Mission Secured
by gustaf
Chapter 5: The Turn of Tide Part 1
Once Denethor recovered from the shock, he immediately sent
messengers out to find his sons in order to call them for yet another
meeting. When everyone contained in the room left, Denethor began
pacing the floors attempting at thinking up an explainable excuse as to
why he now must change his decision. Obviously
he couldn’t tell them the truth for two reasons; first was because they
must not know about his premonition, and second they absolutely could
not discover the palantír. So he would need to think up something other
than the truth yet undiscoverable by his sons to be a falsehood which
left him with an extremely difficult...
He was startled out of his reverie as Boromir came in, then
Faramir both looking perplexed at this sudden summon by his father
which was tagged as urgent. They had no clue as to what his father had
summoned them for. Their best guess was that perhaps some kind of news
reached him that required their knowing about. But they never even
suspected what they were about to hear – they were in for a complete
shock.
Denethor immediately stopped his pacing and forced a fake smile to
the boys then gestured for them to sit down. He sat down as well. They
sat in silence for a spell before Denethor began his unplanned, dreaded
speech which in fact was more of a few curt sentences. “Sons, I have
revised my decision on the quest that you want to go on. I have now
decided that I, that Gondor, well, I just cannot let either of you go
on this quest.”
Instead of protesting, the boys remained silent – a fact that made
Denethor shiver with unease. His boys always protested when something
wasn’t right, but this time was different as they were too stunned to
reply and could not get their minds around the fact that Denethor would
not let them go, plain and simple.
Meanwhile, Boromir was thinking how to twist his father’s arm and
Faramir was thinking of the ever unanswerable question of why. Why? He
first thought it could be that there was some great war coming soon
that needed all attention directed towards it, but later dismissed that
possibility because if it was, Denethor would have already told them.
Another thought was that Denethor thought this was all folly and
decided that his sons should not waste time on a foolish mission but
yet again, Faramir dismissed this possibility as his father would have
outrightly said so without a hint of unease or that odd and masked
slightly traumatized face. Faramir thought of other possibilities but
he could not imagine why Denethor would change so suddenly and without
reason. Perhaps he should just ask.
But Boromir beat him to the punch with a simple why.
“You will learn to obey my orders without questioning”, snapped
Denethor. “If you need a reason then it is because Gondor needs you!”
“Does Gondor need me?” questioned Faramir with a glint in his eye.
Denethor stood up whirling around to face Faramir and said, “Do not
test my patience. You well know the answer but you still may not go on
the quest because you would not do as I tell you as has been the case
for long years.”
Faramir bit his lip to keep from saying a sharp retort and instead said, “What wouldn’t I do?”
“What I tell you to. You well know that.”
“But what wouldn’t I do on the quest? Was there a specific thing?”
Denethor drew in a breath, how stupid he was to leak that out in
his anger. “The only thing I meant was that I do not appreciate
insubordination. Neither of you may go on the quest as in both cases it
is totally unfit.”
Suddenly Boromir thought of an idea. He motioned to Faramir that they
should leave. Denethor had absolutely no problem with that because he
needed some time alone without improvising. As they came out, Faramir
asked, “What? You have some brilliantly marvelous idea brother?”
“Well, I might”, replied Boromir with a slight grin, “but I need to
collect more hmm information you could say because I can make a
conclusion whether it will work or not. One thing is why father changed
his mind. Any ideas little brother? You’re always the creative one
aren’t you?”
“Finally giving me some credit, eh?” he joked back. “But honestly
I’ve got no clue. He looked worn out don’t you think? Think he had a
dream summoning to stop us from going?” Faramir said with a smirk.
They both broke into laughter. “Yeah right...since when did father
believe in these dreams? I’m surprised he even made the decision to let
me go before. Or maybe he did that so he could disappoint us further
today. I’ve got no clue either. Father’s impossible really.”
The day faded into darkness as time passed. Red sunset descended upon
the land as people slowly gathered back into the city. The beautiful
city of Minas Tirith still remained a free land and safe haven for
those who dwelled. There was grief and anticipation and relief in the
city for many families had men serving Gondor by protecting her and
prices had been paid for the safety that remained. The shadow was
growing and not one person was unconcerned. How long before their land
no longer could be free?
