User blog:High Prince Imrahil/Adventures of Prince Imrahil Part 2: Pirates!

Hello! I hope you enjoy the second part of my story, as Herendil and his crew fight pirates in the Bay of Belfas. I was able to add several more characters including:

Lord Adam = lookout

Carlos = Dwarven Pirate Captain

MrHobit = second-in-command

If you haven't read the latest chapter I made, just go to my blog posts, and open up "Adventures of Prince Imrahil: part 1". If you have, then now for the story! Enjoy!

Beahunt and I were sitting at the dinner table reading the memoirs of Herendil. We were just about to read his third entry, when Samwise and his sister Graycloud the elven maiden, walked through the door, both of whome I had invited to dinner. Sam had changed a lot since his promotion. He was much taller, and stronger as well, for the Blackroot Vale is not a place for idle lords. He wore green robes woven out of silk imported from Lebinnin. Graycloud had changed as well, albiet not as much as her older brother. She wore a dress sewn out of pink fabric, fairer then any lady had worn before in my small coastal kingdom. The site of them almost took my breath away, for they looked like great lords from over the Western Sea, certainly not the  messengers  that had left gates a few years ago to seek a job in service of King Legolas.

"Hello!" I said shaking Sam's hand firmly "How goes your lordship in the West of Gondor?"

Sam beamed with pride as he told me of all that had improved since his arrival in Blackroot. How he had driven off the bandits and pirates and established trade both with the clans of barbarians over the western border, and with the men of Westfold over the White Mountains. So great were things going, he said, that he was building a castle in Erech, the size of which would rival Helm's Deep itself. At last he wearied of talking and drew his attention to the book that was lying upon the table.

"What's that?" he said "It looks ancient"

Slowly I told him of the discovery of the tomb, and how we got the book. I recapped the book, and he asked me to read the next chapter. Thus I read:

-Third Entry of Herendil-

Before I start in on my next tale, I must tell you what happened in the years between this story and the last. In the iron mine I found in the Turedain Jungle, we struck gold. Not just a small bit of gold, but huge amounts of the stuff. Galleons of Numenor went back and forth between Numenor and Far-Harad, laden with gold. Thus the Bay of Belfas became a magnet for pirates, and I was sent aboard Mevan's Sword to help patrol the seas. Then one day while we were heading back to Umbar after a hard days work, we ourselves were ambushed by a pirate galleon. Thus begins this story.

It was upon the evening of Janruary 12, 2091 of the Second age of the Sun. We were sailing North towards umbar after protecting a convoy of gold.

"Captain!" shouted Lord Adam, my man in the crow's nest "Dragon Ship spotted at three points to starboard!"

A chill went down my spine. A dragon ship was what every treasure ship's captain feared, for it could only mean one thing: Carlos, captain of the Dwarven Pirates. That sounds a bit far-fetched nowadays, but I can assure you that using a port they had built East of Lorien, evil dwarves led by Carlos would sail down the Great River and pillage trading ships in the Bay of Belfas. Dragon Ships were equipped with a keel and a double set of rowers which doubled the fighting power in melee, as all rowers onboard were also warriors. The dwarven Dragon Ships were to be feared. These boats carried ballista for firing grappling hooks to pull enemy ships into contact, enabling boarding actions. To say the least, a Dragon Ship was a treasure ship's death sentence.

"Surely we cannot even hope to battle a Dragon Ship!" shouted MrHobit, my second-in-command "We don't stand a chance!"

I stood silently for a moment, then I drew my sword and shouted "We shall not surrender!" Then seizing a horn from him, I blew a mighty blast and shouted "Ready the arrows! Ready the catapult! Let our ship go down in honor, for the sake of the fatherland! For Numenor!"

"For Numenor!" shouted the crew, and we went about getting things ready.

"Coming closer, sir!" said Lord Adam "Almost in range!"

The archers drew their bows, and aimed them towards the other ship.

"They're in range now!" said Lord Adam "Fire!"

And as they stepped out of cover to fire, a mighty cloud of dwarven crossbow bolts fell upon them, wiping out a tithe of my warriors. My archers fired back, and many dwarves fell onto their ship senseless, or fell plunging into the ocean. I'm sure the dwarves thought we would be easy prey, but we gave them arrow for arrow and bolt for bolt. Faced with such stern defence, the dwarves gave up the ranged attack, and sailed towards us with incredible speed.

"They're trying to ram us!" said Lord Adam "Take cover!"

Our ship shook, and before we knew it the dwarves had rammed us in the stern of the ship, and grappling hooks were being thrown onto on the railing and rigging of our ship. My men did their best to cut the ropes, but for every one we severed three more were thrown over. Retreating to the bow of the ship, my men formed a shield wall all acrossed the top deck as the dwarves poured onto our ship. Slowly we pushed them back, and finally we won the stern and leaped down onto the Dragon Ship. A desperate battle was fought, and at last all the dwarves were hewn down or cast into the sea. My ragged, exausted crew crawled back onto our ship when we heard Lord Adam cry out. He slumped in the crow's nest, and fell onto the deck sensless: pierced by a dwarven crossbow bolt. We turned around to see seven Dragon Ships on the harizon, each of them three times as large as the one we faced before.

"A trap!" I shouted "They sent out a scout ship to draw our fire and waste our amunition, so that we will be helpless against the main fleet!"

And at that they had been successful, for we had no arrows left.

"Man the catapult!" I shouted

And we went to the stern of the ship were the catapult was. Normaly we don't use flaming ammo, but this was a desperate situation, and the catapult was our last ranged weapon. Our first shot was a direct hit, and one of the Dragon Ships went up in flames. Our second shot went too far to the right, and our third too far to the left. Just when things were looking hopful, a well aimed dwarven ballista bolt crashed into our catapult, hiting a main support. It swayed for a moment, then to our despair, fell into the sea.

"Get below deck!" I shouted but it was too late.

The dwarves deeming that it was time to finish us off, fired all of their ballistas in a mighty broadside. And for a moment it felt as if the wrath of Mevans himself was upon us. Flaming bolts filled the air, impaling some and sweeping others into the sea. Only myself, MrHobit , and ten of my best marines remained in any condition to fight. The twelve of us rushed below deck amid the choas, and were in the cargo hold, safe and sound from dwarven bolts. I could see from a small window, that the pirates now drew next to our ship, and let down the boarding planks. They clamoured abord by the hundred and searching the upper deck the ships for survivors, killing any that they found. As the shrieks of my crew rose up through the air, I knew that I had to do something.

"We can hold out long in here." said MrHobit "and there is a chance that they might not even find us at all!"

"I cannot sit doing nothing while my crew suffers!" I said "I am going above deck, to at least die defending my men. Who's coming with me?!"

My ten marines stood and readied their weapons.

"For the glory of Numenor!" we cried out "For Lord Adam!"

We flung open the door to the cargo hold and charged out onto the lower decks. The enemies were not aware that there were any survivers on board, and we took them by surprise. Many a dwarf could not grasp his weapon because of the great amounts of plunder he was carrying, and died with his newfound treasure. Dwarven greybeards laughed grimly about it years later, saying that the pirates had 'died rich'. We were far from victory however, for we had only taken the three lowest levels, and to free the ship we would have to take the top deck, upon which there were hundreds of pirates. Fortunetly we had slain every dwarf in the lower levels, so there was nobody to give them tidings of our sneak attack. Before the dwarves knew what was happening, we were upon them like a storm, matching the skill of even the best of their berserkers. Finally we reached the top deck, and assaulted the main dwarven host.

We fought well, destroying at least several hundred of their troops, but in the middle of the fight, Carlos himself entered the battle, and by his sword MrHobit fell as well as four of my marines. we were down to three men now, for five of my men had already been hewed down. Slowly the three of us waded through the sea of foes to the bow of the ship. There I planted the flag of Numenor upright into the deck, and prepared for my death. Suddenly the main dwarven host fell back and Carlos came to duel us personally.

"Fools!" he shouted "You're ship shall fall! All the south will fall! The age of men is failing, Herendil, and the age of the dwarf is upon you! Even now my fleets raid Tauredain villages, driving the men from the land. It won't be long until Numenor itself shall fall, and the temple to Mevans at Meneltarma shall burn. Die now!"

He was huge for a dwarf,  taller then even me. His warhammer swung down upon my second marine, crushing him under it's huge weight. Carlos then swung it wide knocking my last marine into the sea and throwing me off balance as it caught my left foot. Drawing a large sword, Carlos charged at me and tried to stab me while I was off balance. I dodged it just in time, and struck back by stabbing his right leg. He stumbled backwards in pain, and seeing my chance I gave him a sweep with a nearby javalin and cast him into the sea. So ended the life of Carlos, last of the great dwarven sea captains.

The hordes of dwarves sat silent for a moment, still trying to comprehend what had just befallen. They made no move of attack, and neither did I. Finally a dwarven captain spoke.

"Death is normaly the penalty for refusing to surrender your ship." he said "But you have proven your valour, and even if pirates we dwarves are honorable folk. Your life will be spared."

I let out a sigh of relief, but the sight of so many dead Numenoreans scattered around the ship almost removed my will to live. Still I would have to take advantage of the rest of my life, for the glory of Numenor. Nay, I still had a full life ahead of me and a suicide attack against the dwarves would be a poor use of it. The dwarven captain inturrupted my thoughts, as he spoke again.

"However" said he, after consulting the other captains "you will be sold as a slave to our kin in the Red Mountains. No, not to work in the mines, but as a great warrior. If you serve the Orocarni faithfully for a full year, you will be freed. What say you?"

I pondered this for a moment, and made my decision:

"I agree." I said

"Then you shall leave at once. Goin, would you escort Herendil to his ship, please?"

I had no idea about the adventure that was about to begin.

-Epiloge-

"Wow" said Sam "That was quite the story, Imrahil!"

"indeed, Samwise." I said "indeed"

Just then, dinner was ready and we all sat down to eat.