Getting Frodo Back

In the Great Hall,OsgiliathBridge

Night, April 7th, TA 3019

The Conference organizers called for an emergency meeting between the Principals, to try to patch things up so that negotiations could continue the next day. Given that Aragorn had needled Sauron to the point that he'd snapped, and Sauron had tried to attack him with a broken bottle, it wasn't clear that things could be patched up.

Sauron entered the Great Hall, attended by the Witch King. Aragorn was already there, waiting for him. Gandalf was with him as an advisor. All the organizers from the White Council were there, standing near the neutral midpoint of the room. Their role was to keep the peace. They were aware of how hard that might be tonight, even though the purpose of this meeting was reconciliation.

Sauron shook his head, as if to clear it. "Please excuse me if I'm not quite awake yet. When your messenger arrived, I'd already been in bed for an hour. I was not only asleep, but dreaming."

Aragorn looked surprised. "You sleep? I mean, you're called 'The Lidless Eye'. I always thought that was meant literally."

"I'm a spirit clothed in a physical body, just as you are. I do everything that you do." Aragorn considered that for a moment, then stopped. Too much information.

"I know you're an ancient evil that comes from the Void. I have trouble seeing you as a person rather than a supernatural creature." Aragorn said.

"Those things are true. But they're also true of Gandalf, if you substitute the word 'annoying' for 'evil'." Gandalf scowled.

"But you can convert to spirit form at will?" Aragorn asked.

"Sure. By falling on my sword or throwing myself off a parapet, the same as you." said Sauron.

Pallando interrupted them. "Small talk is fine, but we're here tonight to discuss what happened this afternoon. I want to avoid it happening again tomorrow."

Pallando looked at Sauron. "You attacked Tar-Elessar with a broken bottle. Would you like to tell me about it?"

"It's private. I don't care to discuss it." said Sauron.

"It became public when you smashed the bottle and turned it into a weapon. I think you owe us more of an explanation than that." said Pallando.

"Celebrimbor was my best friend. I kept my past a secret from him because I thought he wouldn't accept me if he knew. But the secret put a barrier between us and made the friendship superficial. He didn't really know me, he only knew the façade I let him see. I was lonely. I wanted him to accept me for who I was.

"So I told him everything. And he rejected me utterly. His face turned to stone, and he said, 'You have one hour to get out. After that, I'm turning you over to the Valar.' Since I was already a fugitive, it was a threat I took seriously. In an instant, I lost my closest friend, my home, and the life I'd built in Eregion."

"And then?"

"I felt like I'd been betrayed. I went on a rampage. Afterwards, he was dead, tortured to death on my orders. I couldn't undo what I'd done." He covered his face with his hands.

Pallando asked, "Are you all right?"

Sauron shook his head.

"I've tried to atone for Tyelpo's death, but it doesn't make any difference. Remorse slams against me like a hammer blow. I expect to spend the rest of my life trying to make atonement."

"What did you do in atonement?"

"I don't allow myself luxuries. My private quarters are almost unfurnished. When I can't sleep, I leave my bed and lie on the stone floor as an act of penance."

"Why did you attack Elessar?"

"He implied I didn't care about Tyelpo, that I enjoyed hurting him. I couldn't stand it. I was trying to shut him up."

x-x-x-x-x-x

The main issue resolved, Gandalf decided to risk asking about Frodo. He admitted to Sauron that Frodo had gone into Mordor with the Ring. Sauron admitted the halfling was still alive, although he said in a vaguely sinister way, "I'm not done with him yet."

Gandalf tried to find out what they might offer to trade for Frodo's safe return. They had no prisoners to exchange and Sauron didn't need gold, so Gandalf proposed that Sauron might accept information as Frodo's ransom.

Sauron named his price. He wanted to know about the conspiracy that brought the Ring into Mordor. And he wanted to know everything about what had happened to the Ring since it was cut from his hand, who had it, who had tried to use it, how it had been lost in Gladden Fields, how long Saruman had been looking for it, how long Gandalf had suspected it was in the Shire, and when and how he had known with certainty.

Sauron remembered how hard they'd looked for the Shire, how they'd searched the length and breadth of Arda. And then when the Nazgûl finally waylaid one of Saruman's spies near Isengard last midsummer and took a map from him, they learned that the Shire was no more than a day's journey south of Utumno [1]. The place he'd been looking for so long was in the backyard of his old home.

Sauron had one more condition. The information Gandalf gave him had to be true. Sauron proposed that Gandalf and Elrond each write a statement detailing the provenance of the Ring since Isildur claimed it, and if the two statements agreed, Sauron would release the halfling. He required the statements to be written immediately, to deny the authors a chance to agree on their story.

Gandalf agreed to Sauron's terms, even though it meant the information they provided about the Council of Elrond, the Fellowship, and the provenance of the Ring had to be as detailed as they could make it, and absolutely true.

Gandalf had a condition of his own. Before he turned over the statements to Sauron, he needed proof that Frodo was alive. Gandalf decided to write a letter to Frodo and ask something only he would know. If a reply came back with the correct answer, he would have his proof. Only then could Sauron could have his payment of information.

The plan had several downsides. The first was that Sauron would know the information in the statements was true as soon as he got them, because he'd know they wouldn't risk a lie that could get Frodo killed. The second was that they had to trust him to fulfill his part of the bargain and return Frodo, and he just wasn't all that trustworthy. But they didn't have a better option, so they agreed to it.

Pallando gave them paper, pens, and ink. Gandalf and Elrond sat down at the table some distance away from each other and began to write. After about an hour, they had each produced a statement many pages long. Gandalf finished first. He folded his letter closed, sealed it, and gave it to Pallando. When Elrond was finished, he looked it over and added a few notations, folded his statement, sealed it, and handed it to Pallando to hold until it was time to make the trade.

Gandalf then penned a letter to Frodo, who by now had been a captive in Mordor for over a month. In it, he told Frodo they were working to ransom him and that he'd be free soon. Then Gandalf picked a test question, "Tell me something only you would know. What needs to be repaired on your front gate?" If the letter came back with the right answer, he'd know Frodo was alive.

When he was done, he folded the letter and sealed it, and wrote 'Frodo' on the outside. He gave Frodo's letter to Pallando, and Pallando gave it to Sauron, who summoned Uvatha and gave it to him with instructions to make the round trip to Barad-dûr as quickly as possible.

x-x-x-x-x-x

Fog was rising from the river. It was completely dark by now, but neither carried a lantern. Both were able to see in the dark. Across the water, light from thousands of campfires dotted the eastern bank where the host of Mordor was camped.

They walked along the Bridge toward the eastern shore, where they would be met by a small group of men-at-arms who would escort them back to Mordor's camp.

Angmar finally spoke.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Didn't know what?" asked Sauron.

"How much you suffered in the aftermath of Tyelpo's death. How you live without comforts as a form of atonement."

"Oh, that. I was exaggerating. The way I see it, if Tyelpo hadn't resisted me, I wouldn't have had to torture him to death. I'm sorry it happened, but really, he brought it on himself."

"So what set you off today?"

"Elessar said I wasn't a great craftsman. And if I can't be the best, I'm nothing. I had to shut him up. If you two hadn't pulled me off him, I'd have carved him up."

He fell silent, thinking. Earlier in the day, he'd been too angry for reflection, but during the long walk home, he kept hearing Elessar's words in his head. He tried to shut them out, but he was tired, and his defenses were down.

Tyelpo really did do his best work after I left. What does that mean? NO. I'm NOT second rate. I am the best there is, or else I'm nothing.

Just thinking about it made his mouth go dry.

I pray you, Ilúvatar, don't let Elessar be right.

The whole way back to Mordor's camp, he worked hard to believe he was the equal of any one of the Elven smiths, and fought down the sickening fear that he wasn't.

Notes:

[1]UtumnoBay, an inlet in the Ice Bay of Forochel, is the drowned site of the ruins of Melkor's fortress of Utumno. It is located just north of the Shire.