Not all the trees of Isengard had been cut down. Rather, some had merely been freed, it seemed. For this tree walked toward Legolas as if its roots were feet. He stared, then blinked. His eyes were unused to daylight. And it had been long since he had had water or food. Could this be a creation of his mind?

The tree approached and stopped before him. Bending in half, the top of its trunk came closer to him, so that Legolas saw it had eyes, deep, brown, ageless eyes, and soon proved to have a mouth as well.

"Hoom-hoom!" the creature said, and Legolas jumped. His own eyes widened as the creature continued to speak in its language. It spoke, for all it looked like a tree. Switching then to the Common tongue, it asked, "Is this another orc?" It tilted its head and considered Legolas. "It smells like an orc."

If the sight were not amazing enough, Legolas then saw two more behind it, busy at work, apparently. They appeared to be dismantling structures across the field. Another was at the far end of Isengard near the dam.

Legolas returned his gaze to the creature before him. He gasped as he remembered an old tale—could this be a tree herder? An Ent, that was the word in the Common tongue. What would they be doing here? He struggled to stand, looking with unconcealed curiosity at him.

The Ent looked at him for a moment. "Hoom... you might be an elf if I did not find you here. But then, this is a wizard's home. The better question would be: are you a friend of Saruman?"

Legolas laughed, not noticing the edge of hysteria lacing it. Leaning heavily on the balustrade, he answered the Ent in a rasp of a voice he barely recognized: "I am no friend of Saruman. I am indeed an elf and his prisoner, and I have been left to the orcs."

Legolas held up a grimy arm with an iron manacle still wrapped around his wrist. "I have been held captive for ...I do not know how long. It is no wonder I no longer appear as an elf. I now seek escape from their torture."

"Prisoner? Saruman now keeps Elves as prisoners!" The bark around the edges of the tree herder's eyes crumpled into what Legolas realized was a frown, and its voice deepened as he spoke of Saruman. "That wizard becomes more of a traitor with each day. You say you look for escape from orcs? You will not go far on that ledge."

"I have nowhere to go. I can only hide until they find me. And they will." He had already heard their shrieks grow louder as they approached. "But I will not return to the depths of Orthanc. The beasts thought to make a meal of me. I would rather plunge to my death from this height than return to their hands."

The orcs were louder now—they had reached this level. "There he is!" They saw him on the balcony. As they neared, Legolas struggled to swing one leg then the other over the balustrade. Refusing to look down, he clutched the railing as best he could with one hand, his right too injured to be of use.

He glared at the orcs with all he had left in him. The orcs, in turn, paid him no notice. They instead stared in a stupor at the walking tree before them.

"What is that?"

"You dope! It's a tree!"

"Trees don't walk!"

Then the orc who had first grabbed him in the Pit arrived in the crowd. He glanced at the Ent, but it was Legolas who held his interest. "There's the elf! Forget about the tree! Get hold of him!"

The orcs turned to Legolas as one. It was time. Legolas leaned back, preparing to release himself. But suddenly the tree herder was there.

"There is no need to dash oneself on the rocks below." The orcs hesitated as the Ent reached out a limb that ended in a cluster of smaller boughs. "Step onto my branches." Legolas stared in awe at the escape offered him.

A clawed hand clamped around his arm. There was no more time to hesitate. Another hand. Legolas told himself it would be no different than walking onto one of the hundreds of trees he had climbed in his lifetime.

Wrenching his arm free, he stepped unsteadily onto the Ent's branches, falling gratefully on what he thought to be the palm of a hand. The branches closed protectively around Legolas, lifting him high into the air. The newly freed elf looked over the limbs and watched the orcs on the balcony shrink behind him.

"It's got our elf!"

"Ai! That's ours! Give it back!"

The Ent made a sound that seemed like a growl. "Orcs. I grow tired of orcs, with their slashing and burning." He reached down with his free hand and scooped up two of the orcs. But instead of hoisting them up, he tossed them into the field below. The other orcs froze, then ran back inside. "I grow tired of orcs," he said again.

After a moment of speechlessness, Legolas agreed weakly. "Yes, I must say, I am quite weary of orcs myself. There was much slashing and burning."

"Mmmm... hoom..." The Ent began an easy stride away from the tower, holding his hand open so that Legolas could sit upon it. From his seat, Legolas could clearly see the Ent's face, especially his eyes, which studied Legolas closely. The Ent looked him over from head to toe, and Legolas became conscious of his wretched appearance for the first time.

To draw the Ent's gaze from him, Legolas asked the first question that came to mind. "You are of the Onodrim, are you not?"

The tree herder looked closely at him, repeating slowly, "Onodrim... You must indeed be an elf. Yet you do not appear as an elf." The Ent surprised him then by continuing their conversation in Sindarin, reminding Legolas that these ancient beings were taught to speak by the Elves. "You do not look as ... bright as I remember Elves to be. It has been long since I have seen an Elf. No one but Saruman and orcs have walked beneath the boughs of Fangorn for many rounds of the sun."

"Fangorn—you are from Fangorn Forest, then?"

Another strange noise came from the tree herder. "My young elf, and you are young, are you not? I am Fangorn, or as Men call me, Treebeard, and the forest beyond is my home." Legolas continued to stare shamelessly at the creature he had only heard of from Elves of old. "You say Saruman has left you to the orcs. Where is Saruman now? For I would have words with him."

"He has left..." Legolas said, still distracted. He came to himself finally. "Forgive me. I am Legolas, of the land known as Greenwood the Great in ages past, and in this age of darkness known as Mirkwood."

"Greenwood the Great! A fine forest indeed. You are far from home, my friend elf."

"Indeed. As to your question, from what I have seen, Saruman is no longer in Isengard. He may have taken my friends with him, though I cannot be sure."

"There were other elves taken prisoner with you?"

"Not elves, but friends nevertheless. I know not what has befallen them. They may still be within the tower among the orcs."

"And to where has Saruman gone?"

"I know not. I know of his absence only from what the orcs say."

"Hmm... I think we can see to those orcs. Do not concern yourself with them. This is no place for an elf! Especially one so maltreated. The blood you wear on the outside normally is on the inside, no? I will take you to my home in the forest. You can take your rest there."

"I would learn the fate of my friends first, if you please, Fangorn. I could not bear to think they remained within the tower, still prisoners of the orcs." He could not leave while Gimli might yet remain.

"Do you wish to return to the tower?"

Legolas was not certain his friends remained in the tower. To be sure meant to return to those orcs... the orcs that had meant to eat him. He shivered. "No," he said quietly. "I do not. Nor could any save the Valar themselves bring me to do so." He bowed his head, ashamed that he would leave his friends to their fates.

"Then to Wellinghall we go. It is not far from here, if you walk with the stride of an Ent. As a wood-elf, you will appreciate these woods far more than the orcs who have defiled them so recently. Come, I will ask Bregalad if he would finish our work here. If Bregalad finds your friends within the tower, he will safeguard them."

"I thank you, Fangorn. What sort of work do Ents have with Isengard?"

Fangorn's words sounded closer to a growl than speech. "We grow tired of the orcs' work in our woods. Now we work here, putting out their fires once and for all. There will be no more cutting in Fangorn Forest."