In a most dismal forest, Mickey and Donald were still following Creeper into what they knew would be certain danger.
"It feels strange, in more decent places, it would be close to tea time right now," pointed out Donald.
"These aren't decent places," said Creeper without any sympathy in his voice. Shortly after that they came across what appeared to be a statue of a robed figure. They looked upon where the head would be and found what appeared to be a crudely carved head that had been roughly painted to resemble a goblin.
"It would appear that in these woods the Enemy's minions have vandalized older relics," Archimedes observed. They walked to the other side of the statue and found a stone head that had quite the luxuriant beard. It didn't take much for them to guess that was the original head of the statue, while they observed the stone head, sunlight hit it from up above.
"Oh, look fellas, the king has a new crown," said Mickey pointing at the brow of the 'king.' In the sunlight, they saw a wreath of white flowers sitting upon the head in the manner of a crown. But once the sunlight passed, the flowers were no longer visible. They pressed on, Creeper not seeming to care much or be in any way affected by the sight they had just witnessed.
Meanwhile, Merlin and his companions were just about coming into the view of Minas Tirith, ancient city of humans and the capital of Gondor. Piglet, who had never seen the city before gasped at the magnificent sight! They rode up to gate where Merlin was able to find a stable for his now exhausted horse. Piglet had to walk quickly in order to keep up with the wizard who now seemed to be walking in earnest.
"Now, when we meet Ector, do not tell him anything about Mickey or the Ring. Also, it may not be an entirely good idea to tell him about Kay, in fact unless I say otherwise, let me do the talking," Merlin warned his little friend.
"Why would he be interested in Kay?" asked Piglet curiously.
"Sir Ector is the father of Sir Kay," answered Merlin in a bit of a warning tone. They passed a tree that had clearly not bloomed in years but guards still stood stationed around it.
"They hope that it may bloom once again," explained Merlin when he noticed the direction of Piglet's attention. Then they came to a great oak door which was opened for them immediately, clearly, they were expected. They walked down a long hall where a man was seated on a chair, behind him was an imposing throne, clearly not the king! He was a rather large man with red hair and a bushy red mustache. He had on a red tunic and in his lap were what Piglet recognized as the cloven horn Kay once wore!
"Ill met Marvi, this horn had been handed down by my family for generations, but now it shall never ring out again. Word has reached my ear of Aladdin, descendant of Cassim and I tell you know, I will not bow to him who is essentially a Ranger of the Wild!" he said in a grumpy tone.
"You will have no hindrance on the return of the king," replied an irritable Merlin.
"Well, perhaps you can tell me how my son died, I heard how he ended up travelling with you, my adopted son Taran claimed to have seen his body in a boat, and it was shortly after that, these pieces were recovered at different shores of the Anduin," asked Ector rather gruffly. Here Piglet walked up.
"If it pleases you sir, Kay was killed by many arrows, and in his lasty moments, he died trying to protect me and a close friend of mine," he said. Merlin rolled his eyes exhaustingly. Suddenly, the door was opened again a guard rushed in.
"Sir Ector! Taran has returned!" The three of them quickly left the chamber and rushed outside and they saw a small army on horses lead by a rather boyish figure with dark brown hair carrying a furry little creature Piglet didn't recognize. He got off his horse and walked towards them. At first, he had eyes on Ector but when he caught a glimpse of Piglet and Merlin, he found himself unable to take his eyes off them.
"You're not the piglet that travelled from Rivendell are you?" asked Taran.
"How do you even know about that?" asked a surprised Merlin.
"I think I spoke to some friends of yours who travelled with you. Do the names Mickey, Donald or Archimedes mean anything to you?" he asked. It was here that Piglet and Merlin smiled, and they weren't small smiles either.