Hey all! I am so sorry for the long wait for the update, so, to make it up to you I have a long chapter for you. I'm working on the next chapter, so, hopefully I'll have it up soon. Thank you all so much for your reviews! I hope you like this chapter. Let me know what you think!
Note: Dialogue in bold is spoken in Elvish.
Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with Lord of the Rings.
Chapter 27
Carita rode on top Moonlight behind Gandalf and in front of Aragorn. Legolas and Gimli rode behind the ranger with King Theoden and his company taking up on the rear. Carita looked about the trees and sighed. The air of Fangorn Forest was still thick, but they passed through the trees without incident. Laughter met Carita's ears as they neared the gate of Isengard. Carita looked up as Gandalf brought Shadowfax to a stop and she stopped just behind him with Aragorn and Legolas stopping beside her, one on each side.
"Welcome my lords, and lady, to Isengard," Merry said sounding like he had a little bit too much ale. Carita laughed quietly and shook her head at the antics of the hobbits. There was so much food around them; she wondered just how much they actually ate. Isengard was flooded and the dark work of Saruman was gone.
"You young rascals!" Gimli shouted and Carita turned her eyes to the dwarf that sat behind Legolas. "A merry hunt you've led us on, and now we find you feasting and . . . and smoking!" Carita laughed once more and looked back at the hobbits.
"We are sitting on a field of victory, enjoying a few well-earned comforts. The salted pork is particularly good," Pippin said.
"Salted pork?" Gimli asked before he licked his lips and Carita rolled her eyes.
"Hobbits," Gandalf said under his breath.
"We're under orders from Treebeard who has taken over management of Isengard," Merry said as he pointed into the city.
"Get down from there," Gandalf said and the two hobbits emptied their pipes and slowly made their way down from wall. Aragorn helped Pippin onto his horse while Carita held her hand out to Merry.
"Come on," she said and Merry smiled at her before she hoisted him up and he climbed onto Moonlight's bareback and grabbed onto Carita tightly before they made their way into Isengard.
"Hm, young Master Gandalf, I'm glad you've come," boomed a deep and rumbled voice that belonged to the large moving Ent that strode before the tower of Orthanc. Carita smiled at Treebeard and the Ent stopped in his place as he looked down at here. "Well, bless my bark!" Treebeard exclaimed and Carita's smile grew.
"It has been long, my friend," she told him, which earned her a few strange looks from Theoden, Éomer, and his men that rode with him.
"Young child, it good to see you again," Treebeard boomed and she bowed her head to him before he turned his attention once more to Gandalf. "Wood and water, stock and stone I can master. But there is a wizard to manage here -- locked in his tower."
"Show yourself," Aragorn said quietly as their eyes turned to the tall black tower.
"Be careful. Even in defeat, Saruman is dangerous," Gandalf said.
"Well, let's just have his head and be done with it," Gimli said gruffly.
"No! We need him alive. We need him to talk," Gandalf said and Carita urged Moonlight to stand next to Shadowfax and she looked at Gandalf.
"You know that he will tell us nothing," Carita said and Gandalf looked at her. "He will only play tricks and delay our purpose."
"Carita," Gandalf began, but he was cut off by a new voice. A voice Carita had not heard for many years.
"You have fought many wars and slain many men, Theoden King, and made peace afterwards," Saruman said and all eyes turned to the top of the tower to stand the fallen white wizard standing on the top of the tower. "Can we not take counsel together as we once did, my old friend? Can we not have peace, you and I?" Carita and Aragorn looked to the Rohan king and waited for his answer.
"We shall have peace," Theoden said softly as he looked ahead and then looked up at Saruman with a deep glare. "We shall have peace when you answer for the burning of the Westfold, and the children that lie dead there! We shall have peace when the lives of the soldiers whose bodies were hewn even as they lay dead against the gates of the Hornburg are avenged! When you hang from a gibbet for the sport of your own crows we shall have peace." Aragorn smirked and looked back up at Saruman while Carita smiled at Theoden before she turned her eyes to the wizard who stood on top his tower.
"Gibbets and crows? Dotard!" Saruman shouted, clearly agitated with Theoden's response. Then his eyes moved to Gandalf. "What do you want, Gandalf Greyhame? Let me guess. They Key of Orthanc. Or perhaps the Keys of Barad-dur itself, along with the crowns of the seven kings and the rods of the Five Wizards!"
"Your treachery has already cost many lives. Thousands more are now at risk. But you could save them, Saruman. You were deep in the enemy's counsel," Gandalf said and Saruman smirked. Moonlight neighed and shifted on his feet as he shook his head and Carita patted his neck and Saruman's eyes turned to her.
"Sauron shares no power, Saruman," Carita called out. "You of all should know this, but yet you helped him, guided him. You killed many for nothing, and you took orders from a mad man to do it," she finished in a hiss as she thought of Boromir and of the children that fell at the hands of the Uruk-hai during the battle at Helms Deep.
"Silence!" Saruman shouted. "I take orders from no one, let alone a simple Maia who fled from her enemy." Carita stiffed and Merry's grip on her waist loosened, but he still held on tightly. Saruman's smile only grew and he looked at Gandalf. "So you have come here for information. I have some for you."
Saruman reached into his robes and pulled out a round sphere and Carita gasped when the thin orange flames met her eyes. Carita closed her eyes tightly before she looked away from Saruman.
"Carita?" Merry asked in a whisper and in worry for his friend who seemed pained. Carita, however, did not answer; she simply kept her eyes closed.
"Something festers in the heart of Middle-earth. Something that you have failed to see. But the Great Eye has seen it. Even now he presses his advantage. His attack will come soon. You're all going to die," Saruman said a smile on his face. Carita pushed her fear aside and turned her eyes up to Saruman once more to see the wizard smiling at her before he looked at Gandalf, who rose forward and away from the group. "But you know this, don't you, Gandalf?" Saruman looked at Aragorn with a scoff before he looked at Gandalf once more. He lowered the sphere to his side and narrowed his eyes at Gandalf.
"You cannot think that this Ranger will ever sit upon the throne of Gondor. This exile, crept from the shadows will never be crowned king. Gandalf does not hesitate to sacrifice those closest to him, those he professes to love. Tell me, what words of comfort did you give the Halfling, before you sent him to his doom? The path that you have set him on can only lead to death," Saruman said simply and Carita could not hold in her anger.
"It will not!" Carita shouted and once again all eyes were on her. "That path did not kill me, and it will not kill him!" Aragorn looked at her with a frown as did Gimli and the men and King of Rohan. The only ones who knew of her plight from Sauron were the two wizards and elf.
"Ah, but it nearly did kill you didn't it Carita?" Saruman asked with a smile. "Your life was hanging by a thread and if it hadn't been for the elf witch and seerer you would have died. You should have died."
"I've heard enough!" Gimli shouted as Carita's anger only simmered. "Shoot him. Stick an arrow in his gob," Gimli said to Legolas, who more than happily reached for an arrow.
"No," Gandalf said and Legolas sighed as he looked at the wizard before he glanced at Carita. Her light eyes were focused on Saruman and he could see the pure anger on her face and he knew that if she had the power, she would have slayed Saruman not caring who told her not to. "Come down, Saruman, and your life will be spared." Saruman adjusted his staff in his hand as he glared down at Gandalf.
"Save your pity and your mercy. I have no use for it!" Saruman shouted before he grasped his staff tightly and raised it only to fire a bolt of fire down upon Gandalf. Flames consumed him and Shadowfax and Carita and the others raised their hands to their faces to shield their eyes from the heat. Merry's grip on Carita's waist tightened once more and she heard the small hobbit gasp. As the flames died away Gandalf and Shadowfax remained to everyone's surprise save Carita.
"Saruman, your staff is broken," Gandalf said simply and Saruman's staff broke into many pieces. Carita smirked at the confused face of the now former Istari. Then another man slowly walked up beside Saruman, looking uncertain and weary. It was then that Carita realized Wormtongue had joined Saruman's side, but now he looked as though he doubted his choices.
"Grima, you need not follow him," Theoden said and Carita looked to the king. "You were not always as you are now. You were once a Man of Rohan. Come down!"
"Man of Rohan?" Saruman asked and she once again looked up at Saruman. "What is the house of Rohan, but a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek and their brats roll on the floor with the dogs? The victory at Helm's Deep does not belong to you, Theoden Horse-master. You are a lesser son of greater sires." Carita's anger was only doubling and the longer she stood within his presence the more she wanted to scream.
"Grima, come down! Be free of him," Theoden said after a moment, a moment she knew the King was taking in Saruman's words.
"Free? He will never be free," Saruman said and Wormtongue shook his head.
"No," Wormtongue said and Saruman turned and looked at the other man.
"Get down, cur!" Saruman shouted before she hit Wormtongue across the face and sent him to the floor.
"Saruman!" Gandalf shouted and Saruman turned and looked down at him once more. "You were deep in the enemy's counsel. Tell us what you know." Saruman nodded.
"You withdraw your guard, and I will tell you where your doom will be decided. I will not be held prisoner here-," Saruman's sentence was cut off when he gasped as Wormtongue stabbed him in the back. Carita's eyes widened in surprise as the man continued to stab him before Legolas fired an arrow, striking Wormtongue and killing him. Saruman stood and swayed before he fell from the tower, his body spinning as he went before he fell onto one of his machines, a spiked spinning wheel. Merry gasped behind her and she felt one of his hands leave her waist.
Carita could only look at Saruman's now dead body as it's weight made the wheel spin. The sphere he held out just moments ago, fell from his sleeve and into the water before his body was slowly taken by the water.
"Send word to all our allies, and to every corner of Middle-earth that still stands free. The enemy moves against us. We need to know where he will strike," Gandalf said as he looked at Theoden who nodded his head, still shaken and surprised by the events that had just unfolded.
"The filth of Saruman is washing away. Trees will come back to live here," Treebeard said and Carita could only nod, but stopped when she saw Pippin dismount from behind Aragorn. "Young trees, wild trees."
"Pippin!" Aragorn shouted, but the hobbit continued on. He reached into the water and pulled the sphere from the water and looked at it in curiosity. Gandalf walked Shadowfax over to him and held out his hand.
"Peregrin Took, I'll take that my lad," Gandalf said and Pippin looked up at him. "Quickly now." Hesitantly, Pippin gave Gandalf the sphere and Gandalf quickly covered it within his thick robes. Pippin looked at the wizard strangely before he looked down and Gandalf walked away from him. "We ride to Edoras," Gandalf said and the others nodded. Pippin slowly made his way back to Aragorn and the ranger helped him onto the back of the horse before they left Isengard for Edoras.
Night came upon the party as they journeyed to Edoras and they stopped to rest and discuss the events that were to take place upon arrival in the city. Carita, however, yet again found no rest and she moved not far from the camp to keep watch for whatever came their way. She was sitting upon a large boulder, thankful the moon was yet again covered by thick clouds, and she hoped that it would remain that way.
"You are troubled," a familiar and welcomed voice said quietly and Carita smiled as she looked up at Aragorn.
"I am always troubled these days," she said quietly and Aragorn gave her a small smile before he sat down next to her on the boulder. "Saruman's words are laced with a poison meant to slowly take your will," she told him after a moment of silence and Aragorn looked at her once again, but her eyes remained ahead. "Do not let his words hinder your path." She looked at him and he gave her another smile.
"They will not," he said and that time she smiled. However, she knew there were questions he had of her, but he would not ask them.
"May I interrupt?" came another voice and Carita and Aragorn looked ahead to see Legolas standing there, two small bowls of whatever it was that Gamling had made for them to eat. Aragorn nodded and stood.
"You may," Aragorn said and he looked at Carita with a wink before he walked away and joined the camp.
"Eat," Legolas told her as he handed her the bowl and took the seat Aragorn had just vacated.
"I thought I told you that you could not order me," Carita teased with a half hearted smile, and Legolas grinned at her.
"But this order you will follow, if you follow no other," he said and Carita nodded her head before she raised the spoon to her lips and sipped the broth of the stew. She sighed as she lowered the spoon back to the bowl, and Legolas' hand was on her shoulder. She looked at him and he raised his hand to run his fingers down her face. "What is it?" he asked her softly and she shook her head.
"It is nothing," she said, but Legolas did not believe her.
"Tell me the truth, my love," he said and Carita sighed once more. "Carita?"
"If Wormtongue had not kill Saruman, we would have been able to prepare. We would have had time to assemble, to gather as many men as possible, to fight Sauron's army. We would have stood a greater chance to defeat Sauron, we would have been able to give Frodo time," Carita said as she threw the contents of her bowl onto the earth and sat the bowl onto the boulder next to her. Tears of frustration came to her eyes and she sighed heavily in her anger.
"Is that all that bothers you?" Legolas asked gently, urging her to tell him everything.
"Sauron thinks I fled because I feared him, that I still fear him," Carita said as she looked at Legolas. "I have never feared him," she said heatedly. "I will never fear him, and soon he will know that." Legolas sat his own bowl down, but did not dump it as Carita had. He shifted and held her face in his hands, keeping her eyes to his.
"He will, Carita," Legolas told her and she smiled at him before she wrapped her hands around his wrists and pulled his hands from her face. She leaned into him and kissed his lips before she rested her forehead against his. Legolas sighed, moved closer to her, and wrapped her in his arms. "He already knows you are fighting against him," he said.
"I know, and that frightens me for you and my friends," she whispered back as she lifted her head and met his eyes.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because if he chooses he will send his minions after me, but for that I am not certain because he has them looking steadily for The Ring." Legolas nodded, but then shook his head and moved his hand to her face.
"If he does, I will do all I can to protect you," he told her honestly and she gave him a sad smile.
"I know you will," she said before she kissed him briefly and then laid her head on his shoulder. She just hoped that whatever was to come, that he would not be taken from her.