Captain Fangnir was tired of the docks of Pelargir. Much of his time these past weeks had been spent there, overseeing the unloading, the repairs and the provisioning, and the hiring or paying of his crew.
He had long thought of Pelagir as his second home, but the murder of the Harad woman had left a bitterness he could not shake. Nothing like that had ever happened to him before, and the incident had made it harder for Fangnir to see himself as a savior and a hero. Of course someone with Fangnir’s standing in Gondor had not sullied his hands with the wretched deed. Su’mokr had strangled the woman, but Fangnir had been there and allowed it to happen – ordered it, in fact. It had to be done, of course, but the incident had cast a long shadow over Fangnir’s view of himself.
He closed his eyes to banish the memory. When he opened them again, Mudon was standing beside him on the quay.
”Captain Fangnir”, Mudon smiled.
”Good afternoon”, Fangnir said stiffly. ”Is this necessary? What is the meaning of this?”
”There has been some trouble in Minas Tirith, Captain Fangnir.”
”Please explain.”
”It concerns our arrangement, Captain Fangnir!” Mudon’s voice was soft, his keen brown eyes gleamed, his black hair was combed back from his low forehead. ”We have received tidings of your own troubles of late.”
”What do you mean by that?”
”I am talking about the dark-skinned woman who was found floating in the harbor. But perhaps she merely slipped and drowned? Such things can happen, of course.”
”I didn’t kill her”, Fangnir said, as if it made any difference to Mudon. ”But it had to be done. Her son died. It was an accident, but she would have talked. She would have ruined everything.”
Mudon smiled. ”We have also received a tiding that another of your ’impressed ones’ has disappeared. She went missing at the same time as a certain man who has long served the throne of Gondor in certain… delicate affairs. A man your Corsair friends have been hunting. It is very bad for the morale if a child dies and then his mother. Your freed slaves may stop believing in your word.”
”Please talk plainly”, Fangnir said in a thick voice. ”I don’t understand half of what you’re saying.”
”Try to understand this: You’re earning good coin from this arrangement, and Denethor is near to knighting you. But it is all going to end if a word of the arrangement reaches Denethor’s ears. You will hang for it instead. And now someone has learned more than is safe – someone who means to carry tidings to Denethor. We must act to prevent it.”
Fangnir blinked and stared: ”What do you suggest?”
”If you haven’t heard about this man, Delioron, before, talk to your Corsair friends. They have been hunting him for months, so they should know all about it. It was none of our concern until he stumbled upon your arrangement some weeks ago. Now he knows too much. He must be located and silenced. It is time you take a more active role in this search.”
”What can I do?”
”I don’t know, but Captain Bangion has begun to think that the price of our arrangement may be growing too high. If there are any more accidents or strange disappearances among the freed slaves of Harad, or if the Corsairs stir up trouble here in Pelargir, Bangion will have to consider withdrawing from the arrangement – and offering you to Denethor instead. Do you understand now?”
Fangnir understood. It was in his own best interest to do so.
