Disclaimer: see any other part. ( How long do I have to continue writing this?)
Chapter fourteen: The Tower.
They listened and they waited. The sound of footsteps drew closer and they could hear voices talking, but they could not understand the language. Frodo closed his eyes and he touched his heart, the spot she had placed her palm and saved him from death.
Solved was the mystery and her secret reviled and now he wished he did not know.
The footsteps were drawing closer and they could hear the clinging of orc chain mail as they came nearer.
It must be difficult for her, he thought and opened his eyes again, too know that for Sauron to be vanquished forever she had to kill her self, because of the deal her mother made with the Dark Lord.
However, why was she sacrificing her self now, how would she escape from the grasp of the Dark Lord when he got hold of her. Surely, he would lock her inn in the deepest dungeon so she could be safe forever and he could feast on her life.
That must not happen, whatever plans she had, they had to help her.
Suddenly the voices grew stronger and urgent, but there were no scream or cry for help from Feavair. The chain mails chirred and the orcs shouted to each other, to her, in harsh voices. Then there was the sound of someone been hit in the head, and then they could hear the sounds start to disappear.
Frodo swallowed and dared to peak out. He could see them on the road; five orcs and one of them had her body swung over his shoulder. Her dark hair was dancing down the orcs back and her arms were dangling lifeless. The orcs continued to talk on their own language, but suddenly another language rang through the grunting.
"So where are we taking her?"
"To the Tower"
"What is to be done with her, if there are any games me and my lads want inn on it"
"She is not to be harmed, all prisoners are to be stripped, full description of every article, garment, weapon, letter, ring or trinket, sent to…."
Then he did not hear anymore as the orcs disappeared in the mist that settled over the road to the dark city. Ahead them, in what seemed like only a couple of meters rose, a tall and dark tower grinning at them. Sam and Frodo waited even longer before they finally dared to climb out from their hiding place
"Are they gone?" Sam asked nervously and Frodo nodded.
"Yes"
They stood in silence for a moment.
"Then what shall we do now?" Sam asked.
"We need to save her…somehow" Frodo muttered and took a deep ragged breath.
"Are you alright Mister Frodo?" he asked concerned and Frodo nodded.
"Yes…. though I can't see how… I should have died" he said and shuddered as he thought about Shelob hovering over him, and then the pain that shot through his body as she grabbed hold of his legs.
"You…you where dead Mr. Frodo" Sam said quietly and thought back to the few seconds he had held his lifeless body in his arms.
"Let us not dwell on that now…. we need to find where they are going and how we are going to save her" Frodo said determined.
"Right…but…." Sam trailed off not being able to ask the questions that weighed on his mind. "What?"
"Do…what did she mean when she said that maybe it would all day just be a fairytale?"
" Remember that strange story she told us about the one who made a deal with the Dark Lord?" Frodo asked and Sam nodded. He had been thinking about the story repeatedly in his head so that he could someday tell it to somebody else. It was a strange and sad story, but a special one, non-the less.
"That was about her…she told us it to explain why she is here, why she followed us to Mordor. Probably the reason she has been traveling with us all this time," said Frodo.
Sam did not answer for there was nothing he could say.
"Then we should, somehow rescue her…only to bring her to her death" he muttered finally and Frodo nodded.
They started to walk again, in silence glaring over their shoulders every other step. The orc tower was right above them, frowning black and in it the red eye glowed. The road lay before them dank and dark descending into the Nameless Land.
Suddenly they heard voices again, and by now, they had learned that they were orc voices. They stood still, not knowing what to do. Then came the sound of tramping feet and angry shouts. In the darkness, they saw the flicker of torches and they both froze on the spot, not knowing what to do.
"Quickly" Frodo whispered and grabbed Sam's sleeve and pulled him down behind some dark stones. The sounds drew nearer and they held their breath, as the grunting turned into to words spoken raspy on the common tongue.
"Gorbag, what are you doing here…. had enough war?"
"Orders you ludder, and what are you doing, Shagrat, thinking of coming down for a fight"
"I am command of this pass, what have you to report!"
"Nothing"
"What about the spy, they caught?"
"A maiden elf….what she was doing here nobody knows"
"A maiden elf?….was she alone?"
"We don`t know, but it is not likely"
The orcs, ten or so, walked past them, so close they could smell the stench from their mouths and hear them breath. They walked quietly past them and disappeared down the road in the darkness. Sam and Frodo lay still for what seemed forever, and Frodo noticed, he did not have the urge to put the ring on his finger. He lifted a hand to his chest to make sure it was still there; it was, hanging lightly against his chest.
Suddenly he felt something stab his chest, he gasped in surprise and agony and he covered his mouth to suppress the urge to scream in pain. His eyes began to run with tears as a strange throbbing started to ache in his chest. The pain disappeared as quickly as it had started.
They were about to move, when the voices returned.
"Can't you stop your rabble making such a racket, Shagrat?" grunted one. "We don`t want Shelob on us!"
"Yours are making more then half the noise. But the lads play, we don`t need to worry about Shelob"
"Hrm…perhaps you are right. What did Lugbûrz want with that elf anyway?"
"I don`t know"
"Ha" said the orc named Gorbarg.
"You don`t fool me, you know more then you say!"
"All right," said Shagrat, then he lowered his voice. "The eye….has been growing stronger, quicker then the Big Boss predicted, he thought that maybe the ring had gotten closer. But when it turned out to be an elf…he was more pleased!"
The voices died down as they walked past them. Frodo held his breath once more, and then he looked out from behind his hiding place and saw the orcs open and almost invisible door, and step inside in what had to be a corridor leading to the tower.
They waited once more until they were sure there was no more orc patrols.
"They probably took her to the tower" Sam whispered barley audible and Frodo nodded.
"Yes…let us hurry" and then he grabbed Sam's hand and quickly the two of them scurried along the stones until they reached the door where the orcs had disappeared.
Just as the door closed, they managed to sneak inn and took, once again, cover behind some large rocks. Some of the orcs continued to walk down the corridor until they disappeared but Gorbag and Shagrat stood behind, still talking.
"Where is this `special prisoner` anyway!" asked Gorbarg.
"Up in the tower, I don`t trust your or any of my lads"
Then they started to walk, and not even hesitating the two hobbits followed, keeping a safe distance. The passage ran straight until they came to the end, wide open, were great double doors, probably leading to the deep champers far below the tower. They could hear blaring horns, burst of hoarse singing and banging of gongs.
Frodo looked at Sam, to see if he was ready to dash towards the door, and the hobbit nodded. Nevertheless, as soon as they got ready to run, the iron doors suddenly closed. With a deep and hollow bang, the massive bolt was lowered, and the door shut.
The two hobbits stood for a long time, neither one knowing what to say. They had come this far, and crossed all those dangers only to have the door close in their faces.
"What…what shall we do Mr. Frodo?" asked Sam.
Frodo closed his eyes briefly, wondering if what they were trying to do was madness. Then came the strange and warm feeling back in his body, as he though of Feavair`s simple touch, brining him back to life.
Although she had said she would be fine on her own, they could not let her perish to torture at the hands of the orcs.
"We must…." Said Frodo slowly and exhaled. "Try to find the main entrance to the tower"
Please review. Phew, I never thought this story would be so long.