Disclaimer: See Chapter 2
Note to readers: Thank you Ellfine and Blackadder for the reviews and I'm again sorry for the delay in updating. Real life has a way of insinuating itself!
I sat and mulled over where I wanted this to go and came to the conclusions that there needed to be a few hiccups in events. I could have done a 'pursuit and recovery' angle in which they find Thadak, kill him and get the weapons, but then decided that a slightly more devious twist was needed to put some obstacles in the way of Gary and Eonwe. Hopefully I have gone some way to explain why Eonwe was able to do what Gary was hesitating over within the dialogue of this chapter. I've also tried to set out the basis for his procrastination.
Chapter 30 – So many questions, so few answersBuffy: The world is what it is. We fight, we die.
Wishing doesn't change that.
Giles: I have to believe in a better world.
Buffy: Go ahead. I have to live in this one.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Drusilla - How do you feel about eternal life?
Xander - We couldn't just start with coffee?
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
"What's up?" Jim stroked Bertie's velvet nose and then chuckled as the horse dipped his head and nudged at him. "Looking for luckies are we?" He held out his hand and revealed a small wrinkled looking apple, which the horse devoured greedily.
"Couldn't you find a fresher looking apple to give him?" Kim leaned against the tree. Her whole aspect was one of discontent.
Jim turned to look at her. "Oh indeed yes madam, I could just nip down to Tesco's down at the corner by that tree there and select one from their fresh fruit produce. Would you like me to get you anything while I'm there?"
"Oh ha bloody ha." Kim pursed her lips. "I wish…."
Jim chuckled. "Having a bad morning are we? Woke up without the warm body of our fearless leader keeping the drafts away did we?"
Kim's face twisted slightly. "That's not funny. Do you know where he is by any chance?"
Jim shook his head. "Nope. Haven't seen him since last night when we all turned in and you two made yourselves scarce. You haven't misplaced him already have you?"
She bit her lip. "I haven't seen him since…." She blushed furiously. "We were together and he went to spend a penny. I fell asleep and when I woke up he wasn't there."
"I'm sure he's somewhere around Kim." Jim said gently. "The camp is breaking up and we need to get after that orc with our guns. He's probably talking to Gil-galad or something. I shouldn't worry if I were you."
Kim reached out and stroked Bertie's smooth flank. His compact yet powerful muscles shivered under the satiny skin and his tail flicked. She sighed and opened her mouth to say something, but shut it again as quickly.
"Something on your mind?"
She shuffled uncomfortably. "I'm not sure." Jim waited patiently while she struggled with whatever it was she wanted to say and finally she managed to continue. "Don't you think it's really weird that Gary understands their language so well?"
Jim settled a blanket over Bertie's back. "How do you know he does? Maybe he's just good at sign language."
"Oh come off it." She scoffed. "He bloody well talks to them. I've heard it and so have you if you're being really honest. He talks to that King person, what's his name again? Gil-galang or something?"
Jim hid a smile. "Gil-galad?"
"That's him. He talks to him in whatever that language is."
"Sindarin." Jim said patiently. "It's one of the languages the Elves speak."
"Whatever it is." Kim dismissed the explanation with an airy wave of her hand. "My point is, how did he suddenly become so fluent in it? If I remember rightly, you were the one who knew words and phrases, now all of a sudden he's language boy?"
Jim's eyebrows shot into his hairline. "Language boy?" He struggled to keep a straight face.
"You know what I mean." Kim said sulkily. "He couldn't speak it before and now he can. Magically. Overnight."
"Hardly overnight." Jim protested. "It's been a couple of weeks…okay just over a week. Perhaps he's really good at languages. You know, picks them up really quickly."
"Perhaps, and if my grandma had wheels, she'd be a wagon." Kim said shortly. "I just think it's very strange. He's changing as well. He's different from the way he was when this all started."
Jim sighed. "We've all changed in the past couple of weeks Kim, even you, although you may not think it. Just think about all of the things we've had to get used to, including a new race of people. We've been shot at, chased, done without food and water…I don't know what you expect. We're adapting because we have to and the changes aren't coming to an end any time soon, so I suggest that you get used to it." He looked sharply at Kim. "Are you and Gary a proper item now?"
She flushed bright red. "I don't know what you mean." She faltered.
Jim laughed outright. "Yes you do. Don't tell me that you and he were discussing tactics in your blankets last night."
"Oh god. Did you hear us?" She looked utterly mortified.
"Well you weren't loud enough to wake the camp, but I imagine anyone within a radius of a few yards wasn't in any doubt as to what was happening."
"Well they shouldn't have been listening. I'm fed up with everyone knowing our business, this whole thing just sucks." She said furiously. There were two bright spots of colour high on her cheeks and her mouth was set in a petulant line. For the first time since meeting her Jim felt a tinge of irritation, which he fought down with difficulty. He finished with Bertie and then took her arm gently and led her back to the campfire.
"Let's sit down and have a talk, okay?" He said as gently as he could. It had never occurred to him that his gentle teasing would have elicited this reaction from her. She was fast approaching the point of complete unreasonability.
"About what?" She glared at him mutinously and stood with her hands on her hips. "I should go and get my horse sorted or everyone will just whinge at me again."
Jim pulled her down firmly. "Your horse can wait awhile and as far as I know nobody has actually whinged at you so far. Anyway, Elves don't whinge, they wait patiently until us lesser mortals get our act together."
She settled down beside him reluctantly. "So?" She demanded truculently.
"Kim what on earth is going on with you?" There was deep concern in his eyes and Kim was a little taken aback.
"What do you mean? There's nothing going on with me, as you put it."
"Okay, how about the fact that you're behaving like a spoilt brat. You're not a child Kim, you're a grown woman for god's sake and supposedly a senior member of the British Army." Jim could feel exasperation rising. "There's a lot at stake here and Gary is trying hard to make things right, not to mention getting the weapons back, along with now juggling a very new relationship with you. I don't envy him at all. There's not just us getting home to consider. What if those weapons got into the wrong hands and were used to make a different ending to the War of Wrath? You're so wrapped up in yourself and whatever Gary or anyone else might be thinking of you that you're not looking at the bigger picture. This is not just about you, or Gary."
"How dare you!" She cried angrily, but even as she protested she knew that he was right. She had spent the past few days with everyone making allowances for her. She was being stupidly jealous and childish over Gary and it wasn't like her at all. The trouble was that she had gone so far now she had no idea how to back-pedal, so she did the only thing she could and that was to make it worse.
Jim watched with a mixture of sympathy and exasperation as she buried her face in her hands. There was little he could say to make her feel better and someone had to get her to see that she needed to sort herself out and pretty sharpish.
He reached out and gently touched her hair. "Kim…" He began, but she angrily brushed his hand away and stood up.
"No. Just leave me alone. I can't say or do anything right here. Everybody's perfect except me and I'm sick of it. I wish I was back home. Everything's horrible. I can't understand anything anyone says. Gary just comes and goes like some hit and run merchant. One minute he's nice to me and the next he treats me like a congenital idiot. We need to talk to each other, sort things out, but there's always something more important going on. What can be more important than our future together?"
"The future of Middle-earth perhaps?" Enquired Jim softly. "Because it very much looks like whatever happens here will have a direct effect on our future in 2005."
She stared at him wildly, unwilling or perhaps unable to see beyond her own misery. "I have to go, I need some air and some space to think. All I wanted to know was why Gary could suddenly speak that stupid language, I didn't come for the two-penny lecture on how to behave."
Before Jim could stop her, she had blundered off into the trees and disappeared rapidly from his sight. It occurred to him that he should go after her because, as peaceful as it seemed at the moment, Jim knew that the area was strewn with dangers for someone like Kim. Capture by any random orcs wandering around was not the least of these. He was about to start after her, but was interrupted by the arrival of Erestor who bowed, smiled and indicated that the High King would like to speak with him.
Thadak's small yellow eyes narrowed and a soft wheezy chuckle escaped him as he watched the woman storm off into the bushes away from her male companion. He did not follow her immediately however, there were too many of those accursed Firstborn milling around the area or standing guard. Instead he remained in his hiding place and watched with interest as the man she had been conversing with earlier followed the tall dark-haired Elf and disappeared into the only tent that had not yet been dismantled.
After a few minutes and after the human female had wandered far enough away from the immediate earshot of the camp, Thadak slipped out of the trees and followed her towards the river.
"Ah, here you are." The High King's beautiful smile practically lit up the tent and Jim blinked. "Are you able to understand my speech or should I speak more slowly?"
Jim shook his head. "No…" He stammered.
Gil-galad raised his perfectly arched eyebrows in question and Glorfindel who was leaning against one of the poles that held the tent up chuckled.
Jim flushed to the roots of his hair. "Er… I mean yes, but slower please" He replied in rather stumbling Sindarin.
The High King nodded. "Of course. I wished to know if you have seen Garee this morning. I have a need to speak with him urgently."
Jim stared at him and swallowed nervously. "I have not seen him this morning yet." He said. "Perhaps he went to the river to wash?"
The truth was that Jim hadn't seen Gary since he and Kim had retired for the night. He hadn't been concerned earlier when he had been speaking to Kim, but now he was beginning to wonder, especially since Kim had told him that Gary had awoken during the night and gone to relieve himself and not gone back to her. He had not seen any reason to panic at the time, but now that the Elves, who saw just about everything, were asking his whereabouts, Jim's anxiety level started to rise a little.
He saw Gil-galad cast a speaking glance at the now sombre Glorfindel who nodded almost as if the High King had spoken out loud, straightened up and left the tent with alacrity.
"Is there something wrong?" He asked in halting Sindarin.
Gil-galad sighed. "I do not know. I hope not. He was meant to be here this morning for my commander's meeting, but it appears that no one has seen him since last night. It seems that he may have wandered off and become lost. There are many dangers around us in the forest and not all of them are Yrch."
Jim sat down heavily on the only remaining stool and ran his hands through his hair. "All I know is that he spent the night with Kim." He said helplessly. What other dangers was the High King referring to?
Gil-galad's light pleasant laugh rippled around the tent. "This we know. We also know that he left her side hours ago. One of the perimeter guards spoke to him as he sought seclusion among the trees and was told that he was merely answering a call of nature. The guard did not question it and since he was due to be relieved thought no more about it, although he did briefly mention it to his replacement."
"Shit, shit, shit." Jim swore softly to himself. Where the fuck was Gary and what had possessed him to go wandering away from the safety of the camp and the Elven guards?
Gil-galad observed the myriad of expressions crossing Jim's face. He didn't need to understand the language to know that the man was now very worried. He gently placed a hand on Jim's shoulder. "Garee is a capable warrior, I have no doubt that he could make a good account of himself were he to be attacked. However Glorfindel and Erestor have gone to search the area for tracks and we will know what there is to know shortly."
"There is no need for concern on my behalf my Lord Gil-galad. I am here."
Even Gil-galad jumped slightly as Gary stepped out of the shadows at the back of the tent. He smiled reassuringly at Jim and turned to the surprised High King.
"I am sorry if I startled you." He said smoothly. His dark blue eyes shone with a brilliant light, yet there was a shadow across his handsome face and his smile was tight. His hair was lightly dusted with frost and he had drawn the thick woollen cloak he was wearing around himself as though he was chilled to the bone.
Gil-galad nodded and poured a goblet of some clear liquid from a dark leathern flask, which was usually attached to his belt.
"It is bitterly cold out. This will at least provide some warmth." He observed as he handed it to Gary who drank it down in one draught and grimaced slightly at the heat and strength of it. The High King watched him with a thoughtful expression on his face, but made no other comment.
Gary nodded. "Yes indeed it is. I must speak with you my Lord." He said quietly.
"Can it wait until we are mounted?"
Gary shook his head. "I fear not." He smiled at Jim. "Have you spoken with Kim this morning?"
For the first time Jim noticed the light in Gary's eyes and though it was hard to look directly into them, it was equally as hard to look away. "Yes." He mumbled. "About fifteen minutes ago and she wasn't a happy bunny I can tell you."
A strange expression passed across Gary's face. "Not happy?"
Jim pursed his lips. "Well I'm not sure that this is the place to discuss your private life, especially since it's none of my business, but here goes nothing. Getting up and leaving after a night of…er…passion with a woman you're supposed to be in love with and not coming back is no way to get on her good side. She was pissed because you hit and ran. I'm not sure that I blame her either."
Gil-galad couldn't understand anything that was passing between Gary and Jim because it was in English, but the slight irritation in Jim's voice was obvious, as was Gary's expression of puzzlement.
"Pissed? Hit and run?" Gary asked. "What do you mean…?" His voice trailed off uncertainly as the penny dropped. "Ah. I can explain."
Jim shook his head in exasperation. "It's not me you need to explain to mate and I'm not sure the person who is, feels in the mood to listen to you."
"Where is she?" Gary's voice was soft.
Jim shrugged. "I'm not sure, somewhere around camp I think. She and I were having words when Erestor came to find me and then she ran off into the woods in a snit."
Gary stiffened. "Into the woods? And you let her go?"
The young policeman bristled. "Hang on a minute." There was an edge of real anger in his voice. "It's not my bloody job to baby-sit your girlfriend. And I don't know if you've noticed, but she doesn't listen when you tell her things anyway. She's a grown woman for fuck's sake. She can make her own mind up what she wants to do."
The two men faced each other. Gary's flash of anger seemed to have made him grow larger, to the point where he was literally looming over the other man, yet Jim refused to be overawed and stood his ground. Gil-galad decided that it was time to intervene.
"I do not understand what you are both saying." He interposed quietly but firmly. "However I can tell from your tone that not all is well. Will you not explain the reasons for your altercation? Perhaps I can help."
Gary glanced at Jim and then spoke in fluent Sindarin to Gil-galad whose face went pale. He went to the door of the tent and issued peremptory orders to one of the Elven warriors outside. Moment's later frantic activity could be heard.
Finally he came back into the tent and spoke again, this time slowly enough so that Jim could understand him. "I have ordered search parties to be sent out to look for her. Hopefully she has not gone too far away from camp."
Jim looked aghast. "Do you think something has happened to her?" In his anxiety he spoke in English totally forgetting that Gil-galad wouldn't be able to either understand or reassure him.
"None of us can be sure Jim." Gary replied gently, also in English. "The woods are not safe, even with the guards in place. We have no idea where the orc who has our weapons is, but so far the trackers have said that he went to ground only a few miles from here. There is no sign that he attempted to travel any further north, probably because there are too many obstacles in his way. In any case, there are quite a few orc skirmishing parties around that tend to prey on any stragglers from a large group like this."
So. Gary's voice, wracked with worry, sounded in Eonwe's head. You make love to my girlfriend, get her pregnant and then lose her? What the fuck is going on over there? Remind me why Lord Manwe put you in charge again?
Eonwe in his role as Gary was trying hard to push down the sickening notion that Kim, newly pregnant with his child, might have been captured by the very orc who had intended Gary and his group harm from the beginning. If Thadak managed to get Kim, then he had two very strong bargaining chips with both sides. He could see by the grim expression on Gil-galad's face that the same notion had occurred to him.
Jim had gone as white as a sheet. "Oh god, no." He whispered. "It's all my fault. I should have gone after her."
Eonwe gently drew the stricken young man to him. "It is not your fault Jim. As you said, it is hardly your job to baby-sit Kim. She is a grown woman and a soldier, she should know better than to dash off like that."
For the first time Jim realised that Gary's English sounded a little stilted, as though it was being spoken by someone who, although they spoke it fluently, was completely unaccustomed to the nuances of ordinary conversational speech. However before he could say anything they were interrupted by Glorfindel coming back into the tent accompanied this time by the silver-haired Elf that others referred to as Lord Celeborn and Cirdan. Glorfindel handed something to Gary,
There followed a heated discussion wholly in Sindarin of which Jim could only understand a word here and there, but it was quite clear that Kim had not been found. The expression on Gary's face was a mixture of grimness and despair, while the Elves were obviously very concerned.
Jim tugged at Cirdan's sleeve. "Can you tell me what is happening?"
He was struggling to find the correct Sindarin, but the shipwright apparently understood the gist of what he was saying because he looked down at him with sympathy in his pale blue eyes.
"We cannot find her." Cirdan said as gently as he could. "But there are signs of a struggle not far from the water's edge. We believe she drew her sword to defend herself, but did not have either the time or the opportunity to use it. We found it flung into the bushes. There is also evidence that the one who took her is the same one that took your weapons."
"How do you know?" Jim asked bewildered. "Did he leave a calling card or something?"
Eonwe was the only one who actually understood the reference and gave a hollow laugh. "He did leave a calling card of sorts, quite by accident of course."
He handed one of the magazines from one of the stolen weapons to Jim who took it and turned it over in his hands slowly. Through the compacted dirt and bits of grass that had clogged it up, a gleam of gold could be seen so he gently scraped some of the muck away until he had uncovered the brass of a round still sitting in its housing.
"It still has rounds in it."
Eonwe nodded. "Yes."
"What are we going to do?"
Gil-galad answered him. "We will set off in pursuit, since we now have tracks. He has been considerably slowed down by carrying the weapons and also has Lady Keem to contend with. Bound and gagged, she will be no easy burden. Lord Celeborn has set two of our scouts to follow them, but even with his burdens it may be that he still moves swiftly; Orcs are strong and fast. Time is now of the essence so I suggest you get your mounts. The sooner we set off the sooner we will find them. Glorfindel will leave a small rear party to dismantle the rest of the camp and they will follow on after us."
He looked questioningly at Glorfindel who bowed low, hand over his heart. "It is already being done my Lord."
The High King picked up his dark cloak, slung it around his shoulders and strode out of the tent followed by Eonwe, Jim and the others.
Eonwe and Jim headed towards their horses in silence. It was only when they had collected their bedrolls and packs and were about to mount that Jim finally turned around to speak to the Maia. "What did you need to talk to the King about?"
Eonwe mounted Gary's horse gracefully and the horse accepted his presence with a soft whinny of pleasure whereupon the Herald bent down and absently stroked its neck. His mind was clearly elsewhere. "It is nothing." He eventually said quietly. "At least nothing that cannot wait for a little while. There are more pressing matters to worry about now."
Jim nodded mutely, mounted his own horse and together the British Police Constable and the Maia greatest in arms, Herald of the Lord of the Breath of Arda, rode after the main body of Ereinion Gil-galad's army in pursuit of Thadak, Kim and the guns.