Hey guys! I know Devious-WildChild wrote this first, and yes! It is the same person here, don't worry! I took off my stories to edit them a little bit, then my account went all crazy and I couldn't get back into it to post them back on. So I had to make a new account. Lucky I'd already taken my stories off in my other account eh? 

Anyway, so here it is. There are a few more chapters that I've added, so enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters apart from the Phoenix.

Ps. I've created the character of the Phoenix based mostly on stuff I've made up and stuff that I already know. It might not be really much like what a real Phoenix is like, but hey this is my story, and I make what happens here! XD

Pss. To those who have read it before, I've realised how Mary-Sue-Ish it was and I've done my best to try and reverse it!

Chapter one:

The Uruk-Hai's Captive

"Where is he taking us?" asked Sam, feeling slightly nervous. He didn't understand how the others could be so trusting towards this strange ranger known as strider – a man whom they barely knew.
"Into the wild, master Gamgee." Replied Strider, having overheard what Sam had said. Sam gulped and whispered to Frodo:
"How do we know this 'Strider' is a friend?" he asked.

"We have no choice but to trust him." Replied Frodo. Since being entrusted with the one ring, and with it – the fate of Middle-Earth he knew that few could be trusted. This was why he had wanted his gardener Sam to accompany him, but Sam was not just a gardener to him, he was a friend. He trusted Sam with his life. Yet his close friends Merry and Pippin had refused to be left behind and miss out on all the fun. This man seemed to know Gandalf well, and any friend of Gandalf would be a friend of his.

Thinking of Gandalf, he couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't turned up at the Prancing Pony. What could have kept him? His thoughts where interrupted when Strider stopped them. He stood still and listened carefully. He heard a loud rumbling in the distance, yet he could not yet be sure of what it was. The hobbits couldn't hear anything, but Strider's ears where trained to pick up these kinds of things. He put his hunting skills into action.

He led the hobbits out of the forest, to a large open clearing. He showed them where to step so that they would not leave any prints to be tracked by, or make any noise to alert anyone around of their presence.

They crept out of the forest, and hid behind a large pile of rocks and boulders nearby. Strider peered out into the clearing.

He saw a party of Uruk-Hai passing through the clearing. Their armour was blood stained, and their distorted faces where smeared with mud and dirt. They shouted orders to each other in their harsh, cruel voices.
"What are they?" asked Pippin, wide eyed.
"Uruk-Hai." Strider whispered back.

"Saruman's soldiers." He added grimly, noting the white hand printed on their armour.

He was bout to leave when Merry stopped them. He peered into the distance, focusing on the party of Uruk-Hai.

"Who's that?" he whispered. Pointing to a figure, dressed in tattered clothing, with a cloth sack pulled over its head. The person was tied by rope at the hands and led roughly by the Uruk-Hai. The figure, being unable to see stumbled and fell many times. Each time being dragged up again by an Uruk-Hai and shoved forward with either a kick or a harsh shove.
"A captive." replied Strider in a slightly confused voice.
" well … We have to help it! Where are they taking him?" asked Merry.
"To Saruman." Replied Strider, quickly making a decision. He silently drew his sword.
"Want to help?" he asked the hobbits. Grinning as they stared fearfully at the giant Uruk-Hai.
"Thought not." He said with a slight smile as he rose and charged at the fearsome looking Uruk-Hai. The hobbits watched as the Ranger took on the mass of Uruk-Hai. Soon Merry and Pippin managed to gather enough courage to actually stand up, it didn't make much of a difference wether they stood or crouched though. As they were Hobbits, and hobbits being Halflings, it meant that their heads barely visible over the boulder they where standing behind.

They climbed the pile of rocks and threw smaller ones at random Uruk-Hai. Strider fought fiercely and fearlessly. His skills with the sword where amazing. Not long later the party of Uruk-Hai where defeated. Aragorn quickly cleaned his sword, and then searched the mass of dead bodies to find the captive. But the captive could not be seen.

"done and done!" cried Merry proudly, brushing his hands off as the hobbits came to stand by Strider.
"Where is it?" asked Sam also scanning the clearing for the captive.
"ARGH!...Don't tell me I did all that hard work for nothing!" cried Pippin irritably. Strider raised an eyebrow as he looked at pippin.
"What work?" asked Sam.
"There!" cried Frodo, pointing to some movement towards the end of the clearing. They rushed over to the captive who was trapped under the heavy bodies of the Uruk-Hai.
Strider threw the dead Uruk-Hai aside with ease, but the four hobbits together struggled and managed to lift a pair of a particularly large Uruk-Hai legs off the captive. Strider gently carried the captive away from the clearing that had served as a their battle field. They all crowded around as Strider laid the captive on the ground.

The Uruk-Hai had not taken very good care of their captive. It's body was battered, bruised and bleeding. Hopefully Saruman did not want his captive alive. Strider removed the sack off the captive's head. They where all shocked to find that this captive was female. Emerald green eyes shone through her dirt smeared face. Her long, dirty matted hair was waist length. They all stared, shocked, not really knowing what to do. They had expected a male captive.

They snapped back to attention as her breathing became harsher and more raspy. She clenched her teeth and uttered a strained moan. Her body arched and her hands slapped at the ground beside her. Strider took hold of her and held her till she calmed. He touched his hand gently to her wrist to check her pulse.

"Her heart is slowing." Said Strider, sitting upright again. He smoothed the strands of hair away from her face. Her eyes stared back at him. Although she had said nothing, they could see in her eyes that she was begging for help.
"She's dying." Said Frodo in a quiet voice, eyes downcast.
"Isn't there anything you can do for her?" asked Sam.

"What's that?" asked Pippin reaching his arm forward and pointing to a tattoo of a mass of flames on her wrist. Pippin yelped and quickly withdrew his hand when the woman let out a strangled cry, as her body burst into flames.
"What did you do!" cried Sam.
"N-Nothing." Stuttered Pippin fearfully.
"You've set her on fire!" cried Merry.
"No." said Frodo, with a look of recognition upon his face. "She is the phoenix. She is immortal. Once she dies her body ignites and she is reborn from the ashes." He remembered Bilbo once telling him a story of the Phoenix.

They watched as her body burned. They could not smell the sickly smell of burning flesh, nor did her body blister and wrinkle in the flames. Once only ashes remained, a breeze came and swept up the ashes. A whirlwind formed and the ashes grew closer and closer together. They could feel the power rise in the zephyr of wind. The image of a firebird rose from the whirlwind, and in a blinding flash of light, the woman was reborn, exactly as she had been before. There was not one scar on her body. Her body was limp, and she was unconscious, as the zephyr of wind rested her bare body gently on the ground. Her long silken curtain of hair arranged neatly to cover her naked body from the five males that stood before her.

The Hobbits and strider stood before the Lady Phoenix for a few moments, still not quite sure of what to do. Suddenly Strider snapped to his senses. He ripped off his cloak and gently put it on the woman.

The four hobbits crowded around her. Sam prodded her arm a few times.
"What wrong with her?" he asked, slightly worried.
"I am not sure, but I think she will be alright." Replied Strider gently lifting her up and putting her on Bill - their pony. He took a few of the bags off the pony and strapped them on his back to make room for her.

"We had best be going." He said as they set off again.