18. Actions Of A Desperate Heart 

Head pillowed against Merry’s chest, Estella now half-dozed, listening to the low rumble of his voice as he quietly described the golden hall of Meduseld and the fair people that dwelt upon the rolling plains of Rohan.  They were very like the folk that strode through the great epics that slept on dusty shelves in her father’s house, and she could almost see the faded glories that graced the tapestries in their wide hall.

There were questions she had not asked and answers he’s not given, but Estella looked out upon the world and the hobbit at her side with changed eyes.  It was clear that some portion of his solar nature, that energy and joy that lay at the core of the person she had known, had been eclipsed by some darkness still unvoiced.  It frightened her to think of Merry as anything less than strong, and it still seemed strange to her for him to be dismissed, to be thought small.  Yet, he made much of his connection to the Men he had known and at whose side he had fought, and the sorrow in his voice as he recounted the passing of Rohan’s king had been all too clear.  There would be many years to count up every scar, to draw the bitterness from those wounds and set the memories again in the sun.  At least there should have been, and the perversity of fate stung her anew.  Too much had been too dearly bought for one pathetic fool to ruin all with a greedy swipe.  Estella had very little doubt that her dowry had been as much enticement for Goodbody as her person, if not more.

Merry felt her tense against his heart, and a quick glance at her face in the uncertain light revealed eyes narrowed in anger and lips pressed into one thin line.

“Estella?  What’s wrong?” he asked, one hand gently cupping her cheek.

“Everything!” she said, rising to pace the uneven shore.  “I don’t think I want to let him win, not even as a ruse.  I just…  I just can’t see another way and I can’t stand it!”

Merry stepped near to clasp her hands in his, secretly relieved that she was the one to reject the plan she had suggested.  He had by no means been certain he could force himself to let her walk into Tengo’s grasping hands.  To sacrifice one’s life for another seemed small compared to that.  The dead found peace after their torment, but the living could expect no such respite from their own hearts and memories.

“Where will wants not, a way opens,” he said with a grim smile.  “The White Lady was not wrong, even in her despair.  We will find another way.”

“But where?”

“That is the question, isn’t it?” he said, turning about to glance at the sheer wall and broken ground.  “The crack above is beyond us, even if we had a rope, and I’d be willing to bet the current as it enters the pool is too strong to swim against, even for me.  See how it eddies about against the rock face?”  He shook his head and frowned.

“Well, the water must go out somewhere…” Estella suggested, though her sidelong glance at the dark stream was anything but comfortable.

“That it must, but whether it is a path we can follow is an entirely different question.  Still, it is worth looking at.”

They walk towards the rock wall that divided the cave from its entryway, skirting the lonely stranger’s remains with exaggerated care.  Dropping a soft kiss upon her cheek, Merry waded out into the current.  The icy water rose quickly and it soon became obvious that the small passage they had used was only a kind of overflow channel that filled when rain had swollen the small river past its usual bounds.  The current pressed him hard against the smooth rock so he practically crawled sideways along its surface, fighting the increasing downward pull with all his strength.  He soon turned back, breathless and none the wiser.

“The current is pulling far too strongly for me to simply take a look,” he said, shivering upon the shore.  “Once in its grasp, we’d never come back up until it spit us out at the other end, and that could mean as far as the Brandywine without a breath.  It looks like the only way out is going to be through Goodbody’s thugs.”

“But how?  You said yourself there are too many of them to fight off.”

“Quick and quiet will have to be our way.  If they are as stupid as they seem, we probably lure them in and slip out behind them.”

“It’s too risky!  If they catch us, they’ll make quite sure to kill you this time!”

“We can sit here and starve together, like that poor fellow, if you’d rather.”

“But Pippin and Freddy…”

“Have no idea where we are, and…  And I don’t know they are well enough to search for us,” he finished in a low voice.

“What are you talking about?”

“That ambush may have been set for us, but I suspect they set another for our friends, to keep them from following us, at least for a while.  Who knows what they’ve done?”

“No!  How can they think to make so many disappear without being caught?  It is madness!”

“People don’t always make sense, my love.  But there is hope still.  Odds are good these ruffians have failed to do more than delay our friends, just as they’ll fail to keep us here another day.  Come, we must set our own trap for these rats before they come for you,” he said, taking her hand in his with a tight grin.

***   ***  ***

They had lost the trail.  Bare rock, swept free of any track or sign that they could find had left them wandering the barren hills for two hours now without success.  As the westering sun threw up its last golden rays and the searchers made a final tour of the dry riverbed they had come across, the clear cadence of galloping ponies echoed in the evening air.  Taking cover, they soon saw a small group of hobbits pass below they position and turn up into the darkening hills.  Tengo Goodbody rode gracelessly at their head, an uncommonly long blade at his side.

“Mount up!  The wretch will lead us straight on himself!” Pippin said angrily.

As they readied themselves to follow, they were joined by Berilac and his companions.

“I’d hoped to find Goodbody raging after his escaped prisoners tonight,” the one-eyed Brandybuck growled, wiping the dust and sweat of their nervous ride from his face.  “I thought we’d lost him a dozen times and been discovered twice that.”

“I’m afraid we’ve had no luck yet, but I don’t think even a ranger could have tracked anything across this mess.”

“I really must meet one of the rangers someday.  You two seem quite taken with their skills,” Berilac grumbled.

“I hope never to have need of one again, but you may yet get your wish, cousin,” Pippin replied as they set out, though his eyes obviously gazed upon other lands than those that lay before them.

***   ***   ***

Their plan had sounded simple enough, but Estella felt her heart gallop in her chest as the sound of rock scraping on rock ground through the air.  The golden light of sunset seeped through the widening gap, at first blinding, then revealing Merry’s worried frown on the other side of the opening.  He nodded once and stepped back, and she flattened herself against the cave wall.

“Estella dear!” Tengo called, entering the cave with a flickering torch held high.

His hobbits stumped in after him carelessly, never glancing to either side.  The rascals all walked straight to the small mound she and Merry had made of the stranger’s sad remains, huddled beneath the rich green Rohan cloak.  After the last of them passed the arch, she sprang lightly through it into fresh air, Merry two steps behind her.  A rough hand snatched her arm and dragged her to a stop against the chest of a dark hooded hobbit.

“Ho there!  The mice have fled!” he cried before crumpling at her feet with a groan, nose streaming blood from the sharp impact of Merry’s fist.

“Run!” Merry called, shoving her towards the growing darkness beyond the circle of torchlight.  “I’m right behind you!”

“After her, you fools!” the cry came from within the cave.

The pounding of racing feet was sharp in her ears though nearly drowned by her thundering heart.  She crashed gratefully through the brush at the foot of the hill, the last glimmer of sunset limning the vague forms of trees ahead.  She was snatched off her feet and held tight as soon as she reached cover and her heart sank.  Biting hard on the fingers against her mouth, she writhed about, digging elbows back into her captor.

“Blast it, cousin, be still!” a voice hissed in her ear and she froze.

A sudden rush of movement filled the little wood and soon a pair of hooded hobbits were thrown, bound and gagged, at her feet, and a third lay dead in the grass.

“Where’s Merry?” she asked, turning to Pippin as he released her.  “He was right behind me.”

The tall hobbit shook his head.  “No one else came down the hill.  He’s still up there.”

***   ***   ***

Pinned against the ground by three hard-handed hobbits, Merry couldn’t help but grin.  They would all sport spectacular bruises come morning, and it looked as if Tengo had lost his prize into the night.  If Estella’s pursuers were going to catch her, they already would have done so by now.  There really had been little chance they’d both escape, but at least Estella was free and unhurt.  Nothing else mattered as much.

“What have you got to grin about, boy?”  Tengo snarled, rough fingers turning Merry’s face towards him.  “I don’t think you understand what’s happening here, but you will soon enough!  Take him in.”

They dragged him up, adding enough kicks and jabs as they did so to slow their progress into the darkness.  They flung him down and busied themselves wedging lit torches about the small chamber while Tengo held Merry’s slim blade to his throat.

“It’s a fine sword, I’ll hate to lose it, but I really can’t afford to be caught with it after you disappear.”

“How did you come to this, Goodbody?  Kidnapping, murder, rape?  Didn’t we have enough of that from the ruffians?”

“Come now, you’re not that naïve are you?  The strong have always taken what was their due, those Men just dispensed with the niceties.  There was much to learn for those that had the intelligence to do so.”

“You worked for them, then?  You were one of Lotho’s little cronies.”

“Ha!  Lotho was a fool!  I knew he didn’t have what it takes to keep those Men in line.  It was only a matter of time before things slipped his control, so I kept my mouth shut.  Silent partners can profit and pull out when things get a little hot.”

“It will never happen again.  That time is past…”

“That’s what you think!  There’s plenty the ambitious can accomplish here.  But as for you, my young troublemaker…  There are more subtle arts than murder to be learned from Men.  Just killing you now wouldn’t begin to soothe the irritation you’ve caused me.”

The older hobbit smiled, round face alight with cold glee.  Rough hands again pressed Merry against the hard rock.

“A sword is such a crude tool, really,” Tengo said, lightly tracing an invisible line along Merry’s body from neck to groin.  “What fun is there in simply gutting your enemies, when a little patience yields such entertaining results.”

He flung the sword across the dark cave, where it landed with a ring and a splash on the edge of the little pool of water.  Crouching down over his rival, he drew a small blade whose gently curving edge glinted wickedly in the flickering light.

“You see,” he started, carefully snipping off the small buttons with its razor-sharp edge as he spoke, “Any hobbit might face direct attack with some courage, even fight back or keep silent as he saw fit.  Your kin are particularly stubborn that way, quite the challenge to get any information out of them.” He pressed the dagger’s point over Merry’s heart.  “You make my very point with your angry stares.  If telling me the color of the grass would stay my hand, you would die with a curse on your lips rather than say ‘green’ right now.  However,” he continued, turning his attention to the smooth skin below Merry’s ribs, “If you make of pain a promise…” The knife bit a shallow line across his middle. “Well, who wouldn’t rather avoid a few more days of this?” he asked, continuing to draw the blade over chest and stomach, movements deliberate and slow, as he watched his rival with obvious satisfaction.  Perspiration beaded upon Merry’s face, tensed before every stroke, the occasional groan escaping clenched jaws as the fiery trail of pain hitched on a particularly sensitive spot.  But his eyes, still defiant and hard, remained fixed on his captor.  Tengo smirked, changing his last caressing slice into a vicious jab.  “Surprises also have their place, wouldn’t you say?” he laughed, as already straining muscles jumped to pull away from the sudden agony in his left shoulder.

“What do you want?” Merry snarled.

“Nothing.  Well, nothing now, nothing from you.  Our lovely wildcat however…  Well, that is what you are paying for today, isn’t it?  I’ll think of you fondly in this dark place alone when I have from her all that marriage vows allow.”

“Too late,” Merry whispered, grinning through the red haze of pain.  “Consent and consummation are all the law requires, and that is done…”

“Liar!” Tengo snarled, hands flying up to crush the breath from his enemy. “You lie!  You lie!”

***   ***   ***

Estella anxiously watched the dark cave mouth where her rescuers had disappeared.  Full night had fallen in the twenty minutes since she had gone flying from that wretched hole and the last few, cautiously stealing back up the hillside, had seemed to drag by like years.

Sudden movement and light ahead caught her eye and she saw a trio of disheveled hobbits led out by archers and forced to kneel upon the rocky ground.  She leapt to her feet and dashed across the bare terrain.  Half-way there, a dark rider galloped past, his body flat against the pony’s neck in urgent haste.

A few feet from the entrance, a young Bucklander stepped before her, barring her way.

“Wait, no!  Miss Bolger, you can’t…”

“Get out of my way!” she interrupted, trying to shove past him without success.

“You can’t go in there yet,” he pleaded.

Further protest on her part died on her tongue as she watched two hobbits drag a third into the flickering light of the torches.  For an endless horrified moment, her worst fears seemed realized, until she noticed the utter disregard and contempt with which the arrow-riddled body was handled.  She snatched the torch from the young archer and pushed past him, coming to stand over the chief instigator of the last two days’ events.  Her healer’s eye caught the faintest flick of a pulse at his throat and she knelt close to put her lips to Tengo’s ear.

“I could not save you now, even if I wished, but I want you to know that I leave you gladly here to rot like the vermin you truly are,” she whispered harshly and walked away.