It was a sunny day in Pelargir. Magolben was keeping an eye on the townhouse where the old lady lived. He was looking for Delioron. He wondered if the woman of Harad, Tilyh, was also in the house.
”But Sapmaster, I thought my orders were to…” he had said in the Cisterns of Minas Tirith a few days ago.
”The situation has changed, and so have your orders, Seedwarden”, Sapmaster had replied. ”As it turns out, Delioron was in Pelargir living in his aunt’s house, but now he has disappeared again. Go to Pelargir and find out where he went.”
”But how?”
”Go meet a man named Su’mokr in Pelargir. He runs the Umbarrim spy ring there. Tell him that The Withered Tree has sent you to aid him. Su’mokr will tell you what to do.”
This morning Su’mokr had said to him:
”Find out if Tilyh is still in that house!”
”And then what?”
”Kill them! Kill them both! There is nobody else there. Delioron has disappeared. He left Pelargir days ago, and so did the Corsair housekeeper. There is only the old woman in the house, and maybe Tilyh too.”
And here he was now, staring at the townhouse from the mouth of the the alley where he stood. His eyes were wide open, his face like carved from marble. He unsheathed his short sword. He walked across the street and climbed the stairs without hesitation, without caution. It was the best way. He sheathed his sword again but kept his fingers wrapped around its hilt.
He knocked on the door. He waited. He knocked again.
A bolt was removed and the door opened.
It was the old woman, Delioron’s aunt – Lady Meldis. Magolben needed to find out what she knew. He raised his leg and kicked the door in with force. The old woman flew across the hall and crashed against the railing of a staircase.
She screamed. Magolben stepped inside, slammed the door shut behind him, unsheathed his sword and pointed its blade at her face.
”Where is Delioron?”
She had until Magolben would count to three. He did not want to prolong it. He had to kill the old woman first and then go upstairs to look for Tilyh. If he found her, he would kill her too. Then he would go straight back to Su’mokr’s house.
Two. Three.
Suddenly Magolben felt sharp pain in his back and chest. What was wrong? He looked down and stared at a blood-stained blade protruding from his chest. Then he felt more pain as somebody pulled the blade out of his back. Blood spurted from the wound in his chest.
Magolbed turned and saw a black-haired man standing in front of him. He was holding a blood-stained short sword. Magolben could feel the salty taste of blood on his lips. He was still conscious, he knew he was awake, but in some strange way he felt like he was standing outside of his own body. The dark-haired man swung the sword sideways and Magolben, standing outside of his body, watched in horror how it cut his head off his shoulders. Then all went black.
The dark-haired man was still holding a half-eaten apple in his left hand. Meldis squeezed the railing tightly, knuckles white, and stared at the bloody, headless corpse at her feet. She raised her head to look at the dark-haired man, who stepped into the dim light of the hall. His face was riddled with pock-marks. He looked down at the corpse.
”I reckoned Delioron knew what he was talking about”, he said in a voice so coarse and raspy it was like growling. ”Do you see now, lady? You thought my presence here was uncalled for, but are you not glad now that I came when he asked me to?”
Meldis did not cry, but she could not reply either.
