Chapter 6. Flames

Merimac had sent word once again to arrange for a meeting at the Cockerel. Regi rode with Ferdi, Tolly, and Hilly. The latter had been awkwardly polite to Ferdi ever since the eve of the Pony Races, and Ferdi had been equally courteous.

They stabled their ponies instead of tying them up before the inn; it was less conspicuous, though it made for a slower departure. Merimac's pony was not in evidence. Either he had not yet arrived, or he was watching from the woods as was his wont these days.

The innkeeper, recognising Regi and Ferdi, showed them to the usual table in the shadowy corner, and they sat and sipped their beer in silence as they waited. Tolly and Hilly, of course, remained on guard outside, one hidden in the stables, the other across the road in the trees.

Several Men sat at tables near the door, mugs full of the best beer on the Stock road. Hobbits, Tooks and others, were scattered about the room. Technically, the Cockerel was just outside of Tookland, but many Tooks still came to drink there, despite the threat of ruffians.

The occupants of the room all started when a window shattered, followed by another, and another. Coarse laughter was heard, and a Man suddenly appeared in the doorway, silhouetted against the bright sky outside. 'Everyone out!' he shouted. 'The Chief's closing this place down!'

'Why?' asked the innkeeper, stepping up to the ruffian. 'Why are you doing this?'

The ruffian leered down into the hobbit's shocked face. 'Inns cause trouble,' he sneered. 'Little Rat-folk drink too much beer and start damaging property. Besides,' he said, gesturing to the broken windows. 'This place is an eyesore. You really ought to keep it up better.'

'You cannot do this!' the innkeeper protested.

'Just watch us, little mouse!' the ruffian said, pushing him aside to enter the room. 'Come on, boys, I'd imagine they keep the barrels down cellar.' Two more men pushed in after him, and were soon heard clomping down the stairs.

'What are you doing?' the innkeeper said, outraged.

'We're confis... confisti... confistickating your beer,' the ruffian said. 'There are others who can put it to better use than a lot of drunken hobbits.'

Regi rose smoothly from the table, ignoring Ferdi's restraining hand. He walked up to the ruffian. Ferdi quickly strung his bow and loosened an arrow from the quiver that lay on the floor by his chair, for the atmosphere reeked of trouble.

'You ought to learn to say the word properly, before you do it,' Regi said quietly. 'Con-fis-cate. Surely that is not too hard for you to say.'

'Why, you little...' the ruffian growled, suddenly seizing Regi by the shirt and lifting him from the floor. 'Think you're smarter'n Big Folk, with the little pea-sized brain you've got?'

'Aye, he knows it for a fact,' Ferdi called from his corner, arrow nocked and ready to fly. 'Now you put him down or you'll have more trouble than you can chew.'

'You think to scare me with that toy?' the Man snarled. 'All this time you Tooks have pointed those little pins and needles at us, scared us off, well, I'm telling you this, that's over and done. You haven't the guts to shoot, and those toys couldn't hurt us none, anyhow. We're taking your land, you stinking rodent!' He twisted his grip on Regi's shirt, cutting off his air; Regi put up his good hand to try desperately to loosen the ruffian's grip, to no avail.

'Put him down now,' Ferdi said, an icy calm settling over him.

The ruffian stared at him with contempt. 'And who is going to make me?' He looked at Regi then. 'My, ain't that a purty colour, look at his face, I guess he can't get no air, now, can he?'

Ferdi took a deep breath and released the arrow, which struck the ruffian in his side. With a roar, the Man threw Regi down and advanced on Ferdi, only to be caught by the hobbit's second arrow in the chest. Looking down in surprise, he started to speak, then collapsed sideways, upsetting a table and several chairs.

Ferdi was ready for the next ruffian as he came thundering up the stairs, aiming this time for the quick kill. He knew now he could not afford to wound one of the Big Folk, it just made them more dangerous.

The second Man to ascend the stairs was cut down from the doorway, where Tolly stood, his own bow at the ready. He'd been drawn by the commotion, seen the ruffian cast Reginard down, seen Ferdi shoot again, and yet again.

The innkeeper's wife and the serving lasses were screaming, the others scattering from the room. Tolly stepped aside to let them pass, then bent to Regi. Ferdi advanced, another arrow at the ready, to stand over them. 'Is he...?'

'I'm all right,' Regi gasped.

'More than you can say for those Men,' Tolly said soberly. He helped the other to his feet, and Reginard nodded thanks. 'We're in for it now. D'you think there were any more of them?'

'No, they'd have jumped you from behind, standing in the doorway that way. Whatever were you thinking, Tolly, to leave your back unprotected?'

'Sorry, Reg, I s'pose I wasn't thinking,' Tolly apologised.

'Where's Hilly?'

'Merimac gestured to him from the woods, just before the ruffians arrived,' Tolly said. 'He's across the road, as far as I know.'

'The Bucklander'll never come in here, not after this,' Ferdi said. 'I'll go and see what he wanted.' He met Tolly's gaze. 'Get him out of here, get the ponies, go into the woods. The Men who left are sure to spread the word what's happened.' He turned to the innkeeper. 'Get your people out,' he said. 'Take as many of your possessions as you can manage; head down the road to Tuckborough. If you take along your barrels of beer I'm sure you'll find a warm welcome from the Thain.'

'I cannot leave the Cockerel unprotected,' the innkeeper protested.

'Unprotected?' Ferdi said grimly. 'You've no windows left, as it is, even should you lock the door. Get your people out! You can stay and watch from the woods with us, if you like, but I don't think you'll like what you see.' He nodded to Regi, crossed to the door, peered out cautiously into the deserted yard, and flitted quickly across the road, into the shadow of the trees.

He found Merimac there, grim. 'You don't need to hear my news now,' the Bucklander said. 'You've had it at first hand. The ruffians are closing the inns. It seems "Chief Shirriff Pimple" doesn't hold with drinking beer, unless perhaps it's for himself or his oafs. And something else is coming, but I don't know what it is. The Men are getting bolder, and nastier. They've been gathering in the harvest throughout the Shire as quick as the hobbits can take it from the fields. You've kept them out of Tookland thus far, but no longer, I'm thinking.'

'We'll keep them out,' Ferdi said grimly.

'Right,' Merimac said, 'Well, more luck to you, then. I've got to get back. Things are going to get nasty here.'

'Where shall we meet after this?' Ferdi asked.

Merimac laughed without humour. 'You think we'll be able to meet?' he said. 'If they see you outside of Tookland they'll be stretching your neck at the end of a rope! Those Men that left got a good look at you when you murdered their fellows. You ought to have gone cloaked and hooded, like others with more sense.' Like himself, he meant. Ferdi had yet to see more than the other's eyes.

Murdered... the word began to sink into Ferdi's consciousness. He had taken not just one, but two lives. He began to shake, and for some reason his fingers could no longer hold his bow. Dropping the weapon, he spun away, to be sick in some nearby bushes.

When he'd done, a hand extended a handkerchief to him, and he looked up to see the hooded Bucklander. He wiped his mouth with muttered thanks. 'I'm sorry it had to come to this, lad,' Merimac said softly. 'But you're in it now. There's no going back.'

Ferdi nodded, not wanting to meet anyone's eyes. He was a murderer. Another hand rested itself on his shoulder, and he looked up in spite of himself, to mingled horror and sympathy in Hilly's face. 'You couldn't have done anything else, cousin,' Hilly said. 'We saw everything through the doorway. He'd have killed Regi if you hadn't killed him, you know.'

Ferdi shook his head and turned away. Looking across the road, he saw Tolly emerge with Regi and the innkeeper, Tolly going to the stables to get the ponies, the innkeeper supporting Regi across the road to where they hid. 'I've got to get back, help with the packing,' the innkeeper said.

'Don't try to take too much,' Ferdi warned. 'I don't think you have that much time. Fill a wagon and send it off.'

'Right,' the innkeeper said. 'I'll be back.'

'Are you off, then?' Ferdi said to Merimac.

The other shook his head. 'I'll stay, just long enough to see what happens, though there isn't any doubt in my mind. Still, the Master will want a full report, as long as I'm risking my skin anyway.'

Tolly brought ponies then, taking them deeper into the woods and tying them up. One of the innkeeper's younger sons was with him.

When Tolly returned, he said, 'I've hired the lad to watch the ponies; we've one for the innkeeper and himself, as well, so that they can ride back to Tuckborough with us and not get caught on the road by ruffians, or slow us down.'

'Good thinking,' Regi nodded. They settled down to wait. The innkeeper sent a lad on a pony through the trees, down alongside the road in the direction of Woody End, obviously to keep a look out for advancing Men. The hobbits from the inn filled one wagon and sent it off down the road, then another. It looked as if they had emptied the cellar of its beer, in addition to other possessions. As they were filling a third, the lad came galloping back down the road.

'They're coming!' he shouted.

'Right, then!' they heard the innkeeper answer. 'Off with ye!' The hired hobbits jumped into the half-filled wagon and urged the ponies into a run. The innkeeper scampered across the road to the Tooklanders' hiding place and crouched down. Before long, they heard a growling sound, and soon Men came into sight, marching in a large body.

'More than a score,' Regi muttered.

'What did you expect?' Merimac whispered. 'They're out to set an example for the rest of the Shire.' He eyed the innkeeper. 'It's a good thing you got your people out when you did. I fear there'd be some hobbits dead, along with the ruffians, by day's end, otherwise. They'll be in a nasty mood, might even lock hobbits in the inn and burn it about their ears.'

'Burn them alive?' the innkeeper gasped.

Merimac nodded grimly. 'Hush, now,' he said. 'We do not want them to know we're here.'

As they watched, the Men scattered warily to enter inn and stables. Soon smashing noises were heard. The innkeeper winced, not finding it hard to imagine the wreckage to be seen inside the Cockerel.

'That'll be a nuisance to clear up,' he muttered. Merimac shot him a pitying look. The Tooklanders had a sick feeling about the outcome of this day, and by sunset their fears were to be proven.

As the Men emerged, with very few spoils to show for their rampage, their leader shouted, 'Well?'

'Three dead,' one called back. 'And no beer in the cellar. Rat folk must've taken it all with them when they fled.'

'Well, they'll have no place to keep it, should they return to their rathole,' the leader snarled. 'Burn it!'

'No,' the innkeeper moaned, with his hands over his mouth to stifle the sound.

Men kindled torches, throwing them through the windows and up onto the thatched roofs of inn and stables, which quickly caught fire. Flames leapt to the sky as darkness fell, and the roar of flames could be clearly heard from where the Tooklanders crouched.

Ferdi had his own hands over his mouth; he realised he was moaning when Regi's good hand squeezed his shoulder. In his mind, he was seeing another fire, and even though he now threw himself down and buried his face in his arms, he could still hear the flames crackle and roar, see them licking hungrily, hear the screams of ponies and hobbits.

'Da,' he whimpered, involuntarily. 'Da, don't go in. Please, please don't go in there.'

His father placed a hand on his shoulder. 'We have to get the ponies out, lad. Don't worry, your uncle and I will be fine.'

Ferdibrand Took, Ferdi's favourite uncle, smiled down at his namesake and tousled his hair. 'We'll be in and out in a flash,' he said.

'Come on, Ferdi,' Ferdinand shouted, 'there's no time to waste.' Holding wet handkerchiefs to their faces, the two stumbled into the smoke. Young Ferdi's mother held him tightly about the shoulders as both watched in fear.

Several ponies appeared in the doorway, running out, and young Ferdi's father soon came, leading the prize stallion, scarf wrapped about the pony's head to hide his eyes from the frightening flames.

Ferdi's uncle led out two brood mares, heavy with foal, quickly tied them to a fence, and ran back in again. 'No!' Ferdi's father shouted, 'No, it's about to--!'

Before he could finish, there was a great crackling roar, and a shower of sparks, and the watching hobbits shook their heads in unconscious denial as the burning roof sagged, then fell inwards. Terrible screams were heard from inside the stables, and screams echoed from the hobbits without.

'No,' Ferdi choked, feeling hands on his shoulders, though not with the bruising force his mother had exerted.

'Steady, Ferdi,' Regi's voice sounded in his ear, and Tolly spoke from the other side, empty words of comfort.

They watched as the Men departed, watched until the inn and stables had burned to the ground, watched until the dawn light shone on the blackened rubble that had once been home to the finest beer on the Stock road.