Gathering Witnesses, Giving Assurance

There was a knock on the door of the hole in Twombly Woods. A knock at the kitchen door, not the front door.

Marrin and Clary looked at each other over their supper plates.

“The children?” Clary whispered. “Might they have come straight here after getting your letter?”

Marrin shrugged his shoulders as he stood to go answer the door.

He barely opened it when Tobold Took, Athelas’ older brother, came in like a gust of wind. Toby had the door shut before Marrin had a chance to do it himself.

“You needs come to the Hall,” Toby gulped in some air before hurrying on. “Brandy Hall. There’s been trouble and Athelas said if ever there was trouble for them, or you, that I should look for you here. There’s been trouble, bad trouble. You needs come as fast as you may.”

The lad was pale and swayed as he spoke. Clary pulled out a chair as Marrin guided Toby to sit down.

“No! My pony. My pony is needing to be walked. He’s near to falling over himself from getting me here so fast.”

Marrin spared a moment to pat Toby’s shoulder. “I’ll tend the pony, Tobold lad. Clary will see to tending to you.” He looked at his wife. “I’ll be a while walking the pony. Get some food into the lad and some tea. We’ll get the news from him when I come back in.”

Three quarters of an hour later, Marrin returned. Clary and Toby were in the parlor. Toby sat wrapped in a quilt with his feet on a footstool in front of the small fire. He looked anxiously at Marrin.

“We’ve really no time for all this, sir. We needs get back to the hall. A whole day has already past. The ride back will use up all of tomorrow and that leaves only one day until the trial.”

“Trial?” both Brandybucks exclaimed at once.

“They’ve been locked up by the Master of Buckland, your sons and their wives that is, and Macimas’ son with them. Our family had a letter come from Athelas, ah . . . let me think . . . four days ago. She said I should ride to Buckland, to Bucklebury not to the Hall, and to keep an eye out for their return. I did as she asked. She wrote before the Harvest Festival telling us of Other’s brother’s book and that trouble might come from it. And trouble’s come indeed.”

Toby paused a moment. Marrin had sat down beside Clary on the sofa and they were holding tightly to each other’s hands.

“’Twas almost as though Athelas knew what was waiting for them, but then, she gets those sort of thoughts. They came back to the Master and a whole crowd of Brandybucks waiting for them. The lads were all roughed up and bound, even Macidoc, but the lasses only had hobbits guarding them. The Master read from papers how they were all traitors to their family, to the Brandybucks, and the whole of the Shire. Then he read how you both had disowned your sons. It nigh onto . . .”

“Disowned our sons!” the older couple gasped. Marrin leapt at Toby and grabbed him by his shirt. “We haven’t . . . could never . . .”

Marrin took a deep breath. “Old Pompous tried to force us to do that, it was why we left the Hall to hide here. We’ve done no such thing.”

Toby nodded. “I wondered about it, though the paper seemed all drawn up proper. Other took it hard, but I don’t think Jebbin believed it at all. If it hadn’t been for my sister’s letter and her telling me to be there, well . . . I don’t know as I would have come looking for you. I had searched the crowd and couldn’t find you. I even snuck into Brandy Hall, to your apartment. When I saw you were gone, I figured it was a lie. But lie or not, the Master has a document saying it’s so. He disowned Macidoc as well.”

Clary gasped, her hands flew to her mouth. “Oh! Poor Mac! I can’t believe Chalcedony would allow Old Pompous to do such a horrible thing.”

Toby looked over at Clary. “I didn’t see the Mistress anywhere so I asked after her. Apparently word came from Great Smials that her brother had taken ill and the family was wanting her to come home. She left last week. But, truth be told, I think it was all to get her away from Buckland. There’s been nothing said in the Tookland about the Took and Thain being any worse than usual.”

Toby patted Marrin’s hands, which were still holding fast to his shirt. Marrin let go then backed away so Toby could stand up.

“They burned all of Jebbin’s books,” Tobold continued. “His study books I mean, and the copy of his book he wrote that they had left at the Hall. I learned a lot by asking a few questions. I think there are some Brandybucks that have their doubts about all that has happened. The lads were to be put in what were once small storage rooms in the lowest level of Brandy Hall. Each in a separate room. My sister and Marjy were to be put together in a one room apartment in some remote tunnel. We need to go. We need to help them.”

“We’ll go,” Marrin said. “but not to Brandy Hall.”

Clary and Toby looked stunned.

“Do you think they will let us anywhere near the Hall? We’re supposed to have disowned our sons, do you think they will let us come back and say that was all a lie?”

Clary burst into tears and Toby put his arm around her shoulders. Marrin gave her a small kiss then moved to the small desk in a corner of the parlor.

“I think I might need some of my things. Clary, get what you think you will need most, not much as we will be riding, not using the trap. Toby, your pony is too tired to make the return trip now. We will walk him to Hamsom Mudge’s farm, just a mile down the road. He’s one of Clary’s cousin’s. He will let us leave your pony there and borrow one of his for you to ride.”

Within ten minutes, they were on their way.

***********

Chalcedony Took Brandybuck was far more than peeved. She was infuriated. First there had been the unusually slow coach ride to Great Smials. Three days it had taken instead of the usual two. ‘One of the ponies has gone a tad lame. Don’t need to stop but we have to take it slow.’ was the excuse she had been given.

Then, when they arrived at the Smials, she was rushed off not to her oldest brother’s side but to the guest rooms that were always held for the Master and Mistress of Buckland. She was put in the apartments and told to wait, that someone would be along to see to her needs as soon as possible. Half an hour later a servant brought her a light repast.

Just an hour ago, Chalcy had awakened. A familiar, urgent, voice had awakened her, then told her that her arrival at the Smials had all happened three days ago.

Now, she burst into Tollo Grittison’s office.

“Just exactly what are you up to, you snake!”

“Mistress Chalcedony, you’re awake. What a pleasant . . .”

“Don’t bother, Tollo! Don’t bother with your bowing and scraping and feigned courtesies. I was sent for only to be drugged into a deep sleep, and I know you are at the bottom of it.”

Tollo looked shocked. “Mistress Chalcedony! How can you possibly hold me accountable for your falling ill? The healer said it was most likely fatigue from your journey combined with your concern for your brother.”

For a moment Chalcy Brandybuck said nothing. Slowly, a smug smile grew upon the lips of the Thain’s secretary. That was his first mistake.

“I was ill, was I?” Chalcy placed both her hands upon Tollo’s desk, leaning in towards him until their noses were a mere foot or so apart. “I was ill?” she repeated in low, measured tones.

Tollo had two choices, look down her bodice or into her eyes. He made what he thought was the safe choice. It actually was his second mistake. He was drawn into the fiery green depths of her eyes before he knew it. He twitched a few times then went eerily still.

“Oh yes, you’re caught now you evil wee spider.” Chalcy’s voice was in his head, filling his mind, drowning out any thoughts of his own. “You are usually the one spinning webs. Treacherous webs. Like your fathers before you. Evil spiders weaving webs around a long line of Took and Thains. But it will be over soon.”

Her voice changed timber, but its bell like tones were those of funeral bells echoing in Tollo’s head.

“The time has come. The Truth is being raised from where you thought it would lie hidden for all ages. All the Truth, Tollo Grittison. Spiders in the Smials. Spiders in the Hall. But Spider Slayers have been born to the Shire. Spider Slayers born to Buckland. Your evil is at its end.”

Tollo felt fire coursing through him. Though his body did not move, he felt he was writhing in torment. Then it stopped. His hands and feet were cold and numb. His arms and legs were becoming numb.

“I need no herbs or venoms to make you sleep. My kind have their own ways with your kind. Sleep, Tollo Grittison. Sleep and waken not until my voice again you hear.”

His body was numb, his thoughts sluggish. Tollo barely heard her parting words.

“You had best pray no ill tide befalls me.”

Chalcedony Took Brandybuck strode out of Tollo’s office with the grace and power of an approaching thunderstorm. She told one servant to have her coach readied this instant. She informed another that they should see to the Thain’s secretary, that he had looked unwell. She went to the apartments of her nephew, Thain Adenbras’ son. When she left, for reasons he did not understand, Adelbras was initiating the necessary steps to assume, temporarily, his father’s offices . . . with a clear understanding that he would have no Grittison for a secretary. Chalcedony then met with her brother, Hildifons, who was next in age above her.

A short while later, when Chalcy’s brother showed up in the office of the Thain, his nephew was already there seeing to the infirm, addlepated Thain Adenbras. Adelbras’ father was being taken from the room in a wheeled chair.

“I’m here to help you, Adelbras,” Hildifons said. “I’m here, so you won’t need young Grittison for a secretary. I’m told his father has been struck ill. He should be told to tend to his ailing father.”

“ Yes, of course,” Adelbras replied. Neither he nor his uncle knew why they both felt as though they had had this conversation before.

The coach of the Master of Buckland was speeding on it’s way east as fast as the team of ponies could run. Inside, a smug smile graced the lips of Chalcedony Took Brandybuck.

******

In a dank, small, windowless room at the lowest level of Brandy Hall, Jebbin Brandybuck sat forlornly on the thin pallet that was his bed. At least, he was thinking, they were feeding him well. He had awaked in the small room, his head aching, only to wish sleep would once again claim him. In his dreams he had been free and with his dear Marjy. The gloomy light coming in the small window hole in the door matched well Jebbin’s mood. Long, weary hours had passed with nothing to do but think.

“What have I done to us all?” he asked himself aloud. “I’ve even brought dear Mac to ruin.”

Jebbin sighed as he ran his fingertips down the cold, mouldering bricks that made up the walls of his cell, for a prison cell it was.

“We’ve no home. No possessions. Other and I quite possibly have no family, though . . .” He searched his heart and all his thoughts carefully. “No. I can’t bring my heart to believe that Mum and Dad would cast us aside. Nor can I believe it of Mac’s mum either.”

His heart hurt. “They’re gone. Jebiamac’s book started all of this and now it’s gone. Adelard’s book is gone as well. They went through my pockets before dumping me in here.” He also no longer had his pocket watch nor his pipe and leaf pouch. “The Red Book of Westmarch.” Jebbin’s heart twisted, he felt as though he might be sick. “Bilbo, Frodo and Sam’s hard work. Their blood and tears. The most precious book in the Shire: gone. The Red Book is gone.” Jebbin’s head hung until his chin touched his chest.

“But the copy in the Smials is safe, and it’s a first rate accurate copy.”

Jebbin looked up to see a hobbit he did not know sitting on the dirt floor opposite him. He squinted into the shadows, trying to see the stranger better. “Who are you, my jailer?” he asked though he felt sure the door had not been opened.

The hobbit smiled a sad smile as he shook his head. “No. Though I feel somewhat to blame for your being in this situation.” He extended his hand to Jebbin. “Frodo Baggins, at your service.”

Jebbin was well past looking surprised at the appearance of ghosts. But this ghost, to be met in this circumstance . . . the young scholar was speechless for several moments.

Finally, he took the cold hand in his. “Jebbin Brandybuck, at yours and your family’s. Though the service I’ve given to date is poor indeed.”

“That’s not our opinion of it. Not in the least,” the ghostly Baggins smiled. This time it was a warm, encouraging smile. “In a way you’ve mirrored my own journey, and that of your forebears and Sam. You have been willing to leave everything behind . . .” the smile broadened. “Well, nearly everything. You did take your wife along. But there it is none the less. You wrote. You spoke. You did it because you had to, because you knew it was the right and only thing to do. Even though you were warned the road would not be easy, you stepped out on it anyway. No one could ask for better ‘service’.”

“But to what end?” Irritation rose in Jebbin. He would have liked to get up and pace but the room was too small to allow a decent pacing. “The Red Book is gone! And we were chased out of the towns where I spoke. We’ve been expelled from our home and, perhaps, even from our families. I’ve accomplished nothing. Nothing.”

“I was there. We all were. Bilbo and I, Sam, Merry and Pip. We watched your book and mine get burned by fools.”

Jebbin felt he had been punched in the stomach. After all the hurts in this hobbit’s life, he had watched that horrid affair?

“It hurt,” Frodo said in answer to Jebbin’s thoughts. “It hurt horribly, as much for the loss of your book as ours. But all is not lost. There are copies of my book and copies of yours. What is more, you left Oatbarton, Undertowers and Isembras’ farm so quickly, and understandably so, that you don’t know what happened afterwards.”

“What happened afterwards? Did they burn me in effigy?”

The ghostly Frodo Baggins laughed heartily at that.

“No. Not in the least. Well, at least not all the hobbits wanted to do that. It has been nearly one to one. For almost every hobbit that thinks you’re cracked, there is one who thinks, or hopes, that you are one hundred percent correct. Those against do out number those in favor, but not by as great a margin as they think. Besides, you’re in good company, you know. A good many of the residents of the Shire have always thought Bilbo and I were cracked.”

“Some think I’m right?” Jebbin whispered.

“A good many think you’re right. You aren’t in this alone, my lad.”

Jebbin looked at the Ghost. “They had said you couldn’t come. Merry and Pippin said that someone would not let you come.”

“I’ve been know to be quite persuasive, Jebbin Brandybuck.” Frodo Baggins smiled as he began to fade. “We are all very proud of you.”

“They’re proud of me? They’re proud of me!” Jebbin hugged himself, though he wished it was his dear Marjy doing the hugging. He now had some hope to cling to. He laid down on his pallet, softly repeating it until sleep overcame him.

*****

Macidoc was pacing. Though his cell was no bigger than Jebbin’s, Mac paced anyway. He had slept little and paced much since he had been unbound and shoved into the small musty room.

“He’s an idiot! A fool! He’s . . . he’s . . .” Mac threw the thin, useless excuse for a pillow against a wall. No matter that it made him feel worse, he loathed his father. “Why can’t he see what Longo is doing? Then again, why couldn’t Grandfather see what Longo’s father did to him? For that matter, how long has this been going on and no one seems to have noticed?”

Mac scooped up the pillow and dropped himself down upon his pallet. An action he immediately regretted. He’d forgotten the pallet was no thicker than the so called pillow. After rubbing the bruise on his bum, he drew up his knees and sat, rocking slightly backwards and forwards, hugging the pillow.

“Why haven’t any of them seen it?” Mac leaned back against the crumbly bricks and closed his eyes. “Perhaps, more to the point is why can I see it?”

“Green eyed Tooks.” said a voice that blended with a sound like jingling bells.

Or perhaps they were keys on a ring, like those the hobbit carried who opened the door when they fed him, Mac thought. He sighed. Bells or keys, it made no difference.

“What would you know of ‘green eyed Tooks’? You’re just my guard.”

“I’m not your guard. I don’t think they would trust me.”

Mac looked up. Though the light in his cell was dim, something didn’t look quite right about this visitor.

“If they wouldn’t trust you, why have they let you in?”

“They haven’t.” The hobbit said, smiling broadly. “I let myself in. Jebbin didn’t tell you about me, did he?”

“You let yourself in?” Mac stared at his visitor. Then quick as a lightening flash, he made a grab for the hobbit’s legs to pull him down. If he’d let himself in he had to have a key.

But Mac tumbled over, losing his balance as his arms met no resistance. He scrambled to right himself while staring at the hobbit.

“How did I miss you?”

“You didn’t. You went through me, and it feels very odd when that happens. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t do it again.”

Mac ‘s mouth dropped open.

“Splendid!” the ghost said as he laughed. “I’ll have to tell Pippin you looked just like Jebbin and Other did. He’ll be unbearable. I bet him you wouldn’t.”

“Pippin?”

“Yes, and I’m Merry, or should I say Meriadoc the Magnificent. And you are my great six times over grandson. I like that you have the “doc” in your name.”

“Meriadoc?”

“Yes, my lad.” Merry sat down opposite his descendant. “Now, gather your wits about you, Macidoc Brandybuck. I’ve a lot to say to you and not a great deal of time in which to say it. If all goes as it’s hoped it shall, you will be the Master of Buckland someday. You need to be prepared. First, about how you escaped the folly of your forebears. Your mother had you visit her relatives a great deal during your youth, didn’t she?”

Mac learned a lot from the ghost of Meriadoc the Magnificent. How things work together so when the time is right, the right hobbits are ready to do what is needed. And that he, Macidoc Brandybuck, was one of those “right hobbits”.

******

There is little to relate of the time the ghost of Peregrin the Peerless spent with Other. They told each other jokes and sang. But really, it was what Other needed.

***********

A/N: Chalcedony is member of the quartz family. The gemstone is said to aid in promoting stability, balancing energies of the body, mind and spirit. Chalcedony also encourages the wearer to be more responsive and receptive. *This suited well who this particular Took hobbitess needed to be.*

ORIGIN late Middle English : from Latin calcedonius, chalcedonius (often believed to mean [stone of Chalcedon,] but this is doubtful), from Greek khalkedon.