Disclaimer: I don't own any of the lotr characters. They all belong to the
master Tolkien.
Ch 15 two are better than one
David had stood his ground with the Orc, he was determined not to give him the pleasure of screaming even though that was all he felt like doing. He hadn't noticed but during his torture session Fred had been removed and supposedly taken back to her cell. He hoped she was alright he still had that feeling that he wanted to meet her in person, he didn't usually feel this way about the prisoners in Orthanc, although most of them were horrible Dwarves that were just looking for treasure.
David wondered what she had done, it was a question he had been asking himself a lot lately. She didn't seem like a criminal or a rebel, she didn't seem to have any battle skills and didn't pose a threat against Mordor or Isengard.
The Orc ripped the ropes from around David's arms. He was still tried down with chains that were held by another, stronger Orc than the one that had been torturing him. The Orc led him through the corridors, they were more careful than they had been when David first came to the tower. He had tried to escape and had killed three of the Orcs guarding him. They were now always careful when moving him, he was far stronger than most of them and so they had to take extra care.
This time he didn't struggle as much as usual, he was too curious to find out who the girl in the cell was. If he knew the guards they'd put them both in the same cell, they never liked hard work and it was far easier for them to keep an eye on them when they were together.
When they opened the cell door blackness was all he could see. He wondered if she was even in there, maybe they were doing things differently now. He hoped she was, even if he could only find out what her crime was it would be something. He had no idea why he was so attracted to her but he had the greatest urge to find out all about her and meet her. There was something strange about all this and he wanted to know what it was.
The Orcs pushed him roughly into the cell and closed the door quickly behind them. David looked on angrily, he sometimes wished he could just kill them all it would be so easy for him. As he thought of this memories of his past had been brought back. They had hurt him so badly he couldn't walk last time he had tried to escape, he didn't want that again.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness a figure on the wall, tied up, came into focus. He didn't know what it was at first then he realised that it was the girl they had thrown in here. She didn't look like she was fully conscious but he went over to her in the hope of talking to her.
When he approached her she moved gently back to the wall but the movement only caused her more pain. The cuffs attached to the metal chains that held her to the cold wall were beginning to hurt her wrists. David was almost right in front of her now and she was getting more and more anxious, surprisingly she wasn't frightened. This man didn't seem like he wanted to hurt her and she was glad of that.
David was now right in front of her, she felt herself going into unconsciousness again, she was so tired of all of this, it all seemed strange to her and she didn't like what was happening to her. The man went out of focus for a minute but the image soon reappeared. On first sight he looked like her perfect man, tall, dark and handsome.
David put his hand gently on her face and moved a bit of hair that was hung over her face. He was so kind, she didn't feel frightened at all. He looked right into her eyes and she instantly felt better, she was so pleased that he was there, she no longer felt so alone.
He bent forward towards her and she flinched away from him, he completely understood why she was so scared. He took hold of her wrists and was surprised when he was met with no resistance. He quickly examined her wrists and saw the marks that the cuffs had left behind.
There was no way that he was strong enough to break those. He felt so sorry for this young girl, she was only in her teens from what he could tell and she seemed so innocent and scared. He knew that he had to help her after all she had saved him from getting hit with a red-hot poker.
He looked around him to find something that he could use to help her, there was nothing, of course not, they were in a prison cell.
There was only one thing he could think to do. Fred began mumbling someone's name softly, he didn't recognise it and could barely make it out but he thought it sounded like
"Bob"
He had no idea what that meant and he didn't have time to find out.
He had an idea that maybe he could break the chains that were holding Fred at their base rather than the cuffs. He bent down and examined the chains. He took hold of the chain and pulled hard, the chain didn't break at first but it soon cracked.
Fred fell forwards towards David; he quickly moved forwards and caught her. She fell limply into his arms he held her tightly for a few minutes until she stopped shaking with fear. He laid her gently down on the floor and looked at her. She certainly wasn't what he expected, she was so young and, to him, very beautiful.
Fred turned to him and looked up at him, she wasn't sure whether she was dreaming or this was really happening. She recognised him but couldn't quite remember where she had seen him before. One thing she knew was that she felt very comfortable with him and was pleased that he wasn't there to hurt her.
She lay there in his arms for some time and he didn't seem in any rush to push her away, in fact he welcomed her.
After a while she finally felt that she could try and sit up, she moved slightly and tried to push herself up, David helped her as best he could but also recognised that she was capable of doing things herself. She was certainly determined and kept going until she was full sat up. She still leaned against him and was pleased for his support.
Fred looked around her, a little confused, she remembered vague things that went on and she certainly remembered the pain and torture that she had experienced the past few days. She also knew who this man was. Then it came back to her, he was the one in the room where the Wizard had ordered the Orc to torture her, he had shouted at him to stop. She tried to stop him, now this seemed stupid he was only trying to help and maybe she should have accepted it.
He looked down at her with an equally confused look, she wasn't what he expected he thought she would be up and trying to kill him by now but she was just laid there doing nothing. Certainly not a criminal or a warrior.
"Who are you?" He asked in a soft voice.
At first she didn't answer him because she was so surprised that he would want to know anything about her.
"My.my name's Fred."
She suddenly felt very self-conscious and didn't know what to say next.
"Fred, that is a very unusual name. I don't think I've ever met anyone called Fred before and I have travelled many miles in my time. Where do you come from? Are you a warrior or royalty?"
Fred didn't know how much she should be telling him after all he could be an allie of Saurman. She decided to do the only sensible thing and ask him about himself. If he was so curious about her then it was only natural that she should be wary of him.
"Who are you? And what are you doing here?"
He smiled at this question.
"My friends call me David although I'm not sure why. I am from a royal family and I came in hope to destroy evil, unfortunately I was captured and brought here. My brother was noble and the Orcs killed him and I was brought here. I think he was the lucky one." At this he saw Fred's face and quickly added, "Of course it's never that bad. They never hurt you that much, after all they usually want you to talk about something."
Fred's face was suddenly filled with fear. If this was his attempt at reassurance it wasn't working very well, in fact he was making things worse.
"I am sorry . Fred. I did not mean to frighten you."
She nodded and felt like shouting him but she remembered that he was a prisoner here too and he was incredibly good looking.
"Are you a man?" She asked rather abruptly.
He looked very confused and didn't know what to say. She picked up on this and explained.
"I mean are you from the race of Men? I mean you're not an Elf or anything are you?"
He smiled at her question.
"Do I look like an Elf then?" He laughed. Fred however, did not appreciate this. She was asking a serious question.
"I apologise. You were just rather abrupt. Yes, I am from the race of Men. My father was of great importance in my land. I was considered a great warrior," he had said this many times and Fred got the impression that he was just bragging about it now, "you see Fred that's why I'm here. He thinks I have information that he wants."
Fred nodded thoughtfully and tried to take in everything he was saying. She was distracted though, by his smooth voice, he sounded good-looking.
She could hardly believe what she was saying, she was in a cell after being tortured and she was thinking about how good her hero looked. It seemed crazy.
Although no one could blame her, he was very attractive and that was something that she hadn't expected. Usually warriors were a little too over the top for her but this one seemed to be completely different, he seemed to really care about her life.
Fred wondered why he was being so nice to her after all they didn't know each other and had no previous connection, in fact so far they hadn't had a lot to talk about anyway.
Fred sat up further and then stood, he helped her and supported her by holding her arm, she couldn't believe it, no one at home would ever be that polite. This place was beginning to be quite good. Apart from the fact that she was being tortured. She knew that she didn't want to stay there but maybe now there was someone else there they could try and escape.
"If you're a warrior, why haven't you tried to escape yet? I mean if you are as noble as you say you are why don't you just break out of here?"
He sighed as if that question had been asked many times before.
"I may be a warrior but that doesn't mean that I am completely perfect. I am not strong enough to fight all the Orcs and other things in this castle. I have tried before with little success, I got as far as the gate and was caught. Trust me you don't want to be caught trying to escape."
"Why did you get caught?"
He smiled once more at her direct attitude.
"Perhaps I didn't have the right motivation." He said mysteriously.
She smiled at him and diverted her gaze there was something about him that made her think that he was looking straight at her, analysing her. She felt it even though it was too dark to see.
"Do you think you could try and get out again? I mean you must have learned something while you've been here."
He looked quizzing at her.
"I mean that you must have learned something from last time. There must be a weakness in this tower."
He looked about him as if he was sad that he had disappointed her. She sighed and tried to think back to everything she knew about Orthanc, it wasn't much. She knew that it was in Isengard. Some time in the future Merry and Pippin would join with the Ents and attack the tower. Unfortunately that wasn't going to happen any time soon seeing as they were on Earth.
She remembered that the River Isen flowed through Isengard. That didn't help her come up with a way of getting free. There had to be a way, some kind of weakness. This was so frustrating. If only Ned were with them they might have more information.
Fred noticed that David had given up and had gone and sat down on one of the benches at the side of the cell. She moved towards the bench glad that she didn't have to stand up any more. Her head was still swimming. She sat down and looked at David while he was thinking about her previous questions.
"Where are you from?" He asked suddenly.
She cocked her head to one side and looked questioningly for a second.
"It's kind of a long story. You probably wouldn't believe it."
"Try me." He replied simply.
"Okay, are you sure you want to hear this?" He nodded. "All right. If you insist. Well, you see, I'm not from here."
"You mean from Isengard? I guessed that."
"No, I mean I'm not from HERE."
He still looked confused and Fred knew she'd have to spell it out for him.
"I'm not from Middle Earth." She said and waited for his reply. It was a long time coming and was somewhat unexpected. "So where are you from? No, don't tell me, some other world that no one here knows about and that's why Saruman wants you."
She was surprised that he wasn't far off the truth. He looked at her with an amused smile on his face but it soon disappeared when he saw how serious she looked.
" You really mean it don't you?" He said in disbelief.
She nodded and laughed when she saw his face. "You can't tell him about this okay."
"Why does he want you just because you're from somewhere else?"
"It's slightly more complicated than that. Trust me, that part you really don't want to know."
He nodded, he understood that there were things that she couldn't tell him and he respected that and decided not to push the issue any further. He couldn't quite believe that she wasn't from Middle Earth, the thought that there was another world out there was almost overwhelming.
She gently touched his arm, which brought him out of his thoughts. He smiled gently at her. He lifted his hand to her face and then stroked her hair. She moved into his touch pleased that she was no longer alone.
"I can't imagine anyone hurting anything so beautiful." He whispered softly.
At first she was surprised at this comment and then she smiled sweetly at him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him and fell into a peaceful doze for the first time in a long time.
David sat there for a long time stroking her hair and holding her. It amazed him that anyone would want to hurt her, there was something intriguing but he still couldn't quite place it. After a while longer he leaned back, careful not to disturb Fred and fell asleep. His last thought was "what kind of a name is Fred?"
**
Saruman had hold of one of his Orcs around the neck. The creature was slowly running out of air.
"I want to know everything about her. Everything. She's hiding something, I know she is. I want to know what it is, is that clear?"
The Orc nodded through his grip.
"Good because she knows where the Ring-bearer is and I want her to tell me. If she thinks she can hide it I think you should make her tell you. Now go."
He roughly pushed the almost strangled Orc away from him. It then ran through the door to try and escape the White Wizard.
Saruman turned away from his Orc army and glared at the Palantir that was on a small platform. He was so close to being invincible and all that was standing in his way was a insignificant little girl. He knew that it was only a matter of time before his Orcs break him, she couldn't last long under the conditions he was keeping her under.
She was foolish if she thought she could defeat him, she would eventually give up the whereabouts of the Ring-bearer.
"Not much longer." She said pleased that so far his plan was working so well.
His malicious laugh echoed through the room that he was in.
Ch 15 two are better than one
David had stood his ground with the Orc, he was determined not to give him the pleasure of screaming even though that was all he felt like doing. He hadn't noticed but during his torture session Fred had been removed and supposedly taken back to her cell. He hoped she was alright he still had that feeling that he wanted to meet her in person, he didn't usually feel this way about the prisoners in Orthanc, although most of them were horrible Dwarves that were just looking for treasure.
David wondered what she had done, it was a question he had been asking himself a lot lately. She didn't seem like a criminal or a rebel, she didn't seem to have any battle skills and didn't pose a threat against Mordor or Isengard.
The Orc ripped the ropes from around David's arms. He was still tried down with chains that were held by another, stronger Orc than the one that had been torturing him. The Orc led him through the corridors, they were more careful than they had been when David first came to the tower. He had tried to escape and had killed three of the Orcs guarding him. They were now always careful when moving him, he was far stronger than most of them and so they had to take extra care.
This time he didn't struggle as much as usual, he was too curious to find out who the girl in the cell was. If he knew the guards they'd put them both in the same cell, they never liked hard work and it was far easier for them to keep an eye on them when they were together.
When they opened the cell door blackness was all he could see. He wondered if she was even in there, maybe they were doing things differently now. He hoped she was, even if he could only find out what her crime was it would be something. He had no idea why he was so attracted to her but he had the greatest urge to find out all about her and meet her. There was something strange about all this and he wanted to know what it was.
The Orcs pushed him roughly into the cell and closed the door quickly behind them. David looked on angrily, he sometimes wished he could just kill them all it would be so easy for him. As he thought of this memories of his past had been brought back. They had hurt him so badly he couldn't walk last time he had tried to escape, he didn't want that again.
As his eyes adjusted to the darkness a figure on the wall, tied up, came into focus. He didn't know what it was at first then he realised that it was the girl they had thrown in here. She didn't look like she was fully conscious but he went over to her in the hope of talking to her.
When he approached her she moved gently back to the wall but the movement only caused her more pain. The cuffs attached to the metal chains that held her to the cold wall were beginning to hurt her wrists. David was almost right in front of her now and she was getting more and more anxious, surprisingly she wasn't frightened. This man didn't seem like he wanted to hurt her and she was glad of that.
David was now right in front of her, she felt herself going into unconsciousness again, she was so tired of all of this, it all seemed strange to her and she didn't like what was happening to her. The man went out of focus for a minute but the image soon reappeared. On first sight he looked like her perfect man, tall, dark and handsome.
David put his hand gently on her face and moved a bit of hair that was hung over her face. He was so kind, she didn't feel frightened at all. He looked right into her eyes and she instantly felt better, she was so pleased that he was there, she no longer felt so alone.
He bent forward towards her and she flinched away from him, he completely understood why she was so scared. He took hold of her wrists and was surprised when he was met with no resistance. He quickly examined her wrists and saw the marks that the cuffs had left behind.
There was no way that he was strong enough to break those. He felt so sorry for this young girl, she was only in her teens from what he could tell and she seemed so innocent and scared. He knew that he had to help her after all she had saved him from getting hit with a red-hot poker.
He looked around him to find something that he could use to help her, there was nothing, of course not, they were in a prison cell.
There was only one thing he could think to do. Fred began mumbling someone's name softly, he didn't recognise it and could barely make it out but he thought it sounded like
"Bob"
He had no idea what that meant and he didn't have time to find out.
He had an idea that maybe he could break the chains that were holding Fred at their base rather than the cuffs. He bent down and examined the chains. He took hold of the chain and pulled hard, the chain didn't break at first but it soon cracked.
Fred fell forwards towards David; he quickly moved forwards and caught her. She fell limply into his arms he held her tightly for a few minutes until she stopped shaking with fear. He laid her gently down on the floor and looked at her. She certainly wasn't what he expected, she was so young and, to him, very beautiful.
Fred turned to him and looked up at him, she wasn't sure whether she was dreaming or this was really happening. She recognised him but couldn't quite remember where she had seen him before. One thing she knew was that she felt very comfortable with him and was pleased that he wasn't there to hurt her.
She lay there in his arms for some time and he didn't seem in any rush to push her away, in fact he welcomed her.
After a while she finally felt that she could try and sit up, she moved slightly and tried to push herself up, David helped her as best he could but also recognised that she was capable of doing things herself. She was certainly determined and kept going until she was full sat up. She still leaned against him and was pleased for his support.
Fred looked around her, a little confused, she remembered vague things that went on and she certainly remembered the pain and torture that she had experienced the past few days. She also knew who this man was. Then it came back to her, he was the one in the room where the Wizard had ordered the Orc to torture her, he had shouted at him to stop. She tried to stop him, now this seemed stupid he was only trying to help and maybe she should have accepted it.
He looked down at her with an equally confused look, she wasn't what he expected he thought she would be up and trying to kill him by now but she was just laid there doing nothing. Certainly not a criminal or a warrior.
"Who are you?" He asked in a soft voice.
At first she didn't answer him because she was so surprised that he would want to know anything about her.
"My.my name's Fred."
She suddenly felt very self-conscious and didn't know what to say next.
"Fred, that is a very unusual name. I don't think I've ever met anyone called Fred before and I have travelled many miles in my time. Where do you come from? Are you a warrior or royalty?"
Fred didn't know how much she should be telling him after all he could be an allie of Saurman. She decided to do the only sensible thing and ask him about himself. If he was so curious about her then it was only natural that she should be wary of him.
"Who are you? And what are you doing here?"
He smiled at this question.
"My friends call me David although I'm not sure why. I am from a royal family and I came in hope to destroy evil, unfortunately I was captured and brought here. My brother was noble and the Orcs killed him and I was brought here. I think he was the lucky one." At this he saw Fred's face and quickly added, "Of course it's never that bad. They never hurt you that much, after all they usually want you to talk about something."
Fred's face was suddenly filled with fear. If this was his attempt at reassurance it wasn't working very well, in fact he was making things worse.
"I am sorry . Fred. I did not mean to frighten you."
She nodded and felt like shouting him but she remembered that he was a prisoner here too and he was incredibly good looking.
"Are you a man?" She asked rather abruptly.
He looked very confused and didn't know what to say. She picked up on this and explained.
"I mean are you from the race of Men? I mean you're not an Elf or anything are you?"
He smiled at her question.
"Do I look like an Elf then?" He laughed. Fred however, did not appreciate this. She was asking a serious question.
"I apologise. You were just rather abrupt. Yes, I am from the race of Men. My father was of great importance in my land. I was considered a great warrior," he had said this many times and Fred got the impression that he was just bragging about it now, "you see Fred that's why I'm here. He thinks I have information that he wants."
Fred nodded thoughtfully and tried to take in everything he was saying. She was distracted though, by his smooth voice, he sounded good-looking.
She could hardly believe what she was saying, she was in a cell after being tortured and she was thinking about how good her hero looked. It seemed crazy.
Although no one could blame her, he was very attractive and that was something that she hadn't expected. Usually warriors were a little too over the top for her but this one seemed to be completely different, he seemed to really care about her life.
Fred wondered why he was being so nice to her after all they didn't know each other and had no previous connection, in fact so far they hadn't had a lot to talk about anyway.
Fred sat up further and then stood, he helped her and supported her by holding her arm, she couldn't believe it, no one at home would ever be that polite. This place was beginning to be quite good. Apart from the fact that she was being tortured. She knew that she didn't want to stay there but maybe now there was someone else there they could try and escape.
"If you're a warrior, why haven't you tried to escape yet? I mean if you are as noble as you say you are why don't you just break out of here?"
He sighed as if that question had been asked many times before.
"I may be a warrior but that doesn't mean that I am completely perfect. I am not strong enough to fight all the Orcs and other things in this castle. I have tried before with little success, I got as far as the gate and was caught. Trust me you don't want to be caught trying to escape."
"Why did you get caught?"
He smiled once more at her direct attitude.
"Perhaps I didn't have the right motivation." He said mysteriously.
She smiled at him and diverted her gaze there was something about him that made her think that he was looking straight at her, analysing her. She felt it even though it was too dark to see.
"Do you think you could try and get out again? I mean you must have learned something while you've been here."
He looked quizzing at her.
"I mean that you must have learned something from last time. There must be a weakness in this tower."
He looked about him as if he was sad that he had disappointed her. She sighed and tried to think back to everything she knew about Orthanc, it wasn't much. She knew that it was in Isengard. Some time in the future Merry and Pippin would join with the Ents and attack the tower. Unfortunately that wasn't going to happen any time soon seeing as they were on Earth.
She remembered that the River Isen flowed through Isengard. That didn't help her come up with a way of getting free. There had to be a way, some kind of weakness. This was so frustrating. If only Ned were with them they might have more information.
Fred noticed that David had given up and had gone and sat down on one of the benches at the side of the cell. She moved towards the bench glad that she didn't have to stand up any more. Her head was still swimming. She sat down and looked at David while he was thinking about her previous questions.
"Where are you from?" He asked suddenly.
She cocked her head to one side and looked questioningly for a second.
"It's kind of a long story. You probably wouldn't believe it."
"Try me." He replied simply.
"Okay, are you sure you want to hear this?" He nodded. "All right. If you insist. Well, you see, I'm not from here."
"You mean from Isengard? I guessed that."
"No, I mean I'm not from HERE."
He still looked confused and Fred knew she'd have to spell it out for him.
"I'm not from Middle Earth." She said and waited for his reply. It was a long time coming and was somewhat unexpected. "So where are you from? No, don't tell me, some other world that no one here knows about and that's why Saruman wants you."
She was surprised that he wasn't far off the truth. He looked at her with an amused smile on his face but it soon disappeared when he saw how serious she looked.
" You really mean it don't you?" He said in disbelief.
She nodded and laughed when she saw his face. "You can't tell him about this okay."
"Why does he want you just because you're from somewhere else?"
"It's slightly more complicated than that. Trust me, that part you really don't want to know."
He nodded, he understood that there were things that she couldn't tell him and he respected that and decided not to push the issue any further. He couldn't quite believe that she wasn't from Middle Earth, the thought that there was another world out there was almost overwhelming.
She gently touched his arm, which brought him out of his thoughts. He smiled gently at her. He lifted his hand to her face and then stroked her hair. She moved into his touch pleased that she was no longer alone.
"I can't imagine anyone hurting anything so beautiful." He whispered softly.
At first she was surprised at this comment and then she smiled sweetly at him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she leaned against him and fell into a peaceful doze for the first time in a long time.
David sat there for a long time stroking her hair and holding her. It amazed him that anyone would want to hurt her, there was something intriguing but he still couldn't quite place it. After a while longer he leaned back, careful not to disturb Fred and fell asleep. His last thought was "what kind of a name is Fred?"
**
Saruman had hold of one of his Orcs around the neck. The creature was slowly running out of air.
"I want to know everything about her. Everything. She's hiding something, I know she is. I want to know what it is, is that clear?"
The Orc nodded through his grip.
"Good because she knows where the Ring-bearer is and I want her to tell me. If she thinks she can hide it I think you should make her tell you. Now go."
He roughly pushed the almost strangled Orc away from him. It then ran through the door to try and escape the White Wizard.
Saruman turned away from his Orc army and glared at the Palantir that was on a small platform. He was so close to being invincible and all that was standing in his way was a insignificant little girl. He knew that it was only a matter of time before his Orcs break him, she couldn't last long under the conditions he was keeping her under.
She was foolish if she thought she could defeat him, she would eventually give up the whereabouts of the Ring-bearer.
"Not much longer." She said pleased that so far his plan was working so well.
His malicious laugh echoed through the room that he was in.