13. Facts and Fabrications

Pippin was breathing as well as he ever did these days, now that he was calm. Ossilan had persuaded him to drink one of his bitter herbal concoctions, and though he kept a sharp eye on the Thain, the healer nodded slightly to Merry in reassurance.

Everard had caught his breath and was sitting in a comfortable chair, sipping at a restorative glass of brandy.

Hildibold Took, who'd ridden with Pippin to Buckland as his escort, had been called into the room, and now he sat at attention, wondering what the commotion had been about.

'Let's go over it once more,' Merry said.

Pippin's relief had quickly turned to anger, and his eyes were snapping as he turned back on Everard. 'Yes, let us do,' he said tightly. 'Why was no one aware until now that Faramir was missing?' Hilly sat straighter. Missing? He wondered at the Thain's icy calm.

Everard had an engineer's meticulous mind, and he laid out the story with precision. 'The details are sketchy at best, Sir, but this is what we know. On the morning you left for Buckland, Farry told Diamond that he'd been invited to spend the day with Ferdibrand's family. That evening, Ferdi sent word to Diamond, via Tolly, that you had told him to take Farry on to Buckland; that you thought he'd be punished sufficiently by the delay; that the lad would spend the night in Ferdi's quarters in order not to disturb her with their early departure. He left early the next morning, before anyone was about. Only Tolly saw him go.'

'He said I had-' Pippin echoed, at a loss for words.

'Where was Reginard?' Merry asked.

'I had sent him to Tookbank, on a business matter,' Pippin said, 'and Everard-'

'I was in Michel Delving, consulting on the new diggings there,' Everard put in.

'I left Ferdi in charge at the Smials, and Tolly was to assist him,' Pippin concluded.

'Sounds as if the Fox was left in charge of the henhouse,' Berilac said grimly.

'When Reginard returned from Tookbank, Tolly told him that Ferdi had left that morning with Faramir, per your orders, to take the lad to Buckland.'

'I cannot believe it of Tolly, nor Ferdi either!' Pippin exclaimed angrily, but he nodded in growing conviction as Everard continued.

'These are facts, Pippin, not fabrications. I am telling you what happened in your absence. Farry's been gone since the day you left, and no one the wiser, save Ferdi and Tolly, until your message arrived this afternoon.' Everard saw the Thain's fingers tighten on the mug he held until his knuckles shone white through the skin.

'What did Tolly say when the truth came out?' Merry asked, getting back to the meat of the matter.

'He spun some wild yarn about Farry running away and Ferdi following him, giving Tolly to understand that he'd take the lad on to Buckland when he caught him, to keep Diamond from worry.'

Pippin nodded. He'd been reassured that they were still keeping Diamond from worry, difficult as it was. Tolly would be escorted to Woody End to await questioning, as Reginard anticpated that Pippin would travel there to collect his son. While speculation would undeniably arise amongst the Tooks of the Great Smials, hopefully no one would connect Tolly's arrest with Faramir's supposed departure days earlier, at least not until they got to the bottom of the matter and had Faramir safely back with his parents.

'But Ferdi took him to Woody End instead,' Berilac mused. 'Why would he do that, and not send word?'

'What if Tolly and Ferdi were in league with ruffians, who'd offered them gold in return for their services?' Everard said, remembering Regi's words.

'Preposterous!' Pippin hissed. 'Ferdi? Tempted by gold? I'd sooner say the Sun would arise from her rest in the West!'

'Perhaps he's lost his wits,' Merry murmured. 'He's always been a bit daft.'

'And what of Tolly? You're his brother; what do you have to say? Would he be tempted by gold?' Hilly quailed as the Thain swung around to glare at him; Pippin's anger crackled in the air like the sparks that jump from a woollen blanket on a cold day.

'I'd say no,' Hilly answered slowly. He'd been listening in numb horror as the story unfolded.

'But for what fact?' Merry pressed, hearing the hesitation in his tone.

Hilly ducked his head. 'He wagered heavily on the pony races this year, and lost,' he said reluctantly. 'I cannot imagine that he would conspire to pay off his debts...'

'Honour is all,' Everard said bleakly, and Pippin nodded. The Tooks valued their honour above all else, and debt was disgrace.

'Tolly would follow Ferdi's lead,’ Pippin said slowly. ‘Ferdi might be able to convince him, somehow, that this could be done in a way that hurt no one; why, if they did not deliver the lad into the hands of the ruffians, but kept him hid at Woody End, he'd be in no danger, and they could blame the ruffians for the trouble.'

'Why involve ruffians at all?' Merry asked.

'Someone would have to receive the gold; if it were ruffians, who would think to question hobbits? Give Farry a sleeping draught and he'd not remember anything – folk would assume the ruffians had taken him by force from Ferdi,' said Everard. He'd been thinking the matter through on the long ride to Buckland. 'Just let Ferdi and Farry be found, asleep and bound, after the gold is paid out, and there'd be no reason to suspect hobbits.'

Pippin looked at Everard in astonishment. 'You don't sound like a hobbit at all!' he said. 'That's the type of talk you'd hear from a renegade Man, or a Ranger describing a ruffian's actions...'

'But would Ferdi do such a thing?' Berilac asked. 'And would his sister allow it?'

'He's always been a fool of a Took,' Merry said, 'from the first time I met him. He'd take wild chances, and do things that defied convention and common sense. I suppose it's possible that he's gone completely round the bend.'

'His mother went mad, and died raving,' Everard said heavily.

'Yes, that terrible day...’ Merry swallowed hard, thinking of Stelliana, holding her young son tightly, watching the burning stables fall in on her husband and brother-in-love. ‘Ferdi lost everything that day, father, mother, uncle...'

Ferdi's father had been pulled from the fire and had lingered long years in bitterness, crippled by his injuries. In truth, though, the laughing father of Ferdi's childhood had died, was gone forever after that terrible day. Merry had not seen much of Ferdibrand thereafter.

'He didn't lose his sister,' Pippin said. 'Evidently he's staying with her as we speak.'

'Something went wrong with the plan,' Everard continued, 'and Farry was injured by a fox. I assume Ferdi sought refuge at his sister's to give the lad a chance to heal. Perhaps he would have pretended to be waylaid by ruffians on his way from Woody End to Buckland. We might never have known otherwise, had not the Thain sent for his son.'

'Well, we certainly have this seam neatly sewn up,' Berilac said dryly. 'Tried and convicted, without a word of testimony on their part.' Merry shot him a quelling glance.

'They'll have their say,' Pippin said, his face grim. 'But if they've conspired to keep my son from me, I want them banished from the Shire.' His voice shook with emotion as he remembered the fear of having lost his son, and further, his fear for Diamond on her hearing the dreadful news.

Merry nodded. He would be hearing the case, as Pippin was an injured party. 'I hear you, cousin,' he said softly. 'I hear you.' There was little doubt in his mind, after reading Ferdi's note and hearing Everard repeat Tolly's words, about the outcome of this case.