Escalation of War

AN: THE SHOW MUST GO ON!
Always wanted to say that ;)

Merry Christmas, you guys!
As a special treat to you all, I am giving you a pretty big chapter with a lot of story in it this time.

So the story continues, and here we will get a better understanding on what really happened in Moria.

Deep in the mountains of Vale, there was the Mines of Moria. Deep in its pits was the home of an ancient Grimm, said to have been one of the very first in the world. A Balrog. And in those pits it confronted a wizard that it saw as a threat and faced him head on the bridge of Khazâd-Dûm.

"Go back to the darkness!" Ozpin growled as he stared down the beast with his green face and red eyes.

The Balrog swung its flaming whip around and the struck it against the cave wall beside it, the clap of the whip almost sounded like a lightning strike, even making the flash of one.

Ozpin took his cane with both his hands and shouted, "YOU SHALL NOT PAAASSS!" He then slammed the tip of his cane into the bridge, making a bright flash. To everyone else, it didn't look like anything happened, so when the Balrog took a step on the bridge they were all surprised to find half the bridge brake off from where Ozpin was standing. The beast fell, yelling out a loud screech as it plummeted into the void below.

Ozpin's face returned to normal as he let out a sigh of exhaustion. He turned around to face the others but felt something hot wrap around his leg and pull him off the edge. He quickly grabbed onto the edge of the bridge and held on tight.

Ruby tried to run to the bridge and help Ozpin but was grabbed by Yang. "No, no!"

"OZPIN!" Ruby shouted as she was trying to get Yang to let go.

Jaune was about to help Ozpin but saw that the remaining half of the bridge was about to give way. Ozpin looks at Jaune in the eye and speaks softly, "Lead them well…" he then let go of the edge and fell into the darkness below.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Ruby shouted at the top of her lungs.

As Ozpin fell, he reached out and caught his cane on the way down. He then formed a green orb around himself and accelerated his speed to reach the Balrog and blasted it with grey colored light beams. The beams hit the beast hard, causing it pain and pushing it against he walls around them. The collision with the walls hit the beast almost as hard as the light beams did.

As they fell, their velocity reached terminal within minutes. The beast hit the walls a few times as they fell. Ozpin used this to his advantage as he used his sphere to ram and push the Balrog into the walls.

As the creature was pushed off the wall, it swung its arm at Ozpin hard.

"AAGH!" Ozpin was hit hard and slightly burned on his back.

As they both fell into an underground lake, Ozpin saw that the beast intended to open its wings and try to fly. He dove towards the Balrog's back and stabbed his cane into the joint on its right wing, snapping it out of place. The monster howled in pain and tried to swing its arm around to hit Ozpin, but the water below came too quickly. The two were both engulfed in water and steam that shot up to the celling.

"OZPIN!" Ruby shouted as she shot up from her sleeping bag.

Yang was standing, already awake and preparing breakfast. Ruby's shout nearly made Yang drop the firewood next to the fire. "Ruby! You okay?"

Ruby turned to see her sister, she was breathing heavily in a cold sweat. She began to relax when she realized that she was ok, and whatever dream she had was over. "Nothing. Just a bad dream."

"Well come on, help me cook some sausages." Yang said as she pulled out a pan to put over the fire.

One of the best things about her robotic arm, she couldn't get burned by the pan as she held it over the fire. They cooked a of the few sausage patties that they had along with some of their enchanted bread. As Yang was eating the bread, she was surprised at how it tasted.

"Normally I'm not one for eating bread by itself, but this isn't half bad."

Not too long after they finished their breakfast, they continued their journey. It had been 10 days since they split off from the Fellowship, today being their third day inland from the coast. They had to go though the mountain regions after they were forced to abandon their plan of traveling along the coast due to seeing swarms of Lancer Grimm flying overhead. Yang knew Grimm of that kind liked to swarm any kind of boats or planes unfortunate enough to be spotted by them.

The journey inland proved to be wise in the hopes to avoid the Grimm, but now they were traveling though a maze that grew as tall as the clouds and could prove to be as dangerous as the Grimm.

The two were climbing down a cliff using Yang's gift of enchanted rope to climb down from a cliff to continue making their way east. As they were descending on the rope, Yang looked down to Ruby, "Can you see the bottom? All I see are clouds, or is that fog? I can't tell."

Ruby looks down, "No, I can't see anything. Just keep going."

As they continued to slide down the rope, Yang's feet got stuck on a rock, causing her to shift hard into the cliff-side. This caused her backpack to shake and a small box fell out. Yang looked to see it fall and panicked, "RUBY, CATCH THAT! HURRY!"

Ruby looked up sharply and saw the box, she reached out to catch it before it was out of her reach, but then her other hand lost it's grip on the rope. She began to slide rapidly down, trying to stand on rocks but sliding off.

"RUBY!" Yang shouted in fear.

Ruby slide for about ten seconds until her feet touched a hard surface and she landed flat on her butt. She looked around to see the 'clouds' clear out from the gust of wind she caused. "Hehe, looks like it was fog, Yang."

Yang sighed in relief as she slid down to the bottom of the rope. As she let go of the rope, she looked around to see that the part of the mountain they were on was still fairly high from reaching "ground level". "This place is straight out of my nightmares…"

Ruby looked down at the box she caught for Yang, "What's in this?"

"Patch salt. Best you'll ever get in Vale. In case we ever wanted to cook eggs or roast a chicken," Yang said with a few hungry thoughts.

Ruby looked at Yang with a smirk, "Roast a chicken? Heh, only in our dreams, sis." She looked down at the salt, "I guess this is a good reminder of home too."

Yang smiled in agreement. Ruby walked past her and looked up at the rope, "We can't just leave this here. Someone or something could follow us down with it."

Yang gave a bit of an uneasy look. "I doubt anyone would follow us here." Yang looked up at the rope with a sad look, "It's a shame, it was a gift from Lady Maleficent… She said it was enchanted, whatever that means."

Ruby grabbed the rope and started to tug on it, Yang laughed, "Good luck pulling that off, Ruby. That's one of Dad's knots, no way it's coming undone with a tug."

Up above, the knot that was used to keep the rope tied around the rock that held them came undone as Ruby pulled on it. Just then they both saw the rope come down lose and free. As the last of it landed by their feet, the two looked at each other with surprise. Ruby then smiled, "I guess that's the enchantment."

They continued their way east, following a goat path. Another wave of fog came over them as they were traveling the path. After about an hour of traveling, Yang began to notice some similarities to their surroundings, then she realized, "Ruby… I think we're traveling in a circle."

Ruby noticed it too, "Crap."

"I don't think Ozpin meant for us to go this way." Yang said with a bit of frustration.

Ruby lowered her head, "He didn't mean for a lot of things to happen."

Yang realized she made her sister sad; she quickly walked up to her and rested her hand on her shoulder. Ruby looked up to see Yang looking at her with a bit of hope in her smile. They both continued down the path, hopefully this time to find a fork in the path. If goats were up here before, some must have gone down at some point.

As they were walking, rain rolled in over their heads. They were lucky enough to find a small cave to hide out in as the rain hit. As they were sitting there, Ruby could have sworn she heard a snarl sound in the wind. Something was out there, following them. She looked to outside the cave in the hopes to spot whatever it was, but it was nowhere in sight, and the snarling stopped. Ruby returned to the cave and sat by Yang as they waited the rain out.

The next morning they started up again and continued down the path. There they found that the path started to take them south, where they didn't want to go. Yang groaned in frustration, "Damn it! If only we had a map…"

Just then she smelled something in the air as the wind shifted. "Ugh, what is that terrible stench? You think there's a rotting deer nearby?"

Ruby thought she heard the snarling again, "No…" She slowly walked up to Yang and whispered, "We aren't alone out here."

That night, the two slept side by side. Up above them, a green frog-like creature was crawling down the steep rocks. It began to hiss and speak to itself in whispers, "The thieves-s. The thieves-s. The filthy little thieves-s."

The creatures climbed out form behind the shadow of rocks and out into the moonlight. It appeared to be Gollum himself. He looked to be scratched up and scarred due to the torture he endured in Mordor. His skin was green as grass, his eyes were large and had grey irises, and he had a wide mouth. He almost looked like a humanoid frog; evidently the Faunus traits in him were mutated and enhanced by the Ring after keeping it for so long.

"Where is it? Where is it? They stole it from us! My precious-s…" He climbed closer to them from above, "Curse them. We HATES them! It's ours, it is, and we wants it!" As he reached for Ruby's throat for the ring, Ruby and Yang got up and grabbed onto Gollum's arms to pull him down hard.

Gollum got back up and pushed them away from him. It surprised them on how strong he was, given how thin he appeared to be. Gollum looked to Ruby to see that the Ring was hanging out of her shirt on a chain. He then charged at her but was stopped when several bullets blasted near his feet.

He jumped away and turned around to see Yang with her gauntlets out and shooting her Fire Dust rounds at him. Gollum snarled as he moved around, dodging her shots. He moved so quickly and jumped so far that he ended up on top of her, body slamming her into the ground.

He quickly got off Yang as a large red scythe flew past his back. He turned and dodged Ruby faster than she could swing. He jumped on her and caused her to fall to the ground as he reached for the Ring around her neck, trying to fit his finger into the gold band.

Yang then came up behind him and pulled him off Ruby. Gollum flew towards a rock and hit his back against it. He then got back up with no effort and ran at Yang again, with a bit more fury in his eyes.

As he jumped on Yang, he crawled onto her back and wrapped his arm around her neck and her legs around her body. He began to squeeze hard on her neck, not enough for her semblance to absorb it, but enough to slowly suffocate her.

Ruby then got back up, drew her dagger and ran up to them. She laid the edge of the blade on Gollum's throat; making him lean his head back against the rock. "This is Thorn. You've seen this before when it was my mother's spear tip. Isn't that right, Gollum?"

She looked down to see that he was still holding Yang, "Let her go, now…" Ruby said as she let the edge of her blade cut into the top layer of his skin. Gollum quickly let go of Yang and then began to wail in misery.

Gollum's screams echoed in the mountains like a dying animal. Yang had him tied at the end of her enchanted rope, tugging on him to follow as he pulled back. He continued to grab onto rocks, trying to pull on the rope to come undone but it was no use. "IT BURNS! IT BURNS US! Take it off us!"

Yang began to get irritated; it was bad enough he was doing it for the past hour, but by now his emotions could be attracting Grimm they don't even know are coming yet. She pulled him and forced him to the ground, "It's hopeless, Ruby! Every Grimm on the planet will come for us before we even leave these mountains at this rate. Let's just tie him up and leave him here."

Gollum looked at them in fear, "NO! That would kill us. Kill us…"

"It's more than you deserve!" Yang said as she glared at him.

Ruby looked at the poor creature waling and crying before them, when before she thought only anger towards him, now she felt pity. "Maybe he does deserve to die, but now when I see him, I can understand why mom let him live."

Gollum got up and walked on his knees to them, "We be nice to them if they be nice to us." He then grabbed the rope and held it towards them, "Take it off us…" he sounded as if he was crying.

He then lowered his head to them, "We swear to do whatever you wants, we swear!"

"How could I possibly believe whatever word you say? What could possibly hold you to your word?" Ruby asked with a bit of skepticism.

Gollum got up on one knee, trying to seam formal, as best as he could. "We swear to follow the one who owns the precious… we swear on… ON THE PRECIOUS!" he then began to cough loudly, "Gollum. Gollum."

Ruby looked at him with a bit of a realization, "This Ring is of old magic, and as far as I've seen when it comes to it, there is always a binding to it. It has you bound, which means it will hold you to whatever word you give… Am I wrong?"

"Yes…" Gollum began to crawl slowly towards them, "on the precious."

Yang felt a bad vibe come off him when she saw the way Gollum look at Ruby, "I don't believe you!" She slapped him with her robot arm and knocked him away. As he tried to run she pulled on the string and pulled him back.

"YANG!" Ruby shouted in disgust. Yang looked to Ruby with an uneasy glare.

"He just tried to kill us, Ruby! And now he swears to help us on a Ring he just tried to kill us over? We let him go now, he'll try to kill us in our sleep!"

Ruby grabbed both of Yang's shoulders, "We need a way out of these mountains. He found us, maybe he knows a way across that is safer." Ruby could see that Yang was seeing her point and relaxed. She then walked over to Gollum on the ground, gripping at his neck where the rope was pulled tight.

"You know the way to Mordor from here?" Ruby asked as she looked down at him.

"Yes…" Gollum said as he nodded his head.

"You've been there before?" Ruby asked.

"Yes…" Gollum repeated.

Ruby then knelt down and pulled the rope off his neck, she could see that he was genuinely surprised that she was taking it off him, "You will lead us to the Black Gate from here."

Gollum led first, leading them off the path and though a maze of rocks and other paths. He ran on all fours, moving faster than Ruby and Yang could keep up. "To the gate. To the gate, Mistress says." Just then Gollum started to talk in a bit of a darker voice and more raspy, "NO! We won't go back. Not there. Not to HER!"

It wasn't long that he ran out of sight, which made Yang angry. "HEY! Get back here!" It wasn't long that they had lost him entirely, "Well, that's just great… Now how do we get out of here?" Yang says with frustration.

Gollum ran far enough ahead to be out of sight, and then out of nowhere he began to argue to himself. "But we swore to serve the Master of the Precious…" "NO! Ashes and dust and thirst there is, and pits, pits, pits. And Orcses and Grimmses, thousands of Grimmses. And always SHE is always watching us… NO!"

Gollum tried to walk away but he hit his own head against the wall repeatedly, "She owns the ring, she can helps us get it back… Don't we wants it back?" He began to growl, "Grrr… Fine… for now."

Ruby and Yang looked around, hoping to find their own way, but then they both saw Gollum climbing above one of the high rises, "Come girlses, come. We get down from mountains, this way!"

Meanwhile, down south, Blake and Weiss were at the mercy of what remained of the Uruk Hai pack that Locus lead to capture them. These beasts were running for days, only stopping for night for camping and then leaving before the sun could rise. With Locus gone, the only one leading the pack now was Alpha, the first of their kind. The pack itself was no more than 30 Uruks. A few of them were Warlocks that used Dust staffs, the rest were either Marksman with battle rifles or Marauders with broadswords or large hammers.

Weiss and Blake had their hands tied and were put on the backs of two Uruks to carry them. As they were running, Blake was looking around at her surroundings. She looked to her right and saw Weiss on the back of the Uruk next to them. "Weiss… Weiss…" She tried to call out to her, but Weiss appeared to either be asleep or out cold.

As they ran though the rocky hills, Alpha halted the pack when he smelled that they weren't alone. As they stopped, several Orcs from Mordor came out from behind rocks. Some of them were wearing goggles or sunglasses, to keep their eyes safe from the sunlight. The leader among the Orcs walked up to Alpha, "You're late, pup… When you took so long, Saruman ordered us to go looking for you. Where's Locus?"

"Dead, and I don't take orders from little Orc-maggots like you." Alpha said as he growled at them

"Dead? Who killed him?" The Orc asked.

"One of the Knights. After he killed one of them. We have two of the girls Saruman wanted, he will have his prize!" Alpha said as he gestured to the two huntresses that were tied up on Uruk backs. "And I intend to follow though with my orders…"

Blake whispered at Weiss, trying to talk to her. Just then Blake felt a fist hit her back, "Keep quiet, scrawny!" an Uruk said.

The creature then walked up to Weiss and lifted her head, "Aw, is the little pearly white girl sleeping? Maybe she needs a drink!" he said as he pulled out his bag of water and pored it on her face. Weiss instantly woke up and coughed as the water flowed from her mouth and nose and into her lungs, causing her to choke on it a bit.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Blake shouted, then she felt a cold blade rest on her neck, "Unless you want the same, you will keep your little bitch mouth SHUT!" said another Uruk.

Blake looked over to Weiss and saw her coughing up the water, "Weiss, you ok?"

Weiss coughed, "I'm fine." She turned her head to Blake with a bit of a smile, "I was just resting my eyes."

"You're hurt." Blake said with worry in her tone.

"No… I'm just sleepy…" Weiss said with a slight smile, trying to make Blake feel a bit better. Her smile then vanished as she spoke to Blake with a serious tone, "Don't worry about me, Blake."

Back at the front of the pack, one of Alpha's warlocks began to sniff sharply. This Warlock had had more animal traits to a wolf, so he could smell better than Alpha. "What is it? What do you smell?"

He sniffed more until he was certain, "Humans. One of them is the Knight."

Blake heard that and began to smile, "Jaune."

Alpha snarled in anger, "They picked up our trail. LET'S MOVE!" he shouted to the pack as they continued their journey back to Haven Academy.

As they were running, Blake pulled her necklace out with her teeth and undid the leather strap that held it together, causing the main part of the necklace to hit the ground. The main part of the necklaces was a black cat's head with a white pearl in the forehead. It was so small; none of the Uruks saw it as they walked over it.

Jaune had his ears to the ground, listening for the echoes in the rocks of the pack. He could hear that the patterns were getting faster, "They're running again…"

As he lifted his head he felt the wind blow in the direction they were going, Ren realized it at the same time as Jaune, "They caught our sent."

"Damn it…" Jaune cursed. "COME ON!" They both began to run on the dirt path the Uruks made not too long ago.

Pyrrha was behind htem, trying to keep up. And not too far behind her was Nora, panting heavily.

"Three days and nights of chasing… barely any food, only three hours of sleep… and no sign of our friends. What the hell are these things made of?" Nora groaned.

JNPR followed the path the Pack made and ran as fast as they could run up and down hills with no sigh of slowing down. It wasn't until midday that Jaune noticed a white spot in the trampled grass. He reached down and pulled out the black cat necklace. "And here I thought cats always land on their feet." Jaune said jokingly. He held out the necklace to the others, shearing the hope he received from it.

"Then they're okay!" Pyrrha said as he handed it to her, "They know we're coming."

"They're at least a day ahead of us." Ren said with a bit of hope. Jaune nodded as they both continued to run.

As they ran off, Pyrrha saw Nora rolling down the hill they came form and quickly got back up. "Come on, Nora! We're gaining on them!"

"Valkyries aren't well known for marching cross-country! We're only good at fighting at short distances." Nora shouted at them as she ran after them.

As they reached a high hill, they looked at the wide-open grasslands of Anima. "We're close to the kingdom of Mistral," Pyrrha said as she then shared with her team the old stories she knew growing up, "I heard one of the old kingdoms that lived in these lands was called 'Rohan'."

Nora looked to Pyrrha, "What happened to it?"

"The same thing that happened to the other fallen kingdoms of old, Grimm." Ren said with a bit of a dim tone.

Pyrrha added, "The survivors moved into Mistral and are survived through the Rohirrim branch of Mistral's military."

Jaune looked on to see the dust cloud that was made by the Uruks. He pulled out a set of binoculars and tried to see them. "I can't tell where they're heading." He handed them off to Ren, "Can you?"

Ren looked into the goggles and could tell the direction they were going, "They are turning northeast. They are taking them to Haven."

"Saruman." Jaune hissed with anger.

(The following scene starts 10 days ago, about an hour after Jaune killed Locus.)

In Haven's main tower, Saruman himself held his hand over the Palantir, hoping to talk to his queen. He could see Salem sitting at her throne, with Rourke and Jadis by her side.

"Your Grace, production is continuing as scheduled. The army you requested will be as we planned." Just then Saruman felt his hand burning on the Palantir.

"I take it then you haven't heard the news, my friend." Salem said as she gave Saruman a dark glare.

Saruman tried to keep his calm composure as he gripped his wrist with his other hand, trying to remove it from the orb, but it was no use. He cringed as he felt his hand burn as it rested on the orb, "What news… I've heard nothing…" he said as he fell to his knees in pain.

"Locus is dead, Saruman. Killed by Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos." Jadis said with a bit of a hiss.

"When? I wasn't informed yet!" Saruman said as the pain worsened.

Salem stood up from her throne and walked towards Saruman's mercury projection, "Your 'perfect soldier' is no better than any Grimm against Huntsmen, let alone Knights or Maidens! What purpose would I have for an army that can't even take down eight hunters?"

Saruman tried to regain enough strength to speak, "Quantity over quality!"

Salem stopped the pain, "I'm listening…"

Saruman stood back up and looked to Rourke, "You're a real military man, Numenor. What was the most common reason for achieving victory in your day?"

"Having a bigger army." Rourke answered.

"Exactly… These days, humanity and its arrogance has relied on better weapons, vehicles and more reasons to not have men at the frontline…" Saruman stood up and regained his composure, "These Uruk Hai are better than the average soldier, and I can make them by the tens of thousands!"

"How?" Jadis asked with a skeptical glare.

Saruman then gestured to Haven, "Isengard's tombs. There are thousands skeletons in the catacombs, catacombs that stretch on for miles down below the surface. So many skeletons that span as far back as a hundred generations…"

"In two month's time of your production of these Uruks, he would have 200,000 of these beasts." Rourke says with a bit of an impressed smile.

Salem saw his smile; she then turned to Jadis to see her nod in agreement. Salem then turned to Saruman, "Very well, my friend, continue to build my army as planned. However, thanks to the untimely death of our dear friend Locus, I will need you to fulfill his original job."

"That is?" Saruman asked in confusion.

"I am aware you have several spies in Mistral right now, use them, bring the kingdom to its knees." Salem said with an ambitious grin.

"I will not fail you! I will let the world know that they cannot stand against the powers of both Mordor and Haven, and the Union of the Two Towers…" Saruman said as he bowed his head.

Salem smiled at his words, taking them as flattery; she then ended the magical link. Once Saruman let go of the Palantir, he looked at his hand and saw that there was no burn marks at all, she was making him think he felt the burns.

One of the first things he intended to do to truly start his mission shut down the Cross Continental Tower network, permanently. Once inside the main server farm of the CCT, Saruman placed his scroll and started typing into the main control console. Then a black and white chess piece showed up on the screen, and then all the servers started to shut down one at a time. The worst part was, he sent the shut down signal to all the other towers, shutting down the main use of communications between kingdoms.

Remnant wouldn't be completely without communications, thanks to landlines and shortwave radios, but this was a very crippling blow to Remnant's security in a time of war.

Saruman made his way down to the production line for the breeding of his Uruks and the forging of their weapons and armor. He watched as their weapons were being forged form the materials that the late Locus provided not too long ago, including the weapons and dust as well.

As he walked though the production line, he saw the hoards coming out of the black pit and saw them stand tall and strong. He looked on his creations with pride.

As he reached the forge he was met by the Forge-master and spoke with him about production. "I want the first 50 well armed and ready to march within two weeks time."

"But my lord there are too many!" The forge-master said, "They cannot all be armed in time, we don't have the means!"

Saruman rolled his eyes, "Build a dam, block the stream, and work the furnaces night and day if you have to!"

The forge-master then brought up the other problem with the order, "We don't have enough fuel to keep the furnaces as hot, and we're running out of Industrial Grade Dust."

Saruman points the forge-master to the forest to their North, "The Forest of Fangorn is on our doorstep… USE IT!"

The forge-master looked at the large forest that stretched almost as high as the mountain, he smiled at the potential they could get out of that much timber. "Yes…"

About a day later, after making several calls, Saruman met up with a member of the White Fang who led the faction within Anima. His name was Kaa Verde, a Snake Faunus with green eyes. Kaa and Saruman set up plans to cripple Mistral's infrastructure.

"Once my people hit the factories in Anemone, Tustsuji and Saboten village, Mistral won't be able to build any more vehicles for months." Kaa said as he put his fingers on the map, pointing out all three villages. "As for the farms surrounding them, with all the chaos, the Grimm will come in and do the rest."

"Good plan, the kingdom's leadership are so sure that war will come to them from the skies or from the sea, when really it will come from their own backyard. I must say, this is a good plan," Saruman said as he patted Kaa on the back but then he realized something, "but there are a lot of Faunus who farm in those lands, are you sure you want to do this?" Saruman was more or less curious on this captain's commitment to his plan.

"I'm sure. Those traitors refused to help us when we called arms to take Menagerie from the Belladonnas. This is what they deserve." Kaa said with a cold tone in his voice. He then turned to Saruman, "Umber Kahn will be pleased with you aid in this, Saruman. And when the time comes, we will be with you to take Mistral down."

"Just ensure that Umber knows that our queen wants his full cooperation, without complications." Saruman said as he walked out of the room.

Roughly three days have passed and Saruman is already seeing progress. The Fang was true to their word: all three factories were up in smoke. Mistral's war machines were reduced to what they currently had.

Saruman looked into the Palantir, both to look at his progress and to shear it with Salem. "The kingdom of Mistral is now under siege. Desperate to find their real enemy, they end up swamping themselves with the Grimm."

While looking though the orb, Saruman saw a small farmers village where families were starting to run from the Grimm.

In the middle of the all the chaos and running, a woman put her daughter on a horse and then her nephew, "Oscar, you take Dorothy and ride straight for Mistral. Don't stop for anything, let them know what is going on."

"I'm sure you can come with us, Aunt M. Look for another horse!" Oscar said as he helped his cousin onto the horse's saddle. She started to cry to her mother, "I don't want to leave. I don't want to go!"

Aunt M. held her daughter's head in her hands and kissed her forehead as she cried, "Dorothy, I will find you there." Aunt M. then heard screams in the distance; she looked out to the field and saw the hoards of Grimm coming from the tree lines. She could see everyone run from them as they charged with claws out and fangs ready to tear them to shreds. Aunt M. looked to Oscar, "GO NOW!"

Oscar kicked his horse to go and they galloped away, with other horse riders with them. Aunt M. looked out to them getting away and felt a sense of hope, "Be safe…"

Saruman meanwhile saw all the destruction and saw it as "progress," thinking nothing of the suffering before him. He was fulfilling his mission: the Westfold lands of Mistral were burning. "Mistral, my queen… is ready to fall."

(Back to present day)

Several motorcycle troopers were riding though a trail, following a distress beacon from Prince Theodred's convoy. At the lead was their Star Knight of Mistral, Eomer. He had green eyes and red hair. He led his Sky Knights through the brush and began to smell smoke.

As they moved though the woods, they started to see bodies, some of their own dead. They also found something else, they appeared to look human, but at the same time they were grotesque and mutated to be any Faunus. Although they didn't know it, they found the dead bodies of Uruk Hai.

As Eomer dismounted his bike, he walked up to one of the dead Uruks and saw it's flesh dissolve, just like Grimm do when they die. Only, the bones of the creature remained when the body died. "If it's dissolving now, then this happened recently…" Eomer thought.

"Find the King's son!" Eomer ordered loudly. "Please, let us not be too late."

The Sky Knights searched around among the dead bodies of soldiers and some civilians that were among the convoy. Theodred lead a mercy mission to lead refugees to the safety to the capital, to his misfortune they were ambushed by Uruks and Grimm. Eomer saw signs of battle, aside from Uruks, he could see physical evidence that there were Ursa and Deathstalkers involved in the battle. Unfortunately there were no survivors in sight.

As Eomer walked around, searching for his cousin, he heard a soldier speak with anger, "Mordor will pay for this!"

Eomer walked up to an Uruk corpse and saw that its helmet had a white lion paw print on it, last time he saw that mark, he graduated from Haven Academy. "These bastards didn't come from Mordor."

"Supreme Commander, OVER HERE!" a man shouted in the distance. Eomer saw one of his soldiers call out to him while he was checking out a man on the ground.

Eomer ran as fast as he could, trying not to trip on any corpses, and then sees the man his Sky Knight found to be his cousin. Theodred was breathing, barely, but he was alive.

"Get a medevac. We're going home." Eomer said as he helped his man carry Theodred to the nearest medic truck.

They drove as fast as they could on the main road until they reached the capital. They drove through the main street of Mistral city. Using a gurney, they took Theodred to the hospital inside the capital and gave him the best care they could give.

Eomer's twin sister, Eowyn, ran into the room where she could watch the doctors operate on her cousin. She found her brother there, watching by the window. "How bad?" she asked, with a bit of hope in her tone.

"So far they found five fractures, three broken ribs, his left leg broken in two places and he lost a lot of blood before we got him here…" There was no sorrow in his voice, only anger. "Doctors are doing what they can, but they say he'll be lucky to last the night." They grew up with Theodred since they were children, and now they both were looking at him on the edge of death.

Eomer turned to his sister and was immediately hugged by her, she was trying not to cry on him but she was failing. He held her for a bit then they let go, "We need to talk to the King."

(A reader named "Flash600," heavily influenced the following scene)

Eomer at his king, his uncle, and felt a great wave of pity and rage wash over him. His uncle was once a great man, a great warrior and a greater king. After he had taken the Throne of Mistral, he became a wise a benevolent ruler, loved by all, and he loved his people. When both of his younger brothers, one of them the Star Knight of Mistral before Eomer and the other just a younger brother, Theoden took them all in and raised them as though they were his own children. Four children: one son, one nephew and two nieces.

King Theoden was a proud warrior, a strong king, but most of all a good man. That was not the man sitting in front of him. The man sitting in front of him was old, feeble, and decrepit. His beard was long and gray, his face was sunken, his skin was wrinkled and waxen, he lacked the strength to even get up out of his chair, and he looked like he couldn't even hear the report Eomer was giving.

As per the right, for any Star Knight of any given kingdom, he called for an immediate war summit to speak to the king about what they need to do. "Your Grace, your son was ambushed by Grimm and some kind of new creature." Eomer said with frustration in his tone, he thought such new would get at least a reaction out of his uncle, but nothing. He didn't even seem fazed by the news of his son's current status, "If we don't defend our kingdom, then Saruman will take it by force."

"That is a lie!" said a voice from behind Theoden's throne.

A cold raspy voice echoed through the hall, and a pale, thin man with watery eyes, a rat's tail, and slightly rodent like teeth emerged from behind Theoden's throne. This man was Peter Slate, Councilor of King Theoden. "Saruman Lionheart has ever been our friend and ally."

Eomer glared at Slate, silently warning him to shut up, before continuing his report.

"Grimm and these new creatures have been wandering freely across our lands. Unchecked. Unchallenged. Killing at will. Some of them were bearing the Lion Mark of Saruman." At this, Eomer threw a helmet to the ground, it rolled to a stop at Theoden's feet, a white lion paw print clearly emblazoned on it.

Slate stared at the helmet for a moment, before turning sharply and kneeling down next to the throne, placing his hand on the king's arm. "Why do you lay these troubles on an already troubled mind? Can you not see? Your King is wearied by your malcontent, your war-mongering…"

"War-mongering?" Eomer exclaimed with pure rage in his eyes.

Since he got nothing from his uncle, he walked out, waited until Slate was alone and confronted him.

Eomer slammed Slate into the wall with a look of pure rage on his face. "How long is it since Saruman bought you? What was the promised price, Peter? When all the men are dead you will take your share of the treasure?"

Slate's eyes nervously glanced to the right; Eomer followed his gaze to see he was staring at Eowyn as she was walking past them. She knew what her brother was doing, but didn't want any part of it, so she continued walking.

As Eomer turned back to Slate his anger only grew when he saw what Peter was staring at. He grabbed Slate's head, and forced him to look at him.

"I'm getting tired of you staring at my sister like some predator… Your words in that chamber alone prove you have betrayed us for Saruman-" Before Eomer could continue, two men emerged from down the hall, and assaulted Eomer giving Slate a chance to recover.

When Slate stood back up he stared at Eomer look of pure hatred.

"It would appear that you are just as smart as your father, Supreme Commander. I'm afraid you know too much." The men continued to beat Eomer, one delivering a brutal punch to his stomach.

"Henceforth, you are banished from the Kingdom of Mistral, under penalty of death."

Eomer's aura gave him a quick recovery as he broke loses from his attacker's grip. He knocked one man down hard with an elbow to the head and heal kicked another hard enough that he hit the wall behind him. "You have no power over me! Your orders mean nothing!"

"Oh, but this order comes not from me, but from the king himself." Eomer's eyes widened in shock as Slate held up a piece of paper. "He signed it this morning." Slate gave a prideful smile that was short lived when he saw Eomer reach for his sword.

"You Son Of A-"

THWACK!

Eomer stared in shock at the arrow that was buried in the wall directly in front of his face, he turned and looked down the hall and stared in shock at the man with a green hoodie and a Bow and Arrow aimed at his head, the most surprising thing, however, was the look of absolute shame on his face.

"Robin Loxley?" Eomer was surprised to find his old friend at his enemies defense, "This man is a traitor, can't you see that?!"

Robin's bow lowered. "I-I'm sorry, old friend...but the king ordered it. And I made a vow, as did you." He then raised his bow again, "Now follow yours and obey the order."

The two men got back up and grabbed onto Eomer's hands. Eomer pulled himself out of their grasp but was willing to walk with them. They then walked out of the hallway and outside to the courtyard.

With a flick of the wrist, Robin transformed his bow back into a sword and placed it into a sheath on his back. Slate placed his hand on the man's shoulder, "Well done Lieutenant Loxley, you truly are a loyal soldier of Mist-"

Robin grabbed Slate and slammed him into the wall he then whipped out a knife and held it up to Slate's cheek, "I obey the King, worm tail! Not you! You'd be wise to remember the difference."

He then released Slate and proceeded to walk away.

"Damn it Pyrrha where the hell are you?! If we ever needed you it would be now." Robin thought as he walked the same direction Eomer went.

Eomer was let go by the guards as they exited the capital building. They may have been following Slate's orders to banish Eomer, but they weren't about to disgrace their Star Knight in public.

As Eomer walked down to the barracks, he was allowed to take his personal bike. Before he could mount is bike he was approached by two men, Grun Gräuel of Team GMBL and Cardin Winchester of Team CRDL. Grun was sent to be a representative to Menagerie, and Cardin as a representative from Vale. The leaders of both counties heard about the trouble Mistral had been having for the past week. The team leaders brought with them their teams and a handful of troops from their countries to help however they can.

(In case my readers forgot, Grun Gräuel is Yang's fiancé in this story, created by "Nightengale4698")

Grun was the first to speak to Eomer, "Commander, what's going on? Where are you going?"

"Under the 'orders of the king' I have been banished." Eomer said aggressively as he packed his bike full of supplies.

"That's outrageous! This is a time of War! What is Theoden thinking?" Grun said with anger in his tone. He knew that in these times that Star Knights have control of the military of the kingdom; if Eomer is banished now, Mistral is vulnerable.

"HE ISN'T!" Eomer almost shouted at Grun, he took a deep breath, "As far as I can guess, Peter Slate has control of the kingdom now, thanks to Saruman."

"Slate?" Cardin asked with confusion, "That rat brain? How is that possible?"

"I don't know… But until my uncle is free I can't be here." Eomer said as he finished packing. "I'll gather the Sky knights and try to hold our kingdom's defenses as best we can, hopefully long enough for my uncle to regain his senses."

"What should we do? I mean we can go with you." Cardin asked. This was Eomer's country, so this was his call.

Eomer saw that Grun was willing to do the same but he knew a better place for them to be. "Stay here, and help defend the people. You two came here to help my kingdom, do so here," he started his engine and said one last thing before riding off, "And pray for a miracle."

Grun watched as this kingdom's Star Knight ride off, he felt sad to see a man banished form his home, from his family. "May your families light guide your way, Eomer Nikos."

(Back with the chase!)

JNPR ran as fast as they could through the grasslands of Rohan, never wavering under threat of their friends in danger. They had been running for almost a day and a half, the only clue they had was that they were on their trail but they weren't getting any closer.

Nora was having the most trouble until she put her hammer into launcher mode and placed it on her back. She was breathing heavily, "Just keep breathing, that's the key. Breathe…"

Pyrrha ran up along side Jaune, "These things run as if there was fire behind them…"

Jaune tried his best to keep running as he replied, "Whatever they're made of, Saruman knew what he was doing."

Nightfall came quickly for both them and the Uruks. The Uruks dropped Blake and Weiss on the ground as most of them were panting hard. One of the Orc soldiers that joined started to complain to Alpha, "We're not going any further, till we've had a breather!"

Alpha rolled his eyes as he turned to his men, "Get a fire going. We'll leave in two hours."

The Uruks wasted no time chopping branches and tree bark in the forest next to their horde.

Weiss crawled over to Blake so that they could stay together. "You ok?" Weiss asked as she settled next to her teammate. "Who would have thought being carried piggy back could be so tiring?" They both started to laugh quietly; this gave them a bit of a chance to relax, even if it was brief.

All of a sudden, they both started to hear sounds, almost sounding like groaning. Weiss' eyes widened, "What's making that noise?"

Blake looked up at the direction they were coming from and knew instantly, "It's the trees…"

"What? How is that possible?" Weiss asked with complete confusion.

Blake looked to Weiss with a surprised yet curious look, "My father used to tell me of old stories that happened during the First Great War, something that Lady Maleficent did. Mistral and Vale were under siege for months on end, running out of resources and men to fight. Until Maleficent went to both of the major forests of the kingdoms and brought some of the trees to life."

"No way…" Weiss looked up at the trees, "When you say, 'come to life', do you mean…?"

"It had something to do with them drinking enchanted water, it allowed them to speak, talk to each other, even move…" Blake said with a bit of fear in that last part. Weiss just got a big chill.

Alpha started to hear some of the Uruks and Orcs growl and groan. One of them finally spoke up, "I'm starving… We ain't had anything but maggoty bread for THREE STINKING DAYS!"

An Orc soldier agreed, "Yeah! Why can't we have some meat?" He then turned to the girls on the ground and started to bear his teeth, "What about them, they're fresssh," he hissed.

Alpha looked to who the Orc was referring to and growled at him, "They are NOT for eating."

The Orcs still licked their lips at them; some even grabbed them off the ground and placed them in the center of the hoard. Another Orc stepped out from the group and looked at them, "What about their legs? They wont need those…"

Weiss and Blake looked at the Orc with disgust, the Orc started to drool, "Ooh, they look tasty." But before he could get at them he was swatted away by Alpha.

"Get back SCUM!" He growled like a wolf ready to kill, "the prisoners go to Saruman, alive and unharmed. Those were his orders." Alpha could easily see that there was now a divide in the hoard, the Orcs and Uruk Hai stared down at each other with their teeth out and ready for a fight.

"Alive?" One of the Orcs asked. He looked over by the girls with a confused glare, "Why alive?" Then an idea popped into his head, "Does he intend to use them as slaves for labor, or as personal slaves? He he he."

Alpha stood between the girls and the Orc that wanted them as he growled, "Locus was ordered to retrieve them because one of them carries a weapon. A magical one. One that will win us the war against the Four Kingdoms."

Blake and Weiss looked at each other, Weiss whispered, "He thinks we have the Ring?"

Blake nodded, "And when they find out the truth, we're dead."

Neither of them realized that an Orc snuck though the Uruks and came at the girls form behind, "Just a mouthful, a bit off the flank!" He raised his knife ready to cut Blake but was then lost his head from a single swing of Alpha's broadsword.

The Orc's head fell between the girls, and his body fell over motionless, Alpha snarled, "Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys."

All the other Orcs and Uruks howled and growled as they didn't waste time tearing apart the Orc corpse for food. Weiss and Blake used this opportunity to try to crawl away into the darkness of the forest close by, but then Weiss felt a boot hit her back and push her into the ground hard.

Blake turned to see who stopped her, but was backslapped by the Orc that was on Weiss. He then turned Weiss around so that he could look her in the eye as he rested a knife against her cheek, "Go ahead and scream, I dare you… That mutt of an Orc won't save you this time…"

Just then all three heard a gunshot in the darkness, and the Orc over Weiss was shot in the back. He wailed in pain as he fell over, letting Weiss go.

Before any of the Orcs and Uruks knew it, they were surrounded by dozens of soldiers on motorcycles. Shooting, slashing and stabbing at will, at any beast the soldiers could see in the night. Some of the soldiers used rifles that could configure as spears and simply through them at an Uruk before it had a chance to react.

Weiss and Blake had to be careful, more so, now that they were in the middle of a fight. Weiss all of a sudden saw a bike head right for her; the driver didn't appear to have seen her, since it didn't seam to slow down.

The next morning, JNPR continued their chase for the Uruks. As they were running, Pyrrha recognized the sunrise to be more red than usual, "Red sun… People died in a fight last night." Her uncle used to tell her of old stories; that when red a sun rises, a warrior's burial has happened.

As they ran up a hill, they heard the roar of motorcycles and armored vehicles in the distance. Jaune looked out to see them come over a hill, riding on a trial that wasn't far from him and the team. He recognized their armor and some of the symbols on their vehicles, "Sky Knights of Mistral."

Jaune drew his pistol, loaded a flare bullet and shot in the air, hoping they'd notice. They did, almost immediately, the bikes and trucks turned towards them. Some of the bikes circled the team, surrounding them on all sides.

And once they were surrounded, all the knights in the center circle pointed their rifles at the team of hunters with no sign of hesitation. Jaune motioned everyone to put their hands up, this is their home after all.

"Do not attempt to move, or they'll be shooting themselves," Nora whispered into Ren's ear. Ren rolled his eyes, while also trying not to laugh.

"What business do four hunters have in the Riddermark in a time of war?" A man said as he walked past some of the knights. Pyrrha recognized the voice as she turned around to face the man.

Just then their eyes met, "Eomer?"

"Pyrrha…" He was both surprise and relieved. Just then they both ran at each other and hugged tightly.

Without even having to be told, all the other knights lowered their weapons. They started to back off and started to refuel their bikes a few feet from the group while they continued their conversation.

Nora and Ren heard some of the soldiers whispered amongst themselves, the words "Princess Pyrrha" came up a few times.

Nora and Ren were both confused instantly. "Uh, what?" Nora asked with complete confusion.

Pyrrha and Eomer let go, Pyrrha then started to laugh apologetically, "Guys… This is Eomer, the Star Knight of Mistral, he is my cousin, on my father's side."

Ren then realized, "King Theoden had two brothers, if they were your fathers… then that mean's King Theoden is your uncle."

"WAIT A MINUTE!" Nora shouted loudly as she raised her hands up, "You mean to tell me that all this time, when they called you 'Warrior Princess' they actually mean 'Warrior PRINCESS'?!"

Without even thinking, both Ren and Nora turned to Jaune and saw that he didn't seam surprised. "You knew." Ren asked.

"THIS WHOLE TIME?!" Nora finished.

Jaune started to give them a guilty shrug, "They made me swear not to say anything, what was I supposed to do? I didn't know until I brought her home…"

"Yeah, 2 years ago!" Nora said with a squinted face.

"If we told you back then would you have kept it a secret?" Jaune asked, "Ren maybe, but you?"

Nora's face relaxed, "Good point."

"I see your taste in friends hasn't changed." Eomer said with a bit of a grin to his cousin. "It's good to see you're ok."

"What's happening in Mistral?" Pyrrha asked as she pulled up her scroll, "We haven't been able to call anyone for days?"

"The CCT network is gone… Saruman shut it down; we're left with short wave radios and ground lines. The country is falling into shambles, we don't even know where to start fighting back." Eomer said with an angered tone. "Worst of all, our king is not himself."

"How do you mean?" Jaune asked with confusion.

"Saruman has somehow managed to control our uncle's mind. Peter Slate owns the capital now." Eomer said, nearly spitting at Slate's name. "He banished me when I spoke the truth against him."

"Slate? He's helping Saruman?" Pyrrha asked with shock, "He used to be so loyal…"

"Some loyalties aren't as strong as ours." Said a familiar voice that approached the group. JNPR was surprised to find Sun, Neptune, Scarlett and Sage among the Sky Knights.

"What are you guys doing here?" Nora asked with joy.

"Helping our Star Knight keep the country safe. Banished or not, he's our commander," Neptune answers as he pats Eomer's shoulder. Eomer gives him a quick glare that meant 'don't do that again' to which Neptune stepped back a bit.

Eomer looked to her with a sad face, "There is something else, Pyrrha… Theodred is hurt, fatally." Pyrrha gasped, cupping her hands over her mouth, she was too scared to even ask.

"How long?" Jaune asked, knowing it's what Pyrrha wanted to know.

"Not long…" Eomer said with a sad tone, "He's in good company at least, Eowyn is with him…" Pyrrha hugged him again, knowing that he needed it just as much as she did. Like Eomer, Theodred was like a brother to her, and now she was loosing him thanks to this war.

Giving them a minute of silence, Sun turned to Jaune and the others and asked the question that loomed over his head the most, "What are you guys doing here? I thought you were on a secret mission or something?"

Ren answered, "We were, but then a small hoard of monsters attacked us, Saruman's new breed of creatures that look like a mix of human and Grimm. We've been hunting them for over a week now."

"We've seen them, they're nasty." Scarlett said with a disgusted voice. "We killed them last night in a raid."

"Well, most of them. A lot ran into the treeline and got away, but we got the bulk of them." Sage added.

"That's not all, they took two of our friends!" Nora added.

"They have Weiss and Blake." Jaune said with a bit of fear, "Did you see them in the fight?"

Sun and Neptune looked at each other, then Sun spoke out first, "It was so dark, all we saw were Orcs and those other creatures. Are you sure you were hunting the right pack?"

"If you didn't see them, then maybe there's hope." Jaune spoke out before any fearful thoughts could fill their heads. "Where did the fight happen?"

Eomer pointed southeast, "Over that ridge, after we were finished we piled their bones and burned them."

After looking at his team to see that they were in agreement, Sun then walked up to Eomer, "Commander, if you would allow us, my team and I would like your permision to 'escort' these hunters to the location."

Eomer knew what Sun meant, who was he to stop a group of hunters from finding their friends, let alone stopping his own soldiers too. "Granted. Take two trucks with you. You'll need the wheels."

"Thank you." Pyrrha said to her cousin, with a smile. Eomer then kissed his cousin on the forehead and walked towards his troops.

Before mounting his bike he turned to Jaune, "Arc, when you look for your friends, do not trust to hope, it has forsaken our land." He then started up his engine and shouted, "We're heading south, men!"

The other bikes started and the trucks turned on. The Sky Knights and their Star Knight rode off, leaving the two trucks Sun was given to them.

As the two trucks drove towards the smoke stack that Eomer mentioned, Nora was pestering Pyrrha and Jaune with questions.

"So if your last name is the same as the royals, how did you convince them you weren't really a royal?" Nora asked.

"I told them I had the same name, but no relation." Pyrrha said with a bit of a small smirk. She was surprised that it worked for so long.

"Why did you keep your royal heritage a secret in the first place?" Nora asked next.

"It was bad enough I was a celebrity for my skill, imagine how alienated I could have felt if royalty was added to it." Pyrrha said with a bit of sadness in her tone. She would often imagine people figuring it out and she would feel even more isolated.

Jaune put his hand on hers, "Don't worry, Pyrrha… I'm sure I still wouldn't have known your name." Jaune said with a snarky grin.

"Just like how you kept missing all those 'subtle' hints?" Nora asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jaune then burred his head in his hands, "I thought we were passed this…"

"It's still funny…" Nora said with a smile that quickly disappeared when they arrived at the mass grave of dead Orcs and Uruks.

As they pulled up to the aftermath of the battle, they exited their vehicles. Sun walked up ahead of them to tell them of how it went down that night, "Prior to the fight we made sure our troops were on either side of the camp. We came at them fast and hard in the black of night, they didn't know we were on them until it was too late."

Everyone walked around, looking for any and all clues or signs that Weiss and Blake were there. For about ten minutes of searching, Ren checked out the pile of Orc and Uruk corpses, from there he pulled out a small metal hairpiece that looked like a snowflake. He held it out to the others, "I think this is Weiss' hair piece…"

Neptune ran over to Ren and took it out of his hand, from what he could tell by looking at it, it was bent from someone stepping on it and charred from the fire. The worst thought popped in Jaune's head, believing that they were too late he kicked an Uruk helmet hard with his steel tipped boots and screamed.

"AAAAAAAHH!" Jaune fell to his knees in grief. Pyrrha walked over to him and knelt beside him and started to hug him from behind. He raised his hands to touch hers, and as he looked to the ground, his hunter's instinct started to kick in. "Look, the ground…"

Pyrrha let go so that Jaune could scan the ground and recognized the shape of a woman in the dirt. "One of them was here…"

I'm using this boarder so that people wont get confused between present and flashback)

Weiss watched as the motorcyclist rode right toward her with no sign of slowing down. She immediately rolled over as it passed by. Weiss started to move towards Blake as the chaos happened around them.

"They crawled." Jaune narrated as he was following their trail, "they had their hands and feet tied."

Blake moved for a dead Orc that dropped its axe and started rubbing her binds on the blade until it was cut. She then picked it up and used it to cut her leg binds off. Weiss came up behind her to do the same.

Jaune then noticed something in the ground that didn't look like grass, he pulled on it and it turned out to be the cut rope, buried into the ground after all the stomping and driving over it.

"They cut their binds," He then saw that they were running in more of random directions, most likely due to the battle. Jaune then noticed a set of boot prints that was following one of them, "Someone followed them."

Weiss was running with Blake but was then pulled back by her hair. She turned to see who was pulling to find it to be the Orc that tried to cut her earlier. It pulled hard on her hair, causing her braid to come undone and her headpiece to hit the ground.

Blake started to run towards Weiss, ran past her and jump kicked the Orc in the face, causing him to fall back hard. Weiss tried to look around for her headpiece but was stopped by Blake when she grabbed her arm, "Come on!" As they ran, the Orc got back up and started to limp after them, stomping on Weiss' hairpiece along the way.

Jaune started to see a straighter line that lead away from the battle, "They're leaving the fight here…" Jaune stopped right when he reached the trees, "Into the forest."

Ren, Pyrrha and Neptune's eyes widened with fear. "Fangorn Forest…" Ren said with fear in his throat, "They have no idea what is waiting for them in there…"

AN:

AND THAT'S IT, for now.

I hope you all liked this chapter, lot of story, lot of action, and a lot of new characters ALL ROLLED INTO ONE!
I'll see you all next time with our next chapter.

Have a Merry Christmas you all, and may the day be good to you.

And as always, ARKOS!