Chapter 17. Crisis at Long Cleeve
For some miles before reaching Long Cleeve, Bandobras worriedly eyed the rising smoke ahead of them: too much for cooking fires, especially in mid-summer. And fires wouldn’t be needed for warmth...
As the town came into view, he heard Ferumbras suck in his breath. ‘Are we too late, Dobby?’
At the same time, the scout’s eyes were sweeping the rooftops. At last, Bandobras took a deep breath and answered, ‘Just the thatch... The thatch roofs burned, and some of the buildings with them... The Common House is gone, and the Infirmary... but the slate-roof buildings are still standing, it seems.’
***
Even as Bandobras explained that the goblins typically left total destruction behind, as they had in the farmsteads they’d attacked, heads popped up behind the makeshift barricade, which was looking more substantial than it had been when he left. It also seemed to be under repair, with severe damage showing in places along the defensive wall.
A shout split the air, thin and shrill, and then a horn blew – answered by the horn of one of the archers in the front rank behind Friend. Then more heads appeared as waving hands and a cacophony of cheers erupted behind the wall.
***
‘Archie?! Arch!’ Bandobras shouted, almost falling from the saddle in his excitement. A heavily bandaged hobbit limped out from an opening made when part of the wall swung out on waggon wheels.
‘Dobby! What did ye – did ye think to bring the whole Shire back wit’ ye?’
‘Only half!’ Ferumbras contributed. ‘We left the other half to guard the Shire! Friend, down,’ he told the horse.
They slid off, and then Bandobras was embracing the injured hobbit, gently thumping his back. ‘We thought you were dead!’
‘So did I,’ Archie Hart’s-tongue replied. ‘But I’m here now... and so are you!’
***
But the news was not all good. Even as Ferumbras ordered the archers to dismount but stand by their beasts, Archie was spouting a dismaying tale.
‘...attacked in force, but we managed – somehow – to beat them off, again and again, fierce and ferocious, but we matched them in determination... and courage...’ his voice broke. ‘You’d’ve been so proud...’
Before Bandobras, shaken by this evidence of unbearable losses, could begin to ask the many questions bubbling up, Archie grasped the Chief Scout’s sleeve. ‘You’ve got to go!’ he said. ‘Now! There’s no time to waste! It may not be too late...’
***
‘This morning we had word of a larger body of goblins approaching the town from the direction of Greenfields,’ Archie said. ‘Enough to finish us! The barricade’s still broken in places...! So Rorric, he called for volunteers, and they marched to intercept the goblins, to try and hold them off, slow them down, to give us more time to shore up the fortifications.’
It was all too obvious that the Master and his delaying force were not expected to survive the encounter.
As Bandobras pressed Archie’s hand in farewell and grim pledge, Ferumbras shouted, ‘Mount up! We ride to battle!’
***