The sky was a dark blue and a full moon shone brightly. There were no stars to be seen. The Uruks had stopped for the night and they set up a camp.

Merry, Pippin and I were released from their clutches. I was still unconscious. The Uruk-Hai that had been carrying me dropped me onto the ground. I fell with a loud thud.

Merry and Pippin were crawling on their hands and knees. Their hands had been bound together with a piece of dirty rope. The two had found my pale and lifeless body lying on the cold, wet ground right in front of them.

"Oh, No! No!" sobbed Pippin. "Oh, Merry! They're hurting her!"

"Shh! Quiet down, Pippin. They'll hear you." warned Merry.

"But, Merry..."

"Shh! I have a plan. Don't worry."

"We ain't goin' no further 'till we've had a breather!" an Uruk complained.

"Get a fire going!" said Uglúk, the leader of the Uruk-Hai.

Pippin ducked his head and crawled towards Merry. "Merry! Merry!"

"I think we might have made a mistake, leaving the Shire, Pippin." Merry whispered.

"Merry, how are we going to rescue Brianna?" Asked Pippin, in despair.

"I'll figure something out." Said Merry, wearily.

A low, groaning sound erupted from a tree nearby that was being chopped by an Uruk-Hai with a large, rusty axe.

"Merry, What's making that noise?" Pippin
asked, curiously.

"It's the trees." Merry replied. " You remember the Old Forest? On the borders of Buckland? Folks used to say that there was something in the water that made the trees grow tall, and come alive."

"Alive?" Said Pippin.

"Trees that could whisper, talk to each other. Even move." Merry continued.

An Uruk-Hai was growing restless and impatient. "I'm starving." He grumbled, while licking his slimy, yellow fangs.
"We ain't had nothing but maggoty bread for three stinking days!"

"Yeah, why can't we have some meats?" asked Snaga, an Uruk.

"What about them? They're fresh!" He pointed one of his sharp, black claws over at Merry and Pippin. Snaga had turned around and noticed me. He stared at me with hungry eyes.

"That young lass over there. She looks....".

Snaga opened up his crooked jaws. The Uruk began salivating.

"...Young and delicious!"

"Don't touch her!" shouted Pippin. "She's with us!"

"Is she? Well, if you want her, come and get her!" Snaga picked up my lifeless body from the ground. He carried me over to Merry and Pippin and threw me on the ground beside them. "Hmm. Maybe I'll eat you all at once!"

"They are not for eating!" Warned Uglúk.
"The prisoners go to Saruman. Alive and unspoiled."

"Alive? Why alive?"said Grishnakh, another Uruk. "Do they give good sport?"

"Just a mouthful. A bit off the flank." said Snaga.

All of a sudden, Uglúk raised his sword high in the air and sliced Snaga's head clean off.
"Looks like meat's back on the menu, boys!"

When the Uruk's weren't looking, Merry and Pippin had cut off the rope that bound their hands together with a sharp-edged rock that they had found.

Merry had lifted me from the ground and ran with me in his arms. "We're going to get you out of here, Brianna." he whispered in my ear. "You're going to be...."

"Dead!" Growled Grishnák, who was towering over Pippin.

The Uruk had pinned Pippin down to the ground and placed the edge of his sword on Pippin's neck. Merry stopped and tried to look for him.

"Go on, call for help. Squeal!" Said Grishnák, while licking his yellow stained fangs. "No one's gonna save you now!"

Suddenly, A spear pierced the Uruk in the back and fell to his death. A bunch of riders strode into the forest on huge horses and attacked the orcs, one by one, with long, pointy spears and bright silver swords.

One of the horses had almost trampled over Pippin. Pippin rolled over onto his left side in the damp forest floor, rose to his feet quickly and ran off with Merry and me into a deep and dark forest.