"Stand up and surrender yourselves!" that rider called out on the bank. Terrified, the four hobbits, Boromir and Gimli stood up shakily in their canoes.

"You there! First boat! Stand up!"

No one moved for a while, but then Aragorn stood up, hand on his sword hilt, and then Legolas- ready to fire his bow and arrow.

"Is that all?" he said suspiciously. "Everyone!"

"OK! Fine! We surrender!" Elijah, with a hint of sarcastic humour in his voice, stood up.

"Elijah?" Eomer was astounded, "What are you doing here? I thought you went back across the sea!"

"No," Elijah smiled, "I hung around for a while. This is Legolas and Aragorn. In the second boat is Boromir and the dwarf is Gimli. Third boat youll find" his voice faltered and he paused, "Meriadoc, Peregrin and Samwise!" He said boldly.

"Can we please pull the boats in?" Legolas asked Eomer.

"Yes," Eomer replied, "But go steady."

Other riders, who had joined Eomer, soon pulled in the boats. But the disappearance of Frodo had yet to be explained.

Legolas, Boromir and Elijah explained the matter, while the rest gathered the packs in the boat.

"So the hobbit is lost you say? Kidnapped?" Eomer contemplated the situation, "But- why would a small hobbit matter so great?"

"He carries something- dear to us," Legolas tried to explain.

"I see well I have heard some strange things while travelling around cries and a very disturbed man shouting," Eomer thought.

This was some hope.

"How long ago was that?" asked Aragorn, joining the conversation, "What was the last you heard?"

"Well we heard two people fighting in a boat yesterday, one small voice and a large one. Sounded like it belonged to a man. Could the hobbit be the small one?" Eomer asked, "It was down the bank not far from here."

"It was?" Boromir said, "Well there is still some hope left I suppose,"

"We are afraid that we cannot reach them in time. They are fast ascending down the river. Close to Isengard. If the hobbit gets too close" Elijah pondered, "Then I don't know what could become of Frodo."

"I have an idea," Eomer looked up, "What if we were to give you some horses. Maybe you could reach them in time, if you head towards Isengard by the way that the crow flies,"

"Possibly" Legolas thought, "Would you do that for us?"

"Of course. We have spare horses."

"Thank you sir. We owe you a great favour."

Eomer brought down some horses- Elijah and Pippin were allocated a light, fast white horse, Boromir, much to his disapproval, was allocated with Gimli upon a stout chestnut horse, Aragorn and Merry upon a smaller yet fast grey horse, and Legolas and Sam aboard an ebony black stallion.

They rode off into the darkness, with Eomer and his men trailing behind.

They travelled all night, but at dawn the horses had run enough, and everyone settled down to sleep, with Gimli on watch.

All was quiet. Gimli had started to nod his head slightly, when something caught his eye. He looked up sharply, there was a small creature, hiding out there, with pale, blue eyes shining bright as the sun rose. It muttered to itself, and just as Gimli was about to approach, it scampered away.

He decided to pass the experience off as a particularly large squirrel, and kept it to himself.

At mid-day, they ate a small breakfast and headed off again to Isengard. It grew darker as they approached, and they saw the gleaming black tower of Orthanc as they drew near.

They would not have noticed some one dragging a small being out and upon seeing them, turning the opposite way. Had they have known, they would have rode straight on, but even with Legolas keen elven eyes, they did not see.

Presently, Aragorn noticed that someone was riding towards them, on a gleaming white horse that shone pale in the dim. They skidded to a halt.

"Is some one there?" Legolas called. It rode straight for them.

"STOP!"

Aragorn called, but it was no use. They were about to turn around on their own horses, when a beam of light shot out from something that the person was holding. It rested on Aragorns face. He was paralysed to move.

The rider came closer and closer. No one dared move. He was dressed completely in white, from head to toe... and drew closer every second.

"Halt Shadowfax!" He cried, and skidded to a halt.

The fellowship were astounded. For they knew who he was...

"Gandalf?!"