From a balcony over the front gate to the palace, speaking to a crowded Ar-Pharazôn's square, Altazîr was declaring his victory.

"...as of this moment, this city is under martial law. We will root out every criminal, every traitor, and send them all to the gallows. Too long the leaders of our once proud city have kept the peace by tolerating corruption and crime - no longer. There will be no pity, and no mercy. By the sword and the gallows we will bring peace and security to Umbar, the Jewel of the South!"

The crowd's response was muted, to put it kindly. The Haradrim and other Southrons who lived in the city knew that Altazîr, like most of his kindred from the old families of the city, valued their lives little.

"I thought life under Gondorian rule would be different," sighed an old man.

"Give it time," said a woman beside him with a smile. It was Princess Amdirien, though he would probably never know it.

"Good luck, Thorongil," she whispered to her maia companion.

Princess Amdirien made her way out of the marble paved square and rejoined her Rangers. They snuck into the palace by climbing into walled garden that Altazîr had sent her guard to just days earlier. Thorongil for his part waited until the appointed hour, then marched straight through the main gate of the palace. He wore the armor the Princess's had given him, but it was now so disheveled the he looked like a man who had passed through death itself. He revealed a small part of his power and wrath, so that terror went before him as his herald; all those who looked upon him fled or hid, and none dared hinder his coming.

Altazîr and thirty of his hand picked guards stood in the ballroom of the palace along with many Gondorian soldiers now under his command. From the east gate of the ballroom, still under repair after Thorongil shattered it a few night prior, Amdirien and her Rangers burst into the hall with bows drawn.

"Altazîr, your are guilty of murder, conspiracy, and treason against the crown!" cried Amdirien.

Altazîr, who had already sown seeds of suspicion against the Rangers in the city, answered her accusations in a loud voice for all the soldiers present to hear. "This is your plan, Gadron? A fake Princess? I expected more from a Ranger, traitor though you be! We found the Princess dead this morning, with an arrow in her back!"

Amdirien did not look particularly royal in the dress Mirumor had given her, and none of the soldiers in the ballroom had ever seen her face.

"Liar!" cried Anders, drawing his bow. "She lives, as you can see - despite your attack on our barracks!"

"Arrest them!" ordered Altazîr. The guards loyal to his family drew their weapons. The rest of the soldiers in the room stood idly, unsure who to trust.

Altazîr was not going to risk his own life in a fight with thirty rangers with bows ready. He turned to leave by the western door. He had hardly taken a step towards it when it swung inwards with such force it bent its hinges. Standing the the threshold was Thorongil.

"So... the demon returns," said Altazîr. "Guards! Kill this monster!"

Altazîr's men turned their attention away from the Rangers and cautiously approached the maia. Each man raised his shield and set his blade upon the top. Step by step they advanced in unison, a wall of black steel hedged with blades. Into their phalanx waded Thorongil, his sword in his right hand and flashes of fire in his left.

Altazîr turned to the rest of the soldiers in the ballroom. "I am the commander of this city; arrest these men!"

"Come, Gadron - you have to admit, this is damn peculiar," began their commander. "You suddenly arrive with a woman claiming to be the Princess..."

"She is the Princess!" interrupted Gadron. "You've known me for three years, General! Have I ever lied to you?"

"Can you prove that?" asked the General, gesturing to the Princess. "I am going to have to insist that you stand down, Captain."

"He controls the prisons and the courts," replied Amdirien. "We will not surrender."

The General drew his sword, and all fourty of his men did the same.

Amdirien looked across the hall and saw, not at all to her surprise, that Thorongil had already slain a dozen of the black clad knights. "Time is on our side," she whispered.

Gadron drew his bow and pointed his arrow at the General. "We don't want to fight you, but we will. Rangers, kill any man that steps within ten yards of us."

With hands quicker than sight every ranger drew his bow. The Rangers of Gondor were held in awe by the ordinary soldiers of Gondor, both for their skill and their loyalty. No one dared approach them, both out of fear and respect. Thorongil continued to cut his way through the Black Numenorean knights.

"Coward!" roared Altazîr. "I'll have your commision for this!"

"Perhaps," nodded the General. "But I'll not fight Rangers who have yet to draw blood."

Altazîr looked back at Thorongil, who was more than half finished with his personal guard. He drew his sword and pulled a small shield from behind his cloak. "Then I'll do it myself!" he cried.

"You don't want this to end in more bloodshed," sighed the General.

"If they won't surrender, then fight these traitors or you'll hang with them!"

Anders dropped his bow and drew his sword. "A politician against a Ranger?" he mocked. "Come, traitor - save us the trouble of an execution."

The Gondorian soldiers seemed willing to let Altazîr fight Anders alone - given that the alternative was a battle with the Rangers - so the Ranger captain and the traitor paced in a slow circle. Altazîr was much better armored - he wore black steel plate like his knights. His sword and his armor were heirlooms of his family, forged in Numenor before its fall. His shield was nearly weightless, yet strong as a dragon's scale.

Anders was the first to attack, and soon the duel was properly joined. The Ranger was more experienced, but only slightly so. Altazîr was stronger - the blood of Numenor flowed nearly pure in his veins. Anders wasted much of his strength on blows which stuck Altazîr's shield while the traitor waited. Then like a serpent he struck, and Anders could barely fend off his attack. Altazîr struck the Ranger to the ground with the edge of his shield, leaving a gash above Anders' right eye.

"I expected better from a soldier of your reputation," Altazîr mocked, raising his sword for a killing blow. Anders, lying on his back, struggled to reach his sword. He looked to Thorongil, who was pushing the dead body of the last of Altazîr's knights from his glowing red sword. He was nearly a hundred feet away. The Princess screamed in horror.

Even as Altazîr went to strike Anders, the Princess heard the twang of a bow and the whistle of an arrow. Gadron's aim was true - and thus the men of his company who had died defending the Princess in their camp were avenged. Altazîr dropped his sword and clutched at his neck, where a bloody arrow now rested. He had been so focused on his victory that he had forgotten the rest of the Rangers. Anders scrambled to his feet.

"A Ranger never stands alone," he said through labored breaths. Altazîr collapsed to ground in front of him.

"Now you've done it!" cried the General. "Gadron, you and your men are under arrest..."

"You don't want to do that," said a menacing voice from behind the Gondorian soldiers.

"Wait... who are you?" asked the General. He turned to face Thorongil and saw him standing with his sword still dripping the blood of the knights he had slaughtered - their bodies lay many yards behind him, strewn about the western half of the hall. The pools of blood and Thorongil's glowing sword gave credence to his claim that the Gondorian General did not wish to quarrel with Thorongil and the Rangers.

"I'm Thorongil," he answered. "I was sent to protect the Princess. From anyone."

"Given the circumstances, command of the city falls to you until I can produce proof of my identity," Amdirien decided, to defuse the situation.

"Very well," said the General. "You best begin by explaining exactly what has happened."

Amdirien and Thorongil told the General all that had happened since the ball, save for the details of the attack on the North Tower that morning, or anything of Gwethien's involvement. It did not prove difficult to find people who could identify the Princess. Over the next few days the details of Altazîr's treachery were exposed - even his involvement with the Dead Hand, thanks to testimony from Mirumor's father. Unfortunately few of Altazîr's co-conspirators were brought to justice. Most of them learned of Altazîr's death too quickly, and disappeared south or east, along with with their wealth.