Chapter Six - A Turn for the Worse

Merry was not one to intrude, but he had knocked twice and still no one came to the door. He quietly twisted the door handle and entered. He was startled when his aunt came hurriedly into the parlor a bit winded. “Oh, Merry, I’m so glad it’s you! Please come in--I’m in need of your help!”

Merry and Frodo trailed her into Pippin’s bedroom where the teen was still sleeping. Something was wrong with Pippin; his aunt was frantic. Merry saw that Pippin lay on his bed twisted and wrapped in a thick quilt.

Eglantine held her hands out in frustration towards her son, “He’s burning up with fever and I can’t unwrap him! Can you help me for a bit, Merry?” Then she noticed Frodo and thanked them both for dropping by.

“Of course, but I shall send for Mistress Salinda.” Merry was unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling up his sleeves.

“No, Merry, I’ve heard she’s tending to a very sick little child, but is there another, or does Mistress Salinda have an apprentice perhaps?”

“I daresay she does--I will send for Merimas at once.” Merry left to give instructions to fetch his cousin Merimas who was with Salinda at the Goldworthy’s apartments. A few minutes later he returned to find his aunt wringing a cloth in cool water and setting it on Pippin’s brow. Frodo was trying unsuccessfully to unravel the quilt from Pippin. Merry joined in the effort by untangling his cousin at the other end by his feet.

After a few pulls and tugs Pippin woke up, “Stop.” His voice was weak and weary, “They’re mine--,” he tugged back feebly.

“Pippin, you are far too warm,” Eglantine told her son.

“No, I’m cold.” Pippin was too tired to fight for his blankets, so he curled up into a tight ball to keep warm.

Frodo and Eglantine settled in two chairs already in the room. Merry took a wooden chair for himself from in the parlor and set it on the other side of the bed.

Eglantine swept the hair away from her forehead, “I had to leave for a small spell--I thought it was only a few minutes but I ended up talking to Essie about the sick lass. When I had returned, he I found him all bundled up under a pile of blankets--and in yet another quilt. He must have got up and grabbed every blanket in the wardrobe while I was out.”

Merry didn’t say anything, but inwardly he winced. He was instructed by his father to look in on his aunt frequently for just that reason.

Pippin coughed a few times. If he could curl tighter for more warmth, he’d certainly try. “I’m freezing! Why can’t I have my blankets? My feet feel like ice.”

Eglantine got up and put her hand to his face and forehead, then shook her head. “You’re still very warm, son. I’ll let you have one blanket and no more.”

A knock on the door was followed by a haggard looking young hobbit. “Hullo! Is anybody--” Then he saw the small crowd in Pippin’s bedroom. “Hullo Merry...Frodo,” He nodded to Eglantine, “and hullo, Mistress Eglantine.” Indicating to Pippin in the bed, “I take it this is the young hobbit that needs seeing to?”

“Yes, he’s been warm most of the day,” explained Eglantine, “until I left a little while ago, then it seems his fever rose--after he buried himself in thick blankets. Now he complains of feeling terribly cold even though he is very hot to the touch. He coughs every now then, too.”

Merimas put his leather bag down then sat on the bed, “Is he coughing up anything?”

“Yes,” answered Eglantine.

Merimas put his ear to Pippin’s chest, “Breathe for me, Pip.”

“I am breathing.”

Merimas sat up and chuckled, “No, I mean breathe deeply several times.”

“Oh.” Pippin did as he was asked when Merimas put his ear back down, and then went into a coughing fit.

Merimas reached under Pippin’s blanket and felt his stomach, then felt his forehead. “Are you hungry, Pip? I could fry an egg on you.” Merimas put forth his best bedside manner.

“But I’m not hungry.”

“All right, jesting over,” said Merimas. “I shall need to listen to your chest again, so you need to be quiet so I can concentrate, all right?” After what seemed a few minutes, Merimas turned to Eglantine. “How long has he had this cough?”

Eglantine went into dissertation of Pippin’s recent illnesses. “He acquired the cough this last time he was sick--oh, it was last week. He begged to come to Rory’s burial, but after we arrived in Buckland we realized we erred. He should have stayed home to rest more.”

Merimas made a face, “Well, I tend to agree with you on that, but I don’t think his cough is what’s causing his illness, but I think it’s his illness that is aggravating it. We will need to bring down his fever and then continue the ministrations Mistress Salinda began last night.” He turned to Merry and Frodo, “We will need to use the wash room in this tunnel, and to have a towel and blanket ready.” Merry and Frodo left to find help in filling the washtub with water.

“Is it that serious?” Eglantine began to be worried.

Merimas chose his words carefully so as not to upset her more. “He’s not in any danger yet, and I want to make sure it stays that way.” Then he said, “When everything is ready, I would like for you to go to the dining hall and eat something. It won’t do him any good if his mother isn’t strong enough to sit with him thereafter.” And it won’t do you any good to hear him screaming from the cold feeling of the water, he thought more to himself.

She let out a long sigh, “But the last time I left him he took a turn for the worse.”

“Mistress Eglantine--”

“Please, call me Tina.”

“Very well--Mistress Tina, I know I’m only an apprentice, but I’ve been an apprentice for nearly ten years. Trust me, you need your strength as well as he needs his, and I will see to Pippin’s health for now...and you must see to yours.”