Chapter 4

When Daniel woke again they were in a different part of the forest. It was a small clearing in the trees but the canopy covered it over shielding it from the sun and any prying eyes that may pass overhead.

"You're taller." He heard from one side of the glade. He turned his head slightly and saw the two Hobbits looking much better then they had the day before, sitting next to a small pond.

"Who?" Pippin asked.

"You!"

"Than what?"

"Than me!"

"I've always been taller than you."

"Pippin, everyone knows I'm the tall one. You're the short one."

"Please, Merry. You're what, three-foot-six? At the most? Whereas me, I'm pushing 3'7"" a strange groaning noise came from the Hobbit, "3'8"" Pippin drank from a hollow piece of wood he was holding.

"Three-foot-eight? You did something." Merry snatched the pot from Pippin and drank some himself.

"Merry, don't! Don't drink it. Merry! Treebeard said that you shouldn't have any." Daniel watched the Hobbits from his spot on the forest floor, not yet choosing to be bothered sitting up.

"I want some!" Merry said, running from his friend. Daniel looked away again, knowing that the Hobbit's were fine and the giant tree was no where to be seen.

"It could be dangerous! Give it back! Merry!"

Suddenly the Hobbit's cried out and Daniel shot to his feet on instinct. The Hobbit's were standing under one of the trees and seemed fine, but then he saw that the trees roots were moving, pulling the Hobbits under them.

"What's happening?"

"Gah! It's got my leg!"

"Merry! Daniel, help us." Daniel ran over to the Hobbits and grabbed their hands trying to pull them away, only to be pulled in as well by the strange tree.

"Help!" came Pippin's muffled yell, although Daniel didn't know who could help them in the middle of a forest.

But second later they could hear loud footsteps coming towards them and the tree started to let them go.

"Away with you. You should not be waking. Eat earth. Dig deep. Drink water. (Go to sleep. Away with you." Treebeard kept talking to the tree until it stopped moving, apparently asleep. "Come, the forest is waking up. It isn't safe." Treebeard said, picking up the Hobbits and placing them on his head before grabbing Daniel as well, who struggled slightly until the Hobbits assured him that the giant, moving tree was a friend.

"The trees have grown wild and dangerous. 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."

"Why are there so few of you when you have lived so long? Are their Ent children?" Pippin asked.

"Bru-ha-hroom. There have been no Entings for a terrible long count of years."

"Why is that?" Merry asked.

"We lost the Entwives."

"Oh, I'm sorry. How did they die?" Pippin asked, sounding sympathetic.

"Die, no. We lost them. And now we cannot find them. I don't suppose you've seen Entwives in the Shire?"

"Can't say that I have. You Pip?"

"What do they look like?"

"I don't remember, now."

"I am sure you'll find them one day, I know what its like to loose a wife." Daniel said.

"Well I hope your right." Treebeard said, continuing through the tree.

"So are you from Gondor or Rohan?" Pippin asked Daniel.

How to explain?

I'm not from either, I come from a place a very long way away." He replied after a minute not sure how the hobbits would react to the knowledge of where he was really from.

"Where's that?" Pippin asked, sounding like a annoying child asking 'why' repeatedly and not taking a hint.

"Well…do you promise not to tell anyone?"

Pippin looked up at Merry excitedly and nodded.

"Alright, I came here through a device called a Stargate." The confused look on Pippin's face told him that the Hobbit had never heard of it before so he simplified it for him, "I came from the stars."

"Like a Valar or something?"

"Valar?"

"The Valar, they're the elven gods."

"Then no defiantly not, I came through the Stargate from a different planet, it's a big grey ring about as tall as Treebeard. Anyone can travel through it. It's just nicer if you chose to and are not dragged through kicking and screaming or unconscious."

"You make it sound like it happens a lot." Merry said.

"It does."

Very short chapter but I'm a bit stuck for ideas at the moment. Hopefully I'll have another update soon. Don't forget to tell me what you think, I live off reviews.

Lov

JEDIBANT