Aragorn crouched and touched the earth, running his fingers over torn clods of dirt and bent grass that revealed the passage of the band of orcs. He estimated about twenty orcs had passed this way. But still no sign of the hobbits.
He strode along the path, deep in thought, until he was distracted by a glint of metal in the sun. A leaf of delicate metalwork lay in the mud, a leaf that had recently been worn on the cloak of a hobbit. He feared for Merry and Pippin. What plans did Saruman have for the two little hobbits?