Ch. 2

"Rosie!" Pippin used his head to bang on the door. Merry had been drifting in and out of consciousness ever since the blood of the Uruk mingled with his. "Don't you die, Meriadoc Brandybuck! Rosie!"

Rosie Gamgee opened her door, in a stained white dress, clearly not expecting such close friends to ask for her assistance.

"Pippin!" she exclaimed. "What happened?" Pippin shared every detail. Rosie felt around along the area of the wound and on his chest. "His body's rejecting the Uruk blood, but his heart is taking it anyway," she said.

"What does that mean?"

"Bring him in here, lay him on my table. The beds are all taken and I need a hard surface."

Pippin finally released his hold upon his friend. He knew that if Rosie asked for help, he'd be unable to. He was weak, from the battle and from holding Merry for such a stretch of time.

Rosie had become overwhelmingly skilled in medicine. The need for a nurse had arisen, and she left the Green Dragon in a second, not just to help out, but because.

"Sam?!"

Pippin stared into the round doorway. Samwise Gamgee stood there with a hand around his middle. The hunched figure of the Shire's latest gardener- turned-adventurer took a step and collapsed.

"Pippin, can you take Sam? I'm up to my shoulders in Merry now!"

She wasn't lying either. Her arms were drenched. Pippin, fearing the worst, turned Sam on his back and removed his hand.

A small dagger hilt protruded from the gut of another dear friend of Pippin's. He slowly removed it, and just as he did so, Sam grabbed his hand, startling him.

"Pip, what are you doing?" he choked.

"Saving you, if it's all the same!" Pip said, taken aback.

"I'm fine, I'm just tired!" Sam yelled and tried to sit up.

"No you aren't, Sam! You've been stabbed and you're losing blood fast!"

"Pippin!"

He spun at the sound of his name and ran to Rosie to find what it was she wanted. He heard Sam getting up, but he was so intent on news of Merry's condition that it didn't even register.

"Merry will be fine. I was able to get all of the Uruk-hai's blood out. Now, he'll be weak for a while, and he'll need to rest, but he'll be back on his feet. Oh, and no more battles for this one!"

Pippin knew how devastated Merry would be that he could no longer fight, but at the moment, he was just relieved that he would live.

"Rosie." grunted a person behind Pip. "I'm hurt."

And Sam fell to the ground.