Arathoniel awoke, stripped down to virtually nothing, her left shoulder aching from the near death she had taken from Frodo. The smell that sickened her so just hours earlier was now filling her to the point of breaking. It pained her whole body to breathe it in. It was not just burning man flesh, it was the stench of those beasts, the evil that they released into the very air the surrounded them. She struggled hard to open her eyes and survey her surroundings.

Quickly, she realized she would be going nowhere. She tested the bonds on her wrists, but found what she already understood. They were too strong for her to undo. Saruman himself may as well have created them. Her clothing reduced to virtually nothing, she could feel where these disgusting animals had touched her, tried to violate her. She wondered what had stopped them. She grimaced and the pain in her side. Musing to herself, she laughed softly. “At least I still have my hair,” she began to laugh.

“Quiet, Elf,” one of the Uruks slid his sword over her bare middle, “Or I’ll quiet you.”

Elf? What fools these Uruks were.

“I am no Elf,” Arathoniel’s teeth were tightly ground as she spoke.

“Ah, do you wish to have your liar’s tongue removed? It would do me great pleasure to watch the torture of an Elf. The White Wizard, he tells us what you are, you dirty Elven…”

“QUIET, fool Uruk,” an Orc grabbed the arm of the tall beast, “Speak not a word to this witch. She’s beguiling. She’ll have you wrapped in no time. Leave her be.”

Arathoniel watched as the Uruk-hai warrior quickly overpowered his Orc counterpart. The Orc, in no time, was being torn limb from limb. Orc blood was being spread from tree to tree. She gasped and closed her eyes tightly as the Uruk took his first bite of the Orc’s flesh. She could hear him tearing into it again and again. Her stomach turned and she retched. Though nothing came up, she retched. The last sound she heard was the cry of Uruk-hai in battle before she was plunged into darkness again.