Note to readers: Some editing has been done in earlier chapters to reflect the fact that Ferdibrand did not know about the sheep-worrying until chapter 18. Sorry about any confusion.

Chapter 19. Painted into the Corner

Halfway back to the Great Smials, Pippin reined in Socks. Ferdi stopped and looked about for the cause of his cousin’s halt, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

 ‘All right, have at it,’ Pippin said, and Ferdi looked at him in astonishment.

 ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said.

 ‘There’s something else been bothering you,’ Pippin said, ‘so let’s just clear the air between us, have a fresh start. There’s too much important business pending to be distracted with quarrels, old or new.’

Ferdi’s breath came short as he thought of the pony of Rohan. He had not quite figured out how to confess his deed, or perhaps it was more accurate to say he’d not yet summoned the courage. He felt even more wretched to see sympathy join the concern on Pippin’s face.

 ‘What is it, Ferdi?’ Pippin said softly, as persuasively as he might.

Ferdi held on to his resentment of his cousin’s wheedling ways; ah yes, Pip had always been one to get his way. Somehow the flash of anger gave him the courage to speak, though his voice shook slightly.

 ‘I... I... about the pony...’ he said.

 ‘The pony,’ Pippin said politely, and then his eyes widened. ‘Were you the one Old Tom sent off with him?’ Sorrow and regret were added to sympathy. ‘O Ferdi, I was wrong, and I’m that sorry that you had to be the one...’

Ferdi realised that Old Tom had not told the Thain of the pony’s disappearance, had allowed things to stand in confusion. Perhaps Tom himself thought that someone, Ferdi or one of the older stable hobbits, had taken the pony off to destroy in accordance with what he thought Tom had said. Tom might have thought it better to leave the matter unexplored, to avoid bringing the wrath of the Thain down upon the hobbit in question when it turned out that Pippin had changed his mind about the matter.

 ‘But I didn’t,’ he interrupted.

Pippin nodded in understanding. ‘Ah,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry, Ferdi, I thought...’

 ‘I mean, I took the pony,’ Ferdi said, not thinking of his words in his haste to correct Pippin’s wrong impression. ‘I just didn’t destroy him.’

 ‘You took the pony,’ Pippin said slowly, but now there was warning in his tone. Sympathy and regret had vanished.

 ‘I did,’ Ferdi said.

 ‘And then what did you do with him?’ Pippin said. ‘You didn’t bring him back.’

 ‘I...’ Ferdi began to realise his danger, but it was not in him to lie. ‘I let him go.’ He felt a rush of relief to have the truth out, at last, and suddenly realised the heavy burden he’d been bearing as it fell from his shoulders.

 ‘You let him go,’ Pippin echoed, his voice deadly quiet. ‘You took the pony... a pony that did not belong to you... you took him without permission... and you did not return him.’

Suddenly Ferdi found it hard to draw breath as the full implications of his action broke over him like a wave. Drowning, he reached for words to excuse himself, to explain his actions... but there was nothing.

 ‘You know what that is called, Ferdi, here in the Shire,’ Pippin said, still too calm.

 ‘Thie... thievery,’ Ferdi whispered. ‘I only thought... I only thought...’

 ‘What did you think? To save him? Against the direct order of the Thain?’ It did not matter that Pippin had rescinded that order. Ferdi had taken the pony without permission, and hadn’t brought him back.

 Ferdi shook his head miserably. ‘I don’t know what I was thinking,’ he said. ‘I even thought to destroy him, that he might die easy of mind, by the hand of a friend...’ The words sounded halting, the excuse lame and unbelievable, even in his own ears. ‘In the end I just let him go. I could not bring him back.’ The irony of it was, had he destroyed the pony, he would have not been in trouble now, for he would have been following the Thain's orders, and would not be blamed for the change of mind Pippin had expressed after it was too late.

Pippin nodded soberly, not quite looking at Ferdi. ‘You know the penalty for thievery,’ he said quietly.

 ‘A year...’ Ferdi said, heartsick. ‘A year under the Ban.’ He’d built his own nest, this time, and filled it proper with eggs, he had. No choice but to sit.

Pippin sat silent a long time, and even Socks was preternaturally still. Finally he raised his eyes from contemplation of Socks’ ears and said, ‘There’s an alternative to the Ban.’

Ferdi swallowed hard.

 ‘If a thief confesses before an assembly of Shire-folk, Tooks and Tooklanders, and repays double what was stolen,’ Pippin said, ‘and the Thain perceives that he is truly sorry for his actions, and not likely to repeat them...’

Ferdi reached down to stroke Dapple’s soft neck. O he’d still be able to ride her in his duties, he supposed, should Pip keep him on as escort, but she’d no longer belong to him. Nor would Penny. Both of Ferdi’s ponies, which constituted most of his worldly wealth, would be forfeit, and he would forever be branded a thief.

Pippin saw the gesture and nodded. ‘Repay double,’ he said firmly. ‘Your two ponies together would not be worth the price of the finest pony Rohan had to offer.’

 ‘There’s nothing for it, then,’ Ferdi said. The Ban. He’d lived under the Ban before, but he’d been buoyed by the energy of being falsely convicted. This time, he’d be shamed, for he’d earned the penalty.

 ‘There’s nothing for it,’ Pippin agreed, ‘but for you to recover the pony you lost, train him to race, run him in the All-Shire race at Lithe, and turn over the purse.’

 ‘I’d have to win, to turn over the purse,’ Ferdi began, before he realised what Pippin had said. ‘But...’ he protested, head spinning.

 ‘Exactly,’ Pippin said. ‘He’s faster than anything Buckland has to offer, faster even than Socks, I’d venture.’ He caressed his own pony’s neck as Socks snorted. ‘There's not enough time to get him ready for the local races, but after the Tookland Pony Races, I’ll release you from escorting to go pony-hunting, and once you have him, you can ready him for the All-Shire event.’

 ‘How can he run at Michel Delving if...’ Ferdi began.

 ‘I have the authority to substitute another pony for one of the ponies from the Tookland Races,’ Pippin said. ‘We’re allowed to send two to Michel Delving, you know. I'll send Socks and the new stallion, and we ought to win with one or the other.’ His tone commanded attention. ‘I cannot release you to hunt him beforehand; I need you to continue working with Socks. He has to be at his peak when the Tookland Races are run.’ For some reason Ferdi couldn’t fathom, Pippin was determined to own the winners of both the Tookland races and the All-Shire event. Was it the purse from each race? With all the gold that was at the disposal of the Thain, he wanted more? Remembering Paladin’s grasping ways, Ferdi supposed he ought not to be surprised.

 ‘When I have the pony in my stables, and the purse from the All-Shire Race in my hand, I will consider the debt paid,’ Pippin said.

 ‘And if I do not find the pony...’ Ferdi said.

Pippin laughed. ‘You’ll find him,’ he said. ‘I’m told you’re the best tracker in Tookland.’

 ‘But if we do not win the All-Shire race...’ Ferdi said.

 ‘Then the debt will not be paid. If you recover the pony but you do not win the purse, you may give up your two mares, or you may accept the Ban,’ Pippin said. ‘Believe me, Ferdi, I wish there were other choices in the matter, but it is your own doing that has landed us in this mess.’

Ferdi nodded miserably. He didn’t stop to think that Pippin was manoeuvring him into a corner, with no way out but the way Pippin wanted. He’d made the bed, after all, and now he had to lie in it, lumps and all.

Pippin returned the nod. He had all confidence in Ferdibrand, even though Ferdi’s self-confidence was woefully lacking. Perhaps this would be the making of his cousin. He pushed down the niggling thought that it might be his cousin’s ruin instead.