Chapter 16
Faramir Tells
A slight gurgling snore escaped his lips that now took on a healthy pink hue, then a twitch from his fingers that traced up his arm and into the numbness of his shoulder. His lips smacked trying to call some moisture into his parched mouth, and his eyelashes began to flutter open. Staring at the familiar ceiling above him, he blinked his eyes firmly trying to clear the fogginess from them. He did not know how long that he had slept, whether it was just hours or days, nor was he clear on what had happened to him. That was, until he tried to move his stiff shoulder from the pillow and the rush of pain reminded him of the events that had happened to him. He rested his shoulder back down upon his pillow and decided that movement at this time should be avoided. He could feel the presence of someone on either side of him as he felt cramped in his own bed. He slowly moved his head to the right side but the twinge of pain made it difficult for him to handle. Gritting his teeth, he withstood the pain until his eyes rested upon a cascade of light-brown curls lying next to him on his pillow. He knew by the color of the hair and curls could only belong to his son. Staring at the locks of hair, he wondered why they rested on his pillow and so closely by him. Blinking his eye in confusion, he returned his stare upon the ceiling to consider it.
A loud and familiar snort came from the other side that caused him to smile and he cranked his head over and flinched in deeper pain trying to get his first glimpse of the hobbit that he most desired to see. Facing him, almost nose to nose was the most beautiful long eyelashes that rested upon the most beautiful face of the one his heart belonged to. Her lips quivered and a rattle coming deep within her throat expelled a raspy loud snore that was followed by a quick snort. The sound that once tormented his ability to stay asleep the entire night was now a welcomed and lovely sound. A wide smile broke the corners of his lips and thick tears began to build from underneath his eyelids and began to drip to the side of his face. Pride in his son burst every corner of his being in knowing that he brought his wife back home to him.
Saradoc stared at his wife for what seemed to be hours rather than minutes. Then as if she could feel his eyes upon her, she came awake suddenly and stretched out her arm hitting her husband's shoulder and causing it to move which increased the threshold of his pain to its limits. Shouting out a loud scream of agony, which awoken Merry that had startled him and caused him to roll off the side of the bed from the small space in which he slept upon. Esmeralda sat straight up in her bed and stared down upon her husband's tormented face. She through her arms around him in her excitement, hugging and holding him. Another loud scream followed from the pressure of his wife resting upon the fiercely painful wound. Merry jumped to his feet with his eyes opened widely ready to do battle with the hobbit that was torturing his father. Seeing his mother's smiling face and his father's agonizing grimace, he stopped his battle ready stance and tried to slow the rapidness of his breathing and pounding of his own heart.
"Are you trying to send me to my death or welcome me back from the dying!" Saradoc roared in pain and clutched his chest the second his wife pulled back away from him.
She covered his hands over her lips and forced down the laughter from her lightened heart and wiped the grateful tears that had began to fall from her eyes. "Oh, my dearest! I am so sorry, I did not mean to cause you so much pain!"
The smile on Merry's face spoke volumes of his renewed happiness at seeing his father fully awake, even though being so caused him that much pain. He jumped down upon the bed to greet his father who suddenly held up his hand up to stop anyone from coming to closely to him.
"Gently, son, ever so gently just hold my hand, please!" begged Saradoc fearful of any more painful welcomes.
"Sorry," commented Merry with a grimace upon his face feeling empathy for his father's pain.
Estella hearing the screams and laughter coming from the bedroom raced into see the three hobbits upon the bed together. Forgetting herself, and feeling so overwhelmed with joy, she jumped upon the bed almost landing upon her husband which caused him to teeter upon his father and another bout of screaming pain.
"Enough!" groaned Saradoc holding his hand above him to prevent anyone else from landing upon him. "Stand away from the bed and allow me to breathe!"
The three dashed away from the bed at once and stood around him watching poor Saradoc struggling to control the pain from his wound.
The healer opened the door with their small bottles of potions upon a tray while the other healer followed him from behind. They strolled casually into the bedroom. Their eyes locked upon their patient lying upon his bed groaning and fully awake. Then being so dump-founded at this sight, they both looked at each other and then back again to their patient. Smiles beamed across their lips seeing the Master of Buckland and knowing he had passed the critical stage from his injury. They rushed to his side and while one quickly examined him and the other mixed a potion to ease his pain. Their poking and prodding only caused him more pain and he no longer trusted anyone near his bed or himself. "Away with yourselves, and give me some peace from my pain!" he bellowed clutching his hand over his bandaged chest.
Merry wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her cheek giggling at his father's expense with his agonizing pain and the relief in knowing that he would be all right. Suddenly his felt like his world had all came back together again in this single moment. His gaze rested upon his mother's delightful smiles and eyes that adored her husband as she stood there staring at her beloved.
XXX
The door of the Took's bedroom slowly opened and again slowly shut and the sound of padding feet tapped quietly across the wood and stone floor. A drawer of the dressing table creaked and scraped sending an unsettling noise into the room. Then the clothing as if they were being dumped upon the floor made a muffled thud as they landed one after another making a pile. The intruder's feet shuffled again going a short distance to the curtain that covered the closet and it flapped as it was pulled open. A belt buckle tapped against the wood and the leather of the belt scuffed against the peg, as it was pulled down. Soon the room became quiet once more as the minutes ticked slowly by. The sleeping occupants did not stir or move, but remained as they were curled up next to each other, sound to sleep.
A small wooden bench abraded against the floor and with a squeak and a clatter it came to a sudden halt. Momentarily the noise in the room came to a standstill and then the light thud of feet sounded as they climbed upon the bench. Slowly the noise of tapping that came from the legs of the bench, as it began to rock against the floor. The noise became louder with a clamor and a high pitched scream that brought Pippin and his wife suddenly awake and sitting up in the bed with their eyes widely opened.
Looking down upon the floor towards his closet, he saw a pile of his wife's clothes suddenly take shape and move. A bench was tipped over and laid on its side upon the floor and next to it were two small little feet that stuck out from under the pile.
"Faramir Took!" shouted Pippin when he recognized the feet. "What do you think you are doing?"
The pile of clothes shifted and his thick curls and big brown eyes peered out from them.
Pippin climbed out of his bed and stretched his back. Walking over to his son, he reached down and picked him up to set him down in front of him. However in doing so, the long skirt he had wrapped around his waist covered his feet entirely and fell well passed the floor. The end of the belt was folded under to keep it in place rather than being buckled since it was much too big for his small little waist and dangled long in front of him. His wife's vest hung on him and looked more like a dress that fell passed his knees and had one of her ribbons knotted into his hair.
Pippin looked at his son as if seeing him for the first time as shock registered through his mind. Looking back at Diamond, he was at loss for words. His fingers unknotted the unsightly ribbon from his son's hair and Faramir began to protest. Pippin sent scowling eyes upon his son and quickly removed the offensive feminine clothing from his son. Speaking from the first thing that entered his mind, he turned to his wife. "I think that our son is spending too much time with the women folk and needs more time with his father!"
Diamond climbed out of the bed and glared at her husband. "Nonsense, Pippin, I think we need to speak to Faramir about this rather than jumping to conclusions!" she scoffed at him and then turned her son around to face her. "Faramir, why are you dressed in my clothes!" she asked and waited for him to answer.
Feeling that he was in trouble for taking things that did not belong to him and not understand his father's concern, he lowered his chin to his chest.
"Come now, Faramir. Tell your mum why you want to wear my clothes. Did you miss me and wanted to pretend a game?" she offered to help him explain himself.
"Yes, a game! That's it Mum, but its not you that I miss, it's auntie Estella."
As if a puzzle suddenly snapped together, she realized that Faramir did not know about the cave in or that Estella came back home last night when he was sound asleep in his bed. He did not know that she was in Saradoc's room with her newly wed husband, Merry at this very moment. Then thinking about what he said, she began to feel slighted because he was thinking about his aunt instead of his mother. "Your auntie Estella is in Master Saradoc's room. He is not feeling very well and she is helping to take care of him."
A beaming smile crossed his lips and she could see the excitement sparkling in his tender face. "Will you take me to her at once?" he asked his mother.
Not knowing exactly what to say to her son, she turned her eyes towards her husband who shook his head no, she turned back to her son. "We can't, Faramir. Auntie Estella will come to see you when she has some time. You must wait patiently."
"Excuse me, my dear lovely wife, but the lad still has not explained his choice of dress, so to speak!" commented Pippin still looking at his son and then the discarded clothing by his sons's feet. He held the ribbon in his hand and played with it between his fingers. Pippin was more concerned about what his son was wearing and wanting to understand his reasoning for this. "Faramir, why did you want to put on your mum's dress when you have so many nice pants and vest to wear?"
"It's the game that I am playing with auntie Estella. She must have found the best costume because I can never find her!" he commented.
"Faramir, didn't you know that your auntie Estella had only came home last night when you were sleeping? She had a bit of an accident in those tunnels, but she is fine now," Pippin told his son. "But why did you think she was dressed in a costume and hiding from you!"
"Because of that mean hobbit who made us climb down the rabbit hole. Every time I see him, he is wearing a different costume so I thought that auntie Estella was still playing a game with him to see who can hide better without being caught. I wanted to play too, but everyone keeps guessing who I am!" his little arms folded in front of himself and he pouted thinking how many times someone had spotted him even though he looked like a fisher hobbit or something else. No one ever spotted Faradom and he wandered around Brandy Hall at his own free will.
"Did he ever see you spying on him?" Pippin's voice came out a little more firmly then he intended, but his son only shook his head to answer him.
"No, Da. He's much too scary! When I see him, I hide so he does not see me!"
Shock and horror raced through his mind upon hearing that the hobbit that had taken his son, his friends and aunt was still wandering around Brandy Hall. "Faramir are you sure, you could not be mistaking this hobbit for someone else!"
"No, Da!" insisted little Faramir. "I saw him, I saw him many times since auntie Estella sent me racing back into Brandy Hall to win the game for her. I told grandpa all about him and Master Saradoc. He has a long straight nose and very mean eyes. He also has a yellow streak running through his bangs right here." He pointed to the spot of his bangs where he knew the different color of hair was upon the hobbit who had taken him.
Pippin stood up and his face went white with worry and looked fearful at his wife. Knowing how dangerous this hobbit was and especially after seeing for himself, first hand how they killed Merry's pony and tried to kill the others with the cave in. His heart began to race thinking about the danger everyone was in. He looked at Diamond and she could tell by his expression upon his face that he needed Faramir to help him find this hobbit. Reaching out her hand to her husband she set pleading eyes upon him and slowly shook her head trying desperately to convince him not to involve their son.
"I'm sorry Diamond, but he knows what this hobbit looks like and where he could be hiding."
Bending down upon one knee he placed his son upon it and wrapped a protective arm around him. "Faramir, do you think you can find him for me again and point him out to me?"
Faramir smiled sweetly up at his father and set his hand upon his arm to reassure him. Then with a very determined and serious look upon his face, he answered him. "Yes, Da. I can find him for you. He's dressed up like Master Saradoc's guard. He is wearing a sword at his side and had a green cap upon his head. I think he is trying to hide his yellow streak in his hair, but you can still see it, just a little at the band of his cap."
"Then let us go see if we can find him!" said Pippin and stood taking his son's small hand in his and walked him towards their door.
Diamond followed her husband to the door and clasped his hand tightly wanting him to reassure her that everything was going to be all right. "Don't worry yourself, my love. I will watch him very closely and as soon as our son finds him, I'll send the guards upon him and send our little one back safely here to you!"
Kissing his wife and giving her a confident smile, Diamond bent down and kissed her son's brow. "Be very careful for me, Faramir. Your mum loves you, little one!"
Faramir kissed his mother's cheek and wrapped his small arms around her. "I'll be very brave, Mum. I'm a lot bigger now!"
Pippin opened the door and walked out of their room and into the hallway leading his son by his hand.
Diamond closed the door behind them and leaned against it. Touching her cheek where little Faramir had placed a tender kiss, she stroked it softly and closed her eyes praying for his safety.
Faramir Tells
A slight gurgling snore escaped his lips that now took on a healthy pink hue, then a twitch from his fingers that traced up his arm and into the numbness of his shoulder. His lips smacked trying to call some moisture into his parched mouth, and his eyelashes began to flutter open. Staring at the familiar ceiling above him, he blinked his eyes firmly trying to clear the fogginess from them. He did not know how long that he had slept, whether it was just hours or days, nor was he clear on what had happened to him. That was, until he tried to move his stiff shoulder from the pillow and the rush of pain reminded him of the events that had happened to him. He rested his shoulder back down upon his pillow and decided that movement at this time should be avoided. He could feel the presence of someone on either side of him as he felt cramped in his own bed. He slowly moved his head to the right side but the twinge of pain made it difficult for him to handle. Gritting his teeth, he withstood the pain until his eyes rested upon a cascade of light-brown curls lying next to him on his pillow. He knew by the color of the hair and curls could only belong to his son. Staring at the locks of hair, he wondered why they rested on his pillow and so closely by him. Blinking his eye in confusion, he returned his stare upon the ceiling to consider it.
A loud and familiar snort came from the other side that caused him to smile and he cranked his head over and flinched in deeper pain trying to get his first glimpse of the hobbit that he most desired to see. Facing him, almost nose to nose was the most beautiful long eyelashes that rested upon the most beautiful face of the one his heart belonged to. Her lips quivered and a rattle coming deep within her throat expelled a raspy loud snore that was followed by a quick snort. The sound that once tormented his ability to stay asleep the entire night was now a welcomed and lovely sound. A wide smile broke the corners of his lips and thick tears began to build from underneath his eyelids and began to drip to the side of his face. Pride in his son burst every corner of his being in knowing that he brought his wife back home to him.
Saradoc stared at his wife for what seemed to be hours rather than minutes. Then as if she could feel his eyes upon her, she came awake suddenly and stretched out her arm hitting her husband's shoulder and causing it to move which increased the threshold of his pain to its limits. Shouting out a loud scream of agony, which awoken Merry that had startled him and caused him to roll off the side of the bed from the small space in which he slept upon. Esmeralda sat straight up in her bed and stared down upon her husband's tormented face. She through her arms around him in her excitement, hugging and holding him. Another loud scream followed from the pressure of his wife resting upon the fiercely painful wound. Merry jumped to his feet with his eyes opened widely ready to do battle with the hobbit that was torturing his father. Seeing his mother's smiling face and his father's agonizing grimace, he stopped his battle ready stance and tried to slow the rapidness of his breathing and pounding of his own heart.
"Are you trying to send me to my death or welcome me back from the dying!" Saradoc roared in pain and clutched his chest the second his wife pulled back away from him.
She covered his hands over her lips and forced down the laughter from her lightened heart and wiped the grateful tears that had began to fall from her eyes. "Oh, my dearest! I am so sorry, I did not mean to cause you so much pain!"
The smile on Merry's face spoke volumes of his renewed happiness at seeing his father fully awake, even though being so caused him that much pain. He jumped down upon the bed to greet his father who suddenly held up his hand up to stop anyone from coming to closely to him.
"Gently, son, ever so gently just hold my hand, please!" begged Saradoc fearful of any more painful welcomes.
"Sorry," commented Merry with a grimace upon his face feeling empathy for his father's pain.
Estella hearing the screams and laughter coming from the bedroom raced into see the three hobbits upon the bed together. Forgetting herself, and feeling so overwhelmed with joy, she jumped upon the bed almost landing upon her husband which caused him to teeter upon his father and another bout of screaming pain.
"Enough!" groaned Saradoc holding his hand above him to prevent anyone else from landing upon him. "Stand away from the bed and allow me to breathe!"
The three dashed away from the bed at once and stood around him watching poor Saradoc struggling to control the pain from his wound.
The healer opened the door with their small bottles of potions upon a tray while the other healer followed him from behind. They strolled casually into the bedroom. Their eyes locked upon their patient lying upon his bed groaning and fully awake. Then being so dump-founded at this sight, they both looked at each other and then back again to their patient. Smiles beamed across their lips seeing the Master of Buckland and knowing he had passed the critical stage from his injury. They rushed to his side and while one quickly examined him and the other mixed a potion to ease his pain. Their poking and prodding only caused him more pain and he no longer trusted anyone near his bed or himself. "Away with yourselves, and give me some peace from my pain!" he bellowed clutching his hand over his bandaged chest.
Merry wrapped his arms around his wife and kissed her cheek giggling at his father's expense with his agonizing pain and the relief in knowing that he would be all right. Suddenly his felt like his world had all came back together again in this single moment. His gaze rested upon his mother's delightful smiles and eyes that adored her husband as she stood there staring at her beloved.
XXX
The door of the Took's bedroom slowly opened and again slowly shut and the sound of padding feet tapped quietly across the wood and stone floor. A drawer of the dressing table creaked and scraped sending an unsettling noise into the room. Then the clothing as if they were being dumped upon the floor made a muffled thud as they landed one after another making a pile. The intruder's feet shuffled again going a short distance to the curtain that covered the closet and it flapped as it was pulled open. A belt buckle tapped against the wood and the leather of the belt scuffed against the peg, as it was pulled down. Soon the room became quiet once more as the minutes ticked slowly by. The sleeping occupants did not stir or move, but remained as they were curled up next to each other, sound to sleep.
A small wooden bench abraded against the floor and with a squeak and a clatter it came to a sudden halt. Momentarily the noise in the room came to a standstill and then the light thud of feet sounded as they climbed upon the bench. Slowly the noise of tapping that came from the legs of the bench, as it began to rock against the floor. The noise became louder with a clamor and a high pitched scream that brought Pippin and his wife suddenly awake and sitting up in the bed with their eyes widely opened.
Looking down upon the floor towards his closet, he saw a pile of his wife's clothes suddenly take shape and move. A bench was tipped over and laid on its side upon the floor and next to it were two small little feet that stuck out from under the pile.
"Faramir Took!" shouted Pippin when he recognized the feet. "What do you think you are doing?"
The pile of clothes shifted and his thick curls and big brown eyes peered out from them.
Pippin climbed out of his bed and stretched his back. Walking over to his son, he reached down and picked him up to set him down in front of him. However in doing so, the long skirt he had wrapped around his waist covered his feet entirely and fell well passed the floor. The end of the belt was folded under to keep it in place rather than being buckled since it was much too big for his small little waist and dangled long in front of him. His wife's vest hung on him and looked more like a dress that fell passed his knees and had one of her ribbons knotted into his hair.
Pippin looked at his son as if seeing him for the first time as shock registered through his mind. Looking back at Diamond, he was at loss for words. His fingers unknotted the unsightly ribbon from his son's hair and Faramir began to protest. Pippin sent scowling eyes upon his son and quickly removed the offensive feminine clothing from his son. Speaking from the first thing that entered his mind, he turned to his wife. "I think that our son is spending too much time with the women folk and needs more time with his father!"
Diamond climbed out of the bed and glared at her husband. "Nonsense, Pippin, I think we need to speak to Faramir about this rather than jumping to conclusions!" she scoffed at him and then turned her son around to face her. "Faramir, why are you dressed in my clothes!" she asked and waited for him to answer.
Feeling that he was in trouble for taking things that did not belong to him and not understand his father's concern, he lowered his chin to his chest.
"Come now, Faramir. Tell your mum why you want to wear my clothes. Did you miss me and wanted to pretend a game?" she offered to help him explain himself.
"Yes, a game! That's it Mum, but its not you that I miss, it's auntie Estella."
As if a puzzle suddenly snapped together, she realized that Faramir did not know about the cave in or that Estella came back home last night when he was sound asleep in his bed. He did not know that she was in Saradoc's room with her newly wed husband, Merry at this very moment. Then thinking about what he said, she began to feel slighted because he was thinking about his aunt instead of his mother. "Your auntie Estella is in Master Saradoc's room. He is not feeling very well and she is helping to take care of him."
A beaming smile crossed his lips and she could see the excitement sparkling in his tender face. "Will you take me to her at once?" he asked his mother.
Not knowing exactly what to say to her son, she turned her eyes towards her husband who shook his head no, she turned back to her son. "We can't, Faramir. Auntie Estella will come to see you when she has some time. You must wait patiently."
"Excuse me, my dear lovely wife, but the lad still has not explained his choice of dress, so to speak!" commented Pippin still looking at his son and then the discarded clothing by his sons's feet. He held the ribbon in his hand and played with it between his fingers. Pippin was more concerned about what his son was wearing and wanting to understand his reasoning for this. "Faramir, why did you want to put on your mum's dress when you have so many nice pants and vest to wear?"
"It's the game that I am playing with auntie Estella. She must have found the best costume because I can never find her!" he commented.
"Faramir, didn't you know that your auntie Estella had only came home last night when you were sleeping? She had a bit of an accident in those tunnels, but she is fine now," Pippin told his son. "But why did you think she was dressed in a costume and hiding from you!"
"Because of that mean hobbit who made us climb down the rabbit hole. Every time I see him, he is wearing a different costume so I thought that auntie Estella was still playing a game with him to see who can hide better without being caught. I wanted to play too, but everyone keeps guessing who I am!" his little arms folded in front of himself and he pouted thinking how many times someone had spotted him even though he looked like a fisher hobbit or something else. No one ever spotted Faradom and he wandered around Brandy Hall at his own free will.
"Did he ever see you spying on him?" Pippin's voice came out a little more firmly then he intended, but his son only shook his head to answer him.
"No, Da. He's much too scary! When I see him, I hide so he does not see me!"
Shock and horror raced through his mind upon hearing that the hobbit that had taken his son, his friends and aunt was still wandering around Brandy Hall. "Faramir are you sure, you could not be mistaking this hobbit for someone else!"
"No, Da!" insisted little Faramir. "I saw him, I saw him many times since auntie Estella sent me racing back into Brandy Hall to win the game for her. I told grandpa all about him and Master Saradoc. He has a long straight nose and very mean eyes. He also has a yellow streak running through his bangs right here." He pointed to the spot of his bangs where he knew the different color of hair was upon the hobbit who had taken him.
Pippin stood up and his face went white with worry and looked fearful at his wife. Knowing how dangerous this hobbit was and especially after seeing for himself, first hand how they killed Merry's pony and tried to kill the others with the cave in. His heart began to race thinking about the danger everyone was in. He looked at Diamond and she could tell by his expression upon his face that he needed Faramir to help him find this hobbit. Reaching out her hand to her husband she set pleading eyes upon him and slowly shook her head trying desperately to convince him not to involve their son.
"I'm sorry Diamond, but he knows what this hobbit looks like and where he could be hiding."
Bending down upon one knee he placed his son upon it and wrapped a protective arm around him. "Faramir, do you think you can find him for me again and point him out to me?"
Faramir smiled sweetly up at his father and set his hand upon his arm to reassure him. Then with a very determined and serious look upon his face, he answered him. "Yes, Da. I can find him for you. He's dressed up like Master Saradoc's guard. He is wearing a sword at his side and had a green cap upon his head. I think he is trying to hide his yellow streak in his hair, but you can still see it, just a little at the band of his cap."
"Then let us go see if we can find him!" said Pippin and stood taking his son's small hand in his and walked him towards their door.
Diamond followed her husband to the door and clasped his hand tightly wanting him to reassure her that everything was going to be all right. "Don't worry yourself, my love. I will watch him very closely and as soon as our son finds him, I'll send the guards upon him and send our little one back safely here to you!"
Kissing his wife and giving her a confident smile, Diamond bent down and kissed her son's brow. "Be very careful for me, Faramir. Your mum loves you, little one!"
Faramir kissed his mother's cheek and wrapped his small arms around her. "I'll be very brave, Mum. I'm a lot bigger now!"
Pippin opened the door and walked out of their room and into the hallway leading his son by his hand.
Diamond closed the door behind them and leaned against it. Touching her cheek where little Faramir had placed a tender kiss, she stroked it softly and closed her eyes praying for his safety.