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By Root 917 0

who was to be blamed for this monstrous evil deed – the mountain Trolls, goblins, or Morgoth himself – that was up to the captain. However, should there be any doubts whatsoever as to the success of such an operation (for example, if critical time was lost and there were already almost as many Ithilienians as the Whites), then it was to be aborted. In that case they were to make virtue out of necessity: transfer the duty of guarding Emyn Arnen to the officers of the Ithilien regiment in exchange for Faramir's confirmation of his vassal's oath and return to Minas Tirith, leaving only their intelligence network behind. His Majesty reminded that Faramir's life was sacrosanct in any and all circumstances, and that anyone who would provoke an open confrontation between the Ithilienians and the White Company (which event would immediately cause a civil war in the princedom and tear apart the Reunited Kingdom) will be executed for treason. To put it succinctly: once you start the job, finish it, but don't start if you're not sure.

His Majesty wrote in a post-scriptum: "There are many sovereigns in this world who love cloaking their orders in hints in order to later blame those doing their will for 'misunderstanding orders.' Be it known that Elessar of Valandil is not one of them – he always accepts responsibility and calls things what they are, and his orders say only what they say. Should there be found among the White Company any officers who – motivated by excess zeal – would mistake explicit bans for a veiled desire of the King, Captain Cheetah is to neutralize any such officer at any cost."

"As you can see, Lieutenant, by letting you live during your escapades last night, I was going against the King's orders, to some extent."

"So you've known about this order?" Sir Elvard looked at Cheetah with superstitious fear.

"You're overestimating my abilities. It's just that, unlike you, I can figure at least two moves in advance."

"…They're leaving! Look, they're really leaving!" Grager breathed finally, watching the column of Whites take to the Osgiliath Highway. He kept the fingers of his left hand crossed in a special way, just in case. "To be honest, I didn't quite believe it and kept waiting for some treachery to the last moment… You're a genius, Your Majesty!"

"That's 'Your Highness,' Baron, and please keep in mind – I absolutely will not tolerate any joking in this matter."

"My apologies, Your Highness."

"However," Faramir looked over the Ithilien regiment fighters gathered around him with a slight smile, "each one of you is hereby entitled to address me as 'my Captain,' for old times' sake. Obviously, this will not be a hereditary privilege. All right, guys. Her Highness will show you to the castle – the food is served and the bottles are uncorked – while myself and the officers and… erm… our Eastern guests will catch up with you in ten minutes or so… So what were you wishfully saying there, Baron Grager: you really think that they've left?"

"No, my Captain. Their spy network…"

"Yes, exactly. What do you propose to do about it?"

"Nothing, Your Highness."

"Explain."

"Sure. It makes no sense to prosecute those of Cheetah's people that we've identified: since Ithilien was and is a vassal of Gondor, they've committed no crime by working for the monarch of the Reunited Kingdom. Sometimes in such circumstance you do away with a spy quietly, but that's an extreme measure: by doing so we'd announce to Minas Tirith that we're at the very least openly hostile, if not at war with them. Most importantly, Prince, I'm almost certain that we have not identified the entire network. Should we arrest the ones we know, we'd allow them free use of any remaining agents. Whereas if we touch nobody, it'll be impossible to figure out which ones we know about and which we don't, so they'll have to consider the entire network compromised. Even if they don't simply abandon it, they'll for sure put it to sleep for a long time. At least I wouldn't touch such a semi-compromised network with a ten-foot pole."

"Very