Snowmen

By Cathelm

Part One: The Search for Paladin

A young hobbit maid ran out of the front door into the blinding snow. Shivering, she halted at the corner of the road. She squinted through the white, but saw nothing. "Paladin, where are you?!" she called again. The sound was swept away in the wind, and only silence returned.

"Esmeralda! Esmeralda, shut the door! You're letting in the cold!"

Esmeralda took one last look down the path, then turned and ran to the warm light of her hobbithole.

"Ma, Paladin's gone again."

"Well good for him! That's one less child for me to take care of. I've got five, and you'd think that'd be more than enough. I don't know how that old Took did it, what with having twelve children and all. Bah! One is more than enough for me. And they're all Tooks!"

But Ma, he's gone. . ."

"Well I'm too busy to go look for the rascal, and I don't want you running about and catching a cold. Your brother can take care of himself." She paused for a moment as she smoothed the shirt she was mending so it lay nicely spread across her wide lap. "Speaking of cold, we need more firewood. Oh, where is your father when I need him?!"

As if on command the door flew open, revealing three heavily cloaked hobbits, two grown and one only half their size, all with an armload of wood. One strode forward and threw his wood in a box by the fire.

"Good evening, my dears!" said he. "Aldagrim is here!" The sturdy hobbit laughed and grabbed Esmeralda and swung her around the room. "Ho! My little girl's cheeks are as red as a rose! You weren't waiting outside for your old Gaffer, were you?" He set the giggling maid on her feet.

"No no, 'course I wasn't waitin' for you, Pa" she laughed. "I was looking for-"

Before she could finish, Aldagrim had whirled around to face his wife. Esmeralda quietly retreated to the kitchen to brew some tea, knowing that she most likely wouldn't be spoken to for awhile.

"Well, don't you look lovely today, Thistle!" He pecked her on the cheek as he swept his wet hat off his head.

The hobbit marm huffed and crossed her arms. "My name is Pansy, you twit, and I'm a Bracegirdle, not a weed!"

"And so you always will be, my stubborn love." He turned back to the other two hobbits, who were still hanging up their coats and hats. "Come in, Rory!" said he. "And you too, young Saradoc, don't be shy! There's room enough for everyone around the fire, 'specially on a night like this."

"I hope we aren't intruding," Rory said as he and his son sat down in the armchairs by the fireplace.

Pansy hmphed. "Of course you aren't intruding! A few sensible Brandybucks are just what we need in this Tookish madhouse, strange as though Bucklanders may be."

"Please excuse her," said Aldagrim. "She's been cooped up in here with the little ones ever since the storm started."

Rory took one of the mugs of steaming tea from Esmeralda, who had returned from the kitchen. "I don't blame her. Brandy Hall's been snowed in for the past two weeks and a half, and all the wives are being run over by children with no place to take their energy. Saro and I finally managed to break a path out of there. Storm indeed! The worst I've seen since I was a lad. It took us half the first day just to get to the Brandywine Bridge."

"An' we had to lug all the firewood half-way here," grumbled Saradoc.

"Now mind your manners, boy!" Pansy scolded. "You came here to help, being a big child now, and help you'll do! And you can start be helping Esmeralda get your fathers some more tea and cake." She shot a glance at her daughter, then back to the young Brandybuck. "What are you two waiting for? Shoo!"

Saro looked pleadingly at his father. His tired eyes begged to sit down by the fire with the rest of the grownups.

Rory smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry, Saro." He patted his son on the shoulder. "We won't start the tale telling without you.

"But hurry back!" added Aldagrim. "Tales are tales, but they don't like to wait long when it's a night made for storytelling."

Saro dropped his head and said nothing. He dragged his feet as he followed Esmeralda into the kitchen.

But then the hobbit maid kept walking, right past the teakettle and pantry.

"Esmeralda, where are you going?" asked Saro in his small voice. "I thought we were gonna get-"

Shhhh. She whirled around with a finger to her lips and motioned for him to follow.

Saro sighed, but hurried to catch up with the girl anyway. "Tooks," he muttered.

Esmeralda was waiting for him at the end of the hall, where there was a side door. She motioned impatiently for him to hurry up.

"You Brandybucks are so slow," she complained as he walked up. "We've got important things to do tonight, and they've already waited long enough."

"What makes tonight any more special than the last two weeks?" asked Saro. "It's just the same old boring weather, making us stay inside with nothing to do."

"I didn't say tonight was important, I said we have something important to do." The girl put on her mother's tone she opened up a closet and began tossing cloaks at the confuzzled lad. "Here, you can use some of Daisy's old coats. Bundle up well, now! It's cold outside."

Saro looked at the pile of clothes that was growing in his arms. "I don't know what you're doing," he said slowly, "But even though I'm four years littler than you..."

"And a Brandybuck, too!" Esmeralda scowled.

". . .I think I should know what's going on."

"Don't you pull your 'I'm the brilliant one' thing, mister Saradoc! You're still only six years old, y'know." Esmeralda began throwing several cloaks over her shoulders. "But anyways, we need to get going. My brother Paladin ran off again just a bit before you came, an' I don't want him to get killed, mischievious brat though he may be." She paused as she peered down the nearby hallway. "Come this way now. And don't make a sound! My sisters are either sleeping or knitting, but that won't matter if we get caught. Come along now, hurry!"

She tip-toed down the hall with Saro struggling to keep up with the bulky overcoats dragging behind his small frame. The quiet sounds of voices and needles clicking together floated out from under one of the many doorways. A floorboard creaked loudly under Saro's foot; they halted, straining for any hint of discovery from the lighted bedroom. Nothing. Quietly, they crept along.

At last they reached a barred doorway. "This is the back door," whispered Esmeralda, lifting the bar off its rack and setting it in a nearby corner. "No one ever uses it, 'cept to take the garbage out to the firepit. Don't dawdle now, Saro, we can still get caught!"

The door groaned as she slowly pulled it open, letting the cold night air whoosh inside. "Hurry on, get out!" Esmeralda breathed. Saro gathered up the ends his coats and scurried out into the storm. A blast of ice and snow hit him in the face, threatening to knock him over just two steps out of the doorway. Esmeralda pulled the door shut behind her with a quiet click. "This way," she motioned silently.

Saro hopped to catch up with the older girl as she walked briskly into the surrounding white. "Wait up!" he cried. "I can't see! Where are we going-" with a thunk he ran straight into Esmeralda, who had stopped to wait for him.

"Shhh!!" she scolded. "Don't be so loud, we're still too close." With that she began to walk on again.

Saro scurried after her through the knee-high snow, with the wind still threatening to knock him off his feet. "But where-"

"We're going to Hogsmial Bridge." She peered about into the white, trying to discern if anything was there.

"Hogsmial Bridge?" asked Saro. "But it's been broken for-"

"Paladin and his friends always used it for a hideout. He doesn't know I know about it."

"But why-"

"I don't know." Esmeralda slowed her pace so Saro could keep up. "Pal was always doing funny things. Running off without telling Mum, playing jokes on the neighbors with his friends... you know the lot. But tonight he's gone too far. It's much too cold for him to be out by himself."

Saro stumbled over a rock hidden in the snow, but managed to catch himself before he fell. "What makes you think he's out there?" he asked. "And isn't he bigger than you? He can take care-"

"Just because he's bigger than us doesn't mean he's not stupid," Esmeralda cut him off sharply. "Remember the time he jumped of the roof 'cause he thought he could fly?"

"Well, yeah," said Saro, "But that was a long time ago-"

"Will you shut your trap and concentrate on walking?" the hobbitmaid snapped. "You're so slow! And while you're at it, try not to get blown away, will you?"

"Not my fault I'm little," Saro muttered. At that they became silent. The two children trudged along through the freezing cold, not knowing what was to become of them- or Paladin- in the dark of night.

"Paladin, where are you?!" cried the voice, straining to be heard over the howling wind.

"Paladin! Oh Pal, I'll tan your hide when I find you, stupid boy!"

"Esmeralda!" The little Saradoc scolded the girl. "That's no way to get someone to come out!"

The maid flung herself down upon a stump that once was nearly as tall as she. "It's hopeless," she moaned. "We'll never find him in this storm. Why, we could walk arms length away from where he's sitting and never know he's there!" At that she cradled her head in her mittens and began to sob.

Saro hopped up to where his companion was sitting and put his small arm around her shoulders. "Come on, now," he said. "That's no way to find your only brother. Let's go; Hogsmial Bridge is right around corner." He looked up pleadingly at her tear-streaked face. "Please?"

"Alright," she consented after a moment. "You're right as usual. I don't know how they're raising you Bucklanders, but they must be doing something right." She jumped to the snow-packed ground and began briskly to walk down the path. "Hurry up, slowpoke, I want to be home by morning!"

Saro smiled through chattering teeth as he scampered to catch up with the older girl, happy to see her renewed energy. Once again they walked side by side, never once taking their eyes off the side of the path in hope for a glimpse of the missing boy.

Paladin lay huddled underneath the rotting bridge, only slightly protected from the storm that whipped against his bared face. The wind threatened to hurl more of the decayed structure down upon him. The stream just in front of him was completely iced over, a sight he had never seen in all his twelve years. He looked at his frozen hands; nothing. All there was was white. He could hardly be sure he had a body anymore, let alone fingers.

The young hobbit was getting ready to give himself up to the mercy of the storm when something in the blinding whiteness caught his eye. In his delirium he could just make out two silhouettes coming towards him through the storm. 'Am I dreaming?' he wondered. 'It's too late for me, anyway. So cold . . .'

And with that last thought, Paladin closed his eyes and slipped into sweet nothingness.

"There it is," Esmeralda pointed. "Hogsmial Bridge. Hasn't been used properly since Mum and Dad were kids, but no one's bothered to knock it down." She shivered and wrapped her shawl more tightly around her. "I do hope he's here."

"He will be," Saro assured her. He squinted into the whiteness. "What's that funny-looking lump under there?"

The maid laughed and began to run as fast as her heavy skirts would let her towards the old wooden bridge. "It's Pal, I know it!" she shouted. "If there ever was a funny-looking lump, it's him!" Saro struggled to go as fast as he could to catch up with her, but the snow enclosed the better part of his body. He waddled on, breath coming out in small puffs of smoke.

When Saro finally managed to fight his way to the small undercover Esmeralda was bending over a still figure propped up against the underside of the bridge. "Is it him?" he breathed.

"Yes," she whispered. "It's my brother." She gently brushed her finger against the pale face.

Saro stood in silence for a moment, not sure as to how to respond to the girl's reply. "Is he. . . alive?" he finally asked.

For a long stretch of time they stood there, with Esmeralda resting her head against her elder sibling's chest and Saro shivering nearby. The wind whirled around their small bodies, making them fight to hold on to their scarves and coats. A sudden gust of wind blasted through the so-called shelter, taking Saro's hat away with it. The boy jumped after it, but within moments it was out of sight, lost in the monotonous white surrounding him. He returned to find the others still as motionless as he left them. "Well. . . Is he okay?"

He heard the maid take a deep breath. "I. . . I'm not sure." Esmeralda's voice shook as she spoke. "I think. . . he may yet be alive, but. . ." She sighed. She sat back on her heels and began to unbutton her cloak. "We have to do all we can to keep him warm. Can you spare a coat?"

Saro nodded and began to take off his own outer layers. "I'd give him my hat, too, but I lost it."

"Then mine'll have to do." They took off their coats in silence and placed them over Paladin's limp form. Without saying another word they huddled down on either side of him, desperately trying to keep both themselves and the older boy warm in the freezing cold. All around the storm howled, with none aware of the three children who lay shivering under an abandoned bridge far away from their homes.