Ch 14 questioning
Fred lay semi-conscious on a table of some kind; she was exhausted even though she knew her punishment had only been going on for a few hours. It seemed like an eternity of pain to her. Right now she didn't know if it would ever stop. The Orc torturing her kept asking the same question:
"Where is the Ring of Power?"
This was a question that she just couldn't answer, she didn't know where her friends were or if Frodo was even still with them. She wanted so much to see them all again. When they set off on their adventure it had seemed like a perfect opportunity to get to know Frodo but now it was just the worst thing that could happen.
Fred should have known something bad would happen, all the bad things seemed to happen to her. Sometimes she felt like nothing ever went right and this was just proof of that.
Right now she wasn't feeling very adventurous at all, she felt cold and tired and hungry and there was nothing she could do about it. She didn't know how much longer they were going to keep this up or how much longer she could avoid telling them where she had last seen her friends.
She didn't even know where she was anymore. She didn't think she was in the same room that she had first met that tall dark and handsome stranger in. Her mind began to wander and the fear of sleep crept back into her mind. She struggled to keep it at bay, she knew that they could do terrible things to her if she fell asleep.
She began to wonder who that man in the room was. He wasn't from any of the film, she knew that, after all she knew enough about the movie to know who was in it. She didn't recognize him at all. This was all so frustrating, she needed Bob with her, Bob always knew all the names of the people (although that was mostly about the hobbits rather than the men). She wondered if he was a prisoner as well. She cursed herself at this stupid thought. Of course he was a prisoner, why else would he be tied up? She almost laughed at the thought of what answer Ned would give.
He had tried to save her when that Orc had hurt her with the poker, she flinched when she thought of the pain that it had caused. She took her mind off it by trying to answer the question of who the man was. After a little while longer thinking she decided that she should give up, how was she supposed to know who he was anyway?
Fred had liked the look of him though, just thinking about him made her feel safe, she didn't know why as she'd never met him before and didn't even know whether he was trustworthy or not. She thought back to all those long nights she'd spent with Bob talking about her perfect man, the one with everything a girl could want. How could she be thinking this? She was a prisoner being brutally tortured by an evil Wizard and she was thinking about her ideal man.
When she said that in her head she almost found it funny. She thought about what the newspapers would say when they found out. She could almost picture the headlines.
"YOUNG GIRL GETS CAPTURED BY FLYING HORSE AND TAKEN TO CASTLE BY AN EVIL WIZARD"
No one would ever believe that.
Whilst she was thinking about this she imagined what her parents were doing, they must be so worried about her. She could picture it now, they would have the whole street out looking for her. As she thought about this she felt a sudden wave of homesickness, followed by an even worse wave of pain. She didn't know what that Orc had done to her but she didn't like it at all.
She laid there completely silent in the dark. She couldn't see anything, something that she almost glad for, she didn't want to see what lay around her especially after the incident in the cell. Those images came flooding back to her. This time though the comforting voice that helped her last time appeared to be screaming. It seemed so far away so she couldn't recognise it. She knew it was friendly though, when she tried to concentrate on it she just became more unfocused. She decided to give up thinking about it, this was just one of those things where she would think about it for ages and still never get it.
Fred wondered what waited for her in the dark, she had no idea what was out there and that made her feel very uneasy. She was claustrophobic and this wasn't helping her fear. She once again cursed herself for thinking about such trivial things when she was about to be tortured again. She knew that it wouldn't be long before that Orc came back. She didn't know his name but she remembered that Bob always found it helpful to give unknown things names so she began to think up weird names.
She searched through her dictionary of names (in her head obviously) and for some reason she came up with the name Terry. She hadn't really been able to focus on him when he was hitting her with a hot poker but it sounded good. Maybe she'd tell him, when she thought this through a little more she decided that she didn't want to make the Orc any more angry than it already was.
Fred's mind suddenly cast back to when he had been hitting her. It had started off really bad but then she began to ignore it. She prayed that it would stop, it hurt her so much. When he had first touched her she had screamed so loudly that the whole tower would have heard her and if she was honest she really didn't care a whole lot.
Then there was the mystery of that strange man that had tried to help her, she didn't know why she hadn't accepted his help. She hadn't seen him that well either, she was about to be hit by a poker and that was the last thing she was worried about. He had tried to help her so he must be good. Her mind flashed back to the Orc that had given her the food and drink and she instantly knew that she couldn't trust anyone. He could have been in her imagination. She had already seen what Saruman could do and she knew that he could play with her mind.
She kept thinking about that stranger's voice, so smooth. What was she thinking? This was madness. She shouldn't be thinking about what a guy looks like, she should be thinking of a way to get out of this terrible situation. Somewhere in the dark she heard a quiet bang. She wanted to see what had caused it but there was nothing but blackness and she had no intention of trying to get up and see what it was. She didn't know if she was tied up but even if she wasn't she knew it was something bad out there and she didn't want to have anything to do with it. She tried to ignore the feeling that something was watching her, waiting for her to make a move.
Her thoughts suddenly went back to the torture; it was like the thing out there was forcing her to think of these terrible things. She wished she could push the thought of the red-hot poker striking her out of her head; she wanted to forget the numerous beatings she had received over the past few hours. The things that Orc had told her. She didn't know why they would be true but they seemed to make sense to her. The most disturbing things she was told was about her friends, he had explained what would happen to them if she didn't do as she was told. Fred didn't know how he knew about Ned and Bob but she hadn't told him.
He told her that right now they were probably wondering why she wasn't telling them about Frodo and the Ring. The Orc knew so such, she wondered if they had extracted Frodo's position from her mind, this could all just be a trick and they just liked torturing her. They certainly didn't care whether they hurt her.
Fred wondered if she would ever get out of this place alive. Maybe once she told them they would let her go and not hurt her anymore. On the other hand they could just kill her or keep her alive for their own pleasure.
She was sure it was more likely to be the latter. She couldn't believe she'd only been there for a short time and already she was thinking about telling them. She knew she couldn't betray her friends like that. These evil creatures would only kill her anyway. She wouldn't tell them anything, it would probably mean the end for Frodo and mean that Sauron got the Ring and that could be the end for Middle Earth. On the other hand.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sound from outside the door, she didn't know what was making it but she was sure it was nothing good. She hoped it wasn't that terrible Orc coming back. That would be the worst thing; she had only just recovered from the exhaustion that had followed the rigorous beating.
The small strip of light that emanated from underneath the door became wider and heavy footsteps entered the room. Fred was really worried now, she knew it was the Orc, he'd come back to finish his job. She wondered if Orcs ever slept. It must have been night some time but she didn't know when or whether it was just the same day. Nothing was clear in this place. Everything was strange and she had no sense of time at all.
Fred suddenly remembered that she had her watch on with glow in the dark hands, the thought of knowing what the time was brought some sense of reality back into her situation. Then she wondered whether her watch would still work, after all she had been roughed about a bit over the time she'd been there. It was probably broken by now anyway. Plus the small hitch that she couldn't move her arms.
She couldn't believe what she was thinking, she shouldn't be thinking about her watch now, that was the least of her troubles.
The Orc that she had previously named Harry inspected her with hatred. She didn't know if it was the same one but it was too dark and she didn't really care, it wasn't like she preferred Harry. She would have preferred not to be there are all but that wasn't possible. She almost laughed when she thought that all this was because of a small, white Shetland pony that she thought looked like a Max.
The Orc moved around her as if inspecting his work, she couldn't believe these creatures, they loved to look at the destruction they caused. They certainly enjoyed their job of torturing people. He put his face low down right next to Fred's, she could smell his rotten, warm breath. His eyes were almost hidden because of the dark but she could still see the hatred in that mutilated face. She imagined that he had been a soldier once and now was angry that he was the one that had to torture the little girl for Saruman. He had scars on his face and fairly fresh cuts on his neck. Fred didn't know what this was from and she didn't want to either.
He smiled at her but it wasn't pleasant at all.
"What can we do with you next then? Would you like to choose or shall I pick for you?"
He laughed at his joke and seemed very pleased that he had said it. She didn't find it funny at all and didn't move or say anything. He went over to a candle on the wall and lit a bigger torch with it. The room was now filled with the glow of fire and that seemed to inspire the Orc, he looked around at her and was pleased to see that she had realised what he was going to do. Fred's face was now awash with fear.
He was going to burn her and his spirits seemed to instantly lift.
She wasn't quite as happy about it, the thought of him doing that to her again, when would they leave her alone? She longed for that comforting feeling that she wasn't alone but it wasn't with her anymore. She hoped it wasn't gone for good.
Harry the Orc held the flame of the torch close to her and the heat was so intense that it burned her before it was even touching her. The pain was terrible but she knew it was going to get worse. When the torch came down on her arm she screamed out loud and tried to lash out at Harry who was now laughing loudly at her screaming. She hated him even more for this and hoped that the flame might jump and set him on fire too.
Just as she thought she was going to pass out, that friendly, familiar voice of the man who had helped her in the room before called out. The Orc was distracted and looked around him as if searching for the sound. The man who had helped her again has shouting at Harry to stop hurting "that poor girl". Harry only stopped for an instant but soon realised that it was just meant as a diversion.
Not at all discourages, the Orc went back to Fred this time with an even more angry look on his face. He wanted to finish what he started and there was nothing that Fred or the brave stranger could do about it. She knew that she would have to face up to it eventually, she just wished she had more time to prepare.
Maybe after this he would get bored and leave her alone. Something inside her told her that that would never happen but she couldn't do anything about it. The belt like fastenings that were holding her to the cold stone table was impenetrable. There was no way she could find a way out of those, she certainly wasn't strong enough to break them and she saw no weapons. And once again there was the problem of where she would go if she did get free. This place was undoubtedly surrounded by Orcs and they would never let her past.
The torch came down on her arm and burnt her skin, at first she felt nothing but pure fear but then the searing pain set in and she once again screamed.
Harry enjoyed her screaming and once again let the torch drift down to Fred's skin. This time he aimed for her leg, the pain seemed even worse the second time round and she knew that it would probably soon be even worse than that. The heat was almost overwhelming and she thrashed in her bonds to try and escape it. At that time she wasn't thinking clearly and so almost forgot that she was tied down, however the sharp pain across her chest when she tried to push herself away from the table reminded her of her situation.
The belts, which were made of some kind of thick material resembling leather, dug into her chest and made breathing very hard. Fred didn't care about this though, all she wanted to do was to get away from that terrible burning pain. Unfortunately the more she tried to escape from it the more the Orc did it to her.
After about twenty minutes of this brutal torture Fred's screams could no longer be heard and the room was filled with an uneasy silence. She lay unconscious on the stone table and was pleased that she could no longer feel that immense pain and that she was finally in her own free dreamless land.
Harry smiled at the unconscious Fred; once again he stood back and admired his work. Fred's already damaged body was now covered in small patches of red and in places blisters from the hot flame that had been used in the torture session. Her face was still creased in pain even though she could no longer feel it. In a way she wished that she would never wake up and she would have been absolutely sure of this if she'd known what was going to happen to her over the next few days.
The man who had tried to help Fred was also lying on a stone bed but his was slightly elevated so he could see exactly what was happening to the young girl. He looked angrily at the Orc but said nothing, he knew his turn was coming up next and that he would be the next to experience the pain of torture. He should have been used to it by now, he had been in Orthanc for a long time and had suffered more than many of his kin.
His name was David, he had been part of a very noble family in the race of Men, he, like his father's before him was a great warrior. One day him and many other great men, including two of his elder brothers went to Orthanc to visit the Lord Saruman, instead of getting a reward they got punished and thrown into the dungeons of the great Tower. His brothers died quickly but David was kept on and Saruman often enjoyed coming himself and hurting the warrior.
Now he was reduced to being tortured daily by some Orc that had nothing to do and just wanted something to do. He had hoped that after a while someone would come and rescue him but it never happened. It was as if his own people didn't want to save him, or didn't know he was gone.
David had tried to escape several times but each time he got past the gate he was brought to the ground by some invisible force. He soon realised that neither he nor anyone else that was cursed by Saruman could leave Orthanc. After a few weeks trying he gave up and slowly got used to his daily routine. He had quickly leant to accept nothing from any of the treacherous Orcs and not to start trouble. He was sure that one day his people would come for him and everything would be safe.
He had seen many people of all races come into Orthanc for one reason or the other. He had even tried to help them occasionally but few of them took his advice and not many of them left Orthanc alive. Some never even saw light again. None had he ever felt so sure about than this new arrival. She was shrouded in mystery and seemed different to the others that had been captured. She didn't seem like the type to have done something wrong and she didn't look like a criminal of any kind.
There was something about this girl; she seemed to have wisdom and great knowledge. The thing that encouraged him most though was that when he had tried to help her she had refused and had gone ahead with her torture. David found this very noble. Although he had never seen her, he already felt an attraction to her and he knew that he would do anything for her.
He had wanted to help when she had been screaming in pain as that terrible Orc burnt her with the torch, he would have done anything for her. This surprised David, as he was never usually that trusting, in fact he rarely trusted anyone within Orthanc's walls.
**
Back in the New Forest Bob was pulling at the body of Frank with all her strength and she wasn't getting very far. He weighed too much and she knew this was going to take a long time. They also had to find somewhere to hide him, although that didn't seem too difficult in a place full of trees and ditches they had to think about the time. They knew they couldn't afford to stay in the same place for too long. There could be Wraiths all around them and they didn't want to get caught by them.
It was Sam who was sat on the floor at Ned's feet shouting orders towards Bob who was dragging the body on her own. Sam hadn't been as wonderful as she would have thought and secretly she was contemplating hitting him over the head with something very hard. But that was the last thing they needed. It would certainly attract a lot of unwanted attention.
Bob wondered how a man with only the food he could find in the forest could be so heavy. It seemed crazy to her.
Ned was looking better by the minute, although this seemed a little strange to both Frodo and Bob. She seemed to be recovering remarkably quickly. Frodo wondered if there was something more behind it all but didn't say anything to the struggling Bob. It would probably do very little good and end up making them all more worried than they should be. He decided that they had enough problems already without having to worry about Ned's ill health any more than they had to.
Frodo secretly wanted to help her more. At first he hadn't liked her at all, she was too tall for a start and he found her a little.odd. Now, however, he was beginning to like her. In fact, he hoped that either she would go with them back to Middle Earth or they could stay in this place.
After a few more minutes rest Ned got up from her seat and went over to help Bob. Even though Bob protested a few times Ned seemed all too happy to help and they both knew that they were running out of time. All the while Sam just sat on the seat previously occupied by Ned, he kept muttering to himself that they should just leave and not worry about the body. Everybody just ignored him and carried on.
Percy the squirrel was running around the hut picking up crumbs that Frank had left behind. He seemed to be having a great time and seemed even more pleased to finally have someone to look after him.
They finally managed to drag Frank out of the house and they hit him behind a large clump of trees and bushes. They didn't know how long it would be until someone found him but they were pretty sure it wouldn't be long. When they had finished placing him behind the shrubbery they went back to the hut and 'borrowed' one or two things from Frank. They took only what they needed, including a generous helping of food and a few choice weapons. Including Ned's penknife and the knife that had killed Frank.
They set off out into the forest again, Ned was being helped by a willing Frodo and Percy rode on Bob's shoulder. He seemed pleased to not have to walk any further.
Bob wondered how long it would be before someone found the body, it didn't look like many people came out this way but if they did they would probably find him quite quickly. At least they had left no evidence that it was them that killed him. Bob still couldn't quite believe what she had done, she never thought she would have to kill a human. She was almost vegetarian anyway and didn't even like to see animals killed, once she had a guilty conscience for stepping on a small bug. It was so unlike her to be violent, at least with other people.
She wondered if she would ever get over it. In her head she knew that he would have killed her if she hadn't defended herself but even so the shock was still there. She wondered if Fred was going through something as bad as this. It had been a while since she had heard anything and this worried her even more than the disturbing images she had seen before.
The five of them had almost forgot that their main aim now was to find Fred. Bob wondered if the others still remembered that Fred was missing.
Just when she thought of this that familiar feeling of unease came over her, she felt like she was in great pain but it wasn't actually clear. It was as if she could feel it but it wasn't her pain. She instantly knew that she was communicating with Fred again although this time she didn't feel the mental anguish she had felt last time but the physical pain that her friend was feeling.
Bob stopped and this halted the others who were travelling behind her. They couldn't hope to see or feel what she was feeling but Ned recognised the look she had on her face. This time was different to the last, instead of falling to the ground as she did last time Bob just stood there as if waiting for something to happen.
Ned walked over to her and looked at her, wondering what she was seeing. She was surprised when Bob looked straight at her and said,
"She's alive."
Of course, Ned knew she was talking about Fred and secretly wished that she too could see what was going on with Fred but in a way she was glad that she couldn't feel the pain and fear that Bob was feeling.
After a few minutes of just standing there Bob seemed to come back to her senses. She sat down on the ground and rocked slowly as if trying to dispel bad memories. She was muttering something under her breath but Ned couldn't quite make out what she was saying. She heard the word "hurt" but apart from that there was nothing else she could understand.
Then something caught Ned's attention. Bob said in a louder and clearer voice the name
"ORTHANC"
Ned grabbed Bob by the shoulders and shook her to try and bring some sense to her.
"You said Orthanc, is that where Fred is? Tell me Bob is that where Fred is?"
Bob nodded her head and looked right into Ned's eyes. Both of the girls had a look of fear and dread. They knew that if Fred was in Orthanc then there wasn't much chance of getting her out alive.
They then knew that they would have to find some way of getting into Middle Earth. That wouldn't be easy.
Fred lay semi-conscious on a table of some kind; she was exhausted even though she knew her punishment had only been going on for a few hours. It seemed like an eternity of pain to her. Right now she didn't know if it would ever stop. The Orc torturing her kept asking the same question:
"Where is the Ring of Power?"
This was a question that she just couldn't answer, she didn't know where her friends were or if Frodo was even still with them. She wanted so much to see them all again. When they set off on their adventure it had seemed like a perfect opportunity to get to know Frodo but now it was just the worst thing that could happen.
Fred should have known something bad would happen, all the bad things seemed to happen to her. Sometimes she felt like nothing ever went right and this was just proof of that.
Right now she wasn't feeling very adventurous at all, she felt cold and tired and hungry and there was nothing she could do about it. She didn't know how much longer they were going to keep this up or how much longer she could avoid telling them where she had last seen her friends.
She didn't even know where she was anymore. She didn't think she was in the same room that she had first met that tall dark and handsome stranger in. Her mind began to wander and the fear of sleep crept back into her mind. She struggled to keep it at bay, she knew that they could do terrible things to her if she fell asleep.
She began to wonder who that man in the room was. He wasn't from any of the film, she knew that, after all she knew enough about the movie to know who was in it. She didn't recognize him at all. This was all so frustrating, she needed Bob with her, Bob always knew all the names of the people (although that was mostly about the hobbits rather than the men). She wondered if he was a prisoner as well. She cursed herself at this stupid thought. Of course he was a prisoner, why else would he be tied up? She almost laughed at the thought of what answer Ned would give.
He had tried to save her when that Orc had hurt her with the poker, she flinched when she thought of the pain that it had caused. She took her mind off it by trying to answer the question of who the man was. After a little while longer thinking she decided that she should give up, how was she supposed to know who he was anyway?
Fred had liked the look of him though, just thinking about him made her feel safe, she didn't know why as she'd never met him before and didn't even know whether he was trustworthy or not. She thought back to all those long nights she'd spent with Bob talking about her perfect man, the one with everything a girl could want. How could she be thinking this? She was a prisoner being brutally tortured by an evil Wizard and she was thinking about her ideal man.
When she said that in her head she almost found it funny. She thought about what the newspapers would say when they found out. She could almost picture the headlines.
"YOUNG GIRL GETS CAPTURED BY FLYING HORSE AND TAKEN TO CASTLE BY AN EVIL WIZARD"
No one would ever believe that.
Whilst she was thinking about this she imagined what her parents were doing, they must be so worried about her. She could picture it now, they would have the whole street out looking for her. As she thought about this she felt a sudden wave of homesickness, followed by an even worse wave of pain. She didn't know what that Orc had done to her but she didn't like it at all.
She laid there completely silent in the dark. She couldn't see anything, something that she almost glad for, she didn't want to see what lay around her especially after the incident in the cell. Those images came flooding back to her. This time though the comforting voice that helped her last time appeared to be screaming. It seemed so far away so she couldn't recognise it. She knew it was friendly though, when she tried to concentrate on it she just became more unfocused. She decided to give up thinking about it, this was just one of those things where she would think about it for ages and still never get it.
Fred wondered what waited for her in the dark, she had no idea what was out there and that made her feel very uneasy. She was claustrophobic and this wasn't helping her fear. She once again cursed herself for thinking about such trivial things when she was about to be tortured again. She knew that it wouldn't be long before that Orc came back. She didn't know his name but she remembered that Bob always found it helpful to give unknown things names so she began to think up weird names.
She searched through her dictionary of names (in her head obviously) and for some reason she came up with the name Terry. She hadn't really been able to focus on him when he was hitting her with a hot poker but it sounded good. Maybe she'd tell him, when she thought this through a little more she decided that she didn't want to make the Orc any more angry than it already was.
Fred's mind suddenly cast back to when he had been hitting her. It had started off really bad but then she began to ignore it. She prayed that it would stop, it hurt her so much. When he had first touched her she had screamed so loudly that the whole tower would have heard her and if she was honest she really didn't care a whole lot.
Then there was the mystery of that strange man that had tried to help her, she didn't know why she hadn't accepted his help. She hadn't seen him that well either, she was about to be hit by a poker and that was the last thing she was worried about. He had tried to help her so he must be good. Her mind flashed back to the Orc that had given her the food and drink and she instantly knew that she couldn't trust anyone. He could have been in her imagination. She had already seen what Saruman could do and she knew that he could play with her mind.
She kept thinking about that stranger's voice, so smooth. What was she thinking? This was madness. She shouldn't be thinking about what a guy looks like, she should be thinking of a way to get out of this terrible situation. Somewhere in the dark she heard a quiet bang. She wanted to see what had caused it but there was nothing but blackness and she had no intention of trying to get up and see what it was. She didn't know if she was tied up but even if she wasn't she knew it was something bad out there and she didn't want to have anything to do with it. She tried to ignore the feeling that something was watching her, waiting for her to make a move.
Her thoughts suddenly went back to the torture; it was like the thing out there was forcing her to think of these terrible things. She wished she could push the thought of the red-hot poker striking her out of her head; she wanted to forget the numerous beatings she had received over the past few hours. The things that Orc had told her. She didn't know why they would be true but they seemed to make sense to her. The most disturbing things she was told was about her friends, he had explained what would happen to them if she didn't do as she was told. Fred didn't know how he knew about Ned and Bob but she hadn't told him.
He told her that right now they were probably wondering why she wasn't telling them about Frodo and the Ring. The Orc knew so such, she wondered if they had extracted Frodo's position from her mind, this could all just be a trick and they just liked torturing her. They certainly didn't care whether they hurt her.
Fred wondered if she would ever get out of this place alive. Maybe once she told them they would let her go and not hurt her anymore. On the other hand they could just kill her or keep her alive for their own pleasure.
She was sure it was more likely to be the latter. She couldn't believe she'd only been there for a short time and already she was thinking about telling them. She knew she couldn't betray her friends like that. These evil creatures would only kill her anyway. She wouldn't tell them anything, it would probably mean the end for Frodo and mean that Sauron got the Ring and that could be the end for Middle Earth. On the other hand.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a sound from outside the door, she didn't know what was making it but she was sure it was nothing good. She hoped it wasn't that terrible Orc coming back. That would be the worst thing; she had only just recovered from the exhaustion that had followed the rigorous beating.
The small strip of light that emanated from underneath the door became wider and heavy footsteps entered the room. Fred was really worried now, she knew it was the Orc, he'd come back to finish his job. She wondered if Orcs ever slept. It must have been night some time but she didn't know when or whether it was just the same day. Nothing was clear in this place. Everything was strange and she had no sense of time at all.
Fred suddenly remembered that she had her watch on with glow in the dark hands, the thought of knowing what the time was brought some sense of reality back into her situation. Then she wondered whether her watch would still work, after all she had been roughed about a bit over the time she'd been there. It was probably broken by now anyway. Plus the small hitch that she couldn't move her arms.
She couldn't believe what she was thinking, she shouldn't be thinking about her watch now, that was the least of her troubles.
The Orc that she had previously named Harry inspected her with hatred. She didn't know if it was the same one but it was too dark and she didn't really care, it wasn't like she preferred Harry. She would have preferred not to be there are all but that wasn't possible. She almost laughed when she thought that all this was because of a small, white Shetland pony that she thought looked like a Max.
The Orc moved around her as if inspecting his work, she couldn't believe these creatures, they loved to look at the destruction they caused. They certainly enjoyed their job of torturing people. He put his face low down right next to Fred's, she could smell his rotten, warm breath. His eyes were almost hidden because of the dark but she could still see the hatred in that mutilated face. She imagined that he had been a soldier once and now was angry that he was the one that had to torture the little girl for Saruman. He had scars on his face and fairly fresh cuts on his neck. Fred didn't know what this was from and she didn't want to either.
He smiled at her but it wasn't pleasant at all.
"What can we do with you next then? Would you like to choose or shall I pick for you?"
He laughed at his joke and seemed very pleased that he had said it. She didn't find it funny at all and didn't move or say anything. He went over to a candle on the wall and lit a bigger torch with it. The room was now filled with the glow of fire and that seemed to inspire the Orc, he looked around at her and was pleased to see that she had realised what he was going to do. Fred's face was now awash with fear.
He was going to burn her and his spirits seemed to instantly lift.
She wasn't quite as happy about it, the thought of him doing that to her again, when would they leave her alone? She longed for that comforting feeling that she wasn't alone but it wasn't with her anymore. She hoped it wasn't gone for good.
Harry the Orc held the flame of the torch close to her and the heat was so intense that it burned her before it was even touching her. The pain was terrible but she knew it was going to get worse. When the torch came down on her arm she screamed out loud and tried to lash out at Harry who was now laughing loudly at her screaming. She hated him even more for this and hoped that the flame might jump and set him on fire too.
Just as she thought she was going to pass out, that friendly, familiar voice of the man who had helped her in the room before called out. The Orc was distracted and looked around him as if searching for the sound. The man who had helped her again has shouting at Harry to stop hurting "that poor girl". Harry only stopped for an instant but soon realised that it was just meant as a diversion.
Not at all discourages, the Orc went back to Fred this time with an even more angry look on his face. He wanted to finish what he started and there was nothing that Fred or the brave stranger could do about it. She knew that she would have to face up to it eventually, she just wished she had more time to prepare.
Maybe after this he would get bored and leave her alone. Something inside her told her that that would never happen but she couldn't do anything about it. The belt like fastenings that were holding her to the cold stone table was impenetrable. There was no way she could find a way out of those, she certainly wasn't strong enough to break them and she saw no weapons. And once again there was the problem of where she would go if she did get free. This place was undoubtedly surrounded by Orcs and they would never let her past.
The torch came down on her arm and burnt her skin, at first she felt nothing but pure fear but then the searing pain set in and she once again screamed.
Harry enjoyed her screaming and once again let the torch drift down to Fred's skin. This time he aimed for her leg, the pain seemed even worse the second time round and she knew that it would probably soon be even worse than that. The heat was almost overwhelming and she thrashed in her bonds to try and escape it. At that time she wasn't thinking clearly and so almost forgot that she was tied down, however the sharp pain across her chest when she tried to push herself away from the table reminded her of her situation.
The belts, which were made of some kind of thick material resembling leather, dug into her chest and made breathing very hard. Fred didn't care about this though, all she wanted to do was to get away from that terrible burning pain. Unfortunately the more she tried to escape from it the more the Orc did it to her.
After about twenty minutes of this brutal torture Fred's screams could no longer be heard and the room was filled with an uneasy silence. She lay unconscious on the stone table and was pleased that she could no longer feel that immense pain and that she was finally in her own free dreamless land.
Harry smiled at the unconscious Fred; once again he stood back and admired his work. Fred's already damaged body was now covered in small patches of red and in places blisters from the hot flame that had been used in the torture session. Her face was still creased in pain even though she could no longer feel it. In a way she wished that she would never wake up and she would have been absolutely sure of this if she'd known what was going to happen to her over the next few days.
The man who had tried to help Fred was also lying on a stone bed but his was slightly elevated so he could see exactly what was happening to the young girl. He looked angrily at the Orc but said nothing, he knew his turn was coming up next and that he would be the next to experience the pain of torture. He should have been used to it by now, he had been in Orthanc for a long time and had suffered more than many of his kin.
His name was David, he had been part of a very noble family in the race of Men, he, like his father's before him was a great warrior. One day him and many other great men, including two of his elder brothers went to Orthanc to visit the Lord Saruman, instead of getting a reward they got punished and thrown into the dungeons of the great Tower. His brothers died quickly but David was kept on and Saruman often enjoyed coming himself and hurting the warrior.
Now he was reduced to being tortured daily by some Orc that had nothing to do and just wanted something to do. He had hoped that after a while someone would come and rescue him but it never happened. It was as if his own people didn't want to save him, or didn't know he was gone.
David had tried to escape several times but each time he got past the gate he was brought to the ground by some invisible force. He soon realised that neither he nor anyone else that was cursed by Saruman could leave Orthanc. After a few weeks trying he gave up and slowly got used to his daily routine. He had quickly leant to accept nothing from any of the treacherous Orcs and not to start trouble. He was sure that one day his people would come for him and everything would be safe.
He had seen many people of all races come into Orthanc for one reason or the other. He had even tried to help them occasionally but few of them took his advice and not many of them left Orthanc alive. Some never even saw light again. None had he ever felt so sure about than this new arrival. She was shrouded in mystery and seemed different to the others that had been captured. She didn't seem like the type to have done something wrong and she didn't look like a criminal of any kind.
There was something about this girl; she seemed to have wisdom and great knowledge. The thing that encouraged him most though was that when he had tried to help her she had refused and had gone ahead with her torture. David found this very noble. Although he had never seen her, he already felt an attraction to her and he knew that he would do anything for her.
He had wanted to help when she had been screaming in pain as that terrible Orc burnt her with the torch, he would have done anything for her. This surprised David, as he was never usually that trusting, in fact he rarely trusted anyone within Orthanc's walls.
**
Back in the New Forest Bob was pulling at the body of Frank with all her strength and she wasn't getting very far. He weighed too much and she knew this was going to take a long time. They also had to find somewhere to hide him, although that didn't seem too difficult in a place full of trees and ditches they had to think about the time. They knew they couldn't afford to stay in the same place for too long. There could be Wraiths all around them and they didn't want to get caught by them.
It was Sam who was sat on the floor at Ned's feet shouting orders towards Bob who was dragging the body on her own. Sam hadn't been as wonderful as she would have thought and secretly she was contemplating hitting him over the head with something very hard. But that was the last thing they needed. It would certainly attract a lot of unwanted attention.
Bob wondered how a man with only the food he could find in the forest could be so heavy. It seemed crazy to her.
Ned was looking better by the minute, although this seemed a little strange to both Frodo and Bob. She seemed to be recovering remarkably quickly. Frodo wondered if there was something more behind it all but didn't say anything to the struggling Bob. It would probably do very little good and end up making them all more worried than they should be. He decided that they had enough problems already without having to worry about Ned's ill health any more than they had to.
Frodo secretly wanted to help her more. At first he hadn't liked her at all, she was too tall for a start and he found her a little.odd. Now, however, he was beginning to like her. In fact, he hoped that either she would go with them back to Middle Earth or they could stay in this place.
After a few more minutes rest Ned got up from her seat and went over to help Bob. Even though Bob protested a few times Ned seemed all too happy to help and they both knew that they were running out of time. All the while Sam just sat on the seat previously occupied by Ned, he kept muttering to himself that they should just leave and not worry about the body. Everybody just ignored him and carried on.
Percy the squirrel was running around the hut picking up crumbs that Frank had left behind. He seemed to be having a great time and seemed even more pleased to finally have someone to look after him.
They finally managed to drag Frank out of the house and they hit him behind a large clump of trees and bushes. They didn't know how long it would be until someone found him but they were pretty sure it wouldn't be long. When they had finished placing him behind the shrubbery they went back to the hut and 'borrowed' one or two things from Frank. They took only what they needed, including a generous helping of food and a few choice weapons. Including Ned's penknife and the knife that had killed Frank.
They set off out into the forest again, Ned was being helped by a willing Frodo and Percy rode on Bob's shoulder. He seemed pleased to not have to walk any further.
Bob wondered how long it would be before someone found the body, it didn't look like many people came out this way but if they did they would probably find him quite quickly. At least they had left no evidence that it was them that killed him. Bob still couldn't quite believe what she had done, she never thought she would have to kill a human. She was almost vegetarian anyway and didn't even like to see animals killed, once she had a guilty conscience for stepping on a small bug. It was so unlike her to be violent, at least with other people.
She wondered if she would ever get over it. In her head she knew that he would have killed her if she hadn't defended herself but even so the shock was still there. She wondered if Fred was going through something as bad as this. It had been a while since she had heard anything and this worried her even more than the disturbing images she had seen before.
The five of them had almost forgot that their main aim now was to find Fred. Bob wondered if the others still remembered that Fred was missing.
Just when she thought of this that familiar feeling of unease came over her, she felt like she was in great pain but it wasn't actually clear. It was as if she could feel it but it wasn't her pain. She instantly knew that she was communicating with Fred again although this time she didn't feel the mental anguish she had felt last time but the physical pain that her friend was feeling.
Bob stopped and this halted the others who were travelling behind her. They couldn't hope to see or feel what she was feeling but Ned recognised the look she had on her face. This time was different to the last, instead of falling to the ground as she did last time Bob just stood there as if waiting for something to happen.
Ned walked over to her and looked at her, wondering what she was seeing. She was surprised when Bob looked straight at her and said,
"She's alive."
Of course, Ned knew she was talking about Fred and secretly wished that she too could see what was going on with Fred but in a way she was glad that she couldn't feel the pain and fear that Bob was feeling.
After a few minutes of just standing there Bob seemed to come back to her senses. She sat down on the ground and rocked slowly as if trying to dispel bad memories. She was muttering something under her breath but Ned couldn't quite make out what she was saying. She heard the word "hurt" but apart from that there was nothing else she could understand.
Then something caught Ned's attention. Bob said in a louder and clearer voice the name
"ORTHANC"
Ned grabbed Bob by the shoulders and shook her to try and bring some sense to her.
"You said Orthanc, is that where Fred is? Tell me Bob is that where Fred is?"
Bob nodded her head and looked right into Ned's eyes. Both of the girls had a look of fear and dread. They knew that if Fred was in Orthanc then there wasn't much chance of getting her out alive.
They then knew that they would have to find some way of getting into Middle Earth. That wouldn't be easy.