Almostinsane: Thanks for reviewing this story, even if you're the only one doing it. It's a great encouragement. Hope you like this chapter!
Suddenly the group of eight heard something running towards them.
"Yrch!" Legolas cried in his own language, as they saw a group of about twenty Orcs charging at them.
"Prepare to fight!" Aragorn exclaimed.
Frodo drew Sting from its sheath, as the other hobbits and Gandalf did likewise with their swords and Legolas once again armed his bow and Gimli readied his ax. Legolas quickly shot down two Orcs and Gimli cut off the head of another with a single swipe of his ax. The small army of Orcs was quickly defeated.
"Stay on your guard," Gandalf advised, "Saruman most likely has more in store for us."
Soon the walls of Orthanc were in clear view; but the companions were once again attacked by a group of Orcs, this one larger than the last. The Orcs were nearing defeat when one of them spotted Frodo and began to sneak up on him. Unaware of this, he stayed silently behind Gandalf. Suddenly, he was grabbed from behind, a foul Orc hand was clasped over his mouth, and Sting was thrown to the ground. Frodo struggled to get free as the creature hurried to take him into Orthanc.
Finally he managed to get his mouth free and yelled, "Gandalf!" Gandalf whirled around at the sound of Frodo's cry as Aragorn killed the last Orc, but it was too late and he caught only a glimpse of Frodo disappearing into the black doors of Orthanc.
Frodo was hurried to the room where Saruman sat upon his throne-like chair.
"So here is the maker of so many of my problems," Saruman said once the Orc had left. He stood up and began to approach Frodo who backed away, remembering the time at Bag End when Saruman had tried to kill him. "And here is my chance to get rid of him."
He drew out a knife; and Frodo, backing away quickly, suddenly ran into something.
"Going somewhere?" asked a voice behind him.
Frodo whirled and gasped when he saw that he had run into another wizard, also dressed in white.
"Who… who are you?" Frodo asked, terrified.
"I am Rasuman, brother of Saruman. My mark is the black arrow," the wizard replied with a wicked look on his face and clutched Frodo's shoulders firmly.
Suddenly there was a bang as Gandalf charged through the door with the rest of the company.
"Mr. Frodo!" Sam cried.
"Let him go!" Gandalf commanded.
Rasuman looked afraid, obeyed, quietly backed away, and then ran off.
"Rasuman, you fool!" Saruman shouted after him.
Then he turned and glared at Gandalf, suddenly a gleam came into his eye; and he quickly turned back and threw the knife at Frodo, who flung himself to the ground, barely missing getting hit as he felt the knife brush through his hair. Then Saruman, disappointed at his miss, rushed off after Rasuman.
"Mr. Frodo! Are you all right?" Sam cried as he rushed to his master, who was still lying on the floor, amazed at his narrow escape.
"Oh Sam!" Frodo cried, sitting up and embracing his friend. "Yes, I am fine. But how did you get here? I was beginning to think that it was the end."
"Well," Gandalf began as Merry returned Sting to Frodo, who thanked him and placed it back in its sheath. "I heard your cry when you were captured, and we hurried to look for a second entrance to Orthanc."
"We were disappointed to find that there is no other, unless there is one accessible by the caves," Aragorn continued. "We decided that we had to try breaking into Saruman's front door; and, with the help of a spell or two of Gandalf's, we succeeded. Then we just followed your voices."
"I am glad you could hear us!" Frodo exclaimed, "But now, back to the reason we are here… Where are Bilbo and Elrond? Who knows where Saruman and Rasuman have them hidden!"
The company discussed this for a while; then decided to search the levels below and the one including the room that they were in, as Saruman and Rasuman had run to a stairway leading upstairs; and set out at once.
They soon discovered that there were four floors to search, including the one they started on, and split into groups. Aragorn and Gandalf would search the floor which they started on, Merry and Pippin would take the one below it, Frodo and Sam would explore the next to last floor, and Legolas and Gimli would search the lowest one. They agreed to meet in the room where they began once they had completed their searches, and each group went on their way.
"What do you think we'll find down here?" Pippin asked as he and Merry descended the stairs to their designated floor.
"I don't know," Merry replied, "Wizard stuff, I guess."
They had almost finished their search when they came to an old, wooden door at the end of a long hall.
"I suppose we should look in there, too," Pippin said, not enjoying the thought of doing so.
"Yes, everything must be searched," Merry replied, "Let's go."
"Uh, you can go first," Pippin said.
They opened the door and it gave a loud creak. They peered into the darkness for a moment, and then stepped inside. They jumped as the door slammed shut with a bang behind them.
"Now we've got you!" said an Orc voice from outside the door.
"Let us out!" cried Pippin, banging his fists against the door.
"Ha!" another Orc voice shouted. "You're not going anywhere! Not until Saruman…"
The Orc was stopped in mid-sentence as Aragorn sliced its head off. He and Gandalf soon destroyed the others and let Merry and Pippin out of the room.
"How'd you know we were in trouble?" Merry asked curiously.
"Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, and I we're waiting for you, Frodo, and Sam to come back up when Legolas said that he thought he heard both your and Orc's voices so we came down to make sure you were ok," Gandalf explained.
"What's all the racket?" Sam asked as he and Frodo came up the stairs from the floor below.
"Nothing," Aragorn replied, "But let's get back upstairs before Legolas and Gimli start to wonder what has happened to us."
When they reached the floor they had started on, Legolas and Gimli were relieved to see them all there and ok.
"You gave us a scare, young hobbits," Gimli told them, after they had heard the story, and ruffled Pippin's hair.
"Well, we're fine now," Merry said with a grin.
"So now we know that Bilbo and Elrond are, obviously, somewhere above this floor," Frodo said, once again the one to bring them back to the reason that they were here.
"Yes, but how are we going to search those floors since Saruman shut and locked the door at the end of the stairs he and Rasuman ran up?" Gimli asked.
"Perhaps we could break that door down also," Aragorn suggested, and they all went to inspect the door's condition.