‘Assa tells me you have taken some great risks. I would prefer you to take this and leave for Minas Tirith tonight. Show Lord Faramir the token I have left in the pouch and you will be placed under his protection. We cannot afford at this stage for you to be questioned by the enemy.’
‘I have seen horrors in my time in Sennebar, Lord Tuor,’ Unadan replied gratefully taking the proffered pouch, ‘but not like this. This was dark magic. I cannot witness such evil again. No human can do that to another.’ Unadan, struggling to remain calm, was furtively watching every shadow around him as though he expected the very shadow itself to engulf him.
‘The place in South Ithilien they use for their accursed ritual is the abandoned mill two leagues inland from the coast on the north side of the estuary of the River Poros. The mill looks run down from the outside and initially on the inside but there is a hidden door leading to caverns in the old quarry behind the mill and these are anything but run down. The man you seek was there. He is the leader of the sect. They call themselves the Followers of the Shadow. They will not meet there again for another month, I warn you. They celebrate the darkness of the new moon. I have given Assa the names of all those I knew but there were at least five other men unknown to me, four seemed to be his guard and one was his deputy. They gave no names and the deputy kept his face well-hidden the entire time under a hood. I only saw his mouth and chin. All I can tell you is that he had a cleft chin, he is as tall as me and of slimmer build.’
‘Assa has told me what you needed to do to gain their trust and no one here holds you responsible. On the contrary. You had no choice, Unadan. Had you not, you would have been killed and we would be no closer to destroying them,’ Tuor assured the distressed man. Unadan looked disgusted with himself from the memory of what he had been forced to do and to watch.
‘There had always been a darker side to the Astari, one the Grand Master was never truly aware of, a hidden sect within, but the sect’s adherents are not all Astari. Dwola himself has never been an Astari, nor his deputy, the one who kept his face hidden. His was the only face I never saw. My guess would be that he is someone outside of the wider Astari network, someone who might otherwise be recognised, someone of importance. Assa tells me that I must ask to speak to a man, Gallend, before I make myself known to Lord Faramir.’
‘Just make sure you get there safely. I would prefer it if you accepted our offer of a boat to take you upstream,’ Tuor advised.
Assa concurred. ‘My plans have changed. I am taking a boat to Harlond tonight. You should come with me. I have urgent information for Gallend and Faramir. Hadán will stay here with Tuor. Hadán will explain to you later, Tuor. We can leave now.’ Tuor looked at them both in surprise. Hadán merely nodded his agreement.
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As dawn broke, Gallend was dreaming. He had had this dream regularly since Assa had left for Pelargir, but this morning it felt more intense, far more pleasurable. It took him a while to realise that she was there with him naked in the bed. He pulled her up to him to kiss her as she sat on top of him. He sat up to kiss her neck and hold her onto him as she quickly brought herself to orgasm. He collapsed back down on his back and kept a tight hold of her.
‘I’ve missed you,’ he told her brushing her hair from her face. She looked at him curiously, not quite understanding what he meant.
‘But I am here,’ she answered. He smiled to himself and let it go, simply replying, ‘Good. Breakfast?’
‘Yes, I think Unadan is hungry.’
‘Unadan? He’s here?’
‘Yes, I’ve given him Hadán’s room. Come,’ she ordered.
At the Citadel, Assa handed Faramir a list of properties throughout Gondor and a separate smaller list to Gallend of properties in Rohan. ‘We have had men visit all of these and the ones around Pelargir closely watched as soon as we were in possession of the list, none have been used either by Hannemor or the sect, but we now need to have each property more closely guarded and there is one on the list we are having trouble identifying.’
‘How did you come by these lists? Are they to be trusted?’ Faramir demanded not unreasonably.
‘Of course,’ she replied defensively enough for the truth to hit Gallend. His face looked blank. He was thinking fast.
‘Are they safe houses for the Astari?’ Faramir asked.
‘No, we believe they are nothing to do with the Astari. It seems that they are all Dwola’s possessions but held on the face of it by Hannemor’s family trading business. Dwola’s real name is Turallien, according to our sources at least. He formulated the plan to take over from the old Condir, Bregolin, and have Hannemor installed as his successor, knowing he could control him. Hannedriel’s cellars, the ones accessed only by the secret door, had been the main safe house for the Astari in Minas Tirith since the time of Hannestor, right until just before the big battle when they moved all their documents to the safe house you raided. All the treasure held there was moved at the same time most likely directly to Pelargir, instead of Sennebar as had been ordered.’
Faramir whistled in astonishment. ‘And Hannedriel must have known this all along…’ he surmised. An almost imperceptible flicker of discomfort registered in Assa’s eyes, to which only Gallend was attuned.
Assa continued. ‘It was Turallien who poisoned Bregolin before his visit to Hannestor, hoping he would either die at Hannedriel’s house or soon after visiting. He could then claim that Hannestor had poisoned him, knowing that Hannemor was safely in Pelargir at the time and would not stand accused. Galador would never have been able to kill Bregolin had he not been already severely weakened. As you know, his body had already been found and taken by the time I got there. And cleaned up as though nothing had happened. Only the Astari could have done that so quickly and professionally, so I knew at the time it was they who had taken him. It seems they came for Hannestor not long after that. Turallien was instrumental in laying the blame on him and then in supporting Hannemor to succeed Bregolin.’
Gallend was studying her attentively, looking somewhat concerned about what was coming next.
‘What is interesting,’ she said getting to the key point, ‘is that the ownership of some of these properties pre-dates Bregolin’s death. Turallien must have had an existing connection with Hannedriel’s family.’
‘How have you come by all this new information?’ asked Faramir astounded by the detail.
‘Because it was you and Hadán who took Hannedriel from her house, and the deeds of these properties had been stored in the empty box,’ Gallend interjected not able to hide his annoyance. ‘Why didn’t you just tell us?’ Assa looked stubbornly at him, irritated by his revelation.
‘Because you wouldn’t have sanctioned it,’ she answered defensively. ‘We knew she would be more cooperative if she thought she was being held by the Astari rather than fellow Gondorians. She is cunning. She knows how to manipulate you; she knows your history. She knows nothing about me and Hadán. We speak in Quenya in front of her, it unnerves her. Even so, there is still much she is withholding. Turallien has a hold over her that even I am finding hard to break and Hadán won’t let me use my usual methods of interrogation. I need to speak to Belegond, where is he?’
Faramir was struggling to contain his anger, which Gallend well understood. At the same time, Assa’s reasoning was not unsound, if somewhat insensitively presented. Gallend felt compelled to intervene. ‘Thank you, Assa. Do you think Unadan could be persuaded to come to the Citadel to meet with Lord Faramir now? I know you have both travelled through the night, but this is urgent, and we need all the most recent information to present to the King. We don’t know precisely where Belegond is, we are waiting to hear from Lothíriel.’
As the door closed behind her, Gallend deliberated as he turned to Faramir, ‘I know that she is odd and frustrating, Faramir, but she is rarely wrong, if ever. I will try to impress upon her that what Ottakar and Tuor might allow her to do in their jurisdictions is not how she should behave in other parts of Gondor, but we really couldn’t do any of this without her.’
‘I am well aware of Assa’s importance and her invaluable talents, Gallend,’ came Faramir’s restrained response. ‘I cannot admit it officially, as what she did is against our laws, but privately, I don’t disagree with her rationale. As long as she has not used torture or physically harmed Hannedriel, we can give this our tacit approval retrospectively, not that Assa cares whether we do or not. I am frankly relieved the witch is still alive. I have questions of my own I want answers to. My frustration is that these by necessity take second place to finding this Turallien. So, who is Unadan exactly?’
‘A former Astari and Assa’s spy in Pelargir who infiltrated the Followers of the Shadow at great personal cost to himself. I have heard his story. We will need to get him out of the City as soon as possible, to somewhere quiet and secure. You will understand why when he tells you what he witnessed…’