Chapter 4 - Examining the evidence
Rûkhnar was waiting for us when we emerged once again into the bright, airy hallway.
"What an unnerving fellow that Zigûr is," I said to Teti. "I can see why Elrond suspects him. He is certainly capable of such an act. And why else should he make such threats unless he is the poisoner?"
"You must stop that at once," Teti admonished me. "It is always foolish to speculate without evidence, but it is especially foolish here. These people hold the fate of all men in their hands. Say the wrong word to the wrong person and they will crush us between their fingers."
"It's deeply ungrateful too!" Rûkhnar boomed. "Zigûr had done more for this land than anyone else alive, excepting the king of course. Zigûr taught us to harvest gases from the mountain to light our streets and houses. He brought us revolutionary farming methods, so that even the poorest among us can afford meat at every meal. And with pourstone roads and steel railways, a journey that once took days can be done in mere hours. I will not believe a word against him."
"As for me," said Teti, "I will look at the evidence first. Please show me the wine cellar."
"Yes, of course," Rûkhnar laughed, his ruddy face grinning. "There's no distracting you. I can't show you the wine cellar until late this evening - there's only a few people with access you see, especially now, so we have to wait for one of them to be available - but I can take you anywhere else until then, within reason."
"Was Elrond given a room before the feast?" Teti asked.
"He was. I don't know how much time he spent in it though, and of course he was arrested before he would have slept in it. But I can show you to it. It's quite close actually."
Rûkhnar led us a little way down the hall to a bedroom overlooking the sea, and I was stunned at the richness and beauty of the room. Teti seemed to take no notice and instead began his usual systematic inspection, beginning with the carpet. I settled myself in for a long wait, but only a short while later Teti turned back to us.
"There is little to see. In fact, I can find no signs that he spent any time here. Are you certain this is the correct room?"
Rûkhnar was indignant. "Of course it's the correct room. But elves don't leave much for footprints, do they? Or did you not know that?"
"You are certain it wasn't this room instead?" Teti gestured to the door beside it.
"Yes, I am certain, those are the queen's quarters! And before you ask, the ones next to that are the king's. Then on the other side of the hall are the queen's maidens' rooms, and Zigûr's quarters, which you saw. Look, I'll even get one of the servants up to confirm." He rung a bell, and within a minute a young woman came rushing down the hall. "Girl! Tell him what room Elrond was given!"
The girl hesitated at being asked about her employers affairs so directly, but Teti explained the situation and showed her the brooch Sauron had given us, and she relaxed.
"He was in this room here," she said, pointing to the room that Rûkhnar had shown us. "I showed him to it myself. I believe he was there for a few hours before the feast, but I could not say for sure as I returned to the main hall after I showed him to it."
"You see! Just as I told you!" Rûkhnar cried triumphantly.
"My apologies for doubting you," Teti told him. Then he turned back to the servant. "If I could intrude on your time a bit further, I would like to hear whatever you can tell me of Elrond's time here before the poisoning."
"As you wish. I was in side-room to the main hall preparing to serve lunch, so I heard most of his arrival, and I'll admit I peeped out the door a bit at times. I had never seen an elf before, and I was a bit more curious than is right for someone in my profession. Elrond said that he had been released from the service of Gil-Galad after a disagreement about relations with his kin in this land, so now he was free to come see the great king who had defeated the forces of Mordor, and that he would be honored if he could visit as he visited the kings of old."
"And how was that received?" Teti asked.
Well, he was certainly very flattering, and, if I could be more frank than I should, that is a good way to win the king's favor. Still, there was a great deal of commotion about the ban on elves and such. Zigûr argued that he had violated it, and that he should be put to death, but Elrond was argued that the ban could not apply to him since he was a kinsman to them, and by rights a lord here. They looked into the records and it seems Tar-Minyatur did grant him a small bit of land at the edge of Mittalmar, too steep and rocky for anything more than goat herding, but enough that he is a lord by law. The queen urged a compromise, that he should only be sent back to his home, and the king was ready to, but then the most shocking thing happened. Elrond knelt and recited the oath of fealty, or at least a near approximation of it. At that the king said to the queen, 'I cannot send him to his home, for he is already in it,' and he called for me to show him to a room."
"What do you mean by a near approximation of the oath?"
"Well, the wording was a bit strange. I think he probably only knew the old West-elvish version and was translating it. The correct wording would be:
I swear my fealty, service, and life to the scepter of Númenor and to the king of the realm, to do as he commands through both good times and hardship from this hour henceforth until he releases me or my spirit leaves this world.
He said instead:
My fealty, service, and life I swear to the rightful holder of the scepter of Númenor, to command me through both good and bad times from now until I am released or the end of my time in this world.
"Most interesting," Teti said. He turned to me "Abrazîr, do you think those are errors resulting from an elvish translation?" I made a stammering, non-committal response. "Oh come now," Teti urged. "It is only illegal to speak it, not to speak of it."
"I understand a bit of east-elvish," I admitted. "It was not illegal when I was a child, and my parents thought it was best not to pick sides. But I am not so good at west-elvish."
"Ah, that is unfortunate," Teti said. He turned back to the girl. "One more question, if you will. Did Elrond request this room specifically, or was it assigned?"
The girl looked surprised. "Yes, he did request it, which I thought was odd because, honestly, it's not one of the better rooms. It always smells a bit musty, no matter how much we clean."
Teri thanked the servant, and Rûkhnar suggested we have an early dinner before heading to the wine cellar. We went to a table in a garden, and there by lamplight we enjoyed an excellent, though somewhat rushed, supper of bread, quail, and pickles as we watched the moon rise over the ocean. Sitting there in the gentle breeze amid the grey shapes of trees and the soft sound of the distant surf, it was hard to believe anything as sinister as attempted murder could happen in such a peaceful place. Such actions belonged in the colonies, at the fringes of our civilization, not here in the center of human enlightenment.
