This is a collaborative effort of a whole bunch of us - me, Elanor, Finrod, Gilrean, Holly, Lana, Nimbrethil, Witch King and Wizard. Other than the respective characters ie. me (Laurendil, Mas); Elanor (Elanor, HAldaron), Gilrean (Gilrean), Holly (Holly), Lana (Lena), Nimbrethil (Nimbrethil), Witch King (Beomir) and Wizard (Wizard), we do not own any of the other great Tolkien works. This was originally an RPG we played and have put together as a story. Hope you enjoy it.
Dawn broke through the horizon, startling Laurendil. It was morning already? The fight had lasted throughout the night, and she hadn't even noticed, so intent was she at the tasks before her. She was moving from one wounded to another, making sure that those who came in were tended to, and those who had been, were comfortable. Her bow and empty quiver were kept beside Elanor, but her twin blades were still with her, sheathed on each side. A bit unusual decoration for a healer, but like her father always said, "Be prepared." Never kill without reason; but never let that reason be "power".
Laurendil's eyes misted over for a while, as it always did when thoughts of her father came to her mind. She blinked them away, wishing that the memories could be so easily wiped away … she had always been Daddy's little girl, but even at a young age, she knew that her father held a terrible burden and sadness. Even when he was laughing with her, his eyes had been full of pain. He would often go on long walks to clear his mind when the days were dark. The walks became longer and longer until one day, he simply never returned. She had been a baby at that time. Only 10 years old ... Shaking herself and chiding her thoughts, she focused on tending to the wounded.
Holly, sick of standing and watching, had gone to help the wounded. She had a little skill with healing people, so at last she could make herself useful. In the valley below, the fighting was still furious, but it was beginning to slow down. Most of the Orcs were dead and some were retreating into the hills and out of the valley. When Nimbrethil saw this, she ran after them in anger. "None of them should live!" she growled, her warrior face a sight to behold. She had refilled her quiver and charged after them, furiously shooting arrows as she went.
Nimbrethil had been wounded in the arm, just below her shoulder, by an arrow. It caused her great pain, but she went on. She chased them to the foot of the cliffs until they had all disappeared. She could no longer go on. Nimbrethil turned and slowly made her way back to her companions, every step that of pain, but she gritted her teeth and walked on. Finrod watched Nimbrethil's progress and laughed quietly. Then he looked for some arrows and joined with her: one look at Finrod's face and Nimbrethil's own broke into a grin. The both of them then started releasing arrows into the darkness, and every one of them returned a cry or a sound of dead body thumping on the ground. Such sounds made his grin wider, and he ignored the pain his wounds were giving him. He was lightly wounded as the others, having an arrow in his leg and a sword cut on his right side. He knew that the wounds will eventually cause a problem, but this was not the moment to worry about them. This was the moment to hear more thuds of bodies falling on the ground!
Finrod looked around. All the Orcs who could flee, had already ran away. The ground was littered with corpses. They needed to be piled and burned of course, but only after the companions had regained their strength. Their arrows spent, they silently gathered around Aragorn, ready to head back. Gilrean was also wounded, and Aragorn had many bleeding scratches. It was hard to tell how the others were faring, as they were all covered with dark Orc blood and were exhausted almost to death. Except for maybe Legolas, who seemed almost as clean and untouched as he was in the beginning. Before he and Gimli could sum up their bodycount, however, Aragorn ordered everyone to return.
They called their horses, who had been waiting nearby, and slowly rode back, still alert. The young Gondorian knight jumped onto his horse, blood dripping from his head as well as several other places on his body. The entire left side of his face was covered in blood, though not as much on the right. He rubbed his eye impatiently, feeling that there was something wrong with it – perhaps something had gotten into it in the midst of it all. All of this, he bore in silence as they rode onwards towards Rivendell.
Lena, having left her horse in the stable, came to an easy walk with the others until she finally caught up with Legolas.
"Aragorn will be wanting a complete explanation for this," Legolas said quietly, looking at her.
"Ay, that he will," agreed Gimli.
Lena wiped her knife on a leaf and said, "Well, I don't know it all really. But I DO know a good bit. All I'm going to say is that Treebeard made a mistake letting Saruman free." And with that statement, she walked off, leaving Gimli and Legolas to exchange confused – and worried – glances.
Elanor sighed and twitched as she woke up, but she gasped in pain as she moved to sit up.
"Aaayyyy!" she cried, grabbing her sore parts. Seeing the Gondorian girl in the distance, she hissed: "Holly! Holly! What happened?"
Holly jumped up from where she had been resting for a moment and hurried to Elanor's bedside. "Quiet, my lady. You have just woken up. You should be lucky that Laurendil knew how to save you!"
Elanor managed a weak grin, for the pain was getting to her again. "Ha.. three times I owe my life to this elf maiden!"
Sighing, she looked around. "Where is everyone else? Where is my cousin? My brothers?"
Holly shook her head. "I do not know my lady. But if what Laurendil said was true, if it were not for you, your cousin and the King would have been …" She trailed off not wishing to say that awful word.
"Ay, my cousin is a foolish boy. I love him still though. But what happened to me? How did I get here?" Holly recounted the story as Elanor settled back into the pillows. All of a sudden, Elanor popped up, wrenching her shoulder and screaming in pain.
"The Lady Eowyn! And my Mother! Where are they? They will be furious! My mother at least..." rambled on Elanor, her face showing her intense worry.
"Be still, my lady. They have not been by yet. Your mother still does not know that you are here," said Holly reassuringly
"That is good," Elanor sighed in relief, feeling more relaxed. "I think I will take just a short nap. Wake me when my cousin and brothers return." Without waiting for a reply, the wounded Shieldmaiden of Rohan dropped off into a pain-escaping sleep.
The riders arrived and passed through the gates. They were alert, but everything was as quiet as last evening. Laurendil hurried towards them. While Aragorn went off to talk with Lena, Finrod stopped her, touching her shoulder slightly, "Could someone please watch over Laurendil? He's got an arrow to his shoulder."
Laurendil looked at him, utterly confused, "Look after whom?"
"Laurendil, my horse," he replied innocently, and seemingly to be surprised at the elf Laurendil's indignant expression, he asked with wide, innocent eyes, "Hey, what's wrong with the name? He is golden, after all."
Laurendil's face was red with anger, but there was no retort that would come to her lips. Her thoughts were teeming with words that could not be said - not only did that darn elf care nothing about the seriousness of the battle or any others that were wounded there, he had also named his horse after her! That annoying little ... mumbled Laurendil to herself, ignoring the fact that he was hardly little …
Suddenly she heard Aragorn's voice calling after her. "I have some information that might interest you."
Stopping, Laurendil then walked over to Aragorn, who turned to Lena and said, "Tell her what you told me."
Lena looked down, slightly embarrassed all of the sudden. "Well," she began, "you know how Treebeard released Saruman and all … well … one of my informants has been able to gain a position in Saruman's good graces, and according to him … well, let's just say that Saruman hasn't taken losing very well. There seems to be more Orcs that escaped the war so long ago."
Laurendil looked quite taken aback. "There's more?" she asked. Aragorn nodded.
"Um, if you don't mind me asking," said Laurendil, "Who are these informants of yours?"
Lena paused and said, "They're thieves I've been able to pay off with gold for information Before Laurendil could respond, the hobbits came bounding in, shouting, "But it cannot be!".
Everyone turned to look at them as Pippin, now the Thain of the Shire, explained, "When we returned to the Shire after Frodo destroyed the One Ring, we found that Saruman had overtaken the Shire. Well, we soon took care of that, and to put a long story short, Saruman is dead. Grima himself gave the killing blow. All this is before the Fourth Age itself."
"Yes," nodded Merry enthusiastically, "He's definitely dead. Dead. It can't be him!"
I looked pointedly at Finrod, "What you say is true, for unless you're an irritating elf, I doubt that any slain souls could have escaped their Realm."
Finrod just gave a huge smile, then turned all serious, "Perhaps it is someone that looks like Saruman? No offence to your informants, my lady," he assured Lena, "But there are many tricksters in this world. Some holding secrets that should not be held," he finished, looking straight at Laurendil.
She chose to ignore that darn irritating elf who couldn't think of a better name for a horse.
"Perhaps someone taking the name of Saruman?" said a voice from behind. Everyone turned to look at the young knight of Gondor. He was now bandaged in several places, had a sling and a patch over his left eye. Some looked at him angrily for intruding, but the King seemed fine with the intrusion.
"Perhaps," said Aragorn. "I owe you a thanks anyway. I likely would not have survived without you, Béomir." He bowed in the direction of the young knight, now known as Béomir. Béomir returned the bow, feeling rather self conscious but proud at the same time.
"The same is true in my case, my King," he said. "I have no ideas other than that, but I have to seek my leave as I must go to check on my cousin and my parents. I assume my sister is still safe as she remained in Gondor." With that, he bowed once more and took his leave.
"Well Aragorn, it is brave that you know that Gondor seems to be safe," said the Wizard who is now coming close to Aragorn. "I came here in peace and yet a battle with Orcs! I see a look of wonder on your face, I am not by all means related to Gandalf nor to Saruman. I shall remain here for now," said the Wizard.
"What is your name?" asked Aragorn.
"His name is Aldaron. I know him well. He has often been a guest of King Thranduil, and is a friend to myself and to Gilrean," Nimbrethil replied, having just walked in. She had her arm in a sling and a bandage around her waist.
"But I thought all of the Istari had left Middle-Earth?" asked Aragorn.
"Not all, my lord. I am the son of Radagast. I had a brother also, Eol was his name. My father disowned him for following the dark ways. He knew that I had come here, and that Aragorn would be here also. I fear he may be our culprit."
"Um, I hate to break up this little 'let's all get to know each other' thingy," Lena interjected, "but I'm not talking fake Saruman, I'm talking about the real Saruman."
Laurendil raised an eyebrow, "Thatss not possible!"
"Oh yes it is," replied Lena, "Since he's a ghost."
This brought almost everyone's eyebrows up.
Secretly gleeful at the sudden attentive audience, Lena continued, "He preserved his spirit, so he could stay in middle earth and finish his work. There is one catch though, Saruman needs a wizard or someone magical to bring back his spirit."
Laurendil took a deep breath, shaking her head in sadness, "So Saruman's spirit never left Middle Earth. And I suppose, Aldaron, your brother Eol is the wizard that fits into Saruman's plans nicely?"
Aldaron nodded, not saying a thing while she looked upon him, thinking, so this is the son of Radaghast. The Brown wizard who stayed in the northwest of Middle-earth. The last she heard, he had been at Rhosgobel on the borders of Mirkwood. So that is how the Mirkwood elves know of him.
"But what could Eol or Saruman possibly want now? The One Ring is destroyed. None of the Silmaris is left that could be used ... what could he possibly gain for all of this?" A sudden thought entered Laurendil's mind and she turned to face Aldaron and Lena, looking at them both squarely in the eyes; first at Aldaron, then at Lena, "Or is there something more you're not telling us?"
Under that intense gaze, Lena uncharacteristically fidgeted. She looked at Aldaron hesitantly and began, "Erm …". Seeing Aldaron's nod, she gained confidence and continued after clearing her throat, "I'm not sure I should be saying this, but can you imagine what would happen if Saruman got into Valinor?"
"What! Valinor? Saruman?" spluttered Laurendil, her thoughts in a whirl.
"He would be able, I think, to return to life. If he found a body, that is," Lena explained.
Aldaron continued, "That is possible, as I believe Saruman knows how to pour his spirit into an item, like Saruon did. The prospect of the future with Saruman … I can tell you right now, that I am on your side. If, however, you feel that I am not, or have any reason not to trust me, then I shall willing put my Sword, keys and staff in the hands of Nimbrethil and Gilrean." Everyone looked at the rigid stance of Aldaron as he faced everyone, waiting to hear what they would say.
Aragorn sighed, and waved his hand towards the proffered staff, "We trust you, Aldaron. There is no need to give up your staff. In fact we may need it."
Nimbrethil was still digesting the revelation and mused, "So Saruman has put his spirit into something – in the worst sense. Maybe now it will be the 'One Bracelet'?" Nimbrethil laughed in spite of the situation.
"I think it is more likely that he has taken a body. Eol would be a willing host, suggested Aldaron.
"But how will we find him? We do not know where he has gone. He is likely hiding in the shadows, plotting what to do next." Legolas replied.
"Then we must make the next move," replied Aragorn with conviction.
Lena shifted her weight from foot to foot, nodding and saying, "Saruman is more dangerous now than ever. He wants nothing more than to become alive."
"Yes, and I agree with Aldaron. I do not think he will try to pour his spirit into an inanimate object," said Nimbrethil.
"Nor do I," agreed Lena, "He's probably looking for a body."
Lena, Laurendil, Nimbrethil and Aragorn all looked at each other, as if they could read each other's minds. For a moment no one spoke, then Lena said "Hey, we're all thinkin' it, I'm just the one saying it." She paused again, thinking aloud, "Although, if he has already found a body, it would be easier for us to … dispose of."
"Lena is right. He will need to be in a host for us to kill him," said Nimbrethil.
Just then Gilrean walked in upon them. She looked weary and her hand was bandaged. "I had overheard some of your conversation. I do not know if this will be of any help or importance, but as I fought, I looked up and saw a dark figure standing near the top of the valley. It has an ill-favored look, and carried a staff. It was wearing a cloak of blue."
"Eol wore a blue robe," said Aldaron softly, looking somber. After all, Eol was his brother. He couldn't kill him. Looking at Gilrean, he asked, "Did you happen to notice his staff?"
Thinking back, Gilrean replied, "Yes. Atop it, there seemed to be perched the form of a great eagle."
"Then it is true," said Aldaron with resignation, "That is indeed the staff of Eol. He is acting for Saruman." He bent his head and felt his heart sank. They would surely have to kill his brother. Aldaron got up, a determined look upon his face before he said as a matter-of-factly, "Then we shall do what we must, as far as I am concerned, I have no brother." With that, he left and headed towards the room he was staying in. There, he sat alone looking at his staff, sword and the celling.
Meanwhile, back at the gathering, the others had watched Aldaron go. "Well, I didn't think he'd do that," said Aragorn, "I hope he'll be fine."
Gilrean nodded, and assured him as she got up, "I'll go check up on him."
"So will I," said Nimbrethi, joining her. With a nod towards the others and a slight bow to King Elessar, they left.
"What shall are next move be, Aragorn?" asked Gimli grimly.
"Perhaps we should all get some sleep," suggested Aragorn, rubbing his tired eyes, as he got up. "We need our rest. We can decide in the morning."
Everyone agreed and proceeded to follow Aragorn out, except for Laurendil and Lena. There was one thing that bothered Laurendil, and she asked aloud, "Who in Middle Earth would willingly give up their body so Saruman could inhabit it?"
"Someone completely crazy," Lena replied, almost with a laugh, "The real question, however, is if - or rather when - Saruman does inhabit another, will he carry his powers with him?"
With this somber thought, the two remaining elves looked up at the night sky, at the twinkling stars. At the same moment, Nimbrethil and Gilrean had reached Aldaron's chambers. They knocked and entered the room at the soft invitation, to find Aldaron sitting on his bed, seemingly in deep thought.
He began to speak as they walked in. "I have given the matter of Eol much thought. Things that had been puzzling before makes sense now. Before my father cast him out, he began to talk of strange things. Dark things. Of bringing to life that which was dead. He withdrew into shadow, and began to study alone."
"Are you saying what I think you are saying?" asked Nimbrethil.
Aldaron looked up at her and nodded, "Yes. I am sure Eol has willingly become the host of Saruman. The evil spirit of that dark wizard lives within my brother. He is now bound to death." Nimbrethil and Gilrean shivered suddenly at that proclamation while Aldaron continued, "I must lead him away from here."
Suddenly, as if seeing them for the first time, he asked, "How are you two?"
"I'm fine," assured Gilrean, "And so is Nimbrethil. It is you who should get some rest."
Aldaron nodded, his eyes already closing as he mumbled, "Sleep well you two."
Nimbrethil and Gilrean were already making their silent way out, "You too," whispered Nimbrethil upon the now sleeping form of Aldaron as she closed the door. Without another word, the two of them headed off to their own quarters.
Back at the Hall, Laurendil and Lena were still talking about Saruman. The thought of the spirit of the wizard, a host body … Laurendil sighed, rubbing her forehead as she mumbled, "This complicates matters even more"
Lena looked at her expectantly. Laurendil looked at her and said, "There is no doubt in my mind that he would try to inhabit a Wizard's body, for only then could he channel his own knowledge and power through him. And from the way Aldaron was acting, I'm sure Eol is already such a willing host. It is him that we will have to defeat first. And that raises another problem."
"What?" asked Lena.
Laurendil started pacing about, her silver hair flying about her face and she impatiently brushed it aside, answering, "If Saruman could remain in Middle Earth as a ghost until a willing host was found, it would mean that even if we kill that willing host, the spirit lives on and would simply inhabit another body – and I doubt Saruman would really care whether the host body is willing or not. Thus, not only must we destroy the host body, but we must also destroy the means Saruman used in order to preserve his spirit here."
Lena followed Laurendil's train of thought, "And I doubt Saruman, or rather, Eol, would be in the same place as where Saruman keeps his precious "item" – or whatever it is that he used to retain his spirit here."
Laurendil nodded, "Yes, and in order to destroy Saruman completely, both must be destroyed at the same time."
"But how do we do that?" asked Lena.
"That part, I have not figured out yet," sighed Laurendil, looking at the stars again. So many things, so many thoughts. Perhaps she should just concentrate on the one thing that was not complicated – the wounded. Saying goodnight to Lena, she then headed back to the Quad once more.