Lords of Amon Ereb by JazTheBard

---

Chapter 1

---

Amon Ereb loomed more and more forebodingly as Gil-Galad approached it.

He led both his own army and most of the elven civilians, while High King Finarfin, who rode beside him, led the host of Aman.

Only two weeks ago had the Silmarils been recovered, and only a few days ago had they been stolen by the last Sons of Fëanor, who had immediately disappeared after the theft.

And so, since they were heading east to get the noncombatants out of destroyed Beleriand, they decided to stop at the Fëanorians' fortress to at last demand answers regarding the twin sons of Eärendil and Elwing.

(Privately, Gil-Galad held out little hope. Even if the children had lived through the kinslaying itself, been taken hostage, and survived four years in captivity -- and all that was unlikely enough on its own -- the Sons of Fëanor had probably killed them after the rising of the Evening Star, when they could no longer be traded for the Silmaril.

And if they did live, what state would he find them in? They would have been taken forty-nine years ago.)

Objective in mind, the elves climbed the hill. They did not bother to announce or introduce themselves; their banners had been visible for a day and a half.

A guard called down from the battlements, "Hail, High Kings of the Noldor! What is your business here?"

Finarfin, as the elder of the High Kings, took it upon himself to be the spokesperson. "We would like to meet peacefully with our kinsmen, the lords of Amon Ereb, and if they be willing to host us, to reside here for a short time."

"If you speak truth and intend no discord, then my lords shall welcome you in the courtyard, your majesty," said the guard before leaving the wall.

A few minutes later, the gates opened.

The group that went in was fairly small: the two High Kings, Círdan, Oropher, Eönwë, and Celebrimbor, along with a handful of soldiers (Galadriel and Celeborn remained behind, unsure if they could restrain themselves from physically assaulting the Sons of Fëanor).

They came into the entry courtyard, but there was no sign of Maedhros or Maglor. Instead, in the place where a host would usually greet guests, stood two young dark-haired elves. They did look somewhat like Maglor, with their hair and eyes, and some of their facial features were reminiscent of Maedhros, but resembled neither so much as Finwë. Both wore fine circlets adorned with the Star of Fëanor.

Finarfin was confused.

(He had not wanted to believe all the things he had been told of his nephews, but the theft of the Silmarils had happened before his very eyes. They had committed atrocious acts, he knew that, but…)

He had intended to ask for an explanation, but who were these people?

The strangers, who appeared to be twins, bowed. One stepped forward slightly and said, "Welcome, your majesties, my lords, to Amon Ereb. We are honored by your presence."

"Where are Maedhros and Maglor?" asked Gil-Galad, getting right to the point.

The twin who had not yet spoken answered. "We know not, and do not expect them to return. We were instructed to take charge if they were not here."

"And who are you, that you might be entrusted with such?" said Oropher, who harbored great anger towards the Sons of Fëanor and, by extension, their people.

The first twin spoke again. "We are Elrond and Elros Nelyafinwion, and in our father's absence, the Heads of the House of Fëanor."

The courtyard went silent.

No one moved.

Finarfin cleared his throat.

The silence continued.

The silence became awkward.

Finarfin gave up on anyone else saying something and said, "Well then, nephews, will you allow us in, that we may speak?"

The second twin inclined his head. "Of course. If you would all come this way?"

The twins led them to a meeting room as the people of the fortress scrutinized the visitors.

As they went, Gil-Galad whispered to Oropher, "Do you think it is truly them?"

"It could be," said Oropher, just as quietly. "Now that it is in my mind, I can see that they are not entirely elven in their appearance. But they are not prisoners, and name themselves sons of Maedhros. Something is afoot."

"Perhaps they forgot their lives before, due to the trauma, and recall no other parents," said Gil-Galad, trying not to think of the alternatives. "They seem to be well-cared for, not obviously hurt."

Oropher fastened him with a glare for his optimism. "Or they are mind-turned. It would not surprise me to learn that the Sons of Fëanor molded them into this, by magic or torture or lies, to mock us."

"It could be to strengthen their political position; having the heirs of -- well, everyone, now that I think about it, on their side would give them substantial power. That's probably the reason they were allowed to keep their birth names after assimilating."

Both of them looked at Celebrimbor, who had gone white as a sheet at the twins' introduction, and still wore an expression of shocked horror. He clearly had not known about this.

The meeting room was plain, but had enough chairs for the visiting party. The head of the table had two seats of equal precedence, confirming the leadership of the pair of twins.

Everyone sat, all of them but the hosts with varying degrees of discomfort with the situation.

"Now, as we said, I am Elros Nelyafinwion, and this is my brother Elrond," said one twin. "Due to an old familial decree, we both bear the name Cantëafinwë, as it is not known which of us is the elder, but we do not use it. We are also, jointly, Elenyafinwë, so as not to have to share the name."

Cantëafinwë -- it meant "fourth Finwë," just as Maedhros's name of Nelyafinwë had meant third. "Elenyafinwë'' meant "star Finwë," a nod to the meaning of their original names.

Gil-Galad glanced at Celebrimbor, who gave an almost imperceptible nod. So that was a real decree, that Maedhros's eldest child should be named the fourth Finwë, and so on. Such a name would hardly be given to hostages, so they must have been raised as the kinslayer's own.

"Now, I suppose you have questions?" said Elrond.

Círdan went first. "Indeed. To begin with, we were under the impression that you both were dead or being held hostage. What happened?"

"At no point were we dead, though we were hostages for a time," said Elrond. "But no one ever came for us, and when Gil-Estel rose, we knew our birth parents were not in a position to make the required trade to have us returned."

Elros picked up the thread. "As we were no longer useful hostages, we were viewed instead as a pair of ten-year-old children with no parents, so Maedhros and Maglor adopted us and raised us as their sons."

They remembered their birth parents. That was good in a way, but to hear the twins, barely past their majority, speak so casually of their years as hostages! And as much as they all wanted to believe that the Fëanorions would treat these children well simply because they were children, and adopt them rather than kill them out of the kindness of their hearts, it was implausible.

Mind-turned, then, for otherwise their behavior would be inexplicable, given the kidnapping and the loss of their original parents. Gil-Galad’s heart grew heavy with sorrow for Elrond and Elros, forced to become their captors’ sons and lose their selves.

“You would claim them as your parents, over Eärendil and Elwing?” said Finarfin.

“I cannot speak for my brother, but I can barely recall Eärendil’s face,” said Elros. “He did not raise us. And Elwing left us behind.”

“She had no reason to believe we would be spared if she was gone. We were, but she could not have known that, and in fact I think she would have actively doubted it. Our fathers, in contrast, raised us for nearly half a century,” said Elrond.

Gil-Galad said in surprise, “You are including the years during which you were, in your own words, hostages?”

“Yes, we are,” said Elrond, lifting his chin defiantly. “Even before we were their sons, we were children in their care, and they did not neglect our well-being or education, though it took us many months to stop being afraid.”

Personally, Gil-Galad could hardly believe the twins had ever managed to overcome their fear, no matter how falsely loving their captors had been.

"And we have questions of our own. What happened after our fathers left for your camp?" asked Elros.

The visitors exchanged glances, unsure of what to say.

"They came to our camp with stealth, under cover of darkness, and stole the two Silmarils," said Eönwë. The twins did not appear surprised. He continued, "We caught them, then let them go, and they ran. We do not know where they went afterwards, but we had expected them to return here."

Elros raised an eyebrow. "And what would you have done, if they had indeed returned? Laid siege? You made a choice when you released them. In fact, I would say you made a choice when you denied them the return of their legal property, which had previously been stolen from them, supposedly as punishment for their crimes though such an act has no precedent."

None of them had really thought of what they would do, aside from be very angry and ask for the twins back, if they lived. And they did not like the implication that they had been in the wrong when they withheld the Silmarils.

But Círdan, of course, who always thought things through, had an answer of a sort. "You are correct that we had little forethought on our course of action about that. But we had also intended to ensure that the two of you were alive and well, and arrange your release, though we now know that to be unnecessary, and warn that Beleriand is sinking and all must move east."

"Ah, let me guess," said Elrond with a sardonic grin. "You were expecting a pair of traumatized hostages who had endured cruel torment, or failing that, to find us dead. Or one of each, I suppose."

The uncomfortable shuffling of most of the room probably confirmed that for him, in Gil-Galad's opinion. It was clear, to him at least, that the majority of the visitors were highly put off by the manner the peredhil displayed, but to correct the behavior of lords in their own fortress, even such young ones, was a severe breach of etiquette.

"But I believe we have a solution," said Elros, rising from his chair. He went to a shelf and pulled down a box, setting it on the table, then opened it to reveal a palantír.

There were several sharp intakes of breath. Nearly all of the seeing-stones were heirlooms of the House of Fëanor, and the few that had been gifted to outsiders in Middle-Earth had been broken over the years. And these former hostages had apparently been trained to use them. It did not escape notice that there were a number of boxes on the shelf identical to the one Elros had removed.

The twins appeared to be quietly pleased with the chaos and discomfort they were causing.

Elrond said, "With this, we may look into the past and see what occurred after you let them go. Elros shall do it, as he is the better Seer."

Elros placed a hand on the palantír and gestured for others to do the same.

When they did, they saw Maedhros and Maglor running from the camp. After a time, they stopped and revealed the Silmarils.

Finarfin braced himself, fully expecting his nephews to kill each other over the gems for which they had sacrificed everything -- but they did not. The watchers heard their conversation, and each brother took one of the jewels.

And then the screaming started.

Finarfin nearly wept to see them burned, as Morgoth had once been. But the vision did not stop there.

A crack had opened in the ground nearby, filled with the fires of the earth. Maedhros walked towards it and, with a last inaudible murmur that might have been a prayer, cast himself in.

Maglor wept as his brother died, and he stumbled in the direction of the sea, which with every hour consumed more and more of Beleriand. He threw the Silmaril into the waves, then collapsed to the ground and ceased all movement but breathing.

The watchers found themselves pulled out of the vision, but as they lost sight of Maglor, they heard his voice singing faintly.

Back in the present, the twins at the head of the table had tears streaming down their faces, eyes wide with shock and distress (Gil-Galad thought he caught a grief-filled whisper of "Father!" but did not call attention to it). Finarfin, too, cried silently, and Celebrimbor surreptitiously wiped his eyes.

"I think we had best postpone further discussion for a time," said Elros, voice shaking.

Elrond said, "I assume that the sea does not encroach so rapidly that we are in danger tonight. You and your people are welcome to what space we have. Please excuse us." The twins stood stiffly, put away the palantír, and swiftly exited the room.

The visitors were left behind to process this.

"Celebrimbor, did you know about this?" accused Oropher.

"Of course not! I forsook my family; would they still send me regular letters reporting on their latest nefarious deeds?" said Celebrimbor.

"Calm down, both of you," said Círdan. "I do not believe Celebrimbor knew, or he would have told us. At present, what we need to discuss is what we shall do next regarding the twins."

"If they are not imposters," muttered Oropher. He was met with openmouthed staring, to which he responded "No need to act surprised, we were all thinking it."

Eönwë said, "They are who they claim to be: peredhil, and part-Maia. I can sense it from them. I have been instructed to give them the Choice to be counted among elves or Men, and I must perform that duty as soon as I may."

Finarfin nodded. "The next steps shall be clearer once they decide. If they choose elvenhood and desire to come to Valinor to reunite with their parents, I can take charge of them."

"If they choose Men, then I am sure they shall be accepted on the Isle of Gift, when it is ready," said Eönwë. "Given their descent from Bëor and Hador, and the Haladin, they might well be chosen as its lords or kings."

The elves winced. No one wanted a Fëanorian on any throne, even a Mannish one. While Elrond and Elros were indeed the sons of Elwing and Eärendil, they were raised by a pair of murderers. By now it was apparent that they were deeply Fëanorian by upbringing, though not blood.

"And what if they choose to be elves, but do not sail? By rights they should be kings of the Sindar, but it will be difficult for anyone to accept them as such if they continue to call themselves Maedhros's sons," said Círdan.

Gil-Galad rubbed his forehead. "Due to their birth father, they are also my heirs, and no one will be happy about that. It may be that the best thing we can do is allow them to lead their people east and leave them alone. Politically, they are dangerous, but I do not fear further kinslaying, for there is no longer cause for it."

"Unless Elros and Elrond were forced to swear the Oath, and now intend to kill Eärendil to fulfill it," said Oropher. "It may well have been a prerequisite to their adoption, or the price they paid to be treated well."

Gil-Galad winced. That was all too possible, and he could see why the twins might have sworn, if placed in such a situation. He would likely have agreed to far worse to change his status from prisoner to son.

Celebrimbor coughed and said quietly, "I can rejoin the House, to keep an eye on them, if you believe it may help."

"Do you think they would guess your motivations?" asked Gil-Galad. "You left for a reason."

"I left because they were committing morally reprehensible acts, not because I did not care about my family. These two claim to be my cousins, and have done nothing wrong as far as we know. It would not be out of the question."

Finarfin spoke up. "Do you think there is any way to undo the mind-turning?"

"Perhaps," said Eönwë, "though they have been under it for a long time, and will likely be very different people without it on their thoughts. I shall look at their minds when I can. If their treatment was as vile as you fear, they may have to go West for healing.”

Finarfin nodded, saying, "For now, let us bring our people in and settle. We will gather more knowledge before doing anything else."