𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐑𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 || 𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐁 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐊

ᴛʜɪʀᴛʏ-sɪx

Did I perhaps forget to update for months? Yes.
Do I have an excuse? No. Except that I started watching Criminal Minds and didn't expect the brainrot to be so strong fr.
Anyway.

LAST TIME:
After an uncomfortably intimate interrogation with Sauron via Palantír, Robb managed to kill his Uruk-Hai guards.
Now, he has to find a way out of Isengard.

Enjoy!

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Considering Robb had a very clear idea of the direction he needed to go to escape—that direction being down—Isengard was actually far harder to navigate than he had hoped. Each stairway led to another curving corridor, and each corridor led to another hall with several doorways splitting off from it. To find the next set of stairs, Robb had to check every new room, praying all the while that it would not be occupied.

So far, he had been lucky. The Gods only knew how long that would last.

The lack of windows made his task harder: how would Robb know when he had reached the ground floor? What if he accidentally descended into the bowels of Isengard's dungeons instead? He knew they existed, for why else would Saruman have called Robb's own cell an upper cell?

Robb sighed, but kept quiet beyond that. It was a useless thing to worry about, anyway. If he stumbled into the dungeons, he would simply have to go up the stairs again, and hope no one saw him.

He pushed open the next door and froze in his tracks. Before him lay the same chamber Robb had been in not even an hour ago. The plinth was still in its centre, with the crystal ball sitting on top of it—uncovered.

Robb swallowed. His gaze stayed locked on it, as though Sauron might come springing out of the orb the moment he looked away. Robb thought he heard whispers again, a quiet hissing, but no. It had to be his imagination. Fear, maybe—he was not too proud to admit that Sauron frightened him, especially after what had just happened. The remains of his presence still burned in Robb's mind like a brand. His headache had refused to abate so far.

Enough.

Squeezing his eyes shut for just a moment, Robb shook his head to clear it. He could not afford to hesitate here. With every second that passed, the odds of Saruman learning of his escape increased.

When Robb opened his eyes again, he found himself several steps into the room, his hand half-raised as if to reach out. His breathing stuttered. Then, with a low growl, he balled his hand into a fist until his fingernails dug into his palm, and forced it to return to his side.

Only now did Robb look around the room.

The three doors in front of him were all closed, though he could not say whether they were locked. The ones on either side of the doorway Robb had come through, however...
They were both wide open.

While the right one led to yet another room, the other one revealed grey skies and a fine view of the lands surrounding Isengard. A balcony.

Air caught in his throat, Robb stumbled forward. Sunlight hit his skin and he inhaled fresh air for the first time in days. His eyes fluttered shut and a breathless chuckle escaped unbidden from his lungs. Robb's fingers found the cold metal railing and curled around it.

Back in his cell, with only his own thoughts for company, it felt at times as if the rest of the world had fallen away. Had the past weeks with the Fellowship been real, or a dream? Perhaps he had truly died that day at the Twins? In his darkest moments, Robb had begun to question what was real. In a way, Saruman and his torture had helped with that, the pain anchoring him where little else could.