The day was dawning as a woman called Tilyh walked along the alley. A red scarf covered her head. A dark-colored cloak was wrapped around her slim body. She was wearing boots because it was early winter in Pelargir.
She stopped after every few hundred steps to look over her shoulder. Nothing had changed, nothing was moving. Once she was startled by a large grey rat that leaped in front of her feet from a broken crate. She almost screamed. Her dark-skinned face turned ashen grey. The rat stopped to look at her with a gently understanding expression on its nasty, pointed face before scampering off along the filthy alley between two stone buildings.
Tilyh turned into another alley and pushed open an iron gate that led into a small back yard. No trees or grass grew there. She climbed the five chipped stone steps leading to the back door of a three-story townhouse. Now she hesitated for the first time. Had she stopped to consider it during the gloomy hours before dawn, she would not have come at all.
She bit her lip and knocked on the door, hard. Then she looked around. A dog barked joylessly further down the alley.
She waited for a while and knocked again.
She heard a sound of a door bolt being drawn aside. She saw the door slowly cracking open, hinges creaking.
Thank the ancestors, she thought. It was the man Muldal had described her. The grey man. The man who had promised Muldal that he would do something.
”Muldal told me”, Tilyh said. ”You are the man.” Even though her voice was heavily accented, her Westron was much better than Muldal’s. Tilyh had a sharp ear for languages.
”Who are you?”
”Tilyh.”
He opened the door all the way. Tilyh hesitated for a moment, then walked inside, eyes cast down. ”It’s about Muldal.” Her brown eyes were wide open. There was fear in them. She stared at the man intently for a moment. He closed the door behind him but would not take his eyes off Tilyh for a moment. Was he strong? Could he be trusted? Some men looked strong but then broke to pieces easily with a little shove.
”It’s about me too.” Tilyh made her decision by getting straight to the point. ”I’m afraid something terrible might have happened.”
Delioron took a kettle from a stove. He poured mulled wine for Tilyh.
”Do you want cloves?”
”Yes, please.”
Delioron put some cloves in the mug and gave it to Tilyh.
”Sit down”, he said softly.
Delioron sat at the table across from Tilyh. He was waiting. Tilyh sipped her scalding hot mulled wine.
”I did not know you were up.”
Delioron waited. She was probing. She wanted to be sure. But she would have to make up her mind on her own.
”Su’mokr does not know I am here.”
Delioron waited still. How could he reassure her? There was no way. Words were not real promises. Words could not be trusted.
”I am afraid they have killed Muldal’s son and now Muldal too.”
She set her mug of mulled wine down on the table and stared at it, still clenching it in her fist. Her eyelids blinked like she was trying to use her willpower to wake up from a nightmare.
When she talked again her voice was without tone, leaden. ”Four days ago, during the eve of Eruhantalë, Captain Fangnir came to Su’mokr’s house. I and Muldal were both there as his guests. Muldal had been crying her eyes out because she had heard a ship from Pelargir had arrived with more Corsair prisoners and freed Harad slaves a few days earlier, but there was still no word of her son, Khirih. Somebody from the garrison should have already come to fetch Muldal and Su’mokr. Muldal was sure something bad had happened to Khirih. Then Captain Fangnir came personally. It has never happened before. Su’mokr said they would all come back later – Su’mokr, Muldal and Khirih – but Su’mokr returned alone. He said there had been some complications and that Captain Fangnir had had to escort Muldal and Khirih out of Pelargir for their safety. He said she would come visit me later, but I knew he was lying. I can always tell when Su’mokr is lying. I think they have killed Muldal and her son!”
Delioron said nothing. Something had been wrong all along, starting from the strange letter from Lady Meldis. Somebody still wanted him dead. Perhaps somebody was keeping an eye on Radawen too, to kill her after they had made sure he was dead. Radawen was useful to them as long as she could lead them to Delioron. They were like wargs. They had been on his trail for so long they had forgotten the original reason. They just knew that Delioron had to be killed.
Muldal, the slave-spy, had given him some answers. And now this. These people were all spies, all slaves, all silent. Tilyh wanted to change the terms of her arrangement. She wanted guarantees from Delioron. What did Tilyh want him to say?
Look, Tilyh, he thought. I am a dead man walking. I cannot even save my own life. I cannot save the life of the woman I love. What do you suppose I can do for you?
Pale morning light flooded into the scullery. The house was quiet. Delioron watched Tilyh across the table for a long time.
”Do you have an arrangement with them as well?” he asked.
Tilyh hesitated again, but she would not avert her gaze from Delioron’s. She bit her lip. The chilly room and the ceaseless silence of the house both calmed her down and frightened her at the same time. Who was this strange, solitary man, sitting in the scullery at dawn as if he was waiting for either Muldal or Tilyh to show up, stalking like a cat under a tree, awaiting for its victim to make a mistake?
”Yes”, Tilyh said.
”How long?”
”Two years.”
”You cook, clean and do household chores?”
”Yes.”
”For Lord Nodron?”
”Yes.”
”And you are friends with Su’mokr?”
”Yes.”
”Who have they promised you?”
”What?”
”Who gets released when your two years are up?”
Tilyh’s hands were shaking, but she kept staring at Delioron, as if afraid he would vanish like a ghost if she looked away.
”My son. Si’nol.”
”And now that you think Muldal and Khirih are dead you are afraid.”
”Yes.”
Delioron waited.
”I am sick with fear, can’t you see that?” Tilyh said. ”I want out of the arrangement, I want Si’nol…”
She started crying, but without tears. She wiped her eyes with her hand. Delioron did not move. He kept watching her.
”What do you do for them?”
”Work.”
”What kind of work?”
He knows, Tilyh thought. He knows everything.
Delioron started to talk again in his monotonous, emotionless voice. ”You cannot tell me just bits and pieces anymore. You have to tell me everything.”
”But they would kill me.”
”If you believe so, then why did you come here in the first place?”
”What can you do?”
A trace of a smile touched Delioron’s lips. She wanted leverage. She wanted Gondor’s help if it was helpful to her, but she did not want to completely close the other door either. Not before she had Si’nol with her, safe and sound.
”What would you want me to do?”
”Like I said”, Tilyh said. ”I want Si’nol.”
”Perhaps I can arrange it.”
”How?”
”I do not know. First I must know why would I want to do it.”
She understood, even though she did not want to admit it. ”We are just dumb savages from Harad…”
”Come on, Tilyh! Quit wasting my time! If you came here, you must have had a good reason.”
”What can you do for Si’nol?”
”What can you do for me?”
”What do you want?”
”I want to know what you do for them!”
Tilyh kept staring at him. She hated him just as much as she hated Su’mokr. All men were alike when they had the upper hand over a woman.
”I do not know what they want me to look for”, she said. ”None of us knows. Su’mokr wants to know everything. What the noble houses are planning, who are they allied with and what are they scheming. Ship movements, troop numbers, their training and equipment. Trade deals, trade routes and trading partners. Locations of food storages and armories. Personal weaknesses of nobles, their secrets and arguments, their affairs and contacts. Incidents of civil unrest, mutinies and other notable happenings. He wants to know what the common people think about the noble houses and the authorities of Pelargir. People are very careless, and nobody sees a servant, not even a black-skinned one. Nobody.”
”So everyone with an arrangement has someone kept as hostage in Umbar?”
”Yes.”
”And that is how they have a hold over you. But what makes you think they will keep their end of the bargain?”
”They always have before. Until…”
”Until Muldal disappeared. And you think they have killed her and her son?”
Tilyh closed her eyes. She could not even nod.
”Who is Captain Fangnir?”
”A rich sea-captain. A merchant. From Anfalas. He promised us.”
”What?”
”Captain Fangnir says that we are merely business for him, and because we mean nothing to him personally, we can trust him. We want something, the Corsairs want something and Captain Fangnir gets rich and powerful by helping everyone get what they want.”
”That is slavery!” exclaimed a woman’s voice. Meldis had appeared on the doorway. Tilyh turned, startled.
Delioron glanced at his great-aunt lazily. ”This is none your business, Meldis.”
”This is my house, Deli. Everything that happens under this roof is my business.”
”You do not want to get involved.”
”I am already involved. You, Deli, had no clue about it before I wrote you a letter.”
There was no denying that. Delioron pressed his fingertips together as if praying and leaned back on his wooden chair.
”I can help you”, he began. It was the first lie. He grew silent and looked at Tilyh. Her eyes examined him and believed what they saw. He moved on to the second lie.
”Nothing bad will happen to you. Not from our end and not from theirs.”
He grew silent again. Tilyh wanted to believe him. In other words she wanted to work to help him. The third lie was easier.
”I know what I am doing, but you have to tell me everything. Not now, but when you can arrange a meeting. Not in this house.”
”All right. Then what?”
Delioron remained silent for a while, considering the fourth lie. He decided it just might do the trick.
”I need a description of Si’nol – what he looks like, everything you can tell me about him. We have people in Umbar.”
”Can you get him out of there?”
”Yes.” Lying was as easy as breathing now. His demeanor was calm, gentle even.
He is a strong man, Tilyh thought. Perhaps he can make it happen.
Perhaps even Meldis believed him. She should have known him better. ”How are you going to do it, Deli?” Meldis asked.
”That is none of you business.”
”But Deli! This poor woman! And Muldal…”
”Muldal and her child are dead. They have been killed. And Tilyh must return to Lord Nodron’s house, act as if nothing has happened and keep quiet about everything until I meet her again.”
”But that is slavery!”
”I guess so.”
”How can you allow this…”
”I cannot do anything about it right now.” He glanced at Tilyh. Did she understand?
She nodded barely noticeably, as if in reply.
”Let’s go, Tilyh.”
”I cannot allow that you will let…”
”Shut up, Meldis!” His voice was sharp. The ice field cracked. ”It does not concern you anymore.”
”I am not a slave!”
Both looked at Tilyh. She had said it so fiercely that they both startled.
She looked at both of them and repeated: ”I am not a slave.”
”But you are, dear”, Meldis said in her freezing, protective voice. ”You are a slave. You have traded your freedom for… what?”
”You understand nothing”, Tilyh said. What did these people know, toying with her, even using her, arguing about her in the scullery of this big house. Was she some kind of dumb animal to them? Arrogant, entitled Gondorians! She swept her dress with her hand. She could feel their eyes on her.
”They came to my village one sunny day two years ago”, she said. ”Two Corsair ships filled with bloodthirsty pirates, sailing along what you call River Harnen. We have another name for it in my language. My husband was called Munnon. He was a big man, brave warrior, very handsome. He killed two Corsairs single-handedly, but he was one of the first to die. They killed men, women and children indiscriminately, but some were spared. Young women, men who surrendered and pleaded for their lives, children who were old enough to survive a long trip on the sea. Two children were taken to the other ship – Si’nol and Khirih. I fought and screamed, but they held me down. I did not understand why – not then. The rest of us were taken to the other ship and put in chains. We were held below the deck the whole time – I could not see what happened outside. We sailed for many days, maybe even weeks. It was always dark below the deck, so it was hard to keep track of time. Then one day we heard sounds of fighting from above the deck. We were very scared. When the hatch was finally opened, it was not Corsairs who came to release us from our chains. The Gondorians had come to our rescue.” Tilyh glanced sharply at Delioron. ”I looked but I could not see the other ship anywhere. We were both devastated, Muldal and I. We thought that the ship had been sunk and our children were dead. But then Captain Fangnir came to talk to us. He talked to all freed Harad prisoners individually. He knew our language. He told us that Si’nol and Khirih had been brought to Umbar Baharbél, and that they were safe. He gave us a deal. Two years of work, and the children would be released and brought back to us in Pelargir. Not at the same time. Later in Pelargir Su’mokr told us that Khirih would be released first and Si’nol a few weeks later. Captain Fangnir gave us his word.”
”Until Khirih did not arrive as expected and Fangnir came to take Muldal away”, Delioron said.
”By the Valar, Deli”, Meldis said. ”They are monsters. This is awful.”
Delioron said nothing. He had seen the whole awfulness of it from the moment Tilyh had decided Delioron could save her son, save Si’nol. He could see that Tilyh still had the whole awfulness ahead of her. As did he.
