Pitfalls of the Palantir

They crossed the Long Lake to the western shore by ferry. A small settlement had grown on the bank to accomodate travellers and the ferry crews who ran back and forth from the mainland to Lake Town. A small wooden inn and several ramshackle houses lined the shore. Children ran riot in the muddy streets, playing a game only they could understand. Inglor caught their attention and they followed him a long ways out of the town.

Haleth had to smile as she watched them tagging along like iron filings drawn to a moving magnet. At first they were quiet and hung back, whispering excitedly among themselves. Their soft murmurings were soon punctuated with giggles which grew progressively louder until they almost drowned out the deep roar of the Long Falls.

She glanced questioningly at Inglor, who grinned widely at her, abruptly stopped and spun around.

This was met by a collective intake of breath as the children fell silent and drew back in anticipation of a scolding. Their upturned faces watched the elf with a mixture of fear and wonder. Then Inglor smiled and held out his hands. The children shrieked in delight and swarmed around him, a tide of shouting and laughter in plain homespun.

They made poor time on the path that ran to the Long Falls. Inglor carried a small girl on his shoulders. She gently stroked his hair with her small fingers. He held another two children by the hand. Even Haleth found herself with two guides when a boy and a girl, about the same age, took a hold of hers after finding Inglor's already claimed.

All along the way they were regaled with stories of how each child's father was the strongest man in Lake Town and how the boys would be just like their fathers when they grew up. Inglor tried not to wince as the child on his shoulders began tangling her fingers into his smooth hair and pulling.

At last they reached the path down the escarpment. Inglor freed his hands and gently put the girl who had been on his shoulders down. Several strands of his hair were entwined around her fingers. Haleth watched with some amusment as she very deliberately untangled them and crammed them into a pocket.

He told them gently but firmly that they could follow them no further. Haleth waved good-bye to the raggedy children as they reluctantly made their way back to their homes.

"We'd better hurry," he said as he studied the position of the sun. "We'll be late."

Even rushing it took them the better part of the afternoon to climb down the long zigzag path that had been hewn into the face of the rock bordering the Long Falls. The trail was wide and broad, but slippery from the spray of the falls. Porters struggled upwards, bent almost double under heavy packs. Men driving heavily laden donkeys shuffled up and down the trail. The amount of traffic made for some interesting moments when two large groups going in opposite directions met at a narrow part of the footpath. At several points Haleth found herself balancing along the barest of ledges while men and donkeys sorted themselves out on the wider part of the track. She did not have to look back to know that Inglor was directly behind her, poised to catch her if she lost her footing. As always, this irritated her more than it comforted her. There was no time for her to dwell upon it, though.

Some of the larger packages were brought up the escarpment by an ingenious system of ropes and pulleys. There were wide ledges at regular intervals where porters struggled to detach crates and barrels from one leg of the pulley system and attach them to the next. When possible, similar sized packages were used as counterweights from the other end. Strong armed men worked the pulleys, sending the trade goods that fueled the markets Esgaroth up or down the cliff.

Several women with baskets strapped to their backs passed them. They would stop at the various ledges to sell food and drink to the labourers.

At last they reached the bottom of the path. A wide gravel road led to the shore and the docks where a heavily laden river barge awaited them. The boat was large enough to accomodate a large amount of cargo as well as passengers. Two masts sprouted from the deck and a bank of oars lined the sides. The gangplank lay open to the dock.

Inglor waved to someone on the deck of the boat. Haleth squinted in the direction of his wave and thought she recognised the tall, slim figure of Ethirwen, her raven locks floating in the western wind. As Haleth watched, she raised her arm to acknowledge Inglor's greeting. Not wanting to be considered rude, Haleth waved a greeting as well.

"It was very kind of Lady Ethirwen to arrange passage for us," Inglor said.

"Yes, it was," Haleth agreed, keeping her reservations about Ethirwen's possible ulterior motives to herself.

They made their way up the gangplank, Ethirwen waiting for them at the top. A gruff looking man with a bright shock of orange-red hair and a bushy beard of the same colour stood by her side.

"Good day to you, Lord Inglor," Ethirwen said and held our her hand as the elf set foot upon the boat.

"Good day to you, Lady Ethirwen," Inglor bowed, took her hand and kissed the air just above it.

"Good day, Lady Ethirwen," Haleth said, fully expecting to be ignored.

"Good day you, Lady Haleth," Ethirwen smiled with genuine delight.

"This is Dorlas," she introduced the red-headed man at her side. "He is the captain of his vessel."

"Welcome aboard," Captain Dorlas said. "We've been expecting you."

They were apparently the last passengers to arrive. The cargo had already been loaded.

"Come," Ethirwen said, "I will show you to your cabins. Do you have any other luggage?"

"No, Lady," replied Inglor. "We travel lightly."

"Very well, then," she said. "Please come."


Ethirwen led them past the banks of rowers to the passenger's area. They entered a low door into a dark, narrow hallway which led back down the length of the ship.

"Here, you will have need of these," she said, handing each of them a small, shielded lantern. "Use them to light your cabin. Please try to burn them as little as possible. Captain Dorlas does not approve of the use of fire on his vessel. He tolerates it among the paying passengers, but only barely."

Haleth dug her tinderbox from her pack and expertly lit her lamp. Inglor used her lamp to ignite his own. They proceeded up the hallway.

"This is your room, Lord Inglor," she said, pressing a key into Inglor's hand.

"You are to be his neighbour, Lady Haleth," she added, handing Haleth another, similar key.

"I apologise if you find the rooms small. Space is limited on a boat. Shall I see you abovedecks once you have settled in?"

"Certainly," Haleth said smoothly. She wondered where, exactly, Ethirwen's cabin was and if she had a spare key for Inglor's door. She would undoubtedly find out soon enough.

Haleth unlocked her door and entered her cabin. The only piece of furniture in the room was a narrow bed, and it took up most of the space. There was just enough room for her to pass beside it and the wall if she turned herself sideways. Two drawers, side by side, were affixed to the bottom of the bed.

Another small lantern was hung from the wooden wall. She lit that lamp, extinguished the first and placed her pack on the bed. The cramped, dim room was already oppressive. Haleth opened the door to admit the faint, natural light and held the door open while she extinguished the wall lantern.

Inglor was already in the hallway.

"Shall we go abovedecks?" he asked her.

"It's much preferable to here," Haleth said.

Together they passed into the sunshine.



Ethirwen was a far more pleasant travelling companion than Haleth had expected. She was a wealth of information about the people of Dorwinion and their customs. She also made a point of including Haleth in the conversation, which Haleth found refreshing. Ethirwen's even division of attention between herself and Inglor gave Haleth hope that this intelligent and charming woman held no designs upon the elf. The trio talked together for most of the day and shared the evening meal together.

Two incidents prevented Haleth from enjoying the time as much as she should have.

The first occurred when she noticed a scruffy, dark-haired, bearded man giving Inglor the evil eye from behind one of the masts. When she approached him, intending to question him, he disappeared.

The second occurred when Haleth went below decks. An older crewman had blocked her way in the corridor. He was a large, burly man with arms the size of young tree trunks, an unkempt mop of brown hair and an equally wild beard. He nodded at her and grinned in what he probably thought was an unintimidating manner. A number of large, uneven, yellow teeth glinted in the faint light of Haleth's lantern. These were punctuated by several wide, dark spaces indicating missing teeth.

"You're travellin' with the elf, dearie?" he asked her in a friendly whisper.

"Yes," Haleth whispered suspiciously in return.

"You'd best be watchin' that Ethirwen," he said and shook his head in warning, "She's a bad 'un, she is."

"Lady Ethirwen has been nothing but kind to me," Haleth said icily.

"Up till now, yeah," he said, looking over his shoulder to be certain that there was no one within hearing distance. "But keep your guard up. She wants yon elf and you're in her way. I've seen it afore. Mind what I tol' ya."

He rolled up the hallway, leaving an astonished Haleth behind him.

When she returned abovedecks, she found Ethirwen and Inglor leaning on the railing near the bow. Haleth felt the familiar pang of jealousy which she quickly stifled. What did she care if Inglor was popular with women? He was not for her and their time together was drawing to a close in any case. She moved to join them.



Two days aboard the boat passed much the same as the first without any further incident or cryptic warnings. Haleth had been watching for the dark haired, bearded man who had been looking death at Inglor, but he had not reappeared.

Inglor, Haleth and Ethirwen were usually to be found near the stern, well behind the rowers. For the most part, the boat kept to the centre of the channel, avoiding the shifting sandbars and other unseen obstacles beneath the brown waters of the River Running.

The rowers were large, boisterous men who, for all that they worked steadily, obviously considered this part of their trip a holiday. Haleth saw the man who had warned her rowing several times. He winked at her when he had noticed her icy attention on him and then ignored her.

The men were quite merry, exchanging jokes and ribald comments. Their rauccous laughter would often interupt the trio's quiet conversations. There was nothing to do for it but to wait until the amusement died down before trying to speak again. Haleth never did try to discover what they found so amusing, though she could make a few educated guesses. Inglor likely heard every single word each one of them said, but he neither reacted nor mentioned anything about it.

Occasionally the boat would have to veer closer to the eastern shore when they passed another vessel heading north. The rowers on these boats worked much harder. Often the boats sailing upstream had tow ropes fastened to them so that men and draft animals on the western shore could aid in the battle against the current.

The weather had grown warmer on their journey south and Haleth found herself rolling up her sleeves and wishing for lighter clothing. Ethirwen had graciously loaned her a brown-red dress of light cotton. The merchant from Lake Town was a fair amount taller than Haleth, though, and Haleth found herself constantly rolling up her sleeves. In spite of the warning, or possibly even because of it, Haleth had found herself unable to dislike Ethirwen, who was quite charming.

Haleth found herself telling the woman about the mechanical bird she had purchased in Dale. Once she told of it, she had to go and get it to show it to both Ethirwen, who was likely accustomed to such wonders, and to Inglor, who was accustomed to far greater wonders and unlikely to be impressed.

They had exclaimed over it anyways, much to Haleth's delight.

The sun was westering and the captain issuing orders to have the vessel anchor for the night when Inglor sniffed the air and said "Something's burning."

A shout of alarm went up and men came scurrying from unexpected places like ants whose hill had been disturbed.

Captain Dorlas began to shout urgent orders as smoke began to pour from the passenger's area.

Both Inglor and Haleth joined the bucket brigade and helped to pass the water belowdecks. Ethirwen hesitated and then joined as well. It seemed as though it took hours of desperate sloshing and passing buckets, though it was no more than a quarter of an hour before the blaze was out.

The trio remained abovedecks. Captain Dorlas disappeared belowdecks. He quickly reappeared and almost immediately descended upon Haleth.

"What's the meaning of this?" he shouted at her.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"You nearly set my boat on fire with those firecrackers of yours. What kind of an idiot leaves something like that next to an open flame, I'll never know. Do you have any idea what you almost did? I've put people ashore for far less. In fact, I've half a mind to throw you overboard myself!"

"Excuse me, Captain Dorlas," Ethirwen interruped smoothly. "This woman came at my insistence. You can hardly put her off the boat without putting me off the boat as well."

This gave the Captain reason to pause. Ethirwen was wealthy and powerful, it would do his business no good to antagonise her. Still, he was Captain and he would not be seen giving in to a passenger, even one such as Ethirwen.

Ethirwen seemed to be aware of this.

"Perhaps if she stayed in the hold?" she suggested. "She could hardly get into trouble there."

"If Haleth goes to the hold, so do I," chimed in Inglor. By the look on the Captain's face, he had no problem with this.

"No, Inglor," Haleth said, thinking of the dark haired man, "It would likely only cause more problems. I will go alone."

The Captain barked out orders and two crewmen escorted her to the hatch which led to the hold.

"Don't worry," Ethirwen said her voice filled with sympathy, her hand resting lightly upon Inglor's arm, "I have every confidence that Haleth can look after herself. She is a most resourceful woman, although she never said very much about herself. Could you tell me more about her?"

Inglor watched Haleth being led away by two crewmen. The Captain followed her progress with far less sympathy. When she had disappeared down the hatch at the front of the boat, Inglor sighed.

"I could," he said, watching the empty air above the hatch. "But not, I think, tonight. Would you please excuse me, Lady Ethirwen?" He gently pulled his arm from beneath Ethirwen's hand and walked lightly towards the hatch.

"Lord Inglor," Ethirwen whispered quietly. She had followed him along the deck. "Did she not ask you to remain abovedecks?"

"Yes," Inglor said. "But..."

"Please forgive my forwardness, Lord Inglor," Ethirwen interrupted him. "But even with the little I know of your adventures together, it seems to me that you are better ruled by her advice when dealing with Aftercomers. She knows our ways better."

"So you believe she is correct?" Inglor asked.

"Although the answer brings you pain, yes, I believe she is correct," Ethirwen answered slowly, choosing her words with care.

"Then I shall have to heed her advice," Inglor said with a wry smile.

"Thank-you, Lord Inglor," Ethirwen said, visibly relaxing.

"No, thank-you, Lady," Inglor said. "And although the stars are bright, I bid you good night."

"But the smoke," Ethirwen said.

"Will not bother me overmuch," Inglor said, bowing slightly. "Again, good night."

Ethirwen watched his lithe figure disappear into the blackness of the passenger area. When she was certain he was gone she went back to her station at the side of the boat near the bow. She studied the far, eastern shore. The boat had been anchored for the night, it being too dangerous to sail in this area without the sun's illumination. She rubbed her thumb and fingertips together and stood silent sentinel as she made her quiet, careful plans.