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Chapter Six
"After them!" Gandalf roared.
Galvanised into action by his cry, the others flung themselves out of the alleyway and into the throng of people. Aragorn looked around wildly, but it was Legolas who pointed, exclaiming, "There! In the road!"
Saruman dashed into the road, heedless of traffic, and across to the other side. There was a small white van parked at the pavement; Saruman opened the door, bundled Frodo in, got in himself, and with a roar of exhaust, the van shot away into the stream of traffic.
"Where did he learn to drive, I wonder?" Gimli said.
"Never mind that!" Boromir was nearly dancing with frustration. "We need to follow them!"
Aragorn surveyed the traffic. Further along the road was a bus stop, and there was a bus crawling up the road towards it...
"This way!" Aragorn plunged down the road, and got the stop just ahead of the bus. It stopped, and the door opened; the driver said cheerfully, "Sorry, mate, can't take you. This bus is going back to the shed, and - "
He got no further. Aragorn leapt aboard and hit the driver squarely under his chin. The man crumpled up like a piece of wet paper, and the future King of Gondor scrambled into the driver's seat, curtly ordering the rest of the Fellowship: "Get in quickly!"
"Do you know how this works, Strider?" Sam asked.
"Yes, Samwise Gamgee, I am thoroughly efficent in all forms of driving big metal creations that I never knew existed until a few days ago. It's all the Dunadan ever did, drive around in these things."
A sarcastic Strider was something new, and Sam quickly sat down in one of the seats. Aragorn stamped down on the pedal by his foot, and the bus lurched forward, spilling Merry and Gimli from their respective seats.
"Be careful!" Gandalf warned as Aragorn grasped the steering wheel. "Don't crash into anyth - "
There was a screeching scrape of metal on metal, and Aragorn stuck his head out of the window and yelled, "Sorry, sir!" to someone, before hauling at the wheel again.
"Can you see the van?" Aragorn demanded. "Someone - Legolas - come up here and give me directions."
Legolas, making his way to the front by stages, hauling himself along by the handholds on the ceiling, stared out of the front window, and pointed a finger. "There! That way, past that red car!"
Aragorn yanked the wheel sideways and the bus leaned over onto one side, swaying precariously.
"Stri-d-e-e-r!" Pippin screeched. "We're going to fall!"
"No, we are not!"
"Yes, we are!"
"We are not!"
"Go right!"
"I see it!"
The bus swerved in and out of lanes, gears screaming as Aragorn submitted the unfamiliar vehicle to every sort of technical abuse managable. They charged down the streets, leaving destruction and mad, gesticulating drivers in their wake. But they were gaining on the small white van. Legolas could make out Saruman's white hair and hard face at the van's window. Suddenly, the back doors of the van burst open, and Frodo appeared, gawking at the rush of traffic and maniacally-driven bus following them. Saruman reached back and tried to grab him back in, but Frodo nimbly jumped out of the way, and to avoid Saruman's groping fingers, jumped and grasped the top of the van. Getting one kneee up, he managed to scramble on top of the van's roof as the bus drew level.
"Open the door!" Aragorn commanded, and Pippin leapt to obey; he hauled the bus door open, and leaned out, holding on with one hand to Legolas' arm. Frodo stared, trying to keep his balance on the slippery van-roof.
"Frodo!" Pippin yelled, high on caffeine and adrenaline. "Frodo, my main man, jump for it!"
"I'm not your main man!" Frodo screamed back. "And I refuse to jump!"
The van lurched as Saruman swerved, attempting to loose his persuers, and Frodo fell. Merry and Sam, watching from the windows, cried out in alarm and horror, but as he fell, Frodo's hand latched onto the side mirror, and he swung himself over onto the bonnet of the car, effectively blocking the windscreen. Saruman glared at him, and driving one-handed, poked his staff out of the window and socked Frodo over the head with it. Frodo yelped, but still held on; as Saruman drew back for another blow, Pippin caught the end of the staff, and Gandalf, taking advantage of the situation, put his hand over Pippin's, and pulled it into the bus. Thrown off his stride, Saruman took both hands off the wheel.
With the windscreen blocked, and his staff gone, the wreck that happened fifty seconds later was really inevitable.
Frodo went somersaulting through the air back towards the bus. Boromir stretched out his arms and caught the flying hobbit before he came into painful contact with the ground and placed him inside the bus, where he was set upon by the others, all exclaiming over his safety. Aragorn, who by now had realised that driving a bus did not envolve mass-destruction, quietly trundled the bus over and parked it by the side of the wreck. The front of the white van was crushed and all jammed up from the collision with the lampost, and inside, Saruman was lying, tangled up with the airbag and his head on the dashboard. He was quite unconcious, and blood trickled slowly from a gash over one eye.
Gandald shook his head. "He will revive soon enough, but let us not linger here. We must get to Oxford before he can awake and cause us even more trouble. Frodo, are you alright?"
"Yes." Frodo cautiously felt the back of his head where he had been hit. "It's just a bruise...I think."
"Good. Look there!"
They all looked, and saw that they had left the main body of London behind them. There were fewer houses, and no shops; instead there was only a massive road stretching onwards as far as the eye could see. It was divided up into many lanes, and it was very busy with all kinds of cars and lorries. Leaving the car-wreck behind them, they all started walking on the grassy edge of the road. Pippin began humming Rendez-Vous Four, and Gandalf reached over and tousled his hair. "Well done with the staff, Pippin." he said, smiling; then he brought something out of his pocket and gave it to him. It was the last donut.
"Thank you!" Pippin said eagerly.
"Save it for an emergency," Gandalf advised, and winked solemnly.
A/N: Yeah, I know, sorry it's a short chapter and all. There's going to be two more chapters of this, and they're all going to be short, so be warned. I think I prefer writing short chapters...there! You have it! I've admitted to my appallingly laziness. Sorry, reviewers mine.