Listening to the voices of the quarrelling Orcs, Pippin could tell that there were three factions: the Uruk-Hai of Isengard led by Ugluk, Orcs of Mordor led by Grishnakh, and Orcs of Moria. It seemed that they were debating the fate of the Hobbits, whether to take them east to Mordor or west to Isengard. The Orcs of Moria were all for killing the Hobbits and returning to their home.
The sounds of argument gave way to the sounds of combat. In the end, Ugluk and his Uruk-Hai gained the upper hand.
The Orcs revived Merry and unbound the legs of the two Hobbits. They were forced to run along, spurred on by the cruel Orcs.
All night and into the next day they ran, down into the fields of Rohan. At one point, Pippin saw his chance to run away from the group. He was captured quickly, but not before he could leave clues that he hoped would guide Aragorn to find them.
On and on they ran, occasionally stung by the whips of the Orcs. Apparently Ugluk wanted to get to Isengard before the soldiers of Rohan could find them.
The Orcs knew that they were pursued by the Riders of Rohan. Ugluk and Grishnakh spurred on their troops to greater speed.
At last the pursuing riders caught up with the Orcs. Within sight of the forest they made camp for the night.
The watch fires of the men could be seen in the darkness surrounding the troops of Orcs. Merry and Pippin hoped that they would be able to survive the coming battle.
In the night Grishnakh came and searched the Hobbits. Pippin guessed that he knew that the Ring was carried by a Hobbit and was seeking it for himself.
Grishnakh picked up Merry and Pippin and crept away from the Orc camp, seeking to escape both the Riders of Rohan and the Orcs of Isengard. An arrow in the night, though, killed him.
The two Hobbits remained flat on the ground, lying between the Orcs and the horsemen, too afraid to move lest they be killed by one side or the other.
The noise of battle told Merry and Pippin that the Riders had closed their noose around the Orcs. They had brought their circle in tighter around the Orc camp, and in the darkness had missed the two Hobbits lying in the grass.
Pippin had loosed the ropes around his hands, and he removed Merry's bonds. The two Hobbits nibbled on some crumbs of Lembas that were in their pockets and crawled towards the edge of the forest.
Rather than turn back into the midst of battle, they moved forward into the darkness of Fangorn Forest.
