CHAPTER 25

Estella took the food tray back out, and gave it to Garnet, who was sitting with her sisters in the front room.

“Thank you, Estella. Do you need anything else right now?”

“No, that’s all right, we’re fine.”

“We’ll check back when it’s time for luncheon,” said Amethyst.

“Thanks.”

When she went back to the room, she could tell that Pippin and Merry had been discussing something while she was gone, and she gave a questioning glance to Diamond, who shook her head.

“We’ve got to do this right, Merry. That’s why you asked my help. No skipping things just because you think the lasses might find them unpleasant.”

Estella sat back down on the bed in her former place, and leaned forward. “Meriadoc Brandybuck. Look me in the eye, and tell me that you are backing out on this now.”

He glanced up at her. He was very pale. “No. I won’t break my word. But you can’t ask me to like the idea of inflicting my nightmares on you.”

“No, you don’t have to like it,” she said firmly. “Now, inflict away. You haven’t even left Bag End yet, and the day is half over.”

Merry flushed. Perhaps he had been taking his time on the preliminaries in order to avoid the main part of the tale.

“Well, once Frodo’s birthday was over, Fatty and I went on over to prepare Crickhollow. Of course, we knew Frodo wouldn’t be staying long, but we were unsure of just how long he *would* stay. I thought he might want to wait there a few days for Gandalf.” He sighed. “I guess Pip could tell you more about the trip there.”

So Pippin began, telling of his prank on the S.-B.s, and of how they had waited until dark to leave, walking through the night under the stars, and then the next day their first encounters with the Black Riders.

“We’d no idea of course, what they were at the time. If we had, I think we’d have been too frightened to move--”

The tale moved forward, and finally they told of their arrival at Crickhollow, and of telling Frodo what they knew.

Merry took up the story once more, explaining how they had convinced Frodo to let them come along, and how Estella’s brother had agreed to remain at the little house as a decoy. “You know, Freddy never gave himself enough credit for that, Estella. Your brother was a stout fellow in a pinch, and I don’t think he ever knew how grateful we were to him.”

Her eyes shone. “Oh, I think he knew. If he had not done that, I don’t believe he’d have been able to do any of the other things he did, even--even after Folco…” Tears welled up, remembering their other dear friend, and Diamond took her hand.

Merry and Pippin sighed. All they had done had not kept the Shire safe, not when they had left a traitor like Lotho behind.

Merry continued the story. They had made their way through the Old Forest and the Barrow Downs to Bree when Garnet knocked, and asked if they wished to have luncheon.

The four of them looked at one another. They were feeling very subdued, and none of them had much appetite.

Diamond shook her head. “I don’t think so, thank you, dear.”

The other lass nodded and went out. She felt troubled--the two young couples looked very serious.

Pippin told of what had happened at the Prancing Pony. “Merry went out and he encountered one of the Black Riders--” he glanced at Merry, a cue to take up his part of the story, but Merry refused to meet his eyes. So Pippin continued with the attack, and their departure with Strider.

Diamond interrupted. “That was when you met the King?” For she was familiar with the nickname the hobbits sometimes used for the King.

Pippin chuckled, and Merry glanced up, amusement briefly lighting his troubled face. “We’d not a clue he was the King. If it hadn’t been for Gandalf’s letter, well, we’d probably never thought he was anything more than a common vagabond.”

Merry and Pippin now began to alternate telling of the trudge from Bree to Weathertop--and then abruptly fell silent. They stared at one another, and their hands reached out automatically to clasp.

The silence stretched. Diamond and Estella looked at one another, puzzled. Diamond pursed her lips.

“Weathertop?” She sat up. “You told Mistress Lavender and me about that already, Pippin. The night Merry had the nightmare--” That, she thought was a mild word for what happened. “--and you had to explain it.”

Pippin nodded, and Merry looked at him, not really remembering very well.

Diamond turned to Estella. “It seems that in this place called Weathertop, those Black Riders caught up with them, and stabbed Frodo, nearly killing him.”

Estella’s eyes grew wide, and she reached over and took their joined hands in her own. She looked at Merry. “Oh, no.”

Diamond’s intervention seemed to have broken their silence and Pippin and Merry once more began to talk, telling of the desperate flight to the fords, and their arrival in Rivendell, not sure if Frodo was yet alive.

Once again, they rather faltered, then both started to speak at once, and then fell silent again. Finally, Merry whispered, “It was pretty dreadful for a few days. They knew a piece of that poisoned blade was working its way towards his heart, but they’d not yet been able to remove it. No one wanted to give us false hope, and no one wanted to really *tell* us anything, either. If it hadn’t been for Bilbo being there, I’m not sure we could have been able to endure the waiting.”

“Tell me about Lord Elrond,” Diamond said, when the two had once again fallen silent. “Frodo said that he is the greatest healer in Middle-earth, and that he trained up the King?”

Pippin smiled. Her mention of Frodo helped remind them that their cousin *had* survived that danger. “Lord Elrond? Bilbo told us in the tales that he was ‘kind as summer’. And he was, but he was also very stern as well. He is Half-Elven, not an Elf. When I found out that his father was Eärendil the star, I couldn’t look him in the face for days. I wish I could tell you more about his healing methods, but I am afraid I am woefully ignorant of that. When he cut into Frodo to remove the shard, we were not allowed to watch.”

Now they both began to take up the story once more. They told of the outcome of the Council, and of their own desperate fear that they would be sent home, away from Frodo--something they found nearly unbearable to consider, having come so close to losing him.

“I was fairly certain they’d be trying to send us home, and was working on plans for getting away and following Frodo, when Lord Elrond finally told us we’d be allowed to go. I think that Gandalf and Bilbo between them had finally convinced him we’d be of use after all. I was so relieved, as I’d no idea how we’d have fared on our own trying to follow.”

“After that, we started to get to know the others of our Company; especially Boromir--he started giving us lessons on using our swords.”

“Do you remember--” Pippin asked with a smile, and for a time the story grew lighter and almost pleasant, as they spoke of the days in Rivendell and of the early part of their journey through Hollin.

“And then there was Caradhras.” Merry shuddered. “There is cold, and there is Caradhras-cold. I hope never in my life to be that cold again.”

“Boromir saved our lives on the mountain,” put in Pippin. “If he had not thought to bring firewood--” He shook his head. “Not that Gandalf did not worry about us, but I don’t think he really understood how cold we were. Wizards are not Elves, but they are not Men or hobbits, either.”

And now they once more began to falter, but stumbling, sometimes whispering, the two continued the tale until the fall of Gandalf in Moria. Pippin was weeping openly at the horror of the memory, and Merry reached over and embraced him. Estella and Diamond were weeping as well.

The little room was silent, and so they all jumped when there came a voice at the half-open door.

Opal stood there, on her crutches. She cleared her throat nervously, as the scene in front of her was so disturbing. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but it is almost teatime, and Cousin Tina sent word that they are back from town, and you are expected to tea with the family.”

Merry cleared his own throat. “Erm, thank you, Opal. We’ll be right along.”

When Opal had gone, Merry turned to Estella. “We’re not even half-way through, my love, and it only gets worse from here. Are you still certain you wish to hear the rest?”

The two lasses wiped their eyes and exchanged a glance. “We are,” Estella said firmly. “I just hope that we can get some more time.”

Pippin finished wiping his own eyes, and blew his nose. “I’ll see what can be done about that.”

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Merry and Pippin were silent as they reached Pippin’s room. Pippin was white, and Merry was pale as well.

Merry looked at his younger cousin in concern. “Sorry now I let you in for this, Pip.”

“It’s no harder for me than for you, cousin. It has to be done; those are two stubborn lasses, and if we want them to share our futures, then it looks as though we have no choice but to share our pasts.”

Merry nodded. “I think that we will make an early night of it. And a cup of the athelas tea before we go to bed might not go amiss.”

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