Captive

Great Harbour Road

Once proud buildings line this great road, now low and grim. Elaborately carved marble is faded by the brackish rains of sea the storms of the coast have torn asunder much that was once great, shattering statues and breaking the cobblestones up so that tufts of rough grass push through the soil.
 
A cool breeze races through the streets and alleys, driven from the sea to the south. All about there is silence, and only the scarcest hint of movement: a rat? A gull? A feral dog? Who can say.

Contents:
Mara
Gilgurth
Alimah
Anouar
Kiraz
Obvious exits:
 West leads to Eerie Ruins.
 Southwest leads to Long Quay.
 North leads to Shattered Bazaar.
 Darkened Doorway leads to Old Warehouse.

[Anouar(#19830)] Cold runs the wind that foretells the shift of weather from a North which bears down the chill of summer's end. Gone is the Summer, replaced with an Autumn, as a cloudy sky is driven along swift currents, such that they are but a fleeting presence high above. The city, ruined but inhabitable, stretches in memory of former opulence and from the North comes a disturbance of another type...

Screeching, biting, growling, twisting like a shrew in the claws of an owl comes a girl in rags, torn and tattered, bloodied and weeping, with the scruff of her neck held by Anouar who laughs loudly in spite of a trinkle of blood passing down his cheek. "Look what I have!" cries her tormenter-cum-pursuer in the personage of the moustachioed man, who with naked blade, cuts another of her rags off. "Another local. Found hiding like a rat in what was her barn. She speaks well once she's convinced that we are people whom are not friends to silence. She tells us that before we came there were at least a hundred men and women here. A veritable boom town in these wild lands and this is why Su'ad and I saw laundry still hanging by the fountain over yonder."

"She's also confirmed that we are indeed at the mouth of the Gwathlo. Far did we blow off course. Past Gondor's Westernmost borders. But how fitting that we should find a city of clear Westernesse make. A fine place this would be for a far-flung outpost, wouldn't you say?"

[Kiraz(#32438)]
Kiraz kneels upon the ground, fussing over a large bulging satchel. The north wind blows her brightly colored scarf to her shoulders. She glances at Anouar and pulls it back into place, pulling it more tightly about her dark head. Scowling, her eyes graze the girl and return to her captor. "That doesn't look like food to me."

"And why would any Tower wish to place an out-post here?"

[Anouar(#19830)] To Kiraz, Anouar affords an extensive reply as he toys with the local girl, shifting his grip to her hair as she struggles impotently against his cruelty, "Why? Well let us enumerate them, shall we?"

"The first: This is a city of Westerness construction. Though much rests in ruins, others are strong and defensible. Of make unknown but for those sea-kings.

"Second: Control of the river's mouth means freedom upstream. There we have towns and settlements fit for our raids. New lands untouched. Certainly, we can find a proper map that tells us how North or East or whatever the case might be this river goes. I only know it goes a far ways. Perhaps as far as the mountains. In any case: That is ripe land for the taking."

"Third: OUr enemies would be unaware of this remote outpost. We'd have freedom to retreat here and not merely at Umbar. Likewise, we might launch new assaults."

"Fourth: It is cheap, barely defended land. Why not take it? It is a good unto itself."

"Fifth: It would please the Dark Lord. I know some of you are more pleased by ancestral heroes and men of reknown, but I am sure our prietess would concur as to the benefits of sanctifying a new land to his name."

[Kiraz(#32438)]
The young corsair girl shrugs her shoulders and returns her attention to her satchel. "Then suggest it to the Tower lord of your choice when we return to Umbar."

She pulls an apple out and polishes it on the leg of her long tunic. "Perhaps those are good points. But I personally find it too cold and these people too poor. Gondorian gold is a better prize and Umbar close enough to pick that particular fruit." She scowls at him again. "Have you brought /any/ food back to the ship? I do not believe I have seen you do an honest days work yet."

[Anouar(#19830)] "Why wait till we're back in Umbar while we're here now?" asks Anouar, who tired of the girl's struggling, pushes her to the ground where she can be more easily managable by simply stepping on her back. Yet it is soon evident that, on the accounting that it becomes necessary that his hollarings insist that he raise his voice continually, that the his booted foot is driven against her head to smother her voice against the dirt. Self-satisfied, he proclaims, "that's better" before continuing on, "We can begin the plans and set up shop. Retain a contingent. Assure that our imperial aspirations maintain their position. Et cetera, et cetera..."

He further amends, "Oh and who exactly was it who found the fountain drawing from the spring? Ah yes. Myself and Su'ad. Who found that entire section of the town, in fact, which was kept in such prime condition? Ah yes...not you. But I. Honest work indeed. Besides - since when was raiding honest to begin with?"

"Oh and do we have any room for her down in the hold? I'd prefer to keep this girl on ship and out of my hair until she can be sold."

[Kiraz(#32438)]
Kiraz' eyes flash for a moment and she looks sharply at Anouar. "Imperial? We do not have an emperor! And you speak nonsense. This is a Farside raid not an /Umbarean/ raid - there is no such thing as an Umbarean raid. And I doubt Captain Alimah would dare claim any of this for her tower without her Lady's instruction.

The girl sighs impatiently and shifts her indifferent gaze to the man's suffering captive. "And I told you before, some Farside Captains do not allow slaving on their raids so you will have to ask her for permission."

[Anouar(#19830)] "Ambitions are ambitions," snaps Anouar, a sneer beneath his moustache, "and there'd be no daring to please? Are you certain? Come now: Securing such land as this would be prime. An honour to the Tower. Specifically on a disastrous raid such as this. We are far off coast and unlikely to secure the bounty we would have secured in a raid against Gondor. We must make up for what we lack by taking what we find. It is a principle well established in all cunning."

A sigh of exasperation fills a pause, "But the captain shall be addressed, yes. Ever addressed! And on that matter of slavery too - but at least we shall keep her penned until then, shall we not? If not, I am going to bind her to the nearest tree and I doubt you'd be more pleased by that, would you?" The protests of the girl serve as a punctuation to this last remark.

[Kiraz(#32438)]
The corsair girl lifts her dark eyes to meet those of Anouar. In an earnest tone she says, "I would take care how you speak to the Captain, Anouar. She is the law here, no matter who you are."

"A corsair would know that," she adds pointedly."As for your prize, I could care less what you do with her. Why would you think otherwise?" She smirks, "You do not think your supposed charms have worked on /me/ do you?"

[Anouar(#19830)] The accusatory tone does not go unnnoticed by Anouar whose sneer shifts to a scowl at the increasing agitation assaulting him by Kiraz. He fires back, "Worry not about how I address the captain. I assure you, trouble will not befall me - I am not a fool. Worry rather about yourself when you are prone to prod the wrong man. Repeatedly. Over and over. Agitation, my dear girl, is not a smart thing when you cannot handle the consequences. Be careful: Things might end badly for those who know not when to stop."

"Oh, and I am quite sure my charms do not work on you. After all, isn't this more my delight?" Retaining his gaze on Kiraz, Anouar demonstrates what pleases him best: A sudden jabbing of his arm sees a red fountain jumping from a severed artery, as the captive girl's neck is stabbed clear through by his black bladed scimitar. The girl only screams for a fraction of a second before death silences her permanently and her life's blood pools beneath her limp body, the hole pumping blood until air runs free through the vacated artery and a sickening whine replaces the gurgle.

"I think I shall hang her as warning to the hill folk to stay away. String her from a tree so they know precisely what sort of people have taken this land from them. I'll get to that now, in fact..."

[Kiraz(#32438)]
Kiraz' countenance darkens and she stands to face him squarely. Her voice controlled, she answers. "And you are prone to torment and prod those you think cannot fight back. Take care you have read things arightly I might be more capable of managing the consequences than you think."

Her eyes drift to the dead woman. Her earlier impassivity wavers at the sight. A fleeting expression of disquiet crosses her countenance and she looks away - her youth becoming more apparent. She picks up the bulging satchel, slings its strap over shoulder and turns to depart.