CHAPTER TWELVE: On The Waterfront
Queen Zuleika had dismissed Arwen as she would a child. The elvish maid was ordered to go to her room and rest, yet tonight sleep was elusive. After tossing and turning for hours, Arwen Evenstar rose from a soft bed of regal splendor and strolled to the window.
Night was still and sultry in the city of Zin Zaraboob. As she rested her elbows on the window ledge, the tall elvish maiden tried to see the first signs of dawn on the horizon. But all she saw were twinkling stars and quiet empty streets.
Gradually she became aware of soft sounds of lamentation. The faint chanting would scarcely have been perceptible to human hearing, but Arwen had the sensitive ears of her kind and could detect mere whispers from a great distance.
The mourners were all women, dressed in black. They were walking in the narrow lane just outside the palace walls, and as she listened the words of mournful loss and supplication slowly became clear.
Dear to us you were,
Vanished men of yore.
Spells that hold you fast,
Will set you free once more.
An army without fear,
Sparkling and clear.
The small, sad procession drifted off into the darkness before the puzzled elf-maiden could make sense of their haunting riddle. Was there an army coming to make war against powerful Queen Zuleika? An army of sparkling men? Bright armor sparkled, but even polished metal wasn't clear.
Arwen finally turned away from the window with a shrug. She would investigate the matter thoroughly in the morning. Though Zuleika had been kind so far, something told her that the ruler of Zin Zaraboob was not what she appeared to be. As she fell face-downwards into her welcoming pillow, the elvish maid resolved to remain wary and alert at all times. She didn't want to end up like Prince Kassim, who had vanished from the palace in a manner most mysterious. . .
The next morning, the queen gave orders that Arwen was to be permitted to inspect the royal docks personally.
"I just want you to see that we're not allowing weapons or troops for Sauron to pass through our port," Zuleika clarified, when the elf-maid was ushered into her audience room after a late breakfast in bed. "Captain Margo here will see to it that you have full access to all the ships in the harbor."
"You are most generous Your Majesty," Arwen replied. She was well aware that she had no right to search any ships. And as dashing Captain Margo rode with her to the docks, she wondered what Queen Zuleika would ask for in return.
"Tell me, Margo, why are there no men in the city?" Arwen wished that she were riding on horseback, like her escort, instead of being carried in a covered litter by slaves. Lying on cushions made it hard to see what was happening around her. Even if she just wanted to talk she had to prop herself up on one elbow and push aside the flimsy silk curtains.
"Oh, there are plenty of men around, beautiful lady," laughed the voluptuous, red-haired female captain. "Slaves and counselors and such. What we haven't got around here are the warriors, the nobility. The ones who like giving orders! You see, we only like men who know their place."
"Yes, I see." Arwen shuddered behind her screen of curtains. It was clear that Zuleika had used magic to rid the city of any male who might challenge her authority. Yet all the women were clearly on her side – except for the mysterious mourners she had seen last night. Who were they? How could she get in touch with them? Did they know what had happened to Prince Kassim?
Whatever her thoughts on men, Captain Margo proved to be very helpful on the waterfront. The two of them searched over a dozen vessels from stem to stern, not only pacing the deck but going down into the darkest reaches of the hold. Once or twice they came across lustrous freshwater pearls collected by the frog-creatures, which for some reason made Arwen very sad. Yet they never found weapons or anything of use to the Dark Lord of Mordor or his evil Orc minions.
"So this Sauron fellow is really a bad character?" Margo asked her, as the two of them were eating their noon meal. Arwen had insisted that the beautiful redhead share the shade of her curtained litter, and her cold repast as well.
"Yes, if he should conquer Middle Earth he will subject all good creatures to the most horrible torments." Arwen reached for the small jug of wine in the basket beside her. She had never tasted spiced fowl so delicious in all her life, but it made her very thirsty.
"Sounds like a typical male," Margo joked. "And does this Sauron have a wife?"
Arwen frowned. "He has no wife. He is too evil to have need of a wife. He exists only as a force of pure malevolence. His only desire is to possess the One Ring. . ."
"So he doesn't beat his wife, then." Margo gnawed on a drumstick. "Does he cheat poor men, or women and kids? Does he waste their bread and cheese money on wine?"
"He doesn't do any of those things!" Arwen sensed the shapely redhead was mocking her. She sipped her wine, trying to collect her thoughts. "Sauron is a great lord, or was, when he was a living being with a visible form. But now he leaves those sordid crimes to his Orc armies."
"These Orcs," Margo asked. "Do they have wives and children?"
"Well . . . Orcs can't reproduce. I think the dark powers spawned them in some way. But they're cruel and greedy!"
"They can't make babies, and they don't want women. Why should they want gold and jewelry? What will they spend it on? And Sauron – he has no body at all, right?"
"They're all evil and they want to conquer the world!" Arwen glared at the other girl, and then gulped the rest of her wine. It was maddening to have to argue about something that should have been obvious to all the races of Middle Earth.
Margo poured herself some wine too. "Look, honey. Don't be angry with me. It's just that you're a stranger here. You don't know how it used to be. Your Sauron never beat his wife, or drank away his family's future, or forced his daughter to marry a man she didn't love. Well, we used to have a whole city full of men who did those things. And now we don't."
"I don't understand." Arwen felt a bit dizzy, both from wine and from strange new ideas. "Are you saying you don't care if the Dark Lord defeats the fair races of Middle Earth?"
"No, I'm not." Margo refilled Arwen's wine cup. "What I'm saying is that here in Zin Zaraboob we had problems you don't have, so we solved those problems in our own way. And you need to understand us a lot better before you begin judging our laws – or our queen."
"So then . . . respect is important. Just like the One Ring." Arwen shook her head, feeling muddled. "We need to keep searching these ships, though. It's very important!"
"Sure, we'll get back to it. Better rest a while first, though. This afternoon is going to be a real scorcher!"
"I'm not afraid of a little heat," Arwen declared. The wine was making her boastful. "If they'd let me I'd fight Sauron myself – I'd march right into the fires of Mount Doom!"
"Me too!" Margo grinned as Arwen downed the rest of her wine. The elven maid giggled, and soon they were both laughing their heads off in spite of the noonday heat.