Chapter Five - Goose Bumps

The lunging dog didn’t go for Merry, instead he soared overhead. And Pippin watched as the third dog jump at him then reflexively threw his arms up to protect himself. He fell over backwards with the dog’s momentum and even waited for a muzzle to begin tearing into his flesh, but it never came. Pippin did feel the dog land on him, nearly crushed underneath its weight. However, Pippin next heard the dogs cry out and whimper, running off back towards the cornfields.

Pippin still trembled when he peeked around his shielding arms. He was almost too afraid to move. “Merry?” Pippin could hear his cousin out of breath and gasping for air. Seeing no one about, he sat up, “Merry? Are you all right?”

Merry, too, sat up, holding his leg, “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

Pippin slowly pushed himself up with no other thought than to go to his cousin’s aide. However, when he stood up, out of the corner of his eye Pippin saw a dull light emanating from behind him. Slowly he turned around then froze in place. Pippin couldn’t remember ever seeing anything like the sight that stood before him this night. Like the Big Folk he looked. The tall person sat upon a horse with a carefree expression on his fair face. He wore a silver coloured tunic with green trousers tucked inside soft leather boots. Draped over his well-formed shoulders was a yellow mantle that matched the long golden tresses that were plaited and swept to the back of his head.

Pippin swallowed hard--who was this? What did he want?

The tall being gazed down at the small figure and said. “Greetings, Peregrin Took!” He looked past Pippin to Merry, “And Meriadoc Brandybuck! Nothing else will trouble you, my friends. Be at peace.”

“Hullo.” Pippin glanced round for a second to see if Merry understood anything about this--Man? Undaunted though, Pippin quickly recovered. “Sir, who are you, and how do you know our names?”

But Pippin never received an answer to his question. The Elf suddenly turned his steed about and departed into the darkness without another word.

Pippin quickly closed the distance between him and Merry, “Did you see what I just saw?”

Merry still stared in the direction where the Elf was standing. “I don’t know...,” he trailed off.

Pippin nudged him, “You had better say yes!”

“Did you get a good look at him?” Merry fixed his gaze into the darkness.

“He stood directly in front of me, silly! Of course I got a good look at him.” Then Pippin asked, “Do you think he was a Man…or an Elf?”

“I’ve seen Big Folk selling their goods near the Hay Gate,” Answered Merry, “and none of them looked like this fellow.” Merry stood up and at once Pippin saw the shreds of fabric around his cousin’s knee.

Pippin crouched down, “Let me have a look at your leg.” He quickly scanned Merry’s leg for an open wound. “That was too close, cousin! I see only a scratch on your leg where your trousers were ripped.”

Merry, now quite unsettled, looked around at the trees. Dogs and Elves? “Let’s get out of here,” he said re-gathering his scattered plunder, “this place is giving me goose bumps!”

The hobbits dared not go back the same way they came, and so it took them a while before they came back round to the fence where they left their packs. They divided their spoils before they moved on, and there was plenty enough for both--even Pippin managed to scoop up a few potatoes and carrots along the way. After they feasted, they walked for several more hours until they were farther south of the East Farthing road.

Pippin began to lag. “I must have a rest, Merry,” he said. He sat down right where he stood. Nearby in the moonlight stood a fir tree with a pile of soft needles underneath it’s widespread branches. “I don’t even have a blanket to lay on,” he said mournfully.

Merry sat down next to his cousin. “I did manage to pack my cloak, though what pressed me, I cannot say. We can share it.” Together they lay under the branches of the fir tree and tried to get comfortable. Merry couldn’t get comfortable with all the needles poking through his cloak. Eventually, he heard Pippin’s deep breathing, and thought he was asleep. He decided to get up for one last look around. When he did so, he noticed bits of light flickering through the nearby tree branches. He whispered, “Woodhall!”

“It didn’t look too far away,” mumbled Pippin. “Can’t we seek it out in the morning?”

Knowing how weary his cousin was, Merry sighed, “I suppose it won’t hurt us to sleep outside for one night, though I can easily imagine myself in a soft feather bed inside of a bedroom.” The moon was high in the sky when the young hobbits fell into a deep in slumber, worn out from their long and arduous day.

When Pippin opened his eyes, fragments of morning sunlight were dancing upon his face through the boughs of the fir tree. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. He noticed Merry had already awoke. “Merry?” His only answers were birds calling to each other from around the trees and a soft summer breeze wafting through the leaves of tall trees. He drank in a deep breath of the fresh air as it brushed past his cheeks. Pippin stood up and looked about the area. No Merry to be seen. “Merry!” Pippin called louder this time.

“Up here!” Came Merry’s far away sounding voice. Pippin looked up, squinting and shading his eyes to better search the trees. “Behind you!” Pippin spun about and then crossed his arms seeking for the hobbit that belonged to the voice. Then he saw his dear friend waving from an old rickety tree.

Pippin shook his head, “What are you doing up there? I thought you were a Brandybuck!”

“I’m half Took! C’mon and see why I‘m up here.”

It didn’t take long for Pippin to climb up; it was indeed an old, rickety apple tree. Not much fruit on it, but there was enough to feed two hungry hobbits. Pippin tested a sturdy low branch and then scooted out to pluck one of the sweet fruits. He took a bite and then thought about their activities for the day. “Are we still going after Frodo, Merry?”

Merry nodded, chewing a mouthful. Then after swallowing, he said further, “Though I don’t think we’ll be running much of it like yesterday. He’s probably got there by now. I’m only curious as to why he had to be there so soon…and what he was doing there.” Then he proceeded to clean off the rest of his apple.

“How are we going to do that?” asked Pippin.

“Keep a close eye on him,” answered Merry.

Pippin paused before taking another bite, “You mean, we’re going spy on Frodo when we find him?”

Merry flung his apple core away, “I prefer to think of it as....protecting our cousin.” He then began to relieve a couple fragile branches of their burdens, gently tossing the apples to the ground.

Pippin finished his round of apple breakfast and began to climb back down to level ground and gather them up. He surveyed the meagre supply then remarked, “I only hope our chase isn’t like this tree; rather fruitless!”

Merry and Pippin walked at an easier pace towards Woody End with a brief stop at Woodhall to see about more food. Both lads had kin who lived there and were able to stock up on their provisions. The lads inquired about a pony, but none were available for purchase. Merry had little money with him after spending it on food in Bywater, and Pippin carried even less. So if anyone did have a beast of burden to sell, combining their wealth together they couldn’t have afforded it.

On they marched with only one break until the sun was at her zenith. They stopped for a light lunch and a nap in the shade of the woodland trees. Now that they weren’t so much in a hurry and exhausted as they were the day before, Pippin felt he could now ask his cousin a few questions that have been on his mind.

“Merry?”

“Hmm?”

“Why would an Elf be in the Shire?”

Merry lay with his hands behind his head, gazing up at the leaves in the tree. He answered, “I’ve been wondering about that myself, Pip. This was the first time I’ve actually seen one, too.”

“And he knew our names! My father has told me many tales of the Old Took--and our Uncle Isengar--visiting Elves with Gandalf. Do you suppose that’s what Frodo’s doing?”

“I don’t know, Pippin,” was all Merry would say, though he did muse on Pippin’s proposal; Bilbo also had visited with Elves. He and Pippin believed Bilbo when he told such in his stories. But what was the connection? Why would Frodo take up with Elves? Then to complicate matters even further, Merry remembered Bilbo’s magic ring. Old Gandalf knew magic...and so did Elves…magic ring. The tweenager fell asleep trying to tie it all together. This wee conundrum would keep Merry puzzled for the next fourteen years.