The remainder of the Uruk-hai hunters had the two hobbits, Merry and Pippin, as their prizes and was on their way. "Merry!" Pippin called out to his friend who appeared to be unconscious.
The Uruks came to a stop as Orcs came out from behind the boulders. "You're late. Our master grows impatient. He wants the Shire rats now," said the Orc leader.
"I don't take orders from Orc maggots. Saruman will have his prize. We will deliver them," the Uruk captain glared at them.
"Merry! Merry? Wake up," Pippin saw his friend was suffocating. "My friend is sick. He needs water. Please!" he pleaded with their captors.
"Sick, is he? Give him some medicine, boys!" the Uruk captain ordered followed by a sadistic laugh as an Uruk forcibly poured liquid into Merry's mouth.
"Stop it!" Pippin shouted as his friend had enough.
"Can't take his draught!" the Uruk captain laughed to his amusement.
"Leave him alone!" Pippin shouted.
"Why? You want some? Huh?! Then keep your mouth shut," the Uruk captain ordered.
"Merry," Pippin whispered as his friend was waking.
"Hello, Pip."
"You're hurt."
"I'm fine. It was just an act."
"An act?"
"See? I fooled you too. Don't worry about me, Pippin."
"What is it? What do you smell?" the Uruk captain asked.
"Strange, weird smell," another Uruk replied.
"Whatever it is, it's coming," the Uruk captain had no idea.
"Aragorn, Jim, Sarah, Artanis," Pippin whispered.
"Let's move!" the Uruk captain ordered as the Uruks and orcs continued running.
Pippin bit off an elven brooch from his cloak and spat it onto the ground.
"My queen, the Uruks are aware that you're pursuing them," Iszha said to Kerrigan.
"Hierarch, the distance between you and the Uruks are increasing at every passing moment," Rohana informed Artanis.
"Aragorn, what did you get?" the Hierarch asked.
"Their pace has quickened. They must have caught our scent," Aragorn listened to the ground. "Hurry!"
"Come on, Gimli!" Legolas shouted.
"Three days and nights pursuit. No food. No rest. And no sign of our quarry, but what bare rock can tell," Gimli was out of breathe.
"Stop whining, you don't want Merry and Pippin to be tortured, do you?" Swann asked.
"Of course not," the dwarf of the Lonely Mountain replied.
"Those Uruks are sure restless," Stetmann muttered.
"Then we must catch up to them before they reach their destination," said Jim.
"Those Uruks sure have essence of durability and restlessness," Dehaka muttered.
Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Jim, Swann, Stetmann, Kerrigan, Zagara, Dehaka, Stukov, Artanis, Alarak, Karax, and Talandar ran miles.
"Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall," Aragorn picked up an elven brooch on the floor.
"They may yet be alive," said Legolas.
"But time is short," said Stukov.
"Less than a day ahead of us. Come," Aragorn ordered as the group continued the pursuit.
"Come, Gimli! We're gaining on them!" Legolas shouted as the dwarf slid.
"I'm wasted on cross-country. We Dwarves are natural sprinters. Very dangerous over short distances," said Gimli.
"Perhaps you're the exception!" Jim shouted back as a joke.
The group came to a stop and Aragorn said, "Rohan. Home of the Horse-lords. There's something strange at work here. Some evil gives speed to these creatures. Sets its will against us."
"Legolas, your father had mentioned this land where people farm," Jim said to Legolas.
"Now you get to see it for yourself," the elf went ahead.
"Legolas! What do your Elf-eyes see?" Aragorn asked.
"The Uruks turn northeast. They are taking the Hobbits to Isengard," Legolas replied.
"Unbelievable, I never thought elves can have eyes of an eagle. No offense, Legolas," said Stetmann.
"Saruman," Aragorn muttered.
"Whatever the hell Saruman wants from the hobbits, we must reach them," said Jim as the group continued to catch up.
Meanwhile in Isengard, Saruman communicated with Sauron using the palantir. "The world is changing. Who now has the strength to stand against the armies of Isengard and Mordor? To stand against the might of Sauron and Saruman and the union of the two towers? Together, my Lord Sauron, we shall rule this Middle-earth. The Old World will burn in the fires of industry. The forests will fall. A new order will rise. We will drive the machine of war with the sword and the spear and the iron fists of the Orc." The traitorous wizard oversaw the army production and ordered, "I want them armed and ready to march within two weeks!"
"But, my lord, there are too many! They cannot all be armed in time, we don't have the means," an orc supervisor spoke with concern.
"Build a dam, block the stream, work the furnaces night and day."
"We don't have enough fuel to feed the fires."
"The Forest of Fangorn lies on our doorstep," Saruman came up with a solution as he saw a forest. "Burn it."
"Yes."
Saruman was approached by a man in torn-up clothing, "We will fight for you."
"Swear it," the traitorous wizard ordered as the man made a cut in his own hand with a knife.
"We will die for Saruman."
At nightfall, a horde of men gathered around Saruman who gave a speech, "The Horsemen took your lands. They drove your people into the hills to scratch a living off rocks."
"Murderers!" one of the men yelled and the others rose their torches up.
"Take back the lands they stole from you. Burn every village!" Saruman ordered. "We have only to remove those who oppose us. It will begin in Rohan. Too long have these peasants stood against you. But no more. Rohan, my lord, is ready to fall."
In one of the villages of Rohan, a woman sent her only two young children on a horse to Edoras. She escaped before the orcs and Uruks massacred some of the villagers while Saruman's men torched and pillaged the village.