Gwin and Candaith have an important conversation with one of their fellow prisoners, and Gwin frets over Candaith's injuries from fighting the Uruks for Morflak. Enjoy!

Chapter 114

I hadn't realized I had dozed off until I heard the click of the cell door being unlocked. Candaith hobbled in, and with an approving nod from the Uruk who had escorted him and a "You did well, for a tark. Morflak'll be happy," Candaith lowered himself gingerly to the ground. I quickly went to his side, and took his face in my hands. "Meleth? Are…are you well?" My voice was shaking.

Candaith gave me a tired smile. "It looks worse than it is, I assure you," he murmured.

"Really?" I asked skeptically. He nodded and shrugged, and I moved away a little to appraise him. He was covered in bruises, and various scrapes, some of which were still bleeding sluggishly. I dug in my pack and found some clean linen from my slowly dwindling supply, and put some water from my waterskin on them. Dabbing gently, I cleaned the blood away as best as I could, and found a small bit of athelas salve to rub on the more significant lacerations. I should probably give this to Lothrandir. I looked over towards the ranger, and noticed him sleeping once more, although more peacefully than he had been. "Now, tell me exactly what happened."

He sighed tiredly. "One of Fasch's lackeys pulled me away from my assignment of cleaning old equipment and dragged me over to where you spotted me fighting that Uruk. He told me Fasch had been ordered to get some of the bigger Uruk's 'out of the way', and I soon realized it was an assignment from Morflak."

"Yes, Morflak said the same to me," I replied, curling my lip in disgust. "I cannot believe he used you to do his own dirty work."

Candaith took my hand and interlaced our fingers, tugging me closer. "Luckily, I was able to defeat the three Uruks I was asked to fight, and was rewarded with water and a short rest in between each battle." He frowned, "Did you feel any pain? I tried my best to keep it from you."

"And I told you to stop wasting your energy doing so," I gently reprimanded.

He looked sheepish, "I heard you, but did not want to burden you with my injuries. Luckily, they are nothing serious." He kissed me softly. "They feel better already."

I sighed, but felt relieved. "I feared for you, when Morflak told me what was likely happening. Do you think he will use you again?" I eyed Lothrandir; would he be next?

Candaith shrugged helplessly. "There is nothing we can do but follow orders until we find a way out of here," he whispered in my ear.

Trying to set aside my worries for the moment, I handed him an apple and some dried meat, to his delight, briefly telling him of how I acquired it. "It allowed me to get a sense of what the entrance looked like." His eyes widened in realization, and I gave him a tentative smile.

Our conversation ceased as we watched the older man from earlier being escorted back to the cell next to ours. After the Uruk was far enough away, the Dunlending motioned Candaith and I to come closer. "As I told you this morning, I am called Acca."

"Where do you hail from?" I asked curiously. His accent was more cultured than what was generally heard when Dunlendings speak Westron.

"Originally, I am from Galtrev, but when I was a young man, I was offered to Saruman as payment for a debt. I was strong, and at first, the wizard treated me as a common prisoner. However, I was more learned than most in my city, having studied under the tutelage of a Gondorian who had made his home there. It made me unpopular, but it has kept me alive." He paused to take a sip of his water. "I became one of Saruman's most trusted servants, gathering intelligence via the use of spies and sharing my own knowledge of the workings of Dunlending culture."

I froze, feeling dread curl in my chest. Did he suspect what we planned? Would he turn us in? Candaith stiffened, and his hand was squeezing mine perhaps a little too tightly. I swallowed and tried to gain my composure. "Yet, you are here in the dungeons. How can this be, if he values you so much?" I was pleased at my even tone.

Acca sighed, and his shoulders drooped. "He found another, even craftier servant, who could provide him with the means to sway the King of Rohan to his side."

"The King of Rohan!" Candaith exclaimed softly. "That is dire news indeed."

"Grima is his name, and he is on the King's Council. Saruman offered him something, although I know not what. It was a great enough incentive to convince the man to poison the King with words and some sort of potion, twisting his mind and eventually getting him to do whatever Saruman wanted. From what I hear, Grima is essentially running Edoras, and has many spies doing his bidding throughout Rohan." Acca was clearly upset. "Because of Grima's loyalty and great deeds, Saruman replaced me with the man, and cast me into the dungeons."

I eyed him with some suspicion. "Why should we believe you?" I asked. "You say you were one of the wizard's most trusted servants. How do we know you are not acting as his spy now, trying to get information from us?" Looking closely into his eyes, I could see the anguish there; he had faced pain and heartache.

"Saruman took me from my family decades ago. I heard they had moved away from Galtrev to a smaller village. When I found I was to be replaced by Grima, I begged Saruman to let me return to them. Grima cruelly informed me that their village had been burned to the ground, leaving none alive. I did not protest as I was thrown into a cell, for I have nowhere to go and no one alive whom I love. I am alone," Acca looked completely broken, and I used my best discernment to see if he was telling the truth.

"I sense no evil from him, meleth nin." It was true; I knew what loss felt like, and it was plainly in front of me.

Candaith relaxed his grip a little and stroked his thumb over my knuckles. "Yet, we must remain on our guard, until he proves himself trustworthy."

"Agreed."

"I can tell you have those whom you love waiting for you outside these cursed walls," Acca murmured. "I will not ask who they are or where you intend to go, for it does not affect my desire to help you...to help everyone who is locked in here, away from the light and all hope."

"There is always hope," I whispered earnestly. At least, it is what I tried to hold on to. Sauron's whispers in my mind, when they were present, insisted I let go of it, and that there was no point to fighting against him. He had tried many tricks, and nearly succeeded in getting me killed. Would he now use Saruman to do so? Why did he care about me so much?

"I know the ins and outs of Isengard, and its many secret ways," Acca whispered. "More than even Grima knows of."

Candaith furrowed his brow in thought. Clearly, he was trying to decide whether or not to let Acca in to our plans of escape. I gave him a tiny nod when he looked my way, and he said, "How will we use these paths? We must gather together, or in small groups, and the Uruks keep us separated for the most part."

Acca smiled, in a grim sort of way. "There is a Rohir named Baldgar, and he is one of their most proficient scouts." He gestured across the wide hall of the dungeon to a cell just in sight. "He managed to nick a set of keys from one of the overseers. All of the locks use the same key type, so it will be easy to free everyone, if we get the chance."

"There will need to be a distraction," I mused. "Something that will draw the majority of the Uruks and orcs away from here."

"I think I may have an idea," Candaith murmured. He looked carefully around us, and I joined him in this. No Uruks were in the vicinity, but we kept our voices low. "When I was cleaning and repairing some of the weaponry this morning, I spotted what looked like an experiment of Saruman's. There was a black powder, and when it was set aflame, it created a tremendous roar, and smoke billowed into the air, making it difficult to breathe."

This made a shiver run down my spine. "I am familiar with something like it, having used it myself in the Misty Mountains." Two pairs of eyes looked at me with astonishment. "It may not be exactly the same, but when set on fire, it exploded and caused great damage to the surrounding structures. It would be dangerous to use as a distraction."

"But effective." Acca interjected. His eyes held a fervent light, and I realized what his purpose was.

"You wish to sacrifice yourself to save us," I breathed.

"What?" Candaith exclaimed. "There must be another way."

Acca shook his head, his lips curved in a sad smile, "I have done much evil in my life, through deeds of trickery and deceit. I wish to atone for this by doing something good, out of honesty and purity of heart. I hope it will atone for my actions in some way, but none of you deserve to lose your lives in this dark place. I will do what I must to save you." He held up a hand as Candaith began to protest. "My mind is made up."

Candaith grit his teeth in frustration, and I ran my hand up and down his back in comfort. "There must be sacrifices in war sometimes, meleth nin," I whispered. "As much as it pains me to admit it."

"Your wife speaks wisdom," Acca replied solemnly. "I fear for many of the lives of those who are trapped here." My mind cast to Mair, whom already looked to have suffered much in such a short time. "Some have been here longer than I. We must make a plan, and quickly."

So we did, but it would require a little more time yet. I needed to be able to move with more freedom, as Acca wished for me to carefully acquire some of the powder we would use for the distraction. Candaith was clearly upset, for it put me in great danger. "Let me see how the next few days go. If I am still watched too closely, we will find some other way to get it. Perhaps I can find a way to gain work outside, where the siege engines and ballistae are stored. I bet they will use the black powder to increase their damage capability."

"I should try instead," Candaith argued. "Fasch and Morflak might let me move more freely, as I defeated their obstacles to ascend in the ranks."

"We will both try," I said resolutely. Acca nodded in agreement. "Whatever the case may be, we will need to store it in a place where an explosion would be devastating enough to cause the Uruks and orcs to investigate in great numbers." I frowned. "However, I am unsure how to carry it on my person as I collect it."

We stood in thought for a moment, before Acca's weathered face brightened. "There are many barrels scattered around this place. A person could claim to be collecting weapons for their daily work, while sneaking some of the powder in with these weapons. They could be set somewhere, in a group, and I could find my way there and spark the powder to ignite."

"We could place them near one of the war machines, or a group of them," Candaith mused. "I have heard they are mostly made of wood, and would go up in flames easily."

I tried not to let the excitement get the best of me, for there was more to figure out. "Although Baldgar has the keys, when will he get the chance to let us out? We are all escorted individually or, on rare occasion, in small groups to our various tasks."

"He told me he will pretend to be ill, so they will leave him be," Acca replied. "Then, when all of us have returned to our cells at the end of the day, he will sneak out of his, kill the guard who oversees us at night, and then free the rest of us. This will give me the chance to go by secret ways to where you set the barrels, and cause the distraction."

Candaith eyed him speculatively. "You certainly threw all of this together from one of my ideas, and quickly at that."

Acca shrugged. "I have considered escaping countless times. I simply used the ideas and thoughts you both shared with me, in order to create something more concrete."

I let out a shaky breath, and the thought of this plan and all that could go wrong hit me like a ton of bricks. "I...I am afraid of what will happen to us, should we fail." Saruman would punish us severely, and what it would entail was anyone's guess. I willed myself not to dwell too much on it, but it was difficult.

Candaith took both my hands in his, as his blue eyes met mine. "It is a great risk, but it must be done. Not just for us, but for everyone else who is here, and also those on the outside who need us to return." Aragorn was waiting for us, and the rest of the rangers (and the twins) were locked up. Things were dire, and I could think of no better way to get out of this mess.

All I could do was pray for success, and I held Candaith close that night, worried it might be one of our last.

Looks like they are beginning to pull together a plan of escape, but it is a rough one, with many variables. Things need to go their way multiple times, and even if they set up the perfect plan, implementing it will be difficult and dangerous. Gwin and Candaith are also unsure whether or not to fully trust Acca, due to his history, but what else can they do? They have to get out of here, and so far, this is their best option.

Thanks for reading!