Disclaimer: I own nothing of Tolkien's works, however all original characters and story concepts solely belong to me.

Author's Note: Firstly, thank you to all who reviewed. I am always grateful and happy to receive comments or suggestions. Apologies for this long introduction, but the story arc is about to make a major diversion.

Yes, the way the modern world works is that eventually Eönwë and his merry band would come right up against a complicated bureaucracy and the myriad of pointless and sometimes damaging rules that the population have allowed people in power to create for them in the name of democracy.

Whilst I am sure that Middle-earth and Valinor surely would have had their bureaucratic side, only human beings, who seem unable to settle disputes without bloodshed of some kind, could create a system whereby law and order on the surface is backed up by secret intelligence agencies commissioned by the various governments who do not, and never have, worked in the general population's best interests. Nothing in the world is straightforward any more, if ever it was. If people actively seek the kind of power that governs countries, then it seems to me that they are actually the very last people who should be given it.

It also seems credible to me that a creature of darkness such as Herumor would use such a covert system of law and order to his own ends. I thought of Eönwë's conundrum as a direct turnaround from the last time he was sent to earth to fix things in the War of Wrath. Then, he had a shining army and arrived amid trumpet fanfares and a show of might. This time, he is one person with a motley assortment of people. He doesn't have an army, he is just one of many soldiers in an army. The Elves no longer hold sway in Middle-earth, nor do they have influence and Elendil's bloodline is virtually non existent.

Herumor is the one with the money and therefore the position of power in an economy and wealth ruled world and because of this, he has governments and the rich on his side, and we all know that governments and the people with the money don't really have the health and wellbeing of the poorer members of society at heart. If they did, there would be no 'third World' countries at all.

So, will Eönwë and the others succeed in ridding the people of modern Middle-earth of the black cloud of disaster and war Herumor is busy casting over them? Or will he be a sacrificial lamb on the altar of money and power?

Stranger things have happened.

It must seem as though I have made a political point in this introduction to the next chapter, and I suppose I have, but in the spirit of reality, Eönwë would not, even as a senior officer in the British Army, have autonomy in his actions, even with the General partially sanctioning him. He can't go in there blazing with light, showing a skeptical modern human race who he actually is. He has to find another way. A more human way.

For Ellfine: The final section in the previous chapter was the direct aftermath of Eönwë's meeting with MI5 at Thames House, which is MI5's HQ, and who are part of the secret service. They are the face of the country's intelligence security service, but there are many more autonomous offshoots that people don't know about. All the intelligence services in the world, MI5, CIA, Mossad etc are all linked with each other. They share information, but sometimes they also work against each other, although they cover their tracks if they do. The conversation took place between the Intelligence operatives of those first three agencies and the General after Eönwë was reprimanded for his actions and told to back off.

" You can only come to the morning through the shadows"

J R R Tolkien

Dark Power Arising

Chapter 28 – Reality Sucks

Residence of Brigadier Gary and Kim Matthews, Hampshire UK

"They are still there." Maedhros answered Erestor's question before he even asked it.

The slender, dark haired Elf joined Maedhros at his watching post by the window. Despite the fact that Elves tended to have a natural light emanating from their skin, they had a remarkable ability to remain unseen if they wished to.

There outside in the lane, virtually unseen by human eyes from a distance, but clearly detected by keen Elven vision, was a plain, dark coloured car. Even by motoring standards it was an ordinary car, something any household might own and park there in the quiet tree-lined street Eönwë and Kim made their home in.

However the two men inside the car had an aura that stood out to beings not entirely from the modern world. No matter how unobtrusive and innocent they tried to make themselves, they still didn't quite manage it.

"It is amazing how many people have passed that vehicle and not paid it any mind." Maedhros said softly. "You would think in these days of increased media attention and news items, especially about criminals, paedophiles and their ilk, that one of these good law-abiding residents of this place would have questioned the fact that the car and its two occupants have been parked there for almost a day."

Erestor perched on the window seat. "I have often observed that the Secondborn tend to see what they wish to see and ignore that which they feel may threaten them. These are not the days of the Dunedain my friend. Those descendants of Numenor, nay all humans, were still alert to the dangers around them during our time in Middle-earth. These modern Mortals have not had to be alert for such dangers for decades and they no longer listen to those warnings deep inside them."

"They also would never believe that they could possibly be the target of anything like surveillance by MI5." Eönwë's voice sounded behind them, although neither jumped at the sudden appearance of the Maia.

Maedhros studied the Herald's features closely. They were all by now aware of Kim's conversation with her husband and the advice she had given him. If the mortal Gary was active within the Herald's brain now, there was no outward evidence of it. Maedhros himself had been filled with fury when the meeting in London was recounted to him. His first instinct was to go and lift both secret service agents out of their silly little vehicle and summarily execute them. It was only his mother's gentle, but firm, remonstrations and his brother's advice that stopped him, but he still thought the whole situation was ridiculous and very mortal.

"So what do we do with them?" He asked, raising his eyebrows at the Herald who laughed softly and lifted his hands.

For the first time Maedhros noticed that Eönwë held a tray with two mugs of steaming tea and a plate with sandwiches and two pieces of Erestor's famous lemon flavoured cake on it. His eyebrows climbed even higher. "We are going to feed them?"

Eönwë chuckled. "No Maedhros, I am going to feed them, you are going to continue to keep watch for me. I need to know what they're doing, when and if anyone else talks to them. In fact I don't want them to swallow spit the wrong way without us knowing about it. Finrod will relieve your watch in an hour."

"Whose bright idea was this?" Maedhros inquired. His green eyes were gleaming at the thought of some real work. The battle in the Police place had been just a taster for him. He craved some sort of action.

Eönwë shrugged. "Mine. They apparently think I'm some fucking bull-headed, dimwitted soldier who couldn't possibly have twigged that they might put a tail on me. I am just letting them know that their pathetic attempts to be covert are one giant, epic failure."

"Gary, is that you?" Erestor leaned closer to the Herald who grinned at him.

"Both of us actually. Watch this, it should be fun." Eönwë winked at them both, opened the front door and walked purposefully down the driveway. The two Elves watched him balance the tray on one arm and open the gate. Moments later they were trying hard to contain their laughter at the expressions on the two agents' faces as they were offered tea and sandwiches by the subject of their supposedly strictly covert surveillance.

The expression of huge glee on Eönwë's face as he headed back to the house was so reminiscent of Gary Matthews as he had been prior to being melded with his other self that neither Elf doubted that the mortal part of Gary was back in the driving seat.

"Uh oh..." Maedhros was grinning widely. "Guess who's back."

Erestor met Eönwë at the threshold of the front door and took the tray from him.

"I'll take that, the very nerve of you feeding those two despicable creatures out there my special lemon cake!" He scolded.

"Sorry." Eönwë tried for a contrite expression, but failed miserably, especially when he spotted a twinkle amongst the outrage in Erestor's eyes. "I put some of that nice ham you cooked in the sandwiches as well."

Erestor, who was already heading back to the kitchen, stopped dead in his tracks. He did not turn, but a greatly amused Eönwë and Maedhros could tell from the stiffening of the former Imladris counsellor's spine that he was restraining himself greatly from a massive display of emotion. After a moment, he continued on his way and slammed the kitchen door behind him, leaving the two behind him in no doubt as to the fact that they were both in the doghouse..

"Phew." Eönwë made a mock show of wiping his brow. "I thought I was a goner there for sure."

Maedhros shook with laughter, but a movement in the dark street caught his keen eyes. Another larger vehicle had pulled up just outside of the high hedge that surrounded Eönwë's garden. To any normal human it would have been undetected, hidden as it was behind the hedge and in the dark, but then it wasn't any normal human who was watching.

Moments later, the passenger in the original car quietly came up, opened the gate and put the tray, now empty apart from a plate with crumbs and two empty mugs, down just inside on the grass. He glanced over towards the dark frontage of the house and Maedhros could see the confusion and frustration on the man's face as he failed to spot who it was that was watching him.

The original car left a couple of minutes later, but the other vehicle now silent, remained where it was.

"It's a van." Maedhros announced finally, after having slipped silently down the garden and peered through the hedge to get a closer look. "It has Southern Electricity written across it. I am thinking some form of surveillance vehicle, probably with electronic surveillance equipment in it."

"Oh, now that's just insulting." Eönwë said. He looked mildly affronted. "They really do think I'm some kind of dumb ass don't they?" He squeezed Maedhros on the shoulder. "Keep watching, I'll send Finrod along to relieve you shortly. There are some discussions to field in the living room and I also need to plan my next move. The two intelligence operatives in the car must have notified base HQ that they'd been 'made'. If the other guys are still there in the morning, which I have no doubt they will be, I'll send Erestor out with breakfast."

Maedhros settled down to his watch and didn't take his eyes off the not-so-well hidden car even when Nerdanel gently pressed a cup of honey and chamomile tea in his hand.

ooOoo

There was a momentary lull in the soft chatter in the living room as soon as Eönwë entered. Allie had long been put to bed and Kim sat at the dining room table giggling quietly over something with Nerdanel and Hal. Maglor, Elladan, now reassured that his mother was safe and his parents were reunited, and Finrod were also engaged in quiet conversation in Sindarin and every so often Hal would glance sharply over at them, his brows drawn together in a slight frown as though the language was vaguely familiar to him, but he wasn't quite sure why. He hadn't noticed the brief glimmer of recognition in Elladan's eyes when they had been introduced. Elladan had quickly masked the glimmer and behaved with his usual exemplary courtesy, but every now and again his grey eyes drifted to where the American sat conversing with Kim and Nerdanel.

Chief was sitting in a low armchair beside the fireplace, where a roaring fire had been kindled by Maedhros earlier in the afternoon before he went to stand watch. His long legs were stretched out comfortably in front of him and Rasputin the cat was curled up on his knee. His eyes were closed but it was plain to everyone that he wasn't actually asleep. Hal's dog had taken to lying in front of Allie's bedroom door during the night and it didn't occur to anyone in the household to stop him from being the little girl's personal sentinel.

Erestor slipped in quietly behind the Herald, carrying a large tray with coffee and teapots, mugs and biscuits which he laid on the server. Both Kim and Nerdanel got up to help him lay everything out. Eönwë stood in front of the window; one eye was on the dark shape of the van which was stationary behind the hedge and the other was on the group assembled in front of him. Once everyone was served with drinks and biscuits Eönwë turned his full attention on the little group and gave a whimsical smile.

"It's like looking at Hogan's Heroes." He murmured under his breath, causing Chief to choke with laughter on his coconut cream biscuit.

"Not the A Team then?" He snorted and then coughed as a crumb went down the wrong way.

Eönwë looked pensive and then laughed. "No, because then we'd have to have a large Elf with a Mohawk hairdo, lots of gold chains and black skin. Maglor is probably the nearest we have to that and he doesn't even come close."

That caused both Hal and Maglor, who knew what the Herald and Chief were referring to, to double up with laughter whilst Nerdanel, Finrod and Erestor just looked very confused at the television references.

"Who are are we still waiting for?" Hal asked, but before Eönwë could answer there were the sounds of footsteps coming up the passage.

"That would be Jim, Alun Davies and DCS Phelan." Eönwë said calmly. "I told them to come in the back way through the coppice and the gap in the back fence to avoid the goons waiting at the front."

The three police officers were ushered into the room by Erestor who had gone to meet them and they were introduced to Hal and Elladan who were the only ones who didn't know who they were. During the greetings, only Eönwë noticed the start that both Hal and Elladan gave as they were introduced to Jim Moore.

For his part, Jim shook hands with the American and gave him a long measured glance through narrowed eyes. To the Herald it was as if the young policeman was sifting through his memories as to a reason why the tall, dour former US Army Ranger looked so familiar. Eönwë smiled to himself, their reactions only gave substance to his own thoughts on the subject, thoughts he had kept to himself up till now.

Hal continued to stare fixedly at Jim, even when the young man enveloped Kim in a bear hug and stole her biscuit off her plate, earning him a light, playful slap on the wrist and a warning glance from Erestor who pointedly offered him the plate of biscuits. Elladan said nothing, he merely sat back down and regarded both Jim and Hal with a narrowed gaze.

"Stolen fruits taste nicer." Jim protested with a grin and as he smiled, Eönwë saw Hal draw in a deep, shuddering breath of something close to recognition. The Herald still said nothing, however, and merely waited patiently until the commotion had died down and the new arrivals were settled with drinks and biscuits of their own. The interaction between Hal and Jim was of great interest, but more important matters needed to be discussed before the Herald dealt with it.

Bill Phelan had remained quite quiet apart from shaking hands with everyone. He and Alun both knew from their own sources within the police force that the battle with the Lycans had not gone down well with the Police hierarchy in the form of the Chief Constable. The only advantage they had over Eönwë was that so far, they had been given the benefit of the doubt over the incident. The Police intensely disliked being dragged into what they termed 'Sneaky Beaky business' and they tried to retain their autonomy wherever they could despite the attempts of the Intelligence Service to horn in and flex their muscles. The Home Secretary had left the police to deal with their people, but the Chief Constable knew that it was just a courtesy. If the Intelligence Service put the pressure on, the Chief Constable would have to be seen to act appropriately.

The Chief Constable had been polite with the Intelligence people, but had informed them in no uncertain terms that what went on in a police station headquarters was the business of the Police only and that they could clean their own house without the help of MI5 if it was necessary. However both senior police officers present at Eönwë's home knew that the Herald had been hauled through the coals for something that the Intelligence Service called a 'possible international incident'.

In spite of all that, Phelan knew that whether he liked it or not, his lot was now thrown in with these strange people. He had been in a state of shock after the battle, but he knew what he had seen and it shocked him even more that the government and the security services were prepared to turn a blind eye to a senior officer's report and treat it with the same contempt as they would have treated a report that aliens had landed in the middle of Trafalgar Square.

The only other person who was not present was Jan Hall. She had accompanied Jeff Harris to a secret location where Dr Rob Norman, the military scientist who had headed the research into the time rift that had caused Gary Matthews, Chief, Kim and Jim Moore to end up in Middle-earth, was waiting to put the unfortunate Jeff through some tests. However Jan was no less involved than any of them now.

Eönwë continued to survey the people present in the room while they settled down, but a slight nudge on his foot caused him to glance down at Chief who had been watching the interchange between Jim Moor and his old friend Hal with interest.

"What's with Hal and young Jim?" He asked quietly. "They're acting almost as if they know each other, but as far as I know Hal's not been to England in the last twenty years or so so how could they?"

Eönwë shrugged. "They've never met before tonight... at least not in this lifetime."

Chief immediately sat up straight in the chair, dislodging Rasputin who gave an annoyed hiss and burrowed more firmly down on the lap he had claimed. "They didn't meet in the War of Wrath did they?"

"Alas no." Eönwë shook his head. "Their time came a little later on, long after the time of Elros Tar Minyatur. Long after the time of Elendil. Even long after Sauron's spirit was depleted after the last Alliance of Men and Elves when Elendil struck the ring from his finger and took it for were gild. Once, long ago, they were companions and fought alongside each other...at least their ancestors did. Apparently the apples have not fallen far from the tree. I believe they are the descendants of Aragorn, known as King Elessar Telcontar and Queen Arwen Undomiel and of Halbarad the Ranger who served his chieftain loyally and died on the Fields of Pelennor leavings sons to carry on his line."

The Chief had an astounded look on his face. "Did you know that back when we were all trying to stay alive in the War of Wrath?"

Eönwë shook his head again. "No. At that time it had not been decided what would be done with the race of Men who served loyally in the war of the Valar. I knew that Elros and his brother Elrond would be given the choice of which race to align themselves with, because it was I who was given the task of announcing that choice to them. I even knew which would make what choice. However I did not know that Jim was actually Elros's descendant, not until I actually returned to Middle-earth to claim Kim and be at Allie's birth. By then I was beginning to gain back the knowledge of what had gone on before. Yet even so I merely had a suspicion. After all, it was I who spent the years teaching Elros and the people going with him the things they needed to know to rule Numenor."

By this time Maglor was listening to the conversation. "So Elrond and Celebrian have gone in search of evidence of their daughter's line surviving in southern France and all the time their descendants were here?"

"So it would seem..or one of them at least. At the time of their arrival here my suspicions were not formed and of course neither of them met Jim before they left on their voyage of discovery." Eonwe glanced over at Hal again. "The problem now is how to tell Jim and Hal that they may have been reincarnated or at the very least been imprinted with the same DNA as their ancestors."

Chief gave a snort. "Very gently I would say, knowing both men quite well. It seems that young Elladan is already suffering from the same deja vu as Hal and Jim are, so your suspicions are obviously well funded. Will you recall Master Elrond and the others from France? "

Eonwe sighed. "Indeed Elladan would feel deja vu, since he and his twin Elrohir were as brothers to Aragorn from early in his life and also knew Halbarad well. They both often rode in errantry with the Dunedain of the North. As to recalling Thranduil and the others, I have already instructed Master Elrond to send Lady Celebrian back with Haldir and the vampire at least, I would have her safe here where she can be protected and I want to speak with this Maksim myself. However I think that with the discovery of what can only be what was once known as Dwarrowdelf or Moria in the Swiss Alps, perhaps Thranduil, Glorfindel and Haldir may be better off going to investigate that event since it may tie in with the current situation, I understand that Hal's friend Xavier is an important member of the team of experts and could take the three of them as members of that team. In addition, all three of them have a knowledge of Khuzdul, which is the language of the Dwarves. We need to know what, if anything, still lives down there. The Dwarves delved deep in Moria and we know that they awoke at least one Valarauko. We don't know what else may be there that Herumor could make use of. I can think of no others better placed to do that than Thranduil, Elrond and any case, the less Elves we have here during this surveillance by MI5 the better."

"You may find that rather an impossible undertaking, once Elrond and Celebrian hear about young Jim and Hal. " Maglor remarked with a smile. "As a child Elrond could be very stubborn when he chose to be. I have no doubt that it is still a trait he carries."

A faint smile tugged at Eönwë 's lips as well. "Well we will see what transpires first. There may be at least one person yet to come who may be even more suitable to help investigate Moria. Who more suitable than the Elf who helped Narvi with the making and carving of the doors to the Dwarven city itself?"

Maglor's mouth dropped open slightly. "Celebrimbor? My nephew is coming here?"

Eönwë placed a finger over his lips. "So a little bird told me, but let it remain between us for now. I don't know when the Valar will send him. It seems that he will also be accompanied, but the Elf coming with him has only recently been reborn and needs time to adjust."

"I remember Celebrimbor." The Chief said gruffly. "Nice lad, came to a very sticky end if Olorin's foresight was anything to go by (1). I'm pleased the Valar saw fit to release him from Mandos. More sinned against than sinning if I rightly remember."

Maglor nodded sadly. "Indeed he was. My nephew was just an innocent caught up in that damned oath of Atto's."

Eönwë straightened and cleared his throat, thereby ending the conversation. He immediately gained everyone's attention and silence fell over the room.

"You have been gathered here to answer the threat of Herumor, Black Numenorean and scion of the fallen Maia Sauron. You all know what transpired a couple of nights ago and the results of that encounter with the werewolves now currently in the service of Herumor. You all also know that I have been officially ordered to cease my interference in this regard by the Home Secretary and the Intelligence Security Services. We all know from experience that we cannot ignore the threat to Middle-earth and its people, but we are few and they are many and hold great power. So tonight we are here to discuss the best way forward. We do not have the Army of the Host of the Valar behind us this time, all we have are the few people assembled here and those still remaining in France. It's not going to be easy, people. We have a long hard task ahead of us and we will receive no help from the authorities, at least not officially. Yet most, if not all of us, know that we must do what we can to halt the current darkness from sweeping over this place. We do not have a choice in this." He halted his speech for a moment and then continued. "The alternative is that Middle-earth will fall into darkness from which there can be no return."

"So we're fighting the British authorities as well as these... creatures?" Hal's voice was quiet.

Eönwë nodded. "Not just the British authorities Hal." He said softly. "There was a representative from the CIA and Mossad present at the meeting, so we are fighting the American and Israeli Intelligence services as well. Although the Mossad agent didn't seem totally convinced and the woman from the CIA seemed to view me more as sexual prey than an actual danger to security."

Kim muttered something inaudible under her breath at that, but Eönwë smiled tenderly at her and she subsided somewhat.

"The CIA." Hal said slowly. "Nothing but a bunch of hysterical women searching for Reds under the bed and monsters in the cupboard. Aren't they generally too busy searching for terrorists and terrorizing innocent Muslim families to believe in werewolves and vampires?"

Everyone laughed at that except for Finrod, Elladan and Erestor who were a bit lost on the references to terrorism.

"Be that as it may, it's now very obvious that we are going to have to fight the various authorities as well as Herumor and his minions, werewolf, vampire and Balrog alike. Whether they know it or not, the Intelligence Services have firmly put themselves in his camp and that leaves us with a huge problem. The only way to overcome that problem is to fight fire with fire. We have to be as sneaky and covert in our actions as they are. We have no large army to overcome with force of arms, all we can do is chip away at the footholds we've already made and try to build up allies. We already know that Draugluin is no friend of Herumor and we know through the vampire Maksim, that there are members of his race who have not aligned themselves with Herumor. Where there are a few, there may be many more. We need to sleep with the enemy and build on this. It's the only way."

Phelan stood up. "Well I for one am not prepared to sit back and let hideous creatures such as we saw the other night rip people to pieces. I don't have much influence, but I will stand up and be counted." He stated firmly and was rewarded with a warm smile from the Herald.

Finrod put a gentle hand on the police officer's shoulder. "Nor will the Elves. Whatever happens here will ultimately impact Valinor in some way, otherwise why would Eru and the Valar have sent us here? We will stand and fight in whatever way Lord Eönwë deems fitting."

Murmurs of agreement whispered around the room.

Eönwë smiled at them. "Then let's talk about plans of campaign. We need to stop fighting fires wherever they spring up and have something firm in place so that everyone knows where they are and what they have to do. And I have a lot to learn about how to become a political animal. The sooner we all start, the better."

ooOoo

(1) A Singular Honour. This is a reference to Chief Knowles' body being inhabited by Olorin's fea when Chief was badly injured. Olorin had a moment of foresight as to Celebrimbor's ultimate fate.