Lord of the Rings: An Outlaw's Redemption

…

Chapter 9: Coming of the White Wizard

The air was close and humid in the forest of Fangorn. The canopy of leaves cast dim shadows over everything and twisting tree roots stretched across the earth making the terrain undulating and difficult to navigate.

Arthur's gaze was fixed to the ground as he followed the trail Merry and Pippin left behind. "Looks like they was followed by someone," the gunslinger commented as he spotted another set of footprints. "Maybe one of the Uruks?" he suggested and he noticed inky black blood. "Seems it was wounded. Maybe he got caught in the ambush by the, Rohirrim," he said.

Gimli noticed a stain of blood on a leave and brought it to his mouth and spat it out in distaste. "Orc blood!" he exclaimed.

The four hunters followed the trail until ended abruptly with a spot on the earth pulled up as though a tree once stood there. There came a new set of prints which Arthur had never seen before. "Take a look at this," Arthur then said to Aragorn. "You ever seen track like this before?" he asked the Dunédain ranger.

Strider shook his head in response and said, "I've tracked many a creature in my life, but I've seen tracks like these."

"The air is so close in here," Gimli stated as he looked around the forest as groans reverberated throughout the wood.

"This forest is old… very old," Legolas said as his elven eyes looked about. "Full of memory… and anger," he added.

The groans grew louder and Gimli raised his axe up in alarm. "The trees are speaking to each other!" Legolas exclaimed as he looked at Gimli who was wide-eyed with fear.

"Gimli!" Aragorn hissed at the dwarf. "Lower your axe!" he whispered.

Reluctantly, Gimli lowered his axe and the groans of the trees lowered in volume.

"Might wanna put that axe away, partner," Arthur then advised the dwarf warrior. "If I was one of them trees, I'd pretty antsy if I saw someone with an axe in their hands," the cowboy then said.

"The trees having feelings, Arthur," Legolas then said to Arthur. "The elves began it; waking the trees and teaching them to speak," he added.

"What do trees even have to talk about?" Gimli asked. "Except for the consistency of squirrel droppings?" he then said.

"I dunno, maybe we could ask one of these trees if they'd seen Merry and Pippin?" Arthur said to Gimli. "I imagine trees see a lot of things we don't," he added. Gimli scoffed at this.

Legolas suddenly tensed up and Arthur then listened as the elf prince spoke to Strider in elvish. It was still gibberish to Arthur's eyes, but the tone of Legolas and Aragorn's conversation suggested it didn't sound all that welcoming. Then Legolas spoke in English.

"The White Wizard approaches…"

"Ah shit," Arthur growled lowly reaching for his revolver, preparing to draw it out quickly.

Aragorn then spoke in a low whisper, "Do not let him speak. He will put a spell on us." The Heir to Gondor then slowly drew his sword, the whisper of steel scraping against leather and wood harsh and raspy. Legolas's fingers trailed down the shaft of an arrow already nocked to his bowstring and Gimli hefted his axe, tightening his grip on it.

"On my count," Arthur then whispered to everyone. "3… 2… 1… Now!" Everyone whirled around to launch their first attack on the White Wizard.

…

Blinding white light filled Arthur's vision and he saw the silhouette of a robed man that he could only assume was Saruman standing in the light. Legolas loosed an arrow from his bow and Gimli hurled a throwing axe at the White Wizard who deflected them with his staff in a show of uncanny reflexes. Arthur had already drawn his revolver and prepared to fire from the hip when the Wizard waved his staff and Arthur's Schofield was hurled from his grasp. Aragorn's sword suddenly glowed red hot forcing him to drop it to the floor lest he burned his hands.

Arthur then tried to get a good look at the White Wizard, but the blinding white light concealed him from Arthur's view. Legolas glared at the figure in the light while Gimli hefted his axe ready to try again.

Then a deep echoing voice, the White Wizard spoke. "You are tracking the footsteps of two young hobbits," he said as a statement of fact rather than asked.

"Where are they?!" Aragorn demanded angrily.

"I'd advise you listen to the man," Arthur then said as he took out his Lancaster and held it ready. "We came a long way looking for those kids, and I ain't in the mood for playing games right now!" he warned.

"They passed this way, the day before yesterday," the White Wizard replied with a tone of amusement. "They met someone they did not expect. Does that give you comfort?" he asked.

"What did I say about playing games?!" Arthur said angrily as he racked the lever of his repeater.

"Show yourself!" Aragorn commanded. Then the bright lights dimmed to reveal a familiar face. Arthur's jaw dropped to see that it was Gandalf, but he was clad in pure white robes and his hair was similarly a pure white colour.

"What the hell?" the gunslinger blurted out in confusion.

"It… cannot be!" Aragorn exclaimed.

Legolas and Gimli almost immediately bowed down. "Forgive us!" the elf prince proclaimed. "We mistook you for Saruman!" he said.

"I am Saruman," Gandalf replied. "Or rather, as he should've been," he said.

"How are you even here?" Arthur asked. "We all saw you fall, that Balrog had you!" he said.

"Through fire, and water. From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak, I fought the Balrog of Morgoth," Gandalf said. "Until at last, I threw him down and smote his ruin upon the mountainside. Then darkness took me and I strayed out of thought and time. The stars wheeled over me and every day was a lifelong age as the earth, but it was not the end. I felt life be given back to me and I was sent back until my task was done."

"Gandalf," Aragorn breathed out.

Gandalf raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Gandalf? Yes… that is what they used to call me," he said slowly. "Gandalf the Grey. That was my name," he added with a smile.

"So, what is your name now?" Arthur asked.

"I am Gandalf the White and I come back to you now, at the turn of the tide," Gandalf said in a wise regal voice.

There was much Arthur wanted to ask Gandalf about his death experience. From the sounds of it, it sounded different than what the cowboy had experienced meeting the strange man, but he couldn't be sure until he asked the newly rejuvenated Gandalf.

But questions would have to wait for another time as Gandalf led them through the Forest of Fangorn. The newly minted White Wizard wore a grey cloak over his white robes and he said to them, "One stage of your journey is over and another begins. We must make haste to Edoras with all speed."

"Sounds like quite a ride ahead of us if I read those maps correctly," Arthur stated. "Plus we ran into the king's kin. Doesn't sound too good the way we heard it," he said to Gandalf.

"Yes, and it will not be easily cured," Gandalf replied.

"Then have we run all this way for nothing?" Gimli demanded. "Are we to leave those poor two hobbits here in this horrid, dark, dank, tree infested," he began to say when the trees groaned angrily in response causing Gimli to backtrack and correct himself by saying, "I mean, charming! Quite charming forest!"

"Might wanna keep your opinions to yourself," Arthur said with a chuckle at Gimli's expense.

"It was more than mere chance that have brought Merry and Pippin here," Gandalf said as they neared the edge of the forest. "A great power has been sleeping here for many a long year and the coming of the two hobbits will be that of small falling stones that herald an avalanche in the mountains," he stated.

"In one way you have not changed, old friend," Aragorn said Gandalf who looked at him questioningly.

"In what way?" the White Wizard asked.

"Ya still talk in fancy riddles," Arthur explained which caused Gandalf to chuckle at the thought.

"An event is about to happen that has not happened since the Elder days," Gandalf then said. "The Ents are going to awaken and find that they are strong," he added.

"Strong?" Gimli echoed which caused the trees to groan loudly. "Oh! Th-That's good!" the dwarf quickly said.

"Stop your fretting, master dwarf. Merry and Pippin are quite safe. In fact, far safer than you are about to be," Gandalf then said Gimli as they continued on.

"This new Gandalf's grumpier than the old one," Gimli muttered to himself.

…

As they reached the plains of Rohan just outside the forest, Arthur then looked at Gandalf and asked him, "So how are we gonna get to Edoras? I mean, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and I got horses. You wanna double up with me or Aragorn?" he offered.

Gandalf gave a twinkling smile before he gave long piercing warbling whistle. Then a loud whinny of a horse was heard and cantering into view was a stallion of pure white.

"That's a nice horse," Arthur commented, his eyes awestruck as he gazed upon the beautiful stallion. He was reminded of the white Arabian horse he had once seen the Grizzlies; thing of beauty and it also reminded the cowboy of Dutch's own horse, the Count. Then a brief sour feeling fell over Arthur as he remembered Dutch and he shoved the thought aside as Legolas spoke.

"That is one of the Mearas, unless my eyes are cheated by some spell," the elf prince remarked.

The White stallion walked up to Gandalf who laid a gentle hand on its nose, caressing it gently. "Shadowfax, the lord of all horses," the wizard said for everyone to hear. "And he's been my friend through many dangers," he added softly.

Arthur whistled and Lea came cantering up with a soft whinny upon seeing Gandalf's horse to which the white stallion gave a snort and pawed the ground with one hoof. Everyone soon mounted their horses and prepared to ride across the plains.

Soon night had fallen on the plains of Rohan and everyone rested with a small campfire and couple of rabbits which Arthur had caught roasting over the low fire. After three days and nights without food, the smell of roasting rabbit meat was a welcoming feeling. Gandalf stood at the edge of the camp looking to the east. Aragorn stood beside the wizard and soon Arthur joined them.

"So, what do ya see out there? What's going on?" Arthur asked Gandalf who replied, "The veiling shadow in the east has begun to take shape. Sauron will not suffer anyone who may rival him. From the summit of Barad-dur, the Great Eye watches ceaselessly."

"Guess I shoulda expected as much," Arthur remarked.

Gandalf nodded at this and said, "But Sauron is not so mighty that he fears nothing. Doubt eats away at him. The rumours have reached him that the heir of Númenor lives." The Wizard looked at Aragorn who had a grim look on his face. "He also fears you, Arthur Morgan," Gandalf added looking at the gunslinger. "He fears both of you for what you are and what you may become. The Nine have already spoken of you both."

"Should we expect bounty hunters or assassins coming after us?" Arthur asked which caused Gandalf and Aragorn to look at him. "What? It's what I'd do," the cowboy said.

"Perhaps," Gandalf said with a nod of his head. "You two may be the best chance the World of Men have of surviving while Frodo continues on his mission to reach Mordor with the Ring," he added.

"Well, so long as we keep that bastard focussed on us, Frodo and Sam should reach Mount Doom and get rid of that ring once and for all," Arthur said.

Aragorn nodded and headed back to the campfire. Arthur glanced at Gandalf and coughed into his hand awkwardly.

"So, I gotta ask," Arthur began slowly. "When you… erm… died… did you, uhh… meet anyone?" he asked awkwardly.

Gandalf smiled at this and said, "I did not meet the stranger you met when you died, Mr Morgan, if that is what you are asking me."

"Right," Arthur muttered. "Never did figure out who that feller was," he said in a low voice.

"Who do you think he was?" Gandalf asked.

"I don't know. Not sure I even want to know at this stage," Arthur said with a shudder at the thought of the strange man who had brought him to this world. Then a thought struck him and he asked, "So, if all goes well, what will you do?" He looked at Gandalf who appeared to give the question some thought before smiling.

"I will stay until my task is done, Mr Morgan," the White Wizard replied.

"Still talking in riddles I see," Arthur said with wry smile before giving a sigh and added, "Well, I don't know what I'll do when everything is said and done. I mean, the life I lived, it was about the only thing I knew how to do." The gunslinger gave a gruff chuckle and stated, "I've lived a bad life."

"So do many of us, Arthur," Gandalf said with a kind smile. "And although you did bad things in your old life, you were still given a second chance even though you may not have deserved it, that did not mean you weren't given it for a reason," he added.

"And what is that reason?" Arthur enquired.

"That is for you to decide, Arthur," Gandalf told him. "Anyway, you'd best get some sleep. I shall watch over you all tonight," he said.

"Yeah, could do with a bit of shut-eye," Arthur said as he rubbed his eyes realising just how tired he was as he trundled back to the campfire and lay down on the grass, putting his hat over his eyes and closed his eyes, letting sleep take him.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: There! After a long wait, I finally updated this. I apologise if this seems like a short chapter, but I hope it was enough to satisfy you all. A quick question; after the whole War of the Ring is over and done with, what would you guys like to see next? I have a few ideas of Arthur's adventures in Middle-Earth such as acting as a bounty hunter dealing with any remaining orcs and even dealing with the Lords of the East who may seen an opportunity to overtake the West while Gondor and its allies try to recover and rebuild. Another idea is using some aspects of the Shadow of Mordor/War by using some Black Numernoreans such as the Black Hand, the Tower and the Mace try to bring Sauron back, but I'm not sure at this stage.

In other news, I'm working on a GoT/Elder Scrolls/Fallout/Witcher crossover that will attempt to span across a majority of the Bethesda games such as Elder Scrolls and Fallout and even some other action RPGs like Obsidian's The Outer Worlds, CD Projeckt Red's the Witcher series and even some of the upcoming Bethesda games like Redfall, Starfield etc. I've set up a romance poll for the character I'm using as the MC (Aegon VI/Young Griff) and so far Triss from the Witcher, Aela and Serana from Elder Scrolls and Tyene Sand from GoT/ASOIAF all share the top spot. So feel free cast your vote if you wish.

Also, anyone seen the trailers for Redfall and Starfield? They look pretty good from what I can tell, but a more cynical part of me is cautious that they'll have a fuck-ton of bugs and glitches upon release and with Redfall having the option of a co-op mode, I'm worried about there being pay-to-win tactics, but that's just me, so let's hope I'm proven wrong.

Anyway, that's about all I have right now, so I'll leave this here and see you all in the next one.

Be kind to one another,

Angry lil' elf.