Saruman sat on his throne at Orthnac, thinking... Like always, thinking about the crafting of the Rings and the verses.
"Three Rings for the Elven-Kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone. Nine for Mortal Men, doomed to die. One Ring for the Dark Lord on his Dark Throne."
Why shouldn't he, the Leader of the White Council, have one of his own, then, the whole of Middle-Earth will fear his power and respect him, even the Elves, who had recommended that Gandalf the Grey be leader, will bow to his will...
He laughed to himself at this very thought. Then, the verses will be rewritten...
"Three Rings for the Elven-Kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone. Nine for Mortal Men, doomed to die. One Ring each for the Lords of the Two Towers."
Saruman was the most well-known wizard, for he was told to be the wisest among the Eldar and Wizards. He, was the leading authority on Sauron, having spent much time studying the methods of the Enemy. However, it is always too dangerous to study too deep into the lores of the Enemy, for Saruman himself desired power, and started to respect Sauron as a rival, instead of an enemy. Of his thoughts, he spoke to none.
He was also the first to know about the Eye of Sauron, for he dared himself to use the palantir, where one lies with the Dark Lord in Mordor, and another in Minas Tirth, the realm of Gondor. The Eye, instead of intimidating him, instead made him believe that he will be great one day, Saruman and Sauron, Lord of the Two Towers.
Yet, Saruman also desired knowledge, thus, he sometimes went to Fangorn, where TreeBeard resides. The Ents walked Middle-Earth for an extremely long time, even before the coming of the wizards, thus, their knowledge was great, which Saruman secretly manipulated in his mind on how to use it.
Also, he recruited people from various regions, nicknamed "Wormtongue", to poison the minds of others, Theoden, King of Rohan for example. Through this, he got resources and other materials from areas where his Wormtongues managed to sway their lords into doing. He stockpiled these resources, mostly metallic materials, and bid his time, as he sent out spies to keep a lookout for Gandalf the Grey, and he used Radagast the Brown, to use the beasts he tamed as a mean of spying. Radagast served the White Council faithfully, and never doubted the actions of it's leader, but later, Radagast died at Saruman's hand, after Saruman used him to lure Gandalf.
As the Second Age drew to a close, Saruman had known of the fall of Isildur near Mirkwood, and the Ring of Power had fallen into the river. It is unclear whether Saruman had secretly searched for the Ring, it is possible that he did not do so, yet he kept a close watch on the river, due to the fact that an open search would be considerably risky, as the Elven King of Mirkwood, Thranduil, kept a close watch on his lands, and it would risk exposing all of his malicious intents to the world and incur the wrath of the wizards and elves, possibly even the Rohirrim.
However, when evil awoke in the old realm of Angmar, crushing Arnor and that of Elendil's kin, Saruman became worried once more, for Angmar was near the River where the Ring fell, thus, after several requests and meetings, he finally relented on an assault at Angmar, which crushed the enemy, or in other words, the enemy pretended to flee.
Saruman then slowly uncovered his plot to turn Isengard into a fortress. Also, through the spies planted around, with or without Radagast's help, discovered Gandalf's interest in the Shire, and perhaps noticed the surge of Rangers of the North protecting it's outskirts, and slowly started to take control of the Shire through the Sackville-Bagginses. It is around this time that Bilbo is holding preparations for his Birthday, and Gandalf has ridden to Minas Tirth to seek for confirmation whether Bilbo's Ring is the One Ring, the Ring which is so sought after by both Saruman and Sauron. As soon as Saruman learned of the sightings of the Nine, he summoned Gandalf the Grey, and having betrayed the free people at some earlier time, he imprisoned Gandalf at Orthnac, delaying Gandalf from reaching WeatherTop and still sought to recruit Gandalf into his ranks. Of the White Council, Radagast the Brown has fallen, Gandalf the Grey remains. Of the elves, needless to ask.
It is possible that Radagast found out about his own fate and stopped all the beasts at his command to stop spying for Saruman, causing him having to look to Crows from Dunland, a people which hated the Rohirrim, Saruman's foremost enemy which he planned ty deal with first.
With Rohan gone, Gondor would be besieged from both east and north, and even south if Umbar joins the enemy's ranks.
Slowly but surely, Saruman recruited into his service Men, one example being Bill Ferny, who helped in the rampage of the Shire. Then, he dug tunnels to house his forges and furnaces. Of his armoury, Mordor could not match. The swords straight and sharp, shields broad and armour thick. He also created a new type of Orcs, by cross-breeding Men and Goblins.
These Orcs were known as Uruk-Hai. They could stand sunlight, were bigger and more muscular than the snaga counterparts. Uruks were fiercely loyal to the White Hand, or Saruman, and need not his will over their minds, for to them, Saruman was everything.
He stood up from his throne, and whispered this sentence to no one in particular.
"There is power in the Darkness, and I shall make it. Mine..."
As he said this, a loud horn was blown outside of Orthnac, and with Grima Wormtongue by his side, he stepped out to the tower, to face the Uruk-Hais, numbering ten thousand, giving war cries.
Saruman motioned for the Uruk-Hais to keep quiet, and the host fell silent.
"A new power is rising, its victory... Is at hand..."
A loud warcry started again, wits the Pikemen stamping their pikes on the floor, and swordsman clanged their shields against their blades. Saruman once again motioned for them to be silent.
"This night! The land will be stained with the blood of Rohan! March to Helm's Deep! Leave none alive!"
The horn sounded, the power of the horn echoed with their might.
"To WAR!"
The Uruks began their march while shouting, and Saruman faced the West from his tower, and muttered.
"There will be no dawn...for Men..."
As he retreated into the relative safety of his tower, he planned ahead, thinking of how he was going to wrest control of Middle-Earth from Sauron when the Dark Lord had smashed Gondor and all lands East and West would be under his sway. He pondered over whether he should strike hard at Gondor as well, no... That would be too risky...
As he sat on his high seat, he thought, about many things. The destruction of this land or that. The industrialisation of this city or that. His thought was rudely broken by a war chant. Not of his own, of course. It was slow but gaining in wrath at agonizingly slow speed, as if the challengers were not hasty about victory. Could it be the Rohirrim? Or elves?
He rushed out to observe the sight, but what he saw shocked him. An old sight greeted him. TreeBeard was leading an army of Ents, which were rumbling,
"Though Isengard be strong and hard, as cold as stone and bare as bone,
We go, we go, we go to war, to hew the stone and break the door!"
Then, he crept back into his seat, his breath heavy, but he regained his composure very quickly, as he thought to himself, that when the army of the White Hand returns victorious, he could easily reclaim Isengard, but for now, the wise course was not to sally out with the Orcish slaves he had left in the fortress, but to sit tight in the tower and wait for rescue.
A few days later, he heard a disturbance at the door, and saw Grima Wormtongue wading through the water, he extended his hand and pulled him in, and demanded of news from the outside.
"My lord, Saruman, Gandalf Stormcrow has discovered me and released Theoden from my bewitchment!"
"Silent!" Saruman bellowed at poor stuttering Wormtongue.
He sat down and sighed, he knew it was over.
Author's Note
WAHAHA! Finally completed something on Isengard!
Anyway, the part of Saruman's speech to the Uruks never happened in the book.
I thought that it would be a nice touch :P
Please Read and Review! Thanks!