7.  To The North Lay Danger

The tall pillar of stone stood upon a low hill, shrouded by dense shrubbery but kept free of masking trees by a long line of wandering hobbits - bounders, hunters and traders alike - and from the markings in the weathered rock, one could sight south and east to its cousins, and westward to the Towers.  Upon the western face was carved a sun sinking into the waves, and upon the east its rising face peeked over a leafy wood.  To the north lay danger, a broad ‘X’, and there marched the wooded hills of Evendim, dark and unknown.  Though a few hobbits had dared to settle westward of the bounds, upon the broad plain beyond the Far Downs, none had ventured north into those ill-reputed hills, whence wolves and other dangers had often come.

All the signs pointed Pippin and his companions in that direction and the tall Bounder looked southeast towards the humps of the White Downs, hoping Sancho would follow soon.  He had fully expected to find him here with at least a few more shirriffs, hopefully of the bold and level-headed variety, but the small hollow on the southern shoulder had been empty, and the supply cache the two of them had recently replenished was untouched.  Some way below him, the Wolfpack was now gathered in that sheltered nook, trading food and friendly insults, and while his heart wished to join their warm companionship, his mind was troubled by his partner’s absence and the decision that it forced upon him.

It had been ten days since their discovery of the situation, nearly two weeks since these people had disappeared.  The hunters’ day had been spent in painstaking search for a sign of the intruder, and the clues had come few and far between.  It might take days to track him down and then…  Well, then, who knew what would need to be done?  The North Tooks seemed handy enough, but there were only seven of them, and they were still something of an unknown quantity to him, Diamond not the least.  A rueful grin curled his lips.

“I can’t believe I’m worried over someone else’s unpredictability,” he murmured under his breath.

The evening breeze wafting gently in the wake of the Sun’s plunge beneath the horizon played fitfully in his hair and brought to his ear the soft sound of a cautious tread winding up the hill towards him.  A hint of lavender tickled his nose.

“Are the stars pointing your way better than your fellows?” Diamond asked as she stepped to his side.  There was a little less bite than usual in her tone, though the words were still meant to sting him into praise or insult to her skill.

“Hardly.  Your reputation is well earned, though I think Berilac Brandybuck might still be a trick or two ahead of you,” he replied, treading the perilous line in between.

“Hmph!  Well, odd as they are, at least the Bucklanders haven’t gone soft, like some I could mention,” she admitted reluctantly.

“There’s nothing wrong with appreciating the safety and bounty others work so hard to provide.  I’m very thankful my sisters never had to wield a sword.  Come to think of it, I don’t think I’d have reached adulthood if they had,” he added with a grin, and Diamond rolled her eyes, shoving into his hands the fat hank of waybread she had brought for him.

“I’m sure you were a complete pest!  Which explains a lot, to my mind,” she said.

“Oh, it was a close race among us.  We were every one of us terribly single-minded and stubborn Tooks after all,” he said, looking straight at her in the pale light of the rising moon.

Diamond felt a blush creep across her cheeks, his gaze daring her to set aside the iron shield of her disdain and join him in mirthful appreciation of their contrary natures, despite the consternation, or even condemnation, of society at large.  A hopeful little part of her, fanned high by his apparent regard and friendly face, leaped fluttering in her heart, but long habit and cutting experience would not allow it a breath of expression.  Diamond had dropped her guard once or twice at a comely lad’s feigned interest and acceptance, only to find all her hard work dashed by a single moment of vulnerability.  No hobbit wished an equal, or a warrior, for a wife, and she would not be less than all she was for anyone.  She would be a fool to think he might be any different than those laughing lads.

Diamond turned away stiffly, denying him sight of whatever weak hopes might have shone through upon her face, and she made as sharp a retort as she could manage.

“South Tooks,” she said flatly.  “You may well be reckless and undisciplined but I’ve little doubt you’re still well held under your father’s hand and the demands of your station.  Hardly the sort we breed out on the Moor.”

“Ah, well, none of them ever faced down wolves or blizzards, but if Vinca ever restrained a word at the demand of custom or authority, I never heard of it.  Defiant to the last, and not a suitor sent home without a blistered ear if he didn’t know his place.  She was a force to be reckoned with,” he said, smiling up into the sky.

“Till she was tamed by some stouthearted gentlehobbit of your father’s choosing, I’ll wager.  Is she an excellent housewife now?  Rules her brood with the same flair she did her court?” Diamond asked lightly, a delicate snort of contempt punctuating her final words.

“She is dead.”  Pippin let the words drop softly into the night air.  Silence, shocked and awkward, pressed heavily until he turned from his wordless contemplation of the stars.  “They tried to cow my father into opening the Tookland to the ruffians by…  taking her.  She drowned herself, rather than live with what they had done.”

He paused a moment, and Diamond had the time to regret her mocking words.  No one spoke of the lost ones, the maids and matrons who had disappeared during the Troubles.  They had all vanished without a trace, though it was rumored that the few who had not died had been taken far by their families, some even to Bree and Archet, where they were merely thought simple, and strangers’ questions were more easily answered than the knowing stares of neighbors and friends.  She had not known that the Thain’s daughter had been among those unfortunates, though it explained much of the rumors that had filtered north during those dreadful months.

His lips parted, and Diamond braced herself, dreading the sharp reproach she knew she well deserved for her casual cruelty, no matter how accidental.  Yet, despite the tension that radiated from his body, his manner was not hostile, though a bit cooler than usual.  She therefore watched in stunned horror as his eyes suddenly hardened and he swept his sword from its scabbard.  She stumbled back a step, one hand raised to parry the unexpected singing steel now naked in his hand.

“Down!” he shouted, shoving her to the ground as he lunged past her to skewer the large gray wolf between the slavering jaws that had yawned wide as it had pounced to seize the back of her neck.

The weight of the attacking predator bore him down and over, tumbling hard onto the ground and he twisted to land beside the wolf rather than beneath it.  Even as it died, Pippin could feel the powerful beast start to grind down upon his arm, trapped among its deadly teeth.  Despite the vice-like grip that bit deep into his flesh, he twisted the sword that he still gripped, buried as it was to its hilt in the noisome mess within that ravening maw.

“Wolves!”  Diamond’s sharp call jolted Pippin’s attention back to his companion, who stood warily now, long hunting knife drawn.  The babble and ruckus of hurrying hobbits sounded from the foot of the hill as her kin raced towards them.

“Help me with this,” Pippin said, awkwardly working his knife between the tensed jaws to free his sword-hand.

“The minute I turn my back, he’ll strike,” she muttered, slowly wrapping her cloak about her left arm.  “Score deep from jaw to ear, it’ll spring open like a trap.”

“You’re sure there’s another?”

“Wolves never hunt alone.”

“Surely the noise will drive it off…”

“You’ve killed his mate; he will not let you live if he can help it.”

Pippin finally scrambled up from the cooling body, now lying still in a spreading pool of dark blood.

“What’s he waiting for?” he asked in a whisper, coming to stand beside her, hand and sword still slathered in bloody foam.

“A flinch.  A whimper.  Any hint that we are a weaker hunting pair than they were.”

Pippin could now see the gray wolf’s eyes, glinting in the darkness of the low shrubbery that cloaked the hill in dark green shadow, and as the full force of that icy gaze fell upon him, the chilling realization that he had tonight made an enemy not easily appeased sent a cold finger of dread down his back.

“Any chance a third might be along as well?” he asked, suddenly conscious of their unprotected rear.

“Unlikely, but…”

They moved slowly to stand back to back, though Pippin never once broke that tenuous leash of eye contact with the great beast that waited quietly in the dark.  As the others came closer, feet hammering loudly on the path, the eyes blinked once towards the approaching noise and vanished.

The company reached the flattened hilltop, weapons drawn in the light of the crackling brands they had pulled from the fire, and Pippin breathed a long sigh of relief.  Once the brush about them had been beaten to ensure no more prowlers hid among them, the lads gathered about the body of the dead wolf, idly comparing it to others they had seen or killed while Dan drew Diamond off to the edge of the flickering light.  She stood stiffly against her brother as he hugged and shook her, hands and eyes assuring themselves she had escaped unscathed.  Her muttered protests that she was fine and the single angry glare she shot back over her shoulder convinced Pippin to hold back his own concerned inquiries.  He shook his head, for the moment unable to recall why he even cared.

He turned tiredly to the path down the hill, struggling to master his growing irritation.  She was angry with him, and for what?  Saving her life?  He’d have done the same for anyone, as any sensible soul could see!  She was so prickly proud and stubborn and touchy…  So, so…  Tookish!  Well, he had other more pressing problems than making friends with his ill-tempered counterpart.  For one thing, his arm was painfully bruised and stung where teeth had broken through cloth to tear his skin, and he wanted nothing more than to wash at the quiet spring below and lay himself down to sleep.  Yet even that small comfort would be delayed somewhat, for neither the threat of sudden death nor the few moments of reflection in the marker’s shadow had made his decision any clearer, and he knew he must settle his mind upon their course by dawn.

He now had little doubt that bad news would greet Laerion tonight, for the Rangers had not let slip wolves this close to the Shire in many years.  The one he had killed was rail-thin, not uncommon at the tail end of a hungry winter, perhaps, but surely there was safer game in the wood than hobbits?  Something was indeed amiss, and Pippin suspected that time could only worsen the situation.  He dared not wait a week for the Rangers to join them here, and he worried that even a day’s delay to await Sancho would erase what few traces of their quarry that might remain.  It would be best for them to press forward alone, despite the danger.

***   ***   ***

“What in the world has so rattled your nerves, sister-mine?” Dan asked quietly, stepping back to stare Diamond in the face, his hands still tight upon her shoulders.  They were of a height, and had she had the presence of mind to look past the puzzled grin, Diamond might have seen the lingering concern in her twin’s eyes.

“What are you talking about?  I’m not rattled, just…” Her words trailed off uncertainly as she gazed back to the chattering lads beyond with undisguised annoyance.  She just caught sight of her rescuer’s face as he turned away without a word and disappeared into the night.

“Just what?  You’re bristling like a cat, and you look as though you are about to set on Master Peregrin with fang and claw!”

“Fang and claw!  That’s ridiculous!  You make me sound like a thankless harridan.”

She turned away, in all appearance seething with barely contained wrath, but in truth, Diamond could hardly conceal her confusion and dismay.  It wasn’t claws she’d been ready to use on the tall Bounder who had just saved her life, and the only anger she felt was with herself, that her body and heart so ardently wished to betray her principles to reward what was after all a natural reaction.  Courageous, daring even, but still…

“You’re not exactly the model of graceful gratitude, little sister.  Especially when a lad shows you up.”

“He didn’t show me up.  And what would you know about it, anyway?  You lads did a poor job of making sure of our safety tonight!” she snarled back, hoping he would follow her into the more familiar territory of their roles within the pack, where reprimand was hers to bestow and his to accept, typically with a cheeky grin upon his freckled face.  However, sensing some deeper disturbance behind his sister’s odd behavior, Dan pressed on, curiosity and worry stronger than the tacit agreement of privacy that had grown between them since their shared birth.

“What is it about this Bounder that has you so skittish?  You’ve been taut as a bowstring since we set out, and twice as touchy as I’ve ever seen you.  He hasn’t been foolish enough to court you openly…  Has he made untoward advances, sister?  You have only to say so, and even Father will put him in his place, Thain’s heir or no.”

“No, no!  You are imagining things, little brother,” she said, pushing his hand from her shoulder and turning away.  “He’s as honest as he claims to be, and not as stupid as I’d heard…” she muttered under her breath.  “Besides,” she said aloud again, calling up a wide grin, despite the fact it wouldn’t really fool him.  “I don’t need your help dissuading fools from my door.  You remember old what’s-his-name?  Flambard Boffin, wasn’t it?”

“The one who practically walked home backwards for fear of losing more hair than the single handful you cut from his head?”

“He didn’t seem to be able to hear me too well with all those curls; I was just being helpful.”

They laughed a little at the memory, but Dan could still see through that momentary mirth that his guess had struck close to the truth.

“Diamond…”

“Oh, leave it, Danni…”

He gave her hand a single squeeze and she looked back at him.

“Is it really so bad to meet a hobbit you can respect?  We’re not all cads and liars, you know…”

“That may well be, brother-mine, but neither of you have yet proven yourselves free of either vice,” she said, frown split for one second by a smile.  “I’ll go make sure the gallant fool doesn’t stumble into the gray widower tonight.”

Dan watched her slip down the hill after the tall Bounder, uncertain if he’d doomed or blessed his newest friend by prodding his sister into action on his account.  Diamond was a formidable lass and a fearsome hunter, but for all the satisfaction she drew from her self-imposed singularity, he knew, the way he’d always known her heart, that she was unhappy and alone.  Oh, he and the other members of the Wolfpack gave what they could of themselves, but extending her right to the company of their brotherhood was a far cry from the joy anyone could find in a heart-mate.  Much as he loved his sister, Dan was the first to admit that her sharp tongue and guarded silence had created a barrier only she could break down.  He smiled a moment to himself.  Well, by all accounts Peregrin Took had once vanquished the ruffians that had choked the Shire; perhaps he might survive the full flood of his sister’s fiery spirit.

***   ***   ***

“You shouldn’t be down here alone; he might come back.”

Diamond’s voice startled him as she quietly appeared at his shoulder.  Pippin dropped the heavy coat upon the ground where his cloak already lay beside the quiet pool.

“I managed the one, why not the other?” he replied, rolling up the torn sleeve of his shirt to reveal bright wheals that the wrenching of teeth had left upon his forearm.  His own struggles had done further damage, forcing bruised flesh to part in several twisting parallel gashes, shallow but painful nonetheless, and still bleeding copiously.

“You’d better let me take a look,” she said, shaking her head in exasperation and reaching for her pack where it lay near the fire.

“Just a few scratches…”

“Hardly,” Diamond said, settling beside him and thrusting his wounded arm under the icy flow of the small source where it cascaded with trickling mirth from the rocky outcrop that sheltered the camp.  “You’re pretty quick with that blade,” she added, nodding down at the sheathed sword whose hilt shone in the flickering light. ‘He cleaned it before seeing to his own wounds,’ she thought, suppressing a grin.  That weapon was more than an ornament, as she had just witnessed, and she felt respect gain another inch on her reservations.

“Quick enough to save your neck anyway,” he said with a smile.

“My neck doesn’t need saving by the likes of you, Master Bounder,” she said with a little snarl, annoyed by the reminder.  Her fingers continued their delicate task, carefully cleaning the ugly slashes, and he winced as irritation made her touch somewhat rougher than it had first been.  “Besides, you’d have saved yourself a bit of pain if you’d caught the beast through the throat from the *outside*,” she said.

“I didn’t exactly have the luxury to ponder my move.  It remains that that blade, no matter how badly wielded, still did its duty of protecting you from harm.”

She pursed her lips and stared up at him, poised between prideful scorn and grudging gratitude.  Facts were facts, and he had indeed succeeded in her defense, though it had put him in harm’s way.  She knew enough to be glad these small wounds were the only price he would pay for that brave act, though the depth of her relief still surprised her.  She mentally shoved aside the implications of that thought, digging through her pack for the little pot of salve she knew hid beneath her other belongings.

“You are reckless and very lucky,” she muttered, “But you’re no coward, I’ll give you that much.”

“How very generous…” he said, and though she bent still in her search, she could practically see the little half smile that had become so familiar in the last week.  He was so infuriating!  And not least because of that grin, and the light that seemed to dance in his eyes when some trivial thing caught upon his sharp wit.

She grasped his wrist, absently noting the faded scars that encircled it, and firmly laid a compress upon flesh tensed by pain and cold.  His fingers tightened reflexively about her own in reaction to the bite of the cleansing salve she had daubed upon the square of linen, and she found herself gazing at the contrast of long sun-dark fingers against her lightly freckled forearm.  As the sting eased, so did his grip, but still he held her loosely about the wrist, palm warm where it brushed her skin.

Strangely unwilling to pull away from his touch, her eyes slowly traveled along the line of tensed muscle and past the bunched and torn sleeve to where the fabric was pinned against one solid shoulder by the boyishly bright length of one suspender.  That little bit of innocent ostentation somehow punctuated his strangely subdued attire, revealing roots and temperament in a single flash of bold color against simply cut linen.  It was with a small, amused smile that Diamond’s eyes finally met his in the flickering semi-dark.

The firelight had warmed their color to true amber and cast shifting shadows across his features, and her heart tumbled unexpectedly.  The rakish grin had left his face though his expression was anything but unfriendly.  She teetered for a moment, as on the knife-edge of a precipice, tempted and terrorized by the possibilities offered in the person of the frank and foolhardy soul before her.  Breathless and blushing, she turned to fumble, one-handed, through her pack again, conscious she was merely buying herself a short time, gathering her courage for some decision without knowing where her own heart would lead her.

***   ***   ***

Rarely in his life had Pippin been made speechless by anything short of unconsciousness, and certainly never by a lass, whether he fancied her or no, but now, unnatural caution stilled his glib tongue.  He truly would have leaped in front of that wolf for anyone, but he was incredibly grateful that it had been Diamond on the hill with him tonight.  Not to humble her or give himself some hold over her, but because he doubted she would have felt the need to tend his injuries, and he would have missed the gentle touch of her hand.

The melting ice in her cool gray-green eyes had sent skirling shivers down his back and he was hard put to restrain the desire to tuck the stray curl that brushed her cheek behind her gracefully pointed ear.  But such a bold advance would be the death of this strange truce they were slowly weaving, for there was little doubt in his mind she would react with violent disapproval, regardless of the heat in her gaze.  He was forced to let that small contact, hand to wrist, speak every ounce of the attraction he felt for her, proud and beautiful and intemperate as she was.

***   ***    ***

How could a single touch so burn, a glance so sear without a word or move?  Some now distant part of her mind howled in frustrated terror at the rapidity with which her defenses were unraveling.  She didn’t want this, didn’t need the complication and the grief it would inevitably bring into her life, but to back away from anything in fear was counter to Diamond’s very soul and she stepped boldly into the untested depths of this strange enchantment.  If this feeling burned her to a cinder, she would at least rival the midday sun in its blaze.

She slowly closed the small distance between them, noticing a thousand small things she had until then ignored, the handful of nearly invisible laugh lines that framed his eyes, the tiny scar just below his chin, the spark of red the firelight drew from his dark hair.  She knew, somehow, that the hollow beneath the arch of his brow would be velvet and the gentle curve of his lower lip would taste faintly of smoke and ale, and that she would lose her mind entirely if he didn’t kiss her soon.  A mere inch separated her mouth from his and she could taste his very breath on her tongue, when the crashing ruckus of a half dozen giddy hobbits broke the bubble of silence and warmth that had surrounded them both for a short while.  Diamond jerked herself back from his touch, nearly spilling the bandages from her lap, and pressed a hand to her heated cheek.  Mere moments before her brother entered the small camp, Pippin reached down to sweep back the wild strand that had escaped her braid, and his lips brushed the sensitive tip of her ear as whispered words fanned the blush that already flamed under her skin.  The next moment, he was halfway across the camp, uninjured hand digging into his pack.

Diamond turned to the small pool to hide her heaving breath and red face as the pack entered the Bounders’ hollow, and though she finished bandaging his arm without a flinch, she only dared a single glance at his face while she worked.  Her wit hated the small smile on his lips even while her heart swore to treasure it.