7 Fourth Age: Repose at Fangorn's Edge

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7 Fourth Age: Repose at Fangorn's Edge; -Bodhaer and Quickbeam-
Topic Started: 20 Dec 2008, 03:28 AM (133 Views)
Deleted User	20 Dec 2008, 03:28 AM Post #1
Deleted User	Bodhaer came to rest by the edge of the Fangorn and decided to make camp despite the early hour. Even he had enough respect not to dare plumb the depths of the forest. The trees were old, too old in Bodhaer's opinion - there's not enough life being replenished when trees live for too long. Still, he felt safe enough taking a repose by the forests edge. Trees were the least of his worries out here. A search for kindling yielded no results. The forest kept its own, and Bodhaer knew it would be suicide to take wood by force. The trees rustled without wind, and he looked back before sitting down. He grasped the pendant by his throat and felt the curved shape of the wood and the smooth surface of the stone embedded within. He gave it a tight squeeze and muttered strange words unto himself. A flame began to grow from the ground as ants might surge from their subterranean homes. It swarmed outward and upward, consuming the very earth beneath it. Bodhaer let the fire be and turned to a leather bag at his waist. Loosening the thong let the mouth fall open, revealing a dead rabbit not yet odorous with decay. It was Bodhaer's freshest kill from the fields of the Riddermark. He would skin it and prepare it, and when this was done the earth would be heated coals over which he could cook.
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Deleted User	22 Dec 2008, 10:12 AM Post #2
Deleted User	Ba-rum, ra-ra-umm, ba-dum, ra-dum, bar-bar-umm! The string of incomprehensible Entish rumbled through the still air like a thunderhead ripping through the sky. The force of the words moved the leaves of the thousands of trees between the heart of Fangorn and the border. The Ent’s enraged call was answered by the furious groaning of hundreds of Huorns. Earth-shattering quakes, like the beating of massive drums, with long beats of silence between, moved the ground and resonated against the close trees. Quickbeam, the young and hasty Ent, was running through Fangorn Forest. His tall body bent little, and the earth shuddered to absorb the strikes of such a weight. His nine toes ripped up the underbrush as he charged through the forest. The Huorns began shifting, disturbed by the Ent’s rage. Quickbeam did nothing to calm the trees. He may need them yet. Some disturber had come to Fangorn with fire. An intruder had built fire so near to his precious rowan saplings. His ire had been raised such as it had not been since he had seen Saruman the Tree-Killer in Isengard. Quickbeam burst through the line of trees on the outer edge of Fangorn and into the plain of the Riddermark. He sailed through the air and landed in a deceptively agile crouch so that his giant frame was mere feet from the Fire-Bringer. Behind him, fifty Huorns slipped from the forest, their roots sending dirt and grass flying, and formed a thick circle around Ent and Fire-Bringer. Quickbeam recognized a man when he saw one. “Ba-rum, r-ra-rum!” the Ent thundered. “You should not be here!” He took a swipe at the Fire-Bringer with his strong barky hand, ready to crush and tear and kill to protect his little youngling rowans.
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Deleted User	25 Dec 2008, 11:22 PM Post #3
Deleted User	The distant peal of thunder rolled against Bodhaer's ears as he worked with the flesh of rabbit. He stripped the meat and heard another peal in his ears. He looked up. There wasn't a cloud on the horizon; thunder storms seemed an indistinct possibility. Gentle reverberations buzzed beneath his feet. Bodhaer put the half-stripped rabbit on his leather bag and pulled his short bow off his shoulder to string it. Within moments a hulking figure was menacing his person. He took several steps backwards and steadied his grip on his bow. He had never encountered an Ent in person before, but he had heard tales of the trees that walk. He held an empty bow in one arm, and his quiver lay on the ground near where he had stood. The fire still churning away at the earth seemed most likely to have enraged the Ent. "And who are you to decide this, shepherd? Have I endangered your precious trees?" His voice twisted in an innocent manner. His eyes glinted. He knew his situation was precarious.
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Deleted User	30 Dec 2008, 09:01 PM Post #4
Deleted User	Rumbling his displeasure, Quickbeam forced his woody frame to bend just a little more. The long branch-like fingers on his right hand plunged deep into the ground, crushing grass and causing a frightened mole to bolt away. “Ba-rum-ra-dum!” the Ent thundered. The ring of Huorns creaked and groaned in agreement. Their exchange, incomprehensible to all others though it had been, sealed this man’s fate. The trees shuffled closer, their twiggy arms reaching for him, longing to crush his bones to dust. “I have guarded these trees for time immemorial,” Quickbeam went on. “It is mine to say what endangers these trees and yours to obey my word. You are but a blot in the long circle of Time, Fire-Bringer-Tree-Killer-bar-bar-umm …” His statement trailed away into a long string of Old Entish. As he spoke, Quickbeam drew in a deep breath. When he exhaled, it was like a spring gale tearing through a canopy of newly blossoming leaves. The fire died in a trail of spiraling smoke rising to the heavens. “I have dealt with your fire. The Huorns shall deal with you,” Quickbeam stated solemnly, as he rose from the crouching position.
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Deleted User	31 Dec 2008, 09:16 PM Post #5
Deleted User	The gale whipped through Bodhaer's thick, tangled hair as he shielded his head with his arms. The fire flickered and died. His nostrils flared in anger, and he stood upright with a furrowed brow as the wind died. The Ent towered over him, but it was the Huorns menacing him at the moment. "What shepherd sends his sheep to ward off the wolves, Ent? Send them not to whence you do not know, or you shall see time immemorial yourself." Bodhaer gripped his shortbow harder, though he knew it did him no good. Fear did not enter him; only his zeal for justice consumed him now. With his spare hand he reached for the pendant resting against his chest. When he spoke, his voice had grown harsher, more rasping. "Bugd-nuut."* A gust to equal the one of the Ent's breath echoed back in Bodhaer's ears, this time coming from behind him, whipping his cloak against his body and his hair obscured part of his vision. The wind whistled through the Huorn's branches, beating against them and against the Ent. The wood creaked, and leaves rattled away. It strained them. "I have seen more winters than you have counted upon me, Ent." His voice carried on the wind, reaching into the forest even. "It would be prudent of you to turn back and mind your sacred duty as proscribed, but should you challenge me I shall have no choice but to render judgment upon you." *black speech: 'call sky'
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Deleted User	4 Jan 2009, 04:57 PM Post #6
Deleted User	Quickbeam had begun striding away, unaffected by the man’s fighting words. The Huorns would deal with him swiftly, and the Fire-Bringer would be a menace to the forest no longer. The Ent had not reached the line of Fangorn before an unnatural gale tore the leaves from Quickbeam’s branches. The wind carried a voice speaking fell words. With a creaking word in Entish to the Huorns, he told them to pause for a moment. Their branches hovered around the man, but moved no more. “Ba-ra-rooom!” Quickbeam thundered towards the man. “What evil have you brought to Fangorn, Fire-Bringer-Magic-Doer?” The stranger was a man, Quickbeam was sure of it. He had met King Elessar, the Kings of the Mark, and many of the Rohirrim Riders. But the old songs said nothing of men who could do magic, save for those fallen into evil ways, like the Witch-king of Angmar. The Ents would not allow this man to remain so near Fangorn.
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Deleted User	9 Jan 2009, 03:21 AM Post #7
Deleted User	Bodhaer released the stone, but let the pendant hang still between his thumb and forefinger. The wind stopped; the trees stopped; the Ent stopped. Allowing the pendant to loose, he moved forward and quickly pulled his belongings together before returning to his former position. He slung his quiver around his waste and held a firm grip on his short bow. He had returned his other bags to their homes about his body in a deft movement, but the rabbit lay spoiled on the ground. There was no hope for his lunch. "I bring with me no evil, Ent," Bodhaer said with indignant authority. "I bare only my possessions and eternal justice. I am the harbinger of retribution; I rain down vengeance upon those unfortunate enough to cross my path while committing treason against his fellow man. It is I who charge you with an evil: negligence of your duties. "Begone, Ent. Return to your forest with your trees lest Fire-Bringer-Magic-Doer bring fire again. Be grateful it is no crime to question the authority of judgment." Bodhaer had regained his authoritative composure from his scrambled motions to retrieve his possessions. It did not sit well with him that the Ent had not listened to him; it had not yet returned to the forest; it had not recalled the trees - only stopped them. His fingers tendered the feathered end of one of his arrows; they would be effective if called upon.
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Deleted User	12 Jan 2009, 04:08 PM Post #8
Deleted User	The Huorns sensed the Ent’s fury. They shuddered and creaked eagerly, their darker intentions rising to the surface. They did not want this man to live for even another breath. Quickbeam spoke to them in Entish. This man was his enemy; he would feel the vengeance of an Ent. “You,” Treebeard bellowed, “do not judge me. I am the servant of Yavanna, answerable only to she who watches the earth and all that grows in it. You have entered my domain. I judge you my enemy.” With a rushing gust of wind, Quickbeam’s long arm extended and his many-fingered hand swept through the air towards the Fire-Bringer. “No one threatens an Ent and lives to tell of it!”
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Deleted User	22 Jan 2009, 05:55 PM Post #9
Deleted User	In a fluid motion Bodhaer had knocked an arrow, the ends of the deep blue plumage bristled his finger tips for a moment before he released. He uttered a harsh cry, and flames engulfed the steel-tipped arrow. He stepped back as he pulled another arrow tightly to his chin. He released it, ignited it, and then turned a third arrow toward a Huorn. This one he did not release. The earth trembled beneath his feet. His first thought was the Riders of Rohan. They had the right to patrol these fields; they perhaps had noticed a disturbance on their lands? No, he thought, he might have noticed riders earlier, and the sounds now reaching his ears did not sound like any horse he had ever ridden. Ignoring his better judgment, he turned from his present attacker to look around, and there from the east he saw them. "Orcs!" Amid the gentle rolling of the fold and the tall grasses therein, a war band was coming into view. While Bodhaer had missed the orcs and the orcs might have missed him, the Ent and his damnable trees were an inescapable eyesore across the plains. Bodhaer drew the bowstring, taking aim at the nearest orc, unsure whether or not to release. He did not much like the odds of surviving both the orcs and the Ent. "Now, Ent, your precious forest is truly threatened by beings which you must abominate. Should you heed your sacred duty and destroy these beasts, your indiscretions shall be forgiven."
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Deleted User	27 Jan 2009, 06:05 PM Post #10
Deleted User	The earth protested those entities which it did not like. The Ents could feel the dirt and roots reject or embrace what walk above them. Quickbeam knew, long before the human began shouting, that Orcs were near. The tiny shoots of grass and wriggling worms had already told him without words. Their distaste started at his roots and spread to the ends of his mossy hair. “Ba-ra-ra-ra-ooom-doom-ba-roooom!” Quickbeam thundered. He took off in great strides, leaving the Fire-Bringer to do more of his piddling magic. Fire could hurt trees, yes, but Orcs would kill them. The Huorns, still harboring their vendetta against the Orcs, followed. Quickbeam propelled his body into a leap, and then crashed to the ground forcefully, two Orcs crumbling beneath the nine toes on his feet. He swiped at the others with his great hands, lifted them from the ground, and snapped their fragile body in half. What Orcs he missed, the Huorns wrapped in their deadly embraces. “No Orc will spoil the Forest of Fangorn!” the Ent bellowed. Tipping his head back, Quickbeam gave a long, wordless cry. It was echoed from within the forest. Three more Ents—ash, chestnut, and willow—came striding from the trees with ranks of Huorns following them. The Orcs shrieked in their own language, sounding a retreat. Quickbeam scooped a boulder from the yellowed plains of Rohan and hurled it through the air. It was caught by another Ent and used to smash five Orcs at once. “Give no quarter!” Quickbeam ordered. “No Orc will leave this land alive!”
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