[Alkanoonion]

**** Harad/Umbar ****
It was morning. Fuinur awoke to the sound of an army of olephants marching around his bed, their feet going thud, thud, thud. Each olephaunt as it walked past the bed would raise its trunk and blurt away. Fuinur groaned and promptly fell out of bed. The olephants continued their nosey rampage around the room showing no mercy for the Dragons poor head.

“Get away, Get away” screamed Fuinur but they kept at him. Trying to get up he felt his stomach heave and as Fuinur leaned over he spewed forth a mighty river of what looked like tar, all black and sticky.

The poor king felt a trunk wrap around his waist as one of the Olephaunt’s made to attack the stricken King. Screaming Fuinur made a clumsy swing at the olepaunt but missed. “My lord Dragon you are sick,” said the olephaunt. It sounded just like Seth. Opening his eyes Fuinur saw that it was Seth and not the head of a talking olehaunt, as he had first thought.

Helping the king to stand Seth grabbed some water from a pitcher and pored some of its contents down the Dragons throat.

Seth thought grumpily of the Dragon “More like a baby, making such a fuss about a little drink. Why, anyone would think it was his first time getting drunk!”

Fuinur felt his stomach heave again and rushed to grab the chamber pot. Once he had finished vomiting, he felt much better.

“Seth looks well” was the digested reasoning of Fuinur “How can that be? He drank as much, if not more than me. He must have a gut built of cast ion.”

Fuinur vowed never to drink again.

It was many hours more before the two appeared inside the Tavern. Seeing the proprietor,who was standing behind a bar, thanked him and payed for the nights lodging. The proprietor having receiving prompt payment (most did not these days) offered them a meal of leftover stew. Accepting the meal the two sat in silence in a corner while thinking about what to do next.

Fuinur decided to see if he could find out what the progress was with the ships mast. Leaving the ‘The Captains Parrot’ the two made their way to the dock.

Arriving, a lot of activity was going on but there was no sign of Urken. Looking around Fuinur spotted Mayor Elhorn. Grabbing the mayor by the sleave Fuinur asked him were Urken was. Elhorn replied that Urken was away on private business but asked if he could help. Fuinur replied that he cold help by having Urken send him word once he returned. He would be staying in a place called the kings palace, a place that they had heard about the night before. The Palace was a place for the rich to go when they wanted to gamble or meet with women.

Fuinur felt the need for some distraction to take his mind from events from the past. He could also meet people who he could talk trade with. It never hurt to make new contacts, besides there might be a nice woman who could help him with the ach in his thigh.

Leaving the Mayor the pair made their way to the Palace, The palace was surrounded by rolling gardens filled with fountains and benches for the enjoyment of patrons to sit and rest by. The building itself resembled a palace, on a slightly smaller scale. The entrance was equally grand being made up of stone with mithril designs on it; clearly this was a place of much wealth.

Standing by the door were two guards, one on each sides. Both were armed with swords and pole arms. Entering the palace the two made their way towards a card table and not recognising the game, the two found it quite boring. They moved on towards another table. The next table that they visited was a knife tossing competition. A man, with his eyes covered would throw a knife towards a target. The target was painted half red and half black. If the knife hit the red and you had betted on that colour than you won. If it missed than the house won. Painted in the centre of the circle was a small white mark. A person could pay extra for the chace at the white mark and if they hit the mark, all money bet would be doubled, but if they missed than they had to pay double. Not surprisingly few people paid for the chance.

The Game controller saw that Seth was interested and offered for him to have a shot. It cost only 1 gold per toss. Seth declined, not having the money to spare. The men around him sneered. Not one to back down from a challenge, Seth accepted. The controller placed the blindfold on Seth and placed him on the mark. As an added challenge the conductor spun him around three times and placed a knife in his hands. Pulling back his arm, Seth threw the knife. What Seth did not know was that he was facing a window and not the target. All the spectators knew what was going to happen. They were not disappointed. A great smash could be heard as the knife went flying out the window.

The men around the table laughed at Seth’s loss as he paid over the two gold coins. Fuinur Offered to have an attempt, only he would double what Seth had lost in the original bet. The crowd went silent.

Fuinur paid over 4 gold coins. The conductor placed the blindfold on Fuinur face and handed him the knife. He winked at the crowd and spun Fuinur around three times facing him in the wrong direction. Fuinur was not fooled. He turned and threw the knife directly at the target, winning himself not only 8 gold coins but also the cheers and applause of the crowd. Laughing the pair walked away with Fuinur handing Seth back his two coins.

Next the pair found their way to a room where beautiful women were in skimpy clothing and lounging around. Seeing the pair they offered to serve them for only 2 gold each. The two men smiled at each other and agreed, “why not” they both said in unison. Each picking the women of his choice the pair made their way to a small room where two beds where set up. Removing his tunic Fuinur laid down on the table where the women started to massage his muscles

‘Ahhh, that is lovely”. The massage was pure heaven and soon Fuinur started to doze off the last thing that he remembered was thinking that he liked this little break and then he dozed off.

[ October 24, 2002: Message edited by: Alkanoonion ]