12/25/o4
o00o POV change
0oo0 Change of Place/Time
Chapter 7 pt 2: Escape
A lone orc stood guard in the torch-lit hallways of the lower dungeons. Two more stood near the doorway of a prison cell, peering in now and then to smirk at the prone figure that lay inside. They didn't see the golden glint that lay concealed in the bloodied hands. They had ignored the groans and grunts of pain inside. Rather, it had amused them. But they would pay for their ignorance dearly. None of them had any idea of what lay ahead for them in the near future; none of them could foresee the end of their pathetic lives. An inhuman cackle rose from the darkness building up in the cell, for the time had come. . .
o00o
Saruman jerked from his black marble throne, his eyes glued to the palantir that lay beneath the thick covering. The edges of the covering were glowing with the light of the fiery eye. Trembling with fear and anticipation, Saruman drew back the covering, revealing the large orb. The Eye of Sauron glared back at him unblinkingly and the orb's light increased even more as the lords of the two towers' minds met together.
"Saruman."
"Yes, my Lord Sauron. Your servant awaits his orders."
"How go your plans, wizard?"
"Things are moving along smoothly and quickly, my Lord. I have assembled an army of tens of thousands of my Uruk-hai, the Dunlander Men have also been drawn under m-our banners."
"Excellent. And what of your guests?"
"Guests, my lord?"
The orb flared as if in anger. "Yes. Saruman. The guests that I have seen, captured by your Uruk-hai, and the strange ring."
"I know not of what you speak, my lord."
"DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DECIEVE ME, ISTARI! I saw what was brought to you. Answer me and I will yet let you live to serve me."
Pain coursed through his body and his mind was blinded by the bright anger of Sauron. It was no use to try to lie. . . Saruman's hands clenched tightly and his nails dug into his flesh till a drop of blood splashed to the dark floor. "They are imprisoned in my dungeons, my Lord."
"Why are they there?" The voice was dripping with poison and promised pain if given the wrong answer.
"I captured them, my Lord, so to aid us in our battle against our enemies. Let me use them to crush the Rohirrim."
"No. Bring them to me."
"But one of them is useless! He possesses no Item!" The words came out of his mind before he could stop them. He cast down his 'eyes' and trembled silently.
"You. Lost. It?"
"It wasn't on his body when my Uruk-hai captured him, my Lord!"
Silence.
"No matter. They are still a power to be reckoned with, even without their Items. I hope you have taken that into account and not put too much harm on either of them."
"No, my Lord."
"Good. One of my Nazgûl is on his way to collect them."
"I will fetch them, my lord."
The fires faded away in his mind until the orb darkened to a gentle, enticing inner glow. Saruman gasped as he came back to being and stumbled back into his throne. He was coming. . . sending one of his Black Riders. Robes swished through the air as Saruman sent for one of the Men he kept in charge. "Bring the two prisoners to me. Immediately!" The man scrambled away in haste, eager to leave the presence of his lord.
o00o
"I would be a fool to store all of my power into the Millennium Ring. A dead fool." chuckled Bakura as he lurched into a standing position. The Millennium Eye was clutched tightly in his hands. "Of course I can't store all my power in it! It has too much power of its own, and its own darkness." He took a faltering step closer to the door and laughed as he fell to the ground, dust plumed around him. Gritting his teeth, he rose again. For a moment, he was no longer in the cell, but in the middle of a desert, bound by ropes and being dragged behind some guards on their steeds. A helpless thief caught in the act of stealing. . . or maybe not so "helpless". Power began surging through him. The Egyptian guards had been struck down, his ropes cut. He was free!
Back in the tower, he glanced around and laughed, laughing about life, laughing about pain, laughing about power, laughing about death.
"Hey, shut your mouth! There's nothing to laugh about," ordered one of the orcs, Bakura didn't hear them. "Quiet you! Or we'll take care of that mouth of yours for you."
The laughter died down to a dark chuckle. "Do you dare?" came the voice, challenging the guards. There was a flash of bright light and a golden manacle appeared around his wrist, its one wing spreading out with a metallic scrape. A glow emitted from one of its planes and the shape of a creature that had a humanoid shape, wings like a large bat, and a snake where its legs should begin was engraved. His cell door was flung open with a bang and the two orcs shuffled in, spears raised at him.
Without any warning, the cell exploded. Rubble cascaded down around them, crushing the orcs beneath the enormous weight. But all seemed to avoid the area in which Bakura stood. The air around him shimmered, and he disappeared, his laughter still ringing in the decimated cell.
o00o
An explosion shook the tower. The words that Sauron had uttered emerged in his mind 'They are still a power to be reckoned with, even without their items.' He slammed the end of his staff on the floor, disregarding splintering of stone beneath it. "Guards! Guards! To the dungeons! Do not let the prisoners escape! Guards!" he shouted. The orcs scrambled into action and began pouring down the stairwells to the dungeons below the tower of Orthanc.
At this moment, a familiar shuffling entered the room. "My Lord Saruman? I bear news from Rohan."
There was a terrified gasp as Saruman wheeled around on the spy, a grimace-like smile stretched across the wizard's face. "You come at the worst possible time, Grima Wormtongue. I do not wish to hear of it yet. Wait till I am less burdened."
"But, my lord," came the sniveling reply. "I think you might want to hear about this. It is in your best . . . intrests." Cold black eyes glared down at the man, and he shrank back at the look. "My lord, please." The creature crawled up to him and kissed the hem of his robes, but Saruman ripped them out of the man's grasp.
"Pray tell, then, but if I do not find these bearings to my standards, you know what shall happen," said Saruman, his voice soft, but deadly. Grima gulped.
Flashback
The doors of the Halls of Meduseld opened, a shaft of sunlight broke into the room. A sickly looking old man groaned as he squinted at the light, trying to see, but failing. Grima seized the king's hand. "It is your niece. She brings with her two strangers. We do not welcome strangers." The old king wearily closed his eyes and mumbled something unintelligibly.
Grima's hold tightened as the trio drew nearer. These people that accompanied Eowyn were strange indeed. One with hair the color of fresh hay, and the other like the color of midnight, one with kind eyes of green and the other, Grima shuddered, had smoky pupil-less ones. But what caught his eyes were not their outlandish clothing, it was not the complexion of the darker one or the paleness of the other, but rather it was the golden eye that seemed to stare back at him, sewed onto the 'green' one's strange hat. The strange golden eye glinted as the sunlight bounced off of it, the strange golden eye looked interestingly enough like the golden eye that was on the strange ring that his master had shown him.
"They must be more of what my lord is looking for!" hissed Grima. The dark one glanced at him with a look of disgust. Grima leaned closer to King Theoden. "They are not welcome, my lord."
"You're. . . not. . . welcome." repeated Theoden with difficulty, as if his tongue had been stuffed with cotton or was weighted with lead.
"Uncle, they had not yet said a word!" protested Eowyn. Grima licked his lips at the sight of the beautiful maid. She would be his.
"They. . . are . . . not. . . welcome."
Grima rose from his position next to the king. "You heard the king. They are not welcome here. Can't you see the evil that surrounds them? They are here to kill King Theoden and take over his rule! They are agents from Mordor!" Gasps rose from around the halls and the sounds of swords being drawn from their sheaths rang with a deadly threat.
"Wait! You have no proof of this. We have done nothing to your pathetic kingdom at all!" shouted the man with dark hair.
"Guards! Capture them!" shouted Grima, standing in front of the king, as if shielding him from an oncoming attack. The guards surrounded the three, and hastily pulled Eowyn back from the strangers as a circle of swords were pointed towards them.
"Please, let us explain. We are not agents of this Mordor. I'm sure if-" the green one was cut off.
"Shut up. These mortals won't listen. Just stick close to me you brainless healer," snapped the man, snatching something from out of the blood red turban. His dark hand clutched something tightly and a smirk formed on his lip. "I'm afraid that you idiots won't be seeing us for some time. It was nice meeting you all. . . not." With that, his hand opened and the entire hall was blinded by a flurry of white, fluffy, feathers. The guards charged in towards the center, and screams of the court men and women echoed through the hall as they all panicked about an attack from the 'angents of Mordor'.
When all the chaos had died down and the feathers had floated gently to the floor, the guards lay in a daze in the center of the hall. The two strangers had vanished.
End Flashback
"So . . . you say that these strangers, you suspect, are more of these spirits?" asked Saruman stroking his beard thoughtfully. Grima nodded. 'Maybe I won't be at such a loss when Sauron takes away the two that I currently have.'
"What would you like me to do, my lord?" inquired Grima, shifting to his knees.
"Go back to Edoras and keep an eye on King Theoden. Also watch out for those spirits. Capture them, and bring them to me."
o00o
The invisible Bakura made his way down the dungeon halls. The guttering torches flickered out as he passed. Every now and then an orc would pass by, only to be surrounded by a bright light and then disintegrate to the ground. 'Ah, it seems that your power, Diabundo, has not lessened since I last called you out,' smirked Bakura. The wing of the manacle glowed again and a Meda Bat appeared, its one eye staring at him. "Go find my Ring, and bring it to me. Destroy anyone that gets in your way, but do not let yourself be seen," ordered Bakura. The small creature winged away silently, in search of its quarry.
"Pharaoh! Where are you?" shouted Bakura. He was met with no answer. But the rush of iron-shod feet met him instead. Hoards of orcs appeared in the halls, swords and arrows aimed at his direction. "Kill them all, Diabundo." A ball of red-tinged energy appeared above Bakura, shapes of black lightning streaking its surface. The orcs cowered back in fear at the bright shape that had appeared out of nowhere. "DIE!" The shape shot out at them, leaving only dust in its wake.
Some more orcs piled into the hallway, "What was that?" growled one, looking back and forth in the hallway. Bakura stood still where he was, unseen as he was enveloped in shadows.
"I don't care. Just make sure the other prisoner doesn't escape!" replied the leader, and the small troop clattered down the hallway.
"Well I suppose we should follow them to get to the fool, should we?" snickered Bakura, walking silently after the group.
The orcs stopped in front of a cell. It looked no different than the other, but . . . Bakura stepped closer to the door and peered through the small opening. He could see a limp figure sitting against the wall, head hanging as if in defeat. Bakura's lips curled back in a sneer. If only it were because of him rather than the fault of that wizard.
One of the orcs sniffed and glanced around suspiciously. "I smell something. . ." The others tightened their grips on their weapons and looked around.
"It's probably just the prisoner inside," snorted one.
All of them jumped away as Bakura exposed himself, the orcs moved quickly and tried to attack, but they were only killed seconds later. "Wrong, it was me," he chuckled. Wordlessly, Diabundo blasted open the door, narrowly missing the Pharaoh. Softly he padded into the pharaoh's cell. It seemed that he had suffered beatings at the hands of the orcs, "So much for any royal treatment". Bakura's eyebrow raised as he saw the a golden manacle had also appeared on the pharaoh's arm . He lightly kicked the pharaoh, growling, "Wake up." There was no answer. "Wake up!"
The manacle glowed and a figure descended between him and Yami. "You again?!" Bakura spat, "What do you want? I wasn't going to kill him."
"My duty is to protect the pharaoh, and I shall," came the cool reply, as the green staff was leveled between Bakura's eyes. Brown eyes met with brown as they were locked in an internal battle.
"I won't hurt your precious pharaoh. Now move out of the way Mahaad, before I have to kill you again," snarled Bakura. The original Dark Magician lowered his staff. Instead of having blue eyes and dark purple hair, this one had brown eyes and light brown hair. Truly the soul of a human fused with his soul creature. The memory of the Priest facing off against him in the tomb of the pharaoh Akunumkanon resurfaced in Bakura's mind. "You haven't changed at all, Mahaad."
"Neither have you, Thief King Bakura," was the steady counter.
"If you want to save your pharaoh, then I suggest you wake him or pick him up. We're going to escape," said Bakura.
Mahaad gently lifted up his pharaoh, and looked back at Bakura. "He will not awaken, not yet. How shall we escape?"
"Why, we run!" laughed Bakura rushing out of the cell, Diabundo destroying every orc that was in their way. Mahaad followed, soaring through the air with Yami in his arms.
'This damn place is like a maze!' thought Bakura climbing another flight of stairs; he was beginning to feel the ache of his legs and the strain of holding Diabundo out for so long. A large closed entranceway greeted his eyes. Bakura smirked. "Diabundo! Destroy the door!" A wave of energy hit the door, but as the smoke cleared away, it stood intact. There wasn't even a scratch on the cold black stone's surface. His eyes darted around for some sort of mechanism that would open the door… there! In the ground was a lever that had chains connecting to the door. He grasped the lever and pulled, and the doors creaked slowly open. At that moment, the Meda Bat reappeared, the Millennium Ring dangling from its claws. Bakura reclaimed the Item and slipped the leather cord around his neck before recalling the Meda Bat back to the Shadow Realm and rushing after Mahaad who had flown through the doors.
A glowing green sphere of energy shot out of Mahaad's staff and the doors of the wall broke open.
o00o
"They've escaped?!" shouted Saruman, rounding on the Orc captain. Furious, Saruman aimed his staff at the orc and the creature was enveloped in flames. At that moment, soft footsteps entered the room and a chill was sent through his bones. The Witch King of Angmar stared back at him.
"Where are the prisoners?" came the whispery voice.
Saruman collapsed on the ground begging for mercy.
0oo0
It had been a day since the trial and his condemnation. Shadi raised an eyebrow as the young captain returned. He politely rose to his feet and eyed the man, waiting for him to speak. Faramir looked back at him and shifted at the unnerving gaze.
"I spoke to my father." said Faramir. Shadi remained silent and let the man continue, "He said he'd overrule the sentence if you tell him why you were sent here and whatever you know about the Haradrim."
"I know nothing." was Shadi's terse reply. He could see the young man tense up in anxiety. "I do not know why I was sent here, all I do know is that my party was attacked by orcs not three days ago, and I found myself here in the care of a small family."
"Who were you with before arriving in this city?" asked Faramir, as his hands wound around the bars, clearly agitated.
"I remember fellow companions of mine, and a dwarf, an elf, four little ones, and two men."
"Two men? What were these two men like?"
"Both were swordsmen, though one. . . one of them resembles you quite closely." Shadi closed his eyes.
"Was his name Boromir? Please!" whispered Faramir, and Shadi could hear a slightly frantic note in the man's voice.
"Yes. One of them was Boromir," replied Shadi emotionlessly.
"Boromir is my brother. Do you know of his fate?" Shadi shook his head slowly. Faramir pulled a ring of keys from his belt, saying, "Father must hear this. Just tell him this and whatever he asks you. It seems a touch of hope still lingers for you yet."
Wordlessly, Shadi followed Faramir out of the dungeons.
000000000000 To be continued
I'm really sorry about the lack of updates. But here's a Christmas present for all of you! Thank you so much for your patience. This chapter drew a lot from the Ancient Egypt Memory Arc of YGO. My dad bought it for me in China and I just finished watching most of it. The problem is that they don't have the END of the season. . . it left off where Yugi and Bakura are dueling each other. Grr that sucks. So those manacles are things that the Itemholders in Egypt used to summon monsters, Bakura got one from Akunumkanon's tomb when he ransacked it the first time and Yami naturally has one as pharaoh.
Yay! It's getting more into the plot now kinda.
PS: Yeah, I kinda realized the mistake and that Shadi's sidestory was kind of a bit ahead, so I changed the time for him in the earlier chapters. Don't worry, now he's on track with the others. Yay! Also he doesn't know that Boromir's dead.
-Fire Pendant