Disclaimer: See chapter 2

Thanks to those who have reviewed, apologies for the delay in posting this chapter, real life kinda got in the way. This chapter is dedicated to my last anonymous poster who wanted more of the Feanorians, Elrond and Elros.

Rimmer: I am a 2nd Technician in the Space Corps, I am briefed to give you my name
and number and nothing more. I don't know who you people are or what you think you're
playing at, but I'm not going to give you anything else. You can oil me all you like, you
can use your tongues and your full sensual lips to caress my erogenous zones onto a
plateau of sexual ecstasy, but I will tell you now, this nut's not for cracking. However,
farbe it for me to change your game plan, if you absolutely insiston using erotic persuasion
to achieve your devious ends, so be it. Just have a large quattro formagio pizza with extra
olives ready at the end. Ahh - where are you going? What are you doing? My God, are you
going to take a flying leap?'
Woman: 'We are going to summon the Master.'
Rimmer: 'The Master?'
Woman: 'You have been prepared for him.'
Rimmer: 'This Master character - and I acknowledge I may not want to know the full
answer to this one - but why does he want me oiling in particular? Obviously
whatever he has in mind is facilitated by my being slippery and pliant, yes?'
Woman: 'He always likes his victims to be oiled. An oiled body is so much
better for conducting the electricity.'
Rimmer: 'Not the best news, but it could have been worse.'
- Red Dwarf

A Light in the Darkness

Elrond thrust Kim behind him and whispered a soft command to his horse which immediately disappeared with the other mounts into the forest. She looked at him in query, but he gently put one finger on her lips before she could speak.

"Orc ahead of us." He said simply in a low voice. Elros had taken a defensive stance to one side of his brother, also in front of Kim.

She cast a wild glance around and saw that other warriors had slipped into defensive mode with the practised ease of people long used to being ambushed. She could see that the flame coloured head of Maedhros was bent close to his brother's darker one in conference. Maedhros jerked his head over towards Kim and she realised that they were discussing her. She bit her lip and looked down at the ground.

"It is not your fault." Elrond said in his faltering attempt at English.

Tears sparkled on her lashes when she looked up at him. "Isn't it?" She pointed at Maedhros. "I think he might disagree with you there."

Elros spoke without turning to look at her. "We are close to the camp of Eonwe and the Host of the Valar. It is very unusual for orc patrols to come so close, they do not dare. One of Morgoth's more senior Maiar lieutenants might withstand the light that comes from a Valar and a Maia of Eonwe's standing, not to mention the Elven commanders who have all seen the light of the Two Trees, but an ordinary orc patrol could not. That they dare to come so close indicates that their mission is a special one."

"One to do with me?" Kim asked fearfully. "But why do they want me so badly?"

Elrond shrugged, he had no ready answer for her question, so his brother replied instead. "We know not, but you are under the protection of Maedhros now. He does not dislike humans, he...we... have just had very little to do with them, but even if he did dislike them he would not hand you or any other over to those despicable creatures without a fight."

Maedhros made his way silently and swiftly over to where the three were standing, Kim noticed that the elf moved with a deadly, almost feline grace. He stopped just short of Kim and spoke rapidly to Elrond in their language. Not for the first time Kim thought it sounded like a babbling brook chuckling it's way over stones.

Elrond turned to her. "Our scout says there is a man with the orc, dressed in strange clothing, when the orc leader spoke to him he answered in your language. There others of your kind here?"

"I...I suppose it could be Chief Knowles." She replied in a faltering tone. "He went off with some other man...elf called Kelly Brimber or something like that."

Maedhros' head whipped around, as fast as a striking snake." Celebrimbor?" He seized Kim's arm so firmly that she flinched. "What do you know of my nephew? Is he near?" He hissed.

Unfortunately Kim's growing Sindarin vocabulary and command of the language was still too sketchy for her to understand everything he said, so when all she looked was confused, Maedhros sighed and spoke again to Elrond.

"Celebrimbor is the nephew of my Uncles Maedhros and Maglor." Elrond explained to Kim very slowly while the red-haired elf stood by with an impatient look on his handsome face. "He wants to know how you know him."

Kim hesitated, not too sure how much to tell them or indeed even how much they would understand. "Well...I was with three others from my...um...place where I live, Gary, Chief Knowles and Jim when we first got here, we had no idea where we were or where we were going and we met up with the High King with the funny name, I keep wanting to call him Gil-Galang, but I think it's really Gil-Galad. He has an army with him and Kelly Brimber is with them too. There is an orc who took weapons that belong to us and we were chasing them to get them back. My boss, Chief Knowles went with Kelly Brimber to make some ammunition so we could use the weapons we still had. Then I got separated from them, and then you found me."

Elrond patiently repeated the gist of her tale to Maedhros who nodded and looked at her intently with those bright green eyes. An almost feral grin spread across his face. "So..." He said very slowly in heavily accented English. Kim felt surprise that he had obviously learned some English almost as quickly as the twins. He had apparently been paying closer attention to the language lessons than anyone realised. "My cousin Ereinion is here and with a force of his own."

He looked over wryly at Elrond and Elros who had both stiffened at the news. A faint flush had risen in Elrond's cheeks and Kim could see a faint glow in his beautiful grey eyes. Elros' expression was much harder to read. A flicker of some emotion appeared in his grey eyes, but apart from that he seemed unimpressed for the most part.

It struck Kim that out of the two of them Elros was much more human than elf. Even his build was slightly more muscular than his brother who was much more slender of waist and chest and who clearly favoured the elven side. He met her gaze squarely and calmly and then gave her a quick cheery grin which she returned with a hesitant smile of her own.

"The man with the orc, could he be one of those who was with her?" Maedhros addressed the question in Sindarin to Elrond who repeated it to Kim.

She nodded unhappily. "It could be, but if it is, it means he was captured then, so I don't know what happened to the elves with him." She looked up at Elrond. "I won't know whether it's him until I see him."

Once Elrond had repeated what she had said to Maedhros he nodded and held out his only hand. He obviously wanted her to go with him. She looked around uncertainly at the twins who both nodded in encouragement, so she took the hand and was startled to see a faint look of wonder appear in those green eyes, as if he had suddenly become aware of something wonderful and astonishing at the touch of her skin against his. He smiled then, and it was a beautiful thing to behold. He said something to the twins and Maglor who was now standing beside them and they all then looked at her in astonishment.

"Wh...what is it?" She asked Elrond. "What's wrong?"

Elrond laughed softly and touched her cheek in reassurance. "It is nothing to be concerned over. Go with Maedhros, he wishes you to see this human who travels with the orc with such impunity. You will be safe with him, I promise you."

ooOoo

A few moments later Kim found herself being steered silently through the trees, Maedhros indicated for her to walk in his footsteps and she had learned enough field craft in the military to understand the necessity for caution. Without thinking she began to automatically put those lessons into action – shape, shine, shadow and silhouette, the first things to be careful of when a soldier wished to remain undetected. Maedhros saw her actions and gave her a quick brilliant smile of approval. She blushed with pleasure. This was the first time in days, with the exception of the way the twins treated her, that she felt approved of and it felt very nice. All of a sudden she didn't feel useless and unwanted and it gave her morale and spirits an immense boost.

The scout in front of them gave a soft call. He crouched down behind a thicket and indicated for Kim and Maedhros to do the same.

The sounds of creatures absolutely uncaring of whether they were detected or not reached her ears and the awful reek of the orc assailed her nostrils. She pulled up short in distress. Maedhros turned to her and smiled again in reassurance. He gestured for her to move closer to him and placed his finger on his lips as she shuffled forward, still in a crouching position. She nodded, so he gently held her in front of him and pointed through a gap in the foliage of the bushes they were crouched behind.

At first Kim couldn't make out too much other than what appeared to be a great many of those filthy things rambling aimlessly around, snapping and snarling at each other. Two particularly huge specimens blocked her gaze of the whole group until an even larger creature, obviously in command of them blundered over and struck each in turn with the flat edge of his huge sword with a bark of admonition. They immediately parted and Kim got her first unimpeded look at the man sitting calmly on a large stone while chaos reigned supreme around him.

Beside the seated man, who had his head turned away from them, and slightly in front of him stood something that certainly had the shape of a man, but he was perhaps the tallest she had ever seen, at least seven foot and dressed from head to foot in black armour with a long and voluminous black cloak. Where part of his face should have been visible through his helm, she could see nothing at all apart from two red pinpricks where his eyes should have been.

More importantly, the feeling of deathly chill which emanated from that figure billowed out towards those hidden and watching. Kim heard Maedhros draw in a sharp breath and the elven scout's face had gone very pale. The fell chill spread over her almost through to her bones. Her mouth filled with bile which burned her throat as it surged upwards from her stomach. Her eyelids fluttered as a wave of dizziness surged over her and she could feel herself beginning to fall only to be held upright and firm by Maedhros. He drew her very close to him, almost in a lover's embrace, at the same time as reaching out to the other elf and whispered words against her hair. She felt a glow begin in her belly and the atmosphere around the three of them suddenly lightened, as if a thousand megawatt light bulb had been switched on from somewhere.

The armoured creature behind the man immediately straightened up. His penetrating gaze swivelled around the area, searching through the bushes until finally it rested almost at the place where Kim, Maedhros and the scout stood, hardly daring to breathe and definitely not daring to move.

The creature took a pace forward, cloak swirling around its form like dark impenetrable smoke, almost as though it was going to walk straight to them, but the seated man then stood up and spoke to it. In doing so he had to turn in the direction of where Kim was standing and she caught a glimpse of a familiar face.

She couldn't help the slight horrified gasp that issued from her.

ooOoo

As soon as his terrifying escort took a step forward, Alun Davies knew without a doubt that the object of his task as set by Sauron was close by. The Maia with him knew it also and acted from instinct as it moved away to meet the enemy. Alun could sense the triumph and venom roiling through this creature's black soul, so he did the only thing he could think of and stood up to remind the Maia of his Lord's strict instructions.

Alun had also felt the lightening of the atmosphere around him and was glad for it, even though he had no idea where it was coming from. It reminded him very much of the aura that had surrounded the Valar he had met in his dreamscape and he drew a sudden courage and flash of hope from it.

Normally he wouldn't have dreamt of laying one finger on this awful and corrupt being. He hadn't dealt with any number of really nasty hardened criminals in his police career for nothing. He knew when to touch someone meant instant hurt and in the case of this dreadful Maia, he knew he risked instant death. Yet still the need to protect the innocent and the vulnerable overrode his natural fear and caution. He placed a staying hand on the creature's metal clad arm and its helmeted head swung around until the malevolent red eyes gazed fully upon him.

Alun felt his insides quail. He desperately tried to take the strength from that flash of hope and gather it up. He needed to clearly imprint the fact that his task as given to him by Sauron was far more imperative than any kind of malicious and evil desire this Maia had to cause harm to anything it felt was in its way.

After a few moments of those terrible eyes searching his face and seeking entry to his mind, the creature then made a noise that sounded half groan and half hoarse sigh. The massive head nodded and instead of striding towards the bushes and blasting the eavesdroppers with one freezing glance, the Maia beckoned to the orc commander instead and started speaking in that dreadful guttural language they used specifically to talk to creatures of lesser dominion. Alun had learned that far from appreciating and trusting their common footsoldiers, Morgoth and his lieutenants were contemptuous of them and kept order by fear and pain. These orcs and the other lesser creatures like wargs were cannon fodder; nothing but a means to an end.

After a few minutes of conversing, the Maia came back and stood in front of Alun. It's voice, when it finally spoke, sounded like the harsh whisper of a painful death. It was icy cold and struck fear into Alun's very soul.

"The woman is nearby, as are her protectors. We have been told to stay in the vicinity to ensure your actions are carried out in accordance with my Lord's will but we cannot approach nearer to the camp of Eonwe." It spat the name out as if it was sheer poison, then it turned and pointed at an overgrown path of sorts through the trees. "Go now. Make yourself known to the woman and those with her. Ensure that you earn their trust, but always be mindful that we are watching. Your family stands as guarantee for your good behaviour. Never forget that."

Then he and his escort suddenly turned and left the small clearing, leaving Alun feeling strangely exposed and alone.

ooOoo

"What were they saying?" Kim whispered to Maedhros who finally released his hold her her.

"I know not." He answered truthfully. "The black speech of Morgoth is not something I ever learned. It is some ancient form of the speech of the Valar and Maia I think, or so my Atar always thought." He jerked his head towards the man now standing alone in the clearing. "Is that who you thought it was?"

Kim shook her head. "No." She followed Maedhros' gaze and stared at Alun Davies thoughtfully. "That is someone else entirely and I have no idea why or how he's here, but from where I am from, he is one of the good guys."

Maedhros only understood a few of her comments, but even if he didn't understand exactly what was said, he did get the gist of it.

He put one surprisingly gentle finger under her chin and lifted her face so that she had to look into his eyes. "But he is known to you yes?"

Kim's lip trembled but she stood her ground under his piercing gaze. "Yes. I know him."

Maedhros spoke to the scout who disappeared silently through the trees after the departing Maia and his orc escort and then he led Kim back to the main group.

Kim sat on the ground wrapped up in Elrond's spare cloak and with one warrior standing guard beside her while Maedhros, his brother, the twins and the others discussed the situation. She didn't look up in their direction, but she could feel it when they stared at her.

However one thought constantly flew around her head. What on earth was Detective Chief Inspector Alun Davies doing here in Middle Earth? How had he arrived here and more importantly, why was he here? Because from where Kim was standing it looked very much as though he had thrown his lot in with the enemy. The very thought of it made her want to weep.

ooOoo