A Hundred Engines Laid End-To-End

by Llinos
beta Marigold

"Pippinnnnn!" Merry's crescendo cry of anguish and dismay rang out from Bywater to Hobbiton. But in spite of his horror at seeing his cousin vanish into the burning building, he managed to catch Gammer Barlimow and pass her safely to Frodo and Rolando.

Merry flung himself to the floor frantically trying to see Pippin and was about to leap into the hole, regardless of the flames and smoke below, when he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. "Steady Merry," Sam had climbed up onto the engine and in through the hole where the window used to be. "Think! You jumping down there isn't going to help Pippin. Use your head!"

A voice from below shouted up, "I can see Mr Pippin, but we can't get to him. The door's caved in and there's too much rubble. We're trying to shift it but it's awful smoky in there!"

"Think… use head? Pippin! Think!" Merry did not even seem to realise he was muttering out loud. He clutched Sam's hand on his shoulder, his eyes squeezed shut, not, Sam immediately realised against the smoke, but in frantic concentration.

"Right!" He shouted so loudly Sam jumped in fright. "Everybody off the engine! And stand well back!"

Many willing hands had quickly lifted the Gammer to safety and as Sam and Merry emerged once more from the upstairs, everyone quickly obeyed. The lads both jumped down in mighty leaps and Matt quickly relinquished the controls to the Master once more and slid to the ground.

"You too Sam!" Merry's chin was firmly set as he backed the engine up from the building, swinging the rear end round towards the pool as he did so.

"No!" Sam could also set his chin when the need arose. "I know what you're planning and it needs two! Now let's see what this precious engine of yours can do!"

Most of the upper floor was now gone, but the ground floor, built of bricks and plaster, was considerably more solid. The door itself was filled with rubble from the collapse of the storey above and the building seemed totally impenetrable.

"Let the steam build," Dorin advised, seeing immediately what Merry intended. "Then engage her lowest gear and open the throttle as far as you can."

"Open the damper on the fire first," Matt added his wisdom. "Make sure it's good and hot!"

Sam reckoned later he could almost hear Merry's teeth grind over the racket of the gears' own grating rasp. The two brave hobbits braced themselves as Merry ran the engine at full pelt into the side of the ailing pub. Timbers cracked and bricks splintered as the mighty machine split the wall asunder.

Merry's aim was good. He had positioned the engine to bring down the wall far enough away from Pippin that he would not be hit by any falling masonry. As soon as the engine arrived in the pub's front parlour, Sam leapt down and raced to the unconscious Thain, lying prone in the midst of charred beams and debris from the roof. The deluge from above had doused most of the fire in the front of the building and, although the kitchen and bar were blazing merrily, the flames were mostly spent where Pippin lay.

"Pip! Pip! Can you hear me?" Merry, pausing only to ram the engine into neutral gear, was soon at Sam's side. "Is he breathing? Pip! Pip?"

"He's breathing," Sam released his own breath that he realised he had been holding. "Don't move him! I think his leg may be broken, and who knows what damage he's done to his back in that fall."

"We can't leave him here!" Merry, with great trepidation, lifted his cousin's weight slightly so that he could straighten Pippin's bent up leg from under his body. "There's still more of the roof that could come down."

Pippin's eyes fluttered open with the movement. "Merry?"

"Hush now," Merry soothed. "You're going to be all right, my gallant knight!"

"Why did you say that?" Pippin frowned, then winced with pain. "Did I do something stupid or brave?"

"Both," Merry smiled down at him and tried to wipe some of the black soot smudges off Pippin's worried face. "As usual."

I knew it must be one or the other," Pippin sighed, his eyes closing again. "Because I hurt all over."

I think he's passed out again," Sam patted Pippin's hand and got no reaction. "Look, we'll use one of those boards to carry him, carefully now."

With as much speed as they dared, Sam and Merry eased Pippin's limp form onto one of the oak planks that had, unlike their liberator, remained intact during their fall. As Pippin was carried out on the improvised stretcher a great cheer heralded the rescuers, from hobbits and dwarves alike.

"Three cheers for the Thain – hero of the hour!"

"Hip! Hip! Hip! Hurrah!"

"Three cheers for the Mayor and the Master!"

"Hip! Hip! Hip! Hurrah! Hurrah!"

"Three hearty cheers for the Great Engine!"

Hip, hip… Arrgggghhhhh! Watch out!"

Even as the salutation to the mighty machine, that had saved at least three lives that day, went up, a cracking and groaning emanated from the building as it finally collapsed inwards like a giant mobile tomb upon the Great Spindle Activated Vegetation Dissection and Lubrication Apparatus.

"Oh Merry!" Sam's mouth dropped open in genuine dismay. "Your magnificent engine!"

"Ha!" Merry shrugged dismissively. "No matter. I'd rather have my magnificent cousin. After all, Pippin is capable of causing more excitement on his own than a hundred engines laid end-to-end! Besides, Sam," Merry grinned at the Mayor's slip, "it was supposed to be your engine!"

"Oh yes," Sam's face turned beetroot. "Now why do I keep forgetting that?"

TBC