The hill proved to be a harsher climb than expected, some handfuls of dirt falling away under his fingers and footholds crumbling, but eventually he made it up onto what was more or less a raised section of the woods. He could see more trees beyond, these ones slightly bigger and less tightly packed... and then he saw them. The lumbering shadows amidst the trees, patrolling back and forth, dragging leafy oaken tendrils behind them as their steps tore up the earth slightly. There was just slightly taller than a man, thin with oaken limbs and no clear face, leaves dotted their tops. These were the Ents.