Chapter 50. Steps and Mis-steps

Pippin heard Hilly’s shout and turned directly towards the river, shouting for Strider, hoping the King could hear him above the tumult of the waterfalls that were casting mist high into the air somewhere to his right. He broke into a run, reaching the edge of the precipitous bank just as the toddler below threw up her little arms and disappeared.

He was panting for breath already, but his lungs failed him completely at the sight, and seeing Hilly toss bow and quiver to the bank and dive into the racing waters did not help matters any. The world began to tilt around him; he felt large hands seize his shoulders and looked up. Bergil!

Somehow he found enough air to gasp, ‘River!’ as he gestured urgently. He heard Bergil mutter an oath, and then the guardsman was gone, sliding down the bank, losing his footing halfway down and tumbling the rest of the way. He jumped to his feet at the bottom, apparently unhurt, and began to run downstream along the rocky bank, hurtling fallen trees and running over or around boulders.

Somehow it seemed to Pippin that the mist from the falls had rolled downstream to that point; in any event, a mist was in Pippin’s eyes. He tried to raise a leaden hand to wipe it away, clear his vision, but the effort was beyond him. His legs would no longer hold him, and the thought came to him that he ought to sit down before he fell down, but it was dim, and far away, swallowed up as the roaring in his ears swelled to merge with the roaring of the wild waters. His senses failed him; he was falling, a long distance, but he never felt himself hit the ground...

***

Hilly was grateful for that gulp of air he’d managed before the waters closed about him, but really, he’d like another if at all possible. He had no idea how he’d find the little princess in the roiling waters, only a vague hope that the same current that had swept her away would take him to her.

The waters turned him this way and that, until he was so turned around he wouldn’t have known which way was up save the promise of sunlight that sparkled through the water. He stroked hard, lungs aching for air, and his head broke the surface! He gulped air greedily before he was pulled under once more. He forced himself to keep his eyes open, looking ahead, searching, searching... how in the world would he find the princess? And how would he save her, when he was in serious doubt about his own safety?

***

Bergil caught a flash of bright yellow in the river, a dark head—Hilly!—which as quickly disappeared under the water. He saw no sign of the princess, but if the hobbit was in the water, it stood to reason he’d seen little Liriel fall in.

 ‘I’m coming!’ he shouted, though he doubted Hilly could hear him. He stumbled, and gave more attention to his footing. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if he broke a leg, following the river-borne hobbit.

***

Merry, drawn by the shouts, was in time to see Pippin swaying at the top of the bank. ‘Pippin!’ he cried, but his cousin seemed to crumple together, and in the next moment he’d disappeared. Though out of breath from running, Merry pushed himself forward, pausing at the edge to see Pippin lying in a heap at the bottom. ‘Pippin!’ he cried again, and ‘Diamond!’ and then ‘Strider!’

It wouldn’t do anyone any good if he broke a leg, following his hapless cousin, and so he forced himself to pick his way carefully down the slope, grasping at rocks and small trees until he was safely down. He bent urgently over Pippin, grasping his cousin’s shoulder. ‘Pippin? Do you hear me?’ To his terror, he couldn’t tell if Pippin was breathing. More urgently, he said, ‘Pippin!’ and gave the shoulder a shake. ‘Pippin!’

***

Arwen gave a glad cry to see her brothers’ arrival. Elrohir jumped from the saddle and ran lightly to her, Elladan not a step behind. ‘What news?’ he said.

 ‘Liriel wandered... I looked away but a moment or two, and she was gone!’ Arwen said.

Elrohir nodded. It was the way of little ones; take one’s eyes away and they could be gone in the space of a few breaths.

 ‘The hobbits scattered to search. Estel went towards the waterfalls, Denethor—’

 ‘We met Denethor,’ Elrohir said.

 ‘Bergil took the more direct line towards the river,’ Arwen said. ‘I’ve heard nothing since.’

 ‘Dad?’ Pippin-lad said. He was blinking away sleep, and now he sat up, looking about. ‘Frodo?’

Elladan started to answer, but Elrohir stiffened and turned towards the river. ‘Did you hear that?’ he snapped. ‘Merry!’

 ‘What was it?’ Elladan said, straightening and turning, straining his ears to hear something other than the distant roar of the waterfalls.

 ‘Perhaps he’s found something... but I heard him calling Estel! The waterfalls, you said?’

Elladan didn’t wait for Arwen’s answer. ‘I’ll go to the waterfalls,’ he said. ‘I doubt Estel would hear any summons if he’s near them.’ He mounted his horse and was gone.

***

Diamond heard Merry’s sharp summons; worse, she heard the frantic note in his voice as he called for the King. Something had happened to Pippin!

She picked up her skirts and ran as fast as possible towards the sound, nearly colliding with Samwise at the top of the bank. Looking over, her heart in her throat, she saw Merry cradling her husband.

 ‘Merry!’ she cried.

He looked up, desperation in every line. ‘The balm! He’s scarcely breathing!’

She hurriedly reached in her pocket for the jar that she always carried with her. Hilly had another, since he often was at Pippin’s side when Diamond could not be. And when Hilly couldn’t be with Pippin, often that meant that Pippin was with the King, and the King was a healer and would know what to do in the event of a breathless fit...

She took the precious jar and held it out to Sam. ‘Take it to him,’ she said, and the Mayor nodded. He tucked the balm away and began to descend the slope, cautious despite his urgency. He was just a quiet gardener, after all, and not much for climbing these days...

Unfortunately, one of the roots he grasped had been loosened by earlier descents, and it pulled free when he put his full weight on it, sending him cascading to the bottom while Diamond and Merry watched helplessly.

 ‘Sam!’ Merry cried as the Mayor came to rest with a thump against a boulder. ‘Sam, are you—?’

Sam was much too bruised and breathless to answer immediately, but he pushed himself upright with a groan, clutching at his side as the pungent odour of the balm rose about him. The sturdy jar in his pocket had been unable to sustain his impact against one of the boulders at the bottom of the slope.