19. Crime and Punishment

The clearing was still muddy from the storm, and the fallen branches lying around the yard were too wet to burn. Hally indicated the wood shed and turned away, making no effort to help. The Tooklanders carried out armloads of split logs and Hilly built his fire. It was a grey morning, chilly and overcast, but none of the hobbits who stood watching came forward to warm cold hands over the flames.

Ferdi and Tolly sat on a bench by the front door, guarded by one of the escort who had come with Haldi from the Tookland. Master and Thain stood off to one side, talking in low voices.

'It's plain enough that they were both fully involved,' Merry was saying.

'No!' Ferdi called desperately; Merry's voice carried clearly in the still air. The secrecy had been Ferdi's idea in the first place. Tolly had gone along with the plan reluctantly, as not having anything better to propose. 'Tolly had nothing to do with it! He was just following orders, he didn't know...' His voice trailed off and he stopped, for the first time uncertain.

'Didn't know what?' Merry asked with deadly quietness.

'Put him on water rations, suspend him for poor judgment, sack him if you have to, but he's done nothing to deserve the brand!' Ferdi said, regaining his tongue. He would not lie; he would not falsely claim the guilt they had assigned to him, not even to save Tolly, but he would save Tolly if he could.

'It's all right, Ferdi,' Tolly said gloomily. 'I made my bed, and I'm ready to lie in it.' He'd known it would come to this, even as they sat in the house sipping at the dregs of their tea. The Master of Buckland had made up his mind, and that was that. They thought that Ferdi had lost his mind – at least he had that much excuse! – and Tolly, well, he was a villain of the blackest hue, having given his aid to this child-stealing with open eyes, to pay his debts. Tolly wondered wryly why it seemed to occur to no one that a hobbit who valued his honour enough to be ashamed of debt would be unlikely to sink to treachery against his sworn oath.

But there was no use bringing that up; they hadn't believed a word he said so far. He wouldn't have expected much else from a Bucklander, actually. The Thain, though… Tolly shook his head. Pippin feared for his son; he had no thoughts to spare for the proven loyalty of long service, not though it was made more certain by a solemn vow.

For if the Thain abandoned them, there was no recourse; nothing to do but make the best of a bad bargain. Tolly sighed, and Ferdi turned to him. 'I'm sorry, Tolly,' he said. He felt numb; Tolly had trusted him, and it had come to this.

'Ah, well,' Tolly said with a shrug, 'If one must go into exile, 'tis better to go in company.' He held his hands out to Hilly, ready to be bound, and met Ferdi's eye with a steady gaze. 'The brand only hurts for a short time,' he said stoutly, 'and a burn is soon healed.'

'Don't,' Hilly said under his breath, and Tolly turned an ironic look on him. 

'Just be glad you were left out of it,' he said, standing wearily to his feet and holding out his hands to his younger brother. Time to get on with it. 'O and give my love to my wife and children, if you will.'

'You're as mad as he is,' Hilly said, binding his wrists. Firm, the bonds must be, but not tight enough to cause pain. He felt between Tolly's wrist and the rope, to be sure.

'He's not mad,' Tolly returned as Hilly turned to do the same to Ferdi. 'Let's get this over with, I cannot stand this waiting and worry.'

'Fire's not quite hot enough, yet,' Hilly said.

'Just my luck,' Tolly muttered, wondering how long he would be able to keep up his nerve. He looked to Ferdi again, standing miserably beside him. 'So, Ferdi, where shall we go? Gondor, d'ye think?'

'It's as good a place as any,' Ferdi said absently, then came back to the present moment and said, 'Ah, Tolly, I am that sorry...'

'If you apologise again I'm going to flatten your nose for you,' Tolly said pleasantly, 'and then I'll be in real trouble. Water rations for sure.'

'Who'll be first, then?' Hilly asked, plunging the iron into the fire. Take things one step at a time, try not to think about what you have to do. Only twice in his life had it been his duty to brand a hobbit sentenced to be expelled from the Shire. He was about to double his record, and that by setting the brand on friends, comrades: one his cousin, the other, his brother. I'll retire from the escort after this, he thought. I'd sooner get my bread tilling the soil; 'tis cleaner work.

'Age before beauty,' Tolly said politely. 'I'd offer to go first, but Ferdi's that wedded to protocol, he'd never stand for it; I'd have to pull rank on him to get my way.'

'Hah!' Ferdi retorted. 'You're all of one month younger, scamp! Just because you're head of the Thain's escort, don't think you can look down your nose at me.'

Haldegrim ignored the talk. He'd worked under Tolly a long time as one of the Thain's escort, and he saw no point in stifling any talk now that the Master had passed judgment. He kept his expression blank but his heart was sick within him. Reginard and Everard stood silently at Hally's side, reluctant witnesses to the carrying out of the sentence.

'We're ready, Sir,' Hilly said tonelessly to the Master, who had walked a few steps apart, still in quiet conversation with the Thain.

***

Inside the house, Rosemary straightened up from Farry's bed. 'His fever's broken,' she said to Robin, hovering nearby. 'The Thain will be glad of that.' Her voice trembled, and the lad knew she was thinking of Ferdibrand, though they'd heard no sound from outside as yet. Surely he'd not be able to remain silent when the brand was applied...

'Farry?' Rosemary said now, 'Farry, do you hear me?' There was no response, and she sighed. 'I imagine he'll sleep awhile. His body's worked hard, fighting off the illness, and he's likely exhausted.'

'I'll watch with him, Mum,' Robin said, 'if you want to teach the little ones.'

'I suppose I'd better. Your father said to keep them busy about the work they'd be doing any other day.' Hally was out in the yard, one of the witnesses. She got up, dropping a kiss on Robin's head. 'Thank you, dear one. Let me know if he wakens, or speaks,' she said.

'I will,' Robin said, and settled in the chair by the bed. Was Ferdi truly mad? he wondered. Faramir might know.

As soon as his mother had gone out of the room, he leaned over Faramir, pinching him sharply. 'Farry!' he hissed. 'Farry, wake up!'

***

'Have you anything to say before we proceed?' Merry asked. It was a prescribed question, and he spoke the words mechanically. Ferdi and Tolly stood before him, their hands bound, and Haldegrim held the bags that would go over their heads after the branding. The other Took guard, Isenard, had tacked up ponies and tied them, waiting, ready, to carry them to the Bounds. Every part of the ritual would be carried out punctiliously this day, separating them forever from the Shire. They would be outside the border, never to return, before the Sun reached her nooning.

Ferdi shook his head. Why say anything more, when they had believed nothing he had said already? He hoped Pippin would at least deliver his message to Pimpernel, but he had no certainty of it. His Nell was the Thain's sister; likely Pippin would not want her following his cast-out former assistant into exile. Ferdi's heart contracted. He would wait a while in Bree, in case she came, she and the children. It was all he could think to do.

Tolly was outspoken to the last. 'You're making a mistake,' he said solidly, 'and I only hope you'll live long in bitter regret.'

Isenard and Haldegrim eased Ferdi to the ground, holding him immobile as Hilly lifted the glowing iron from the fire. Ferdi made no resistance, was even grateful for their hands holding him still so that he could not jerk away and end by being blinded as well as branded. He had as much courage as most hobbits, he thought, but it was another matter to control the body's natural recoil from red-hot iron…

Hally looked away, staring into the woods without seeing them, but Master and Thain watched, their faces resolute. Suddenly a movement distracted them all; Reginard, as though drawn against his will, took two steps forward. 'Don't do this,' he said, the words forcing themselves out against his better judgment. Hilly's hand began to shake, try as he would to control it, and he put the iron back into the fire, kneading his palm vigorously with the other hand as if he'd developed a cramp.

’I cannot,’ Hilly muttered, ‘I cannot—Haldi?’ He tried to catch the other guard’s eye, but Haldegrim stared fixedly at the ground, his hands tightly gripping Ferdi’s shoulders, stolidly enduring, waiting for this farce to be finished. What he’d do when it ended, he didn’t know. He wasn’t sure he could continue to serve the Thain; perhaps he would ask to be released from his oath. It was a disgraceful thing to do, but surely less disgraceful than what he was doing now. Beside him, Isenard released Ferdi, took a deep breath, and took hold again.

'What did you say?' Merry 's voice was menacingly calm, his eyes like steel, a snake about to strike, or the pause between lightning flash and thunderclap.

'Don't do this!' Regi said, his voice growing in conviction. 'I cannot believe you are carrying out this sentence—What proof have you got, that they meant any harm to Faramir?'

'You heard the evidence, Reginard.' Pippin sounded remote, cold as endless winter.

'Have you lived so long among Men that you've forgotten what it is to be a hobbit?' Regi demanded. 'They are loyal Tooks, bound by oath to your service, and you will not even wait to hear what Faramir might say. By the third sundown, it has to be, and this not even mid-day! How will it be if Farry awakens this afternoon and clears them – can you pull the brand back off their cheeks, and call them home? What is this rush to judgment?'

It was as if Regi's voice had turned them all to stone like the Trolls in old Bilbo's fairy tales. They stood staring at one another, Ferdi lying in the firm grip of his guard, when the door of the house opened suddenly and crashed back against the wall.

'Wait!' A blanket-wrapped figure stood tottering in the doorway, his child's voice piercing the air, wild and desperate. 'Wait!'

Robin appeared next to him, holding him up, and Pippin cried out wordlessly and set off across the yard in long strides.

'Don't!' Faramir cried, stumbling forward, and fell into his father's arms.

'Robin, what are you doing?' Rosemary rushed outside, flustered, wrapping her arms around herself against the shock of cold air. 'Hally, I'm sorry, I was making up the girls' beds with Parsley; I didn't see...'

Pippin had swept Farry up in his arms, Merry following to tuck the blanket around him more securely, taking off his own cloak to add to the lad's wrappings.

'You ought to be in bed,' Pippin said, turning to bear Faramir back to the house.

Faramir struggled weakly in his arms. 'Don't let them brand Ferdi, don't! He didn't do anything, Da, he didn't! It's all my fault!' The lad hid his face against Pippin's shoulder, breaking into tears.

'Hush, hush, Farry, don't overtax yourself. I'm that glad you're awake, but you mustn't get upset. You've been very ill, lad; you gave us all a fright,' Pippin tried to soothe him.

'You're banishing him because I ran away,' Faramir sobbed, 'and it's not his fault! He was only trying to help.'

Pippin patted his back and talked softly in the lad's ear, carrying him into the warm kitchen, paying no mind to the grim tableau in the yard. Merry turned back to the waiting hobbits.

'Come inside,' he said. 'It's too cold to stand around out here. Let him up,' he added, to the guards restraining Ferdi. 'We'll warm up with a pot of tea and sort this out.'

Ferdi was helped to his feet by those who had been holding him down. He raised an eyebrow at Tolly as they were escorted back into the house, and Tolly laughed shakily. At Hally’s look of astonishment, the head of escort muttered, 'Well. That turned out better than I expected.'