Title: The White Rider

Author: Anso the Hobbit

Beta and additional material: Marigold

Characters: Pippin, Merry, Gandalf and Treebeard

Timeline: Early March 1419 SR, Isengard

Summary: Gandalf comes to Isengard and meets up with Treebeard and the hobbits.

Note: This story is inspired by ideas from Shirebound and Birch Tree, and will hopefully cover both your ideas on what to write about. Thank you! Thanks also to the most wonderful and helpful beta of all, Marigold! A little of the dialogue is taken from The Two Towers, chapters Treebeard and The White Rider. Written for Marigold's Challenge #4.

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Pippin sat up abruptly. Next to him Merry shifted uneasily but did not wake. Pippin shifted a little on his stone bed where he lay at the top of the arch leading from the gate and into Isengard itself. There was a rythmic sound, something… wet hitting the walls at intervals? He drew his elven cloak more securely about him, making him almost invisible. Just before they had settled down to sleep Treebeard had told them that they needed to be careful as the water could come crashing down through the tunnel and destroy the archway. The Ents had released Isen, and the river, though not quite as big as the Brandywine, had come crashing down upon the ruins of Isengard.

 

Pippin was weary. The hobbits had done as much as they could in helping the Ents destroy Saruman`s fortress, but there was only so much two hobbits could do, and when Quickbeam had suggested they take some rest, Pippin was not one to object. The only safe place for rest seemed to be the remains of the walls that the archway was delved through, and the hobbits had scrambled up on it, both of them falling asleep just moments after Treebeard had finished talking to them.

 

Pippin thought he couldn`t have slept for more than a few minutes when he woke up. In the moment between sleep and wakefulness, he thought that the river had come so high up on the wall that it soon would cover them in ice cold frothing masses of water. He nudged Merry in the side and shook his shoulder for good measure.

 

“Wake up, sleepyhead.”

 

Merry blearily opened his eyes.

 

“What is it Pip?” his voice slurred with sleep.

 

“I think the water is going to destroy the tunnel, just as Treebeard said. I heard something, listen!” Pippin said.

 

Merry lifted his head, pointed ears tilting a little to hear better. “It`s not the water. It sounds like hooves, like someone riding fast. Treebeard?”

 

Merry saw the Ent silently and quickly creep into the shadows of the archway, also hearing the fast clip-clop of distant hooves quickly coming closer. Treebeard had been inspecting the work around the gate when he had cautioned the hobbits, and was therefore close by when they saw the silvery-white light that accompanied the clip-clop.

 

“Look!” Pippin said, his face anxious and his green eyes wide. Merry drew his cloak tighter about himself too, drawing up the hood to hide his curls, the hobbits blending with the grey-brown colours of the stones. They lay down flat and waited.

 

What in Middle-earth is that? Merry thought. The light was strong and seemed to erupt from one point, spreading out in a circle that reached halfway to the skies and covered all the ground in a wide range from its center. As the light came closer, Merry could clearly see that it was a white horse with a rider clad in white, - with white hair and beard.

 

Saruman? Merry thought at first, but quickly discarded that possibility. He had seen the Wizard peering down from his high vantage point of Orthanc while watching the destruction of his carefully build machinery, of his orcs and wild men and other and even meaner creatures. Saruman wasn`t “White” anymore, his clothing may have been white at one point, but it was not purely white any longer, and his long hair and beard was tinged with strands of black. It can`t be Gandalf Merry thought. He had died in Moria. But wait; had he in reality died? At first the grief for the fallen Wizard had been too much, it had consumed them all. Despite the grief, a nagging thought had still been there, in the back of his mind. Not really a conscious thought, but something clicked into place when Merry saw the rider approaching.

 

Gandalf was a Wizard, and he had told them that his powers were much greater than they could comprehend. In the Shire he was looked upon as a friendly old man that made fireworks and visited “mad” Baggins. The Quest had showed them another side of him. Merry thought back to the horrible moment there at the bridge in Moria, when all but Gandalf had fled to the stairs that lead up to the Gates. Gandalf had shouted something about being the wielder of a secret flame when he stood there on the bridge, facing the balrog, but Merry couldn`t quite remember what he had said exactly. He`d been too scared to think about it then. When they came to Lòrien, he hadn`t had time to think much about it, his main concern had been coping with his own grief and doing what he could for Pippin.

 

All this ran through Merry`s head, as the rider approached with the speed of lightning, and Merry barely registered Pippin sitting up and whispering “Gandalf?” with open-mouthed astonishment. Merry felt his own mouth fall open, his mind racing with questions. How could this be? Was it really Gandalf? Had he seen any of the others? Was Frodo still alive, bound for Mt. Doom? Would Gandalf even know what had happened to their Fellowship?

 

"Get up, you tom-fool of a Took! Where, in the name of wonder, in all this ruin is Treebeard? I want him. Quick!" Gandalf said by way of greeting, dismounting lightly.

 

“Gandalf!” Pippin almost squealed with joy. “Where have you been?!”

 

Merry was standing now too. “Gandalf! It`s wonderful to see you!” Both hobbits started climbing down.

 

“Steady lads, steady.” The Wizard said, holding out his hands in a defensive manner protecting himself at least temporarily from the hobbit attack he knew would come. “Stay up there for now, where you`re safe.”

 

“You're alive! Have you seen the others? What happened to you?” The questions rushed out of Merry like arrows from a bow, the hobbit was that desperate for news.

 

“All tales in due time. I will speak to Treebeard first, then I will answer some of your questions.  Your adventures have not lessened your curiosity I see, Meriadoc." Gandalf smiled.

 

“Gandalf! I am here” the old Ent said, coming out from his hiding place, and before Merry could ask any more questions, the Wizard and the tree herder walked off together, talking like the old friends they were.

 

“Merry?” Pippin was tugging at his arm, his head to one side and an amazed look upon his face.

 

“I know Pip.” Merry drew him in for a quick hug, before they sat down on the top of the archway. “I`m not sure what to believe either. It`s Gandalf all right, but how?”

 

The two hobbits sat in silence to wait as the night grew longer and darker, each lost in his own thoughts and from time to time scanning their surroundings. Orcs could still be heard from the ruins, but neither of the hobbits could see them as the Ents continued their work.

 

Merry tried to understand. As a Wizard, the powers Gandalf had were certainly great, but could he bring himself back from the dead? And what did he want with Treebeard? Treebeard had told them that he knew Gandalf. Were they planning something? The war was still brewing and large numbers of orcs and Uruk-hai had left Isengard to fight. Had Gandalf anything to do with that? When had he returned? Merry squinted his eyes, wanting them to come back so he could have some answers.

 

Treebeard had said that Gandalf was the only Wizard that cared for trees, and when they had told their tale he had been very interested in anything that had to do with Gandalf.  “There is something very big going on, that I can see, and what it is maybe I shall learn in good time, or in bad time. By root and twig, but it is a strange business: up sprout a little folk that are not in the old lists, and behold, the Nine forgotten Riders reappear to hunt them, and Gandalf takes them on a great journey, and Galadriel harbours them in Caras Galadhon, and Orcs pursue them down all the leagues of Wilderland: indeed they seem to be caught up in a great storm.” He had said.

 

But what was Gandalf`s role in all this, Merry thought. And for that matter, what was his and Pippin`s role in this?  A slight shuffling noise broke his concentration, and he looked at Pippin.

 

“Pip?”

 

“Look. They`re coming back.”

 

Merry rose and helped Pippin to his feet as Gandalf and Treebeard approached.

 

“Well met, Meriadoc, Peregrin. I am glad to see you. You both did well to escape the Orcs.” Gandalf said, smiling.

 

“How did you know we were captured?” Pippin asked.

 

“It is given to me to see far off. And Treebeard has told me some of your tale too. Are you both well?”

 

“Yes, we`re fine. They were in such hurry and under strict orders from Saruman I believe, so they didn`t have time or opportunity to do us any harm.” Merry said, putting an arm around Pippin`s shoulders, a shadow flashing over both their faces The memory of the Uruk-hai, and the rough treatment was still clear in their minds.

 

“And how did you get that scar on your brow?” Gandalf asked.

 

Merry brushed a hand over his forehead. A brown scar was just above his eyebrow. “I don`t remember” he said. “But it does not hurt any more. They put some foul medicine on it.”

 

“It sounded like it hurt when they did that,” Pippin said. “You screamed and struggled wildly.”

 

“Come down here, and let me have a look at you.” Gandalf said. The hobbits scrambled down with enthusiasm, and Gandalf endured their jubilant hugs, laughing in delight and hugging them in turn.

 

Then Gandalf crouched down to the hobbits` eyelevel and brushed Merry`s fair curls aside. “The wound looks closed and healing now, but I`m afraid being healed in orc fashion, the wound will leave a scar.” Gandalf sighed and examined the marks on Merry's wrists, and his ankles. "These will scar as well, but not as lividly; I see that Treebeard has been giving you some of his special draughts, as well as keeping an eye on you. They have helped the wound on your forehead to heal as well.”

 

“He was unconscious for a long time Gandalf,” Pippin said, taking Merry`s hand and squeezing it, chilled by the memory. “I think it happened when he was thrown to the ground soon after they captured us. They did throw us around a lot.”

 

Gandalf moved now to Pippin and took his wrists, looking at the marks from the bonds that had cut into the soft flesh. They were not as deep as Merry's as Pippin had been able to cut his wrist bonds early in their captivity, but like Merry, he bore marks on his ankles and there was a deep scar from a lash across the back of his legs. Gandalf shook his head sorrowfully. Merry felt glad that Gandalf didn't ask to see their backs, but did not doubt that the Wizard knew the marks were there.

 

“I am sorry my lads. I would have prevented this if it had been in my powers to do so. But all things happen for a purpose.” Gandalf patted them on the heads and drew both hobbits in for a brief but heartfelt embrace.

 

“What happened to you?” Merry said, as soon as he was released. “You fell in Moria, but here you are, clad all in white. Where is Gandalf the Grey? And have you seen the others? Do you know if Frodo and Sam still live and where they are?”

 

“Wherever I have been, I am back," he answered in the genuine Gandalf manner. "Yes, I have seen some of the others. But news must wait. This is a perilous night and I must ride fast. But the dawn may be brighter; and if so, we shall meet again. Take care of yourselves, and keep away from Orthanc! Good-bye!"

 

In a flash he was seated on Shadowfax again, and the hobbits could only watch as he rode away into the night.

 

“So much for answering questions!” Merry muttered. “I wonder where he`s off to?”

 

“Helms Deep” Treebeard said. He had followed the conversation from inside the archway, guarding the entrance and only way out.

 

“I wonder when we`ll see him again then.” Pippin said. “He seemed to be in quite a hurry. I had hoped he would answer some more of our questions.”

 

“As would I” Treebeard said.

 

“Well,then, that`s settled. There`s no more to know now, and I`m tired, so let`s get back to sleep Merry.”

 

As the hobbits climbed back up to their high bed, Treebeard started on another round to oversee the work.

 

“G'night Merry” Pippin said.

 

“Night Pip.” Merry settled down as comfortably as possible, and in a few breaths the hobbits were asleep once again.