Lords of Amon Ereb by JazTheBard

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Chapter 4

Elros and Elrond were very good actors indeed.

And thank the Valar for that, because the High King's host would arrive in two days and they would have to pretend their fathers were dead.

Maedhros and Maglor had arrived in haste with their hands burned and hurriedly explained to their sons that they had stolen the Silmarils, which had burned them, so they had thrown the gems away and run back to Amon Ereb.

"No one saw that, but they expect us to have come here," said Maglor, gesturing with his freshly-bandaged hand, "so we are disappearing and going east. We will find you once everyone is convinced we are dead."

"How are we to explain to them what happened to you, if we supposedly have not seen you?" said Elrond.

From where he was working with a palantír, Maedhros said, "With this. I have placed a false scene that will play on any seeing stone in the network if they try to see what happened. I will warn you that it is distressing."

Maglor said, "Of course, this means that you two are now in charge permanently.”

Elros started at that. "But we are only fifty-five!"

"You are fully grown and have been for a while now," said Maedhros. "And I would not ask you to do this if I did not have every confidence in you. Besides, you will have each other, and all of your people want you to succeed, so you need only ask for help."

He paused. "I overheard something in their camp. For the sake of symmetry or some such, they had been considering giving you the Silmarils if you yet lived. I doubt they would have, in the end, and we could not risk you getting hurt, but for them to consider it -- they are either cruel or extraordinarily thoughtless." The host of Aman did not know the twins had been adopted; they considered placing two innocent youths directly in the path of the Oath. Maedhros could not forgive that they could have thus forced him to kill his children.

Maglor said, "From what I heard, the Valar intend to offer all peredhil a choice between being a very long-lived Man or an immortal elf. Your birth parents chose to be counted as elves, and I do not doubt you will be given the decision, too."

Elrond and Elros looked at each other.

"We will not make this choice for you," added Maedhros. "Whatever you choose, you have our support. And the rumors of Men being given a land of their own soon are true, if that influences your decision."

What do you think? Elros asked his twin.

I think I would make a rather good elf.

I would be a very good Man, in my opinion. Elvenhood is for you, I think; I can See many partings ahead of you, but there is no sorrow anywhere without also the kind of joy that lights you up from the inside.

You will be a king, and I will miss you.

You will raise kings and queens, and I will miss you, too.

I will see you again. I am less of a Seer than you, but I know this.

I do not doubt it. And when we meet once more after the long parting, I shall tell you what I found. You will be the first elf to know what lies beyond Arda.

Neither of us will regret this.

Elrond spoke aloud. "I will be an elf."

"And I a Man," said Elros.

"Then that is what you shall be," said Maglor, enfolding them in a hug. "We must go soon, but we will see you in just a few years, certainly before you head to the Isle of Gift, Elros." His golden voice cracked slightly. "I love you both so very much."

Maedhros joined the embrace and murmured, "I love you as well, my stars. We will be careful, and come find you the moment it is safe."

"Love you, atya. Love you, atto," said Elrond, muffled by his fathers hugging him as if their lives depended on it.

Elros, too, said, "I love you. You shall have to visit me on the Isle of Gift once I have built a house there."

Not long after, two figures slipped out of the fortress and off into the night.

 

 

"How are we going to play this?" asked Elrond the next morning. A day and a half left.

"What do you mean?" said Elros, putting down his book on floriography.

Elrond sighed. "I mean, how are we going to portray what happened to us? If we play the traumatized hostages, they are sure to take us under their protection, but they might be angry at our people because they 'allowed it,' and we might not be able to protect them from the High King pressing charges."

"We could claim that they were victims as much as we, all 'subject to the whims of the same keepers?' No, they have met a number of our people before, that will not work. But if we tell them the truth, they will think us mind-turned, and if we denied being so they would only believe it all the more."

"We could let them think that," Elrond suggested. "Imply that they took two innocent children and turned us into loyal Fëanorians to mock our families."

"No one will trust us then. Pity us, fear us, yes, but never trust, and that is a lonely life. And we would have to call ourselves Elenyafinwë and Cantëafinwë, which is worse still," said Elros.

They both made a face at their shared names.

"They do need to fear us a little, at least," Elrond said, "so they do not try to prosecute our people. And we cannot allow ourselves to become the pawns of others."

"Then the truth would be best, aside from the fact that atto and atya are alive and visited us. But they will not believe it."

"...I have an idea, but it will take careful work and no small amount of acting."

"Do share, my dear twin."

Elrond gestured as he spoke, growing excited. "We may stage things. Some conversations for them to overhear, scenes to watch, that will help them come to the right conclusion. We need not be truthful to help them realize the truth."

Elros grinned. "I like it already."

"Let them hear us argue about a time I tried to swear the Oath out of love and loyalty, but atto stopped me, though what really happened was my attempting to read it aloud out of a book, not realizing what it was. Let Erestor field their questions, our protective seneschal keeping possible sources of distress away."

"Let Lintë speak of our impromptu adoption, for she was there and was always the best orator. Let them overhear Tanorth and Béa worry over the boys who just lost their parents. Let them fear the twins who command such loyalty, at least enough not to try anything we would dislike."

"And let us mock them, just a little, for never coming for us. We did not wish to be rescued, but they ought to have tried," said Elrond.

"We may have to imply that we do not care much for our birth parents, and speak badly of them in order to make our guests believe us," said Elros. "But we need not lie outright, only... exaggerate."

"They will surely defend our birth parents to us, and in a few years we can pretend at a 'softening of the heart' and return to being truthful."

They went off in search of their advisors to make a plan.

 

 

"--and after dinner, we will lead Gil-Galad to his room and find some excuse to stage a fight in the study next to his quarters, which he will surely overhear," said Elrond. "So we need you, Erestor, to keep Finarfin busy until we are done."

"Someone passing by will give you the all-clear sign," said Elros. "The story behind the fight we will have is that Elrond purposefully attempted to swear the Oath, but atya and atto stopped him. He certainly did not attempt to practice reading Quenya aloud from a book with the text and give our fathers a heart attack. Other than that, we will be as truthful as possible, though we will hide much."

There were nods from the assembled leaders of Amon Ereb, who would soon be relaying the strategy to the people under their commands.

"Lintë, you were friends with Celebrimbor, correct?" said Elros.

She nodded. "I will emphasize the family aspect, we all know how weak he is to that."

"Good. You may all spread as many rumors as you like among their people as long as they cannot be traced back."

"Should we keep the various incidents of murder under wraps?" asked Tanorth.

Elros opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Elrond. "No, this will be easier if they are at least somewhat afraid of all of us. Not in that they think we will do something unprovoked, but in that crossing the Fëanorians is dangerous."

Elros sighed. "Fine, speak of it if you wish. Remember to make sure you are overheard, especially by their leaders, but do not repeat yourselves or others overmuch. They cannot become suspicious."

"Also," said Elrond suddenly, "let the children be underfoot a bit, over the course of the visit. Show them what we have all worked to protect, that we care for them."

The meeting dispersed.

 

 

The great host of elves, Men, dwarves, and Maiar reached Amon Ereb a day later, in the early afternoon. The people of the fortress, down to the young human children, were prepared to put on a grand performance for their visitors.

Elros squeezed Elrond's hand in reassurance just before the gate opened.

High King Finarfin stared at them confusedly, and they knew it was time to begin.

Elrond stepped forward. "Welcome, your majesties, my lords, to Amon Ereb. We are honored by your presence."

...This would be a trial, the twins could tell so the moment the visitors spoke, but it was entirely worth it for the looks on their faces the moment they introduced themselves as Nelyafinwion.

They had chosen that name for several reasons. First, to emphasize their right to be in command, for Maglor’s sons would have less authority than the sons of the eldest brother, and to call attention to their leadership of the House of Fëanor. Second, to indicate that they spoke Quenya, which had long since been forbidden.

But more importantly, it was a power play. As sons of Maedhros, Cantëafinwë, they were descendants of Finwë in the direct eldest line, and if the entire succession had been less of a mess, they could have been the High Kings. Once people thought about that, they would also think of Elros and Elrond’s birth parentage, which put them again in line for High Kingship and made them by default Kings of the Sindar, and they were descended from all three Houses of the Edain.

Simply put, they were higher-born than anyone they had ever met, and their audience would know it.

All together, they were saying, See how powerful we are, raised by figures from your nightmares and now commanding their people, we who are heirs to every great family in Middle-Earth. Just think what we could do if we ever tried.

 

 

They did not have to make-believe their shock and pain when they watched the false vision in the palantír.

They had planned that, of course; the twins had not looked at the vision beforehand to ensure their reaction was genuine, but they now wished they had not been so concerned with authenticity.

This vision would not fail to horrify them even if they watched it a thousand times.

It was one thing to know that their fathers were alive and waiting for them past the Ered Luin, and quite another to watch them die in despair.

(It was too much like bursting into the room when their mother was already halfway out the window and she saw them and reached out but it was too late and she left them, she left them--)

Elros and Elrond hurriedly took their leave, extending a polite invitation for the kings' host to abide with them. As soon as they exited the meeting room, they made immediately for their own quarters, Erestor following them.

The twins collapsed on the couch and cried, and their seneschal gave them each a kiss on the forehead and some water to drink before being pulled into a desperate hug.

 

 

Dinner went as smoothly as could be expected.

Afterwards, they walked Gil-Galad to his rooms and pretended not to notice Eönwë scrutinizing their minds. The conversation turned into a contest between Elrond and Elros to see who could brag about the other more.

As it turned out, they did not have to bring up the Oath at all, as High King Gil-Galad did it himself. Their scripted argument went perfectly; there was no way they had not been overheard.

The twins set off to talk logistics with High King Finarfin.

That meeting was actually productive, in no small part because Elrond had not been given any maps and Erestor spent the entire time glaring at the king as if daring him to bring up something irrelevant like the kidnapping.

At the end of the night, the twins and their advisors listened in while the visitors held council. The plan had worked perfectly so far; the kings and their lords were too afraid of the Fëanorians to even consider bringing anyone to trial.

 

 

The next day was a similar series of meetings, with careful lies and half-truths to build up the story they wished to tell.

The children of the fortress (all Men, as most elves refused to have children during war) were allowed to run around and get in the way more than usual, and the adults needed no prompting to dote on them as always.

The best moment with the children was during a meeting with the High Kings. They had been discussing the plan for Gil-Galad to set up his court in the remnants of Ossiriand after the flood when little five-year-old Orînen came in to show Elrond and Elros a bug she had found.

Given the expressions on the kings' faces, Elros thought they might have gone a bit overboard in encouraging fear, but this would moderate it. The idea was to provide a view of the loving environment that they had grown up in, and thus convince their guests that they had been raised well, that the Fëanorians knew how to treat children.

The plan also had the added benefit of everyone getting to spend time spoiling the young ones.

Elros and Elrond complimented her bug, and she decided that Erestor should help her look in the library to figure out what kind it was.

Orînen bustled out of the room, not even looking to see if Erestor followed (he did, of course).

They settled back in to continue the meeting, which soon became an interrogation now that the seneschal was not looming over the kings.

 

 

There had already been a murder.

It was not due to any threat or insult towards either of the peredhil, but one of the visiting Men had struck a child to quiet them, and the nearby Fëanorians had descended upon the scene.

Half went to comfort the crying child, and the other half had dragged the offending Man away, never to be seen again.

"At least it was not kinslaying," said Elros after word reached him. "And I must agree with our people in this case; that behavior was unacceptable."

Elrond's voice was muffled by his desk, where he had laid his head. "It is only the second day of the visit. Did this Man fail to understand that we are not to be crossed?"

"Ah, hubris, the great weakness of Men," said Elros.

"You are going to be one of them, you know."

"Are you saying I need more foolish pride?"

"I am saying that you shall fit right in," said Elrond, rolling his eyes. "Speaking of which, I think it is time that we make the Choice, out in public and in front of our people."

“Do you think Gil-Galad will accept you at his court?”

“I sincerely hope so. With the king at least partly on our side, there will be no retribution against our people, and I know you have Seen something. Your foresight had better be correct.”

"It was very clear, two significant people will come to his court over the course of time, and it is crucial that you are there to meet them. One good, one bad." Elros patted him on the shoulder. “Listen, it would be terribly rude of him to say no even if he were not currently a guest in our fortress. I think he will agree.”

 

 

Elros and Elrond embraced each other.

"We did it," said Elrond. "We made our decision, and our people are safe."

"Soon we may move east, and see atya and atto again." Elros laughed. "I shall have to start a kingdom! I think I will adopt a variant of the star for my heraldry. In many thousands of years when its past is forgotten, the symbol of our family shall be found across Middle-Earth."

"You have time to figure it out. I shall have to design and build the elven capital city immediately, and eventually a place for myself. But I will have our cousin Celebrimbor with me, and one of those two golden strangers you foresaw."

One day my kingdom will fall, as all kingdoms do, mine more literally than most, said Elros, mind-to-mind as he usually did while prophesying. When my descendants come to you, promise me you will help them.

No oaths, but of course I will, Elrond responded in kind.

Good. What lies ahead of you is bittersweet, but hope shall never desert you or your children. Remember those words, because it is a pun you will not understand until nearly the end of the Third Age.

You and your future puns! Any other advice from your foresight?

Elros hummed. Your daughter will choose mortality to marry her love and be a queen of Men. Þauron lives yet, but you will live to see him destroyed entirely.

Our daughters will have matching names, said Elrond, looking into the future himself. That is sweet. I must say, your descendants will love to name their children things that would make elves flinch. I like it.

Elros opened his eyes and pulled back. "Do tell!" he said aloud, eyes sparkling.

"There are a number of them named Túrin, for one thing."

"Incredible. I am going to make Quenya the official language for affairs of state, and all my descendants will end up with my distinctive accent."

"I think we both made the right choice for that alone. There is no point in doing such if no one is around to witness its fruition. Now help me pack."

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