Chapter 12. From Bad to Worse

Things went from bad to worst in a matter of moments.

Certainly it was understandable that Hilly would be concerned to hear that his older brother was out in the elements without explanation, without leave... without cloak, as if he’d had very urgent business that could not wait... or as if he’d taken leave of his senses.

But to shout in the Thain’s face! ...not that Hilly hadn’t shouted at Pippin before, but never in the presence of others, and never in such a fury of panic.

Water rations, at the least, Regi was thinking as he grabbed the hobbit’s sleeve, but when Pippin came around the desk, to place an arm about the distraught Hilly’s shoulders, the hobbit twisted and struck out, shouting, ‘Let me go! That’s my brother out there!’

‘He’s gone off his head!’ Renilard said in sudden understanding, and he moved to join the fray, only to be rewarded by being slammed into the wall as Hilly fought off restraint. He threw himself back into the fight again at once, shaking the stars from his sight.

‘Hold him!’ Pippin gritted. He had both arms around the thrashing Took and had pressed his head tight against Hilly’s torso, to avoid Hilly’s fists. One of his eyes was closed and watering, victim of an earlier blow. ‘Mustn’t let him get out... into the cold... Be his death...’

Diamond had rushed from the room, to summon a healer, and Meadowsweet stood frozen in horror. Her husband was missing, and now her brother-in-love appeared to have gone mad!

Hilly gave a mighty heave, lifting all three of the restraining hobbits into the air, reminding Meadowsweet of an old picture she’d seen in a book once, of a fighting bear, dogs clinging on all sides...

...and then Hilly slumped to the floor, the others atop him, taken by surprise in the suddenness of it all.

‘What’s all this?’ Healer Fennel said, entering. He went at once to lift the Thain to his feet, exclaiming over the blackening eye. ‘But Sir, you’re injured...’

‘Never mind me,’ Pippin said, shaking off the helping hands and absently straightening his clothing. ‘It’s Hilly, here. Something’s dreadfully wrong.’

Renilard was breathing in painful gasps. He thought he might have cracked a rib, but he rolled aside and got to his feet with a little help from the steward. ‘Gone off his head,’ he repeated.

‘Burning with fever,’ Fennel said, looking up. ‘Dangerously high, Sir. Delirium, I warrant.’

‘Not completely delirious,’ Pippin said. ‘He’s honestly worried about his brother.’

‘I’d heard Tolly went missing this morning,’ Fennel said. ‘Didn’t think much about it, though, what with Woodruff going down with the fever, among others. I think we need to bring the fevered hobbits into the infirmary and institute a quarantine, Sir... I was just coming to discuss the matter with you, when the Mistress came to hurry me along.’

‘Quarantine!’ Regi said.

‘Aye,’ Fennel said. ‘Bring the fevered hobbits together, and those who’ve been close to them; they can tend the sick, at least until they come down with the fever or this thing runs its course. Woodruff’s notes—I was looking through them after she fell ill—say that it seems to be anywhere from two to five days in duration.’

Quarantine! Renilard thought to himself. Well, he could use a little peace and quiet. He rubbed at his aching ribcage. ‘Fine,’ he said, ‘but we cannot simply leave Tolibold out in the cold, without his cloak, even!’

‘Raolf collapsed in your presence just this morning,’ Pippin said, straightening. ‘And Hilly, just now, in ours... So I think that the danger of our going off our heads this day, at least, is fairly small. The morrow, of course, is another matter...’

‘Quarantine is also to keep from spreading the fever,’ Fennel began, but the Thain put him off with an upraised hand.

‘So we’ll keep our distance from anyone we meet,’ Pippin said.

‘We!’ Diamond said, starting forward, but her husband warned her away.

‘You haven’t been too close to Hilly,’ he said. ‘Keep away, love. Farry needs you, and not in quarantine, either.’

‘I’ve been close to Meadowsweet, and she’s been close to Tolly,’ Diamond countered.

‘You—you’ll need help in the infirmary,’ Meadowsweet said bravely. ‘I—I’ll go there, help out, until they bring Tolly in—’ she turned to the Thain, blinking back her tears. ‘They will bring him in, will they not?’

‘We will,’ Pippin said, moving to embrace her. ‘We’ll find Tolly, Sweetie—why, I’m taking charge of the search myself, just to see that it’s properly done...’

‘Sir, to go out again into the cold, after the exertions of the past few days...’ Fennel began. He might as well have saved his breath to cool his porridge.

‘Are you well enough to ride?’ Pippin said to Renilard, releasing Meadowsweet.

The hunter suppressed a wince as he straightened. ‘Well enough,’ he agreed. ‘I’ll go and make sure your pony’s ready, Sir.’

‘Call together a small party of searchers,’ Pippin said in dismissal. ‘That way, at least, if someone swoons the search can go on.’

‘Aye, Sir,’ Renilard said, and with only the slightest of bows (and it hurt, so it did!) he took his leave.

***

Lay that wood neatly, Ted-lad, neatly, I say! Don’t just toss it all over everywhere...

A long line of waggons stood in the clearing, being loaded with firewood, the woodcutters’ payment for the year on the Thain’s land. The trees had been cut the previous year and had seasoned, drying out, going from green and sap-filled to ready-to-burn, and then they’d been sawed into stove- and fireplace-lengths and then split and stacked high and wide, awaiting transport.

Tolly stood straight and tall as he could, considering, for this was his first commission for the Thain and he meant to do well, though his heart was sick within him. For three years, since coming of age, he’d worked for his father, but now with Pippin gone and threats from Lotho Sackville-Baggins, who’d been thrown out of the Great Smials not long ago, Tolly’s cousin Reginard had reinstated the Thain’s escort, to protect Paladin and to run the Thain’s messages.

And so Tolly was here, on the Thain’s business, as the Thain’s messenger, instead of his father’s. No herb-gathering this trip, no, he was here to collect the year’s firewood for the Great Smials, and to deliver the Thain’s message.

He’d not even been able to summon a smile at the lads’ greeting—Teddy, who towered over him now, and Toddy, who was at eye-level. Their mother, seeing his seriousness, had shooed the lads away to help in the loading of the waggons. Hush now, look, Tolly’s here on the Thain’s business and cannot pass the time... he’ll have more time to talk when the waggons are loaded and on their way... How he wished it were true!

The loading went more quickly than in previous years, for the woodcutters had several other Men working with them, strangers that Tolly had not seen before, but polite enough, though they ignored the hobbit drivers standing at the ponies’ heads.

And when the last waggon was loaded at last, and Ferdibrand came to Tolly’s side to report the fact, Tolly swallowed hard and stood a little straighter. It was time.

‘There, that’s all of it,’ Barad said, stepping away from the last waggon. ‘We’ve filled the Thain’s waggons, paid all of the rent for the year, and a good year it was, to be sure...’

‘Not so good,’ his brother Beriad muttered, plucking at his sleeve, and the woodsman’s satisfied smile faded.

‘Of course not,’ he said hastily, staring at the stony-faced hobbits. ‘We’re that sorry to hear of the Thain’s loss, his only son...’

‘Yes, well,’ Tolly broke in sharply, his voice unnaturally harsh. ‘I’m sorry to say I have worse news to bring you, at least as it concerns yourselves.’

‘Concerning ourselves?’ Barad said, exchanging a glance with his brother.

‘Well, that’ll make a nice fit with the bad news we have to send back to the Thain,’ one of the stranger Men said, coming up to them, wiping at his brow. ‘Waggons well-filled—the Boss will be pleased.’

‘The B-boss?’ Ferdi said, stammering a little, in the face of questioning one of the Big Folk.

‘Yes, the B-boss,’ the Man said, pleasantly mocking Ferdi’s stammer.

Ferdi blushed and dropped his eyes, but looked up again as Tolly spoke.

‘I don’t know what “Boss” you’d be referring to,’ he said. ‘Thain Paladin doesn’t merit such a disrespectful term of address.’

‘I wasn’t talking about your rat-chief,’ the Man said, less pleasantly.

‘But, you said you had word for us from the Thain,’ Barad broke in hastily. ‘What is it? Does he wish to alter our agreement?’

‘You might say that,’ Tolly said, and took a deep breath. ‘He’s—he’s—he no longer requires your services.’

‘Handy, that,’ the stranger began, but Barad spoke over him.

‘I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘We’re free of the rent? The wood we cut is our own? He no longer requires waggons-full of wood from us each year when the leaves fall?’

‘You’re free of the rent,’ Tolly said, swallowing down nausea, ‘but only because he’s turning you out.’

‘Turning us out?’ Barad said, horror-struck. ‘Winter’s coming on! Where would we go? There’s no settlements of Men from here to Breeland, and that way is dark and dangerous these days...’

‘There’re settlements closer than that,’ the strange Man said with a smirk. ‘Bywater, Waymeet, Michel Delving—but that’s a way to go...’

‘Turning us out!’ Beriad said. ‘He cannot—!’

‘And why not?’ Ferdi put in, his face still red with anger. ‘The land belongs to the Thain...’

‘Beg to differ,’ the stranger said, before either of the woodcutters could speak. ‘Your Thain’s waggons had to pass through lands belonging to the Boss, just now, and so you owe a toll for the privilege...’

‘Toll!’ Tolly and Ferdi said together.

‘...and as I don’t see any bags of gold forthcoming, well, we’ll just seize this land and cottage for Master Lotho, we will, and so, Barad-my-friend, you may just consider yourself as working for the Boss from here on out!’

From the look on Barad’s face, he was thinking I’m not your friend, by any means! but he had his family to consider.

‘And while we’re at it,’ the strange Man said in his jolliest tone, ‘we’ll just “gather” these waggons of wood—a nice little profit, indeed.’

Barad found his tongue. ‘You won’t,’ he said tightly.

‘Eh?’ the Man said, frankly astonished.

‘This wood is to pay for the past year’s rent on the land and cot,’ Barad said. ‘You won’t cheat the Thain out of his due gain...’

‘You’d let him turn you out? Now? With winter coming on?’ the Man said, and shrugged. ‘Ah well, I’m sure some or other of us can use the cot for lodging, to keep an eye on the Woody End for the Boss.’

‘I—’ Barad began, and his shoulders slumped. ‘I have my family to consider,’ he said, his eyes turning to Tolly and Ferdi. ‘Go,’ he added. ‘Move them out. Quick!’

‘Yea, quick! Before I change my mind!’ the strange Man said with a bark of coarse laughter.

Tolly waved to the driver of the first waggon in the line, and something of his urgency was transmitted to the other hobbits. They whipped their ponies into motion, faster than need be, for a long journey drawing heavy-loaded waggons, and the Men laughed to see them go.

‘So, you’ll stay? And take up tree-cutting at the command of the Boss?’ the strange Man was saying.

The woodcutters nodded, seeming reluctant but resigned. What other choice did they have in the matter?

‘Well, get on with you, little rats,’ the strange Man said suddenly. ‘You’re trespassing! Get off Lotho’s land!’

‘It’s not Lotho’s—’ Ferdi began heatedly, but Tolly pulled him away, seeing the strange Men gathering to surround them. He had a bad feeling about this. He was glad to see the last of the wood-laden waggons turn into the road, beyond. It seemed a good time to bring up the rear.

‘Come away, Ferdi,’ he said in an urgent undertone, and the Men’s coarse laughter surrounded them as they moved to mount their ponies.

‘But!’ Toddy was calling. ‘But, Tolly!’ He broke free from his mother’s hand and ran to them, breaking through the wall of threatening Men, skidding to a stop by Tolly’s pony.

‘Leave hold,’ Tolly said through gritted teeth. ‘Let us go, Toddy!’

‘But!’ Toddy said again, ‘but Mum’s baked lots of apple cake, and Teddy shot a deer, and it’s roasting now and ready for feasting, and...’

‘Let go, Toddy,’ Tolly said again, and the little lad faltered, tears coming to his eyes.

‘But we’re friends,’ he said desperately. ‘We’re friends, Tolly, are we not? No matter what happens...’

Tolly shook his head and turned his pony’s head to the road, kicking the gelding into motion, Ferdi falling in beside him.

And the boy’s voice rose to follow him, haunting, ‘...but you said! You promised!’

And the leader of the strangers shouted with laughter, and the last thing the departing hobbits heard was Toddy’s sobbing, and the Man’s derisive, ‘Surely you don’t expect rats to keep their word...!’