Chapter 11. Sounding the Alarm

Old Tom guided the lad into the Great Smials, not giving him time to gawk. There'd be plenty of time for gawking later, after Woodruff had seen to Ferdi. Tom had never seen Ferdi in such a state... well, he'd seen the hobbit after the Battle of Bywater, for certain, and he'd been much worse off then, of course, but he'd seen Ferdi assailed by his head pains in the past, and yet never quite so glazed in the eye as he was now.

As stable master, son of a stable master, Tom knew that being thrown from a pony was no joke. And Ferdi such an expert rider, at that! It must have been a bad fall, to leave the hobbit so badly shaken, so many hours after. Indeed, it was a wonder the hobbit had, evidently by dint of sheer stubbornness, made it back to the Smials from the North Farthing.

'We'll just fetch the healer for Ferdibrand,' he said, pulling Tad through the doorway, 'and then we'll see to your breakfast...'

Barely acknowledging the festive greetings as he hurried them through the corridors, he reached the infirmary and inquired for Woodruff, only to be told she was attending the Thain.

Tad's eyes widened at this news, but Old Tom merely nodded. 'Everyone's belated this day,' he said, 'even the head healer!'

Without explaining to the lad that the head healer attended the Thain every morning, exercising his bad leg to keep the muscles from withering away, even though the leg was close to useless, Tom thanked the assistant and hurried them off to the Thain's quarters, deep in the Great Smials.

'Why not...?' Tad said, a little breathless at the pace the stable master set.

'Ferdi's that stubborn, he won't listen to anyone but the head healer,' Old Tom said grimly. 'And at that, there's a good chance he won't heed even Woodruff. Just as well we're going to the private quarters; we'll set his wife on him and then he'll have no choice but to agree.'

When they reached the Thain's private quarters, Tom hailed the hobbit of the Thain's escort, who stood ready at the door, in case the Thain had a message to send, even on this festive day. 'Tolly!'

'Tom! Glad Yule to you!'

'No time for that, Tolly. Ferdi was thrown from his pony last night, and I'm here to fetch Woodruff...'

'Thrown? But I heard he was back, and safe... and ham and bacon to show for his troubles...'

'Pony came back without him, and the lad with the duty too lazy to make inquiries when he found the pony still saddled and burdened. But that's neither here nor there. You'd best fetch Nell...'

'How badly was he hurt?' Tolly said. 'Where is he now?'

'In the stables, seeing that his pony took no harm.' Tom shook his head with mingled exasperation and admiration. That Ferdi thought more of his ponies than he thought of himself. 'This lad brought Ferdi home, bless him!'

'Right!' Tolly said, and took himself off to Ferdi's quarters, not far from the Thain's.

'Come along, lad,' Tom said, for Tad was hanging back as he pushed the door open.

'But... the Thain's private quarters...!'

'He puts his breeches on one leg at a time like the rest of us,' Tom said sensibly. He guided Tad into the receiving room (or so Mistress Lalia had grandly called the large sitting room just inside the entrance to the apartments), meeting the raised eyebrow of the hobbitservant who was polishing the fine, dark wood of a side table. 'Sandy, I need Woodruff, and I need her now.'

'She's nearly done with the Thain,' Sandy said mildly. 'Is there some sort of emergency?'

'Ferdi's been thrown from his pony,' Tom said. 'Hit his head, I hear tell, and I cannot stir him from the stables to see a healer about the matter.'

Sandy nodded wisely. 'If that's the case, the Thain will want to know,' he said. 'Come along.'

He led them from the sitting room down a corridor with doors opening off both sides, into a smaller, more intimate sitting room with a small round table laid for early breakfast: a basket of fancy breads, butter, pots of honey and jam, a cosied teapot, a pitcher of milk for the youngsters, enough to hold the family over until the grand feast with its Northfarthing ham was ready.

A youth and two tots were already sitting at table, the little ones jam-smeared and chattering away cheerily. The youth looked up in surprise. 'Tom?' he said.

'Need to speak to your father,' the stable hobbit said, as Sandy went to the door on the far side, tapped, and waited for acknowledgement.

Opening the door just wide enough to stick his head around the jamb, the hobbitservant said, 'Sorry to disturb, Sir, but something's come up...'

There was an inaudible murmur, and Sandy answered, 'Woodruff is needed, and perhaps yourself, Sir. It's Ferdibrand.'

An exclamation, and Sandy was saying, 'Thrown from his pony, and badly hurt by all accounts, but he won't let anyone bring him in from the stables. Insists on seeing that the pony is cared for, first.'

Tad pulled at Tom's sleeve at the words "badly hurt", his mouth working in silent protest, but he was in too much awe of his surroundings to correct the hobbitservant, who sounded so very confident and sure of his facts that Tad wondered if perhaps he knew more about the truth of the matter than Tad himself.

And so the Thain himself emerged, only a moment or so later.

Tad had heard the hobbit was lame, injured some time before when a coach overturned, and in point of fact the Thain leaned heavily on two hobbits, one of whom, a grizzled matron, ducked away to let Sandy take her place, and confronted Tom.

'What's this?' she said. 'Badly hurt? How?'

Old Tom nudged Tad, and the lad found his tongue. 'Hit his head, my old gaffer said,' he ventured. 'He came to our door in the pounding rain, barely able to stand, and before he got more than a word or two out he swooned and had to be carried to a chair. We revived him with a little brandy, but he insisted that he must travel on, to the Smials, or we'd have popped him into a bed and sent word. He seemed a little out of his head, the way he kept insisting. Grandad was afraid he'd take himself off once the family were all asleep, and so he sent me along to bring the hobbit home.'

There was the sound of running feet, and a hobbit mum skidded into the room, wide eyed. 'What's this about Ferdi?' she gasped. 'Tolly said...'

'We're going to sort this all out, Nell,' the Thain said in a firm and soothing tone. 'Where is he now? In the stables, you said?'

'Sir, you needn't stir yourself,' said the matron, evidently the head healer, Tad realized. 'I'll just go out to the stables and...'

'If he's out of his head, he may give you trouble,' Pippin said. 'You remember how it was, the last time his head was so bad. His own sister thought he'd lost his wits, and was afraid of what he might do.'

Tad's mouth opened in astonishment, but the youth rose from the table.

'That was all a misunderstanding,' he said.

'We won't go into that again, Farry,' the Thain said, 'for it was a long time ago, and over and done with now, but the fact still stands that his own sister could not deal with him, at that time, and if he's hit his head...'

The youth nodded, and another hobbit mum, emerging behind the Thain, said, 'We'll wait here, my love, while you sort Ferdi out. And once you have him firmly under the healers' thumbs, we'll greet the morning properly... Now sit yourself down, Farry, and finish your plate.' And she moved to the table, taking up a dampened flannel, and began to deal with the sticky faunts. And Tad realised that he was looking at the wife and children of the Thain, and he was standing in the Thain's private quarters, and... His breath came short and his head spun a little at the thought. But he had no time for wonder, for the Thain was ordering Tom to lead them to Ferdibrand, and Woodruff had her arm around Nell, and Tom had Tad in a firm grip once more, and they were all proceeding down the hallway to the receiving room and out into the corridor, Tom and Tad, Woodruff and Nell, the Thain borne between two hobbits, and Tolly bringing up the rear.