Chapter 8: Katjaa, Glenn, Carley, Mark, and the Entdraught
Katjaa, Glenn, Carley, Mark, Merry, and Pippin have had a good night's worth of sleep in Fangorn Forest, at Treebeard's home. Carley and Mark slowly fluttered their eyes as they turned their heads… to see that it was morning. They yawned, stretching out their arms.
Then, Carley shook Merry, "wake up Merry."
"Wake up," said Mark.
Merry then opened his eyes.
"…Carley, Mark," Merry spoke.
He, Carley, and Mark, looked around in confusion, to see a clearing surrounded by trees and rocks, with a little stream, which started as a trickling waterfall amongst the rocks. There, they also saw Pippin, Katjaa, and Glenn standing near the little waterfall drinking what appeared to be water from a fungus bowl. But… there was no sign of Treebeard.
"Hey, where's Treebeard?" asked Mark.
"…I don't know, Mark," replied a confused Merry.
Merry, Carley, and Mark then stood up, gazing about, looking for Treebeard, who had apparently left them.
"Hello," Merry called out, "Treebeard?"
"I hope you didn't leave us behind," Katjaa added her call, "you promised Gandalf that you'd look after us."
"Where's he gone?" pondered Merry.
As he, Carley, and Mark were wondering about Treebeard…
"I had the loveliest dream last night," Pippin spoke dreamily to the others, "there was this large barrel, full of pipe-weed. And we smoked all of it, and then… you were sick, Merry."
Pippin's last remark seemed to discourage Merry as he still wondered about Treebeard. Glenn, Katjaa, Carley, and Mark, however, could not help but laugh to themselves at Merry's reaction.
"I'd give anything for a whiff of Old Toby," Pippin said wistfully as he laid back into the rocks.
OOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!
A tree-like sound suddenly came, startling Merry, Katjaa, Glenn, Carley, and Mark.
"Did you hear that?" asked Merry as he, Carley, and Mark walked towards Pippin, Katjaa, and Glenn, trying to figure out where the sounds were coming from.
Pippin, Katjaa, and Glenn, however, seemed unconcerned as they just stood, carrying three larges fungus jugs in their arms…
OOOOOHHHHHHHH!
The sound came again.
"There it is again," pointed Merry.
"…Is it Treebeard?" asked Glenn.
"No," replied Merry uncertainly, watching the trees around the clearing suspiciously, "…something's not right here. Not right at all."
Pippin looked at his friends like they were frightened for no reason at all. Pippin, Katjaa, and Glenn then took a swig of the liquid in the bowl and suddenly…
"OOOOOHHHH!" Pippin burped.
"Do you want some water, Carley, Mark," asked Katjaa kindly.
"Do you guys want some," asked Glenn.
Merry, Katjaa, Mark, and Carley, then turned to look beside them… to find that Pippin was the one who made those noises.
"Pippin," gasped Carley in great surprise.
"What is it, Carley?" Pippin asked incredulously at Carley and Mark's shock.
"…You just said something… Treeish," answered Merry, also gasping.
"No I didn't," contradicted Pippin, "I was just stretching."
Pippin then did his stretching, making those tree-like groans again. And as he did… something else happened…
Pippin appeared to be growing when he 'stretched'. Which apparently make Carley, Mark, and Merry gasp even more. Merry looked at Pippin, seeing how much he's grown.
"You're taller," stated Merry.
"…Who?" Pippin asked innocently.
"You."
"Than what?"
"Than me!" Merry exclaimed indignantly.
"I've always been taller than you!" Pippin informed him smugly.
"What?!" Mark interjected, "since when?"
"…Since always Mark," Pippin answered, even more smugly.
"Pippin," Merry explained to Pippin, as he puts his hands on his waste, "everyone knows, I'm the tall one, you're the short one."
"Yeah," added Carley, "even I know who's taller than who Pippin."
"Oh please, Carley," laughed Pippin, "Merry's what… three-foot-six, at the most? Whereas me, I'm pushing 3'7"."
OOOHHH! Pippin stretched himself again…
"…3'8"!" Pippin exclaimed with great amazement.
Pippin, Katjaa, and Glenn then drank the water again, becoming happier each moment. Carley, Mark, and Merry, however, were becoming more distraught with Pippin's unnatural growth.
"Three-foot-eight?" Merry said incredulously.
'Ohhh,' thought a bewildered Mark, 'this is getting creepy.'
"You did something," Merry accused Pippin.
Pippin only responded with an innocent shrugged, grinning as he pleased. The happy Hobbit, Woman, and Men then lowered the fungus bowls in which they drank the water from. Merry, Carley, and Mark suddenly noticed the three pitchers that Pippin, Katjaa, and Glenn held in their arms, their expressions turned to greed as they believed that it was the water that made Pippin grow unnaturally.
'That water's got to be what made Pippin grow,' thought a greedy Carley, 'man, if I had some of that… Doug will finally see me as a woman, and not a kid.'
Carley and Mark looked at Merry, who shared the same greed for what Pippin, Katjaa, and Glenn drank… and gave each other a conspiratorial nod…
Merry, Mark, and Carley then snatched the jugs from Pippin, Katjaa, and Glenn… and drank out of it.
"Merry, don't!" Pippin warned Merry, "don't drink it!"
"Carley, don't!" Katjaa warned Carley, "don't drink all of!"
"Mark, don't!" Glenn warned Mark, "don't it all!"
Merry, Carley, and Mark only grinned mischievously at Pippin, Katjaa, Carley, and ran off with it. Pippin, Katjaa, and Glenn tried to follow…
"Merry! Carley! Mark!" Pippin, Katjaa, and Glenn cried out desperately.
as they ran towards their greedy friends, "no, Treebeard said, Treebeard said that you shouldn't have any!" said Katjaa.
"Well, you should've remembered that before you started drinking," Mark pointed out the obvious.
"Now I want some!" Merry said as he took the pitcher and drank from it.
"Me too!" added Carley.
"But Carley," Pippin cried out even more desperately, "Treebeard said that-"
"But Mark," Glenn out desperately.
But Merry, Carley, and Mark kept pushing Pippin, Katjaa, and Glenn away, avoiding his lunges and grabs each time, wanting more of the Entdraught. The ensuing mayhem resulted in a frivolous chase with Pippin and Katjaa in pursuit of Carley, Mark, and Merry.
"He said that-!" Pippin repeated, still chasing his friends, "it could well be dangerous!"
Pippin, Katjaa, and Glenn continued to chase Merry, Carley, and Mark, and Pippin, Katjaa, and Glenn, who had now, ran into one of the ancient trees.
"Give it back!" Pippin implored them once more as they clambered over the gnarled roots of an ancient tree that made Merry, Carley, and Mark drop the pitchers, "Merry! Carley! Mark!"
Suddenly…
The ground underneath the mischievous quintets began to tremble and shake… the roots of the tree were moving!
"What's happening?!" cried Merry.
The tree roots grabbed a hold on Merry and Pippin's legs.
"Ah!" exclaimed Merry, "it's got my leg!"
"Guys!" Katjaa cried out
Katjaa, Carley, and Mark tried to jump…
But the roots caught them as well.
"Oh no!" cried Katjaa, "we're trapped!"
"We're stuck!" cried Glenn.
"What are we gonna do," cried Carley.
"We're gonna died," cried Mark.
"Merry! Katjaa! Glenn! Carley! Mark!" Pippin cried out as he was starting to be pulled into the ground as was Merry, Katjaa, Carley, and Mark …
The Hobbits, Katjaa, Glenn, Carley, and Mark used all their strength to get free…
But each time…
They became even more trapped… hastening their peril…
Merry, Glenn, Katjaa, Carley, Mark, and Pippin were pulled into the ground even faster. They all screamed and cried out. It was so hard for them to believe that their adventures… would end here…
When only their faces were left uncovered… the leaves from the trees covered their faces. Then…
The tree settled with its captives held inside its roots.
"Help!" Pippin cried out, but was muffled by the tree so much… that practically no one could hear it!
"Somebody get us out of here!" Katjaa's cried was also muffled.
"Treebeard! Help," cried Glenn muffled.
"Somebody!" cried Carley muffled.
"Someone, please!" cried Mark muffled.
For a time… it seemed that there was no hope for them until…
"Away with you," Treebeard stepped in, gesturing the trees to let their captives free, "you should not be waking."
Then… the tree's roots began to loosen slowly at Treebeard's command…
"Eat earth," Treebeard ordered the tree as it loosened even more, "dig deep. Drink water."
And Katjaa, Glenn, Carley, Mark, and the Hobbits swiftly escaped the roots, getting as far away from them as they could. Katjaa, Glenn, Carley, and Mark, upon seeing Treebeard, immediately jumped onto Treebeard's branches.
"Go to sleep… away with you!" Treebeard finished.
"Man, Treebeard," said a panting, yet relieved Carley, "…could you practice not coming in at the last possible moment? We nearly suffocated in there!"
"I am old, young lady," mentioned Treebeard, "but I am not perfect."
Treebeard then turned to pick up Merry and Pippin as he said, "come, the forest is waking up, it isn't safe."
Treebeard continued to carry Katjaa, Glenn, Carley, Mark, Merry, and Pippin through Fangorn Forest.
"I don't understand," said Katjaa, "I mean why did the tree attack us like that? We didn't do anything to it."
"The trees have grown wild and dangerous Katjaa," Treebeard explained, "anger festers in their hearts. Black are their thoughts, strong is their hate. They will harm you if they can.
"There are too few of us now… too few of us Ents left to manage them," Treebeard finished.
"Why are there so few of you, when you have lived so long?" asked Pippin, "are there Ent children?"
"Bru-ra-hroom," rumbled Treebeard, "there have been no Entings for a terrible long count of years."
"Why is that?" wondered Merry.
"We lost the Entwives," Treebeard answered. Mark gasped in shock, filling her with remorse after hearing Treebeard's answer.
"Oh, I'm sorry," said Pippin with the same remorse as Misao, "how did they die?"
"Die?" asked a bemused Treebeard, "no, we lost them. And now, we cannot find them."
"You mean to tell us," interjected Mark, "that these 'Entwives' didn't die, but are just missing for no reason?"
"Yes, that's correct," answered Treebeard, and asked Glenn, "are there any Entwives from where you come from, Glenn?"
"Sorry," replied Glenn, "my world doesn't have any Ents, or any trees that could eat you alive."
Treebeard was shocked to hear that statement come form Katjaa, Glenn, Carley, and Mark, to which she recoiled a little nervously.
"Oh," said an apologetic Carley, "we're sorry, we didn't mean-"
"No," interrupted a sympathetic Treebeard, "I… understand. You've just gone through a terrrible ordeal, and no one can blame you for that. From where you come from, you and your people must've never heard of the Ents before."
"Well, we've never heard of Orcs or Uruk-Hai either, you know," added Katjaa.
Treebeard then asked the Hobbits, "I don't suppose you've seen Entwives in the Shire?"
"Can't say that I have," Merry responded with much doubt, "you, Pip?"
Pippin thought for a brief moment before he could say anything.
"What do they look like?" inquired Pippin.
Treebeard tried to think about it, trying to remember the Entwives, but alas…
"…I don't remember now," answered Treebeard sadly, leaving Pippin with a bewildered expression on his face.
'Geez,' Carley thought, with an exasperated expression, 'Treebeard can be so pathetic. First he loses these Entwives of his, next thing you know… he forgets all about them.
'I'm sure glad I'm not an Ent… because then, I'd probably end up forgetting all about Doug.'
Back in the plains of Rohan, Gandalf, Lee, and the others have arrived in Edoras, a large, village-like wooden city set up upon a hill, in front of a range of mountains in the background.
"Edoras," announced Gandalf, "and the Golden Hall of Meduseld. There dwells Théoden, King of Rohan, whose mind is overthrown. The poison of Saruman has been induced into the king by the king's advisor, Grima Wormtongue. Saruman's hold over King Theoden is now very strong…"
In the hall, Éowyn kneeled before Théoden, holding his hand in hers, trying to bear bad news to her uncle…
"My lord," said Eowyn, with much sorrow, gently stroking his hand, "…your son… he is dead. My lord… Uncle?"
After all of Éowyn's efforts… Théoden just sat there unresponsive… and stared ahead, his eyes clouded and unseeing. Saruman's poison had truly taken its toil upon him. Theoden could no longer be called the ruler of Rohan… but a virtual zombie without any will of his own.
"…Will you not go to him?" Eowyn asked, weeping, "…will you do nothing?"
Still… there was no response from her uncle…
"Be careful," Gandalf advises the others, "what you say. Do not look for welcome here."
Gandalf and the others then rode off to Edoras, to aid them against Saruman…
Disclaimer: The Lord of the Rings and TWD are not mine. They belong to their authors, respectively J.R.R. Tolkien and Darrell Rodriguez. This fanfiction is created just for fun, not for any commercial purposes.
A/n: originally, I set the part of Gandalf and the others riding off to Edoras at the end of ch. 7, but it seemed that one of my reviewers, Raiden-sama (this one's for you, by the way), wanted to see the scene with the Entdraught. And I must say, I liked that part too.
But I'd say that I would explain more. Well, the thing is, I'm trying my best to get a job so that I can continue to go online and publish more of this. I don't want to have to be unable to pay for AOL, otherwise, I wouldn't be able to publish more of this story now, would I? That's one of the major reasons for the waiting. And also, I meant what I said about starting section three. I'm on the second chapter now.
But anyway, please read and review, and thank you for taking the time to read my situation.