Robin Hood had his ear to the ground, he got back up quickly.

"They've got a steady pace going! But they're not too far off! We must keep going! Even though I fear they may have a day's run ahead of us!" he told his friends. Aladdin was standing on a rock looking into the horizon.

"You may be right about the advantage they have over us, but as far as I can tell from the path I can see, they're taking our little friends to Isengard! Those goblins aren't doing much to hide their path!" he called back.

"Of course not, they don't expect anyone to be following them!" replied Grumpy. He was irritable as ever, having the shortest legs out of all of three of them, he couldn't run as fast, but his dwarven stamina kept him going.

"Well, I guess they'll be in for a surprise when we recover our friends!" replied Aladdin who jumped down and resumed running. His monkey Abu hadn't really enjoyed the constant running, what with the last two days jumping him up and down. Robin Hood and Grumpy quickly resumed their pace and followed their friend.

In their hearts they thanked Simba and Nala for the gift of lembas bread which had fueled them since they started chasing after the goblins in order to rescue Piglet and Gopher. They were in a strange way grateful that the goblins weren't trying to hide their tracks because it made following them much easier (clearly). The goblin boot prints made much impact on the earth they had trotted upon.

Then they stopped all of a sudden. They saw signs of a skirmish, meaning they saw the bodies of a handful of goblins lying upon the path, Robin Hood bent down and studied the footprints.

"Well, I don't think they were attacked. Studying these footprints, I daresay there was a major argument and some of them paid with their very lives," he observed.

"Let's hope our little friends didn't pay with their lives," replied Grumpy.

"Nope, their bodies are not here, and looking at the prints leading away from the skirmish it appears that they're being forced to run as well," said Aladdin who then continued running at a slower pace, following the footprints that clearly belonged to Piglet and Gopher until they stopped.

"Here it appears that they just about tripped and my guess is they got dragged judging by the marks on the ground," he observed.

"You're really good at tracking Aladdin," Robin Hood complimented his friend.

"Well perhaps not as good as you, but I've had my share of experience," said Aladdin, and then they were off again!

Meanwhile, Piglet and Gopher were not having a very pleasant journey, while they didn't have their hands tied up, they were forced run alongside their captors. Poor Piglet had difficulty keeping up and often got dragged by one or two of the goblins that surrounded him all the time. Just the other day he had to witness some of their captors kill a handful of their own, and that was terrifying. He thought it was just the other day, it had become difficult to tell the difference between awakening and his nightmares. It was practically a relief when they stopped running. He saw three goblins approach the group.

"We've been sent to see how you are faring. Hopefully your captives are still breathing," the supposed leader said.

"They are alive and unspoiled as requested, I think they just have difficulty keeping up with us, lazy bums," replied one of the captors. The new goblins looked upon Piglet and Gopher, both of whom were now trying desperately to catch their breath.

"What say we give them some medicine!" the new goblin laughed hideously and took out a leather bottle and essentially forced some type of brown liquid down their throats. It tasted terrible and they coughed a few times.

"They just don't know what's good for them!" this goblin laughed.

"We must move now, I smell man flesh!" said one of the leaders, and they were off again. Thinking it might be Aladdin or someone that rescue them, Piglet quickly took off a little leaf pendant that was clasped to the cloak he had received from Simba and Nala and threw it upon the ground.

The very next day, the three runners were at the sight where the goblins had been joined by more of their companions and Grumpy, used to seeing shiny items in even the darkest conditions yelled: "HALT!" his companions stopped as he stooped down and pulled something from the moist earth.

"Well, they're alive!" he exclaimed as he showed them the leaf pendant that adorned all of their cloaks from the animals of Lothlorien.

"One of them must have dropped it in hopes we'd find it!" said Aladdin.

"Considering this is relatively fresh mud, I think they dropped it yesterday. Now comes the question. Do we only travel by day or do we keep running until our strength lasts no more?"

"Well, in the dark we could lose the trail if they veer right or left, or lose a sign like this. I myself grew up mining so I'm just used to spotting glittery things at random. If we had received a light like Mickey, I'd say we could continue traveling in the dark," stated Grumpy.

"That light will serve its necessary purpose where it is needed, our quest is not as crucial to the world, in comparison. But I doubt there will be further signs like that. Regardless, we travel only by day," said Aladdin before they were off again.

"I can't run all the way to Isengard!" moaned Grumpy who pocketed the brooch before he began to run as well. The very next day they saw a large pillar of smoke and heard something that sounded like thunder. They saw coming unto them many men on horseback. The three of them held up their hands to show they meant no harm or danger. The horsemen stopped upon seeing the strange companions, and the man they guessed was the leader got off his horse and approached them after handing his spear to another rider to hold.

"Well here's a curious sight, Man, Fox, and Dwarf traveling together," he said.

"I am called Aladdin, this is Robin Hood and Grumpy, we were following some goblins that had kidnapped two friends of ours, did you perchance see the group?" asked Aladdin.

"Since you gave us your names, I will give you mine, I am Phoebus. We did see a group of goblins, and we fought and slayed them all last night. They weren't exactly a difficult in terms of a battle," answered Phoebus.

"Did you see two small animals? One was a little pig and the other a gopher," inquired Grumpy.

"I can't say that we did. I will say go look for your friends, but do not have hope too high, here, may these horses bear you to better luck than their previous riders who perished in our fight," said Phoebus as he essentially handed two riderless horses to the companions before remounting his and he and his group were off again. The three companions were disheartened, but they got on the horses, Robin Hood and Grumpy sharing one, and galloped to where the smoke was.