It was all over.
All was lost.
They had taken the Ring.
Frodo Baggins lay on the cold stone floor of the dark and solitary cell of Cirith Ungol, stripped of everything he owned; his cloak, his clothes and worst of all, the Ring. Without it, there was no way Sauron couldn't come back. He would take over all of Middle-Earth. Frodo gave a small sniffle when he thought of never seeing the Shire again.
Footsteps thundered under Frodo's cell and a minute later, a trio of large orcs or Uruk-hai (he could never tell the difference) stomped in. There was, Frodo noted, an unmistakable gleam of hunger in each pair of those mean little eyes.
He cringed and backed into the furthest stone wall, trembling. What were they going to do to him? Judging by how the three montrous beasts were leering at him, it could never be good. Oh, Sam, Frodo thought desperately, pressing himself into the wall, I hope you're okay...please, somebody, anybody, help me..."Where is it you little rat?" snarled one of the bigger orcs, bending so low that Frodo thought he might drown in the filthy stench. In fact, he felt like he was passing out.
The orc bent closer and grasped Frodo's limp shoulder where the old wound was pierced into his flesh, his ugly face now centimetres from Frodo's.
"What?" he said weakly, as a familiar type of pain became renewed. He felt so out of it right now; the orcs were nothing but gigantic blurry shapes; he didn't have a clue what they wanted, all of his possessions, they had already taken all of it.
"We want it back right now!" the orc closest to Frodo shouted. He felt the claws digging into his skin part company and his brain started working properly again.
The Ring.
"Think you're being funny, do you?" said another one. They all looked simply furious. "Let's see if you can play the game anymore..." he turned and began fiddling with something that made loud clangs while the rest of his band held Frodo down to the ground and maliciously bound his hands at the wrists with a thick rope, so the tightly that it hurt.
The leader of the orcs turned now and Frodo couldn't help the gasp of fear that escaped him. In one hand was a cold iron with a gag on it. It wasn't just a gag, however. One of the remaining orcs forced Frodo's mouth open and shoved it inside, until the metal spikes were biting down hard under his teeth. Frodo experienced an urge to weep but didn't. The orc, sneering, slammed his jaws together and watched with relish as the other orc advanced on Frodo with the other object. Frodo shook his head frantically, but didn't dare to make a sound, unless his mouth started to bleed. It was a whip, about ten feet long with sharp pieces of metal and glass sticking out of it.
"Relax, halfling, I have special circumstances before I do actually do anything to you," said the orc, and they all sniggered. "Tell me," he said, his voice reduced to a deadly whisper, but Frodo could hear the cold fury in it just thr same. "Where is it?"
Still, Frodo didn't speak. Livid, the orc struck the whip on his bare chest, leaving bits of glass in it. Frodo stifled a scream, blood dribbling down his chin.
"Now, listen here, little rat, we haven't got time for your little tricks," growled the orc, yanking Frodo's head up by the hair, "tell us what we want or there'll be trouble," the other orcs grunted in pleasure as Frodo let out a yelp of pain.
"I-I don't...I don't know what you're talking about," Frodo finally choked, more blood spotting the floor.
"Don't tell nasty stories!" roared the orc. He backhanded him in the face and split his lip. Frodo whimpered in pain. "Who was it? Who sent you here?" he said, as the wounded hobbit let out an anguished moan.
"Was it Greybeard? Are you a spy for him?"
"NoFrodo cried, tears involuntarily streaming down his face. "Gandalf's dead - please!"
Well, obviously, the orcs didn't buy it, because, Snaga, the one who had spoken earlier said gruffly, "Not talking, eh? He's a stubborn one. There's only one choice and you're going to leave it to me. Clear out boys, I'll see you later!"
And Frodo didn't like the look in his eyes as he said that.