At Your Service

9. To Isengard

Eventually after what felt like months and months of travelling I arrived at Isengard. The tower of Saruman could be seen from miles away.
As Sauron had promised the wizard welcomed me warmly offering me tea and a warm meal straight away.
He was an older man wearing white cloaks, his hair nearly white and a long grey beard covered half his face. His manner of speaking proved he must have been ancient as he seemed to hold so much wisdom, I felt like a child compared to him.
"So you've travelled all this way to bring me this Palantir?" Saruman asked as he was inspecting the round object while I greedily slurped my soup. I nodded quietly grabbing some more bread.
"That and because I need training." I told him.
He looked at me in surprise raising his eyebrow and eyeing me from head to toe.
"What? You think I am not worth training because I'm a girl? Or is it because I am half dwarf?" I snapped in frustration.
Saruman chuckled. "That's not what I was eyeing you for. I was merely curious why Sauron would sent someone like yourself to me. You're so young, you know nothing of the world. What makes you want to join us?"
I stood up angrily as I felt very much insulted by this man. "I have seen enough wizard! I have travelled by myself for over a year, I fought for my freedom, I escaped royal guards, I worked my ass off for a roof over my head and a piece of bread to fill my stomach. I nearly died multiple times from starvation of because a basilisk took me for food. I did not come to you to be questioned. I came to you to be trained!' I shouted.
Saruman now nodded seemingly impressed.
"That's the spirit, now I can see the fire Sauron is looking for." Saruman spoke a hint of admiration in his voice.
"We begin our training tomorrow. I will show you to your room." The wizard continued signalling me to follow him which I gladly did. I hadn't slept in a bed since I escaped Minas Tirith.
My room was tiny, with only a bed and a desk in it. Not that it bothered me I needed nothing else. I thanked the wizard before dropping my backpack on the bed and letting myself fall on top of it as well.
"I'll see you tomorrow at the break of dawn." He spoke before leaving me alone.
I stared up at the ceiling in contentment, maybe luck would finally be on my side.

I woke up even before dawn after a good night's sleep. I put on my simple pants and a plain black shirt and made my way to the study. Saruman wasn't up yet so I decided to look through some of the books on his shelves. There were books in all sorts of languages. Dwarvish, elvish, even blackspeech.
"So you seem eager to start training." I heard a deep voice making me put the book back and turn to face the wizard at once.
"I sure am." I answered him while respectfully bowing my head.
"Good." He smiled, there was a hint of darkness in his eyes every time I looked at him it sent some kind of shiver down my spine. Yet when the wizard signalled to follow him that's what I did without hesitating.
This was my purpose, this would be my shot at a better life and I would not mess it up.
When we arrived a few levels lowers in his tower Saruman walked into his training room, there were a few weapons and different armours hanging on the wall. With just a wave of his hand Saruman slammed the door shut behind me.
"So, pick a weapon, pick your armour. Show me what you've got." He spoke with a mysterious, devious look on his face.
I nodded as I walked towards the wall grabbing a bow and arrow as I had always been quite good at it. I stared at the armour for a while, I never really used any of those things. Never had any money for it either. Yet I wanted to impress Saruman and as he was a wizard I was pretty sure I'd need some protection so I picked up a breastplate, shoulder and knee patches and put them on.
When I was done I looked at Saruman for further instructions.
"Well? What are you waiting for? Attack me!" He spoke making me look at him in surprise.
"You? Shouldn't I practice on a bag of hay or something?" I questioned.
Saruman now raised his staff, a gust of wind raging through to room threw me against the wall without any warning. I quickly crawled upright grabbing my bow again and cocking an arrow.
Saruman made no attempt to stop me so I shot at him feeling frustrated by the way he simply threw me to a wall without even touching me.
I aimed for the wizard's heart in my anger, yet as I shot the arrow I missed completely and hit the wall to his left making Saruman chuckle.
I felt my cheeks flush in embarrassment and tried again. In grabbing another arrow I already noticed my shoulder plates were restricting my movement and decreasing the speed in which I could grab a new arrow. In cocking my arrow I found my breastplate to be in the way.
I sighed deeply putting down my bow and arrows so I could remove the armour again.
Saruman remained silent and watched my every move.
The moment I took my weapons back I breathed in deeply and cocked another arrow in a quick movement trying to catch the wizard by surprise.
The arrow flew straight to his heart this time. Yet right before it hit Saruman already stretched his hand crumpling the arrow in a hundred pieces making me gasp for air.
"How?" I muttered in confusion.
"You've never seen magic? You have been in Dul Guldur for weeks, this here. This is child's play for Sauron." Saruman laughed. I swallowed visibly.
"Again!' Saruman ordered and so I continued to shoot arrow after arrow. The wizard used all kinds of magic to deflect them all. Fireballs flew around the room, arrows splintered in my face until I eventually grabbed a sword and choose a more physical form of attacking.
Even then the wizard easily kept me busy using his staff as a defence and no matter how hard I hit it, that staff simply would not break.
I had no idea how long we'd been fighting but when I felt to my knees, panting and my entire body trembling Saruman walked toward me.
"That was enough for now. Go back upstairs and get something to eat." He ordered opening the door again with a wave of his hand and leaving.
It took me a couple more minutes before I could get up and drag myself up the stairs to get some leftover soup and bread.

Saruman trained me every day since. I attacked him with any kind of weapon I found, yet I never got close enough to even make a scratch. In the beginning he was only defending himself. Little by little he attacked me with both his staff or his magic making me feel even worse about myself.
Every day ended with me crawling up the stairs. I had multiple scars and burns by now, yet every day again I got out of bed and tried a different technique.
A little over a month of training I was finally getting better at handling a sword and axe for close combat. I had always been good at shooting arrows, but even there I learned shooting multiple at once.
In attacking the wizard I learned to read his mind and anticipate to his actions even before they happened. Dodging fireballs, standing my ground as another gust of wind tried to blow me of course. Soon I felt like it was all a piece of cake.
"Give up! You cannot win!" Saruman hummed as I was trying to move closer to him despite his attempt to blow me the other way. I held onto the stones crawling closer one stone at a time.
Saruman was so focused on using his power on me he was not prepared for me grabbing his staff and pushing it to his face breaking his concentration and hitting his forehead with the pointy end.
The wind stopped making me stand up while Saruman covered the part of his forehead where I hit him.
"Are you alright?" I questioned a little worried. The wizard now moved his staff in my direction shooting a firebolt I barely dodged.
"Hey! First one who draws blood wins!" I snapped looking at the wizard as he lowered his hand showing the bloody scratch on his head.
"Then take the victory, you never ask your opponent how they are!" Saruman warned me.
"I only asked because I did not mean to hurt you." I pointed out making the wizard laugh at me.
"Is that how you'll fight the enemies? Asking them how they're doing?"
I rolled my eyes "You're not the enemy."
"I am training you, I can easily kill you so it's time to start seeing me like your enemy, I need to know that if the time comes you'll be able to kill without mercy!" Saruman spoke, his eyes darkening with every word as his voice echoed through the room.
I nodded quietly as a sign I understood.
"Now, that was enough for today. You've shown potential." He spoke before leaving me again.