Chapter 13. The Challenge

They entered the yard before the Great Smials to cheerful greetings from the dairymaids hurrying to their milking and the stable hobbits sweeping the yard or bringing ponies in from the race course, Tooks returning from business and children playing in the last of the afternoon sunshine whilst their mothers or minders gossiped. Soon the eventide meal would be served and the little ones would be bathed, fed, and tucked in with a story and a song.

 ‘O I’m stiff!’ Diamond exclaimed, pulling her pony to a stop. She slid down off her saddle and stretched. Ferdi instantly dismounted to take her pony’s reins.

 ‘A moment, Mistress,’ he said to Eglantine, ‘and I’ll fetch you some help to get down.’

 ‘Thank you, Ferdi,’ she said with a smile.

Pippin dismounted, leaving little Farry on the saddle. ‘How’d you like to ride Socks in to his rest?’ he said.

 ‘O Da!’ Farry cried, his eyes shining, taking up the reins as his father had taught him.

Pippin grinned and stepped to the pony’s head, lightly holding one rein. He and Diamond walked together. Socks followed with the young son of the Thain beaming from the saddle at all the hobbits in the yard. Eglantine pulled her pony to a stop for a few quiet words with Ferdibrand, who stood holding the reins to his and Diamond’s ponies.

As they passed the pen holding the new stallion, that pony bugled a challenge to Socks and crashed against the gate to the enclosure. It was a sturdy gate of solid construction and had withstood previous assault on the stallion’s part. Unfortunately, a hobbit entering the pen to rake and sweep earlier in the day had been careless in fastening the latch.

Before the horrified eyes of all in the yard, the young stallion burst through the gate, teeth bared, and dove for the older pony's neck. Socks reared to answer his charge. With a shriek of alarm Diamond caught Farry as he flew through the air, jolted loose from the saddle. Socks stumbled back, nearly to the ground, at the force of the impact when the ponies came together, knocking Diamond from her feet, Farry clutched in her desperate grasp. She curled around the tot, but both were in grave danger of being trampled by the slashing hoofs.

Somehow Pippin kept his feet, but before he could do anything several things happened very quickly. Hobbits ran to try to intervene, shouting, brandishing their brooms and pitchforks. Ferdi grabbed his unstrung bow from the quiver on his back and ran into the fray. Socks, ears pinned back tight against his head, breath snorting from his nostrils, fearsome as an enraged dragon, charged at the young stallion. There was a sickening thud of impact, a snapping of teeth, a squeal from the young challenger. As the old stallion gathered himself for another assault, Ferdi jumped in, the fine, strong and flexible wood of his bow singing through the air, landing with a sharp thwack on the young stallion’s hide, as he sought to drive the beasts apart. Seeing the pony fall back a step, Socks responded to Pippin’s urgent jerk on his reins... and the fight was over as quickly as it had begun.

Everything seemed to move slowly in the aftermath. A stable hobbit took Socks’ reins from Pippin and led the older stallion to the stables as Ferdi stared the younger stallion down, brought him under his control, and back into his pen, making sure of the latch this time. Other hobbits were picking up Diamond and Faramir, exclaiming in mingled fear, concern, and relief. Pippin swooped upon his wife and only child, embracing them tightly and looking them over anxiously for obvious signs of injury.

 ‘I’m well, just got the breath knocked out of me,’ Diamond was finally able to gasp, but Pippin ordered two of the dairymaids to help her to the Thain’s quarters, a stable hobbit to carry Faramir there, and one of the hovering Tooks to “fetch Woodruff, and be quick about it!” Tweens had caught Diamond's and Ferdi's skittering ponies and were already leading them into the stables, now that the excitement was over and there was nothing more to see.

Ferdi was standing by the gate, breathing hard, his bow still clutched in his hand. He eyed with regret the welts rising on the young stallion’s hide. He’d need to dress them, as soon as things calmed down here.

 ‘I’m that sorry, Sir,’ Old Tom was saying. ‘I don’t know how that latch...’

 ‘I want that beast destroyed,’ Pippin said through his teeth. ‘He nearly got Diamond and Farry killed! He’s a menace!’

  ‘Destroyed, Sir?’ Old Tom gasped, before he remembered that he was talking to the Thain. Old Paladin would have put him on water rations, suspended him from his duties, even—were he furious enough—discharged the head of stables for questioning an order. He straightened, fingered his cap, and gulped, ‘Aye, Sir.’

Ferdi was staring, open-mouthed, looking from Pippin to Old Tom.

Tom thought of a solution; risky, but he’d heard the son was more reasonable than the father had been, not so stern and unyielding, but able to consider his actions, even said to have un-Tookishly apologised and admitted a wrong decision made. He’d give Pippin a chance to calm down, re-think his words. ‘First thing, Sir,’ he said, meaning first thing in the morning, of course, though it sounded as if he’d get right on the problem. That was the safest sort of answer to give a Thain.

Ferdi was about to protest but Tom grabbed his arm, nodding urgently. He thought Ferdi caught his silent message, for the resistance went out of the head of escort as the Thain snapped, ‘See to it!’ and stalked away.

 ‘You there!’ Tom called to two of the stable hands, standing with broom and pitchfork dangling useless. ‘Help the Mistress from her pony!’ Eglantine still sat upon her docile old mare, frozen, at a little distance from the pen.

 ‘It’s all right, lad,’ Tom said, for there wasn’t time for more. He patted Ferdi’s shoulder, but the head of escort only shook his head and stumbled away, heeding no hobbit, not even Mistress Eglantine’s call.

***

Thanks again to Sulriel at HASA for generous help with horse behaviour and training, and to Gypsum and Cheryl for their helpful comments in answer to my questions.