A Tale of Four Hobbits

"I'm comin' Mr. Frodo!" Samwise Gamgee yelled, trotting through the thicket of dense brush. The pots he had twined onto his pack clanked together as he moved through the forest. Frodo stood in a clearing, waiting for his mate. "Bless you for waiting for me. I know I took too long." Sam huffed as he neared Frodo. Frodo laughed, his blue eyes sparkling in the sunlight.

"Like I could ever leave you alone in the woods, Sam." Frodo chuckled as Sam blushed. With a shy smile as Frodo wrapped an arm around Sam's shoulder, they started of into the wild again.

"Do you think it was wise to leave Merry and Pippin at the Inn?" Sam asked, then laughed slightly. "then again, what could possibly happen?"

"Yeah. What could happen?" Frodo nervously chuckled as he actually thought about what they had done, not even a day ago. We're still in the Shire, nothing could happen. They're not that troublesome. I mean, they have grown up quite a bit. And I'm not just talking about in hat size either. But I do wonder- He thought, not speaking a word to Sam for over three minutes, which in turn made Sam nervous indeed. But instead of trying to make small talk, he decided to let Frodo think. They kept walking for an hour, still not speaking a word before Frodo stopped.

"What's wrong Mr. Frodo?" Sam asked, looking worried as Frodo looked behind him.

"Just a strange feeling, Sam." Frodo said, still looking behind him. He turned to Sam, with worry filing his deep blue eyes. "I think we made a mistake." Sam put his hand on Frodo's shoulder and smiled.

"But mistakes can be fixed, like my Gaffer used to say; Samwise, nothin' you do can't be un-done." Sam quoted, then frowned. "No, wait. Someone else said that. Don't remember whom though. Oh well. Let's go find those two hoodlums, before they cause too much brick-a-bract."

Frodo gave Sam a timid smile as they turned back towards The Green Dragon Inn. It was more then a day's journey back to where they left Merry and Pippin, and they both knew it - though neither said it aloud.

"Merry. Merry. Merry"

"What Pippin?" Merry yelled, turning with a glare on his face towards his younger cousin. Pippin coiled in and smiled shyly.

"Are you sure Frodo and Sam wont come back for us?" Pippin asked, now looking Merry in the eyes; but still afraid. Merry sighed and kicked at the dirt beneath his quite large feet.

"Are you trying to say that you don't think I know my way to Bree? Pippin, ye of little faith. I do know the way." Merry said with a smile before putting his hands on his younger cousin's shoulders and pushing him in front, and along the road towards Bree. The two journey onward, Pippin now leading in front. Laughing and giggling of old times when they ran off with most of Farmer Maggots crop; they had done it in there tweens, but it still brought a laugh to there lips. They reminisced for a few good hours on things they had done in they're early years, but fell quiet when Pippin quietly brought up the conspiracy against Frodo. It seemed like ages ago, and it was. But no one really liked to talk about it in the open anymore. And being on a road in the woods, it doesn't get anymore open then that.

"Maybe we should stop for a rest." Pippin suggested, his eyes wide and smile upon his lips as he patted the left pocket on his petticoat breast. Merry stopped and took a breath in, then nodded.

"Aye. We could take a little stop, I suppose." He sighed, sitting on the side of the road. Merry ad Pippin sat in a thicket of grass that went to the top of their ears, if they were regular sized Hobbits, they would have been engulfed in blades of sticky grass. But the rest did not linger for long. Pippin couldn't take one puff of his pipe with out a blade or two finding their way up his nose. And Merry found it quiet hard to keep them from rustling inside his ears. Now, everyone knows that Hobbits aren't counted among the wise; Merry and Pippin, in this case are the reason. Every Hobbit in the Shire might think of them as noble and quick-witted, but the truth is, there just a couple of tweens stuck in grown-up bodies.

"Let's get a move on Pip." Merry sighed, standing up. Having enough of the grass in his ears. Pippin nodded and put his pipe back and stood up along site Merry. He looked at his cousin and noticed that Merry's ears were perked up. and he was looking nervously at the dense thicket of trees that laid just yonder from where they had just taken rest. Pippin looked at the same spot and noticed that the branches were rustling, against the breeze that swept through. He grabbed a hold of Merry's jacket and pulled him down into the grass again. If only were we regular sized again. Pippin thought as he poked his eyes over the top of the grass.

"C'mon Sam, I think the roads just over here." Frodo said, pushing branches out of his way. Sam hopped over a log and nodded, and stopped when a thorn pricket his heel.

"Confound-it all!" Sam yelled lifting his foot off the ground, taking a look at it before sitting on the ground. Frodo turned around and laughed. "'Tis no laughin' matter Mr. Frodo." Sam scolded, as if it were his young daughter, Eleanor who laughed at him.

"No, not at all." Frodo said, trying to gain his composure. He stood there watching Sam pick at his new wound gingerly, with his arms crossed. His eyes drifted away from Sam, however and focused on a huge hole in the ground. Slowly, Frodo walked towards it and bent down, tracing his fingers gently around the edge.

"Ah-ha! I got it!" Sam yelled in triumph, holding up the thorn in the space in front of him, so he could get a good look as to what he stepped on. Frodo looked back at Sam with a frown and back to the hole. Sam walked up to Frodo after tossing the thorn in a bush. "What you lookin' at Mr. Frodo?"

"I don't know." Frodo said, his voice drifting off when he saw another hole just a few yards ahead. He walked over to the next one and saw another, then another. Finally after following the holes for a while, it seemed familiar somehow. Then Sam said it.

"Don't these look like the tracks that those talkin' trees, Merry and Pippin were talking about, made?"

Frodo took a breath it and nodded, as he stood up with his hands on his lower back. "Indeed, they do. I thought I recognized something about them."

Merry and Pippin crouched down in the grass as they watched they tree branches move more. A booming sound thumped as the ground shook. Pippin looked at Merry, his eyes wide and mouth ajar. Merry kept his eyes posted on the forest. As if the trees knew they were being watched, the rumbling and rustling stopped. Pippin gasped slightly and stood up.

"What do you think happened?" He whispered, hovering over Merry; who was still sitting on the ground.

"I don't know Pippin. But would you sit down before you get us both killed?" Merry snapped, pulling Pippin back down. He landed on Merry and lay there; looking at the grass all around him. Merry sat there, his cousin on his lap, and tried not to scream.

"Hoom. I think you should, get some rest. As hasty you two are. It's been a long day." A large voice boomed from behind the tree border. Merry and Pippin looked at each other and smiled.

"Treebeard." Pippin whispered, clamoring off Merry.

"What would the Ents be doing out here?" Merry asked, as he watched Pippin jump up again, ready to run into the forest. Merry still had a tight grip on his cousins jacket. "And what's more, who is he talking to?"

"What was that Merry? Oh, let go. I want to say hullo." Pippin cried, slapping Merry's hand, but it wouldn't move. Merry jerked his arm and pulled Pippin down again. "What was that for?"

"Shh Pip. I don't think it's Treebeard." Merry whispered, peering over the top of the grass. Pippin frowned and watched the branches move again. Two voices could be heard in one call, then the ground started to shake again.

Frodo and Sam stood at the same spot looking at the foot prints, they finally decided to call them. The day was passing and even though they had planned on making it to the road before nightfall, Sam feared that they wouldn't make it.

"Mr. Frodo? I think we best be leavin'. It'll be gettin' dark soon." He told Frodo in a quiet voice. But Frodo paid no attention, he was too busy thinking about whatever he was thinking about. Sam sighed and stood where he was and looked up at the sky, as it turned into a burning orange color.

"Do you think-" Pippin started before Merry put his hand over the younger Hobbits mouth.

"Shh, Pip." He said quietly. The thumping could still be heard faintly. After it could no longer be heard, Merry removed his hand. "No, Pip. I don't think it was Treebeard."

"Then what was it?" Pippin asked, standing up and taking a step towards the forest. Merry shrugged and got up. "There's only one way to find out."

"Pippin!" Merry yelled as he looked at his younger cousin running in the grass, and into the forest. "Oh, Pip!" he growled before running off after him.

Pippin ran though the forest, looking at the ground for the tracks the Ents made. He remembered them clearly, mostly because he had spent nearly four weeks with them at one point in his life. Merry tried to keep up, but he hadn't done much in the physical since the quest to destroy the ring. He was glad for the rest actually, but not glad his cousin hadn't suppressed his curiosity and need for adventure. After about an hour of wandering through the woods, Merry found Pippin; sitting on a log near a spring.

"Didn't you hear me callin' you?" Merry scolded, gasping for his breath. Pippin said nothing and looked down at the spring. "Pippin?" he asked, sitting next to him. Still Pippin said nothing and looked into the water.

"I saw her Merry! I saw her!" Pippin exclaimed a few minutes later, with a huge smile on his face. Merry frowned and shook his head.

"You saw who Pip?" Merry asked, with a eye brow raised. Pippin looked at Merry, his smile still growing wildly.

"The Elf-maiden, Merry. I saw her! And she saw me, I think. Well, she smiled and waved and spoke something and it felt like she told me to look in the water, and so I did. And when I looked up she- she." Pippin rambled on, about his encounter; his voice filled with sadness and his smile faded as he finished his sentence, "she was gone."

"Mr. Frodo, I think it's time we leave." Sam snapped, tugging Frodo's arm back in the direction of the road. Frodo struggled a bit then sighed.

"Alright Sam. Let's go." He said softly, they walked for a few minutes before the ground rumbled and the trees started to sway. "Sam?" Frodo whimpered, letting himself fall to the ground.

"Frodo!" Sam yelled, picking him back up. The trees moved more viciously around their pathway, and it seemed as if they were charging at the two Hobbits. "Run Mr. Frodo! Run!" Sam yelled, pushing Frodo off in the other direction. Sam followed and soon they were running as fast as their furry feet would take them. "Keep goin' Frodo! Keep goin'!" Sam encouraged, even though the trees were no where to be found. They were huffing and puffing as they neared a clearing, but a wail from an unknown source sent them into a running frenzy. As the two looked back, they collided with something. Frodo was sent into a small spring, and Sam was knocked to the ground by a log.

"Pippin, look! It's Sam !" The familiar voice of Merry chirrped. Sam looked around and saw he was on the ground next to Merry. "Where's Frodo?"

"Frodo?" Sam squeaked, scrambling his way off the ground. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Frodo standing up, next to the spring. "Why, Mr. Frodo; why are you soppin' wet?"