Here is the next chapter of my LOTR trilogy! Enjoy! I am currently working on my own original novel, check it out on , same author name as this one.
1 The Filth of Saruman
Sathien rode Edinar alongside the others as they rode carefully through the forest of Fangorn, passing the trees in silence. Sathien felt a sharp pain in her shoulder and ignored the wounds she now carried from Helm's Deep.
She could hear Merry and Pippin laughing and was suddenly overjoyed. She had missed those hobbits sorely, and as they rode out of the forest, she could see the dark tower of Isengard before her, and Merry and Pippin were sitting on a rock, eating meat and smoking pipe weed.
"Welcome my lords!" Merry stood, waving his pipe at Isengard. "To Isengard!"
"Haha!" Pippin cried, chortling happily as he raised his pipe at them.
"Oh young rascals!" Gimli cried. "What a merry chase you've lead us on and now we find you feasting and – smoking!"
"We are sitting on a field of victory enjoying a few well earned comforts," Pippin smiled. "The salty pork is particularly good."
"Salty pork?" Gimli looked hungry.
"Hobbits." Gandalf muttered and shook his head.
"We're under orders from Treebeard," Merry said. "Who's taken over management of Isengard."
Sathien rode Edinar across the watery plains of Isengard, remembering how it had once been a safe haven long ago. Now it was reduced to a watery waste, deep pits underground where the Orcs had once forged weapons from the trees.
"Young Master Gandalf!" Treebeard slowly walked over to them, standing in front of the entrance to Isengard. "I'm glad you've come. Fire and water, rock and stone I can master. But there is a wizard to manage here. Locked in his tower."
Sathien stared at the Ent in wonder, never had she seen one before. Although, she had known of their history, and that the Elves were the ones who had taught them to speak.
"Show yourself." Aragorn said quietly.
"Be careful," Gandalf warned. "Even in defeat Saruman is dangerous."
"Well let's just have his head and be done with it!" Gimli growled.
"No, we need him alive. We need him to talk."
"You have fought many foes and slain many men, Theoden King, and have made peace afterwards. Can we not have peace, you and I? Can we not take counsel as we once did, my old friend?" Saruman spoke, standing above them at the top of Orthanc.
"We shall have peace." Theoden said quietly.
Sathien glanced at him.
"We shall have peace when you answer for the burning of the Westfold, and the children that lie dead there! We shall have peace when the lives of the soldiers whose bodies were hewn even as they lay dead against the gates of the Hornburg, are avenged! When you lie on a gibbet for the sport of your own crows! We shall have peace!"
"Gibbets and crows?" Saruman cried. "Dotard! What do you want, Gandalf Greyhame? Let me guess. The Key of Orthanc. Or even the keys to Barad Dur itself! Along with the crowns of the seven kings, and the rods of the five wizards!"
"Your treachery has already cost many lives," Gandalf countered. "Thousands more are now at risk. But you can save them Saruman. You are deep in the enemy's counsel. Tell us what you know."
"So you have come here for information. I have some for you," Saruman pulled out a palantir from his robes, and the Eye of Sauron burned inside of it.
Sathien stared in terror. She had used a palantir, once, long ago, before Sauron had taken them and rendered them as objects of evil, and to see Sauron inside of it was repulsive.
"Something festers in the heart of Middle Earth. Something that you have failed to see," Saruman announced. "But the Great Eye has seen it. Even now he presses his advantage. His attack will come soon. You're all going to die."
Sathien looked straight at the wizard, not afraid of Saruman's words, though she could see Merry and Pippin look doubtful.
"But you know this, don't you Gandalf? You cannot think that this Ranger will ever sit upon the throne of Gondor," Saruman gestured at Aragorn. "This exile, crept from the shadows, will never be crowned King. Gandalf does not hesitate to sacrifice those closest to him. Those he professes to love. Tell me, what words of comfort did you give the Halfling before you sent him to his doom? The path that you have set him on can only lead to death."
There was an uncomfortable silence as they all thought of Frodo, Sam and Remla.
"I've heard enough!" Gimli cried. "Shoot him; stick an arrow in his gob!"
Legolas reached for an arrow.
"No!" Gandalf ordered. "Come down Saruman and your life will be spared!"
"Save your pity and your mercy, I have no use for it!" Saruman shouted, raising his staff and amassing a large ball of fire that streamed down and consumed Gandalf.
Sathien gasped at the heat, staring at the fire that burned around the wizard. The fire faded and Gandalf was unharmed.
Saruman stared in horro.
"Saruman, your staff is broken." Gandalf spoke calmly. Saruman could only watch as his staff began to shake, and then exploded into pieces.
Grima walked over to him, looking down at them. Sathien looked at him, expecting to feel hatred towards the man. Instead she felt pity.
"Grima, you need not follow him!" Theoden called. "You were not always as you are now. You were once a Man of Rohan. Come down."
"A Man of Rohan?" Saruman hissed. "What is the house of Rohan but a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek and their brats roll on the floor with the dogs? Victory at Helm's Deep does not belong to you, Theoden Horsemaster! You are a lesser son of greater sires."
"Grima, come down, be free of him." Theoden called.
"Free? He will never be free!" Saruman cried.
"No!" Grima protested.
"Get down, cur!" Saruman slapped Grima, who fell to the ground.
"Saruman!" Gandalf called. "You were deep in the enemy's counsel. Tell us what you know!"
"You withdraw your guard, and I will tell you where your doom will be decided," Saruman said. "I will not be held prisoner here!"
Suddenly Grima ran at him, bearing the dagger he had stabbed Sathien with and stabbed Saruman in the back.
Legolas quickly grabbed an arrow and shot Grima in the shoulder. Grima cried out in pain, falling to the ground.
Saruman breathed slowly, the dagger in his back before he fell from the top of Orthanc, his body rolling in the air before landing suddenly on a spike of a wheel with a loud thud.
Sathien gasped at the sound.
"Send word to all our allies, and to every corner of Middle Earth that still stands free," Gandalf told Theoden. "the Enemy moves against us. We need to know where he will strike."
Sathien grew worried. She was concerned of what Saruman said to be true. What did Sauron know that they did not?
"The filth of Saruman is washing away," Treebeard said. "trees will come back to live here, young trees, wild trees."
Pippin suddenly jumped from the horse and waded through the water to where Saruman had fallen.
"Pippin!" Aragorn called.
Pippin reached down into the water and pulled out the dark palantir, glistening with water.
"Bless my bark!" Treebeard gasped.
Gandalf rode over to Pippin and reached for the palantir.
"Pippin, I'll take that my lad." Gandalf took the palantir and hid it deep under his robes.
"Farewell!" Treebeard said to them. Sathien nodded at him and they all rode away from Isengard, back to Edoras.
Isengard had been cleansed, Saruman's evil had gone. They were now no longer threatened by him, but now they had Sauron to worry about, and no idea of where he would attack.
Sathien's thoughts were dark as they rode across the fields of Rohan.
The halls were crowded with the men of Rohan, laughing and drinking ale. Theoden rose from his seat before them and raised his ale.
Sathien stood alongside Aragorn and they watched him.
"Tonight we remember those who gave their blood to defend this country!" Theoden spoke. "Hail the victorious dead!"
"Hail!" the men chorused. Sathien whispered to herself, holding her ale, recalling the recent war that had left scars on all of them. She could recall the death of Haldir, she had not seen it, but she had heard the pain in Aragorn's voice, and she knew.
No Elves had survived, and Sathien had almost died herself. She recalled her wounds with pain, and was relieved that she had recovered quickly.
She slowly sipped the ale and the celebrating began.
Walking through the laughing crowds of men, Sathien heard Merry and Pippin singing and laughed at the little hobbits as they danced on the table.
"You can drink your fancy ales; you can drink them by the flagon!" Merry and Pippin sang. "But the only brew for the brave and true, comes from the Green Dragon!"
The two clanged their ales together and drank to the applause of the men around them, and Sathien and Gandalf.
Sathien sat, suddenly feeling pain of another kind. Her thoughts went to Remla. While they were celebrating, enjoying their victory, Remla and the other hobbits were out there, getting closer to Mordor.
Or perhaps they had been killed.
Sathien pulled her thoughts away to hear Gimli and Legolas talking.
"It's a drinking game?" Legolas asked.
"No spills." Eomer confirmed.
"And no regurgitations." Gimli laughed, his mug of ale in his hand.
"What do we drink to?" a man cried.
"To victory!" another cheered.
"Victory!" the others began drinking.
Then they started drinking and Sathien watched, fascinated as they went through dozens of mugs of ale. Legolas seemed to simply drink and place the mug on the table whereas Gimli was swaying, froth over his beard and his eyes dull.
"It's the Dwarves that go swimming!" Gimli slurred. "With little hairy women!"
Gimli laughed, drinking more ale.
"I feel a slight tingle in my fingers," Legolas commented, looking at his hand. "I think it's affecting me."
There was a loud fart from Gimli and Eomer glanced at him.
"Ah what can I say?" Gimli slurred, his words barely recognizable. "The boy can't hold his liquor!"
Gimli hesitated, the amount of ale he had consumed finally getting to him. His eyes rolled up in his head and he fell off the chair.
"Game over." Legolas said.
Sathien grew tired, wishing to see Remla and for a moment she almost saw her, walking to Merry and Pippin, smiling at them.
"We did it; Frodo threw the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom!" Remla whispered.
"It's over?" Sathien asked.
Remla nodded, looking like she really was there, standing before her, a mug of ale in her hand.
"But Sam didn't make it," Remla explained. "he fell down the stairs of Minas Morgul. We are heading to danger, we are going to the stairs, lead by him."
"What?" Sathien frowned. Remla had just told her it was all over, that this celebrating was for the victory of the freedom of Middle Earth.
"He's leading us, G-"
And Remla was gone. Sathien stared in confusion and disappointment, realizing that it had been a vision she had created in her mind. It had seemed so real, as though she had been talking to Remla, and Remla – Sathien broke off her thoughts, remembering that Remla had mentioned stairs, and Minas Morgul.
Suddenly wondering if her strange vision had been true, Sathien hurried over to Gandalf.
"Gandalf, I saw Remla in my mind," Sathien spoke. "she told me they were being lead up the stairs of Minas Morgul."
Gandalf frowned, deeply troubled as he stood beside Aragorn.
"I think you need some rest, Sathien," Gandalf said quietly. "they would not take the pass of Cirith Ungol, it is too dangerous."
"You're right." Sathien sighed, feeling folly at how she had been thinking. She reached up to her head, feeling the pain from her wounds returning. She felt stupid at her mistake, and her thoughts.
"Come, you need to rest." Gandalf lead Sathien away from the party to sleep.