[Alcarillo]

Captain Vórimandur leapt back into the slaughter, slinging his shining sword through the air and laughing at his foes. By his side were Nimlang, a young recruit killing his first men, and Malengil, a seasoned veteran of the wars against Umbar. Captain Vórimandur was wounded, but ignored the warm blood flowing freely down his arm, and slaughtered just as fiercely as before.

"That is for the wreck of the Telpelingwë!" he shouted as he beheaded another corsair, "And that is for the boarding of my ship three years ago at Tolfalas! And then near Cape Caran, and all the other times! And that is for the death of Nillendion!"

By now the soldiers below decks spilled back out, with a few rescued slaves in tow. Behind them came a mob of corsairs, scimitars glistening, and they came roaring across the decks. The battle thickened. Men were shoved overboard and into the black river below. More Gondorians leapt across to the Fame and Fortune to compensate for the losses, but more corsairs leapt to the Ráca. Both ships were tangled in a deadly mob of crew and weapons, surging back and forth, from one ship to the other. At times the Gondorians were shoved back to their ship, and at times the corsairs were routed and pursued across the Fame and Fortune's blood-stained deck. But now the corsairs were gaining the upper hand. Their nimble seamen leapt upon the ropes and climbed like agile monkeys up to the sails, risking the Gondorians' arrows for escape. Their wily captain had seen his dangerous position. One of his ships was captured, and the other fleeing, with a dozen more enemy ships approaching. If his ship escaped, the battle would be over. The Gondorians would scramble panicked back to their own ship, or else be caught alone on a corsair vessel, to be shut in a prison cell and slowly tortured to reveal imagined Gondorian secrets.

"Up the masts! Get this ship moving!" the corsair captain shouted as he tried his best to keep out of the throngs of battle. "I want to see these Eldacarioni scattering back to their ship like ants!"

They heeded his words with a curt nod and the most nimble corsairs leapt to their work, leaving the fighting to the stronger veterans below. The deep red sails unfurled and caught the slight breeze. The Fame and Fortune inched forward.

Nimlang caught Captain Vórimandur by the arm. "Captain, sir, the ship is moving! We have to get back to the Ráca!" he shouted over the noise of battle.

"What? No!" Vórimandur shook Nimlang's arm off. "One more charge into the battle, and then we can leave!"

Malengil grabbed the captain by the other arm. "Cap'n, sir, look around! The soldiers are fleeing!" Vórimandur saw the other Gondorians leaping back to the Ráca, chased by hordes of corsairs. It was a complete rout. The Gondorians fled across the Fame and Fortune's decks, slipping and stumbling in the blood and corpses. Already he could see the Ráca sliding slowly backwards as the Fame and Fortune glided forward.

Captain Vórimandur bit his lip in indecision. He wanted to so desperately stay fighting on the Fame and Fortune. She would've made a beautiful prize to sail back to port. But every Gondorian was scattering in panic back to the Ráca. It was now hopeless.

"Fine. We're leaving!" Vórimandur said, and he and Malengil and Nimlang ran back to the Ráca. They reached the Fame and Fortune's starboard rail, the one facing the Ráca, and putting a foot atop it, Vórimandur leapt across the gap between the ships, and landed on his knees on his ship's hard wooden deck. He was pulled up by the sailors, who tried to usher him out of the path of the arrows flying through the air in great volleys, but Captain Vórimandur pushed them away. Defying the arrows, he stood and ran down the length of the Ráca, trying to keep up with the Fame and Fortune.

"Follow that ship!" he shouted to his sailors. The sails unfurled and the Ráca inched forward alongside the Fame and Fortune. But the Fame and Fortune was faster. By the time Vórimandur had reached the Ráca's bow, half of the Fame and Fortune had already passed by, and it glided through the water quicker by the moment.

Aboard the swift xebec, the corsair captain leaned lankily against the mainmast, watching the arrows flit between the ships. Captain Vórimandur caught sight of him, directly across the little gap of water, and for a few moments they stood staring right at each other.

But no words were exchanged across the ships. The Fame and Fortune sailed away, too fast for the Ráca to catch up. And by now the other Gondorian ships were sailing alongside the Ráca. The battle was over, and so quickly. The fighting spirit in Vórimandur fizzled out.

"Commander Darnir!" he called out. The commander ran over from where he helped turn over the bodies piled on the deck.

"Yes, sir. Ah! You're wounded! I'll get the surgeon for you."

"Do that afterwards. Now, commander, I know that Sergeant Nillendion was killed in the battle. You're sergeant now. Having been Nillendion's second-in-command, I'd say you'd be the most capable of leading these soldiers."

"Um, thank you, sir."

"And also, how many slaves did you rescue?"

Sergeant Darnir inhaled deeply, looking for the right answer before he responded. "Just one, sir. The others were either recaptured or killed in the battle."

"Oh, well. War has its casualties." Only one slave was a disappointment. He had expected to slaughter the entire enemy and capture the xebec, and all of its slaves! Vórimandur sent Darnir away so he could mull over things. "Now get me that surgeon! My arm is killing me!"

Sergeant Darnir ran off to find the ship's surgeon. Captain Vórimandur turned towards the southern horizon, where the tiny spot of red that was the Fame and Fortune sped away towards Umbar. The captain stood at the rail, watching the sun go down while Darnir looked for the surgeon. I'll find you, Fame and Fortune, Vórimandur thought, I'll find you…