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Gorluk slowly fluttered his eyes open as the morning sunlight seeped through the trees and filled the grassy clearing that he lay in. For a while he did nothing but lie on his back and bask in warm rays of the sun, enjoying the first long rest that he had in weeks. For a moment he forgot the events of last night, but as his sleepiness wore off the memories slowly flooded back into his mind; the attempt to rescue the halflings gone horribly wrong at the arrival of horsemen with their long bows and spears; Faroth fleeing madly into the woods and finally telling Gorluk about his fear of horses (which he would probably never forget); and finally having to spend hours trying to calm Faroth down and getting him to go to sleep. Where was the Warg now anyway? Gorluk lifted his head a little and rolled his eyes when he saw Faroth asleep on the large branch of a pine tree. But he did have to admit, that sure did take a lot of talent to do.

With a sigh he sat up and stretched his arms over his head. As he thought of what had to be done today, he suddenly froze with realization; they had lost the halflings! They had completely left his mind as soon as the Horsemen had arrived, and now he had not a clue where they could possibly be…. Or whether or not they were alive or dead.

He quickly got to his feet and briskly walked over to the Pine tree that Faroth slept in. With one hand he gently swayed the branch that Faroth clung on to as he slept, so that the Warg could wake up without falling off the tree. From above, Gorluk heard Faroth mumble something about bats, but it appeared that he was still asleep. Gorluk huffed with annoyance and gave the branch an irritated shake. But after a moment, Gorluk realized that he shook it too hard; for Faroth slowly slipped off the branch and landed on the ground with a thud.

In panic he rushed over to Faroth's side. "Faroth, I'm so sorry…" he gasped, but his voice was drowned out as Faroth snored loudly. He was still asleep!

"FAROTH, GET UP!" Gorluk yelled into his ear. Faroth slowly opened his eyes. "Did you say something?" he asked groggily.

Gorluk sucked in his breath and decided not to tell Faroth about shaking him off the tree by accident. "We have to go back to the place where we last saw Merry and Pippin," he said, "Maybe there we'll be able to find some clues as to where they went…"

"NO! NO! NOPE! Not me!" Faroth said, shaking his head violently. "There's no way that I'm going back, the horses could still be there!"

Gorluk rubbed his eyes and sighed; he knew that this would happen.

"But that is our only chance of ever being able to find Merry and Pippin!" Gorluk argued. "Can't you do this for their sake?"

Faroth trotted over to the pine tree and clumsily climbed back up. "You can go on ahead and find them, I'll just stay here and wait for you," he said.

Faroth, I don't have time for this! You have to come with me!" Gorluk nearly wailed. "Please come down!"

Faroth shook his head. And as he did so, he dug his claws into the bark of the tree.

Suddenly, as if a giant gust of wind blew by, the branches of the pine tree began to shake violently, and the roots began to writhe slowly like snakes. Gorluk watched in bewilderment as the branch that Faroth held on to suddenly flew up, leaving the Warg flying through the air and crashing into Gorluk. As they both fell to the ground, the pine tree slowed until it stood motionless before them.

They sat on the ground for the longest time and blinked in confusion. Then slowly, Faroth turned his head and said, "Ok. I'm coming with you."

Minutes later, they were walking side by side at a brisk pace through the trees. Occasionally whenever they heard a twig snap, the leaves rustle in the wind, or caught out of the corner of their eyes the branches of a nearby tree sway, they would both freeze or jump like they expected another tree to attack them. But the forest, to them, would grow silent every time they stopped to listen. It's like the forest has a mind of its own Gorluk thought. He felt like not a single tree could be trusted.

"Gorluk?" Faroth whispered as quietly as he dared. "Are you sure it's this way?"

Gorluk stopped and slowly looked around. "I… I'm not sure," he slowly whispered back.

Faroth exhaled his breath, and Gorluk knew that he was starting to panic. "We're not lost," Gorluk tried to whisper as confidently as possible, "All we have to do is follow the sun east in order to get out of this forest."

Faroth seemed to believe him, and together they started to follow the rays of the morning sun at a faster pace than before. But the sun was already high when they had awoken, and it would be within one or two hours before the sun was above their heads and they would lose their direction for a few hours. Gorluk wanted to be out of the forest before that happened.

But by the time the sun rose to its full reach in the sky, Gorluk and Faroth could see no end to the ominous trees. They knew that it wasn't a good idea to keep walking with no direction to go, but yet they didn't want to stop and sit on the roots of the trees in fear that the roots would trap the both of them. The solution to their problem was met when Gorluk saw in the distance a small grassy hill that didn't have a single tree growing on it. Once he pointed out the hill to Faroth, they both eagerly ran towards it and ran up to the very top.

"Phew!" Faroth sighed as he collapsed to the ground and rolled around in the grass, "I would rather be chased by a horse than have to spend an eternity in these woods!"

"How about being chased by ten horses over having to walk through these woods for a day?" Gorluk asked. Faroth thought about it for a few moments and shivered in fear. "No, definitely not," he said.

Both of them flinched as they heard a large branch fall from a nearby tree. Faroth sighed in frustration. "When are we ever going to get out of these woods? I feel like I'm being watched by someone every second!"

Gorluk shuddered. "You feel that way too?" But then, a thought went into is mind; "Faroth, I have a feeling that it's not the trees. Do you think that someone is following us?"

"Are you forgetting the way that Pine tree attacked me?!" Faroth asked.

"I don't think that it attacked you, maybe it just 'kicked' you off of its branches," Gorluk replied. "And besides, I haven't seen a single tree that has eyes, so how else can they watch us? The trees in the forest do seem very much alive in their own way, but I don't think that most of the trees even notice that we're here. Maybe most of them are… Asleep."

Faroth rolled his eyes. "Well trees can't do much else if they're stuck to the ground like that." He muttered. "This is too much thoughts for me; I shall act like a tree and go back to sleep." And with that, he curled himself up and closed his eyes.

Gorluk sighed and realized for the first time that his friend could be somewhat irritating when sleepy. Knowing that he had to keep watch, he crossed his legs and rested his chin on the palm of his hand. He tried to stay alert for any sounds that might suggest that someone was following them, but all he could hear was the endless noises of the old forest. He frowned; they had nearly two hours to wait for the sun to show which direction to go, and he was already getting bored. He was getting so bored that his mind drifted away from his surroundings, and he couldn't hear the footsteps that were coming towards him. He never thought to listen to them, until he felt a strong hand grab him by the back of his neck and raise him up from the ground.

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Well… Sorry that this had to be a boring chapter. This chapter had been longer before, but it was so long that I had to split it in half and make this half chapter 21, and the other half chapter 22.

So can anyone guess who the person who grabbed Gorluk on the last sentence is? I'll send you a private message if you get it right!

~Tatharwen