Chapter 29
As we rode to Isengard I could not help but steal glances at Aragorn, his regal profile however never once motioned in my direction. This sheer ignorance of our situation drove my mind in twisting circles, I struggled to comprehend how he could be so passionate one moment and then act as if we were less than strangers the next. Subtly I encouraged Hasufel forward and rode next to Aragorn.
"You are ignoring me?" I spoke lowly to avoid the ears of our other companions. Aragorn flashed his eyes towards me before facing forward again. "Do not deny it" I looked at him, hoping with all my heart he would admit to some reciprocation of the feelings I held for him. Aragorn's tone was brisk as if he were dealing with business when he finally addressed me.
"I apologise" He refused to look at me, so failed to see the hurt flash over my eyes. "Please excuse my brash actions, I was not thinking clearly" He urged Brego forward so failed to see the heart broken expression that rested in my eyes. My heart clenched painfully in my chest as Aragorn dismissed me as if I were the earth that he treads on.
Little was I aware that Aragorn was ignoring me as he controlled his own personal battle. He had kissed me in a fleet of true emotion that had built in him over the past months, but he feared since I had not returned the gesture that I did not reciprocate his feelings. So he lied to me so as not to embarrass himself or I further. He hid the turmoil of his heart well, too well in fact. It's now I realise we were so foolish and stubborn back then.
It was strange how calm the woodland was yet something rested thick in the air, almost like pride, as if it were satisfied with itself. The trees began to thin and sunlight broke through landing on the damp forest floor. A loud laughter broke the tranquillity of the air and as we broke from the cover of the forest my eyes widened as I caught sight of two very familiar halflings.
Merry and Pippin were sat superciliously on a bulky section of stone wall surrounded by barrels and crates and empty wrappings. Merry rose to his feet with a slight wobble and raised his arms, clutching a pipe in his left hand.
"Welcome my Lords and Lady, to Isengard!" He beamed not completely sober. I eyed the pipe suspiciously before smirking at the over joyous hobbit.
"You young rascals" Gimli chastised. "A merry hunt you've led us on and now we find you feasting and… and smoking!" I looked to the dwarf, who sat behind Legolas and refrained from laughing. I honestly wouldn't have minded if we found the pair completely drunk, so long as they were alive.
"We are sitting on a field of victory" Pippin piped up as he chewed the end of his pipe, "Enjoying a few well earned comforts. The salted pork is particularly good"
"Salted pork?" As I looked back at Gimli I noticed the sudden interest in his dark eyes. I had to refrain from laughing as the look of hunger past over his eyes.
"Hobbits" Gandalf muttered with humour.
"We're under orders from Treebeard who's taken over management of Isengard" Merry's words slipped together slightly in a subtle slur.
"Unbelievable" I rolled my eyes light heartedly as I moved forward and helped Merry down from the rock and onto Hasufel's saddle. He looked at me with glassy eyes and chuckled to himself; I raised an eyebrow but said nothing. When I looked up I saw Aragorn had helped an equally glassy eyed Pippin onto Brego's saddle.
Gandalf took the lead again and led us deeper into Isengard. The ground was completely flooded with at least two feet of water and we had to be careful to avoid any floating chunks of debris. I had to admit, with the amount of damage done, the hobbits truly did deserve their personal celebration party.
My eyes widened and my lips parted in shock as a large tree began walking towards us, the bark formed to make an aged face in the trunk and the branches stemmed out to make limbs. I was beginning to think that I too was as high as Merry and Pippin as the tree began to talk.
"Haarooom, young master Gandalf, I'm glad you've come. Wood and water, stock and stone I can master, but there is a wizard to manage here locked in his tower" The tree's voice was deep and as large sounding as he looked physically. In the back of my mind I vaguely remembered the time we had seen Gandalf in Fangorn for the first time after his death, he had spoken of the tree coming alive again.
The Ents of Fangorn.
We approached the tower, the large spike of black that stretched high from the ground. Long black pillars ran up the sides like veins and at the top four large points rose from the corners. Aragorn rode forward stopping a on the other side of the company to me.
"Show yourself!" He ordered, his grey eyes glaring at the towering black structure.
"Be careful. Even in defeat, Saruman is dangerous" Gandalf warned Aragorn, but his words were heeded by all of us.
"Well then, let's just have his head and be done with it" Gimli grunted obviously not in the mood to entertain a tainted wizard.
"No" Gandalf disagreed quietly, "We need him alive. We need him to talk"
My eyes were drawn away from Gandalf as I saw a figure of white robes stand at the edge of the tower. He was holding a black staff and his hair was as long and white as Gandalf's.
"You have fought many wars and slain many men Théoden King and made peace afterwards" The wizards' voice bellowed down to us, his voice as clear as if he were standing right next to us. "Can we not take counsel as we once did, my old friend? Can we not have peace you and I?"
"We shall have peace…" Théoden replied. My eyes narrowed on the King, wondering if Saruman had placed him under his spell again. "We shall have peace when you answer for the burning of the Westfold and the children that lie dead there!" I relaxed slightly as it became obvious that Théoden was in his right mind. "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 hang from a gibbet for the sport of your own crows… We shall have peace!"
"Gibbets and crows! Dotard!" Saruman brushed away Théoden's and turned to Gandalf. "What do you want Gandalf Grahame? Let me guess… The key of Orthanc? Or perhaps the keys of Barad Dûr itself? Along with the crowns of the seven Kings and the rods of the Five Wizards!" He yelled.
"Your treachery has already cost many lives. Thousands more are now at risk" Gandalf started, ignoring the harsh words of Saruman, "But you could save them Saruman. You were deep in the enemy's counsel" Gandalf tried to persuade the wizard.
"So you have come here for information. I have some for you" Saruman held up a shadow like glassy ball and gazed into it, my gut twisted uncomfortably. "Something festers in the hearts of Middle Earth. Something you have failed to see. But the great eye had seen it! Even now he presses his advantage! His attack will come soon" he warned us, "You are all going to die! But you know this don't you Gandalf?" He sneered, "You cannot think that this Ranger will ever sit upon the throne of Gondor. The exile, crept from the shadows will never be crowned King" Saruman's piercing glare found Aragorn and he glared right back at him fearlessly. My hands clenched in my lap as I grew tired of his foul words.
"You would do well to hold your poisonous tongue Saruman" I snarled viciously, "Or I'll cut it from your mouth" I surprised myself with the harshness of my own words. I knew most of my anger was caused by Saruman, but I couldn't deny that the edge of my anger was fuelled by the frustration that had been building in me since Aragorn kissed me. Saruman turned to look at me with an expression of pure anger.
"Who are you to speak to me?"
"Colette de Luca" I replied my jaw set firm, displaying my regal profile, Saruman's eyes widened slightly before they narrowed.
"That line is dead"
"That line is very much alive" I smirked in reply. Saruman's faced contorted before his let out a dark laugh and turned to Gandalf.
"You place your hope in these two humans?" He scoffed at Gandalf, "A rejected line of Kings and a lost line of cowards?" Saruman turned to look at me, his dark eyes finding my eyes and piercing them. "Trust me Colette you will run before the end… abandon all those depend on you" My face froze in contempt for the wizard as my mind reeled at the foretelling. My hand clenched the reins tightly as he predicted my greatest fear. "She shares a likeness to you Gandalf" He removed his gaze from me and looked to the Wizard, "Gandalf does not hesitate to sacrifice those who are closest to him… those he professes to love! Tell me, what words of comfort did you give the Halfling before you sent him to him doom? The path you have set him on can only lead to death" Saruman cried.
"I've heard enough!" Gimli bellowed "Shoot him! Stick an arrow in his gob!" And at this moment I couldn't agree more with the dwarf.
"No!" Gandalf disagreed once again. "Come down Saruman and your life will be spared"
"Save your pity and your mercy. I have no use for it!" Saruman cried. He lifted his black staff high and directed a stream of scorching fire at Gandalf. My eyes widened in shock, but relaxed when I saw that Gandalf remained unharmed.
"Saruman, your staff is broken" Gandalf was exceptionally calm. On the top of the tower Saruman's staff shattered in his hand into tiny shards of black. My eyes left the wizard as a greasy haired man dressed in all black appeared behind him, my eyes narrowed on the man as I recognised Grima Wormtongue.
"Grima!" Théoden called, recognising his once trusty advisor. "You need not follow him! You were not always as you are now. You were once a man of Rohan. Come down"
"A man of Rohan?" Saruman said "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? The victory at Helm's Deep does not belong to you Théoden Horse Master. You are a lesser son of greater sires" He cried heatedly. Théoden ignored him.
"Grima… come down! Be free of him!" He tried to persuade the black haired man who looked torn between his enslaver and freedom.
"Free? He will never be free!" Saruman cried. Grima snapped finally not been able to cope with the pressure.
"No!" Grima cried.
"Get down cur!" Saruman yelled as he turned and beat Grima to the ground with a hard slap.
"Saruman! You were deep in the enemy's counsel. Tell us what you know!" Gandalf tried desperately to gain the information he needed as the situation began to slip from his grasp.
"You withdraw your guard and I will tell you where your doom will be decided. I will not be held prisoner here!" The tainted wizard replied.
My eyes once again found Grima as he rose from the floor, I could see the long knife in his hand but felt frozen, unable to grab my bow. How could I act to save someone I did not want to be saved? Grima leant forward and drove the blade twice into Saruman's back. Legolas fired a clean arrow into Grima's heart and fell to the floor. Saruman's corpse fell from the tower, twisting unnaturally in the air as his white robes flared out around him. I looked away sharply as his body fell directly onto a large spike of metal that protruded from a water wheel.
"Send word to all our allies and to every corner of Middle Earth that still stands free" Gandalf spoke first, "The enemy moves against us. We need to know where he will strike" I looked back up as the metal wheel continued to turn, pulling Saruman under to water with it.
"The filth of Saruman is washing away" Treebeard spoke deeply, "Trees will come back and live here, young trees, wild trees" I looked away from the Ent as Pippin dismounted from his place in Brego's saddle in front of Aragorn and dropped into the water. It came well up to his waist as he waded through it, seemingly fixated on an object lying just under the surface.
"Pippin!" Aragorn called as he picked up the strange shadow filled ball that Saruman had been holding and gazed into it, fixated with the swirling pattern. My stomach twisted uneasily again.
"Pippin!" I called,
"Bless my bark!" Treebeard gasped as we all turned to look at the hobbit.
"Peregrin Took. I'll take that my lad! Quick now!" Gandalf ordered as he reached for the ball. Pippin was reluctant at first but handed the ball to Gandalf. He looked away; almost ashamed of himself, like he knew somehow he had done wrong. Gandalf turned away from Pippin and he looked up again and I swore I saw a flicker of anger in his normally innocent eyes as he tracked the movements of the ball. He sensed my gaze and looked at me with wide eyes before turning and mounted Brego once again with the help of Aragorn.
I watched the Hobbit cautiously as he moved past me on Brego, something didn't settle right in my gut, but I had to dismiss it as Théoden spoke.
"We shall returned to Edoras, from there we can plan our next movements"
