54: A Tense Moment

For as long as he lived, Alex knew he would never forget this night. He stood there with his mouth gaping and his eyes wide at the most incredible sight: a ship, one that should have been sailing the oceans instead of the Heavens, seemingly made of glass or some transparent material, its main mast devoid of sails but from it suspended a large lantern and what lay inside....

The light was almost too bright for him and he heard Derek gasp, almost in pain, the two of them forced to slit their eyes against the brilliance of the light. It was as if a miniature sun had settled above the lake.

But as marvelous as the ship was, it was the person standing at the prow who caught Alex’s attention the most. He had golden-silver hair braided with what appeared to be emeralds and sapphires, though it was hard to tell for sure. He wore a tunic of deep blue silk and an overrobe open in the front of silver-grey that shimmered like mist over water. On his head he wore a diadem intricately shaped like leaves with a single emerald in its center and in his hands he carried a harp.

The ship came to rest to the north of the camp, close to the woods, not quite touching the ground. Several figures leaped over the sides carrying ropes, wrapping them around nearby tree trunks to secure the ship. Then, they saw someone wave and Glorfindel led the procession. Alex felt a great reluctance fall over him all of a sudden and he noticed that Derek also hung back, as if unsure about intruding. Both of them still had to shade their eyes against the light and there was a purity to it that was almost frightening and Alex had a sense that mere Mortals were never meant to see that light, at least not in the flesh.

And he had something else to worry about.

"I wonder if anyone else saw this," he whispered to Derek as they stood several feet from where the Elves were gathered, joyously greeting those who were leaving the ship. He saw the person who’d been standing on the prow jump easily onto the ground and fling his arms wide open and Glorfindel rushing eagerly into his embrace. Obviously, this was someone dear to the Elf-lord.

"You mean anyone who happened to be out at midnight and just happened to be looking up at the right moment and in the right direction?"

"I mean the military. I don’t think that ship was flying under the radar. The boys at NORAD would have been tracking it as soon as it showed up."

"Assuming it would show up on any radar," Derek pointed out. "Surely whoever sent this ship would’ve thought of that."

"Do you think?" Alex asked. "Maybe yes, maybe no, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on it. That ship is too damn visible. And that singing."

"What was wrong with the singing? I thought it was beautiful."

"I just think they should have been a little quieter and less noticeable, is all. It’s as if they wanted everyone to know they were here. As it is, every one of them is here illegally and we will have a good time hiding that fact until we can secure them the necessary documents to prove that they all were born here in the United States and not somewhere in fairyland."

Derek snorted in amusement. Before he could comment, though, Barahir came, gesturing for them to follow him. "Come and meet our friends," he said.

"You need to get that ship out of here," Alex said. "It’s too dangerous for it to be here."

"Eärendil will be leaving soon enough," the Elf said, "but come and meet him. You will be the first Mortals to lay eyes on him since he left these lands for Valinor."

"Is there any way to turn off the light show?" Derek complained as he and Alex started to follow Barahir. "I can barely see where I’m going and it hurts my eyes."

"Sorry. I forgot you wouldn’t be able to endure the light of the silmaril as easily as we. Stay here and I’ll see what can be done." They watched him lope away and consult with Glorfindel and those from the ship. A moment later, the light lessened as someone covered the lantern and the two Mortals sighed in relief almost as one. Then Barahir returned, taking them by the hands and leading them into the midst of the Elves, who parted to let them through until they were standing before Glorfindel and the one who’d greeted him so joyously.

Glorfindel gave them an encouraging smile, gesturing for them to come nearer, speaking softly to the other Elf before addressing the Mortals. "Alex, Derek, this is Finrod," he said simply, nodding to his friend. "I told him you haven’t quite mastered Sindarin yet."

Alex just stood there staring, feeling suddenly shy, automatically reaching up to make sure his hat was still on his head, but Derek was a little braver, giving Finrod a short bow. "M-mae govannen, hir nîn."

And Finrod, Prince of Eldamar, once King of Nargothrond, smiled. "A star shineth upon the hour of our meeting," he said in passable, though stilted English. "Ye are welcome unto me. My gwador speaketh well of you and I am fain to know you both better."

"Ah, yeah, thanks," Derek said hesitantly. "Ah, Loren, why does your friend speak as if he’s auditioning for Romeo and Juliet?"

Glorfindel shot him a hard look, then spoke in rapid Quenya to which Finrod replied, looking doubtful. Glorfindel sighed and shook his head, saying something else. Alex noticed that Vorondur, more conversant with Quenya than the Sindarin Elves, was smiling hugely and made a comment that made Glorfindel roll his eyes, while Finrod merely shrugged and smiled, turning his attention back to Alex and Derek.

"It seemeth that my Lords Ulmo and Aulë, who were responsible for teaching us your language, neglected to…um… provide us with the most current forms of speech."

"Neglected or simply decided to have fun at your expense," Glorfindel said darkly.

Finrod just shrugged. "It matters little now, but I would fain have ye teach me… teach us the proper manner of your speech that we may blend in better."

"Blend in," Alex said, speaking for the first time, giving them a slight sneer. "Now there’s a trick. If you wanted to blend in, you’ve gone about it all the wrong way."

"Show some respect, Alex," Glorfindel said sharply. "Finrod…."

"Can speak for himself, gwador," the Elven prince interjected mildly. "Thou’rt concerned," he said to Alex who nodded.

"Between that ship outshining everything in the sky and you all singing at the top of your voices, if you wanted to make a quiet entrance, that’s not how you go about it. If the boys at NORAD picked you up on radar, we may be in real trouble."

"I do not understand why younglings from this norad, wherever that might be, would be a concern."

"We need to get you up to speed on English slang, mellon nîn," Glorfindel said with a brittle smile. "Alex means that the military might be interested in checking out the bright lights that came down to Earth, and he’s correct. We need to get this ship out of here."

"That may be a problem. Look!" Derek said and he pointed to the northwest where, far in the distance, they saw what appeared to be search beams as something came towards them.

Without a word, Alex ran to the camp, entering his tent and then coming out a minute later with binoculars that had night vision capabilities. He took several minutes looking through them, then, ran back to the ship.

"Apaches. Two of them and they looked to be armed," he said breathlessly. "At the speed they’re going, they’ll be here in about twenty minutes."

"That doesn’t give us much time," Glorfindel acknowledged.

"Can this thing float on water?" Alex asked Finrod.

"Yes, it can."

"Then, if you hurry, there’s an inlet just south of here with trees overhanging the shore. If you can get the ship there and hide it, we might have a chance. Everyone else needs to run to the woods and stay there. Derek and I will handle this."

"Oh? And just how do you plan to do that?" Glorfindel asked, giving them a skeptical look.

"And while you’re standing here arguing with me, those Apaches are coming closer," Alex retorted with heavy sarcasm, ignoring the question. "So why don’t we all just stand around and wait for them and invite them to our party? I’m sure they’d love to join in our sing-along by the campfire."

Before Glorfindel could respond, Finrod spoke rapidly in Sindarin, apparently issuing orders, for immediately people were running to the guy ropes and loosening them. The ship floated upward a few feet before turning toward the lake with everyone ducking. They watched for a moment or two as it made its way southward, disappearing behind a bend of the shore. Then, everyone else started picking up all the luggage that had been thrown to the ground while people were talking and headed towards the woods until only he, Glorfindel and the two Mortals remained.

"You sure about this?" Glorfindel asked.

"Hey! This is me," Alex said. "The day I can’t bamboozle my way out of a sticky situation is the day I hang up my hat and retire from the Game. Now, get out of here and don’t show yourselves until I give you the all-clear."

"Come, gwador," Finrod said, taking hold of Glorfindel’s arm. "Let us hence whilst these two do what is needful."

Glorfindel nodded reluctantly and allowed himself to be led away. By this time, the choppers were close enough that they could hear the chuff-chuff of the rotors. Alex turned to Derek as they headed back to camp. "You got that ID on you, Sam?"

"Yeah… Gary," he said. "So what’s the plan?"

"We’re going fishing," Alex replied.

"Huh?"

"Just follow my lead and don’t under any circumstance volunteer any information. Make them ask the questions and only give them the information they ask for, nothing more, nothing less and nothing else. Got it?"

"Got it."

They reached the campsite and grabbed the fishing gear, reaching the lake and casting their lines seconds before the search beam on the lead helicopter hit the water, illuminating the lake and the surrounding area. Neither had to fake wincing as the light surrounded them, forcing them to hold a hand up to their faces to shield their eyes. One of the choppers swung around to do a sweep of the area while the other came closer, finally settling down halfway between the woods and the lake. They saw a figure jump out and head their way even as the second chopper came around and landed nearby. Someone jumped out and joined the first person as they approached Alex and Derek. As they got closer, Alex could see that the two men were armed.

"Who are you?" one of the men shouted, for the chopper blades were still on.

"WHAT?" Alex shouted, cupping his ears.

"Who are you?" the man repeated.

"WHAT? I CAN’T HEAR YOU," Alex shouted again, speaking slowly and pointing to his right ear.

The man grimaced and turned to look at the choppers, making a slicing motion across his neck. In seconds the rotors were slowing down, whining as they stuttered to a halt and silence fell heavily across the night. The man turned back to Alex and Derek.

"Who are you?" he asked a third time.

"Who are you?" Alex demanded. "And what the blue blazes are you doing disturbing us? Do you know you’ve frightened all the fish? I can’t believe it! Three years. Three years I’ve saved up for this trip and you bozos come and ruin it."

"Let’s see some ID," his partner ordered, stepping closer, a hand on his holster.

"Excuse me?" Alex said, not exactly feigning anger. "The last time I looked, we were still under civilian rule, so unless martial law's been declared since we’ve been out here, back off!"

Surprisingly the man did just that.

"Look," the first man said, holding up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Let’s start over. I’m Colonel Bracton out of NORAD and this is Lieutenant Keyes. Could I see some ID please?"

Alex made a great show of reluctance as he fished out his wallet, muttering imprecations as he shoved it in Bracton’s hand, while Derek gave his to the lieutenant. The two men pulled out flashlights and took a moment to read the names.

"Samuel Don?" Keyes asked dubiously.

"That’s ‘dun’, like the poet," Derek said sagely. Alex had a hard time trying not to smile.

"And you’re Gary Martin?" Bracton asked.

"If that’s what it says, then that’s who I am," Alex retorted.

"And why are you out here?" Bracton asked, handing back Alex’s wallet.

"Hello! Night fishing? Ever hear of it?"

"Do you have a permit to fish, Mr. Martin? This is a national park, after all."

Alex sneered as he reached down and opened the tackle box that was next to him and pulled out a plastic envelope inside which could be seen a document. Bracton glanced at it, then nodded, giving it back to Alex.

"We’re investigating some strange lights that apparently made their way here," Bracton said. "Surely you saw them?"

"Mister, I don’t know what you’ve been smoking, but the only strange things I’ve seen tonight are you guys," Alex retorted.

Bracton grimaced and Keyes gave them a dirty look.

"A little more respect, Mr. Martin, please," Bracton said.

"Respect? Respect?" Alex nearly shouted, pulling off his hat. "You see this? Two years of chemo and radiation therapy and I’m finally in remission. I’ve been planning this trip since the day I was diagnosed and I’ll be damned if I’m going to have a couple of jumped-up soldier boys ruin it for me. We didn’t see any lights, except yours, so go back to wherever you crawled out of and leave us the hell alone!"

Bracton actually seemed to pale, though it was difficult to tell in the half-light of flashlights, but he stammered a quick apology, pulling Keyes away and two minutes later the choppers were revving up and flying off. Alex and Derek stood there watching them, not moving until the choppers were some miles to the north, the sound of their rotors fading in the distance. Finally, Derek turned to Alex.

"Man, you were awesome," he said.

"Comes with practice," Alex said with a grin, then turned towards the woods and called out, "All right, you can come out now."

A minute later the camp was full of Elves all trying to speak at once, none of them in English. Finally, Finrod held up a hand and silence fell immediately. "’Twas a marvel to listen to thee confront those warriors," he said. "Thou didst not show them any fear."

"Actually, I was shaking in my boots," Alex admitted, shoving his hat back on his head, "but this isn’t the first time I’ve had to fast-talk my way out of a situation." Suddenly, he felt drained and nearly stumbled when he bent down to retrieve his fishing rod and tackle. Finrod took him by the elbow and led him to the fire, speaking softly to Glorfindel, who poured some coffee into a mug and handed it to the Mortal who took it gratefully. Everyone else gathered around in respectful silence. Alex glanced up to see Derek standing nearby looking concerned.

"I think I overdid it a bit," Alex said. Then he put the mug down and reached back to pull out his wallet. "Derek, let me have that ID," he said, even as he was pulling out the fake license from his own wallet. Derek did the same with his and handed it to him and Alex threw them both into the fire.

"Where did you get the fake ID, Mr. Martin?" Glorfindel asked with a smile.

Alex smiled back. "I have my methods, Watson." And the Wiseman Elves all laughed, while Finrod and his companions looked on in bemusement.

"Thou gavest them a false name," Finrod said. "How didst thou know?"

Alex shrugged. "I didn’t, but something told me I had better prepare for such an eventuality. Whoever planned your trip did a poor job of it. You all are here quite illegally, and until we can procure the proper documents to show that you are good, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens of the United States of America, you need to lie low. Coming in as you did, I’m not surprised the military was alerted. Now, I know you had planned to camp out here for another day or so, Loren, but we need to get going. When Bracton returns to base, the first thing he’s going to do is check to see if Gary Martin and Sam Donne are who they say they are. Once they realize no such persons exist, they’ll be back and we’d better not be here when they come."

"Thine young friend speaketh wisely, gwador," Finrod said.

"Unfortunately," Glorfindel admitted.

"So, we need to let Grandfather know that it’s safe for him to leave," Elladan said.

"Ron, you, Barry, Gil and Conan go and bring our cars up," Glorfindel ordered, fishing out a set of keys from his pocket and handing them to Vorondur. Alex did the same, handing his keys to Barahir. "Darren, would you strike the camp and get everything ready to be loaded? Alex, are you up to a little jaunt? I think you should come and meet Eärendil, you and Derek both."

"Sure. I’m okay," Alex said, standing up. "I’m not sure what came over me."

"Adrenalin," Derek said knowingly.

"I guess," Alex said with a shrug.

"All right, then, let’s go," Glorfindel said and the two Mortals found themselves in the midst of the Elves as they headed south to where Eärendil had hidden the ship.