Chapter Seven

Linwe sat at the dressing table in her new room, slowly combing out a days worth of tangles from her long curling hair. Feeling restless she had gone out to explore the countryside around Brandy Hall. The breeze had been strong; it easily caught her hair and twisted and turned it about tying it into knots. Linwe considered this to be a small price to pay for allowing her hair to always hang down loose, free of braids, bows, pins and clips.

The walk had done little to relieve her restlessness; she still felt pensive and fidgety. Something didn’t feel right to her and she was frustrated by fruitless attempts to sort out what it was that was bothering her. Lately she had felt a need to be watchful, though she did not know what for. The night that the mysterious and scary dark riders had come to Bree, she had found herself feeling fearful, though she could not have explained why if anyone had known to ask. The next day she was back to feeling watchful though now the instinct felt stronger. Today it had been worse than ever. As a result she had been easily startled all day. In need of peace and quiet she excused herself from sharing an evening of Saradoc and Esmeralda’s hospitality by claiming to have a head ache and escaped to the isolation of her bedroom. Only now, she was feeling not only pensive but also once again fearful.

Linwe stood up and crossed over to the wardrobe to get a clean night dress, hoping that going through the usual routine of getting ready for bed would stave off some of her anxieties. Halfway across the room she suddenly felt the cold steely grip of terror take hold of her heart. She stood for a moment struggling for breath, her eyes wide as thoughts in her mind spun out of control. Seconds past, as still she struggled trying to master this unseen threat. Suddenly everything went black, and she felt herself outside in the cold night air. A spectral figure loomed over her brandishing what to her looked like a very long blade. The blade came down, piercing the flesh of her left shoulder. Linwe cried out from the shock of burning cold pain.

~~~~~

Lila walked down the passage towards the suite of rooms that Esmeralda had given to Marmadas, Linwe and her to settle in. Lila was concerned. Linwe did not seem to be settling into Brandy Hall as well as Lila had hoped she would. After four days there, Linwe seemed to be more nervous and reclusive than ever even going so far as to avoid keeping company with Lila and Marmadas. Lila was at a loss as she now went to check on her daughter. As Lila neared the suite Linwe screamed in excruciating pain. With a mother’s instincts, Lila rushed to the room, burst through the door, and found Linwe moaning and gasping for air, her hands grasping at the fabric of her dress.

"Linwe!" cried Lila as she dropped to the floor next to her daughter, grabbing one of Linwe’s hands and holding it tightly, fearful for her daughter’s life. "Linwe! What is it? Speak to me!" But Linwe did not answer. Lila could tell by Linwe’s terror-filled gaze that she was in the midst of one of her lost-spells.

"Marmadas! Help! Please someone come help!" Lila cried out. Marmadas, Saradoc and Esmeralda had all heard Linwe scream, and were already rushing to her room when they heard Lila’s call for help. Marmadas was the first to reach Linwe’s room with Saradoc and Esmeralda on his heels.

"Lila, what is it?" demanded Marmadas.

"It’s Linwe. I was just on my way to check on her when I heard her scream. I ran in and found her on the floor. She seems to be in pain and looks terrified. Oh Marmadas, I think she is having one of her lost-spells," said Lila, frightened tears streaming down her cheeks.

Marmadas knelt on the floor at Linwe’s side, opposite of Lila and reached out to rest a comforting hand on Lila’s shoulder. "It will be all right, Lila."

"But nothing like this has ever happened before. I’m scared." Cried Lila, who was now nearly hysterical.

Before Marmadas could respond further to his wife’s fears, Esmeralda stepped forward and in her most authoritative voice took charge of the scene. "Calm down Lila, there will be time for hysterics later. Saradoc, your back is stronger so you can lift Linwe up onto the bed, then you and Marmadas may wait in the sitting room while Lila and I look over Linwe and see what can be done for her."

Once Marmadas and Saradoc had left the room, Lila and Esmeralda wasted no time in starting to gently remove Linwe’s dress. Esmeralda was supporting Linwe so that Lila could lift the dress over Linwe’s head. Esmeralda was just settling Linwe back to the bed when she noticed something. "Lila, look at this."

"What is it?" asked Lila coming around the bed.

"I think it is a bruise," said Esmeralda in a puzzled voice.

Lila looked at the place on Linwe’s left shoulder that Esmeralda had directed her. There she saw a narrow black mark about two inches in length. Lila reached out and touched it. Quickly she withdrew her fingers with a gasp. "It’s ice cold!"

Esmeralda reached out and touched the mark as well. "So it is. It is shaped sort of like a stab wound, from a knife. I wonder how she could have got it?"

Lila kept staring at the unusual mark that was dark gray with what seemed to be a frosty sheen. "Do you think we need to call the healer to come and see her?"

Esmeralda thought for a moment, "That is up to you, Lila. You told Marmadas that you thought she was having one of her ‘lost-spells.’ I don’t know what you mean by that but I gather that this is something you have seen her do before, I am also guessing that this maybe something you would prefer few people know about. If we send for a healer everyone in Brandy Hall will know in a matter of minutes and folk will start asking questions. Healers are not supposed to be spreading gossip about their patients but they do. I don’t think we need to risk it since I honestly doubt that old Grigory Bolger would be able to tell us anything helpful."

"We really would prefer that this does not go beyond you and Saradoc." Said Lila.

"Very well, I am going to send for Zelda to help me round up some things that I think we will need and I will tell her that Linwe has come down with a bad case of the flu, if this lasts more than a couple of days or Linwe gets worse it will not look unusual and it will also allow us to call in Grigory if we need to."

~~~~~

Lila, Esmeralda and Marmadas kept vigil over Linwe all through that night. To keep suspicions down Esmeralda sent Saradoc to their own rooms where he spent a sleepless night as well, worries for Linwe adding their weight to worries for his son, and the other boys. Saradoc wondered where Merry was now, as he often did during the small hours of the night when he could not sleep. It would have been of great interest to Saradoc and Lila, Marmadas and Esmeralda as well, to know that as they sat keeping watch over Linwe and worrying, Merry, Pippin and Sam, were spending that same night watching and worrying over Frodo who had been stabbed in his left shoulder that very same night.

"I don’t suppose one of you would be willing to tell me what all this business with ‘lost-spells’ is about?" Esmeralda asked, from where she sat near the fire knitting.

Lila sighed, "They started when Linwe was a baby. Every now and then she we would find her staring off into space, apparently unaware of what was going on around her. When she was a little older we asked her what she had been thinking of but she did not know what we were talking about. She was unaware of what she was doing. These episodes happened a few times when we were out in public but we always managed to keep others from noticing what was happening. When she was about twelve years old she was found crying as though her heart were breaking. From that point on we became fearful of another such episode coming on, one that would get attention and cause people to start talking, so we stopped making frequent visits here and to Marmadas’ family."

"Lila Gamwhiche! You of all Hobbits should have known that you could have come to me with this. The Tooks have had such odd behavior cropping up in family members for years, myself included, we know how to keep quiet."

"I know, Esme, but we were so afraid for Linwe I guess I sort of forgot about the Tooks."

~~~~~

One day passed to another until a week had gone. Still Linwe lay in a fitful slumber. Linwe’s condition deteriorated with each passing day. Lila and Esmeralda struggled to keep Linwe warm as the illness progressed. Bricks and quilts were always warming by the fire, to bundle around Linwe.

Just when Lila and Marmadas were starting to lose hope of their daughter ever recovering, her condition started to change and improve. On the morning of October the twenty-forth, as about ten o’clock, Linwe awakened. When asked Linwe said she had no memory of the night of her collapse or of the days that followed.

~~~~~

Far to the east in Rivendell and the house of Elrond, Frodo Baggins opened his eyes for the first time since losing consciousness at the Ford of Bruinen. The date was October the Twenty-fourth at about ten o’clock in the morning.