Strange Alliances

by Erestor

Disclaimer: I own nothing pertaining to The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, or the Harry Potter series. This story was written for entertainment purposes only.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

'Trembling he looked up, in time to see a tall dark figure like a shadow against the stars. It leaned over him. He thought there were two eyes, very cold though lit with a pale light that seemed to come from some remote distance. Then a grip stronger and colder than iron seized him.'

-J.R.R. Tolkien, 'The Fellowship of the Ring'

Fëanor set out to look for Amanda-Lynn. The MoS fended for himself. Morgoth derived great pleasure from doing unpleasant things to the Valar-illusions. Sauron sat and plotted.

Somewhere in Earth, Luthy was typing frantically.

Somewhere in Valinor, Manwë was sailing towards the Void, birdcage in hand, Varda was sitting on her throne, reading a novel, the sons of Nerdanel were polishing silverware and scrubbing floors, and Vairë was burning soothing incense and trying to think peaceful thoughts.

In Imladris, Elrond was drinking tea, and Glorfindel and Erestor were in the process of severely inconveniencing each other.

In Mirkwood, Thranduil was writing a letter to Elrond, demanding to know where his son had gone, and in the Wild, Aragorn and Legolas were supposedly having an adventure.

They were at the part of the adventure in which they got unfairly clobbered by sadistic, psychopathic individuals, and at the part of the clobbering session in which Legolas exhibited his self-sacrifice by antagonizing the chief sadistic, psychopathic individual so that he would hurt Legolas and not Aragorn.

Aragorn was at the part of the adventure in which he was barely conscious, but still dimly grasped the fact that Legolas was being self-sacrificial.

Aragorn felt resentful. He felt that he never got a chance to be self-sacrificial. However, he was barely conscious, so he really could not do much to plan a self-sacrificial move. He could only lie on the ground and regret the fact that he and Legolas had gone on the so-called 'important mission' to the Barrow-downs. Everyone knew the Barrow-downs were an even more dangerous place than most of the rest of Middle-earth.

Suddenly, the heavy sound of flapping wings filled the air.

The sadistic, psychopathic individuals halted what they were doing, and glanced up, worried expressions on their ugly, evil faces.

Aragorn managed to prop himself up on one elbow. He squinted skywards, puzzled.

Legolas took this respite as an opportunity to get his breath back. As an Elf, his sense of smell was very good, something he clearly regretted at that moment. Even Aragorn could easily discern the horrible stench that came wafting down.

"What is that?" muttered one of the men.

"Dunno. Maybe a very large bird?" asked another man, doubtfully.

Legolas snorted.

"Could be a cloud," said a particularly stupid member of the group.

A piercing shriek rang out, sounding rather like the scream of metal against metal. Everyone winced.

"Awful noisy cloud," someone muttered.

Legolas snorted again. "It's obviously a fell beast," he said. "Haven't you heard of them?"

"Course we have," lied the chief sadistic, psychopathic brute, inconsiderately kicking Legolas in the ribs.

Legolas was incredibly good at antagonizing mortals, noted Aragorn.

A dark shape stretched vastly overhead. Everyone gaped at it, except for Legolas who was wriggling towards his weapons. They had been commandeered by the evil men, but if the Elf could get them back, he could inflict some serious damage on the humans in a very short space of time.

Aragorn was personally worried more by the fell beast. Fell beasts meant ringwraiths were near, and ringwraiths were very dangerous and very hard to kill, if, in fact, they actually could be killed.

Aragorn started wriggling in the direction of his weapons.

"It's coming towards us! It's going to land in this clearing!" shrieked the men hysterically, and began running around in a panic.

Aragorn, glancing sideways at his friend, could see that Legolas was biting back some kind of sarcastic observation.

"Begone, mortal wretches, while you live!" roared a voice from the sky.

Curiously, this order caused everyone to freeze, unbreathing, for a moment. The sheer terror of the men was nearly tangible. Someone keeled over in a dead faint.

"Doesn't sound like a wraith," muttered Legolas, and started wriggling again.

Aragorn had to agree. Though he had never heard a ringwraith speak, he assumed that their voices were more hissing and sinister, not merely loud and annoyed.

The men all started running around again. Occasionally they ran into each other. Occasionally they ran into trees. Legolas seemed rather spitefully amused by their reaction to the fell beast and its mysterious rider.

The fell beast landed awkwardly in the clearing, smashing its wings around and knocking the panicked men about like tenpins. Aragorn pressed himself against the ground as the leathery wings whistled over his head.

Someone was giggling maniacally. "Oh, Mandos, that was fun!" she cried. "It was almost worth the miserable trip here!"

"Nothing was worth the miserable trip here," replied someone darkly.

Legolas and Aragorn exchanged a puzzled glance.

"Mandos?" mouthed Legolas.

"Whatever they are, they are definitely not ringwraiths," said Aragorn quietly.

The giggles continued. Aragorn and Legolas watched as someone scrambled off the fell beast and stretched luxuriously. "These look like the Barrow-downs," she said. "We never thought that they would suddenly appear halfway through the Third Age! Who knows how long they've existed?"

"Shh, Nienna," said the first voice abruptly. "Not all the men have left this clearing."

"Well, no," said Nienna. "It seems that some of them are unconscious." She chuckled.

Legolas had gone very pale. Was this a result of blood loss, wondered Aragorn, or something more sinister?

Legolas saw his confused look. "Mandos and Nienna!" he hissed urgently. "It's the Valar!"

"Valar?" choked Aragorn.

The tallest of the three riders (Valar?) peered around suspiciously. "I wasn't referring to the unconscious men. At least one person here is perfectly alert... and listening to our conversation."

"Don't be so paranoid, Mandos," said Nienna. "It's not like anyone listening would be able to understand a word of this. I'm being very obscure."

Mandos sighed. "So you think," he said.

Nienna sniffed tentatively. "I do smell something... rather different," she said. "Sweeter. It's not the fell beast."

"Elf blood, I think," said Mandos.

Legolas was going paler and paler.

"Oh!" said Nienna. "Elves are all right. We like Elves, don't we? Go and fetch it, Mandos dear, it's probably terrified."

"Hmm," said Mandos.

"Speaking of terrified," said Nienna, "has Lórien revived yet?"

"I think so," said a third voice weakly.

"Of all the ways to discover you are susceptible to vertigo!" said Nienna, sounding far too jaunty to be sympathetic.

Lórien tried to slither out of the saddle, and ended up falling inelegantly on his nose. He made muffled whimpering sounds.

"Help your brother up," said Mandos. "It's partially your fault he is nauseous. I told you to stop telling those terrible jokes."

"I couldn't help it," said Nienna, assisting Lórien as he clambered to his feet. "When I get nervous, I do tend to make terrible jokes."

"She's crying," whispered Legolas. "They are Valar."

Now it was Legolas's turn to make muffled whimpering sounds. Fortunately they were drowned out by the fell beast, which was screeching again.

"Please, make it be quiet, Mandos!" wailed Lórien. "I have such a headache!... Mandos?"

"Mandos?" echoed Nienna, looking around. "Where are you?"

"Here," said Mandos, reaching down and picking up Aragorn and Legolas by their collars, one in each hand. "These are the eavesdroppers."

"They look hurt," observed Nienna.

"Just a few broken ribs, that's all," said Aragorn, so used to insisting he was well that he did so even to a Vala, out of habit. He realized who he was addressing, and added, "Lady Nienna", in an effort not to seem insolent.

"Is that so?" asked Nienna, tapping her foot and grinning through her tears. "How many do you consider to be 'a few'?"

"Three or four?" asked Aragorn.

Legolas made a pained expression in Aragorn's direction, perhaps in an effort to make Aragorn be quiet.

"Mandos," said Nienna, "I know you do this without thinking, but could you please try not to scare them so much. I think the Elf is about to– Oh!" she gasped suddenly, clapping her hands over her mouth. "It's Legolas!"

"So it is," said Lórien, from where he was propped against a tree.

"I still feel bad for not sending you a dream, Legolas," said Nienna remorsefully. "I meant to, but such strange things happened, I never found the time."

"That's quite all right," said Legolas carefully. He had decided that he was having a hallucination, and he didn't want to offend it, in case things went from bad to worse.

"If I cry over you," said Nienna, "I might be able to repair a few of your ribs. Mandos, put them down."

Mandos put them down, and then he took a startled breath, said, "Excuse me a moment", and wandered off.

"What's wrong with him?" Nienna asked, and Lórien shrugged.

Vairë, what are you doing here?

"In your mind, you mean?" asked Vairë silently, tapping her fingers on a windowsill.

Yes.

"I am burning a lot of incense and pretty candles, calming myself, trying not to think about the tragic fate of my loom, and communicating with you nonverbally, over a great distance," thought Vairë. "In short, I'm praying. I hope you are enjoying the experience."

I'm not. I had a headache already.

"And I'm making it worse?" Vairë smiled to herself.

Yes.

"My darling, you were always a Vala of few words," thought Vairë. "Now, I have a few important things to tell you."

I'm listening.

"Good. First of all, Morgoth has returned."

I am aware of that.

"Good. Second of all, Manwë smashed my loom so that history would freeze, but it didn't work. Now the only source controlling Middle-earth's history is one that is out of our control. We wondered if you knew who is doing the tampering, and where he or she is located."

There was a long silence.

Luthy.

"Luthy?"

A mortal girl in a world known as 'Earth'. She seems the sort of person who would side with the forces of evil.

"Where does she live?"

I think Earth is quite large. She could be anywhere.

"Manwë could probably trace her, if he knew what to look for."

I'll tell you all I can.

"Thank you, Mandos," said Vairë. She settled down more comfortably. "But please tell me quickly, because every second we spend chatting, history is moving farther in the wrong direction."

TBC...