A/N WOW. I fail. Over a year since an update? My only excuse is my schoolwork and the transition to college. Hopefully, now that I'm (relatively) settled I'll be better about updating! I do not plan on abandoning this story.

Thanks to Ryan Agram, DarthxRane, Xander, and Jeremy for beta-ing!

Disclaimer: See Chapters 1-3

Beady black eyes stared out of a worn face, gazing at the landscape beyond the walls of his fortress. Long, wizened fingers tapped impatiently on the obsidian stone balcony railing. The other hand clutched a staff, which seemed nearly as formidable as the black tower wherein he resided.

Behind him, metallic clicks could be heard as an armor-clad orc entered the room. Saruman sighed, then left his balcony, his multi-hued cloak and robes sweeping along behind him.

An Uruk'hai soldier stood before Saruman, clad in leather and armor and smelling as if he had just bathed in a bog. Saruman wrinkled his nose in disdain; he hated dealing directly with the foul creatures, no matter how useful they were.

Saruman sat on a large stone chair, leaning back in a disinterested, leisurely sort of way. "There is a young man and woman on the edges of Fangorn Forest. You will find them and bring them to me, alive. They are not for killing or eating. Do you understand?"

"Yes, master," the Uruk grunted in response.

"Begone, then. You have work to do."

"Yes master."

The Uruk left, the sounds of his heavy boots echoing off of the stone walls of the fortress and fading away into the distance. Saruman picked up a goblet half full with wine that had been left over from his morning meal. The wizard sipped it absently. When his eyes-and-ears had reported the two humans' movement through Fangorn, Saruman at first paid it no mind. He had been far too busy preparing for his assault on the people of Rohan. However, as the reports grew stranger, Saruman's interest in them grew. Apparently, they had emerged from the Entwash, as if birthed by the river. There was a young man and a woman. They wore clothing made of strangely dyed fabric, and they spoke in an unfamiliar tongue. The woman wore men's clothing; long, tight-fitting breeches, of all things! Furthermore, her hair was shorter than that of most women of Arda. The young man looked soft, unscarred, unlike the warrior he would have been at that age had he been a native of Middle Earth.

Saruman had every intention of discovering their true origin. Were the Valar interfering with the course of events plotted out since the beginning of the world? If so, Saruman knew he had to stop it. After all, these two could have been sent to bring him down. If so, he needed to destroy them. He was nearly ready to launch his assault on Rohan; nothing could be allowed to get in his way. He would capture the two humans, draw out the information they held in whatever way he could, then kill them.

The campfire kept the siblings warm throughout most of the night, but towards morning died down to embers, leaving Hannah and Josh vulnerable to winter's biting cold. Once again, the two found themselves huddling together in an attempt to warm themselves though the ground beneath them seemed to draw away much of their combined body heat. The wind gusted over and around them, cutting through their clothes and chilling the siblings. Finally, Hannah couldn't take it anymore; she was simply too miserable to keep lying there.

Hannah sat up slowly so as not to wake her brother. However, he seemed to notice the sudden absence of heat beside him and looked up at her blearily.

"Wattaya' doin'?" he mumbled.

"I'm getting up now. Go back to sleep. Here, you can have my jacket." She shrugged off her purple winter coat and spread it over her brother's prone form.

"Than's," he mumbled back, then closed his eyes again. The coat seemed to help because before long, he was snoring softly.

Hannah shivered. Sometime during the night, the siblings had managed to grab their coats (now blessedly dry) and drape them over themselves as best they could. Now, clad only in a long sleeved, v-necked sweater, skinny jeans, and practical black boots, Hannah acutely felt the cold. Her normally light-toned skin was even paler than usual, and her nose was running. The 17-year-old's lips were beginning to feel chapped due to the dry air. She wouldn't be surprised if they cracked and bled soon. She folded her arms close to her body and stood, hopping from one foot to the other as she tried to get her blood circulating again.

Hannah stared forlornly at the remains of their fire. She wished she or her brother had had the presence of mind to keep it going, but they had been too sleepy to get up. It was like at home, Hannah thought with a wry smile. Whenever her feet were cold in bed, she'd be unable to sleep soundly, but she'd be too sleepy to get up and put on a pair of socks. Old habits die hard. The thought instantly made her homesick.

A single, hot tear slid down her cheek. Hannah hastily wiped it away, willing herself not to cry. She struggled to suppress the sobs that threatened to break out of her, if only to protect her younger brother. If he woke and saw she was losing hope, what would stop him from becoming hopeless as well? Her efforts did no good, and soon more tears followed the first. Hannah wept as silently as she could, her breath coming in ragged, but toneless breaths. How would they possibly survive? They had no food – already their shared fish the night before seemed a long time ago – and they didn't know where they were. They were cold, and far from home. The were two lost American teenagers in a country they were unfamiliar with.

Hannah wasn't so sure she liked England anymore.

Not for the first time, Hannah wondered at the dream she'd had that night in the forest. Dream seemed to be the wrong word; it had been too real to be a dream. 'Vision' was more accurate. The sensation of falling, the blinding light…

Get a grip on yourself! Hannah mentally scolded herself. It couldn't possibly be real.

Could it?

Hannah sighed and drew her hand over her exhausted face, unconsciously brushing back her bangs in a gesture she only used when highly stressed. This was pointless. She was arguing with herself – the sign of a crazy person. Her dream couldn't have been real, because it simply made no sense. What the heck was Arda? Why had she been called "of the Secondborn"? She did have to admit, the figure had been right in one thing… she and her brother were facing "terrible trials." Being so far from civilization so suddenly threw them for the loop. They were unused to sleeping out in the open, or going days without a decent meal…

Hannah lifted her eyes from the ground and looked toward the east, where the sun was rising over dark, rain-laden clouds. To the northwest, the smoke continued to rise. Hannah could only hope that this was an indication of civilization. Either way, there were miles of grassy, hilly land in between them and the source of the smoke. It was going to take more than a few days to reach their destination, if they could make it that far.

Even as she entertained this depressing thought, her eye caught movement coming from the direction of the smoke. Were those people? Hope rose unbidden within her. As they drew closer, Hannah could make out ten burly silhouettes against the color of the mountain behind them.

Hannah squatted down beside her brother, excitedly shaking him by the shoulder.

He whined and slapped her hand away. "G'awy, I'm sleeping." Hannah growled in frustration.

"Josh, wake up! I think there are people coming who can help us!" Josh's sleepiness fled in an instant, and he immediately threw the coats aside and scrambled to his feet, not bothering to straighten his navy blue hooded sweatshirt.

"HEY! OVER HERE! HELP US! HELP!" Hannah yelled. Next to her, Josh took up the call. "HEY! HEY YOU! OVER HERE!"

The shapes visibly reacted to the pair's calls. The group of men (Hannah had never seen women that big or muscular) hurried forward, angling toward the two siblings. The siblings jumped up and down waving their arms, just to make sure they had truly seen the pair. These were the first friendly faces they had seen in three days. Perhaps they could help them get to a payphone or a police station.

As they drew closer, Hannah started to notice certain aspects of the group's appearance that seemed strange. All of them were wearing something shiny over dark rags, and they seemed to be growling or barking at one another... or perhaps at the siblings. She frowned and her calls died away. When the group was about two hundred feet away, she could tell that they were armed with long knives. They were running, and though these hulking shapes appeared too bulky to be speedy, they were fast approaching.

And in the next moment, Hannah took in their faces. They were monstrous, somehow inhuman. All of them were snarling, but whooping with evil glee.

"Josh, I don't think…" she murmured, unconsciously clutching his arm in fear. Her brain snapped into focus, and she knew then that they had to get away. "Josh, RUN!" she shrieked in sudden terror. She curled her fingers in the extra fabric of his sleeve and yanked him beside her, but he needed no encouragement. The two sprinted away, trying to put as much distance between them and the monsters.

Hannah quickly gained speed, adrenaline coursing through her body. However, her in-athletic body soon reminded her why she was not a cross country runner. She had never run so fast in her life. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her heart pounded like it was going to explode out of her chest, and her side ached with cramps. She risked a glance behind her. The sight that met her eyes filled her with horror. The group was almost upon them.

Josh was already far ahead of her, but he kept looking back at her anxiously. "HURRY!" she screamed at him, with as much air as she could force out of her already straining lungs. "GET OUT OF HERE!" Her distraction, however, was literally her downfall. Because she was not watching where she was placing her feet, her toes caught the edge of a dip in the ground and she thudded to her hands and knees.

"HANNAH!" Josh called out, panicked.

Hannah clumsily scrambled to her feet and continued running. "KEEP GOING! DON'T WAIT FOR ME, RUN!" She could hear their snarls even clearer now, and the pounding of their feet on the grassy ground. Once again, she tripped and fell, this time rolling her ankle in the process.

"COME ON HANNAH!" Josh yelled. She looked up. He was running back toward her. Her stricken expression halted him in his tracks. Hannah clumsily stumbled to her feet, wincing at her injury. "GO ON!" she screamed raggedly. She ran forward as best as she could, severely slowed by her ankle. He indecisively whipped his head between her and the open field ahead of them. Hannah's fear increased exponentially as he turned back for her.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"I'M NOT LEAVING YOU BEHIND!"

He slowed as he approached her and they ran in step with one another. Josh kept giving her worried looks, but Hannah tried to ignore it. They needed to focus on getting away. The pair sprinted across the field, adrenaline pounding through their veins.

It was too late. Hannah heard an ominously victorious growl behind her. Something careened into her back, stunning her as she was knocked to the ground, all the air leaving her lungs in one instant with the force of the impact. One of the creatures had tackled her and was now lying on her back, effectively pinning her down. One of her arms was pinned uncomfortably underneath her torso, the other lying on the ground next to her face. He unceremoniously placed his enormous hand on the side of her head, palm covering her ear and fingers spread out on her cheek and brow. He pushed her face into the dirt, and grabbed her other wrist (the one not pinned by his heavy body) which he held against the ground. From her helpless position, she could only look on in horror as her brother was also taken down. Above her, the creatures crowed in victory, barking excitedly in an ugly language she could not recognize.

The fear took over. Hannah struggled, even though she knew it was hopeless. She was barely able to move her head, let alone her torso with the weight of the creature above her. All she succeeded in doing was to kick the monster that held her. It did little injury to the behemoth, and the others laughed at her feeble attempt. Next to her, pinned in a similar manner, her brother looked on in terror.

The creature above her snarled down at her, speaking in a language that she was obviously supposed to recognize, though it was none she had ever heard. The threat in his tone was clear, but instead of making her stop, this only made her more desperate. She thrashed wilder, as an animal caught in a trap. A deeper growl sounded, and something hit her in the back of the head. Everything went black.

A/N: Dun dun DUUUNNNN! Everyone loves cliffhangers, right?

Heatblizzard: Since I could not respond to your review via PM, I decided to reply here. Thank you for your insight - I do appreciate the warning that going the other direction might make it not fun to read.

I've never heard of that children's book, but it sounds delightful! I'll have to see if I can find it at the library. As for not getting a lot of reviews, I understand now; with another year's worth of experience in the fanfiction world, I've started to see that myself as well.

I will also go back and edit the section with Josh and the campfire - oops! :) Thank you very much for your response!