[Orofaniel]

"Noooo!" Galhardir yelled.

He had been watching the whole scene between Tarn and Annû. He now realised that Annû was in great danger as he was crawling away from the enemy on deck. Tarn had found his knife and was now running towards Annû in full speed, ready to finish him. It became clear to Galhardir that the only chance Annû had of surviving was if someone would come to his rescue. The images went slowly in Galhardir's head, as if he wasn't able to understand what was happening around him. He watched carefully, before he let out another yell. It seemed like minutes passed, even hours....

Grabbing one of the oars, Galhardir ran towards Tarn. Tarn was now standing over Annû. With a hit in the skull Tarn fell, surprised that a Lossoth had hit him. Tarn cried out in pain, but he wasn't too preoccupied with Galhardir, as he'd probably decided that killing Annû was his first priority. Tarn got up immediately, and he didn’t even seem weakened by the oar that had hit him.

"Argh..." he growled towards Galhardir. Tarn’s eyes were full of hatred and anger; the flames that passed his eyes were terrifying.

Galhardir's legs weakened, he couldn't stand up. Then he noticed Annû; who was slowly getting to his feet just behind Tarn. Galhardir thought that he might keep Tarn occupied while Annû got to his feet, fully recovered and ready to fight. Feeling encouraged, he followed Tarn's movements carefully with the oar. Then suddenly, quite unexpectedly, Tarn did a quick movement, turning back to Annû, dragging the elf in front of him with the knife on the elf's throat.

"Annû!" Galhardir let out, seeing his friend in a most unpleasant and dangerous situation.

Thoughts roared around in Galhardir’s head; Was Annû going to die? Would Tarn cut his throat while Galhardir was watching? “Oh please, let this be a dream,” he sighed just so he, himself, could hear it. "Galhardir, friend," Annû whispered underneath Tarn's heavy arm which was resting on Annû’s shoulder.

"Quiet, or I'll cut your throat right now!" Tarn yelled.

"No!" Galhardir screamed, full of anger and frustration.

"Then, put your oar down, and keep quiet....both of you," Tarn said with a vicious and evil smile. "No, don't do what he says, Galhardir, don't do it," Annû encouraged full of courage and bravery, feeling the pressure of the knife getting closer to his blood veins in his throat. By this Galhardir felt confused.

What would the consequences be? Tarn was in the lead. He was decided as he was the one holding a hostage. Should Galhardir just do what he said, or should he listen to Annû? By holding his oar still, he could attack Tarn right now; hopefully he could hit him pretty hard and perhaps knock him out for a second or two so that Annû could get free. Then together they could finish Tarn. But what happened, if he attacked and Tarn was too quick for him and cut Annû’s throat before he had a chance to rescue him? Then, he could always do what Tarn had told him to do; drop the oar. But how could he then protect himself? For surely, if Tarn killed Annû now, he would go straight after Galhardir.

Having such a heavy debate with himself in this position didn't make it easy for Galhardir. He wanted to act on intuition, but he had already involved his feelings and his thoughts…..

“Let him go!” Galhardir then said sternly, not quite understanding his own words; he didn't realise right away that he was in no command, as it was in fact Tarn who was holding the hostage. Perhaps this, however, would buy Galhardir some more time to think. Tarn didn’t seem too pleased by being commanded by Galhardir and it looked as if he was holding his knife even closer to Annû’s throat. “You’re in no position to demand anything,” Tarn replied angrily. Annû gasped for breath. “Now, I’ll give you two seconds; drop your oar or the Elf dies,” Tarn said, and Galhardir knew he was telling him the truth; Tarn was ready to kill Annû.

Letting the oar slip his hands it fell to the deck with a low sound.

“Don’t…” Annû whispered, but it was too late.