The Uruk-Hai dropped Merry and Pippin to the ground. "Start a fire!" one of them yelled.
Pippin crawled over to Merry. He had a gash on his forehead and his eyes were mere slits. "Merry?"
"I think…we made a mistake in leaving…the Shire," he managed to spill out. Pippin gave a comforting smile. An Orc picked up the two and walked closer to the head Uruk-Hai. He dropped them to their stomachs. Merry was now more a ware of his surroundings.
Pippin heard a low moaning as the Orcs started cutting on the trees. "What's making that noise?" he asked.
Merry looked behind Pippin. "The trees…"
"What?"
"Remember the Old Forest? Outside of Buckland? My father used to say there was something there that…that made the trees move. Made them come alive…even walk…"
"Silence!" an Uruk-Hai yelled, kicking Pippin in the ribs. Pippin rolled over in pain.
"Are you-"
"Fine," Pippin coughed out.
"All we've 'ad to eat for the last three days is molded bread!" an angry Orc yelled. "No meat! Why can't we just eat one of 'em?" he pointed to the hobbits.
"They are not for meat," an Uruk-Hai told.
"What about just one of their legs…" the Orc asked. "They don't need their legs…"
Merry and Pippin looked at their legs then up at the argument. The Uruk-Hai chopped the Orc's head off. The hobbits gasped in shock.
"Meat is back on the menu!" the Uruk-Hai and Orcs began rummaging the body.
"Come on," Merry nudged Pippin. They started to crawl away towards the open fields.
An Orc saw and pounced on Pippin. "They'll never notice…" he said. He grabbed Pippin's face. Pippin's eyes grew wide and he tried to scream. "That's right…scream…no one will hear you…" He lifted a knife above his head, getting ready to bring it down. This is it. Pippin thought. Suddenly an arrow pierced his chest and he fell back.
Merry and Pippin continued to crawl just as a group of men on horseback started to attack the camp. Orcs and Uruk-Hai fell to the ground like dropping flies. Pippin stumbled upon an axe that was embedded in the ground. He placed his wrists above it and quickly cut the ropes. "Merry!" Merry looked back and did the same with his restraints. The untied the ropes around their ankles and began to run through the battle.
The ducked underneath a few horses, almost getting stepped on. Pippin tripped on a rock in front of a horse. It reared up. Pippin let out a scream of horror before rolling away. He crawled after Merry then stood to run. They made it further into the dark forest…that once they were there looked like a mistake.
"Did we loose them?" Pippin asked looking around. "I think we lost them."
"I think so," Merry replied, taking in a sigh of relief.
"Run!" Merry lifted Pippin up and they ran through the woods. The ducked behind a large tree. The Orc was not far behind. "The tree…Pippin the tree. Climb it!"
Without hesitation they began to climb the tree. Pippin stopped when he was able to rest a foot on a steady branch. "I think we did it." As the words left his mouth the Orc grabbed Merry's leg and dragged him to the ground. "Merry!" Pippin looked away from the tree trunk just as its eyes were opening. He froze and looked back. The tree had eyes! He panicked and fell backwards. A large branch like hand caught him and tightly squeezed around him.
The Orc lingered over Merry raising a large sword above his head. The tree's roots lifted from the ground and it began walking. It stepped on the Orc, killing it instantly. Merry stumbled to his feet and looked up in dread at the tree carrying his younger cousin. "Forget me! Run Merry!" Merry began to run but the tree bent down and took Merry into its grasp.
"Little Orcs…" The tree said looking at the Hobbits in his hands.
"Its talking…Merry, the tree is talking," Pippin said in fear.
"I am not a tree," the 'tree' said. "I am an Ent."
"A tree herder," Merry smiled in awe.
"Don't encourage it!" Pippin scolded.
"Some call me Treebeard…" the tree said.
"So…whose…side are you on?" Pippin asked.
"Side? I am on no side, because no one is on my side,"
"Well that's good right?"
"What are little Orcs doing in the forest?" Treebeard continued to walk through the dark forest.
"We're not Orcs! We're hobbits," Merry explained.
"Never heard of a Hobbit…" Treebeard spoke very slowly. "This sounds like an Orc trick…spies…Orcs come in here with their fire and axes…they don't care…" his grip tightened around Merry and Pippin, crushing their tiny bodies.
"But we're Hobbits! Halflings…Shire folk!" Merry tried to pry his way out of the hand.
"Maybe you are…and maybe…you are not…that is for the white wizard to decide…"
"The white wizard…" Merry said to himself. "Saruman."
Suddenly Treebeard dropped the Hobbits in front of a man dressed in white.
* * *
Strider, Phoenix, and Legolas stood on a rock overlooking the land. Gimli panted behind as he reached the rock. They saw a group of creatures on horseback coming towards them.
"Down here," Strider said. The four hid in between the two rocks. As the riders went by Strider seemed to recognize them. He stepped out. "Riders of Rohan!" the riders turned and surrounded the four.
A blond man rider approached the group. "What business does a Man, an Elf, a woman and a Dwarf have in the Riddermark? Speak quickly."
"Tell me your name and I shall tell you mine," Gimli said haughty, leaning on his axe.
The blond man jumped down from his horse and walked to Gimli, standing nose to chest. "I would cut off your head, beard and all, Master Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground."
Legolas drew his bow and pointed it directly at the blond man's face. "You would die before your stroke fell."
The Riders of Rohan all pointed their spears and other weapons at the four. "Wait." Strider said. He pushed Legolas's bow down. "We are friends of the King."
"The king does not recognize friend from foe anymore," the blond man replied. "Not even his own kin. He has been poisoned by Saruman…the white wizard is cunning." He took off his helmet. "I am Eomer."
"I am Aragorn son of Arathorn, this is Gimli son of Goloin, Legolas of Mirkwood and Phoenix, daughter of the Shire. We track a band of Uruk-Hai who have captured two friends of ours,"
"We found a band of them last night,"
"Hobbits!" Gimli spoke. "Did ya see two Hobbits with them?"
"They would be like children to you," Strider said. "The same height as she." He pointed to Phoenix.
"We came across a band of them last night. We left none alive," Eomer said.
"What?" Phoenix breathed out.
"We burned their carcasses," Eomer finished.
"Dead?" Strider stated, both in shock and as an observation.
"Over there," Eomer pointed to the distance where smoke was rising.
"Dead," Phoenix said quietly. "Dead?! They were Hobbits! Hobbits! Like me! Not Orcs or Uruk-Hai! HOBBITS! HOBBITS! Not…How can you not tell the difference?! How could you kill them with out even…even thinking!? Did they look like a threat to you!? Two…two harmless…little Hobbits! And…Pippin…How…you stupid son of a-" Legolas grasped her shoulder cutting her off. Tears spilled down her face.
"You may look for your friends but do trust hope. Hope is gone in this land. I am sorry…" two horses approached. "Take these horses. You fair much better than their last owners."
The Riders of Rohan rode off to the distance leaving the Man, Elf, Dwarf and Hobbit.
Phoenix held tightly to Pippin's scarf. "Please…" she begged.
"Come…we shall…we shall check the…pile," Legolas painstakingly said. He didn't know if that would help her or not. Probably not.
She held to the scarf so tightly that her knuckles turned white. They approached the burning bodies. The first thing they saw was an Uruk-Hai head on a stake.