“So that’s how it is… And this regiment of yours – did you invent it just to get us out?”
“Well… let’s say – not just for that.”
“That’s really sticking your neck out.”
“Whatever. I’m in a wonderful position right now – they can neither exile me any further than the front lines nor give me less than a battalion – so I’m milking it for all it’s worth.” At the harbor they located a small ship. Two unusual-looking soldiers bundled in camouflage cloaks were snoozing right on the pier nearby. They greeted Faramir in a decidedly not-by-the-book manner, looked the two spies over appraisingly and started getting the ship under way – quite competently, as far as Tangorn could tell. “Leaving before dawn, Prince?” “You know, that there’s no caveat about traitors in that order is indeed an oversight; you want to stay to see how long it will take them to figure it out?”
Faramir was prophetic – the very next morning a courier brought ‘Amendment No. 1 to the Royal Decree 3014-227: No extension of amnesty for the criminals wishing to defend the Motherland to those guilty of crimes against the state’ to Pelargir. By that time the prince’s ship was halfway to the port of Harlond, where the Ithilien regiment was forming. They would not have been safe there, either, but when the policemen with an arrest warrant showed up in the Ithilienians’ camp, it turned out that the wanted men had just left – what a pity, less than an hour ago! – for the other shore of Anduin as part of a scouting party. Yes, the raid will be long – a month, maybe more; no, the party is working independently with no communications; if you wish, you can go beyond Osgiliath yourselves and look for them among the Orcs. What? Well, then I can’t help you, my apologies. Sergeant! See our guests off, they have urgent business in Minas Tirith!
Truly it is said that war excuses everything – in a short time the ‘traitor spies’ were simply forgotten for other, bigger things. Tangorn spent the entire war in Ithilien, fighting without much enthusiasm but bravely and skillfully, protecting his soldiers with all he had – just like he used to protect his agents. This was actually the norm in their regiment, where the relationship between soldiers and officers was markedly non-traditional. Serfs working for their freedom, bandits working for their amnesty, foresters who had spent their lives guarding royal deer and poachers who had spent their lives hunting these same deer, adventurous aristocrats who used to hang out with Boromir and intellectual aristocrats from their pre-war circles – all blended in an amazing alloy that carried an indelible impression of their demiurge, Captain Faramir. Not surprisingly, Aragorn ordered the regiment disbanded right after the Pelennor victory.
Tangorn got to Mordor on his own, as a private person – a murderer drawn to the scene of his crime. The Cormallen battle over, all he saw was the victors’ feast on the ruins of Barad-Dur. Watch, he ordered himself, watch the fruits of your work, and don’t dare turn away! Then he accidentally ended up at Teshgol right during the ‘mop-up,’ and snapped…
Ever since then he lived with a firm conviction that the Higher Powers have granted him a second life, but only so that he could expiate the evil he inadvertently did in his pre-Teshgol life, rather than for free. Intuition told him back then to join Haladdin, but how was he to know that he made the right choice?..
Suddenly he realized with an absolute, other-worldly clarity: this second life had been granted to him as a loan, not permanently, and will be taken back the moment he succeeds in his mission. Yes, precisely like that: if he guesses wrong (or pretends to), he will live to a ripe old age; if he guesses right, he will obtain redemption at the price of his life. He has a right only to this unhappy choice, but this right is the only difference between himself and Aragorn’s dead men. This last thought – about Aragorn’s corpses – brought Tangorn from his memories back to the twilit Three Stars Embankment. All right, consider the dead men. Most likely no one will ever find out where they came from (the Elves are real good at keeping secrets), but the Umbarian ships that delivered that nightmarish cargo to the walls of Minas Tirith are another matter: they all had owners, crews, registrations, and insurance policies. No doubt the Elvish agents have worked to bury this information, too (already a legend is circulating that this had been a pirate fleet about to sack Pelargir), but these events are recent and some tracks might not have been obliterated yet. These tracks will lead him to people who chartered the ships, and those will lead him to so far unknown Elandar. It makes no sense to start the Game he and Haladdin proposed to play with Lorien at any lower level.
The funniest thing is that no one other than Mordorian agents will assist him in his search – the same people he and Grager were accused of conspiring with four years ago. Would he have ever thought that one day he will indeed be working with these guys? He could probably investigate this himself, but his network has been put to sleep and it would take at least two weeks to re-activate it. That’s time he doesn’t have, whereas Mordorians ought to have a lot of material about this event, otherwise their chief of station should be summarily dismissed. The question is whether they will want to share the information or contact him at all – he’s nothing but a Gondorian to them, an enemy… In any event, tomorrow it will all be clear. The contact method Sharya-Rana gave them was as follows: come to the Seahorse Tavern in the harbor on an odd Tuesday (that’s tomorrow), order a bottle of tequila and a saucer of sliced lemon, pay with a gold coin, talk about anything at all with one of the sailors at the bar, spend ten minutes or so at the table in the back left corner – and then walk to the Great Castamir Square, where the meeting and the exchange of passwords will occur behind the rightmost rostral column… So: shall he stroll the embankments a little longer and then head unhurriedly back to the hotel?
Someone called him: “You’re waiting for a lady, noble sir – buy her a flower!” Tangorn looked around leisurely, and his breath seized for a moment. It was not that the flower girl was beauty personified; rather, her little basket was full of purple-golden
Chapter 40
All these days he had been putting off seeing her under various pretexts – “never revisit the places where you have been happy.” Since she had so unerringly prophesized that he was going to war, a lot of time passed and a lot of blood was spilled. Neither one of them was what they had been, so why walk the ruins and engage in necromancy? As he had found out, Alviss was now a respectable dame: her brilliant intuition had helped her make a sizable fortune on the stock market. She did not seem to be married, but was either engaged or betrothed to one of the pillars of the local business establishment – what the hell would she need with a restless and dangerous ghost from her past? Now all these wonderful deep defense fortifications lay in ruins.
“How much for your flowers, pretty one? I mean the whole basket?” The girl – she looked about thirteen – stared at Tangorn in amazement. “You must not be from around here, noble sir! These are real
“Yes, I know.” He dug in his pocket and realized that he was out of silver. “Will a dungan be enough?”
Suddenly, her brilliant eyes lost all sparkle; bewilderment and fear flashed through them, replaced by tired disgust. “A gold coin for a basket of flowers is way too much, noble sir,” she said quietly. “I understand… you will take me to your place?”
