An Acceptance

Legolas rode up, and reached out his arm, helping her back down to their horse.

The Hobbits climbed onto two other horses, and they were off once more, but just to the inside of Isengard.

Murky water had flooded the entire hell, making it much more bearable to look at. Raina could hear the curses and swears coming from inside the tower, one of the voices she recognized as being Gríma’s.

All around the gated area, tall Ents wandered around, making sure that no Uruks were still alive.

One particular Ent approached the group, speaking to Gandalf.

“Young Master Gandalf, I’m glad you’ve come. Wood and water, stock and stone, I can manage, but we’ve got a Wizard to manage here, locked up in his tower.”

Raina glanced up fearfully at the tower, and Legolas’s grip on the reins form behind Raina tightened.

“Show yourself!” Aragorn commanded.

“Be careful,” Gandalf chided. “Even in defeat, Saruman is dangerous.”

Gimli growled from beside Raina. “Then let’s just have his head and be done with it!”

Gandalf shook his head, without tearing his gaze from the tower. “No. No, we need him to talk.”

A voice suddenly came from above, startling Raina.

“You have fought many wars and slain many men, Théoden King, and made peace afterwards.”

Raina could hear the hidden malice in his contempt voice. He was so sure that they would want peace, for fear of him, Raina thought with a snicker. Yeah, well we have an even better, more powerful wizard on our side. And guess what? We actually like him!

"Can we not take council together, as we once did, my old friend? Can we not have peace, you and I?"

“We will have peace,” Théoden said shortly, but continued. "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."

Raina sniggered and resisted the urge to congratulate the king for fear of insulting him.

"What do you want Gandalf Greyhame? Let me guess: the key of Orthanc, or perhaps the key of Barad-dûr itself, along with the crowns of the seven kings and the rods of the five wizards!" Saruman tried again.

"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 council,” Gandalf replied encouragingly.

Saruman straightened up, grinning a bit, knowing he has something they wanted.

He reached into his robes and pulled out a dark glass ball. Raina flinched as she felt inevitably drawn to it. Perhaps she had spent too long with the Ring, Raina decided.

"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,” Saruman said, dodging the real question. But still everyone stared at him in wonder, wondering what he was thinking of.

“You’re all going to die,” he said quietly.

“But you know this, don’t you, Gandalf?”

He turned to Aragorn, sneering.

"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,” he said sneeringly. A low growl echoed in Raina’s throat, recoiling as her friend was insulted.

“And you!” he turned to Raina, but she did not back off and continued to glare at him openly. “Do you honestly think that you will ever see your brother again? That he will make it out of this journey with his life?” The wizard scoffed and turned away. “Blind fools,” he muttered under his breath.

“Tell me, Gandalf,” Saruman yelled down in satisfaction. “What words of comfort did you offer the Halfling before you sent him to his doom?”

Raina shuddered at this. Gimli was also fed up with Saruman, and turned to Legolas.

“I’ve heard enough,” he declared. “Shoot him, one of you. Stick an arrow in his gob.”

Legolas reached behind him instantly to grab an arrow, the corners of his lips tilting up slightly at the thought of having the pleasure.

“No,” Gandalf commanded before turning back to Saruman. “Come down, and your life will be spared.”

“Spare your pity and your mercy,” Saruman spat. “For I have no use for it!”

Saruman threw his staff forward, and a ball of fire spewed down and surrounded Gandalf and Shadowfax. Raina leapt back into Legolas’s waiting arms and clutched to him, until Gandalf put out the fire, completely unscathed.

“Saruman,” he called out tauntingly. “Your staff’s broken.”

And with that, the evil wizard’s staff fell to pieces in his hands, to his shock.

From behind Saruman, a figure appeared, staring out over the edge. It was Gríma Wormtongue.

Théoden looked at him in pity and called out to him. "Gríma, you need not follow him. You were not always as you are now. You were once a man of Rohan! Come down."

Gríma bowed to Théoden slowly, looking at Saruman in fear.

"A man of Rohan? What is the house of Rohan but a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek and rats roll on the floor with the dogs? Victory at helms deep does not belong to you, Théoden, horsemaster! You are a lesser son of greater sires,” Saruman yelled madly.

Raina laughed. “As if he’s in any position to be speaking,” she growled.

Théoden ignored him. “Gríma, come down. Be free of him.”

Wormtongue looked at him for a long moment before Saruman spoke once more.

“Free?” he laughed. “He will never be free.”

Gríma looked at Saruman and spoke softly. “No.”

Saruman spun around to face him. “Get down, cur!” he commanded sharply, hitting Wormtongue across the face. Down below, Raina flinched in Legolas’s arms.

Gandalf was speaking, but Raina was not listening. From above, she could hear a dagger being drawn. She turned to face Legolas, hesitant to take her eyes from the tower.

“Gríma,” she whispered to him. “He’s going to kill Saruman.”

Legolas immediately reached back to pull an arrow back, and Raina cried out.

“Don’t! Don’t kill him!”

But it was too late: Gríma had stabbed Saruman, Legolas had let the arrow fly, and they were both dead.

A sudden silence echoed as everyone stared up at the tower, and Saruman’s body fell slowly, ending up staked to some half-way submersed spiked wheel.

Gandalf spoke first, quickly and decisively.

“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.”

And so Raina’s short lived vacation was now over.