Aragorn had his head to the ground, listening to the far off rumbles of the marching Uruk-Hai, "Their pace has quickened, they must have caught our scent." Then looks at the fellowship stretched behind him, Chopper had long ago resorted to flying, and yells "Hurry!"
"Come on Gimli, Zeb!" Yells Legolas, darting around a rocky outcropping, Gimli an Zeb were the farthest behind, constantly tripping and not used to this kind of work, Sabine was keeping up, so was Hera, and Kanan was matching strides with Legolas, his Jedi training coming in most useful.
Gimli looks at his traveling buddy, gasps for air and says "Three days and nights pursuit, no food, no rest, and no sign of our quarry but what bare rock can tell!" Zeb agreeing with "Karabast orcs!"
Several minutes later they stopped next to Aragorn who was kneeling in the middle of a small pass, "Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall" he says, "They may yet be alive." Replies Legolas. "Less than a day ahead of us, come!" Aragorn concludes, sprinting once more.
"Come everyone, we're gaining on them!" cries Legolas relaying Aragorn's message. At the rear Gimli yells "I am wasted on cross-country! We dwarves are natural sprinters, very dangerous over short distances!" Zeb laughs and cheekily pats Gimli on the head, saying "I knew I liked you for a reason!"
They come upon a rocky formation overlooking a large plain, Aragorn stands perched at the top and says "Rohan, realm of the Horse-Lords. There is something strange at work here, some evil gives speed to these creatures, and sets it's will against us." Legolas goes where he can get a better view and Aragorn asks "Legolas, what do your elf eyes see?" Legolas replying "The Uruks are turning northeast, they are taking them to Isenguard!" "Samuman" Aragorn growls before resuming the chase.
Kanan catches up and says "I sense it, something dark in this area, it is trying to slow us down." Aragorn nods and continues up a hill.
Night falls soon afterward and they grudgingly make camp, Sabine the most vocal about them keeping running. Soon a fire is kindled and the fellowship sleeps, Kanan, Hera, Legolas, and Aragorn the only ones still up.
"Ezra will be fine love." Says Hera at last, Kanan sighs and says "I'm not sure, I almost lost him to the inquisitor, I can't lose him again…", then Aragorn asks a most unusual question, taking his pipe out of his mouth, he says "Are you two intimate?"
They both look shocked at the question and repeatedly sputter "No", Aragorn laughs and says "Forgive my prying, it's just that you called him 'love'", the rest of the night passes uneasily and they begin their chase once the sun has peaked over the hills.
"A red sun rises, blood has been spilled this night" intones Legolas, Everyone looks at each other uneasily and Kanan says "I've got a bad feeling about this…"
Passing between some rocks they hear a distant rumbling, soon a massive cavalry force appears, charging across the plains, in their wake Aragorn struts out and yells "Rider's of Rohan! What news from the Mark?" they slowly turn and surround the fellowship, lance tips pointed inwards.
Aragorn motions for everyone to calm down as a rider comes up and says "What business does an elf, two men, a woman, a dwarf, and three…creatures have in the riddermark, speak quickly!"
"Give me your name horsemaster, and I shall give you mine" says Gimli, at which point the rider dismounts and walks over to Gimli and says "I would cut off your head, dwarf, if it stood but a little higher from the ground" with a snarl
At that point Legolas and Sabine point their weapons at the man's head and Legolas says "You would die before your stroke fell!" and Sabine shouts a simple yet effective "Hey!", at which point many lance tips point toward them, Aragorn pushes down their weapons and says to the rider "I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn, this is Gimli son of Gloin, and Legolas of the woodland realm, as well as our companions Sabine, Hera, Zeb, Kanan, and Chopper. We are friends of Rohan and of Theoden your king"
The rider sighs and removes his helm, showing a mess of blonde hair and says "Theoden no longer recognizes friend from foe, not even his own kin. Saruman has poisoned the mind of the king and claimed lordship over these lands, my company are those loyal to Rohan, and for that we are banished. The white wizard is cunning, here and there he walks they say, as an old man, hooded and cloaked, and everywhere his spies slip past our nets."
"We are no spies, we are tracking a party of Uruk-hai westward across the plain, they have taken three of our friends captive."
The rider looks guilty and says "The Uruks are destroyed, we slaughtered them during the night." "Did you see three small ones, two hobbits and a boy!?" asks Gimli, the rider once again looks guilty and says "We left none alive, we piled their carcasses and burned them" pointing to a small smoke in the distance.
Kanan's eyes go wide and Sabine cries under her helmet, Gimli just saying "Dead?" with disbelief, "I am sorry" the man says with sincerity, then whistles and says "Hasufel, Arod, Markth, Kalluth, Vadam" and five horses come forward, "May these horses bear you to better fortune then their former masters, farewell. Look for your friends, but do not trust a hope, it has forsaken these lands. We ride north!" and departs with the calvary.
A minute later they are all standing around a pile of charred corpses, Sabine getting off Markth, Gimli is probing the pile with his axe and gasps he pulls out a familiar metal device and says "It's the wee lad's weapon" Legolas saying some sort of prayer in elvish, Aragorn screaming, Sabine crying on Hera's shoulder, and Kanan numbly accepting his padawans lightsaber.
"We failed them" Gimli intones, and Aragorn says looking at prints in the dirt "a boy lay here, and hobbits here." Then his eyes narrow and he crawls saying "They crawled, their hands were bound" he picks up a piece of cut rope "Their bonds were cut! They crawled over here, they were followed, the tracks lead away from the battle and into Fangorn forest."
"Fangorn" Gimli gasps "What madness drove them in there", Sabine crying "They're alive!"