Chapter 7

Ringed In At Isengard

Laiqua found himself lingering at Isengard.  The first morning, he arose long after sunrise, and Saruman gently suggested that it might not be wise to set out so late in the day.  "You will want to put in a full day's travel before you must seek shelter, will you not?"

Laiqua had to concede that Saruman's advice seemed wise, and he accepted the wizard's invitation to remain at Isengard for at least another night.  When he arose the next day, Saruman persuaded him to remain a third night.  "I have given command that a meal be prepared in your honor.  I would not have you leave Isengard without showing you proper hospitality."

"My Lord, I have not lacked for anything these past two nights, but if you wish it, I will remain and sup with you yet again."

That evening Laiqua joined Saruman at a table that was covered with ornate dishes filled with delicacies that he had never seen served at the table of King Thranduil during even the greatest of Elven celebrations.  Laiqua felt odd at being the only guest at such a feast and the sole recipient of Saruman's attentions.  Saruman plied Laiqua with questions and listened with the greatest respect to every observation he made, no matter how minor the topic.  Far from being flattered, however, Laiqua felt more and more ill at ease.  Surely the conversation of an Elfling who had seen and experienced so little of Middle Earth could not be that interesting to a powerful Istar.  Why, he wondered, was Saruman flattering him by seeming to take such an interest in whatever he had to say?  Laiqua also began to wish that Saruman would no longer address him as yondo-nya.  The phrase did not seem to fall naturally from the lips of the wizard.  

Laiqua was immensely relieved when a servant entered and begged leave to pass on a message for Saruman.  The Istar waved his permission.  The servant drew near, bent down, and whispered into Saruman's ear, but Laiqua thought he heard the phrase "Master, the emissaries have arrived."  The servant would have said more, but the wizard raised his hand and gestured at him to remain silent.  The servant bowed and backed away.  Saruman turned to Laiqua. "I fear I must attend to some business.  But I do not wish to neglect you, my guest.  I know that Elves take great pleasure in gazing upon the stars.  The platform at the top of this tower is well suited to such a pursuit, and tonight the sky is clear.  Come.  Let me take you there so that you may amuse yourself in my absence."

Saruman stood and walked toward the center of the tower.  Laiqua followed and gazed up toward a ceiling so high that he could see only darkness.  Saruman gestured with his staff and uttered something in a tongue that Laiqua did not recognize.  Suddenly he felt as if he were spinning.  He closed his eyes.  When the spinning ceased, he opened his eyes to find himself standing beside Saruman near the edge of a platform on top of the tower.  He blinked and shook his head in bewilderment.  Saruman laughed at his confusion.

"Much more exciting than climbing stairs, is it not, yondo-nya?"

Laiqua gave an uncertain smile in reply.   To his dismay, he realized that he was dizzy.  He tried to take a step away from the edge but staggered helplessly.  With the speed of a striking snake, Saruman's hand shot out and clamped onto Laiqua's wrist, and the Elfling found himself being yanked toward the wizard.  Laiqua winced.  Saruman had grabbed him so tightly that his fingernails were cutting into the Elfling's skin.  Moreover, the Istar had pulled him back with such abruptness that Laiqua lost his balance altogether and was forced to lean upon the wizard for support.  For a fleeting moment he felt as if he were trapped.  As he struggled to regain his footing and to escape from Saruman's grasp, he looked down uncomfortably at the wrist gripped by the wizard.  Saruman followed his glance and, after a moment of hesitation, released him.

"You should be careful," warned the Istar.  "You wouldn't want to find yourself plummeting from such a height, would you?"  The words were no doubt kindly meant, Laiqua thought, but somehow, coming from Saruman's narrow lips, they seemed threatening.

"I will leave you now to enjoy the stars."

Before Laiqua had a chance to react, Saruman waved his staff and muttered another spell.  Laiqua was alone.  He looked around at the place in which he found himself.  There was no wall around the platform, but posts were set at the edge at regular intervals. The posts were curved and pointed—like fangs, thought Laiqua.  For a moment, he imagined that he was caught within the mouth of a beast that would swallow him whole.  He began to shiver.  He wished that Saruman would return.  He could see no way off the platform.  He would not be able to descend without Saruman's spell.

Carefully he crept back toward the edge and peered down.  Far below, he could see specks scurrying through the ring toward the base of the tower.  What creatures were these?  Some looked manlike, some wolflike.  Were these the emissaries mentioned by the servant?  Soon he saw Saruman descending the steps from the tower and apparently standing in speech with the creatures.  The posture of the manlike creatures reminded Laiqua of Orcs, and the wolflike creatures were more than a little Wargish.  Momentarily, Laiqua thought of the band that had pursued him to the forest.  He felt uneasy, but perhaps, he reassured himself, Saruman was so powerful and wise that he had set in motion a plan to quell the Orcs and Wargs.  Perhaps these emissaries were here to yield to the Istar.  Mayhap they would pledge to trouble Men and Elves no more.

The manlike creatures accompanied Saruman into the tower.  Hours passed. Darkness began to lift.  Laiqua looked up at the now-fading stars and caught movement in the sky.  Eagles?  Crebain? Something else altogether?  Whatever the creatures were, they were dark in color.  For a long time they swooped and soared overhead.  Laiqua wondered what they hunted.  Or did they hunt at all?  For a moment Laiqua fancied that they were scouts.  But for whom were they spying?  He shook off the thought and told himself that he must be falling into a waking dream.  Suddenly he heard shrieks and howls.  He looked down and saw that the manlike creatures had rejoined the wolflike ones.  Saruman stood at the foot of the stairs seeming to bid them farewell, and the creatures began to move out through the ring of Isengard, past trees that trembled and moaned. 

Laiqua nearly cried out with relief when Saruman suddenly reappeared by his side.

"Did you enjoy the stars?"

Laiqua did not know what to say.  The wizard stared sharply at him for a moment but said nothing further.

            The next morning Saruman came into Laiqua's room as he was tightening the strap of his quiver.  "You appear to be preparing to depart."

            "Yes, my Lord.  The weather will soon turn cold.  I do not wish to delay any longer."

            "Yet there will still be several more weeks of fine weather, and you have seen few of the treasures of Orthanc.  You are an Elf, and, above all peoples of Middle Earth, it is the Elves who appreciate beauty.  Come, let me show you an object rare and enchanting."

            Saruman led Laiqua into a room that contained a throne at one end and in the middle a plinth upon which something lay covered by a cloth.  The wizard drew back the cloth to reveal a smooth, shiny globe, perfectly round and without flaw.  "Come, yondo-nya.  Here is an object of great beauty."

Laiqua drew closer and gazed upon the smooth red-black surface of the globe.  It began to glow, as if a fire had been kindled within it.  Suddenly his eyes pained him.  He squeezed them shut and stepped back. 

"What is the matter?"

Laiqua opened his eyes and looked at the wizard.  "My eyes, it burned my eyes."

For a moment Laiqua thought he saw a look of displeasure on Saruman's face, but it quickly passed.  "Perhaps later," the wizard said softly.

The next morning, when Laiqua broke fast in the company of the wizard, he announced that he would certainly resume his journey that day.

"Of course, if you wish.  But if that is the case, we must make the most of what may be our last conversation, unless you should ever happen to travel this way again."

The Istar began to talk of the beauty and power of Isengard.  The wizard had a mellifluous voice that seemed to surround and caress the Elfling.  An older elf would not have been susceptible to its spell; Laiqua, however, was soon entranced.  He was no longer conscious of the meaning of the wizard's words but somehow understood that they spoke of safety and the end of painful struggle.  But then, even as Laiqua was drawn in by power of the Istar's voice, another voice commanded Laiqua's attention.  Softly but insistently, Laiqua seemed to hear Galadriel murmur, "Go to Imladris, O Nameless One.  Go to Imladris.  The Lord of Rivendell has ever been the protector of the young."

Breaking out of his trance, Laiqua looked full into the wizard's face.  It was a thin face, all hard edges.  The nose, narrow and hooked, put Laiqua in mind of a scimitar.  Ashamed of this inexplicably uncharitable thought, Laiqua dropped his eyes and fastened them instead on the Istar's hands.  The nails were long, curved, and pointed.  Laiqua found himself thinking of the fanglike pillars that surmounted the tower.  Now Laiqua was overcome by confusion and did not know where to look.  He only knew that he wanted to obey Galadriel's gentle yet urgent voice and leave Isengard as soon as possible.

At last Laiqua looked again into Saruman's face.  The wizard's eyes were fixed upon him.  "Yondo-nya, what say you?"

"My Lord?"

"Will you not remain?  As I have said, though kinless and friendless you have been, in this place of power and beauty you would be safe and well-cared for.  Moreover, you are still young, yondo-nya.  You need further training if you are ever to make full use of your skills.  I am an immortal Istar, one of the Wise.  I would be happy to undertake your training, for you too are an immortal and come of a wise race.  Should not Istar and Elf be allied?"

Laiqua chose his words with great care, fearful of seeming discourteous in the face of such beneficence.  "I am most grateful for your kindness and your offer, but I would like to journey on to Imladris.  I have heard much of the fame of Rivendell and of the Lords Elrond and Glorfindel, and I would like to see that place for myself."

Saruman's expression briefly changed but so fleetingly that Laiqua could not read it.  Was it anger?  Disappointment?  Bafflement?  Uneasy, Laiqua waited as the Istar stared at him and muttered something under his breath, as if he were speaking to himself.  "Do not press forward too quickly"—was that what he said?  Who shouldn't press forward too quickly?  Laiqua?   Saruman himself?  Finally, the wizard spoke aloud.

"I am sorry that you do not choose to remain, but, of course, if you wish to travel on, you are free to do so.  I hope that at some point you shall return this way.  You will always be welcome, and my offer remains open."

"Thank you, my Lord.  I shall remember that."

"You will of course take my greetings to Lord Elrond and remind him that I always stand ready to assist him."

"Yes, my Lord, and I shall tell him of your kindness to me."

Saruman smiled.  He suddenly looked satisfied—and, oddly, somehow well fed, even though he had hardly touched the food upon his plate.  Laiqua did not know why, but, shuddering, he again thought of the fanglike pillars that surmounted the tower.