Sam and Pippin took in all the destruction in front of them. The water that surrounded the Orthanc, the large slabs of stone that stuck out of the ground.

But in all the excitement Pippin and Sam hadn't forgotten about Frodo and Merry. They were still in there.

Treebeard had promised them that he would do whatever he could to help. But he also said that it would probably be best if they waited for Gandalf.

The hobbits were sitting alone on a large stone. Both watched the tower for any signs of movement.

Something caught Pippin's eye. Someone was coming out of the tower! He nudged Sam and both hobbits stood up. "You know, that almost looks like..." Pippin started.

"It's Legolas!" Sam shouted. "And he has Merry! And there's Frodo and Gimli!"

"It can't be them!" Pippin tried to get a closer look and found that there was no denying it. An elf, a dwarf, and two hobbits had just emerged from the tower of Saruman.

But someone was missing. Where was Aragorn?

Sam searched around for any sign of the ranger, but there was nothing. Sam wasted no more time and called out to them.

"Over here! Frodo!" the hobbit, as well as the others, looked in their direction. They began making their way towards them.

Sam and Pippin leapt off their rock and into the water, which went up to their knees.

They raced over to their friends and immediately began asking questions.

"Are you alright? What happened to you? What's wrong with Merry? How did Legolas and Gimli get here? Where's Aragorn?"

Frodo stared at them with weary eyes. He didn't have the strength to answer them.

"We'll answer your questions soon lads. But first we need a place to rest." Gimli looked around at the work that the ents had done on Isengard.

The large tree-like creatures startled him just a little, though he was pleased at what they had done to the place.

Sam and Pippin led them over to the rock they had been sitting on earlier.

Legolas gently laid Merry down and stood up. He looked around anxiously. "Merry?" Pippin sat next to his cousin. The poor hobbit looked worse than before.

"What's wrong with him?" Pippin asked Legolas. The elf didn't look at the hobbit but replied, "He was tortured by Saruman." his voice was a filled with a rage that unsettled everyone.

Without a word of warning he left them.

"Where's he going?" Sam asked.
"I don't know lad. Something's off with him though."
Gimli watched as Legolas disappeared behind a large stone.

And I don't like it.
Gimli thought.

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Saruman stood inside his tower. He watched the ents as they moved about his land. "My lord Saruman." The wizard turned to see an orc standing behind him.

"Speak." Saruman ordered.
"My lord, the prisoners have escaped."

"Impossible!"
The wizard roared.

The orc cowered in fear as the wizard raised his staff. "My lord, not all of them escaped! We captured one of them!"

Saruman lowered his staff. He raised and eyebrow. "Which one?" Saruman looked behind the orc and watched as two more came. Both were dragging Aragorn towards him.

They threw him in front of the wizard. They had given him a good beating before they had brought him.

Saruman smiled. Perhaps not all had been lost.

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Legolas returned to the others sooner than they'd expected. In his hands he carried some strange herbs.

"Where'd you get those?" Sam asked.

"Treebeard helped me find
them." Legolas replied without looking at the hobbit.

He knelt down next to Merry and began going through his herbs. "You know how to heal?" Pippin asked in awe.

"When you've lived alone for a long time, you have to learn how to take care of yourself." he responded without pausing his work.

"Lived alone? What do you mean?" Pippin asked. Legolas gave the hobbit a hard stare. He did not want to talk about it.

Pippin stopped asking questions and Legolas resumed his work.

Gimli glared at the elf but he didn't notice. Or he just didn't care. "Don't mind him lad. He's had it rough lately."

"What happened to him?" Frodo asked.
"I'm not sure. But whatever it was, it't not something to be taken lightly."

"Does it have to do with Aragorn?" Pippin asked. Gimli had told them what had happened. And like Sam and Pippin had been doing from the beginning, they decided to wait for Gandalf.

The dwarf still couldn't believe that Gandalf was alive. He had seen the wizard fall! But there was no lie in Sam's or Pippin's eyes, and he doubted that they would lie about something like that.

Gimli suddenly remembered the hobbit's question. "It might have something to do with it."

"Poor Legolas. I can't imagine what it'd be like to leave behind your friend like that." Pippin said sadly.

"Exscuse me, but didn't you lose us a few days ago?" Frodo pointed out crossly. Pippin's face turned red.

Gimli sighed. Now Frodo was acting out. Of course, he was probably thinking about the Ring.

They hadn't been able to recover it, and who knew what Boromir had done with it.

The sound of horses brought Gimli out of his thoughts. He looked, and to his astonishment, there was Gandalf. Dressed in white and riding a white horse.

He was followed by several men. Each one on their own horse. Gimli looked at them in shock. As well as the hobbits. Legolas looked up and watched, his face expressionless, as they approached.

Frodo seemed the most excited out of all of them. "Gandalf!" He leapt to his feet. Gandalf looked at the hobbit and smiled. "It's good to see you alive Frodo, and the rest of you."

His gaze shifted to Merry and his eyes became worried. He then looked at Legolas and his expression changed drastically.

It was very brief but the others noticed it. Legolas lowered his head and refused to meet the wizard's gaze.

Gandalf turned to Gimli. "Where is Aragorn?"
"He's still inside. We couldn't get him out."

Gandalf's face turned grim. This wasn't good. Turning to the riders behind him he said, "Wait here. All of you."

No one argued as Gandalf rode alone towards Orthanc.

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As usual, please comment if you are enjoying this story! And I just want to let you know that unfortunately, the Battle of Helm's Deep will not be in this story. But I do plan to do something else!