Merry was leaning against a tree and Sam was standing beside him, trying to comfort him. Merry was crying uncontrollably now, Sam was sobbing. The thought of loosing Pippin was too much to bear. Merry abruptly darted towards Aragorn, grabbed his sword that was lying next to him, and held it to his throat.
"If Pippin dies, then I die." Merry yelled, tears streaming down his face.
"Merry don't do this." Sam said to Merry, trying to calm the hobbit down.
Aragorn just stood by Pippin, not quite sure how to reply. He didn't want to say anything that would cause Merry to take his own life, but he didn't want to say anything that would get Merry's hopes up.
"If Pippin is dead, then I am dead!" Merry yelled.
"You aren't sure if he is dead, are you?" Aragorn replied, trying to stall in hopes of getting Merry to put down the oversized sword.
"He isn't breathing, is he?" Merry said, wanting to believe that Pippin might be still alive.
"I can detect a faint pulse, but it is hard to tell if he is breathing." Aragorn replied in a soft voice.
"Is he alive?" Merry asked
Aragorn and Sam walked over to the body lying on the cold hard ground. Aragorn leaned down and touched Pippin's throat.
"He has a pulse." Aragorn concluded
Then Aragorn leaned over the lifeless form and put his ear to Pippin's mouth, to hear if there was any breath coming out of him.
"I think…" Aragorn started.
"He is breathing!" Sam finished just as Pippin took in a large gasp of air.
Merry dropped the sword and ran over to his companion's side. He was so ecstatic that Pippin was alive, that he knocked over Sam in his struggle to get to his friends side.
Pippin's body was badly bruised and cut. He was still unconscious and he had lost a lot of blood. He was breathing, but every breath was loud and painful. His lungs were barely expanding and his chest was tight. He had many broken bones that would require a lot of time to heal, but would he heal? Would he be able to survive? His injuries were bad, and some of them could be potentially fatal. Could he survive? These were the questions that were running though everyone's minds. Pippin was small and frail. His body might not be able to heal from such traumatic injuries. Pippin was hanging on to life by a little piece of thread, which was about to snap at any moment if he didn't get help right away. But will Aragorn, Merry and Sam be able to get him help in time? Find out tomorrow, when I post the next chapter…
