Bringing Trouble to Barad-dur by Aiwen

We Make a Good Team

As it happened, Gil-galad was two levels down wandering through yet another armory. They didn't meet again until nearly midnight when both of them finally thought to go back to the attic.

"Why didn't you wait at the staircase?" asked Celebrimbor.

"Where were you? I waited at the staircase but you didn't come, and you weren't on the level you was supposed to be on, nor were you on the next one down."

"I went down to the dungeons and..."

"Couldn't that have waited until after we had met up again? If I don't know where you are, I can't bail you out if and when you get into trouble. Your rushing after ideas without thinking them through will get you killed one of these days." Gil-galad paused and frowned at what he had just said.

"I think it's a bit late to worry about that," said Celebrimbor. "I also found a good place for the prisoners."

"You did?" said Gil-galad. "Where?"

"Underneath Barad-dur, in a chamber hewn out of the bedrock. It's full of supplies for a siege, there is water, and I think it's been forgotten about since before the War of the Last Alliance."

Gil-galad sat silent for a moment and then said "Well done. I didn't find anything really useful on either of the levels I visited, or outside, although it was interesting to learn that the inhabitants of Barad-dur include cows. Practical, but not terribly evil."

"I think we can count the cows as innocents and ignore them," said Celebrimbor. "Shall we go and visit that chamber I found? I think it will work, but we're going to have to vent the air and I'm not sure about the water. There are some bacteria in it that I can't identify - do you know anything about bacterial identification?"

"Not really. Elrond would know... but of course we can't ask him and I'm really rather glad we can't since that means he is still alive."

"I'd still like a second opinion because you can't be much more ill-informed than I am," Celebrimbor said. "And if you didn't find anything good on the levels where you were, I think we may have to risk it whether we know what they are or not. We can't leave them to be slaughtered, and we can't stop distracting Sauron."

"And the water they are drinking in the dungeons is probably contaminated with nasty stuff anyway," said Gil-galad. "Can you describe the situation the bacteria were in?"

"Why don't you let me show you?" said Celebrimbor.

"That would probably be best," said Gil-galad. "Shall we go?"

They set off through the floor and downwards through dozens of floors to the dungeons and beyond. Gil-galad reflected that that he was getting very good at this walking through things business. Probably once he got Reborn he was going to have to worry about trying to walk through walls and failing miserably.

As they came out into the subterranean chamber, Gil-galad looked about with fascination. Here for all these thousands of years, and not even its maker remembering it... on first glance, it looked ideal. But with the stairs blocked off by masonry, how were they going to get the prisoners in? He turned and asked Celebrimbor, who was in the middle of some explanation about how he planned to vent the stinkdamp outside via the rivulet.

Celebrimbor blinked, then mentally reset himself. "That is easy," he said. "Take the cracks in the rocks and widen them. A lot of this is little better than rubble and once it's in small pieces we can easily move it out of the way."

"Good," said Gil-galad. "So between that and the stinkdamp, we have got two major problems solvable. You wanted me to look at the water?"

"Yes," said Celebrimbor. "Actually, I think the main bacterial species may be one that makes heavy use of iron. It's unsightly, but not dangerous. We had a few problems with that in Ost-in-Edhil."

"And in Lindon as well," added Gil-galad. "But are there other types of bacteria present?"

"It's water and it's impure. Of course there are bacteria. But the stinkdamp is going to be timeconsuming. I'll have to follow the streamlet and create an air channel until the streamlet finally comes out somewhere, and we'll need holes in the ceiling of this chamber to create a through draft. The prisoners will need fresh air coming in at all times..."

"You don't have to tell me all the details," said Gil-galad. "I know perfectly well you're far better with technical things than I will ever be. However, one thing we are going to have to do is distract the guards, especially of the official hostages. That isn't going to be easy, as I am certain that Sauron has ordered the deaths of the hostages at the first sign of a rescue attempt."

"We also need to get the prisoners to cooperate," said Celebrimbor.

"And find a way for those too weak to walk to be moved down there."

They looked at each other. "Lord Namo never said this would be easy," said Gil-galad. "I think this is my job - to prepare them while you do the technical preparation of this chamber."

Celebrimbor nodded. "However, remember some of the prisoners are going to be too traumatized by what they've been through to act coherently even if they are physically capable of getting down there."

"We'll need to find potential leaders and get them to organize the prisoners," said Gil-galad. "I'm glad we found that chalk. I think we're going to need all of it to speak to them."

"You know, I'm glad you came along on this trip," said Celebrimbor. "You are far better at this sort of thing than I am."

"Whereas I couldn't convince rock to crumble along carefully defined lines if my life depended on it. We make a good team." Gil-galad frowned. "Now why didn't we figure that out while we were still alive?"

"I was nursing a lot of hurt feelings over being blamed for my father's deeds," said Celebrimbor, "while you were struggling to figure out how to be king in an utterly impossible situation."

"Both true, and once we'd managed to get off on the wrong foot we never fixed the situation. If only one could change the past... But we're wasting time."

"True," said Celebrimbor. "Let's get to work."

Chapter End Notes

A/N: I see the relationship between Gil-galad the very young and overstressed High King of the Noldor and Celebrimbor (the disowned?) grandson of Feanor as being quite awkward, what with Feanor's surviving sons destroying the Havens of Sirion, and later stealing the two Silmarils that had been retrieved from Morgoth's crown. My version of Celebrimbor isn't terribly good with people or politics, and he sometimes created headaches for his King by accident. or expected more help from Gil-galad than Gil could provide. Gil-galad was having to balance competing interests while worrying about Morgoth, and it wasn't easy. He didn't always manage to be patient or tactful with Celebrimbor, and  Celebrimbor ended up with a sizeable chip on his shoulder that contributed to his decision to leave for Eregion, where someone named Annatar turned up... ah, the tangled webs we weave. That's how I see it, in any case.