Merry felt it like he was in a cold, dark emptiness. This was definitely not how he had pictured death. Where was the land with all the other hobbits who had passed away? Here was only...nothing. Was it here he was doomed to spend eternity? Suddenly, something flickered in his vision. Light? Maybe, but it disappeared quickly. Soon it came back, and this time it stayed with him. He couldn't see much, just blurry shadows and a bright light. Someone said something and he exerted himself to hear what they were saying. He could make out something about eyes and good and awake. He blinked a few times until his vision was clear. He gasped for air and looked up. There was Aragorn and Legolas and they looked quite happy.

'You're awake! Pippin just woke too, but you both need to rest. We treated your injuries, you'll soon be fine,' said Aragorn. Merry turned his head to look for his cousin.

'Pippin's in another room,' said Legolas as if he could read his mind. 'Please try to get some sleep now, you can see each other later.'

'What happened? How did you find us?' Aragorn, who had turned to leave, now returned to the bedside and looked down at the hobbit.

'We thought you had been killed by the orcs in Mordor. We were going to send armies to Mordor and to Isengard to distract them from Frodo and Sam. When we were in Isengard, we found you half-dead in one of Saruman's small prison-rooms. We would never have been able to defeat Saruman if it hadn't been for the help from the Ents, though, and...' Merry interrupted here.

'Ents? What are Ents?'

'Well, they live in the Fangorn forest and they are like trees, but they can talk and move, just like us. They were throwing large rocks on Isengard, making it fall apart. We concentrated on killing the orcs. Saruman is now locked up in his tower Ortanch along with king Théoden's former servant, Wormstounge.'

'Oh, that's good! What happened to the ones who went to Mordor then?' Aragorn's face darkened.

'I don't know. They haven't returned yet. Gandalf and Gimli both went there and we have not heard anything from them. Though, I don't think Gandalf will get killed.' Legolas opened his mouth.

'I cannot get any feelings from either of them. It seems like it's only you two.' Suddenly Merry remembered something.

'Frodo and Sam! We met them in Mordor, after we had escaped from the black tower! They were travelling with Gollum! It was he who got us captured again by the orcs from Isengard! They might still be travelling with him, we've got to do something!' Aragorn looked worried.

'I'm afraid there is not much we can do, except that I think Frodo and Sam will be able to kill him if he tries something. How can they be doing such a thing?' Then he smiled.

'Sleep now, and regain your strength.' He and Legolas left the room, and Merry turned away from them, to worried to sleep.

****

Pippin couldn't sleep, like Aragorn and Legolas had told him to do. He was just thinking about what could've happened to Frodo and Sam. He decided to get out of bed, and try to find Merry. He carefully got down on the floor, looked so no one would see him leave, and then sneaked out in the corridor. When he rounded a corner, he bumped into someone.

'Pippin?!?'

'Merry?!?'

'So you escaped too.'

'Yes, I couldn't sleep like they told me to. I am far too worried to relax right now.'

'Me too. What do you say we try to find out some more of what's happening here?'

'Good idea. Let's go out. I just hope no one detects us, they'll just send us back to our rooms.'

'Probably lock us up too. Come on now!' After a (for them) long time the two hobbits found an exit and stepped out in a beautiful garden. They turned their faces to the sky.

'This is a little like the Shire, I think. It reminds me of that garden our parents took us to when we were little. Do you remember?'

'Yes, I remember that. That's when we tried to climb that big tree but kept falling down.'

'And do you remember the look on Pearl's face when she realised her new dress had been torn?'

'I thought she'd kill us! It wasn't really our fault, though. We didn't force her to climb the tree.'

'You know my sister, she'd kill us for anything. Unless Pervinca killed us first!'

'You have too many sisters,' said Merry. Then he sighed. 'That was a long time ago.'

'Yes it was.' They suddenly heard a strange noise from the sky, and immediately thought the nazgûl had returned. Then someone called:

'The eagles! The eagles are coming!'

A/N I wrote another chapter today too! I have to make up for the long time when I didn't write anything! I've been working on my story "Stories only walls can tell", that's why I haven't been writing so much on this one lately.