Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own any characters or places in Lord of the Rings.

Spotting a dark stain on a nearby plant, Gimli quickly fingered and tasted the liquid, immediately spitting it back out. Grimacing, he wrinkled his face.

"Orc blood." the dwarf said to his companions as all three continued on their trek through Fangorn Forest.

Aragorn quickly located the next set of tracks only to find that they were of no creature he had heard or seen of before.

"These are strange tracks." muttered the Ranger as he mentally went through his list of creatures that have tracks close to the ones before him.

"The air is so close in here." remarked Gimli.

"This forest is old. Very old. Full of memory… and anger." said Legolas as he felt very young in comparison to the forest.

Suddenly, groans and creaks sounded around the wood, echoing across the area. Taking no chances, Gimli readied his axe, tensing to listen for any indication of a sudden attack.

"The trees are speaking to each other." informed Legolas as everyone glanced around them uneasily, unsure of what is causing for the trees' sudden "talking."

"Gimli!" whispered Aragorn loudly.

"Huh?"

"Lower you axe."

Immediately obeying the command, Gimli lowered his raised axe as he took a step forward. Unfortunately, he didn't watch out and tripped on a raised tree root, effectively felling him with a muffled "oof."

But, Gimli's blunder started a whole chain of events that did not do anything to improve their situation. In fact, it worsened it.

The axe went out of control and Gimli landed painfully on the wooden side of his axe, burying the sharp, cutting edge into another tree root, which easily severed the wood.

The groans and creaks of the forest quickly got louder until it became angry cracks, snaps, and groans. Without warning, a branch of a nearby tree smashed down, which Gimli narrowly avoided by rolling away just in time. Another branch swung by, which Aragorn had to duck to stop the branch from breaking his neck. The attacks from the moving tree quickly escalated until the three unlucky travelers abandoned their spot and raced back out of Fangorn Forest.

Stopping for breath outside the forest again, Aragorn sported a black eye, Legolas had a smallsplinterin his finger, and Gimli had a big bruise developing at the place where he had landed on his axe.

Deciding to go back into the forest to find the two missing hobbits later, the three settled down for some rest and careful planning to avoid anymore attacking trees.

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Meanwhile, Gandalf the White had quickly made his way to where the attacking Ent was and calmed it down. Unfortunately, since time was of the essence and he could not spare any more time trying to find the three members of the Fellowship, Gandalf decided he had to go alone to Rohan to council King Théoden before it was too late.

As for Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli… it was their fault for angering a tree sheppard of the Forest in the first place, even if it was by accident. I will look for them later, decided Gandalf as he made his way to Shadowfax, besides what could possibly happen in Rohan that would make him need their immediate help?

Famous last words...

AN: Don't know how rare Ents are in Fangorn Forest, so lets just pretend that an Ent was there to watch Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. Thanks for all the reviews! Sorry to anybody who interpreted the AN for last chapter as an indication that that chapter was the last chapter of this story/series. Didn't mean for that to happen. Sorry again!