Captain Of the Rings Chapter 5- The Forging of the Great Rings

Hilling was indeed a small island with an even smaller town- if it could be called a town at all. It was more like a pirate hideout spread out over several small buildings with a crude street or two connecting them. The buildings had plaster walls and thatched roofs. The resemblance to Bree sent chills through Frodo. There were animals running through the streets and drunken disorderliness seemed apropos. Jack strode through the streets like a king. Frodo could've easily seen a crown on his head and a cape around his shoulders, but most importantly a stately cane in his hand. He walked with a regal clip fit for the ancient kings now long sunk beneath the sea and Frodo's thoughts drifted to his captain's scheme. Did he mean to raise Numenor to enlarge his kingdom? A runway goat interrupted his thoughts as it bounded into him and knocked him over. Sam reached out to catch him but he was too late as he landed in a muddy puddle. Jack stopped walking and cocked on eyebrow at the muddy hobbit.

"Do you every wonder why everything seems to happen to you?" Jack asked as he offered him a hand up.

"The thought has crossed my mind," Frodo said. Jack looked off to the side and took up his promenade. Sam hesitated as Frodo wiped the mud off his check.

"I think you've already seen the best of this place," Sam said. Even after his late night meeting in the galley with Jack he felt it necessary to keep up the appearance of disdain. Though in truth Hilling did not seem too hopeful to a hobbit's mind. It was lacking the necessary gardens and fields to put the fresh vegetables and beer on the table. Sam made a silent wish for some fresh tomatoes and scurried off to catch up with Jack.

They entered a building with a low ceiling at the end of the street. It was obviously the most important building in the town as it had a large brass seal above the door with an ominous skull and cross bones emblazoned on it. Imbalech noted that in the left eye of the skull was a star- in fact the same star of Dunadan.

"Perhaps it's a warning," she thought. The room was filled with a select assortment of ruffians drinking and carrying on. Two of the roughest greeted them at the door.

"Captain!" they cried and shook hands with Jack. Then they greeted the rest of the crew. One of the men, the scruffier looking one then turned

"Why no swag captain?" he said with a suspicious glare. Without any warning Jack grabbed the man by the throat the room went quiet and he spoke so everyone could hear.

"The Xandiar has returned, because I deemed it necessary- that is all you're entitled to," he said releasing the man with a look of disgust. He shook his hand as if the man had left a thin layer of filth on him.

"Now bring Drink and breakfast to my chambers- in that order," he said with a slight slur of speech as he and his crew pressed through the throng into a room in the back.
The room was small and stuffy and contained only a large round table with several rolled up maps. Jack swept the maps off the table and took a seat, the crew followed. Frodo was to Jack's left followed by Sam (who had insisted on sitting next to Frodo- mostly to avoid being squeezed next to one of the crew) and then Imbalech. Lorna was to Jack's right followed by Roux and Vim.
"What's the plan, Captain?" Vim asked. Jack opened his mouth to talk but hesitated as the disheveled pirate came in with a tray of mugs. He distributed them and left without a word. Jack began again.
"Tomorrow, after we've restocked, we make for The Straight Road."
"You'll be able to find it?" Roux asked the skepticism ringing in his voice.
"Now Roux, I've told ye that Frodo here, is going to grant us passage," Jack said with noted irritation and continued "as it is a place that cannot be found- except by those who already know where it is-,"
"Well its not that I'm questioning you captain, but me and Vim were just confused to why you would need help- if you've already been there?" Roux said cutting Jack off "And aren't banned," Jack finished with a look of disgust. Lorna's gaze fell on Roux and he regretted his guile. Jack stood up and walked around the table.
"Jack," Lorna protested.
"It's alright, they can be trusted," He said now beside Roux and leaning on the table. Lorna appeared no less nervous.
"Jack Sparrow is not my only name. It is the name I took when I became a pirate and denounced the name of-- Earendil," Imbalech thought she was going to either laugh or throw up. That he could make such a claim baffled her wildest expectations.
"I did make it to the West- once, to elicit the aid of the Valar. There I stood before them in the circle of Doom and I made the plea for mankind," Frodo's mind was swept away to the story Jack had told at the jail, of being overcome by the beauty of Elbereth and stealing his way back into Valinor for another glimpse. He was caught and brought before the Valar for judgement. He said he had named Elbereth "Stealer of Hearts" or Xandiar. It then crossed Frodo's mind that that was the name of his ship.
"The Valar gave me and my wife, Elwing," he nodded to Lorna "The gift of immortality and my ship was set amongst the sky as the Evening star." Jack paused and looked at her tenderly and then his mood shifted.
"But she was confined to a tower, left to watch me from a distance, and I wasn't content to sail only the Undying waters, vast as they were... so one day I spun the wheel and found that all of the sea was mine- not just the sea of stars- if I'd just take it. But now the West is locked. I can't be confined to either the sea of Aman or the sea of Middle Earth, I have to be free to sail where the wind takes me... more than anything I must be able to see Her face again," His eyes became distant "I was condemned as a pirate, that day. The day the Valar found out I had broken from my course. And they sentenced my hull never to grace the waters of Aman. But I picked this up before I left," He pulled his shirt back to reveal the pendant of Elbereth, her shining visage dimming all earthly beauty. "And I told Her that I was a pirate, and that I would steal her- I would bring her to Men- if Men could not come to her...So I intend to raise Numenor and make it the last port before the West Passage- Men and dwarves- and hobbits will come and be carried to the place of immortal beauty, if not immortal life. I will become the most famous pirate ever to sail- my crime? Smuggling people to the Undying lands." The entire table was silent. They were afraid that if they spoke the dream would vanish and they wouldn't hear the end of the hypnotizing tale. Perhaps the most enticing part of the story was that somehow they almost believed it. Imbalech wanted to speak, but somehow she couldn't for fear she was actually addressing Earendil, the star she had spoken to on so many cold nights amongst the trees of Mirkwood. But some how the familiarity she felt with Jack coincided with the warmth she felt after her walks in the twilight and she found the courage to speak.
"How," she hesitated as his dark lined eyes fell on her "Do you intend to raise Numenor" She tried to add an air of doubt to her voice. He looked at Lorna.
"Minya, our third son is in truth Feanor, Master of the Simirils. As prophesied he has been reborn signaling that the days of division and turmoil are coming to and end." Frodo remembered the quiet, mournful evening he had watched Jack and Lorna share.
"Minya will raise Numenor..." Frodo whispered.
"Do we get any proof besides your drawn out story?" Roux interjected and then added "Meant with my deepest respect," incase it was in fact true. Jack then produced a silver ring with a black jewel. Frodo recognized the ring as the one he had seen on Jack's hand at the jail. One could tell that the jewel had once shone with a green light but now was black and dark; it's light almost gone. The ring itself was near disintegration; the metal had all but worn away. Jack didn't wear it anymore for safekeeping.
" A simiril..." Imbalech said her voice ringing with wonderment.

The light of Aman caught,
With the skill of Feanor wrought.
O gem of skill,
The elves remember you still.

Imbalech's voice was quivering with delight as she spoke the verse of her ancestors.
"Never did I think I would live to see one...even though I am immortal," She looked at Jack Sparrow her eyes gleaming. It was clear to the rest of the table that Imbalech had recognized the thing that haunted the dreams of the Undying race. There was no doubt in her mind that it was indeed a simiril.
The awe was interrupted as the pirate-servants returned with trays of food. The breakfast of a pirate hideout consisted of fresh fruit, bread, salted pork- and a basket of fresh tomatoes. Sam sent a "Thankyou," out to the stars. Behind the servants a small voice called out.
"Mother!" Minya sprang onto Lorna's lap and thrust a large shell in her hand.
"What's this?" She asked looking to Jack.
"It's treasure," Minya said his usual demeanor of melancholy giving way to pride. Lorna fingered the large gray shell and turned it over. She drew in her breath as she caught sight of the picture Minya had etched into the shell's creamy interior- there was an island and a great fleet of ships was coming towards it. Lorna smiled weakly and put a hand to Minya's cheek.

"It's beautiful," she said regaining her composure. Jack raised his glass and the rest of the table followed suite.
"Take what you can," he began.
"And give nothing back," the crew recited and downed their drinks. The fellowship glanced at each other and took a healthy gulp.

***

After breakfast was cleared away the crew was given their shore leave. At the doorway Lorna paused and looked at Jack talking with Frodo and then she disappeared out the door with Minya at her side. As soon as only the fellowship remained Jack pulled a small bag out of his pocket and tossed it on the table.
"I think that might interest you, Frodo." Frodo opened the bag and out onto the table fell a sparkling blue jewel. Imbalech gasped. "Yes," Jack said "The simiril of the sea, old Leo would probably laugh to find out he sat there in Bag-End and told you his tale when it was right under his nose."
"It was in the shire?" Frodo asked.
"It did wash up on the shore of Harad. But being pirates, whoever found it sold it long ago to someone who in turn sold it to someone else and eventually it ended up in the hands of the King under the Mountain."
"It was in the treasure Bilbo brought back from his adventure!" Frodo cried. Jack nodded.
"That you stole from Bag-end!" Sam added feeling that it should be mentioned. Frodo and Imbalech gave him a look.
"With the two simirils, we can raise Numenor," Jack said. Imbalech reached out cautiously and picked up the glittering blue stone. She held it with devotion that swept Sam away to the stories of the first age when the elves left Valinor in search of what had been stolen from them. Jack dropped the black simiril into her hand as well and she looked at him.
"Could you forge a ring a that could bear a simiril?" he asked. Imbalech's eyes glinted as she assessed the way the power of the stone had eaten away at the metal.
"Yes, " she said "I could make casings that could house each stone- and not dim their light." She said eyeing the darkness of the black simiril.
"It's not the metal that diminishes my ring," he said quietly "It's my choice." Imbalech's eyes widened.
"It's the ring of a pirate now, the ring that will defy all." He looked at the soft faces of Imbalech and Sam and then he motioned to Frodo.
"The time has come for the forging of the great rings, as for mine I name the dark one Lonamarie or the Black Pearl, and the blue simiril I call Fairie or Freedom," Jack's voice rang with the importance of the moment- something had been sealed in his mind; a decision had been made.
"And what will you call," Jack asked Sam and Imbalech "your burdens?" he said eyeing Frodo.