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A Matter of Appearances  by Lindelea

Chapter 14. In which a Took is abruptly awakened

Farry woke when Dapple came to a stop. It was very dark, and there was a sound of running water. The stars shone above, bright and cold and remote, but the moon had passed behind the great hills.

He was stiff and cold and numb, and he wondered that he had slept in such an uncomfortable position at all—yet at the same time he had to fight to keep from nodding off.

The ruffians were whispering, and he strained his ears to listen.

‘There, see!’ Some of the stars were blotted out before him, and Farry realised that one of the men was pointing. He winked the sleep from his eyes and stared, trying to make sense of the moving dots of light on the far hills.

‘Our travelling friends have been missed,’ the fat man rumbled at Farry’s side, and he became aware that a warm, large hand was at his back, keeping him steady as he slept. ‘The search has started.’

‘We’re well away,’ the brawny man said.

‘But the torches are spreading out, and not just where we were gifted with ponies.’

Gifted! Farry straightened in indignation, and the fat man’s hand fell away.

‘Awake, are we?’ the rumble was tinged with amusement. ‘Go back to sleep, lad. Not good to be awake in the middle night.’

‘You need your sleep to grow!’ the whiner said with unholy glee, and gave a hissing laugh that made Farry shudder.

‘Grow, that’s a good one,’ the club-wielder snorted softly.

‘P’rhaps they don’t know exactly what route our travellers were taking,’ the fat man said.

‘Son of the Thain?’ It was hissed with scorn. ‘How could they mislay...’

‘Remember, little brother, in the southlands, when the families of the great lords travelled, it was not often noised about. Seems they thought they might avoid being waylaid if they planned several routes and did not make known which they’d choose when the time came...’

Farry wanted to shake his head, but he forced himself to hold very still, for if he gave any evidence of “knowing” then the ruffians might see fit to question him. But... Those at home knew his route! Or... he corrected himself, ...they had known his route. Why, his father had laid it out while he was in the study, the farms where they’d stop for elevenses and noontide, even the timetable for travel. So much time in the saddle, so much time resting and eating, departure and arrival times planned in such a way that they might ride at a leisurely pace, have plenty of time to rest and eat along the way, and still arrive in time for tea.

He watched the progression of the torches; not a search pattern, he divined, for they were travelling together, in more or less a straight line, as if on their way to a specific destination. Slowly he turned his head, catching sight of more torches moving along the far hills. He caught his breath. It was a muster!

The fat man was grumbling. ‘...kept tight behind the rocks, there would be no searchers now, and no chance they’d know we were even here. We could have got the gold and got out again before any rats noticed that the cats were amongst them.’

‘But with the ponies we’ll be able to carry away more gold,’ the club-wielder said. ‘And it was Red who broke cover in the first place. I only mended the situation after the damage was done. The rat might have shot your precious “little” brother; he’d fitted an arrow to his bow and was ready to shoot...!’

‘We might have left the mouse with the rat, buried under the stones,’ the whiner said, ignoring the blame. ‘Then there’d be no search needed.’ His voice came closer, and Farry jerked away as a cold hand caressed his cheek. The whiner’s voice dropped and he said, very low, ‘I’d dearly have loved to have heard him beg...’

‘In any event,’ the fat man said, ‘we’ve reached the stream. That new mine we heard of, if the map is right, is only an hour or so upstream. It’s time to get our feet wet! Should the rats stumble on our tracks and follow to where we went into the stream, they’ll think we’re for the mine. We’ll throw them off nicely.’

‘Wish we were for the mine,’ the club-wielder said. ‘Sounds lovely, all that raw gold, just sitting in piles, and the miners wouldn’t be expecting trouble. Men aren’t supposed to be in the Shire, thanks to that precious Edict.’

‘We’ve fatter fish to be frying,’ the fat man said, and Farry wondered. If not the gold from the new mine, then... what were they after?

***

Pimpernel wakened with a jolt, from nightmare into nightmare. It was true in waking as it was in dream; her Ferdi had left her, had gone ahead where, to follow, she must abandon their children to orphanhood. She sat up on the bed, withdrawing the arm she'd draped over her husband as she drowsed.

Hilly had entered as softly as might be, but his efforts had gone for naught, for now he was engaged in a three-way whispered argument with Tolly and Meadowsweet.

'Hilly?' Pimpernel said.

Hilly was not his usual animated, mischievous self, but stern, almost a stranger. He drew himself up now, pulling at Tolly. 'Come away, just for a moment,' he said, and then looked to Pimpernel with an apologetic nod.

She returned the nod, wondering, and Meadowsweet looked stricken at this departure from tradition, that her husband and Tolly's brother should dishonour their dear friend and cousin in such a manner. Pimpernel rose from the bed, careful not to waken the children, to put her arms around Meadowsweet. 'Ferdi wouldn't mind,' she whispered. 'I'm sure it's important. They wouldn't... not for a trifle.'

Meadowsweet returned her embrace, and she rested her head on her friend's shoulder. She was wrung out from weeping, and while part of her wished never to let Ferdi go, nay, more, to lie down with him to sleep forever, until they should waken at the Feast, another part of her wished the ordeal to be over and done. Her children were suffering, oh how they suffered! And she would not add to it. Nell had grown enough, by now--had heard enough of Frodo's story from her brother, had seen her brother, himself, take up a duty he did not want--to sacrifice her own desires.

When he returned, without Hilly, Tolly had obviously put away his grief. His face was hard, his jaw was set, and he did not look at Meadowsweet, at first; his attention was all for Pimpernel. 'The Thain,' he said, 'has called the muster...'

'Yes, but that was to be at dawn,' Meadowsweet broke in, indignant on Nell's behalf. And Ferdi's.

Tolly, for the first time that Nell could remember (and Meadowsweet as well, judging from her shocked expression), hushed his wife.

Meadowsweet opened her mouth, but did not speak, though her eyes were snapping with anger.

'The ruffians have attacked a family,' Tolly said, choosing his words with care. 'They've murdered, and they've taken one or more captives, among them a little child.'

A few of the children stirred at the hobbit mums' shocked exclamations, and the adults quieted just long enough for them to sleep again.

'Ferdi would be the first to say that the needs of the living come before...' Tolly went on in a whisper, and then he looked to the bed and blinked hard, gulping, and he turned away from Pimpernel towards Ferdi as if the latter could hear him. 'Forgive me, Ferdi,' he said brokenly. And then turning back to Pimpernel, he gathered his courage and went on. '...before the needs of the dead.'

'Of course,' Nell said, and when Meadowsweet would have spoken, she squeezed Sweetie's arm. 'Of course you must go,' she said, and nodded. 'Ferdi would be the first to say so.'

***

Diamond woke at a kiss. ‘What is it?’ she said, struggling up from the mists of troubled dream. ‘Is it nearly dawning?’

‘No, my love, and I hope you’ll go back to sleep and quickly,’ Pippin murmured, his arms stealing around her. ‘Sandy will waken you when the dawn approaches.’ He kissed her again, on the cheek this time, and added, ‘but something’s come up and the hobbits mustered must depart now, and not wait for the dawn.’

‘What is it?’ Diamond said again, wider awake.

Pippin held her a little tighter. ‘A message came but a little bit ago, that the ruffians have taken a child along their way. Perhaps they mean to use the little one as a shield; we’re not yet certain as to their destination or their motives for being in the Shire.’

‘Oh,’ Diamond gasped, tears flooding her eyes. ‘The poor mother! The poor father! How desperate their hearts must be, knowing...’

‘Yes,’ Pippin said, very sober. ‘So you see, my dear, why we must go out now, and not wait until after Ferdi’s decently buried. The life of a child hangs in the balance.’

‘Yes,’ Diamond said, sitting up a little straighter and pushing at her husband. ‘Do, go!’

He got up from the bed, but retained her hand. ‘I will be sorry, not to honour Ferdi properly,’ he said. ‘But I rest in the knowing that you will do all that is needed, all that I would do if I could be here.’

‘Of course I will!’ Diamond said, with a decisive nod. ‘Don’t I always, when you have to be away?’

‘My love,’ Pippin said huskily, and he bent to kiss her fingertips. Without another word, he was gone.





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