PART EIGHT: Dreaming

Daisy Took opened her door to a breathless and shaken Paladin. “He`s worse.” Paladin managed before taking deep breaths to calm himself and explain more thoroughly. As she listened to his description Daisy found her bag and gathered some herbs she might need and they rode off towards the farm.

Pimpernel was in the kitchen cleaning up after first breakfast, and setting the table for second when she heard pony hoofs on the road and quickly set about making more tea and set out another plate. She was genuinely worried about Merry and was sorry that there was nothing she could do for him. Mama had said though, that helping her with running the house was a great help to Merry too, and really, Nell knew this after all the times Pip had been ill. Still, something was different now when it was Merry who was cooped up in bed, and it took her a little to understand what it was.

When Pippin was ill, Merry would be beside himself with worry, but he would always try to cheer everyone up with his bright smiles and cheerfulness. Pippin was good at cheering folks up too, but he didn’t have the practice in looking out for sick loved ones the way Merry did and was absorbed in his watching in another way than Merry was. Not in a lesser way of course, but different. Merry, she supposed, was more aware of the others that were also worried about their little sick one.

“Vinnie!” Nell called. “Help Da and Miss Daisy with the ponies, I`ve my hands full here at the moment.”

Pervinca had been helping with the laundry but at her sister`s call she ran out to meet her father and the healer.

*****

In the sick room Merry was dreaming again. Pippin lay as if dead on a cot and for the life of him Merry couldn`t wake him up. Gandalf was there, which was strange too as Merry couldn`t remember dreaming of him before, but Merry didn`t manage to get through to him with his cries either. Everything was foggy and unreal and Merry felt he was smothering with the weight of his fear and sorrow.

“Pippin, go fetch more cold water for me, will you?” Eglantine said wringing out the cloth and washing Merry`s face and neck again. If the healer didn`t come soon she would have to give him a cold bath to get the temperature down. The problem was that she knew she would hurt him if she did that now, with Merry not able to move his neck. Just then she heard pony hoofs and breathed a sigh in relief. The healer was here and she knew what to do!

“Here we are,” Paladin said, showing the healer into Merry`s room.

What was happening to Merry, Pippin wondered. Pearl had said this morning that his fever was back up and Pippin had felt that, holding Merry`s hand, but Merry seemed so strange, much stranger than he had been the previous days and he had a fever then too. Now he was flailing his arms around and moaning. His head and shoulders lay completely still though, as if he couldn`t move anything else but his arms and legs. Mama washed his face and neck constantly and Pippin had run out to fill the wash basin twice. That was a lot of water! Mama had given Merry water to drink too, but he hadn`t managed to drink from the cup so Pippin had gone to fetch a spoon. What was most frightening of all was that Merry kept calling his name in his sleep, as if he was searching for him. Once Pippin almost started crying because of the frightened way Merry had called out for him, as if Pippin was lost. Pippin knew he needed to be strong for his Merry and his mama so he bit the tears back but it broke his heart to hear Merry call for him with such despair and terror. Pippin had wanted to still Merry`s thrashing movements but mama had said Merry could hurt him with his flailing and hadn`t wanted to allow it. Pippin knew Merry would never hurt him, not even in his sleep, and had taken his hand all the same and told Merry over and over that he was with him. Merry had calmed a little when feeling Pippin`s touch and hearing his voice, but soon he thrashed about again, trapped in his dreams. When Da and Miss Daisy finally arrived, Pippin couldn`t take it anymore and flung himself at his father, letting horror and tension go, sobbing as Paladin rubbed his back and stroked his curls, telling him Merry would be well. At last Pippin was spent and red-eyed, and scared and exhausted he leaned into Paladin`s embrace, watching Miss Daisy work from the corner of his eye.

As soon as she entered the room Daisy took Eglantines`s place on Merry`s bedside and after taking his pulse and feeling his brow she felt along his skull, neck and shoulders. The muscles were stiff and unmoving and when she touched him Merry moaned in pain and tears started leaking from his closed eyes. He scrunched his face up in his sleep but did not come awake. 

“Mr. Took, I know the lads mean the world to each other and that Pippin is loath to leave Merry`s side but I need both yours and your wife`s assistance here. Maybe Pippin could help Miss Pearl for a little while? He can come back when I`m finished.”

Pippin, remembering what Pearl had told him earlier in the day, climbed down from his father`s lap, going over to the bed. He took one of Merry`s hands in his and squeezed it gently. Again Merry`s thrashing stopped for a moment and it was if his whole body was listening. Pippin leaned over the bed and kissed Merry`s cheek. “Bye for now Merry. I`ll be back soon. I love you.” He had wanted to tease, but the lump in his throat and the tears threatening to fall anew prevented him from it. Squeezing Merry`s hand once more he padded out.

“We need to get him cooled down but first we need to give him something for the pain and something to fight the infection that is causing his muscles to stiffen.”

“What do you need?” Eglantine said.

The healer put herbs and tonics and other medical items on the bedside table. “I need boiled water for a tea and we also need to give him a sponge-bath to ease the fever. I also need to make a poultice to put on his neck and I need clean cloths and water for that too. We can`t cool him down in a tub yet as that would hurt him too much, but washing him down with cold water should help. The infection that causes his pain will get better when the fever lessens.”

“Will he be all right?” Paladin asked, stirring up the fire and filling more water in the wash basin.

“I will do all I can.” Daisy said and crumbled leaves into Merry`s water mug. Eglantine fetched a large kettle, clean cloths and set the water to boil and as the healer prepared the medicines Paladin and Eglantine did their best to cool Merry down. The task needed the both of them as Merry was trapped in delirious dreams and still flailed arms and legs about. Paladin held him as gently but firmly as he could while Eglantine washed his fevered body.

“Here we are.” Daisy sat down on the bedside and poured water onto the leaves she`d crumbled in Merry`s mug. With a spoon she fed the tea to him and Merry managed to get most of it down. She then gave him a little plain water and rose to prepare the poultice. When the poultice was ready, Paladin and Daisy did their best to not move Merry too much as they lifted him and Eglantine put a towel on Merry`s pillow and laid the poultice down upon it. Merry was gently and very carefully put down again and Daisy arranged the wrapped-up herbs around Merry`s neck.

“What do we do now?” Eglantine said, wringing out a cloth and placing it on Merry`s brow again. “He`s still burning up.”

Daisy felt Merry`s face and nodded. “Yes. We need to wash him down again. I can`t take the risk to put him in a tub until we can wake him and he can tell us how his neck feels. Continue to cool him down and I will make a strong dose of willow bark tea.”

*****

“Mum?” It was barely a whisper but instantly Eglantine rushed over to Merry from where she had been pouring more water into the basin. She touched his cheek and found the temperature was somewhat lessened, but still much too hot.

“Hullo, Merry. Are you awake?” She sat down on the bedside, cupping his face in her hands, stopping Merry from trying to move his head from side to side.

Merry blinked, struggling to focus his eyes. Quickly Eglantine reached for the lamp and turned it down a little. The healer had turned it up earlier to better see, but the light was apparently too much for Merry and as soon as he managed to get his fever-glazed eyes open he scrunched them shut again. “Hurts.”

“I know sweetie. I`m sorry.” Eglantine turned to where Daisy prepared another poultice by the hearth. “Miss Daisy? He`s awake now.”

“Mum?” Merry was clearly not completely awake, he would never have misplaced his aunt and mother if he were clearheaded.

“No, sweetie. It`s Auntie Tina. You`re at our house now, do you remember?”

Vaguely Merry shook his head but immediately winced in pain.

“Well, look who`s awake.” Eglantine rose and Daisy sat down by Merry. She repeated the examination she had done when arriving. “Can you move your head?”

Groggily Merry tried to understand what was happening. He tried to blink his eyes open to see, but even the dimmed light was too much and he shut them firmly again. His neck hurt him and he remembered a series of strange dreams he couldn`t interpret or place but he knew that he had dreamed of both Frodo and Pippin being in mortal danger and somehow both Gandalf and Sam Gamgee had made their ways into his dreams too. When awakening he at first thought he was home in his own bed, but the very mum-like person caressing his face wasn`t quite Mum. Merry knew instantly that he knew her, but at first she was hard to place. Then someone else took her place and this someone felt his neck and head and asked if he could move his head. Very slowly Merry moved his head on the pillow, just a very little.

“Very good, Merry. Now, try lifting your head and place your chin on your chest.” The hands of this new person disappeared and Merry took a deep breath and tried to lift his pounding head. It was to no avail. Merry felt as if his head weighed a hundred times what it usually did and his neck hurt terribly.

“C… can`t do it,” he panted. “I’m sorry.” Merry kept his eyes closed and breathed heavily for a few moments. He hurt, and felt so horribly hot still and the itching was back, annoying, making him want to squirm. Weakly reaching out a hand he scratched his arm a little, but before he had finished the mum-like person took his hand away and laid it gently on the covers. “Don`t do that, Merry. It will only make it worse.” Then the other set of hands and the other voice came back and he was asked to open his mouth. As he did so a spoon was put to his lips and a tea trickled in. This happened several times over and Merry felt sleepy with the routine of it, slipping away into dreams again.

Eglantine watched in increasing worry as Merry barely moved his head from side to side and when he couldn’t manage to lift it at all, she was really frightened. “What do we do?” Eglantine looked at the healer with fear in her eyes.

Daisy turned from giving Merry the strong willow bark tea. “We have to wait and see. The tea should start working soon and I will make another poultice. Continue to cool him down.”