was too strong, and though Gimilthôr could surprisingly elude many of his strikes, even wounding him by the leg, he was eventually cast down and beaten. But when he finally awoke, he was not lying on the sandy shore where he thought they would have left him, but he was back aboard the corsair ship. Indeed, though he had lost the challenge, the captain had been impressed by how long he had endured, and he had ordered his wounded body to be taken back to the ship. Should he perish by his wounds, he would die a slave, but if he would live, he would waken a corsair.
