Chapter 29: A Death for a Memory
Darkness swept into the Shire on swift wings, bringing fear and despair into the life of every Hobbit. The "night-lasses" as they had come to be known were on their way to yet another raid. They had gotten quite good over the past days and were happy to be no longer putting up with the ruffians, though their rebellion was done in secret. Three guards were usually at the storehouses, and they were not too difficult to get around with a distraction.
As Chrysie and Estella saw the storehouses come into view they stopped for a quick break before their raid. "Are you sure you want to come?" asked Estella cautiously. "You know that you have already been seen."
"I am coming, I cannot let my siblings starve nor leave you to deal with three guards by yourself!" replied Chrysie resolutely.
Estella nodded and the pair silently stole off towards their destination.
Diamond stood in the shadows surrounding the storehouses. She had decided to accompany the Shirriffs on their watch, as the thieves seemed to even be able to get past three guards and if word of the failures to catch them got out to the people some tension may grow and more rebels might emerge. She had however informed all of the Shirriffs and ruffians on guard that night not to kill under any circumstances. The thieves had to be used as examples to the people.
She had instructed the other Shirriffs not to bring lit torches because if they wished to catch anyone stealing then the torches would warn the thieves to stay away. She kept a close watch on Horro, not trusting him in the least, and soon he began to notice it and attempted to slink away from her.
Suddenly Diamond heard rustling in some leaves near the edge of the forest. She looked around, and upon seeing that Horro was not in sight she crept stealthily over to take a look. She heard the noise again, and her heart began to race as she took out her dagger. She slowly moved aside the branches and almost laughed aloud at what she found there. A group of birds sat nesting in a tree.
She had decided to accompany the Shirriffs on their watch, as the thieves seemed to even be able to get past three guards and if word of the failures to catch them got out to the people some tension may grow and more rebels might emerge.
"I am letting my imagination get away with me," thought Diamond. "No one will try and steal from the storehouses with ten Shirriffs standing guard. No sooner had she said this when she heard an ear-shattering scream from the other side of the storehouses.
"No," she thought frantically, running as fast as her legs would bear her in that direction.
When Diamond reached the source of the screams she saw Horro Boffin standing over someone in the darkness with his dagger held above his head.
"Horro stop now! I told you not to execute someone without bringing him or her to me first," she said harshly.
"I am no longer under your control, Diamond. I will do as I please," he replied, raising his dagger again.
"D…Diamond?" asked the Hobbit that Horro held down.
"Horro stop!" cried Diamond frantically. She remembered that voice, but she could not place the name.
"I have wanted to do away with this miserable piece of filth for a long time. Ever since she publicly humiliated me. The little piece of filth undermined my authority as a Shirriff and humiliated me in front of everyone," growled Horro.
"You are disobeying orders, Horro. The executions are to be made public. Now stand down!" replied Diamond coldly, growing ever more afriad for whomever Horro had captured.
"You deserved to be humiliated!" said the Hobbit-lass defiantly from the ground. "You have made our lives miserable since the first day that I met you. You almost cost Diamond her friendship and her love, and that's part of this isn't it? You are still jealous that Diamond chose Pippin over you, and you are trying to impress her by killing me. I do not know if that will work, though she is not the Diamond that I remember, but the old Diamond would never have stood for this. She despised you, as I do now, and she never would have married you!"
Diamond could see Horro begin to shake in anger, and as she slowly digested the Hobbit-lass's words she began to remember. Small images came back to her, not in significant amounts but she finally remembered Horro and how horrible of a Hobbit he was. She also remembered her friend, and was thankful that she had said something to spur the memory. Now she was torn. To let her friend die and remain loyal to Saruman and Ferny, or to help her friend and forsake herself and her allegience. Horro stepped aside and motioned for Diamond to come forward and make the kill. She hesitated a moment too long.
"What will it be, Diamond. If you are truly loyal to us, then allow Horro to kill her, or do it yourself!" said a voice suddenly out of the darkness.
"Ferny? You didn't trust me! You came out here to see if I was able to handle this?" she accused.
"It is now that you must show your loyalty, Keaira, or should I say Diamond," replied Ferny maliciously. He had been waiting a long time for this moment.
Ferny lit his torch as well and in the light Diamond could now make out the face of the Hobbit that Horro held down. "Chrysie…" she whispered to herself, a flood of more memories returning to her. "No!"
"You shall all pay for this!" screamed Chrysie defiantly. "All of you are traitors and you will get your end. Especially you, Horro! You are possibly the most evil little Hobbit I have ever had the misfortune of knowing!"
Ferny made a motion with his hand, and Horro brought his dagger down upon the frightened Hobbit-lass. She screamed out in pain, and at the sight of her friend slowly dying Diamond remembered something else. Something terrible. She remembered the nightmare, and in that moment she didn't care what happened to her.
She rushed to her friend's side only in time to see her draw her last breaths. "Tell Merthian I loved him, and tell Estella to take care of my siblings. I have missed you Diamond…" was thing Chyrsie said. "By my sword she shall be avenged," shouted Diamond angrily. "I challenge you now, Horro Boffin. You shall pay for what you have done."
Horro looked to Ferny, who nodded in agreement. "This I would like to see. Diamond, I know now that you are disloyal, but I will make a deal with you. If you can best Horro then I shall sentence you and the other to the Lockholes where you shall die of starvation and disease. If you lose, you shall be dead already, and we will kill the other," said Ferny, thoroughly enjoying himself. "Either way you die, but you can prolong your death."
If stares could kill then Diamond would have struck down Ferny straight through the heart, but she asked, "Who is the other?"
Ferny motioned for the other ruffians to bring out their prisoner. When she came into the light of the torches she cried out upon seeing Chrysie's dead form, and Diamond with a sword in her hand.
"Diamond…how could you?" she choked out.
"E…Estella! I didn't! It was Horro!" Diamond cried out suddenly, surprised that she remembered her friend's name.
"Alright Diamond, you know the stakes. Either way you die, so choose your means of execution," said Ferny, growing rather impatient.
"I will fight him. And I will not lose!" she said defiantly.
Estella looked on with tears in her eyes. In one short moment she could lose two of her best friends, and perhaps even herself. "Alright," said Ferny, as Horro drew his sword as well. "Begin!"
Their swords clashed together with the force of a clash of thunder, as both were so intent on drawing the others blood that they attacked with tremendous force and aggression. Diamond was obviously more learned a fighter, but Horro was not without skill.
The battle raged over a large area, the darkness making it almost impossible to detect and predict what the other was going to do. Sweat began to pour down Diamond's neck as she parried an incredibly forceful shot away from her left leg.
Horro spun around, and aimed another shot in the same place, but Diamond was too fast for him once again. "Losing to a Hobbit-lass are you Horro?" taunted Diamond, hoping to make him lose concentration.
"I do not think I would be so cocky if I were you, Diamond," Horro shot back.
The battle wore on much in the same fashion, both taunting each other in an attempt to cause a loss of focus. Suddenly a Hobbit came walking up the road beside them and Diamond racked her brain of something to say that would cause Horro to look at him. Suddenly she had an idea and screamed out, "Pippin!"
It worked, and Horro immediately spun around to look at the road leaving his back exposed. In that split second Diamond thrust her sword deep into his back, aimed at where his heart would be. He gasped in pain, and toppled over, rolling down the steep hill into the road, his blood staining the grass as he fell.
Diamond stopped and wiped her brow. Then suddenly an overwhelming sadness came over her, and she regretted that she had so mercilessly killed another Hobbit, but at least Chrysie's death had been avenged.
Ferny was scowling, but he did not seem to be upset at Horro's death. He was angrier that Diamond had survived. Then a small smirk crossed his face. "You are both condemned to life sentence in the Lockholes with no food! It shall be a much more painful death, more to your liking Keaira," he taunted. "Take them away!"
Two ruffians came up besides Diamond and grabbed her roughly by the arms while two others did the same to Estella. They began to lead them away towards the road.
"It's a two day journey to Michel Delving, and by then we shall already be famished, but no food? What have I done to us? Perhaps I should have let us die…" thought Diamond sadly.
The next two days were like reliving the torture at Isengard once more. Diamond could not close her eyes without seeing Pippin being brutally murdered, only now it was worse. Now, at the end of the dream she saw Chrysie and Horro die as well and heard Chrysie's last words replaying over and over in her head.
"Will every death I witness haunt my thoughts forever?" wondered Diamond miserably to herself.
Three days later they reached the Lockholes of Michel Delving, and were thrown into the dankest levels of the makeshift prison. The old mayor was there with them, and many others whom they did not recognize. They were given dirty water once every two days, barely enough to keep them alive.
Diamond and Estella rarely talked in the beginning for Diamond was too depressed and overcome with nightmares that she would not even acknowledge Estella's presense. Estella began to grow restless and everntually asked Diamond, "What happened to you? You helped them. You helped those who destroyed our beautiful home. How could you? It is partially your fault that Chrysie is dead and now when we are both sentenced to our deaths you will not even give me a word nor second glance!"
Diamond looked disgracefully at the ground, "I…I don't know what happened to me. I can't remember any of my past. I remember Pippin and Merry but only after seeing them. The only reason I was able to recall you and Chrysie was the direness of the circumstances. My head has been so filled with lies that I do not even know what is the truth anymore. I am torn between who I was and who I have become. I cannot decide if I truly want to be Diamond or Keaira. I am glad that with Chrysie's death I regained some memories."
"Memories cannot save Chrysie," said Estella, a bit annoyed but mostly just grief stricken. "Did you say you saw Merry and Pippin?"
"Yea Estella, I found them. I was horribly cruel to them also. It was before I had gotten any memory back at all. I still don't remember very much. Just names and faces and people I used to know. I do not remember any events or things like that of my life here. I do not even remember where I used to live when I dwelled here. My memories of it are all gone…"
"Do you think they will come back?" asked Estella.
"I don't know," said Diamond, leaning against the back of her cell. "I hope so. I can't very well return to being Keaira as I have proven my disloyalty to them.
"I miss Chrysie, and Merry. I miss everyone! I just want to die now, and give in to this terrible torture. I need something to eat…I am about give up."
"Don't give in yet, Estella. Not yet! Just hold out a little longer, do it for Merry. Oh!" shouted Diamond suddenly. "I forgot! I found this in Horro's pocket when I pulled my sword from his body. If it belongs to you then that's another memory that returned for I immediately associated it with you."
Diamond took an engagement ring out of her pocket and handed it to Estella. Estella squealed in delight as she took back the ring. "I never thought I would see this again, Diamond. Thank you so much. This is just the strength I needed to keep going for one more day. Lets make a promise to each other now. If we die, we die together. Agreed?"
Suddenly Diamond heard footsteps coming up the passage and she wondered if they had come to execute them now. She saw a Hobbit guard walk up, but before he was within earshot she replied, "Agreed."