Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own any characters or places in Lord of the Rings.
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Without warning, Pippin and Merry were roughly tossed down onto the ground, while many uruk hai around them panted fiercely from their exertion. Among the many kneeling orcs, one of them gasped out into the night to the pack's leader.
"We're not going no further till we've had a breather!"
Murmurs of agreement sounded from the orcs who could spare some breath.
"Get a fire going!" ordered Uglúk.
Immediately, dozens of orcs when to the nearby trees and started chopping down trees for firewood. Pippin quickly took the chance to crawl over to his companion looking over his shoulder as he went as quickly as he could while still having his hands and feet bound.
"Merry! Merry!" Pippin softly cried.
Opening his eyes, Merry turned around and looked at Pippin.
"I think.." whispered Merry, "… we might have made a mistake leaving the Shire, Pippin."
Pippin smiled in relief at seeing his best friend awake and not seriously injured.
As many orcs were chopping wood into manageable pieces, low grounds and grumbles started to reverberate around their settled place.
Pippin slowly turned to Merry and asked, "What's making that noise?"
"It's the trees." whispered Merry as he looked in wonder at the forest.
"What?"
"Do you remember the Old Forest? On the borders of Buckland? Folks used to say that there was something in the water that made the trees grow tall… and come alive."
"Alive?"
"Trees that could whisper. Talk to each other. Even move."
Before Pippin could think of anything to answer at this new information, Maúhur, one of the orcs, started complaining.
"I'm starving. We ain't 'ad nothin' but maggoty bread for three stinkin' days!" said the orc as he threw said maggoty bread onto the ground is disgust.
"Yeah. Why can't we have some meat?" agreed Snaga. His eyes caught the figures of the two captive hobbits lying on the ground in front of him. "What about them? They're fresh."
"They are NOT for eating!" growled Uglúk as he stepped forward towards the hungry orcs.
Suddenly one orc grabbed the two hobbits and dragged them closer to the ring of orcs.
"What about their legs? They don't need those." softly asked Grishnákh. Merry and Pippin glanced down at their legs fearfully. Grishnákh's eyes drifted upwards. "Ooh… they look tasty!"
Taking a step forward, Grishnákh was immediately repelled by Uglúk.
"Get back, scum!"
The surrounding orcs quickly brandished their weapons and roared, getting restless.
"Carve them up!" shouted an orc.
"Just a mouthful." agreed Snaga as he drew up his blade, about to cut into the helpless hobbits before him.
"No!" roared Uglúk, slicing his own weapon at Snaga, quickly severing the surprised orc's head. The severed head bounced off of the shivering hobbits as Uglúk shouted, "Look's like meat's back on the menu, boys!"
With roars of satisfaction and relief, the orcs quickly converged upon the dead corpse, tearing it to shreds within seconds.
"Pippin, let's go." whispered Merry, and the two hobbits crawled away from the distracted orcs as quickly as possible.
Suddenly, an orc foot came down in between Merry and Pippin, startling them into stopping. An ugly face loomed near them as Grishnákh snarled at them.
"Go on, call for help. Squeal! No one's gonna save you!" Grishnákh said as he brandished his weapon. Raising high above his head, the blade came down swiftly, cutting an apple from the nearby tree. Squealing with delight, he pounced on the apple and immediately devoured it.
Merry and Pippin glanced at each other, confused. There are orcs that crave apples instead of meat?
"Come on! Try and run from me!" shouted the apple-eating orc as he chopped more and more apples from branches.
Pippin stifled a laugh that suddenly threatened to sound to will surely be heard by the orc and anger him. The orc is threatening apples? When Pippin glanced and caught Merry's eye, they gave a small snort of laughter as they continued with their escape. Crawling further and further away, from the still preoccupied group of orcs, the hobbits were just about the risk talking again when a spear landed near them.
Screams and roars of pain sounded from the army of orcs as they were quickly overtaken from riders in the dark. One by one they died by sword or spear. As the two escaping hobbits crawled faster, this time towards the forest, they could hear the pleading screams of Grishnákh.
"Ahhh! My apples. These apples will go to waste. Let me live long enough to taste those apples!"
"Pippin!" shouted Merry, trying to warn his friend of the incoming danger.
Pippin twisted around and dropped his belt with his sword. However, he soon forgot about it when he saw that a giant horse was about to step on him. Merry dragged Pippin out of harm's way just in time and together they found a sword on the ground to cut the rope binding their hands and feet. Leaving the scene of the orc massacre, they hurried into the forest, while Pippin grabbed some apples on the way for them to eat.
Relieved at escaping unscathed, Pippin and Merry burst out laughing as the apples reminded them of the unusual orc behavior.
"Why did that ugly orc wanted our legs if he eats apples?" asked Pippin to Merry.
"I don't know." answered Merry, but then he suddenly grinned. "Maybe because he thought the apples would run away if he didn't eat the "legs" first."
The two hobbits' laughter echoed throughout the forest as they got further away from their captors and deeper among the trees.
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AN: First update in a couple of weeks! Sorry about the long delay. Third quarter is at last over and my essay is finally turned in. Now for fourth quarter… Oy… Thanks for all your patience and understanding.