'Three days and three nights of running. No food, no water and no sign of our quarry that any Balroq can tell.'
Gimli trudged on leaning heavily on his ax as he climbed the last step up a hill and followed after the others.
'Come, Gimli!' Legolas cried behind him as he raced on. While he ran, Legolas kept his keen elf eyes on the horizon, looking for the black shapes of orcs while Aragorn kept his head bent, looking for a sign of the hobbits amidst the trampling of the orc feet.
'Dwarves are not built for cross-country. We are sprinters. We are terribly dangerous in short distances,' Gimli muttered as he swaggered on. Anna waited in nervous energy for Gimli.
'Then sprint to each patch of grass,' Anna replied as she ran along side him.
A mix of angry muffles and huffing were caught in his beard. 'It is all one patch of grass! There is no difference in this land!' but his fury gave him a burst of energy enough to pass Anna just before she again passed him, racing beyond Aragorn and then stopped. She searched the horizon and then gazed above to the clouds. Clear and blue it lay on them, somehow more oppressive than any other sky, like a bowl covering them so that a giant may spy on the three.
It was these short burst from her, stops and passes that, of all things, did not help their pursuit. Anna's hyper liveliness seemed to drain the others to more o a harsher contrast of energy.
She went on, no heeding Aragorn's call to halt before she left the trail. She stopped again, this time there were orc carcasses at her feet and not there by her own hand.
Aragorn's feet stopped beside her as he surveyed their armor and what was left of their mutilated faces. 'Mordor orcs,' he concluded.
'What enemy have they met? Certainly an enemy of theirs is a friend of ours,' Legolas said, letting his eyes wander the grassy plains for search movement.
'Met their enemy,' Gimli said as he saw nothing on the fields, 'or were traveling with him?' Anna seemed not to hear any of this. She was staring at the orcs, her eyes not focusing.
'He has his own ors,' she whispered grimly and in disbelief. 'Uruk-hai.' She looked up, seeing the others gaze on her. 'I thought he was mad. I- I thought his dreams were bit nightmares never to cross this green, shadowed earth.' Her eyes lost focus again, realizing the growth of her master's power. 'The white hand marking all he owns.'
'Saruman must be mad to think he can contend with the evil of Sauron,' Legolas stated. The wizards name seemed to awaken Anna as she tightened her fists and turned away.
'Saruman was a great wizard once. I do not think he had lost any of his potency of power,' Aragorn replied.
'His power must be great if he has his own army. A difficult thing to contend with,' Legolas said. Only Gimli noticed Anna's hands clasped around her ears, her eyes closed and her lips mouthing: 'Stop saying his name, stop saying his name.' He watched her as if waiting for lightning to strike, excited at the prospect of the thrill but not sure if he was safe so close.
'But why would Saruman need an army? For what battle is he readying?' Aragorn wondered.
Anna spun around and shipped her hands to her sides. 'Stop saying his name!' They all froze until Anna turned around again, fidgeting and shifting her weight.
'Anna.' Aragorn stepped closer to her and grabbed her arm to turn her around; bringing her out of whatever horror her mind was reeling in. 'Anna! Tell us, do the Rohan hold allegiance to the white wizard.' Aragorn avoided the name to prevent another fit, whether it was real or an act to prove her distaste for him.
'No, no I do not think so,' she said distractedly. 'There was a bond at Edoras but not upon the fields of Rohan.'
'They will be taking the swiftest way to Isengard then, if nothing has changed in his power over these lands,' Aragorn said, leading them on. Anna looked after Aragorn and Legolas and Gimli as they followed him. She sighed and finally ran after them, soaking her fears in weariness of the body instead of in deteriorating the mind.