[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

**** Harad/Umbar - Gramil ****

"Sir! Sir! - " The servant called after Jarl, but his overly soft voice was lost in the din. The party, under the influence of alcohol, had begun to pick up. " - this message is for Dale of Jarl?? About a little Tiger?"

Jarl had made a speedy disappearance, perhaps due to that special trader's instinct for self preservation: Lady Ivrel had spotted them. She unfortunately caught this last part and was left to speculate on Jarl's interest in Tigers without him. Exotic animals was one of her trades. She faded into the crowd in search of her new prospect.

Gramil caught the reference at once. "Garlin? Is there a problem with Dale's - I mean Jarl's - assistant?" He suddenly recalled Garlin and Ethar were seen together at the beginning of the evening.

"I.. I don't know. The tiger is being held by the guard. At the lion's den. The message, tigers and lions, it makes no sense."

"The guard??" Gramil abandoned the servant and strode off in search of Jarl. He hoped Ethar was okay, and he hoped he was still with Garlin. The guard was not friendly to foreigners, they would not be able to tell the difference between a Dale man and one of Gondor.

Now, he thought, where would a trader seeking to avoid attention go... Gramil's eyes caught the opening to side passage. The kitchen.

**********

He caught the edge of the stranger's blade and threw it aside with a wobbly parry, feeling the impact to his knees. Ethar had recovered enough from his bloody rage to realize he was losing, and felt a bitter salt edge of panic as he forced two fast cuts that were easily turned. Now he had to defend. And defend, driven back into the crowd. "Defense is where you die," a teacher once said. Ethar really wasn't a swordsman, though he knew enough of the basics to realize this drunk Rhunian was not an average fighter. He was dressed as a free-sword, but this was a trained soldier. What was he doing in Harad? A deserter?

Ethar was about to make a desperate lunge inside the man's guard, when someone jumped in his way, nearly getting skewered. It was those beautiful dueling knives again - Garlin! He was fast. In a moment it was over, and Garlin was somehow on top of the soldier, crossed knives at his throat. And that is what the guards saw as they entered the tent.