Author's Note: Hey everyone. Someone asked what other names the authoresses write under. *The Nightrunners glance around furtively, wondering how many aliases they should give away.* Kidding, kidding. Jai writes under the penname Ivory Moon, Dru writes under Sun Queen, and Meg uses Eirual of the Nightrunners. However, updates under these other names tend to be...sporadic, at best. As previously noted, updates to "Brothers in Arms" are going to be slow for a while, as the Nightrunners have all hit competitive season for their respective sports, and midterm exams are just around the corner. *Nightrunners wail and cower under computer desk*. Nevertheless, we shall strive to keep the updates coming, so keep checking!


Enjoy the chapter!


En Route

Nose deep didn't even begin to describe how much trouble they were in.


Alice looked around the dismal interior of the cargo plane and sighed. Legolas was lying in the corner where they had propped him. They were starting to run out of bandages to staunch the blood flow. Actually, she amended, they were starting to run out of *clothing* to staunch the blood too. Her scarf was now beyond the repair of any professional drycleaner.


"That pilot has to be *the* most unfeeling, cold-hearted son of a bitch...!!"


Alice looked up as Gabe spluttered to a halt, unable to speak through his rage. He narrowly avoided tripping over the unconscious Mark, as the plane took a sudden lurch to the left. Glaring in the direction of the cockpit, Gabe continued on his way back over his fallen friend. Sitting down, he carefully placed the elf's head in his lap.


Her gaze swept across the room to Peter, who was crouching by Mark, cracking his knuckles repeatedly. On occasion, he would give Mark a poke, to see if he was awake yet. Alice could see the worry behind his every movement, because she felt it as well. They were all worried.


Gabe carefully brushed blood-matted hair off his friend's pale face. Arwen raised one eyebrow. "And what was that outburst all about?"


" That bastard won't let us use *any* of the medical supplies onboard. Apparently, he's been paid to get us to Paris, no more." Gabe's face contorted into a realistic impression of the pilot's surly visage. "Nothing in my contract says you have to get to Paris *alive*."


Alice figured the contempt in Gabe's voice had just lowered the temperature of the room by several degrees. She looked past him to where Sam and Felix were curled up, Felix asleep on Sam's shoulder.


// They seem to be taking this rather well. At least they're getting some rest.//


With another heart-felt sigh of concern, Alice turned her sights on the last member of their fellowship.


Adam was lying on the floor, with his head resting in her lap. She had pulled his shirt off one shoulder, so that she could monitor the development of the tattoo that was seeping up from under his skin. Tiny pinpricks of darkness blossomed, in stark contrast to the pale colouring. Sweat beaded his brow, and he cringed as each tiny spot appeared. Alice knew how much pain he had to be in right now. Mage tattoos took hours to form, eventually leaving the killer branded for life with another's life print. Each was as unique as the person who bore it. Or the person who had died for it.


Peter, abandoning his game of 'Turn-Mark-Black-and-Blue-by-Poking-Him', walked slowly over to where Gabe was sitting with Legolas. "Is he going to die?"


"I don't know. It's hard to tell with Elves. There isn't much we can do for him either way."


Alice winced at the pain in Gimli's voice. Rummaging through her pack, she pulled out a bottle of water, and an energy bar. "Here. Give him some water, it might help. Make sure you eat that bar too. You're no good to anyone if you can't fight."


"Thus speaks the high and mighty elf-maiden, who is useless without magic, and yet won't take her own advice and get some sleep."


" Just what are you implying, Gimli Gloinson? That I *need* magic to be useful? Or that you don't approve of my being here?"


" All that I'm *implying*, my Lady, is that you appear to be very distracted by someone whom you were beating off the walls not long ago. What good does it serve him if you can't protect yourself when he wakes up?"


" The same could be said to you, Master Dwarf."


Peter decided to intervene before Alice or Gabe pecked each other to death. In a literal sense. " Would you two shut up? We're all worried about them, but picking at each other isn't going to help, is it? Honestly, for people who were born several millennia ago, you get awfully bitchy when you're tired." The plane chose that moment to give particularly violent lurch. Pippin careened across the cabin, banging into several of the mysterious crates lashed to the walls. He ended his headlong dash by landing in a tangled heap atop Felix and Sam.


"Pippin!!"


"Good morning, Frodo. Did you have a good rest?"


"No. How's Legolas?"



Alice interrupted before they could slide back into the conversation they had just ended. " Don't ask. Come over and have some breakfast. I have energy bars and dried fruit in my bag."


Sam grimaced. " Yuck. Besides, it's too late for breakfast."


" What about second breakfast?"


" Or lunch?"


Alice decided that it was time to steer thing back on track again. " Just come over and have some food."


Despite all the complaints, the three hobbits tucked in readily. When the last crumbs of dried fruit had vanished, they turned to lighter matters. " What are we going to do when we get to Paris, anyway?" asked Sam. The other two automatically turned to Alice and Gabe for an answer.


Alice sighed. " I don't know. The only people who really have anything valuable to contribute are both unconscious at the moment." In response to the quizzical looks from all three rockers, she continued. " Legolas is the only person who actually knows anything. He is currently bleeding profusely in the corner. He isn't going to be able to help us unless we get him to a doctor soon. The other person who could have helped is Adam. He grew up in Paris, and probably still has a few contacts there. Unfortunately, he's *also* passed out right now, and certainly won't be waking up for a while."


Mark chose this precise moment to wake up. His eyes were still a little unfocussed, but at least he was conscious. Peter leaned over and assisted him into a sitting position.


" Mmrph. Why does my head feel like someone ran it into a wall?"


" Of course it feels like that. You did it yourself, moron. Come over and get food, I think there's still some left. Legolas and Adam certainly aren't going to need it."


" Very smooth, Pip."


Alice had to laugh at the easy banter between the hobbits. As Gandalf had said, hobbits truly *were* amazing creatures.


" I don't remember feeling this bad after the Uruk-hai clocked me on the head. Are you sure no one took the opportunity to have a little fun at my expense? Maybe using my head for a volleyball? Come on Pip, tell me the truth and I'll buy you a beer."


" It can't possibly be as good as the stuff at the Golden Perch." Peter sighed, a dreamy look crossing his face. " I've never had a better mug of ale."


Felix and Sam both nodded. " Even Butterbur's brew couldn't match it.", added Felix.


Gabe glanced at them, a memory resurfacing. "Hold up a second. How did the two of you manage to remember on your own? You ran out of Legolas's like bats out of hell, and the next thing, all your memories are back. Suddenly, you're in a tearing hurry to get *back* to the apartment you left two hours before. "


An exasperated expression crossed Felix's face. "A little bird told us."


Sam glanced at him incredulously. "A *little* bird? Try again. It was something more along the lines of a large, old, meddling, GREY BUZZARD!"


"Okay. Sam was probably a bit closer to the truth," Felix added meekly.


The others stared at them.


It was Alice who finally broke the silence. "You can't possibly mean–"


"Oh yes," Sam confirmed, looking almost maniacal in his glee. "You know precisely who we mean."


"Gandalf?"


"Where is he?"


Felix and Sam glanced at each other.


"Don't know."


"Don't care either."

Silence descended on the party once again. All that could be heard over the drone of the engines was Legolas's shallow raspy breathing.


" As much as I hate to derail this most *cheerful* of conversations, there is some business that has to be taken care of before we reach Paris."


Gabe looked at Alice with understanding. " I think you mean *are* we going to reach Paris?'"


"Somebody give the Dwarf a cigar. The way I see it, if we land in Paris, we might as well pull out our guns and shoot ourselves. Walking into the White City would be the stupidest thing we could possibly do. We don't know who's friendly and who to avoid. We don't know where the other elves are, and the only person who might be able to show us is, well..." she glanced to the corner.


Felix and Sam looked up at her, from where they had been holding a whispered discussion for the last few minutes.


"What if we got the pilot to drop us off outside of Paris?" Felix suggested.


Sam picked up the idea " Yeah! If we got him to put us down just outside of the White City, we could rent a car or something and drive in. Everyone is expecting us to arrive by air. There are too many roads for them all to be watched. We can definitely slip through somewhere."


Gabe and Alice both had the look of experienced tacticians, filling out details and plotting probabilities in their heads.


" We'd have to take the Underground into the city. I know there are above ground accesses, but nobody uses them anymore. We'd probably draw too much attention if we tried that."


Gabe nodded at Alice, their spat forgiven and forgotten in the need to plan their mutual survival. " That's true. Another thing we have to think of is how exactly are we going to get the pilot to drop us off outside the City?"


" Well, Alice could seduce him."


A rather sickening glow began to form around Peter as he finished his sentence. He began to twitch as the blue-green light crackled with energy. " Ow! I thought you were tapped out!"


" I am *now*. Does anyone else have a pertinent suggestion?"


" Well, so far all we've come up with is you seducing him, or Gabe threatening him."


Mark sighed. " Peter, do us all a favour and shut up before you make things worse. What if we bribed him? Would that work?"


The others looked at Mark like he had grow a couple of extra heads in the past few minutes. "Merry, that would be wonderful, but we don't have anything to bribe him *with*"


" Sam is right, Mark. We all left New York in a big hurry. We don't have enough cash to bribe him, and if Alice or I use our bank accounts, we' ll be leaving a road map for somebody to find us."


"Actually," said Mark slowly. "We *do* have something to bribe him with."


He reached into one of the deep, inner pockets of his cargo pants, and pulled out a small bundle of blue silk. It was worn and stained from touch and time, but it was obvious that this had once been very fine material. Mark unwrapped it carefully and held up the contents to the light.


It was a ring. A platinum band set with a small, perfect diamond, flanked on either side with tiny sapphires. Simple, elegant, and worth a fortune.


Alice's breath caught in her throat. "Mark, where did you get that?"


Merry was suddenly engrossed with studying the floor by his feet. "It belonged to my mother."


The witch gently ran a finger over the curve of the band. Had it been hers, she knew she'd never be able to bear parting with it. "Mark, your mother is dead, isn't she?"


The ex-hobbit nodded, his head bowed. "Yeah. Mom was a domestic housekeeper in some guy's summer home, down in the Carolinas. Some airline mogul, I think." His eyes tightened a little. "She said he was a good man. When she got pregnant, he wanted to keep it quiet, so he gave her some money. And the ring. She took it, moved to the city, then we ended up stuck in Necropolis during the war. She got caught in one of the bombings when I was eight."


Everyone tactfully averted their attention as Mark scrubbed at his eyes with the sleeve of his sweatshirt.


Alice finally broke the silence. "Merry, we don't have to use this. We can find another way..."


"No." said Mark. "There is no other way. We have to get into Paris quietly, and we have to get Legolas to someone who can help him. It's okay." He shrugged, but the emotion in his eyes wasn't quite hidden. "It's just a ring."


Wordlessly, Arwen leaned over and hugged Mark, laying her cheek on top of his soft brown hair. The light winked off the diamond, and somewhere deep inside, a little boy leaned over his mother's fallen body and cried.