Instruments

of Evil 

Chapter 2

by Beethoven’s 7th  

Written for Marigold’s Challenge #9

Rated PG-13 for violence

In the peaceful Shire, few gave thought to the dangers that might be outside one’s door on a late winter’s night.  When a knock was heard on the door Till opened it with no expectation of evil waiting.  On a night such as this, the worst a hobbit could be normally be expected to find is a stranded neighbor looking for a warm place to sleep until morning.  Unfortunately, evil had come to the Shire.  Standing on the doorstep was one of the Big Folk.  He was a smarmy looking creature.  Immediately, Till’s heart clenched with fear.  Surely, this man could not intend good toward them. 

He had heard rumors of men slowly filtering in to the Shire and up to no good, but remote as their farm was he had not yet seen any.  Till had given the rumors  very little thought.  Even the story he had heard a month or so back of that Baggins fellow and his friends leaving the shire in a haste with black riders on their tail had not alarmed him overly much  The Baggins and Tooks had reputations for doing and encountering unusual things, and causing unusual happenings.  The occasional dwarf that passed through muttered about darkness and evil growing in the east.  But Till was a simple hobbit with simple needs and pleasures.  Such things did not concern him nor his family.  They were a distant thing.

Moving to stand in the doorway and therefore block the man from entering the house, Till said “Good evening to ye sir.  What can such hobbits as ourselves do for ye on this cold evening?”

“Ah, little mister, me name is Stor me friends here, Gant and Froag and I are simply passing through your area and find ourselves needing a warm place to stay the night.  We mean you no harm sir.  We're on our way home from a visit with a friend of ours, Mr. Lotho Baggins.  Perhaps you've heard of him?”

The name given to him by the man further filled Till with dread.  If Lotho Baggins was involved with these men, then he was sure they were up to no good, and so he answered warily, “Aye, I have heard of him, although I don’t know him personally.”

“Well there, that’s fine then, but let me tell you.  Lotho Baggins is going to become a power in these parts, make no mistake about that.  I’m sure he would be plenty grateful to you ifen you were to let us come into your lovely house here and partake of your lovely wife there’s hospitality.  And my my, what a lovely daughter you do have!  Why, I don’t believe I’ve seen lovelier yet in this here Shire. ”

“My apologies sir, but as ye can see, our humble home would be uncomfortably cramped for such great men as yourselves.” Till told them.

“Oh but you are mistaken master hobbit.  We are accustomed to wee hobbit holes and could make ourselves comfortable quite easily.  So if you don’t mind, we’ll just be coming in and making ourselves comfortable.”  As he said this Stor tried to push past Till so as to enter the house.

With all the strength he possessed, Till pushed the man back and succeeded in shoving him back into the arms of his comrades.  “I believe it is time for you men to be leaving.  Ye will not enter my home.  I suggest ye make yer way back to Lotho’s or a public inn.  And with that he made to push the door closed.

Stor and his men dropped all pretenses of kindness now and began to force their way through the doorway.  “It was very unwise of you to refuse us welcome master hobbit.  It is very cold outside and if you won’t offer us your hospitality, why then we shall just have to find some other way to keep ourselves warm.  Perhaps your purty daughter could come and keep me warm”

~ c ~

By the time Till was trying to force the door closed, Iris fully realized the immanent danger.  She pushed the children toward the back of the house.  “Harmony, take your brother and sister to the back of the house.  Hide.  Don’t come out again until your father and I come for you.” 

Harmony led her brother and sister to the dark pantry in the back of the house, guessing it to be the least likely place the men would search for them.  Harmony knew nothing of the lengths evil would go to achieve its purposes, and so to her, hiding seemed the safest thing for the younger ones to do.  “Cord, I need you to stay here and take care of Flute.  Stay hidden until Momma comes to find you.  You have to stay very quiet!  Do you understand?”

“No Harmony I don’t!  What is going on?  Who are those large men?  Aren’t you staying here with us?

“No Cord.  I’m going to go for help.  If I take the pony maybe I can get over to the next farm and get help.”

“But Harmony!  The next farm is so far away!  How can you possibly get there in time?”

Frustrated with his questions and more scared than she had ever felt in her life, Harmony responded firmly, “I don’t KNOW Cord!  I just know I have to try!” and then seeing the tears and fear in the smaller children’s eyes, she softened her tone “Papa is trying his best, and we need to do the same.  Can you do that for me Cord?  Can you be just as brave as you can and keep little Flute here safe and hidden?”

Watching her little brother screw up his courage made Harmony swell with pride, but she didn’t have time to dwell on such matters.  It would take her time to dig out the old saddle, kept only for such emergencies as going for a healer, and then to figure out how to put it on the pony.  She had only seen her father saddle the pony once, the time he went for the healer when her sister was to be born, but she didn’t think it looked very difficult.  She was just sure she could figure it out.  And so with a last smile of encouragement at her brother and sister she turned and headed out of the back door to the barn.

~ c ~

Now thoroughly alarmed, Till dropped all pretense of hospitality and put all of his weight into trying to get the door closed.  Although even as he did so he realized the futility of it.  The Shire was unused to evil and dangerous creatures, and therefore very few doors had ways to bar anyone from entering with force.  He could seal his door against the elements, but he knew that it would not stand up against the hulking men outside.  His only thought was to protect his family in whatever way he could.  Before he could formulate a further plan however the door exploded open, removed even from its hinges, knocking him across the room. 

The men quickly followed the falling door into the hobbit home.  Their large bulk filled the space of what was to the hobbits a spacious, comfortable and love filled room.  The comfort and love were shattered now though, and the room was now a small place filled with evil and fear.  Stor grabbed hold of Till by the front of his shirt while Froag loomed over Iris grinning lecherously.  Gant began ransacking the house to see what there was to make off with.  Holding Till up close to his face he said with his foul breath washing over his victim, "It's not neighborly to refuse a man on a cold night such as this.  Me mates and I are cold see, and we think this here hobbit home looks like it could be right nice and toasty."

At this point, Till was entirely out of his element.  He had no experience nor had he even second hand knowledge of how to deal with savages such as these. He now wished that he had paid more attention to the stories being passed around at the pub last time he was in town.  He now said simply, "Please sir, don't harm me family.  Take whatever you’re wantin’, but leave my wife and children be!"

"Well master hobbit!" said Stor, " It shur is right nice of ye to be offerin' such things, but te tell ye the truth, be mates and I here are right upset at yer behavior earlier, and we just don't feel inclined te be quite so forgiven, if ye take my meanin. Lotho warned us that we might me comin' upon upity hobbits such as yerself who would not be welcoming to the new order of things, so I've done decided that we are going to make a lesson of you and your'n.  First, we're gonna take whatever we be wantin' from this house, then we're gonna burn it to the ground!  I recken this house will make a right bright blaze te serve as a signal and warning to all yer upity neighbors just what will happen if they refuse the kindness of Lotho and anyone he sends their way."

"Please sir!" pleaded Till, "Take what ye want but please spare my home.  We have no other place to live!"

"Oh, heh heh, ye won't be have'tin te worry about where te live master hobbit, heh heh, Cause yer gonna be in it when it burns!  We can't be lettin' such unkindness go unpunished. heh heh" 

These words finally released Iris from her frozen state and she screamed. "NO, Not my children!"

"Ye know mistress hobbit; I do believe you are right!  I don't believe that we will leave the children. Shur, we are going to need someone to deliver the message for us aren't we? Gant, go find them hobbit brats."

Gant left the main room. Till was still hanging by his shirt front uselessly struggling to gain his freedom.  Iris tried to make a dash to the back of the house in an attempt to save her children, but was caught quickly by Froag.  She wriggled and kicked and bit with a fury that only a mother protecting her young could have.

"Oy, Stor!  I've got meself a wild one here!  What should I do wid it?"

"Bonk 'er on the head and then tie 'er up.  Can't have 'er escapin' now can we?"

At these words Till redoubled his efforts to escape to no avail.  Stor only tightened his grip and said, "Now now, Don't make me knock you out too!  Ye'll be wantin' to say g'bye te yer wee ones I'm sure."  Sensing that he should save some strength just in case the chance came for escape, Till settled his fighting and remained vigilant.  Meanwhile, Froag tied his still unconscious wife into the rocking chair.  The same rocking chair he had made for her and in which she had spent countless hours rocking their children when they were babes, or mending the family’s clothes.  The image of her burning in that chair was more than he could allow his mind to form.

Meanwhile, Gant came back to the room with the two younger children.  He was pulling them along roughly by their arms, the two young faces were already quite dirty, and tear stained.  However, at this time, they had both been terrified into silence and therefore made not a sound.  "Here's the two little-uns,” grunted Gant, “couldn't find the pretty girl though.  And these two don't seem much willing te tell me where she is."

"You, there, boy!" growled Stor.  "Where did yer sister go?  Answer right quick er I'll start beatin on yer pa here."

"No son!  Don't answer!"

Crunch!

Stor sent his fist into Tills face smashing his nose and sending blood pouring down.  With that bit of evidence to convince him that Stor meant to do what he said, Cord said quietly, "She left, to go find help.  She hid us and left.  She was . . was.. goin’ to t-t-try to . . to .. get the pony saddled and ride her."

"Ah, What a helpful lad you are." sneered Stor.  "See now son, ifen yer father had been as accomadatin' we may have been able te be nicer te yer family.  But as it is, I'm afraid were gonna have te make examples of yer folks here.  Seein' as how yer so helpful and all though, we're gonna let yer little sister an yerself deliver a message fer us.  Yer gonna tell the folks that's shur te come and find ye, that those what mess with Lotho and his men, well, they won't be allowed te live quietly is all, in fact, they may not be allowed te live at all."

"Um, Stor, um, I thought we was just supposed to lock up any as didn't cooperate so as te make em work fer us.  Ya know, feedin us an buildin’ things an all." said Froag hesitantly.

"You idiot, I'm the leader of this here detachment, an I'm thinking’ that a family burned te death in there own home will be just the thing te strike fear inte the rest of these here hobbits so as te make the roundin’ up of the rest of them go that much smoother.  We'd only be loosin' the two of them, seeing as how we're letting the small ones go."

"Oh, Yeah yeah, I see.  Yeah, that's a good plan Stor!" replied Froag sycophantly.

"Of course it is!  I thought of it didn't I!  Now boy, what yer gonna do is tell those as come te find ye all that happened here.  Now, you be sure te tell 'em the whole story.  Tell em how yer pa here wouldn't allow us in, and how we were forced to break our way in and take what it was we wanted an you even tell em how we've beat yer parents here and them burned them alive in their own house.  An then you tell 'em that the same'll happen te any who decide te be just as unfriendly te any of Lotho Baggin's men.  An just te be sure ye do, we’re gonna take yer lovely sister with us, just as soon as we fetch her.  Maybe you'll see her again someday, and maybe ye won't.  Mayhap it depends on how good a boy ye are fer us."

The two children were now just as terrified as they could possibly be.  In fact, terror was too small a word for the pure fear that filled them.  Seeing what these evil men had already done to their parents and hearing what they had planned to do next, caused them to go into a state of shock.  They had trouble simply taking breath and little Flute began once again to cry, furiously yet soundlessly.  Cord looked to his father, surely he, always so strong in his eyes, would be able to tell him what to do?  But no, he could see that these men were too big and strong, even for his father.  Till tried to maintain a brave face for his children, so that they wouldn't be frightened more than need be.  He was still holding out.  Hoping that at some point, he would get a chance to fight back and somehow save his family.  He hoped that at least Harmony was able to get away.  She wouldn't be soon enough back with help to save them, but at least she was out of their clutches. 

"Gant, you take them little-uns outside there, well away from the house where they'll be nice and safe like." Gant ordered, "Find a tree and tie em up to it.  Don't want em te be to close te the house ye know when it goes up in flame. Don't want our little message bearers te be hurt none.  Tie em nice an tight.  Froag, why don't you go on outside and catch hold of that lovely little hobbit lass.  She could prove to be, em, useful to us and I think we'll be taken her along when we go."

The hope that Till had clung to was draining from him.  It was all happening so fast.  How could this be happening?  He had heard stories of lurking evil men, but this was the Shire.  It was safe.  If he had lived out near Bree or some such area where the Big Folk were common he might have expected it.  But this was the Shire!  Oh why hadn't he listened to the stories!  But would it have helped?  If he hadn't opened the door to start with, would them men have gone on and let them be?  Somehow he doubted it.  The only hope that remained to him was that Iris, that beautiful lass he had married years ago and who had born his children for him, would remain unconscious.  Remain unconscious and therefore not feel smoke she would be likely inhale, nor the flame as it ate her flesh.

~ c ~

Meanwhile, Harmony had hurried out the back door and past her mother's vegetable garden some distance from the house to where the barn stood.  She knew where the saddle to the pony was kept, but she was becoming less and less sure as she hurried along that she would be able to discover how to put it on the pony, but she knew she had to try.  So into the barn she went and back to the back of the barn where tools and such were kept.  There she found the saddle up on a rack.  Taking a deep breath, she stepped to it, put hands on either side and lifted.  She had never actually lifted the saddle before and had to try again before she was able to finally drag it off its perch and onto the floor.  How would she manage to get this then up onto the pony?  First she had to get it to the pony and so she started dragging it across the floor.

At the pony's stall she paused to catch her breath, but only for a moment as she knew that her family in the house had little time to spare.  Opening the door to the stall, she drug the saddle in.  Bracing herself, she used all of her strength to lift the heavy saddle to the pony's back.  Stepping back to see how she had done, she was distraught to realize she had put the saddle on backwards. With tears welling in her eyes, she pulled the saddle down and began again.  This time she got it on the pony facing the correct position.  She then left the stall to go back to the storage room to retrieve the rest of the tack.  In the process of pulling the mysterious assorted straps down from their pegs, she got them a bit tangled up, but she was sure that she could get the mess sorted out when she was in the stall with the pony.  Entering the stall once more, she sank against the side of the stall in frustration.  The saddle, which she had not belted around the pony's girth, was now once again on the ground.  Wiping the newest batch of tears from her eyes, she moved to the saddle with resolve and started over once again to settle the saddle on the pony's back and then to figure out the mess of mysterious straps.

Harmony was just about to give up on the hopeless mess she had created with the straps when the door to the barn creaked open.  Her heart pounded with fear.  She hoped beyond hope that it was her father telling her that the men had left, and her mother and siblings were now safe inside.  Her hopes were dashed when the smarmy face of Froag appeared over the door to the stall.

She was too late.  She had wasted too much time messing with the fool saddle.  Oh why hadn't she just ridden the pony bare back, or even just run.  Anything had to be better than being caught by those men.  Grinning lecherously, Froag slowly opened the stall door and stepped inside.  What Harmony had considered to be a roomy stable for the pony was now crowded and close with the large man in it.  She couldn't breath, nor move except to step back until she reached the wall and then to slide down it to the floor. 

"Nice pony ye got here miss.  Yep, I recken she'll do just fine to haul the, er, booty we'll be taken from yer lovely little home there.  Now then, let's see, I guess this mess here is why yer still in the barn and not ridin’ off te save yer family.  What a shame.  If only ye hadn't been so long at it.  Ye may've been able te save em, but well, as it is. . . Well, time enough for that, but let's get this fine animal fixed up right."

With that, Froag sorted out the harness and got the pony saddled up correctly.  Harmony still could not move.  She was frozen with fear and shame.  Somehow the man had read her thoughts, if only she hadn't slowed herself down with that blasted saddle!  When Froag was finished he turned to her.  "Well now little miss.  Yer comin' with me.  Stor has taken a liken’ to ye see and decided yer te come with us.  So why don't ye come along peaceful like.  Stor won't be wantin’ me te be hurtin’ ye none yet, but I will iffen I hafte.  Stor ought te be bout done tiein’ yer parents up inside the house fer burnin’."

Finally Harmony was able to make her voice work, but even yet, the only sound she could me emit was a feeble "nooo"

"Ah yes!"  Froag told her as he dragged her by the arm, while leading the pony back to the back door of the house where he tied up the pony and opened the door to take Harmony inside.  "Stor says we gotta make an example of ‘em.  Can't be havin’ all you hobbits fighten’ us all the time.  Why, it'd make taken over this lovely bit of country you all've got up here right hard!  Stor figures if the other sees just what we'll do to uncooperative folk, they'll be more inclined te do our bidden as it were."

Back inside the house, Stor was holding Till on the ground while Gant, who had already tied the youngest two children to a tree some distance from the house was now tying Till’s hands behind his back in cruelly tight ropes which as he fought, cut into his skin.  Blood coated the ropes and was spreading over his hands.  Harmony entered the room to this sight of violence to her parents.  If she had any breath left in her, it now left her in a piercing scream.  At the sound of his daughter's terrified scream, Till redoubled his struggling causing the men to be even rougher with him. Harmony heard a sickening crack and saw her father's arm bend in an unnatural place, bone protruding from his skin, more blood added to the amount already covering Till.  She fought to go to him and then noticed her mother, sitting still unconscious in her rocking chair.  The tight grip Froag kept on her did not allow her to go to either parent. The nightmare had become something much worse.

"Stor.  There's a pony out back.  Ought te be right useful fer carryin' some of our, heh heh, additional supplies I was thinkin’."

Stor and Gant stood up, now finished tying up Till.  "Good work Froag." said Stor and then, "You and Gant, pack up whatever supplies ye can round up and pack them on on that nice new pony of ours.  You, girly, say g’bye to yer pa there, as yer gonna never see ‘im again.  The thatch on this roof should make fer a right nice blaze, but it may just need some help.  When you finish packin’ our new supplies, bring me any lamp oil you can find.  Oh, and we better be taking all the knives with us.  We don’t want our ‘examples’ te be gettin’ away now do we.  I'm gonna head on out te that barn and bring in more straw te stoke the fire with.”  With that the men all left the room. 

Harmony rushed to her father’s side to try to free him, but as soon as she tugged on the tightly knotted ropes, wet and slippery with blood, he cried out in pain.  “Papa! What should I do?”

“Come around here so I can see ya lass.  Ah, there ya are.  I want ya to go, escape if ya can, You’re brother and sister are to be spared also, so at least I’ll have that to comfort me.  Go, find them and run.  Hide in the forest and whatever you see or hear do not come back for us.  That and the hope that your mother’ll not be wakin’ up to witness her children taken from her and then the pain of .  . . well  . .  Let’s just hope she doesn’t come to.”

Harmony was now crying and frantic.  “No Papa!  I can’t just leave you here!  I don’t want to go with these men!  I don’t want to leave you!  I don’t want you to die!  NO!”

“Harmony my lass, shhh shhh, sweetheart, there’s nothin’ to be done for us now.  Those men will be back any moment, go, go quickly now.  Find your brother ‘n sister.  Save them Harmony!”

“Nooooo Papa I can’t, I need you.  You have to come, you have to save mommy!”

Forcing a stern tone to his voice, Till tried once again to convince his daughter to leave him to his fate. “Harmony Lomesdown, you go, and you go now! It’s your responsibility as oldest to take care of your brother and sister.  No more arguing!”  After saying that he softened his voice and added, “I love ya lass.  With all my heart.  I’ll be watching over ya never you fear.  Go now.  One last kiss, and then go.”

Harmony kissed her father on his forehead, mingling her tears with the blood still pouring out of his obliterated nose.  “I love you Papa!  I’ll go.  I’ll take care of them.”  Then running over to the unconscious form of her mother she kissed her hair, wetting it with still more tears and with that, she turned to run to the front door, through which none of the men had left and so she thought she perhaps had the best chance of escaping that direction.

* ~ccc~ *

So ends Chapter 2 of “Instruments” Stay tuned and check out Marigolds Challenge 10 to read the final chapters