[Arry]

Carandû had not meant to be late to the hearing. It was his turn for galley duty, though, and the pots and pans and dishes needed to be cleaned up. Lunch would follow soon after the meeting was done and clean bowl and spoons would be needed for the soup the cook had simmering. With a final swipe of the dish towel, he nested the last bowl on the cupboard. Tying his hair back a little more neatly, the Elf hurried down the passageway and up the stairs to the meeting place.

The crowd was large already. Carandû shoulder his way to where he could see Annû standing. ‘Your pardon,’ he murmured many times as he jostled his way through the throng, once stepping inadvertently on a Lossoth foot. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked in a hushed voice slipping in next to his brother.

‘The Captain’s just spoken of what Alahseey has been accused of,’ Annû replied. ‘And brought up, too, that he thinks there’s a spy in our midst.’

Carandû frowned at what he heard as Annû explained all that Luindal had said. ‘Is that why he set me to reindeer duty, do you think? Did someone step foreword and accuse me?’ Annû shook his head, saying the particulars of the part about the spy had not been addressed.

‘Who was it who accused the Elder?’ Carandû’s gaze swiveled about the room looking at those who stood near the front, wondering if the same person had fingered him.

Annû raised his arm and pointed to where Hilde stood. ‘Her!’

Carandû’s mind raced back to the evening he had found the Captain’s door open and gone in to shut off the lamp. It was after that that Luindal had assigned him to reindeer duty and would not let him join in the search parties that had gone out onto the ice. He looked to where Annû had pointed, his eyes going wide, as he remembered it was she, Hilde, who had seen him exiting the room. She was in profile, standing a little ways away from Luindal, and this view of her sparked another memory of that day Galhardir had almost drowned. ‘Brother, I must make my way to the front where the Lossoth stands accused. They have the wrong one!’

The brothers made their way to the front amidst the grumblings of those pushed aside for their passage. Luindal saw the two Elves and bade them step forward, asking if they had anything to say. Annû spoke a few words in his brother’s ear, then pushed him forward.

‘That day that the lines were cut, Captain,’ Carandû began, his gaze shifting from a close study of Hilde’s face back to Luindal. ‘I wasn’t supposed to be near the operation. I’d been assigned to see to the reindeer. But my brother was out on the ice and I was not one to be parted from him should danger arise. And I was worried that it might, given our previous mishaps in the cave search. Needless to say, I left my charges in the care of a Lossoth and climbed to a vantage point where I could watch what was going on. I saw my brother and the others already on the ice when I arrived at my vantage point, and I traced their lines back to the tree where they were secured, wanting to make sure all had been done properly. My eyes followed my brother’s group and periodically I would sweep back to see the ropes that kept them safe. Just before Galhardir went in I saw a Lossoth with an axe in hand standing by his party's rope. I swept out again to see my brother slipping along, when the cry went up that a rope had broken and one of the searchers had slipped into the water. Then the Corsairs attacked, of course, and the chaos of battle ensued.’

At the word ‘Lossoth’, the crowd had begun to mutter and look hard at Alahseey.

‘So,’ began Luindal, ‘it was Alahseey you saw with the axe definitely in her hand . . .’

‘No,’ said Carandû, firmly, in a loud voice, as to be heard above the swell of harsh talk. Luindal looked at him expectantly. ‘The Elder was standing some ways away from where the rope was severed, or so I have pieced together from the rumours I sorted through of where the cut was made.’ Annû had made his way round to where Hilde stood and now grasped the woman firmly by the arm. ‘It was her I saw, standing near the rope, axe gripped in her hand,’ Carandû continued. ‘Hilde, the Captain’s confidant, the one who had knowledge of all the plans, and free run of the ship.’ He took a step closer to Hilde who drew back against Annû.

Annû pushed her forward, his grip still hard on her. ‘And tell them how you saw my brother leaving the Captain’s cabin after he’d gone in to turn off a lamp left burning on the desk. Tell how you accused him of being the spy.’ ‘Tell them!’ he commanded in a wrathful voice, his tall frame looming over her.