22. Rivendell
[Frodo is lying in a vast bed.]
Frodo: "Where am I?"
Gandalf's voice: "You are in the house of Elrond. And it is ten o'clock in
the morning, on October the twenty-fourth, if you want to know."
[Frodo wakes up.]
Frodo: "Gandalf!"
[Gandalf is seated on Frodo's bed, smoking his pipe. The bedroom opens on to
a beautiful garden. The noise of falling water is mixed with bird song. Leaves
are gently falling.]
Gandalf: "Yes… I'm here. And you're lucky to be here, too. A few more hours
and you would have been beyond our aid. But you have some strength in you, my
dear hobbit!"
Frodo: "What happened, Gandalf? Why didn't you meet us?"
Gandalf: "Oh I'm sorry Frodo… I was delayed."
[Flashback to Isengard. On the tower top, Saruman is using his powers to flip
Gandalf about. He then dangles him over the edge of Orthanc.]
Saruman: "Friendship with Saruman is not lightly thrown aside. One ill turn
deserves another. It is over! Embrace the power of the Ring… or embrace your own
destruction!"
[Gandalf lies at full stretch, completely at Saruman's mercy.]
[A tiny white moth flutters across between them. Gandalf observes it as
Saruman continues to taunt him.]
[Saruman hurls Gandalf back towards the platform.]
Gandalf: [slowly raises himself as the shadowy form of an eagle appears in
the background] "There is only one Lord of the Ring! Only one who can bend it to
his will. And he… does… not… share… power!"
[The eagle screeches. Gandalf leaps off the Tower of Orthanc and lands on the
eagle's back.]
Saruman: "So you have chosen… death."
[Gwaihir flies over the mountains, bearing Gandalf to safety.]
Frodo: "Gandalf? What is it?"
Gandalf: "Nothing, Frodo."
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