*first person pov*
There was sounds of laughter in the distance, two of them. And with that I knew that pippin and Merry must be safe and sound in Isengard. It brought some ease to me, that they were still fine and found joy regardless of all the thing's that has happened.
We would be reaching Isengard soon, it was just up ahead.
Fangorn forest is far more calmer now, the pent up anger and reside it had before gone. It was more quiet and welcoming this time compared to when we went through it before.
Although it could be because of the fact that Gandalf was here with us.
Gimli had his protests and grumbles before we plunged into the forest while he sits helpless behind Legolas. Legolas just rolled his eyes when Gimli asked him to turn back or go another way, trotting Arod to go more further.
We reached the end of the forest and found two hobbits lying on the collapsed fortress that was previously used to guard the wizard's vale. While smoking and snacking off their asses.
Pippin laughs and salutes us with his mug whilst Merry stands up upon seeing us, spreading his arms wide towards the rubble and welcoming us.
"Welcome, my lady and lords to Isengard!" He drunkenly gestured to the tower.
"you young rascals! A merry hunt you've led us on and now we find you feasting and-and smoking!" Gimli nags gruffly towards the high hobbits.
I never really realized how much I missed these rascals until these two are in front of me and oddly jolly and relaxed. It was as if like they never got kidnapped. A grin breaks out from me, I look around me to Legolas and Aragorn, they were grinning too. Just utterly happy and glad our friends are alive. "they're high out of their minds." I remarked.
"We are sitting on a field of victory enjoying a few well earned comforts." Pippin slurred the words out, while taking a bite of his sandwich. It was obvious they were drunk. "The salted port is particularly good."
At that gimli perked up. "Salted pork?"
"Hobbits." Gandalf mumbled under his breath.
"We're under orders from Treebeard, who's taken over management of Isengard." Merry points towards the flooded surface and a huge walking tree. One of many actually.
But this was good news, the ents have taken control over the place! Which means that Saruman has been defeated and is most likely lurking in his tower. Trapped in his own part of the sea.
We moved to approach Treebeard, Pippin rode with Aragorn while merry rode with me.
Initially they both wanted to ride with me but then Aragorn took notice of how I'd be stuck in a sandwich between both of them like Pippin's pork sandwich, he offered for one of them to ride with him. At first they argued over who would get to ride with me but Aragorn was too fed up with their bickering he just yanked Pippin off my horse unto his.
It was a comical and unforgettable scene for sure.
As we trudge through the water to get to Treebeard, I couldn't help but think of the sea. The waters move as we walked through it, just like how the sea parts for a ship to pass. I wonder if my crew was sailing at the moment...
I sighed. I miss sailing.
I miss home most of all.
"young master Gandalf, I'mmmm glad you've come. Wood and water, stock and stone I can master, but there is a wizard to manage here locked in his tower." Treebeard said. He was insanely tall. That was the most I could say about him. Tall and menacing.
I couldn't help but gawk at the talking tree in front of us. The stories were true, I'd never met an ent before. There wasn't any moving or talking trees where I was from. They were all just regular tropical trees that you would find on an island.
"show yourself." Aragorn whispered beside me, pulling my attention again. Which I found that Merry smirked smugly at me, like he was proud to show that he was close to an ent to me.
I rolled my eyes at him, a small crooked smile on my face.
"Be careful." Gandalf snapped to Aragorn. "Even in defeat Saruman is dangerous." Gandalf finished, a bit more softer this time.
"Well then let's just have his head and be done with it." Gimli said. I nod at him, personally I want him to have a slow death but I don't care whatever method we'd use. Just as long as we don't have to deal with him anymore.
"No. We need him alive. We need him to talk." Gandalf protested. Way to ruin the fun grandpa.
I exhaled a sharp breath. That's fine, as long as by the end of this he'll still be dead.
A booming voice rose from above, we all look to the top of the tower. Then lo and behold, the man of the century.
"You have fought many wars and slain many men Theoden king, and made peace afterwards. Can we not take counsel together as we did, my old friend? Can we not have peace you and I?" Saruman said, leaning on his staff. His tone was mocking and taunting, like he couldn't believe that Theoden was capable to win the battle. Or maybe he did, which was why he needed to curse the king in the first place.
"We shall have peace." Theoden craned his neck to Saruman, rage in his face. "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!" His voice rose more and more with every word he said.
"When you hang from a gibbet for the sport of your own crows...we shall have peace."
Saruman stares at Theoden, a sense of rage and disbelief on his face at the same time. "Gibbets and crows...dotard! What do you want Gandalf Greyhame? Let me guess, The key of Orthanc? Or perhaps the keys to Barad Dur itself? Along with the crowns of the seven kings and the rods of the five wizards!" He growled at us.
I scowled at the man. The once was honoured and loved Saruman. Now nothing except for a creature that has its own fears.
"Your treachery has already cost many lives. Thousands more are at risk. But you could save them Saruman. You were deep in the enemy's council." Gandalf advised.
But there was no consideration or empathy in the former white wizard's face.
Saruman raised his eyebrows, a smirk on his face. "So you have come for information. I have some for you."
I bite the insides of my cheeks. He is either just bluffing or he will give us horrifying news. nothing in between.
Saruman pulls out a palantir and looks into it. "Something festers in the heart of middle earth. Something that you have failed to see. But the great eye has seen it." Saruman's eyes was filled with awe. Although there was also a slight fear in them.
He looks down towards us again. "Even now he presses his advantage. His attack will come soon."
Gandalf rides forward.
"You are all going to die." Saruman said.
Merry's grip on my arm tightens. I squeeze his hand gently. Saruman was bluffing. He had to be bluffing, those things can't be true.
Right?
"But you know this don't you 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." Saruman scoffed.
Aragorn looked up to Saruman. His eyes squinted against the sunlight, but there was doubt in his eyes. He locks his jaw, gripping the reins tighter.
The wizard was bluffing. It was evident. He probably didn't have a plan, but he's just spitting words after words to avoid himself from being stabbed at. He was trying to delay his own death. It's a very common tactic amongst future dead people, the ones who aren't ready for it at least. Or for people who are guilty and they know it.
"Gandalf does not hesitate to sacrifice those who are closest to him. Those he professes to love." Saruman said.
I look at the old man in front of me, Gandalf stood unfazed. From my point of view, his body stood still. I couldn't say the same for his face though, was he caught off guard by that? Disappointed maybe?
Was there some truth in it?
"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 smiled.
He was taunting us. He's bluffing. Can't everyone else see it? He's just trying to scare us off, he doesn't have a real motive except to escape from his death.
Gimli shakes his head and tugs at Legolas's cloak. "I've heard enough! Shoot him! Stick an arrow in his gob!"
"shoot three." I added, maybe this way he'll understand how painful Boromir's death was.
Legolas reaches for an arrow. Gandalf holds out his arm. "No! Come down Saruman and your life will be spared!"
"Save your pity and your mercy. I have no use for it!" Saruman shouts and directs a ball of flame shooting out of his staff towards Gandalf.
I let out a small gasp as the ball of flame engulfs Gandalf whole. The horses step back from the flames, I squint as the fire covers Gandalf completely. No no no no no. This can't happen again, he was just back with us. Even Merry and Pippin was back! He can't leave us now.
But my worries soon perished as the flames dispersed and Gandalf appeared unhurt and with no ill effects.
"Saruman...your staff is broken." Gandalf said and Saruman's staff broke into bits.
Saruman looks at Gandalf with wide eyes. He didn't really believe that gandalf was now Gandalf the white and not Gandalf Greyhame, he didn't think that Gandalf would be capable of spells as strong as that. Especially capable of destroying his staff.
The look on his face was so priceless I couldn't resist hiding my smirk.
Grima appears behind Saruman, he was hunched down and he looked disheveled. Maybe there was guilt in him, who knows? Maybe the man had a brain in there somewhere.
Theoden catches sight of Grima and calls him down. "Grima! You need not follow him! You were not always as you are now. You were once a man on Rohan. Come down."
Grima stares at Theoden for a while, before bowing down and looking like he was heading for the stairs. But he stopped when Saruman scoffed.
"A man of Rohan? What is the house of Rohan except 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." Saruman said.
Theoden looked away from Saruman. He frowned slightly, like he was contemplating and finding some right in what Saruman is saying.
I grit my teeth. This is exactly his ploy. This is exactly the game he wants to play with all of us! Saruman wants to make us doubt and terrify ourselves with his few useless words. He should have been dead long ago. Way before he had a chance to poison our minds. Now Aragorn, Theoden and Gandalf seemed to be more worried.
"Grima. Come down! Be free of him!" Theoden said with a softer voice, but every bit of venom was obvious in his tongue.
"Free? He will never be free!" Saruman denied.
Grima shook his head, a frown on his face. "No..."
Saruman turns around to Grima. "Get down Cur!" Saruman slaps Grima to the ground.
"Saruman! You were deep in the enemy's council. Tell us what you know!" Gandalf demanded.
Saruman turns to face Gandalf. I could see something glinting in behind Saruman. What was that?
"You withdraw your guard and I will tell you where your doom will be decided. I will not be held prisoner here!" Saruman said but soon stood rigid and wide eyed on top of the tower while Grima stabs him repeatedly.
Ah so that was what was gleaming just now. I'm kind of disappointed I didn't get a jab at him.
Legolas aims an arrow towards the tower and let it fly, hitting Grima around the area where his heart would have been. Shame, maybe he could've been redeemed.
That was a slim chance though.
Saruman turned around and slipped from the tower and fell down. Down down down down until he landed on one of the spikes on a wheel in front of us with a squelch.
Merry behind me gasps and covers his mouth. Everyone else also releases a small gasp while their horse would step back a bit out of shock from the sound.
I stared at the blood stained body of the impaled man wearing a white robe. My eyes go bored and disappointed as I stare more and more at his body.
"shame. I'd liked it for him to die more slower than that." I sighed. Everyone turned to me with wide eyes and disbelieving stares. Even Gandalf looked caught off guard.
I raise an eyebrow at them. "tough crowd." I mumbled, most people on my ship would've agreed.
Well, half at least.
Gandalf turns back to Saruman's corpse. "Send word to all our allies and to every corner of the Middle Earth that still stands free. The enemy moves against us. We need to know where he will strike."
The water wheel starts to creak and move, spinning Saruman around and making him fall into the water head first.
Truly, he deserved a worse punishment. If we were on my ship now I'd already find one. The way that he died just now? That was the most basic and boring way to go. I'm not trying to be a cunt but I'm just saying there was more effort that could be put into it you know? After all, he is a sadistic mass murderer who destroys the natural ways of nature.
"the filth of Saruman is washing away. Trees will come back to live here. Young trees. Wild trees." Treebeard muses.
I smile at that, this place will be as it was once was. A home for the trees with no disruptors.
Pippin suddenly dismounts from Aragorn's horse. Aragorn calls out to him.
"Pippin!"
Pippin reaches into the water where Saruman's corpse resides in at the moment. Pippin takes out the white wizard's palantir from before. Gazing into it for a suspiciously long time.
"Bless my bark!" Treebeard exclaims.
Gandalf quickly trots over to Pippin and holds out a hand to him. "Peregrin took! I'll take that my lad! Quickly now!"
Pippin hands the palantir to him reluctantly and gives a sheepish look at Gandalf and watched intently as Gandalf rides away.
Aragorn rides over to Pippin and helps Pippin settle down behind him.
"come on Pippin, let's go back to Edoras." Aragorn said. Pippin nods behind him, having a faraway look on his face.
We all follow Gandalf out of Isengard and the ent-flooded area in the wizard's vale. I look at the water beneath my feet. I can't even feel the waters because I'm on a horse.
I need to be on the waters. I'm not supposed to be on a....horse when the water is right there. I don't belong here. And everyday I cannot wait for this to be over and that I'll be able to go home.
But I guess I'm doing my boots a favor now. The water was filled with grum and orc corpses. That's gross.
"what's wrong mae? You have a face as long as a fiddle. The same thing happened to you when we entered here before." Merry asked. His empathy bought me comfort, I'm really glad that those hobbits showed up on our doorstep when we needed a new cook. At least it got me to meet Merry and Pip. Even Frodo and Sam.
I smile and shake my head. "no I'm fine. It's just....seeing the flood made me miss the ocean somehow."
"oh...well I'm sure it won't be long until this is all over. And honestly...me and Pippin have wanted to go to your ship for ages. I wanted to ask you if we could hitch a ride something after this is all over?" Merry sheepishly asks behind me.
I turn around and grin at him. "Of course you can! Believe me I'll bring you both to a place where they serve the finest beer and ale the world can offer."
Merry laughs and nods. "I'll be holding on to you for that!"
I cross my heart. "I swear on an old pirate's promise."
An: hellooooo everybodyyy yall are giving me jumpscares too much lately 2k views on this story what the fuck??? atp this is all my a/n's will be lmaoo. Anyways school has now started for me and since Im in a new grade my school starts in the morning instead of 1pm, so I think I'll only be able to update every 3 days now :(((( IM SORRYYYYY but i rlly think I'm gonna be busy now so I hope yall understand <3
Also yes Maeral is from an island but it's kind a big one and theres forests AND human town, so she lives more in the forest and they rarely get out. They only do to like visit people in other kingdoms and stuff.
anyways hope yall like this chapter and voted for it if you thought it was good!!