Once again I must thank my patient beta readers, Aearwen and Ruger and all of the wonder writers on the Garden of Ithilien. Any remaining mistakes are my responsibility.

Haleth was never certain how she got onto the ship. One instant she was standing on the dock, assuring Inglor she would be well. The next she was sprawled across boxes and casks at the bottom of the ship.

Before she could protest, Inglor was upon her, covering her mouth with his hand. ‘Hush,’ he whispered urgently. ‘If you begin to shout they will surely hear you!’ He cut the mooring lines while she struggled to pull herself upright. Inglor grabbed the oars and began to row.

Haleth, who had just regained her balance, sat down hard when the boat jerked forward. With a grunt of discomfort she crawled to the back of the boat, rubbing her abused backside. She took the steering oar and looked questioningly at Inglor who shook his head mutely.

They sat together, straining their ears for any sound of the Corsairs, but the only noise was the sloshing of the river against the ship and the dock.

‘Inglor, this is ridiculous,’ Haleth whispered. ‘A small distraction is better than no distraction at all. What are we going to do? Hope none of the Corsairs look to their left?’

‘We shall hide beneath the dock,’

‘Have you taken leave of your senses? You just told me we can’t outrun them!’ she whispered.

‘What I said was that we cannot reach the first bend in the river without being seen.’ Inglor’s voice rang in her mind.

Haleth clamped her hand against her forehead and shuddered violently. ‘I thought I asked you not to do that!’ she whispered viciously.

‘Under the circumstances there is little choice. Listen!’

Haleth strained her hears. Her breath caught in her throat. Was that the distant splash of the Corsair’s oars? The faint noise grew louder, the rhythmic splashing now accompanied by the shouts of hoarse voices. The Corsairs had broken into song, their voices harsh and filled with cruel laughter.

Haleth did some quick mental calculations. Judging by the number of voices, there were far more of them than she had originally thought. They could easily overwhelm the crew of the tiny elven ship. She glanced at Inglor who appeared completely unconcerned, and directed her thoughts at her companion, moving her lips in case they did not reach him.

‘Inglor, this is madness. There are too many of them. Let me on shore and I’ll cause a distraction.’

Inglor’s response was to smile and maneuver the ship further from the dock.

‘Inglor! You’re going to get us both killed!’ Haleth balled her hands into fists. She half rose, intending to jump over the side and swim for the shore but at that instant the bow of the Corsair ship appeared from around the edge of the dock.

From the perspective in the small elven ship, the Corsair vessel was enormous. There was a huge, black ram on the prow. It glided by as Haleth quickly sat down.

The rest of the ship hove into view. A tall mast towered over the decks, the black sails tightly furled and there were at least fifteen oars on the side visible to Haleth. The decks were swarming with pirates.

Their tiny ship leapt forward, propelled by Inglor working the oars. The movement caught the attention of the men on the pirate ship. Haleth could see one point and shout. Soon, it seemed, they were all jeering and leaning on the side of the black ship.

‘Inglor!’ croaked Haleth. She fervently wished there was another set of oars. It wouldn’t change the ultimate outcome of the confrontation, but it would have made her feel better to have something to do.

‘I see them,’ said Inglor calmly. With expert skill, he angled their ship into the current. It shot past the Corsair’s ship before the surprised pirates could fire their arrows.

Haleth spun around to watch.

There was shouting and confusion on the black ship. Some pirates ran to get their weapons while others continued to shake their fists and yell obscenities. Meanwhile, the elven ship increased the distance between them. The crack of a whip rang through the air. Someone was trying to restore order to the Corsair ship. There was shouting and cursing and the harsh clash of steel.

Inglor’s back was bent with effort. The oars cut easily through the water of the River Lhûn as the current propelled them forward. It was almost as though the river itself was helping them. Haleth smiled encouragingly at him. Maybe they would manage to live a few moments longer after all.

When she turned around, the Corsair ship was across the current, the black oars moving in unison to bring the ship around. She then glanced down stream over Inglor’s shoulder. The mouth of the river was growing closer and closer. The buildings and docks of Mithlond had been left behind. The banks of the river were covered in sedge grass.

‘That was amazing, Inglor, but what are we going to do when they get the ship turned around?’ she asked.

‘We shall keep sailing,’ said Inglor calmly.

‘Not for long!’ snapped Haleth. ‘They are bigger than us. They have more sails and more oars. Once we reach open water they will catch us in no time. We might have stood a chance if there’d been something on shore to distract them, but, no.’

‘The opportunity is past. There is no need to dwell upon it,’ he replied as he dipped the oars into the water yet again. He was rowing at a terrific rate. Haleth was not certain how he could still speak while putting in such an effort.

‘No need?’ spluttered Haleth in disbelief. How could anyone be so calm in such a dire situation unless he was stark, raving mad?

Inglor smiled and nodded, obviously happy that they had reached an agreement on the matter.

Haleth glanced over her shoulder. The Corsair ship had completed turning around. It was heading downstream, straight towards them, at a speed that would soon overtake them. ‘At least my way only one of use would have died,’ said Haleth viciously.

‘Neither of us shall die today.’ Inglor spoke with such conviction that Haleth almost believed him.

She looked back at the black ship bearing down on them. It grew larger and larger by the minute, towering over the tiny, white ship. She could make out the individual faces of those standing on the bow. The black vessel was moving with such speed that Haleth began to doubt they would even reach the river’s mouth before it caught them.

‘They’re getting closer, Inglor,’ she said needlessly.

‘I know,’ he said in the same, maddeningly calm voice he always used.

The elven ship lurched forward with a sudden burst of speed.

‘What was that?’ asked Haleth. She peered over the edge, half expecting to see Ossë himself beneath the ship, pushing it along. There was nothing beneath the ship but the water. The bottom of the river was clearly visible.

‘The tide is going out,’ replied Inglor, rowing with the same vigour he had shown since the beginning of the deadly race.

‘Oh,’ said Haleth. It hardly seemed an advantage when the Corsair ship would benefit from it as well.

The banks fell away as they reached the mouth of the river.

Unable to look away, Haleth watched the black ship draw closer and closer. She could make out the individual faces of those on the ship. There were leering, grinning men with scarred features. One noticed Haleth’s attention and smiled, revealing a set of teeth filed to points. She stared at him impassively as he licked his lips and flicked his tongue at her.

The steady beat of a drum rolled across the water. The oars dipped into the river in time with the drum. A distant, disconnected part of Haleth admired their seafaring skills. ‘Inglor,’ she said as the black ship bore down on them, ‘It has been a great pleasure to have known you.’

No sooner had she spoken than there was a grinding, tearing noise and the black ship ground to a halt.

The Corsairs, so confident of victory an instant before, were thrown into complete confusion. Many, including those who had climbed the mast to get a better view of the spectacle, were caught off balance and thrown to the deck. Others landed in the water. As Haleth watched, her jaw slack, the black ship listed heavily to the right.

‘What happened?’ she asked.

‘They hit bottom,’ Inglor explained helpfully.

‘Yes, I can see that. How did they hit bottom?’ she demanded.

She regretted the question as soon as the words had been spoken. Inglor would undoubtedly offer some perfectly obvious, perfectly unilluminating response and she would have to fight the temptation to push him over the side.

‘The mouth of the River Lhûn is prone to silt deposits,’ he said as he shipped the oars. ‘Could you please help me with the sail?’ he asked.

As she had expected, Haleth fought the urge to push him over the side as they worked to raise the sail.

‘Círdan’s people frequently dredged the river mouth to keep a large channel open. With them gone, the channel has begun to fill. Our ship has a small enough draught that we simply sailed over it. The Corsair’s ship, however…’ he shrugged his shoulders eloquently.

‘How did you know?’ asked Haleth.

‘I have sailed the ship to the mouth of the river and back many times since we built it,’ he said as he hauled on the ropes to raise the sail of plain canvas.

‘Of course you knew when the tide would change,’ said Haleth. ‘And it was easy to tell the Corsair ship drew too much water to cross that part of the river mouth safely.’

‘According to the dwarves, the Corsairs had never been this far north. They would be unfamiliar with the waters,’ said Inglor.

‘And in too much of a hurry to pay attention,’ said Haleth. ‘Still, it was a near thing, especially the timing,’ she said, looking over her shoulder at the black ship. It was listing hard to starboard. Corsairs swarmed over it like angry ants whose hill had just been kicked over. ‘If the tide had not been going out…’

‘We would have managed some other way,’ said Inglor. ‘Help me with the ropes?’

Haleth quickly bent down and fastened the ropes.

‘You pushed me off the dock,’ she said accusingly.

‘Yes,’ he said. The shadow of a frown crossed his face. ‘I apologize for my actions but there was no time for a lengthy discussion.’

‘You could have explained,’ said Haleth.

‘There was no time,’ he offered weakly.

Haleth grunted. She had her apology. There was nothing to be gained by pushing the discussion any further. ‘They would have killed us if they had caught us,’ she said, glancing once more at the stranded Corsair ship. They had drifted further away from it, their ship carried by the receding tide and the remnants of the river current.

‘Yet they did not catch us,’ said Inglor as he lowered the steering oar into the water and seated himself at the stern of the boat. ‘As I said, neither of us will die today.’