Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story that appear in the world-renown bestseller, The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein. I do, however, own any original characters seen here.
Storm Clouds
By
Brin
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Chapter 2: Uh OhEve and Trent sat uncomfortably in Jack's living room. In the past two hours they had been shot at with something that resembled a grenade gun, forced to trudge through unnamed and unidentified slime, and covered in ash. When the group had escaped, they ran out to Chris's car and Jack sped home, thoroughly shooting down any thoughts of going to the hospital. For the last hour Jack had been tending to Chris in his 'makeshift medical room.' Every now and then Chris could be heard mumbling something incoherent or Jack speaking quietly.
Since they had gotten back, Eve had been silently pondering the day's happenings in her head. How had Chris known The Goblins were going to attack? How did he know exactly where they were? What was that strange name Jack had called out when Chris was shot?
Trent, however, had been busily formulating his speech for the award he was going to receive for this. The headline would read: First journalist to enter Goblin meeting place and come out alive. The bonuses and promotions were playing over and over again in his head. He barely paid notice to his sister when she got up from the black leather couch and began to explore the house with childlike curiosity.
Eve went up to the fireplace and ran her hands along the mahogany-colored mantle. The place was an average-sized two story house, but the décor was eccentrically luxurious and elaborate. The staircase banister was made of the same reddish wood as the mantle with silver carpet on the stairs, in the bedrooms, and the living room. She walked down a hardwood-floored hall and glanced to the entryway, which was right in front of the staircase with a gray marble floor.
Looking up at the top of the stairs, she decided there couldn't be anything interesting up there and moved into the chrome kitchen. There was an oven and cutting area in the middle of the room, with pots and pans hanging from the ceiling over it. She guessed that Jack had large dinners more than once in awhile. The 'fridge was almost twice as big as the one she had at home, and filled with about half as much food.
"What're you doing?" said a voice.
Eve jumped and slammed the refrigerator door shut, narrowly avoiding smashing her fingers in there as well. She whirled around and glared at Chris, who was standing in the doorway. "Don't do that!" she scolded, putting a hand over her heart.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to go through other people's property?" he asked as he stiffly moved into the room. He had a bloodied bandage covering his left shoulder, no shirt, and a black winter hat (once again covering his ears).
Eve half-smiled as he realized he was teasing her. "Yep, but I didn't think that applied to the property of a crazy lunatic."
"I thought I was the 'crazy lunatic.'"
"Okay, you can be the crazy lunatic and Jack will be…the insane moron," mused Eve, keeping her eyes anywhere but his bare chest and the top of his green and blue plaid boxers sticking out of his sagging jeans.
"Good choice of nicknames." He paused. "Are you ready to go home now?"
"Not exactly… I have a few questions."
Chris leaned against the counter with a wince, then looked up at her. "Shoot."
"How did you know The Goblins were going to attack The Wood?" she asked bluntly.
"I saw the van outside."
"Yes, but what were you talking about before that, when you said that 'we draw too much attention to ourselves?' Did that have something to do with it?"
Chris sighed. "The Goblins are everywhere, whether you see them or not. If you and your brother have been gathering information about them, they've known the moment you hacked into a site to find it. You're very lucky I was there when they attacked or they probably would've succeeded in killing you both."
"What makes you so special?"
"They fear me," said the detective with a shrug. "I told you, I've fought them for many years, as did my father before me, and they know I'm not someone to mess with. I've made it clear that The Wood is strictly off-limits to them."
Eve frowned. "I don't understand."
"Some things are better left that way," he said, raising his eyebrows. "Anything else?"
"Yes," said the girl quickly. "What was that strange name Jack called you back there? I think it was something like 'Legalus' or 'Legolas' or something like that."
Chris looked down, breaking eye contact. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I don't believe you. You're hiding something."
"A detective as deeply involved with The Goblins as much as I has many secrets, most of them too horrible for someone like you to hear. I wouldn't want to taint your fair ears," he mused, then pinned her with a serious stare. "Stay away from The Goblins. They are a force to be reckoned with, and I suggest you leave them to the professionals."
Eve narrowed her eyes at him. "It's a free country. I'll do what I want."
Chris's eyes hardened. "Listen to me. I'm serious. You tangle with The Goblins and you're going to get killed. Jack and I won't always be there to pull you out of a spot."
"You're the one who put me in the danger in the first place!" countered Eve.
"You are the one who agreed to come in with us," argued the man. "You could've stayed in the car where it was safe."
"Okay, look, thanks for the experience and the whole lot, but I've got the information I need about The Goblins. You work your way and I'll work mine." She began to storm out of the room.
"Eve, you're making a big mistake," warned Chris, not bothering to follow her.
"Screw you," she replied bitterly. "I'm going home."
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"Legolas, you took a great risk taking those humans into the Goblin Nest. They could've been killed, and so could you," scolded Izareth/Jack as he grabbed two beers from the refrigerator and followed his friend into the living room, where they had turned on ESPN on Izareth's big screen.
Chris/Legolas looked up at his friend as he sat on the plush couch. "Look, I'm sorry, but they were about to get scratched. What else was I supposed to do, just sit there and watch?"
"They're not your responsibility, Legolas," said Izareth sternly. "It's not your job to take care of every potential Goblin victim out there."
"You have no conscience, Izareth," declared Legolas as he took a sip of his beer, eyes intently watching the game on television. Steelers vs. Patriots. "Why not save a few lives when given the chance? And besides, one day you might be thankful that I saved these men."
"How so?"
"They could, one day, save your life."
Izareth snorted. "I think not."
"You have learned nothing over the years, my friend," said Legolas with a sigh. "One day, you will regret your cruelty to the race of men."
"The race of men are the symbol of cruelty."
"And the race of men currently rule the world," said the other elf, ending the argument and directing his attention back to the game.
The Patriots got a touchdown.
"NO! What was that? Come on!" shouted Izareth. "These Steelers are going to cost me a fortune!"
Legolas laughed and held out his hand. "That'd be twenty."
Izareth glared at his companion, but then sighed and pulled a crumpled twenty from his pocket, slamming in Legolas's hand with a little more force than necessary. "This isn't fair. You always know who's going to win."
Legolas didn't say anything, just smiled to himself and pocketed the money.
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Eve sat at her desk with her reading glasses on, looking through article after article she had saved over the years involving The Goblins and specific police involved with the capture of a few of them. She had this nagging at the back of her head that there was more to Chris Bowman than met the eye.
"No… no… no… no!" she muttered to herself. Then, finally: "Bingo." She pulled out a rather large newspaper clipping with a picture of a busted Goblin leader and the two police that had caught him.
The Goblin leader, also called an Orc by the populous, had a mask over his face to hide his identity. Standing on one side of the tall Orc was Chris, on the other Jack. They weren't smiling, standing stiffly with their hands behind their backs as if they didn't enjoy having their picture taken. Knowing that every Goblin in the city of Seattle had probably memorized his face from this one innocent picture, she understood his obvious reluctance at having his face printed for all to see. But there was something that bothered her. This picture had been taken during one of the hottest days of the summer last year, yet… Chris and Jack were both wearing those sock hats. Why would they do that?
"Trent," called Eve as she rolled her chair over to her computer.
Her brother, who had just gotten out of the shower, came into the room pulling his t-shirt on. "Yeah?" he asked, blinking rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the dim light of her room.
"You were right about hearing their names before. I found an article of Chris and Jack from a year ago."
Trent grinned proudly. "I told you. These guys are good; there's no way they could've gotten this far without us journalists finding out. I mean, the biggest stories these days are about The Goblins and—"
"Shut up, Trent," growled Eve. "I get this lecture all day from my professors. I don't need to hear it here, too." Eve was a senior in college; she would graduate in the spring with (hopefully) a degree in journalism. "I found something… odd."
Trent sighed. "What?"
Eve scanned the article into her computer and enlarged the image 100x. Her resolution programs went to work, clearing up the image's poor pixel quality. "Okay, this is dated in the middle of summer and I know Seattle isn't exactly the Bahamas, but I remember this day was one of the hottest in the entire summer… Chris and Jack are both wearing black sock hats. Don't you think that's just a little bit weird?"
Trent leaned forward as the computer finished clearing up the image. "You're right… but maybe it's just their favorite style or something."
Eve chose to ignore that. "The only reason they would wear something like that in the summer would be because 1) they're bald or 2) they have something to hide. Personally, I think it's the latter." She pointed to Chris's head. "Look how carefully they've pulled down the fabric. It starts high at the front then slants down at the back. It's perfect."
"That's how I wear my hats," defended Trent.
"No, not like this. This is like… movie perfect. There's a lot of emphasis on covering their ears," explained Eve. "What's that all about?"
"I don't know and, honestly, I don't care, Eve," said Trent with a sigh. "Haven't you had enough? We could've gotten killed this morning."
Eve glared at him. "I'm a journalist and I'm not letting this go until I find closure to all these questions."
"You better get used to the disappointment," warned Trent, "because you aren't always gonna find the answers you need or the answers you want in this business."
"I'll get used to it later…" Her watch went off and she abruptly stood up. "Damn. I got to get to class."
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Eve was at class all day, studied all evening, and didn't have time to explore anymore that night. The next morning she had more classes and she begrudgingly went to them, her heart longing to stay home and practice her journalist abilities.
Her break, however, came when a knock on the classroom door jolted her sleeping algebra teacher awake. She was working on her relations and functions assignment for the day, though her mind was not really into it. The teacher stood, straightened his tie, and opened the door. "Good morning," he said, his broad shoulders blocking the class's view of whomever it was. There was a deep, incoherent mumbling, then the teacher smiled and said, "Yes, come in, come in! It's so good to see you again!"
The girls (and some of the guys) gasped when the teacher stepped back and a handsome, tall man in a black trench coat ambled into the room.
Erika, Eve's best friend, leaned over and excitedly whispered, "Oh. My. God. How hot is that guy?"
Eve looked at Chris, who was talking with the teacher and laughing as if they were good friends. Chris stole a glance at her, a smile lingering on his face, as he listened to the teacher ramble on about how the school was changing.
This smile, however, didn't go unnoticed by Erika, who squealed, "Eve, he just smiled at you! Do you know that guy?"
As if in answer to her question, the teacher turned around and said, "Eve, why didn't you tell me you knew this fine young man? He was one of my best students back in the day!"
Eve shrugged. "I just met him yesterday."
"Well, come, come. Detective Bowman says he would like to borrow you for the day and has convinced the headmaster to excuse you from your classes today. And I must say, it sounds like you two are going to have quite an adventure," said the professor, smiling widely.
Erika's jaw dropped down to her toes as Eve stood up, gathered her stuff, and casually walked up to Chris. "I thought you told me to leave 'them' alone," she said.
Chris tilted his head down and looked at her over his sunglasses. "I need you to do something for me."
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Eve was in awe as she sat down at Chris's office computer. Flat-screened, 20 gig, with printer, DVD player, CD/DVD burner, scanner, and state-of-the-art speakers. "How the hell did you afford all this?" she asked as he inserted a disk into the floppy drive.
"Savings," mumbled Chris absently as he stood up and pointed to a document icon that popped up on the desktop. "Read that."
Eve opened the document. It read:
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February 11, 2001
The Goblins, a gang running amuck in Seattle, Washington, were seen a few days ago running through the Seattle streets setting things ablaze. Three people were killed in the fire. Mysteriously, two of them were undercover police officers involved in the investigation of what was thought to be The Goblin hideout. The third person killed was a black market hacker who was reportedly said to freely give out secret information about the infamous Goblins. No one knows how The Goblins accessed this information, but the police have promised that it will not happen again.
--Anonymous
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Eve sat back in her chair. "Where'd you get this?"
"It's an article from some private website. I need you to tell me who wrote this," said Chris calmly. He turned the chair around so that she was facing him. "Who wrote this article, Eve?"
"Trent," mumbled the young woman.
Chris sighed heavily as if he had known this but didn't want to believe it. "Did he publish it from his home computer?"
"Yeah… why?"
"Damn," growled the detective. He pulled out a pad of paper. "This is my cell phone number. I want you to call this number if anything happens and I'll be there within two minutes, alright?"
"Okay."
He locked her with an intense stare. "The Goblins are on the move. There is a full moon tonight… and when the moon hits its peak in the night sky, they are going to finish off any hits that weren't completed… meaning you and your brother better watch out. Tonight is a dangerous night."
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The rest of the day was spent in Chris's office. Chris taught Eve a lot of important things about the way The Goblins thought and how to, should they attack, reach him without alerting them to that fact.
Eve was amazed at how much he knew. It was almost like he was one of them… she quickly shook the thought from her head and asked, instead, a more innocent but just as blunt of a question: "How do you know all this… and why do you even bother? The Goblins are one of the most frustrating groups to chase, or so I've heard. Most cops give up after just a few months."
Chris leaned against his desk. He had rolled up the sleeves of his black shirt and his muscles bulged underneath the fabric. "My father and his father before him fought with The Goblins day in and day out. They spent the best years of their lives trying to find the main Orc hideout. I remember once going into his office late at night to bring him some tea when I was just a little boy… he took me onto his knee and said, 'Chris, you are my only son and I barely know you. The Goblins take up all my time and I wish that I could just rid them of this world and be done with it. When I'm gone, I need you to finish whatever I leave behind. Promise me you'll get them. Promise me.' And I promised him," Chris said, changing his words a bit to fit modern times.
"Was your father killed by The Goblins?" asked Eve quietly.
"No. I killed my father," whispered Chris so softly that Eve barely deciphered his words.
"You killed him?"
"Yes, I did. But that's a story for another day," said the detective, turning away from her and walking to the window. "You should get home. If Trent is there alone, they'll get him for sure."
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"…and more scrutiny has been placed on the Bush administration since investigators discovered…" droned the anchor on the television.
Eve sat on Trent's faded blue couch bored, anxious, and a bit scared. Trent was in his office working on a new article. She was worried about him being alone. He had been quiet for nearly three hours. Eve, growing restless, finally turned off the TV and went into Trent's office, sitting in the chair in front of his desk like a client would in a lawyer's office. She leaned against the dark wood and sighed. "Do you think that they're coming for us?"
Trent glanced up at her over his glasses. "I don't know."
"You scared?"
"A little bit."
Eve dragged her hand down her face. "I'm terrified."
Trent sighed and turned off his laptop. "I don't think there is any reason to be terrified. I mean, Chris said he'd respond within a second if we called and—"
The power went off.
"You were saying?" mumbled Eve. She picked up the phone and briefly listened for a dial tone. "It's dead."
"Where's your cell?"
Eve's eyes widened. "Upstairs."
Bump.
Trent looked up. Eve moved beside him.
Bump. Bump.
"They're in the house," whispered Eve, looking around. The moonlight spilling through the window was the only source of light, but her eyes were quickly adjusting to the darkness of the room.
Ba-bump, bump, bump.
"Oh hell…" muttered Trent. "They're upstairs." He moved to the door and opened it a crack. The rest of the house was pitch-black, save the living room, which was also lit by the light of the moon. "We're in trouble."
CRASH!!!
Eve screamed as the window shattered and a bunch of howling figures came into the room. She punched the nearest one and then ran out of the office with Trent, who closed the door behind them and placed a chair against it. The Goblins screamed like wild animals, pushing against the door. The chair began to crack under the pressure.
"Come on," shouted Trent, running towards the front door.
Alas, the front door was burst open and ten more Goblins filed in. They spotted the two helpless people and ran at them, wildly waving their weapons in the air.
"No, not that way!" yelled Eve as she turned and ran up the stairs. A few Goblins started coming down and she punched the first one in the face. He fell down the stairs on top of his comrades, which were following them up.
Trent grabbed a shirt that had been lazily discarded on the railing and wrapped it around the head of one of The Goblins. He screamed and tried to claw at Trent's hands, but Trent swung his head around, causing him to knock into The Goblins above him. They all toppled down the stairs and landed in a writhing heap, preventing their fellow Goblins from coming up.
Eve and her brother ran into Eve's bedroom, slamming the door behind them. She hastily dug around for her cell phone while he barricaded the door with her bed, her desk, and her bureau.
"Where'd you put the damn thing?" shouted Trent as The Goblins outside smashed against the door. He pressed himself against the furniture to keep them from moving it out of the way.
Eve found it in her jacket pocket and dialed Chris's number.
"Hello?" said a familiar voice.
"Jack, it's Eve."
There was a pause, and then: "Eve, what's happening?"
"They're here. They've come," she said quickly, remembering not to say "The Goblins are attacking us!" over the phone, which was a dangerous thing to do since hardly any cell phone calls were totally private.
"Alright, Eve. We'll be right over." He hung up.
Eve put the phone down and turned to Trent just as The Goblins broke the door in half with an axe and starting shoving the furniture out of the way. Eve, unable to see anything in the darkness of her windowless room, picked up a flashlight and turned it on.
As soon as the light hit them, The Goblins screamed and fell back.
"What the hell?" muttered Eve, shining the flashlight on them again. The Goblins shouted incoherent phrases in rage but didn't move closer.
Trent and Eve stared in shock at their faces. Their features were human, yes, but… but somehow deformed. Their noses were smashed against their faces, some of them looking like a truck had run over their heads. Their ears were elongated; their skin not pale, but a grayish color as if they were ill. Their hair was long, disgusting, and stringy, falling down past their shoulder blades almost to their waists. Their eyes were sunken in and black as night, wreathed in red veins.
"Stupid humans!" one of them shouted, the first intelligible words they had uttered the entire time.
Eve stepped back in fear and The Goblins stepped forward, now close enough to move the furniture. They ducked down so that the light could not shine on them and started shoving her bed out of the way. Eve ran forward and pointed the flashlight at them from atop the bureau, causing them to scream as if in pain and move all the way back to the stairs.
"Take that you cowards!" she shouted with move bravado than she felt. "Run! Yeah, run like the little sissies you are!"
The batteries went out.
"Oh damn."
Trent pulled Eve off the bureau as The Goblins stampeded forward once again. The two pressed themselves against the walls as their adversaries did quick work of the furniture. When all the furniture was successfully removed, The Goblins parted and a tall, dark figure stepped into the room.
"Oh God… an Orc…" whispered Trent, hugging his sister tightly.
The Orc was so tall that he had to duck when he came in the door. He had to be just shy of seven feet tall. His hair was long like The Goblins', although his hung down only to the middle of his back. His arms were as thick as tree trunks, his skin gray like storm clouds. He looked deathly ill.
"You two have meddled in affairs that are much larger and more complicated than you could ever imagine," said The Orc, his voice like a lion's roar. "No longer will you prevent us from our mission. We have been sent here to kill you." He raised two strange-looking weapons and pointed it at the both of them. "I'll see you in Hell."
"I don't think so," said a voice from behind The Goblins just as someone crashed through the window and landed on The Orc, knocking him to the ground.
Eve looked up to see Jack pummeling Goblins left and right from the rear while others scrambled to run away from him. Chris was busy with The Orc, who was shooting long, pointed spears at him. Chris ducked, then jumped, then sidestepped and ran at The Orc, tackling him around the waist. Trent got up and tried to join the fight, but Jack ran forward and stopped him after the last Goblin had left the house.
Chris shoved The Orc's face into the ground and handcuffed him. "Watch him. I'm going to make sure there aren't anymore surprises." He stood to leave, but all of a sudden, The Orc started making a choking sound. Chris turned The Orc over onto his back and saw that he was foaming at the mouth, lips burned.
"What… what did he do?" asked Eve, appalled.
Chris cursed under his breath as the Orc stilled…and died. "He poisoned himself."
"How?" asked Trent, turning away in disgust.
"He must've had some kind of mechanism in his mouth. Damn them," growled the detective as he stood up. "Damn them and their 'loyalty' to their leader."
"Do you think it's over for now?" asked Trent, looking around apprehensively.
"No. They're probably outside waiting. Jack and I will check out the house to make sure that there aren't any stragglers," said Chris. "Come with us. We can't have you walking around alone."
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Chris scoured the front yard while Jack checked across the street. Eve and Trent stuck close to Chris, too afraid and untrusting of Jack to go with him. Chris searched the bushes, the trees, and the neighbors' yards, but found no trace of The Goblins.
Jack returned from his scouting with the same results. "But I know they're out there, even if they haven't left bread crumbs for us to follow," he announced, looking around suspiciously…
And he was right.
Movement in the corner of Eve's eye caught her attention and she turned to see two Orcs standing in the trees with weapons similar to that of the other Orc. "Look out!" she shouted, pointing to the two Orcs.
Jack pushed Trent and Eve to the ground. "Get down!"
The Orcs shot.
Eve watched in horror as two spiked metal rods flew from the trees towards the detectives. Chris, at the last moment, reached out and plucked his from the air before it smashed into his chest.
Jack, however, wasn't as lucky. The rod's aim was true and it pummeled into his chest right above where his heart was. The tall man fell to the ground with a resounding 'thud' as The Orcs ran away, shouting to each other triumphantly.
"IZARETH!" screamed Chris, running over to the fallen officer and kneeling next to him, hands shaking. "Izareth… Izareth."
Jack looked up at Chris and smiled, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. "They got me good."
Chris shook his head. "I've been working with you for five years, Izareth. I'll be damned if they take you now!"
Izareth clamped his hand on Chris's arm. "Godspeed, Legolas. Godspeed to ya."
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