Disclaimer: I own nothing of Tolkien's works, however all original characters and story concepts solely belong to me.
Author's Note: Thanks again for the review Ellfine, I must say that I have been reading your stories and enjoying them immensely. Yes Kim knew what would happen because in the British Army there is still a very strict hierarchy and a gap between other ranks and officers. Never the twain shall meet. That hierarchy actually continues on in amongst the wives and families and is actually perpetuated by them all. It's something that will never change I'm afraid. Kim as a former senior non commissioned officer knew that her marriage to an officer would be frowned on and that she would be expected to give up her military career if she married him. It's not specifically the rule these days, but it is a social unwritten rule. As a sergeant married to a senior officer she could not have gone into the Officer's Mess. She would have been 'encouraged' to resign from the military.
Hal Kenwood is former military and he has contacts with other military people. I am sure your guess about who he is trying to contact are correct! He has a place in all this although he's still trying to figure out what that place is.
Jeff Harris and Leland Sawyer are both victims of a very unpleasant circumstance. Both were in the wrong place at the wrong time. There but for the grace of god go any of us. And who knows what will be the outcome for them? The jury is still out. All I will say is that Herumor and his master are judging modern man by ancient man and in doing so are bound to make errors in judgment. Human beings have a wonderful capacity for digging their heels in when faced with adversity and making a stand even when the odds are against them. In that we don't differ too much from the men and Elves of Aragorn's time. Human beings are often slow to rile, but once they are, they can be deadly foes.
"Well I don't know why I came here tonight,
I got the feeling that something ain't right,
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,
And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs,
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you. "
- Stealers Wheel (First and last verse lyrics)
Dark Power Arising
Chapter 13 – Stuck in the middle
The city of Turin, Piedmont, Italy
Maksim answered the insistent ring of his mobile and turned away from the four werewolves sitting at the table. "Sorry, I need to take this."
He had no idea why he was actually apologising to four dumb Lycan grunts, but it seemed like the polite thing to do at the time.
Once outside of the small Cafe near the Palazzo Carignano where they had stopped to have drinks before carrying on to their assignment he turned his collar up against the damp northern Italian evening. "Kiril?"
"I cannot stay on the phone long." Kiril's voice sounded agitated. "I should not be speaking to you at all. This Herumor seems to know everything we do."
"Is there trouble?"
There was a moment's silence. "Yes, but not necessarily for us here. Herumor knows you have been passing intelligence to me. I have averted my own demise by the skin of my teeth, but you... you he views as a danger to him. I am not sure why. He seemed unconcerned by the fact that you kept me informed, so that is not the reason for his concern over you."
"I care little for what he thinks." Maksim said stiffly. He knew what was coming and in a way appreciated that Kiril was risking his own neck to speak to him and warn him.
"And therein lies the problem I think. This mission you are on." Kiril interrupted him abruptly. "He has not told me the details, but his intention where you are concerned was clear. Watch your back Maksim, that's all I will say. However, if you come out of this in one piece, then do not try to make contact with either me or the coven. The Council have thrown their lot in with Herumor completely. The Lady's remains are now in his keeping...."
"What?" Maksim exclaimed. He could not keep the alarm or disgust out of his voice.
"I argued against it but I was alone. I saw my doom in Herumor's eyes. I could have made a stand, but I felt I would be of more use if I were to remain alive, so to speak." Maksim could clearly hear that the normally cool and composed Kiril was unravelling. "I say again, do not contact either myself or any other coven members. He will find out and he will hunt us all down. My suggestion is to disappear, go to ground. This is not such a hard thing for us, we have been making ourselves invisible to humans for centuries."
"Don't worry about me, I can look after myself." Maksim's voice was stiff with anger. "I had already come to the conclusion that my inclusion in this assignment was for the purposes of getting rid of me."
"Then I cannot help you further, except..." There was hesitation in Kiril's voice.
"Except?"
"I am not sure it's anything relevant, but according to information our own people have been gathering there is apparently a current British police investigation into an attack on a young man in London a few days ago. The official police line is that it's an assault, but all the evidence points to a Lycan. I know that the Police are humans, but you might find allies among them or even through them. More than that I cannot say." He broke off and Maksim could hear someone speaking in the background. "I must go. You only ever served me loyally. I will not forgeet it and I greatly regret putting you in this situation. I wish you luck Maksim."
The phone went dead before Maksim could say anything more.
He was now truly alone.
ooOoo
"We can stop for dinner here in Turin but I would like to press on rather than stay the night." Thranduil turned the Range Rover in towards the city centre. "There's a nice little restaurant near the Palazzo Carignano we could go to. I want to pick up the toll road between here and the coast if I can. It's a busy motorway and we're less likely to run into trouble there but we have a few lesser roads to travel before we actually hit the toll road."
"You know this place better than we do my friend." Elrond said gently. "We are in your hands entirely. I know that I would like to get firm ground under my feet and a hot meal inside me for a couple of hours at least."
Glorfindel and Celebrian nodded their enthusiastic agreement to this.
"Good." Thranduil drove down a wide street and then swung the vehicle into a free parking place. "I have some things for you that I was rather hoping we wouldn't need, but my spider sense is telling me that danger is hovering not too far away."
"Spider sense?" Elrond arched his eyebrows in amusement.
"The character in those moving pictures is called Spiderman. I saw it on the television before we left" Glorfindel said cheerfully. "He has an extra sense for danger that he calls his spider sense."
Celebrian and Thranduil both laughed while Elrond's eyebrows climbed higher. "I am not completely sure that you are not watching this modern television entertainment far too much Glorfindel." He said trying to keep the mild disapproval of such modern things out of his voice.
The Lord of the House of the Golden Flower shrugged elegant shoulders. "Just immersing myself in the culture Elrond." He chuckled. "I have found the television a worthy source of understanding current Secondborn culture and I don't just watch movies, I also watch Discovery and National Geographic. According to many mortal scientists the world is either going to blow up, be entirely covered in water because of something called global warming, be hit by one of Elebereth's heavenly bodies in the form of a comet or there will be a huge wave that will destroy a major part of human civilisation. It seems nothing much changes really."
This made them laugh even more. "And which fate is currently in the lead?" Elrond grinned at his friend.
Glorfindel shrugged again. "It appears that none of them can make up their mind. Perhaps all of them will happen or perhaps none at all. After all the major powers of a few decades ago nearly blew everyone to kingdom come with their nuclear weaponry. As far as I can tell the modern Secondborn have a death wish that is entirely at odds with the Numenorean Kings' fears about dying. Oh...and I left out the one about the Secondborn all being turned into Zombies."
More rich golden and light silver laughed floated across the damp, lamp lit avenue. The four elves wandered across the road and into the brightly lit, yet cozy looking restaurant and any passerby could have been excused had they felt that the lamps were a little brighter in the Palazzo Carignano that evening.
They weren't the only ones who noticed the momentary brightness.
ooOoo
Maksim had shut his mobile phone off and turned back to the Cafe when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. At first he thought that his four companions had decided to do the dastardly deed and get it over with before they found their prey, but when Maksim turned in a defensive posture with his gun half drawn there was nobody beside him. Through the Cafe windows he could see that they were all still sitting where he had left them.
He slid the gun back into its holster feeling rather silly. Hopefully nobody had noticed his actions.
However in turning he caught sight of four tall people, three men and a woman, crossing the road, laughing merrily as they walked. That in itself was not a particularly unusual sight in any city. What was unusual was the unearthly glow that emanated from them all. They had an ethereal beauty that spoke of beings who were not of mortal kind, yet there was steel beneath that beauty, especially in the two golden-haired men. The dark haired man was harder to read, but Maksim got the impression that he could probably handle himself in a pinch despite his slim form. There was a litheness there that spoke of power and speed.
But the woman....ah...now... there was a woman to make the heart beat faster, if one only had a heart of course. Maksim had not bothered with women for many decades now, but he could appreciate beauty when he saw it. She was slender and lovely beyond belief with long silver hair flowing down the back of her thick parka. Her arm was linked affectionately with that of the dark haired man and Maksim could tell without a doubt that they were man and wife.
As they passed him he was enveloped in a wave of sudden longing for a life long since left behind and some innate sense suddenly told him that these creatures did not belong here. They were suffused with light and life, a direct contrast to his lack of life and as such they stood out like beacons to him, far more so than they would stand out to a normal mortal.
Maksim was not stupid, these ceatures were lately come here. If they had always been here he and others would have known it. Where could they have come from? They were obviously travelling across Europe if the mud spattered state of the vehicle was anything to go by.
These were the prey. He knew it to be so even as they and the soft glow that suffused their forms disappeared into a small Italian Bistro a few doors down from the Cafe where the Lycans were sitting even now, getting fueled up for battle.
So what should he do?
Should he go in and inform the Lycans that their prey were busy eating a nice lasagna and enjoying a bottle of Chianti in a restaurant only a few yards away? Could it actually be that these stupid werewolves could not sense these unearthly beings from some part of heaven that they themselves, and he, were long since locked out of?
The Maksim prior to Angband Enterprises would have done just that and would have relished the sweetness of their blood.
But the Maksim he was now weighed up the consequences of taking such an action. Instead of the blood lust for the purity of these creatures bringing on a lust and desire, all Maksim felt when he searched inside himself was disgust that he might have willingly and eagerly done anything like that to such beautiful creatures only a few weeks ago.
And sorrow... he felt sorrow. That emotion took him aback and was his ultimate undoing.
He stared disconsolately at the facade of the bistro. Part of him wanted to go in and just sit near them. He felt like a moth drawn to a flame. He didn't want to go back into that garish bright Cafe with its modern vinyl and bright lighting and sit with four foul creatures who disgusted him and who wanted to kill him. He knew that if he allowed it, his end at their hands would not be painless or pretty.
Maksim hung his head. A wave of unaccustomed misery swept over him. Suddenly he didn't want to be one of the bad guys any more. Not if it meant a bloody and painful ending for that bright beauty at the hands of that creature Herumor. There was no way that he could believe that a terrible fate did not await them in the dark recesses of Angband Enterprises.
One of the bistro waiters came out, obviously on a smoke break. He sat in one of the unoccupied outside chairs and took out a carton of cigarettes. Maksim glanced back through the window at his companions. He could see that they were preparing to leave. There wasn't much time. He would take his chances and look for an opportunity during the battle, that was always supposing they didn't kill him first.
Moments later he was striding back into the Cafe to join the others while a bewildered waiter stood at the bistro door with a folded piece of paper in his hands. He stared over as Maksim and his companions left the Cafe. Maksim did not look back at him, so he shrugged and went in to deliver the message he had been entrusted with.
ooOoo
Thranduil accepted the piece of paper with a smile of thanks to the waiter. He unfolded it and read slowly. A perplexed frown knitted his golden brows together and his previously cheerful expression grew grave.
"What is it Thranduil?" Elrond asked quietly.
Thranduil handed him the note without a word. It had two sentences written on it.
You are being hunted. Be on your guard
"Who would know we were here at this moment?" Elrond whispered. He handed the note to Glorfindel and Celebrian leaned over to read it as well.
"Well somebody does." Thranduil said grimly. He got up from his chair and approached the waiter over. The others watched with trepidation as he quietly questioned the young man in fluent Italian. Moments later he sat back down at the table. Elrond and the others waited expectantly.
Thranduil grimaced. "Apparently he was approached by a tall dark man while he was outside taking a break. I didn't recognise his description of the man as being anyone I was acquainted with."
"Perhaps he is a messenger from the Herald?" Elrond suggested.
Thranduil shook his head. "I don't think so, I think Eonwe would have told me over the phone that he was sending someone. The young man did say that there was something odd about him though, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was."
"Could he have been one of these werewolves?" Glorfindel interposed.
Again Thranduil shook his head. "Why? Why would one of the creatures supposedly building up their forces as part of a growing malignant force send us a warning? Surely if they know we are here...and they certainly seemed to know Finrod Felagund was here...they would be trying to capture or kill us, not warning us that they knew we were here. It simply doesn't make any sense."
"What should we do then?" Celebrian couldn't keep the worry and fear out of her voice and Elrond gently took her hand and squeezed it.
"I think we should have our dinner to be honest. There is nothing to be gained by running to the car now and driving long miles hungry and tired. We need to rest and recharge our energies, I have a feeling we may need them. I have some weapons for you all. I was hoping there would be time for some instruction and practice but I'm afraid we'll have to make do with verbal tuition as we drive. I do also have some other items that you all will no doubt be pleased to see." Thranduil gestured the waiter over. "Have we all decided what we want?"
They gave their order to the waiter and settled down to drink the red wine Thranduil had suggested as an accompaniment to the meal however the cozy peaceful feeling that had surrounded them was now gone and had been replaced with a very familiar sensation for all of them. Albeit one they had not had for many millennia.
That of impending danger.
ooOoo