The sun rose over the horizon and set the entire forest of Lorien alight, the snow capped peaks in the distance sparkled with the reflected light.

"It's a beautiful sight, isn't it m'lord?" Eomer looked down to see where Merry was standing beside him munching on an apple.

"Aye….it is indeed beautiful."

"We'll find her, Eomer….don't you be worrying about that." Merry said seriously. Eomer looked at the Halfling beside him and tilted his head.

"I know you're worried for her…if my wife were kidnapped…I'd be in the same straights as you." Merry threw the apple core over his shoulder and looked into the woods. "Let's get ready to go then, shall we?"

"Aye…let us go."

Ari watched as Eldarion mounted the nag they'd taken from the stables.

"I'll bring help back for you. Try to get to the river….you can use it to screen your movements and I'll have my father send help up the river for you. I swear it!"

"You just better get out of here!" Ari said as she heard a horn in the distance. "Go!" She swatted the horses flank fiercely and watched as Eldarion rode away from her. She took a few moments to catch her breath and her bearings and then started to move as fast as she could in the direction of the river.

A heavy mist had settled amongst the trunks of the great trees and to Ari it was like walking through a dream. She could hear the creatures moving everywhere around her as sound echoed in the dense fog. As the sun rose higher in the sky the fog began to burn off and thin. Ari hoped she wasn't walking side by side with the creatures as that would make her life suck. A loud crack behind her made her dart behind a fat mallorn tree and look behind her. She could just make out shapes moving amongst the trees hunting for the tracks that just weren't there.

"We should follow the horse tracks….we'll find the girl and can hold her ransom. The prince we will not find easily." She heard one bellow. "She is hurt and will probably fall off that nag."

"I think the prince is on that horse." Another said. "The prince would leave deeper tracks---we'd be able to follow him were he on foot."

"Maybe they're both on the horse."

"That nag wouldn't carry both their weights." The second one said. "She was hurt, but she still had a significant bit of weight to her."

"You stupid son of a bitch! Are you saying I'm fat?" Ari shouted stepping out from her hiding spot.

"Get her!"

Ari started to run, ignoring everything; pain, nausea, the sound of the creatures coming up behind her. She had to run…she had to keep them off Eldarion's trail.

The army struck camp and assembled on the big field before the woods of Lorien. Aragorn and Eomer split the men up and sent them into the woods in waves looking for anything that might possibly lead them to Ari and Eldarion. A section of the first wave came back thirty minutes into the hunt with the now twice fractured horn of Gondor.

"I had it repaired after I began my reign over men." Aragorn said holding the horn in his hands. "I gave it to Eldarion on his tenth birthday…he'd not let it idly fall."

"Then he too is in those woods…and we shall find him." Pippin said starting out with the second wave.

Ari had put a significant bit of ground between her and the creatures. She had heard several of them break off to her left and had changed directions and moved around to her right. She stopped and leaned against a tree and retched violently. Her chest felt as if it were clamped in a vice and her breaths were high pitched and wheezy. She staggered to the base of another tree and sat heavily amongst its gnarled roots. She needed time and rest…she needed time more than rest.

By nightfall half the army was within the woods of Lorien. They established camps with large watches set up and torches set all around them. Several men found the talans once used by the elves and their camps were high above the forest floor in the relative safety of the canopy. Word was sent back to Aragorn and Eomer and they too joined one of the camps in the canopy. Everyone waited with baited breath for the dawn to return.

Ari awoke to the sound of a wolf howling in the distance. She'd slept until nightfall….well past nightfall if the lack of a moon was any indication to her. She got up and carefully began moving again. She wasn't sure what direction to go but moving had to be better than sitting still and waiting for the creatures to come and find her.

"Three camps were attacked in the night…they fought them off, but already there are wounded." The messenger's back was ramrod straight as he reported to the King of Gondor, the King of Rohan, and the former Marshall of the Riddermark. These men were the stuff that children's bedtime stories were made of---they were stories he'd grown up listening to.

"Have a patrol of men take the wounded back to Helm's deep. If they cannot make the trip, set up a field hospital at the edge of the woods." Aragorn said. The man left quickly and descended the ladder to carry out his Kings' orders. Eomer followed the boy down and led a group of men deeper into the woods….he would find Ari…he had to.

Ari's progress was slowed by her injury but she knew she must hurry. Something big was moving closer and closer to her in the deep woods. The trees shuddered with it and the wind sighed. The sun had just touched through to the canopy floor and Ari climbed as best she could up a shallow rise. Somewhere along her back trail she'd felt the muscle in her thigh rip. She staggered and stumbled and limped along. This was far from her idea of fun. When she looked out below her she could see large shapes moving slowly through the trees. A line of 'skirmishers' beat at the bushes and sent small woodland creatures scurrying and birds wheeling above the canopy. Behind the skirmishers were larger shapes….shapes Ari thought she'd never see the likes of. Large and furry, they were like the SUV monsters from TV commercials back home. It was as if someone had bred a strange form of highland cattle with wooly mammoths and dogs.

She was looking at Wargs…..and they were coming her way.

Ari didn't get much farther when she noticed more wargs were coming her way from her right. She changed her direction of travel again and moved as stealthily as she could. In what she thought was a stroke of luck she stumbled upon a shallow stream bed and slipped quickly down the sandy bank. She was able to move quickly across the sandy bottom as it was not filled with water. Her movements were quick and her breath slowed as her mind lulled her into a sense of peace…she'd get out…she'd make it to the river. She moved faster up the streambed---right into one of her pursuers.

Aragorn waited in the talan until the rear guard came up through the trees and he joined them. His heart became heavy with worry with each passing hour and no word of his son.

Faramir was in the middle maintaining an orderly line and ensuring his men did not come upon anything strange in these woods. It was somewhere in these woods that he believed his brother had fallen. Faramir only hoped that Ari and Eldarion would not join him.

Eomer was in the lead listening to the sounds of the men moving through the woods. Woods once thought to be enchanted by an elf witch. Armor clinked and harness screeched and clacked as men and horse moved through the underbrush. The waiting was getting on his nerves…..where was Ari? Where had the creatures taken her?

Ari screamed and staggered back from her pursuer who lunged at her. She dodged his lunge and hobbled in the direction from which she'd just come. Scrambling out of the wash and up over the slanted ground her footing slipped on the damp leaves and she fell and rolled violently down the hill on the other side of the near cliff she'd just managed to climb. She bounced off tree roots and through bushes and over the jagged rocks of the soil of middle earth. When she came to a stop she was sure she'd done more damage to herself. Running was near impossible now and her chest burned and prickled with every breath she took. Her flight from her pursuers was now a staggering injured scurry—like that of a wounded animal fleeing the hunter, trying to avoid the kill. She looked behind her and saw a series of Uruk-human hybrids and two wargs ridden by the hideous creatures. Ari ran as fast as she could, she could hear the wargs barrel down the hill behind her…felt the ground shudder beneath her as they closed the gap. She could smell the odor of wet dog, rancid spit and blood. The breathing of the dogs got louder and louder in her ears until with a scream she was swatted off her feet and flung into a large tree trunk. She tried to crawl away, fear clutching at her heart as she was suddenly pinned by a large paw on her back. She could feel the breath on her neck and smelled the putrid stench.

"So this is what dying feels like." Ari thought as she felt spittle drip onto the back of her neck and heard the creature growl ominously.

"Rider Approaching!' Eomer looked up from the message he'd been writing to Faramir. Aragorn was on his way up in the lines. He wanted to be on the front lines when they found his son.

"Is it Aragorn?" He asked the man who had run up with the alert.

"Nay sir….he comes from our front." Eomer dropped the pad he'd been writing on and moved quickly to the front line of men who had all moved into battle ready position along the crest of the low hill. A man on a gray nag moved slowly through the trees. He looked left and right and urged the horse farther forward. Eomer signaled silently to his men and they moved stealthily to surround the man on horse back.

"Halt! Identify yourself!" Eomer shouted as the man drew within ear shot. The unknown rider pulled up the horse beneath him and looked through the trees trying to find the source of the voice.

"I am Eldarion, son of Aragorn, King of Gondor!" The voice rang back through the trees. "Who is before me?"