Part 9

“Set us down on the deck,” shouted Eowyn.

The Djinn—holding her in one hand, and Haldir and Master Eldacar in the other—circled the flying ship, but did not move in any closer, and it seemed to Eowyn that he was hesitating, that he might even be afraid of the scholar’s contraption.

“Set us on the deck,” she repeated, “and you can go straight back into your lamp.”

Still the Djinn hesitated.

“Eowyn,” shouted Haldir, “they are flying into the Mountains of Mordor!”

Eowyn looked down and saw Legolas, working desperately at the ship’s centre, and Arador, frantically spinning the wheel. On her left, Master Eldacar was shouting instructions into the wind. “Please,” she begged.

That did it; the Djinn swooped down.

Closer and closer they flew, and his outstretched hand began to shrink around her, and Eowyn clung tightly to his knuckle, understanding that he was getting ready to slip her into the narrow space between the deck and the bladder.

It was a dangerous undertaking. No wonder he was nervous!

She saw Legolas break off from what he was doing, and prepare himself to catch her. Poor Haldir and Master Eldacar, she thought. They will have to fend for themselves—just a few yards more... She could see that Legolas was wearing some sort of harness, and was tethered to the ship, and—forgetting the mountain—she sighed with relief, thinking that he, at least, was safe.

Then the Djinn shoved her into the gap and, despite all her determination, she closed her eyes.

She felt Legolas’ arms close around her and—though the deck tilted beneath her and she began to fall—he held her fast!

She opened her eyes, saw that Haldir and Master Eldacar were safe, too, and realised that it was their weight, at the starboard gunwale, that was momentarily unbalancing the ship.

And then she noticed her carpet bag, sliding down the deck, saw the Djinn disappear into it (for his lamp was inside), and watched, helplessly, as the bag found one of the scuppers, and slipped through the hole...