Moria's Revenge, chapter 10: Saved
Disclaimer: I do own these characters! Ha! They are doing my housework while I sit around and watch pigs fly.
Warnings: Why the heck am I warning you? If you are reading this you obviously do not heed them anyway.
Sorry I didn't update this repost for so long. I have no excuse except that I am lazy. *smile*
Special Thanks: Debi: For answering my incessant medical questions at all hours of the night. *hug* Llinos: For all of her help, and the extra scenes. ;) To Everyone: You guys are so great, your feedback makes it all worthwhile! *huggles and bursts into tears, again*
Merry held Pippin as tight as Aragorn would let him. Pippin smelled foul after being in orcish hands for so long, but Merry did not care. All he could think about was the small body in his arms. "It's all right now Pip, you're going to be all right, Strider will make you better, it's all right." Merry whispered the words over and over like a litany, whilst tried not to look down at Pippin's battered body.
When he had first seen the blood dripping from his cousin's stomach, back, and covering his legs filling the channel cut in the rock, he thought he was going to be violently sick. Then the horrible metal thing had come out of Pippin's mouth, covered in blood too. But then Pip had said Merry's name, he felt as if they were the only two people in the world. Merry had always taken for granted that Pip would be with him, but the last few days and nights had shaken his belief, and he vowed that his cousin would know just how much he meant to Merry.
Boromir held Pippin's head as he worked at the collar. The fastening was complicated, and he had discovered to his horror the spikes that dug into Pippin's flesh at every tug. Tears were running from his eyes as he looked at his young friend. Pippin's arms were at odd angles showing dislocation, and on his face were traces of semen and urine. Boromir also thought he spotted some lice or fleas infesting Pippin's curls. //Oh, Pippin. I can guess the torment they put you through and it tears my heart to think of it.//
Pippin's eyes were half open, but they did not seem to register his friends' presence. Finally Boromir lost patience with the clasp, and took out his hunting knife to cut the leather. He was so focused on his work that he did not notice Pippin's eyes go wide with terror. But Merry did.
"Boromir, the knife!" Merry whispered urgently. "You're scaring Pip."
"I'm sorry little one." Boromir held the knife out of Pippin's sight. "Can you explain or distract him? I cannot see any other way to get this hideous collar off him."
Merry took Pippin's face in his hands and looked into the scared, staring eyes, "It's all right Pip, no one is going to hurt you. I won't let them ever again. Boromir is going to take the collar off your neck, I promise you'll feel better."
Boromir moved to above Pippin's head so he could not focus on him or the knife and, as Merry kept his face turned away, the warrior cut through the cruel leather at the back of Pip's neck.
Aragorn looked up from examining Pippins' abdominal wound as he heard the leather drop to the sandy floor. He shuddered inwardly at the sight of the wounds on Pippin's neck where the spikes had dug in. Aragorn turned his attention back to the laceration. It would need stitching, but he had no idea where he would get the suturing material. They would probably have to sacrifice a hem of an old garment. If only he had thought to take some tail hairs from Bill before they had turned him loose!
Deciding that the best he would be able to do until they camped again (as far away from this place as they could manage) would be to tightly bind the wound with some bandages he had originally brought for the pack pony, Aragorn turned his attention to the little hobbit's other wounds.
Pippin's neck was not bleeding, but would also require bandages, as would his scored back. There were some horrendous burns on his sides and buttocks that looked to have been inflicted by a hot iron. The extensive bruising all over the hobbit's body made Aragorn's heart lurch, as he imagined the violence that would be needed to cause such injury to this innocent little creature. His arms would also have to be immobilized for transport. Aragorn went to the part of the examination he had been dreading, and moved to Pippin's lower regions.
First the ranger looked up at the little one's face to see how conscious he was. Merry was still stroking and whispering to his cousin and Pippin's eyes were half open but glazed. He took Pippin's knees and spread them apart, lifting them as he did so.
Aragorn winced. The damage to Pip's anus was severe, with abrasions and odd blisters that looked almost like burns, and there were the beginnings of lesions on Pippin's penis that suggested he had picked up some sort of disease. //Thank the Valar that hobbits do not have pubic hair, or Pippin would have a third site of infestation, in all likelihood. So far only Pippin's arms and stomach would need attention before he could be moved, which Aragorn wanted to do as soon as possible.
Trading places with Boromir, Aragorn started to have a look at Pippin's mouth. //Who knows what horrible things besides the gag they've put in there.// He soon found out as he spotted the smear of orc seed on Pippin's lips. Aragorn eased the unresisting jaw open, and looked inside. There were more of the lesions here, as well. //We must get these cured before the madness takes hold.// And no doubt the other hobbits would want to hold Pippin and never let him go, but Aragorn would have to limit that until they got rid of the lice. //Oh, Pippin, I am afraid you are going to hate me for the things I am going to have to do to you.// But it would be better for the hobbits if they could do something for Pippin other than feel sorry.
"Sam," Aragorn said gently. Sam raised his head from sobbing at Pippin's side, and looked at Strider with swollen eyes. "Do you remember the flannel bandages we brought from Rivendell for Bill?" Sam nodded. "Do you still have them in your pack?" At this Sam nodded again, and brightened a little. He rushed over to where he had thrown his pack and began rummaging through it. Aragorn turned his attention to Gimli. "Gimli, can you find the hot spring we passed coming here again?"
"Aye, Master Elf and I stopped there before. Do you think it is far away enough to make camp?"
"It is as far as I want to take Peregrin, and having a hot water source will be of great help. Can you and Boromir take Frodo, Sam and Merry there, and set up? Legolas and I can prepare Peregrin for travel, and we will make faster time in transit with just the three of us." Merry looked up in alarm.
"I'm n-n-not leaving P-P-Pip! He-e needs m-me!" Merry choked through his tears. Aragorn sighed. The real reason he wanted the hobbits to go was that binding and carrying Pip with his wounds was going to be a painful but essential ordeal for the broken halfling.
"I know you do not want to let him out of your sight, Meriadoc, but it would be better for Pip if you went ahead and got everything set up beforehand." Aragorn explained gently. Merry wanted to protest, but he knew Strider was right. He did not say anything, but held Pippin tighter.
Frodo could dimly hear Strider giving instructions to Gimli and Boromir. The thought of going on without his littlest cousin, now that they had found him, grated on his soul. Yet he heard Bilbo's voice as from a distant time.
"Trust yourself when you can't trust anyone else, but when someone knows more than you heed their words." Frodo lifted his head, let go of Pippin's hand, and hugged Merry.
"Shhh, Merry. It will be all right; Strider and Legolas won't let anything happen to poor Pip now we've found him. Merry sniffled a little and reluctantly allowed himself to be steered away by Boromir, looking back all the way until he was out of sight. Gimli had already set off among the rocks.
When they were gone, Legolas and Aragorn set to binding Pippin's wounds. They carefully arranged his arms at his sides and bound them tightly, placing a padding of gauze on the whip cuts on his back.
Pippin was floating in a haze. He wanted to go deeper, but the pain was drawing him irresistibly towards the surface. As he became more aware, he felt strong hands binding his body tightly. Fear flooded his mind. //What are they going to do now?// He started to struggle.
Legolas gave a cry of surprise when Pippin started to convulse and whimper. He held the hobbit by the shoulders and crooned soothing words into his ear. "Relax Pippin, don't fight little one, you're safe, you're safe, don't cry." Then turning to the ranger, "I do not think he can hear me, Aragorn!"
Aragorn had been trying to bind Pippin's stomach to stop the serious bleeding, and was about to answer when a furry, hot weight hit him from behind, knocking him off his feet so that he landed face down on the sandy ground. Legolas moved quickly, circling round Pippin and picking up his bow and quiver in one smooth movement.
Icefang had not been idle. She was surreptitiously gnawing through her leash while the two-leggers were messing with her cub. When her little one cried out in pain, rage swelled up inside of her and she snapped the chewed leash in one leap. Pouncing on the one closest to her, she whirled around to face them while straddling her cub and growling and snarling, her lips drawn up savagely to show her fangs.
Aragorn had his sword drawn and Legolas had an arrow locked to his bow, but neither made a move for fear of striking Pippin. Legolas paused. Something did not seem right. The warg was acting as if it were protecting Peregrin. Not it. *she*. Then the wolf did something completely unexpected. She stopped growling as she sniffed at Pippin and then whined, nuzzled the motionless hobbit, and began licking his face.
Aragorn had been prepared to jump forwards and kill the beast when it lowered its head, about to (he assumed) tear Pippin's throat out. But when it licked Pip's face, he realized it was not going to hurt him, but obviously thought she needed to protect him from them. Legolas reached out and brought Aragorn's arm down.
"I think I might be able to thought link with her. It will let me find out why she is doing this, and possibly communicate that we are trying to help Pippin."
"Thought link with an animal? Legolas, are you sure that's safe?"
"No, but I have to try, otherwise we will not be able to get near Pippin without killing her and I think the little one would not want her dead."
Aragorn looked dubious but agreed. Legolas performed the mind exercises that took elves to the mental state where they could link with others. He sent out a tendril of awareness to where he could feel the sink of violent anger of the wolf. Keeping his main mind carefully shielded, Legolas made contact. The flood of emotions lacked the organization of a sentient mind, but Legolas held firm, anchored by the link back to his own thoughts. He decided to explain to her in pictures.
He showed Aragorn binding the wounds, and then a picture of Pippin unscathed. Repeating this several times, he then showed just the picture of Aragorn binding the wounds. The wolf then supplied the picture of Pippin well again. The environment of her thoughts was beginning to calm. There was no more anger, only frantic concern for her "friend"?... "master"...no "cub". She saw Pippin as her cub!
Another flash of image passed from the warg to the elf and he saw her nestled around Pippin, the little form sleeping with his head on her belly as she licked his bleeding, sore back. Legolas opened his eyes and reached for the dangling leash, projecting an aura of calmness to her. He took hold of the leash and patted the warg on the head. She wagged her tail.
"What is it Legolas?" Aragorn was pleased to see the elf back in the real world. "Did Pippin befriend this creature in some way?"
"Not exactly," Legolas was very touched by the warg's obvious devotion to the vulnerable hobbit. "I think it was she that adopted him."
"In what way?"
"She sees him as her pup. He was very hurt and defenceless and she nursed him and took care of him as much as she could." Legolas smiled at the memory. "She has a very strong mothering instinct and in that filthy orc den was probably the only female Pippin came across."
Icefang was now fully confident that these two strange beings would take care of her cub. She settled down while Aragorn finished wrapping up Pippin. He was half awake, trembling and crying quietly with hiccupping little sobs, but Aragorn regardless of the lice, stroked his curls every so often and kissed his brow as he whispered gentle words. "It's all right Pippin, all right, I've got you now, I won't let any harm come to you."
When they wrapped him up in a blanket and turned to leave, Icefang stood up as well. This seemed to trouble them, and they paused at the entrance, making funny sounds to one another.
"Should we take the warg?" Aragorn looked down at Pippin cradled in his arms, still awake and sobbing gently. "It's a fearsome beast and could be difficult to handle."
"I think Pippin will be more upset if we leave her behind," Legolas pointed out. "I have the feeling she was the only creature that showed him any kindness during his captivity. He is going to be devastated if we turn her away."
Finally the dark one shrugged and the green one bent down, picked up her lead, and they started off. Icefang was going with her cub, and she was content.
Disclaimer: I do own these characters! Ha! They are doing my housework while I sit around and watch pigs fly.
Warnings: Why the heck am I warning you? If you are reading this you obviously do not heed them anyway.
Sorry I didn't update this repost for so long. I have no excuse except that I am lazy. *smile*
Special Thanks: Debi: For answering my incessant medical questions at all hours of the night. *hug* Llinos: For all of her help, and the extra scenes. ;) To Everyone: You guys are so great, your feedback makes it all worthwhile! *huggles and bursts into tears, again*
Merry held Pippin as tight as Aragorn would let him. Pippin smelled foul after being in orcish hands for so long, but Merry did not care. All he could think about was the small body in his arms. "It's all right now Pip, you're going to be all right, Strider will make you better, it's all right." Merry whispered the words over and over like a litany, whilst tried not to look down at Pippin's battered body.
When he had first seen the blood dripping from his cousin's stomach, back, and covering his legs filling the channel cut in the rock, he thought he was going to be violently sick. Then the horrible metal thing had come out of Pippin's mouth, covered in blood too. But then Pip had said Merry's name, he felt as if they were the only two people in the world. Merry had always taken for granted that Pip would be with him, but the last few days and nights had shaken his belief, and he vowed that his cousin would know just how much he meant to Merry.
Boromir held Pippin's head as he worked at the collar. The fastening was complicated, and he had discovered to his horror the spikes that dug into Pippin's flesh at every tug. Tears were running from his eyes as he looked at his young friend. Pippin's arms were at odd angles showing dislocation, and on his face were traces of semen and urine. Boromir also thought he spotted some lice or fleas infesting Pippin's curls. //Oh, Pippin. I can guess the torment they put you through and it tears my heart to think of it.//
Pippin's eyes were half open, but they did not seem to register his friends' presence. Finally Boromir lost patience with the clasp, and took out his hunting knife to cut the leather. He was so focused on his work that he did not notice Pippin's eyes go wide with terror. But Merry did.
"Boromir, the knife!" Merry whispered urgently. "You're scaring Pip."
"I'm sorry little one." Boromir held the knife out of Pippin's sight. "Can you explain or distract him? I cannot see any other way to get this hideous collar off him."
Merry took Pippin's face in his hands and looked into the scared, staring eyes, "It's all right Pip, no one is going to hurt you. I won't let them ever again. Boromir is going to take the collar off your neck, I promise you'll feel better."
Boromir moved to above Pippin's head so he could not focus on him or the knife and, as Merry kept his face turned away, the warrior cut through the cruel leather at the back of Pip's neck.
Aragorn looked up from examining Pippins' abdominal wound as he heard the leather drop to the sandy floor. He shuddered inwardly at the sight of the wounds on Pippin's neck where the spikes had dug in. Aragorn turned his attention back to the laceration. It would need stitching, but he had no idea where he would get the suturing material. They would probably have to sacrifice a hem of an old garment. If only he had thought to take some tail hairs from Bill before they had turned him loose!
Deciding that the best he would be able to do until they camped again (as far away from this place as they could manage) would be to tightly bind the wound with some bandages he had originally brought for the pack pony, Aragorn turned his attention to the little hobbit's other wounds.
Pippin's neck was not bleeding, but would also require bandages, as would his scored back. There were some horrendous burns on his sides and buttocks that looked to have been inflicted by a hot iron. The extensive bruising all over the hobbit's body made Aragorn's heart lurch, as he imagined the violence that would be needed to cause such injury to this innocent little creature. His arms would also have to be immobilized for transport. Aragorn went to the part of the examination he had been dreading, and moved to Pippin's lower regions.
First the ranger looked up at the little one's face to see how conscious he was. Merry was still stroking and whispering to his cousin and Pippin's eyes were half open but glazed. He took Pippin's knees and spread them apart, lifting them as he did so.
Aragorn winced. The damage to Pip's anus was severe, with abrasions and odd blisters that looked almost like burns, and there were the beginnings of lesions on Pippin's penis that suggested he had picked up some sort of disease. //Thank the Valar that hobbits do not have pubic hair, or Pippin would have a third site of infestation, in all likelihood. So far only Pippin's arms and stomach would need attention before he could be moved, which Aragorn wanted to do as soon as possible.
Trading places with Boromir, Aragorn started to have a look at Pippin's mouth. //Who knows what horrible things besides the gag they've put in there.// He soon found out as he spotted the smear of orc seed on Pippin's lips. Aragorn eased the unresisting jaw open, and looked inside. There were more of the lesions here, as well. //We must get these cured before the madness takes hold.// And no doubt the other hobbits would want to hold Pippin and never let him go, but Aragorn would have to limit that until they got rid of the lice. //Oh, Pippin, I am afraid you are going to hate me for the things I am going to have to do to you.// But it would be better for the hobbits if they could do something for Pippin other than feel sorry.
"Sam," Aragorn said gently. Sam raised his head from sobbing at Pippin's side, and looked at Strider with swollen eyes. "Do you remember the flannel bandages we brought from Rivendell for Bill?" Sam nodded. "Do you still have them in your pack?" At this Sam nodded again, and brightened a little. He rushed over to where he had thrown his pack and began rummaging through it. Aragorn turned his attention to Gimli. "Gimli, can you find the hot spring we passed coming here again?"
"Aye, Master Elf and I stopped there before. Do you think it is far away enough to make camp?"
"It is as far as I want to take Peregrin, and having a hot water source will be of great help. Can you and Boromir take Frodo, Sam and Merry there, and set up? Legolas and I can prepare Peregrin for travel, and we will make faster time in transit with just the three of us." Merry looked up in alarm.
"I'm n-n-not leaving P-P-Pip! He-e needs m-me!" Merry choked through his tears. Aragorn sighed. The real reason he wanted the hobbits to go was that binding and carrying Pip with his wounds was going to be a painful but essential ordeal for the broken halfling.
"I know you do not want to let him out of your sight, Meriadoc, but it would be better for Pip if you went ahead and got everything set up beforehand." Aragorn explained gently. Merry wanted to protest, but he knew Strider was right. He did not say anything, but held Pippin tighter.
Frodo could dimly hear Strider giving instructions to Gimli and Boromir. The thought of going on without his littlest cousin, now that they had found him, grated on his soul. Yet he heard Bilbo's voice as from a distant time.
"Trust yourself when you can't trust anyone else, but when someone knows more than you heed their words." Frodo lifted his head, let go of Pippin's hand, and hugged Merry.
"Shhh, Merry. It will be all right; Strider and Legolas won't let anything happen to poor Pip now we've found him. Merry sniffled a little and reluctantly allowed himself to be steered away by Boromir, looking back all the way until he was out of sight. Gimli had already set off among the rocks.
When they were gone, Legolas and Aragorn set to binding Pippin's wounds. They carefully arranged his arms at his sides and bound them tightly, placing a padding of gauze on the whip cuts on his back.
Pippin was floating in a haze. He wanted to go deeper, but the pain was drawing him irresistibly towards the surface. As he became more aware, he felt strong hands binding his body tightly. Fear flooded his mind. //What are they going to do now?// He started to struggle.
Legolas gave a cry of surprise when Pippin started to convulse and whimper. He held the hobbit by the shoulders and crooned soothing words into his ear. "Relax Pippin, don't fight little one, you're safe, you're safe, don't cry." Then turning to the ranger, "I do not think he can hear me, Aragorn!"
Aragorn had been trying to bind Pippin's stomach to stop the serious bleeding, and was about to answer when a furry, hot weight hit him from behind, knocking him off his feet so that he landed face down on the sandy ground. Legolas moved quickly, circling round Pippin and picking up his bow and quiver in one smooth movement.
Icefang had not been idle. She was surreptitiously gnawing through her leash while the two-leggers were messing with her cub. When her little one cried out in pain, rage swelled up inside of her and she snapped the chewed leash in one leap. Pouncing on the one closest to her, she whirled around to face them while straddling her cub and growling and snarling, her lips drawn up savagely to show her fangs.
Aragorn had his sword drawn and Legolas had an arrow locked to his bow, but neither made a move for fear of striking Pippin. Legolas paused. Something did not seem right. The warg was acting as if it were protecting Peregrin. Not it. *she*. Then the wolf did something completely unexpected. She stopped growling as she sniffed at Pippin and then whined, nuzzled the motionless hobbit, and began licking his face.
Aragorn had been prepared to jump forwards and kill the beast when it lowered its head, about to (he assumed) tear Pippin's throat out. But when it licked Pip's face, he realized it was not going to hurt him, but obviously thought she needed to protect him from them. Legolas reached out and brought Aragorn's arm down.
"I think I might be able to thought link with her. It will let me find out why she is doing this, and possibly communicate that we are trying to help Pippin."
"Thought link with an animal? Legolas, are you sure that's safe?"
"No, but I have to try, otherwise we will not be able to get near Pippin without killing her and I think the little one would not want her dead."
Aragorn looked dubious but agreed. Legolas performed the mind exercises that took elves to the mental state where they could link with others. He sent out a tendril of awareness to where he could feel the sink of violent anger of the wolf. Keeping his main mind carefully shielded, Legolas made contact. The flood of emotions lacked the organization of a sentient mind, but Legolas held firm, anchored by the link back to his own thoughts. He decided to explain to her in pictures.
He showed Aragorn binding the wounds, and then a picture of Pippin unscathed. Repeating this several times, he then showed just the picture of Aragorn binding the wounds. The wolf then supplied the picture of Pippin well again. The environment of her thoughts was beginning to calm. There was no more anger, only frantic concern for her "friend"?... "master"...no "cub". She saw Pippin as her cub!
Another flash of image passed from the warg to the elf and he saw her nestled around Pippin, the little form sleeping with his head on her belly as she licked his bleeding, sore back. Legolas opened his eyes and reached for the dangling leash, projecting an aura of calmness to her. He took hold of the leash and patted the warg on the head. She wagged her tail.
"What is it Legolas?" Aragorn was pleased to see the elf back in the real world. "Did Pippin befriend this creature in some way?"
"Not exactly," Legolas was very touched by the warg's obvious devotion to the vulnerable hobbit. "I think it was she that adopted him."
"In what way?"
"She sees him as her pup. He was very hurt and defenceless and she nursed him and took care of him as much as she could." Legolas smiled at the memory. "She has a very strong mothering instinct and in that filthy orc den was probably the only female Pippin came across."
Icefang was now fully confident that these two strange beings would take care of her cub. She settled down while Aragorn finished wrapping up Pippin. He was half awake, trembling and crying quietly with hiccupping little sobs, but Aragorn regardless of the lice, stroked his curls every so often and kissed his brow as he whispered gentle words. "It's all right Pippin, all right, I've got you now, I won't let any harm come to you."
When they wrapped him up in a blanket and turned to leave, Icefang stood up as well. This seemed to trouble them, and they paused at the entrance, making funny sounds to one another.
"Should we take the warg?" Aragorn looked down at Pippin cradled in his arms, still awake and sobbing gently. "It's a fearsome beast and could be difficult to handle."
"I think Pippin will be more upset if we leave her behind," Legolas pointed out. "I have the feeling she was the only creature that showed him any kindness during his captivity. He is going to be devastated if we turn her away."
Finally the dark one shrugged and the green one bent down, picked up her lead, and they started off. Icefang was going with her cub, and she was content.