Disclaimer: See chapter one in part one. Thank you for all the reviews, this story would not have lived without them.
Chapter 7: Entmoont.
"Hoo ho! Good morning all, morning Merry and Pippin" Treebeard boomed happily when he saw them. "You slept a great many hours. I have already stridden many hundred strides today. Let us have a drink and then go to Entmoot, we must decide what to do with Isengard for Saruman is not a kind neighbor anymore"
Once again, he filled three small bowls and they drank eagerly the strange and wonderful liquid. It was not the same drink as before, it was heavier and richer. When they were finished the hobbits and Feavair sat down and eat some of the elven waybread. ( more of a habit then of hunger.) Treebeard hummed some song in entish, elvish or other strange tongue.
Feavair seemed distance and after she had drunken her drink, she was silent and stared towards the mountains for a long time. Pippin had a hard time keeping his eye away from her, since he knew the reasons for her troubles.
"Okay…where is this Entmoot?" Merry ventured to ask when they where finished.
"Eh…Entmoot? It is not a place but a gathering of Ents- something that has not happened in a great many days. There are some that have promised to come and we will meet them at the same place as always, Derndingle. We must get there before noon, and that means we should go very soon and very quickly" Treebeard said.
Then they went. Treebeard carried them on his back, as the previous day. At the entrance to the court, he turned right and then he strode southwards. He walked for a long time humming on his strange tongues and soon he turned away from the hill that had roamed over them the whole day. Here the trees where larger, older then any of the hobbits had seen before. All the way Treebeard hummed deep and thoughtfully, it did not sound like any tongue or proper words more like.
Boom, boom, rumboom, boorar, boom boom, dahrar boom boom, dahrar boom
They had been walking for a while, Feavair tried to keep track of the Ent striders but lost track after 3000 when Treebeard began to slacken his pace. Suddenly he stopped, put his hands to his mouth so they made a hollow tube, and then he called a great hoom, hoom that rang like a deep horn in the woods. Then far away in an echo the answer came, many more and deep hooms.
Then he began to walk again, on what they could now see was a path. It was a hard worn path and they would never have guessed it was a road if it was not for the trees that seemed to be lined up as great fence along the path. Then suddenly it turned into a great, deep slope and they seemed to be walking into a bowl.
Several other Ents had already arrived. More were coming down other paths, and from out the trees others, and followed Treebeard as they marched along. Pippin had suspected that all the Ents looked alike, but he was greatly surprised to see that they were as different as night and day. There were many sizes, shapes and colors, some had only three toes, and other had nine.
As soon as the whole company was assembled, standing in a wide circle around Treebeard the Ents began to murmur slowly. It seemed like chanting and it went up and down in tone and rhythm. At first it was very pleasant to listen to, but after a couple of minutes it became only tiring and they blinked their eyes heavy with sleep.
"Hey, hey, you are indeed a hasty folk, I have forgotten, you may come down now" Treebeard laughed and lifted them down to the ground. "There is a river a little east from here you may walk there if you like"
After they had drunken and washed their face, they sat down on a rock. Pippin stared at Feavair, but she did not seem to notice his gaze. They sat in silence for a long time before suddenly Merry began to talk to break the uncomftable silence that had settled over the others.
"I wonder where Isengard is, Treebeard mentioned something about going there…."
"Isengard…. It lays in the western part of Nan Curunït" Feavair answered quickly and then she grabbed a stick and started to draw in the earth.
She drew a long and crocket line and then marked a spot in the middle of it, a bit south and then at the very edge of the line. Then on the east side she wrote Shire, and west she wrote Lothlórien. "This is Rivendell" she said and pointed to the mark on the middle. "And this is the gate of Moria" she pointed to the point a little bit southern. "You with me?" they nodded.
The she moved the stick to the end of the crocket line she had drawn, she made a little gap before continuing her line. "This is the gap of Rohan, and here lies Isengard," she pointed to the mark and the hobbits nodded. "Then where are we, where is Fangorn?" Merry asked.
"About here" she said and pointed at a point just a little north from Isengard. Pippin shuddered he had not thought they actually where so close. "But what is Isengard then?" Pippin asked and Feavair thought for a little while before she answered.
"It is a sort of ring of rocks or hills. Inside there is a flat space in the middle called Orcthanc, there is the tower Saruman has. There are two more gates leading into the tower, I think and a stream running through it, called Isen as far as I can remember"
"But what is Saruman then?" Merry asked, "Is he a wizard, like Gandalf?"
"Saruman was the first of the five Wizards to arrive in Middle earth, he is the eldest of the order. Gandalf said he is the wisest…. or was the wisest. He was long reckoned great among the wizards…among all people. Before he settled down at Isengard he wandered around meddling in the business of men and elves, much like Gandalf," said Feavair.
"How is it you know so much about history and geography?" asked Merry a little suspicious and Feavair shrugged. "The same reason you know much about what interests you and Sam knows a lot about gardening. If you have lived for some time, history…is not very much history but a part of you"
"Would it be very impolite to ask you how old you are," Pippin asked without thinking and Feavair smiled sadly. " I am very old Pippin, but yes it would be very impolite"
Then sun was now high on the sky and Feavair had said little in a long time. Pippin had also grown silent as he watched her staring at the lake, whishing he had never know about the conversation he had over heard last night. Curse his curiosity. He felt sad to think that she had to go Mordor and end her life in the fiery clutches of Mt. Doom, very much like the ring.
He felt a little scared knowing she was somehow connected to the Dark Lord. However, all this was very much for his little hobbit heart to bear, and even later, he did not fully understand the deepness of the situation. Pippin sighed thoughtfully and shifted position as he felt his legs start to fall a sleep. And then he thought what they had been thought and he missed the others, Sam, Frodo, Gimli, Boromir, Strider and…
He became silent in thoughts as he looked briefly at Feavair. Why did she not want Legolas to find her? What secret did she carry that was connected to him. Had it anything to do with his strange behavior since she found them in the woods?
He was ripped out of his thoughts when Treebeard; accompanied with another Ent came walking towards them. "Are you getting weary or feeling impatient….hm…well I am afraid that we have a lot more talking to do to those who live far away from Isengard. I have brought a friend here…he has already made up his mind and he will take care of you." Treebeard smiled a little behind his white beard and then he sighed deeply and said "Good bye then little folks, I suspect we will be meeting again." then swiftly, Treebeard turned and left.
They stood up and faced the new Ent that looked at them with a mixture of curiosity and awe. "Hullo…I am Bregalad, though most Ents call me Quickbeam". He was tall and seemed to be one of the younger Ents. He hat smooth shining skin on his arms and legs. His hair was gray green, and he could bend and sway like a young and slender tree in the wind.
"Ha….hm…my new friends let us go for a walk" he said.
They walked through the forest not doing anything but singing and laughing for Quickbeam laughed a lot, and when he did the earth shook and the leaves on the trees rattled. For Feavair he was a welcomed relief to all the seriousness that had hung on her shoulders for days now. She did not know why but somehow Quickbeam made her forget…everything. He told them many stories and he listened to Merry and Pippin as they told them about their land.
When night fell he took them to his house where they slept soundly on soft mattresses. And as they slept they could hear his soft singing in their ear as he stood outside watching the moon letting the quiet night rain, wash over him.
Even the next day they spent in his company, but they didn`t go far from his house. They sat under the silent trees listening to the wind and enjoying the sun on their skin. And soon Feavair started to tell stories from her homeland. Strange stories they had never heard before, and she told with such glow and fire that for the hobbits it felt like they were really there. She told them about the Valar, about the dragons and the early days. They soon learned much about the elves and ancient times.
All through the time, they heard the distance voice of the Ents as they talked. Now and then the large, unmistakable noise of Treebeard`s great hooms rang through the forest.
The third day broke with wind, and when the sun rose the Ents voices rose to a great crescendo before they died down again. Quickbeam told them that they where leaving to Entmoot today and they waited as the wind grew more heavy and stronger.
This day Feavair seemed more nervous and when they woke up they found her sitting in one of the trees staring aimlessly into nothing. Only Pippin knew why and it weighed heavily o his shoulders, for none should carry the burden of another person's pain and grief.
Then by noon, something happened. Loud voices cracked through the forest and they could hear the Ents sing as the marched. Without a word, Quickbeam picked them up and carried them and when they caught up with the others, they started to march one a line. Treebeard walked first with somewhat between fifty followers behind him.
"We are off" he sang, "We are off to Isengard"
"To Isengard" the Ents cried in many voices as they sang while they marched southwards.
"The Ents did make up their mid rather quickly did they not?" Pippin asked and Treebeard nodded while he hoomed. "Yes they did, quicker then I would have though"
"Then what will happen now? Will you brake the doors of Isengard" asked Merry.
"Humm…ho well we could you know. We are stronger then any troll and orc that may be defending the Great Darkness. If we want we could splint Isengard into splinters and crack its walls into rubble!"
"But won't Saruman try to stop you?"
"Hm…hoo, yes that is so. I have forgotten it, indeed, I have though long, we are many now and strong for many Ents lives of the trees and they have their mind set on one thing, that is the breaking of Isengard. But let us now march and sing, for it is a long road and we have time to think"
They strode off in great pace and even as darkness fall the song did not stop and even far away they could feel the earth rumble as the Ents marched on. They started to climb a great western ridge and the forest fell away behind them. As the gray dusk fell, the forest seemed to come alive behind them and the singing ceased. And at last they came to the great darkness and stared up on the tall tower.
Feavair shudder as the cold wind blew over her. She turned around and stared at the mountains of Mordor that rose to the sky far away. She only whished to get away as fast as possible so she could get free of her promise to Treebeard and continue on what she had started to do.
Get to Mt. Doom.
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