Part II

The first stage of Cedric’s plan was carried out by Ferdibrand, who had proved successful many times before at gathering intelligence in an inconspicuous manner. While Aidan went in search of more water, Everard went to change his shirt and Cedric flirted with Ember Took, Mora’s younger sister, Ferdibrand combed the tunnels of the Smials until he had his mark in sight.

He found Pippin emerging from the dining hall, his stomach no doubt full of elevenses, and hurried to catch up. As Pervinca’s brother, Pippin knew nearly as much about waging war with his sister as Everard did, though for very different reasons. The siblings did not get along very well and they were ever at odds, bickering at nearly every turn. While his friendship with Merry might have taught him many things, it was living with Pervinca that had taught Pippin how to survive, and having him on their side would be indispensable. However, Cedric and Everard had decided that attempting to directly enlist Pippin’s help would be fruitless. Pippin would never dare to go up against his sister in open battle, not since that Yule many years before when all his sisters had joined forces with Frodo Baggins to convince him and Merry that a ghost lived inside Bag End. While Pippin wasn’t necessarily opposed to the idea of letting other lads have a go at Pervinca, neither would he willingly give them information. That was where Ferdibrand came in.

Ferdibrand followed Pippin until the dining hall was well behind them, to reduce the possibility of someone passing by and overhearing their conversation. When Pippin entered the tunnel that ran through the servants’ quarters on the way to the Thain’s study, Ferdibrand made his move. This tunnel was usually quiet this time of day, and considering what appeared to be Pippin’s destination, it was now or never.

“Pippin!” Ferdibrand called out, stopping the younger lad in his tracks.

“Hallo Ferdi,” Pippin greeted casually and waited for Ferdibrand to catch up. He looked behind the older lad, expecting the rest of his group to show up at any moment. “Where are the others?”

“Getting ready for an afternoon out,” Ferdibrand answered truthfully. “Are you doing anything this afternoon?” He already knew the answer to this question, having overheard the Thain’s plans from his own father at first breakfast that morning, so this line of questioning was a safe approach for getting the information he needed.

“Yes,” Pippin answered and began walking again as though this question had reminded him of what he was supposed to be doing. “I’m going with Da into Tookbank to observe him settle a farming dispute. It should be thrilling.” The dullness of his words, however, proved that Pippin thought this afternoon would be anything but thrilling.

“Sorry to hear it, friend,” Ferdibrand consoled, taking a few steps before stopping again. As Pippin was in no real hurry to get to where he was going, he allowed himself to stop also. “It’s really too bad you can’t send one of your sisters in your place.”

“That’s true for most days, but today I think I’d rather go with Da,” Pippin said, his voice growing even more dull and lifeless than before.

“Why is that?” Ferdibrand asked, glad this conversation was going so well.

“Because Mum and Vinca are in Tuckborough all day with Nell, arranging more wedding stuff. They’re getting the material for the wedding gown and doing a bunch of other things I couldn’t pay attention to long enough to listen,” Pippin informed most helpfully. “At least a farm dispute promises to be somewhat interesting. Someone could always lose their temper and start a brawl.”

“I see your point,” Ferdibrand said then shrugged. “Well, I was going to ask you if you wanted to come to the river with us, but I suppose you won’t be able to now. Maybe tomorrow?”

“I’ll ask Da,” Pippin promised. “It will be Highday then, so I should be able to get away.”

“I’ll see you all at supper then?” Ferdibrand queried.

“With all the lovely new details of Nell’s wedding to make you nod off in your soup,” Pippin said, grinning now. He waved farewell to his friend and continued on his way. “Enjoy the river.”

“I hope there’s a brawl,” Ferdibrand called after him. He waited until Pippin was out of sight, then returned to the front of the Smials where he was to meet his friends in a sitting room.    

“Sapphire Banks,” Cedric greeted the young tween with a coy smile and flirtatious swagger. He had just had a very promising conversation with Ember and he had more hope now that his sadly drooping appearance was not such a bad thing after all. Sapphire paused so he could catch up with her and blushed crimson when he looked her over with an appreciative eye. “I must say, Sapphire, you are growing into a very becoming young lass. Tell me, who are you going with to the Harvest Moon Dance?”

“Just my parents,” Sapphire replied. She was after all only twenty-two and so was not yet permitted to court. She hugged herself shyly, never knowing how to act around Cedric. The other lads just teased her like her brothers did, but Cedric's teasing made her feel oddly flushed. She bit the inside of her cheek, aware of the lad's eyes on her as she searched for something clever to say. In the end, she could only think to say, “I’m saving some dances though.”

“Is that so? Well, you’ll want to save an entire set for me,” Cedric informed her.

Sapphire smiled politely before she continued on her way. She was late to meet her mother and sisters for their sewing circle. “I would like to, but Father said I’m not allowed to spend time with you.”

“You’re not?” Cedric said, not at all surprised nor particularly dismayed to hear this. “Well, we’ll have to do something about that then.” He winked mischievously.

Sapphire giggled, blushing deeper. “All right then,” she said uncertainly, then hurried up. “I’m sorry, but I’m late and Mother will be worrying.”

“I’ll see you around, lass,” Cedric called after her. She waved hastily before heading up the ramp to the second level.

Up ahead, Cedric saw Aidan waiting for him outside one of the sitting rooms. Aidan was watching him with narrowed eyes and a deep frown.

“Are they here?” Cedric asked when he reached the room.

Aidan nodded. “What were you talking to Sapphire about? She’s too young for your attentions.”

“We were just talking about the Harvest,” Cedric answered flippantly and went into the room where Everard and Ferdibrand were already waiting, lounging on the settee in front of the cold hearth. Cedric took the water skin from Ferdibrand and chugged half of it, then popped a scone in his mouth; after talking to Pippin, Ferdibrand had returned to the dining hall to get them a plate of much needed food.

When they had finished the food, Cedric looked over at Ferdibrand and said, “Well? What’d you find out?”

“She’ll be in town all day with her mother and sister doing wedding stuff,” Ferdibrand replied. “Pippin and Paladin are off to Tookbank to settle a farming dispute. They’ll all be back by supper.”

“That’s good news. Good work Ferdi,” Cedric praised. “That gives us plenty of time to prepare, if only we can be sure of when exactly they will return. We’ll need to position someone on the road from town to notify us the moment they get back. You or Aidan can take that post.”

“We shouldn’t spread our forces too thin,” Everard advised, “especially on such unnecessary surveillance. Paladin and Pippin should be back in only a few hours. Farming disputes never last that long once the Thain shows up to settle them. The lasses will make the most of their day and won’t be back until a half-hour before supper. They’ll want time for a quick wash and change of clothing before the meal.”

“How can you be so sure?” Cedric asked.

“I have two sisters and an older brother and I had to survive all of their weddings,” Everard answered, then grinned teasingly. “For someone who spends so much time wooing lasses, you might want to actually learn something about them.”

“I know plenty, Everard,” Cedric replied coolly. “I’ve never had any complaints.”

“You’ve never had any compliments either,” Aidan quipped and had to duck quickly to avoid a playful swat to the head.

“Continuing on, half-an-hour doesn’t give us much opportunity,” Cedric pointed out.

“Why don’t we wait until after supper?” Ferdibrand suggested. “Or better yet, why don’t we just go to the river? We could paddle around and cool down. We’ll be able to think much more clearly after some refreshment.” By this, he hoped his friend would abandon this reckless endeavor and allow them all to live one more day.

“We can go to the river after we figure out a way to get Pervinca where we want her,” Cedric replied, “and that’s behind the stables.”

“Why don’t we just ask her to meet us there?” Ferdibrand asked.

“Yes, because that will work,” Aidan said sardonically.

“We can have Pippin bring her,” Ferdibrand tried next.

“He’ll want to know why, and more importantly, she’ll want to know why,” Everard said. “Once she hears it’s us who want to talk to her, she’ll just think it’s me up to some trick and she won’t come.”

“We can send her an anonymous request,” Aidan suggested. “Or sign it by one of the lasses.”

“How do we get it to her without her knowing it was us?”

“We can’t,” Everard said. “The lasses wouldn’t send her a note out of nowhere, it would have to be something they had already discussed and they wouldn't give her such short notice. Besides, if they really needed to see her, they would simply wait until supper since it would be so close to mealtime anyway. Also, lasses stick together, so forget that option. If we send an anonymous note, she’s only going to get suspicious. Her first point of contact when trying to figure out who’s scheming against her is always Pippin, because he usually hears about such things before she does. She’ll figure out it was us and she won’t come.”

“How will she know it was us?” Aidan asked. “We haven’t told Pippin anything.”

“No, but when he tells her that Ferdi was asking questions about what everyone’s plans for the day were, she’ll know it was us,” Everard explained.

“So really, she’ll just think it was you,” Aidan amended. After all, none of the others had ever attempted to confront Pervinca before. There would be no reason for her to suspect them of having a hand in this nonsense scheme.

“Exactly,” Cedric said. “If she thinks it’s just Everard, then nothing will change. She needs to know that there are other chaps in the Smials who are willing to stand up to her also.”

“Why can’t we just talk to her outside her apartment?” Aidan asked next. “She is going to have to leave it to go to the dining hall.”

“There’s not enough room there and the Thain and Lady will more than likely interrupt us and want to know what is going on. We need to do this someplace we won’t be seen but that’s still relatively open so enough lads can come. Being forced to admit her misdeeds in front of so many people is the only thing that will humble her.”

Everard narrowed his eyes slightly at this. “I suppose,” he agreed, a somewhat restrained tone to his voice. Only Ferdibrand noticed this and he studied his best friend for a moment before addressing their leader again.

“I still think it would be best to let it go,” he argued. “She hasn’t done anything to any of us, after all. She told a tall-tale; she wouldn’t be the first to do that.”

“Is that what you think this is about?” Cedric said. “This has nothing to do with some tall-tale or even any of her pranks she used to pull all the time. This is about her attitude towards lads. She’s a fiend, a villain, and we cannot allow her to continue to intimidate us any longer. We are doing this; we just need to figure out how. I say we sneak into her room while no one’s there and take something of hers, something she’ll miss. Something she’ll do anything to get back.”

Aidan’s eyes nearly popped out of his head at this suggestion. “You want us to steal from the Thain’s daughter? Are you mad?”

“We’re not stealing anything,” Cedric replied. “We’ll give it right back, just as soon as she learns her lesson.”

“All right, so let’s say we take something,” Ferdibrand said. “How is that going to get her to the back of the stables?”

“How will she know we even have it, whatever ‘it’ is?” Aidan asked.

“We can send her a note telling her to meet us behind the stables,” Cedric said.

“We already agreed that wouldn’t work,” Everard reminded him.

“By itself, it wouldn’t, but if we tell her in the note that she has to meet us in order to get back what we took, that would work,” Cedric argued.

“No, it wouldn’t,” Everard retorted. “She’ll wait outside the dining hall until we get tired of waiting for her and come in to eat. As soon as she sees us, she’ll demand we give back whatever we took in exchange for her mercy for not telling the Thain that we broke into her room, and subsequently his apartment, and stole something.”

“What if we have someone else deliver the note for us. We can send one of the children,” Cedric suggested.

“You want to send children?” Ferdibrand asked, appalled.

“She won’t do anything to them, but they’ll just tell her it was us who sent them,” Everard pointed out.

“All right, then we’ll have the child give it to a post messenger to deliver as soon as she gets back,” Cedric amended.

“You’re getting rather complicated, don’t you think?” Ferdibrand asked.

“Why don’t we just leave the note on her bed when we take whatever it is we’re going to take,” Aidan suggested.

“That’s a good idea. Good thinking, Aidan,” Cedric agreed.

“It won’t work though,” Everard returned calmly.

“Why not?” Cedric asked, getting annoyed now.

“It’s too suspicious, she won’t come,” Everard said.

“Then what will she do?” Cedric asked hotly. “You know, Everard, you can help us actually plan this meeting instead of knocking down all of our suggestions.”

“Meeting? Is that what we’re planning?” Everard shot back. “Because from where I’m sitting, it looks more like public humiliation. Remember what happened to the last lad who humiliated Pervinca in public? He ended up flat on his back with a broken nose. It’s still crooked to this day.”

“Which is precisely why we need to do this,” Cedric insisted. “She’ll continue to prowl the tunnels and hills of Great Smials, picking apart lads one by one, until someone puts her in her place. I, for one, thought you would embrace the opportunity for final victory.”

“Fine,” Everard relented. “This is how it will work then. We go into her room and take her sketchbook. We leave a note on her bed, telling her it was us who took it as payback for all our years of suffering. We don’t mention anything about a meeting or offer her the opportunity to get it back. That will dispel any notion that we’re trying to trap her, and she will come to us.”

Cedric laughed and leaned over to clap Everard on the shoulder. “That’s more like it!” he said, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Now it will just be a matter of ensuring that she finds us before supper. We’ll need accomplices.”

“I’ll take care of that,” Everard said. “You and Aidan can gather together whatever brave souls you can find and brief them on the meeting. Ferdi and I will retrieve the sketchbook and leave the note.”

The friends shook hands and separated in the tunnel to put their plan into motion.    

The novelty shop was empty of customers but for Eglantine, Pimpernel and Pervinca, a fact for which Eglantine was most grateful. After the stuffy, overcrowded fabric shop, it was a relief to be able to move freely. The stationer stood patiently behind his counter and let Eglantine and Pimpernel take their time looking over the many selections of stationery and invitation cards he had to offer. He assured them that any of the stationery designs could be made into cards if they wished it. Anything for the Tooks, he promised.

Pervinca had claimed sole possession of the basket containing the fabric for the dress upon entering the novelty shop, and she now sat with it at her feet as she doodled dress designs on the stationer’s sketching pad. Now that her part in the day’s activities was over, she was eager to return home and begin work on the dress, and didn’t care overly much about any of the arrangements that still needed to be made.

“Since your nuptials will be at Yule, most of the family will already be here,” Eglantine said, “but we’ll have to send out proper invitations all the same. Do you have your guest lists?”

Pimpernel nodded. “I have mine,” she said, producing a small scroll from her dress pocket. “Fendon should be bringing his later today. He wanted to look it over one more time. He keeps thinking he’s forgetting someone.”

“Do you have a rough count, Miss Pimpernel?” the stationer asked, coming out from behind his counter to take the scroll she held out for him. “And perhaps a draft of the invitation message?”

“Three hundred guests so far, but that should only come to about a hundred-and-forty invitations,” Pimpernel answered.

“Only?” the stationer repeated with a kind chuckle, his mind racing to calculate the amount of time it would take him to make and write that many invitation and reservation cards, and he still had all his other orders besides. “It is a good thing you have come so early then. You will be wanting them sent out a month in advance, as per usual?”

“Yes, of course,” Eglantine responded.

The stationer nodded his understanding and returned to his counter to look over the list. All the usual Tooks, Boffins, Bolgers, Chubbs, Bagginses, Bankses, and Brandybucks were on it. He imagined that Fendon’s list would cover all the rest and a few extra besides. On the back of the list was a draft of the invitation message, the standard form that nearly all the Tooks favored.

Eglantine and Pimpernel reached the end of one row and started up another. There were many lovely designs that they adored, and it was difficult for them to choose just one. “The simpler, the better,” Eglantine said and pointed to a plain parchment imprinted with an ivy border. “What do you think of this, dear? We can have the invitation on white parchment with gold lettering, and the reservation card in plain parchment with silver lettering.”

“That will work,” Pimpernel agreed, “but I like the holly border better. It will be Yule after all.”

“But is that what Fendon would want?” Pervinca asked, dispelling any illusion that she wasn’t paying attention. She looked up from her sketch and said smartly, “I think the invitation card should be on cream parchment, with cream envelopes and cream lettering. Fendon just loves cream.”

“I’m going to cream you!” Pimpernel threatened, shocking the poor little stationer with her outburst.

“Pimpernel! Pervinca! Behave like proper lasses!” Eglantine admonished, crimson rising in her face as she forced a smile for the stationer. “It’s been a long day,” she excused as she and Pimpernel approached the counter, her daughters now smiling too-prettily at each other.

The stationer chuckled again then winked, relaxing noticeably now that the shock of hearing such proper lasses speak so bluntly had worn off. “I’ve two lasses at home myself, Lady Eglantine,” he said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. He took the parchment Pimpernel had picked out and nodded approvingly. “I’ll get started on a mock-up for you right away. Will you be able to come back on Mersday to look it over?”

“We’ll come after luncheon,” Eglantine said and they shook hands on it. “Come lasses, I think it is past time for some food.”

“But it’s not quite luncheon yet,” Pervinca said, scooping up her doodles and the basket to follow her mother and sister outside into the heat.

“I don’t care,” Eglantine said under her breath and waved good-bye over her shoulder as the door swung closed behind them. “Now I don’t know what has got into the two of you, but work it out later. For now, stop acting like a couple of tweens and stop embarrassing me.”

“Yes Mum,” Pimpernel and Pervinca promised and followed their mother through the market to The Wooly Ram Inn.    

The inn was full of afternoon shoppers wishing for a respite from the heat. Even with all the curtains and shutters closed, the inn was only slightly cooler than outside. This unfortunate fact was remedied by pitchers of the Shire’s finest ale and plates piled high with fruit and bread. Eglantine led her daughters inside. Despite Pervinca’s protests, they were not too early for luncheon and they could save a table and relax while they waited for Fendon and his mother to join them after finishing at the tailor’s.

They chose a booth near the back of the inn, in the coolest corner they could find. The bar matron found them a few short moments later, pouring them ale before taking their orders. They ordered cold meat sandwiches and cold tea with a bowl of cut fruit, and planned out the rest of their day as they waited for their food to arrive.

“So what’s next?” Pervinca asked, wishing she had some more ink to continue working on her latest sketch.

“We need to go to Florist Largo’s in Tookbank to see what he can have grown for us by Yule,” Eglantine announced.

“Tookbank?” Pervinca repeated. “Why couldn’t Da do that then?”

“Because while we’re there, we need to stop at Azalea’s so you can pick up her Best Maid’s dress and begin the alterations on it,” Pimpernel reminded her sister. “She’s using a dress that once belonged to her grandmother and it will need to be taken in some.”

“If all it needs is taking in, I have plenty of time to do that later,” Pervinca said.

“You only say that because you’ve never seen her grandmother. Remember Lalia?” Pimpernel hinted.

“Pimpernel,” Eglantine said in a warning tone as the bar matron brought them their tea.

“Lalia?” Pervinca said with indignation. They tried not to mention the former matriarch of the Tooks if it could be helped, but it did give her some idea of what she would be dealing with. “It’d be easier just to make a new dress then!”

“Pervinca,” Eglantine warned.

“Well it’s true,” Pervinca went on. “Why, if the doors of the Smials weren’t round, Lalia wouldn’t have even been able to fit through them! Which, looking back, probably would have been better for her.”

“Pervinca Took!” Eglantine chided as the bar matron curtsied, her face bowed to hide her laughter. When the bar matron was gone, Eglantine leaned across the table. “Watch your tongue, young miss.”

“My tongue’s in my head where it’s always been,” Pervinca replied, somewhat sourly. “Did I say anything that wasn’t true?”

“You are old enough to know better than to express every thought that pops into your head,” Eglantine said in a hushed whisper. “If you must speak the truth, then at least be tactful about it.”

“Being tactful is just a nice way of lying,” Pervinca said. “You taught me to always be honest.”

“I also taught you to be polite,” Eglantine said. “I cannot fathom how you learned the one lesson and completely forgot the other.”

“I’m polite to those who deserve it, Mother, and Lalia doesn’t count among those,” Pervinca replied stubbornly.

“Everyone deserves politeness, Pervinca,” Eglantine said.

“Everyone? Even the lads who make living in the Smials a waking nightmare?” Pervinca said.

“Yes, even them,” Eglantine said. “You value honesty so much, then you listen to this. If anyone is impolite to you, it is only because you are so combative. Lads play at pranks, it’s what they do, and most lasses know to ignore them. You’re the one who has created this waking nightmare, if anyone has. The lads do something and you have to push back, and push them you do. If you aren’t careful, you’re going to end up old and alone, without ever knowing love. Is that what you want?”

The responding silence was louder than any words spoken thus far. Pervinca looked at her mother with a mixture of resentment, defiance and pain. She swallowed hard and clenched her jaw, willing the tears not to form. “Yes,” she replied at last, her voice small but scathing. “Why is it up to me to be polite and nice even when they’re not? Why does no one expect them to behave themselves? They can put snakes in my bed and glue in my shampoo, but I can’t do anything to get back at them because I’m a lass?”

“Everard would never have done such things to you if you had only let it go after the first time,” Eglantine persisted, more gently. “Your father dealt him a rather fitting punishment for putting that compost in your flower bowl. You should have been satisfied with that, and it would have ended there. But no. You just had to get back at him, and now look at where you are.”

“You don’t understand the lads these days. All they care about is winning, being the best, and the lass on their arm is the prize. Look at Cedric, that dreadful lad! He wanted to flaunt me about the Spring Fest, make a spectacle of me just to add another notch to his belt, and they were encouraging him. They don’t care what anyone else thinks or feels, so why should I?” Pervinca shot back.

“Lads can be obnoxious,” Pimpernel admitted, “especially when they’re younger, but they grow out of it. Is Da like that? Uncle Saradoc? Fendon?”

“Fendon fell face first into Aunt Heather’s bodice, in case you forgot,” Pervinca said.

“That wasn’t his fault,” Pimpernel defended. “If Pippin hadn’t shot that marble at the back of his head, he wouldn’t have lost his footing. He’s lucky he didn’t suffer a concussion! It’s bad enough he nearly suffocated in Aunt Heather’s bosom.”

Eglantine hid her face in her hands. She was either crying or laughing, or possibly doing both.

“And look at Pippin for that matter,” Pimpernel continued. “He’s not nearly as bad now as he used to be. Even Pearl’s husband, who used to be even more of a rascal than Pippin ever was, has tamed down greatly over the years. He’s a perfectly respectable fellow now. You can trust them, Vinca. Just try to be more accommodating and they’ll come around.”

“Trust them? Be accommodating?” Pervinca said dubiously. “I tried that once, and all it got me was-” She broke off, unable to continue.

“All it got you was what?” Eglantine asked, recovering from her embarrassment and indignation instantly. She heard a tone in her daughter’s voice that she had never heard before and she sensed there was some secret here that Pervinca had never told her. “What is it, dear?”

Pervinca stirred sugar into her tea, seeing again Odo Hornblower’s pompous, sneering face. She had been sweet to him all day and that had been her reward for her efforts, his mean, careless words of rejection spoken in front of nearly all the lads of Tookland, who then pointed and laughed at her for acting so silly, for acting so much like a lass.

She tapped her spoon on her teacup and shrugged. “Glue in my shampoo, remember?” she said stiffly. She sipped her tea resolutely and made a point of not looking them in the eyes. “Lads can’t be trusted, at least not any of the ones I know. This new crop of lads look unlikely to ever mature into harvest.”

“They’ll make it there, Vinca, you just need to be patient,” Pimpernel said gently. “One thing I know for certain: they’ll mature faster with kindness than they will with negligence. Then who knows? One of them might just surprise you.”

“Not all surprises are nice,” Pervinca said, silently cursing herself as she heard the strain in her voice. The tears were threatening to form again. She took another gulp of her tea, forcing it past the lump in her throat and hoping to give herself time to compose herself.

Eglantine and Pimpernel shared a perplexed glance. Neither of them knew where this sudden turn of mood was coming from, but before they could wheedle further for details, relief appeared in the form of Fendon Burrows and his mother. He respectfully pecked Pimpernel on her check and handed her a scroll containing his list of guests for her inspection, then pulled a chair out for his mother to sit.

Pervinca, for once in her life, was glad for a lad’s interruption since his presence meant that her mother and sister would not be able to keep prodding her, and she was allowed to collect herself without them scrutinizing her so closely. By the time Fendon greeted her, she was able to put on a convincing smile and happily poured him and Mistress Burrows some tea.  

Aidan was not having much luck convincing lads to voluntarily come to their deaths, but Cedric was doing much better. Every lad he talked to ended up agreeing whole-heartedly that something had to be done about Pervinca and promising to come to the stables at half-past five. Cedric only gathered more momentum with each new recruit he signed up, so he didn’t understand Aidan’s complete lack of enthusiasm when they met in the sitting room an hour later.

“Everyone thinks this is a joke,” Aidan told him.

“Really?” Cedric said, frowning. “Then you must not have explained it very well. Every lad I talked to couldn’t wait to show up.”

“Really?” Aidan replied, more than a little surprised. “Then you must not have explained it very well. What did you tell them?”

“That anyone who was tired of being bossed around by Pervinca should come to the stables a half-hour before supper,” Cedric replied, flopping down onto a settee, stretching his legs and crossing his arms behind his head.

“I take it you forgot to mention that Pervinca would be there also?” Aidan guessed.

“What they don’t know won’t hurt them,” Cedric said, unconcerned.

“They’re going to find out, Ced,” Aidan argued. “I’ve been telling the lads the truth, and it’s only a matter of time before your lads hear the whole story.”

Cedric shrugged. “They gave me their word. They have to come now. Shouldn’t Everard and Ferdi be back already?”

“Maybe they stopped on the way to do some recruiting of their own,” Aidan suggested and sat in a stuffed chair to fret about the fiasco they were so recklessly heading towards.

“The more, the merrier,” Cedric said and ran his fingers through his curls yet again. He really couldn’t wait for this heat wave to be over and for the lasses to feel more adventurous again. The continual heat has made everyone lazy and the most any of the lasses wanted to do during such grueling days was talk, a shame when he thought of how close he had been to talking Garnet Banks into a special picnic tea in the secluded Woody End. That had been a week ago and he feared he would have to begin his wooing all over again.

Outside in the tunnels, Aidan’s worries were coming true. The lads he had spoken to were beginning to mingle with Cedric’s recruits. When the full story came to light, the recruits were much less eager. They had thought they were just going to talk strategy, but they never expected for anything to actually happen, especially not so soon. True, they all disliked Pervinca, but to do something like this was as near to a death wish as any of them wanted to come.

“Don’t you all remember what happened to Odo Hornblower?” one lad said, his eyes wide with fear. Several of the lads surrounding him reflexively covered their noses.

Another lad merely laughed. “You know, I think Cedric would look good with a broken nose,” he said. “He’s the one more likely to be put in his place if you ask me, and I for one will applaud Pervinca if she can manage it. Maybe then he’ll stop plowing through all the lasses in Tookland and leave a few for the rest of us.”

Everyone paused to consider this for a moment, then more of them broke into grins and laughter. “Let’s go over there after tea!” said another lad. “I want a good seat for this show!”

They all agreed wholeheartedly, now looking forward to the meeting. Cedric Briarmoore was about to meet his match!

To be continued...

GF 9/23/07