"Is he... dead?" Rangel asked, moving cautiously towards Paladin

"I don't... I don't... I..." Paladin stammered Is Pippin dead? No, he can't be dead! I won't let him be dead!

"Paladin" Paladin turned and looked up into the eyes of his old friend, tears still running down his cheeks. Then with his heart full of fear he turned back towards his only son. He had a fleeting memory of his nephew Merimas telling him to check someone's heartbeat to see if they were still alive, so his hands trembling, he pulled off one of his gloves and touched two of his fingers to Pippins neck. Thump............thump thump...

"PIPPIN!" Paladin yelled with delight, hugging his child to his chest, tears still ran down his cheeks, but not tears of sadness, 'Happy tears' as Pippin would call them.

"Rangel, he's alive!"

"He's....he's alive?" Rangel stammered, staring unbelievingly at his friend "But that means, he's been out here for like..."

" For hours!" Paladin kept hugging his son to him, not really paying attention to what he was saying

"Paladin... he's soaking wet! He's been out here in the cold for four hours in nothing but his shirt and trousers, I hate to look on the bad side of things, but are you sure?"

"Yes, of course I am sure! Just look at...." Paladin stopped mid-sentence looking down at his son, fully expecting to see Pippin smiling back up at him, but he was not. His face and body were ghostly white, and his lips had turned a horrible shade of blue. His limp form hung like a rag doll..."We've got to get him home!" Paladin said, picking up the limp form of his son "Rangel, will you ride ahead and find a healer?"

"Of course!" Rangel hopped on his horse and sped off towards Whitwell. Paladin took his son in his arms, trying to warm him up a bit, and mounted his horse as well.

"Come on pippin, wake up, please wake up!" Paladin said softly to his son. I am sure I felt a heartbeat! Maybe I was hoping I felt one... NO! I definitely felt a thump, he isn't dead! "Pip, please wake up!" He pushed his horse to go as fast as it could, racing back towards the house.

As he walked in the front door, Pippin still clutched in his arms, he heard a shriek come from the far side of the room. In an instant he felt his wife Eglantine beside him, sobbing, "Is he... is he... is he?" She sobbed, looking up at her husband

"He needs the healer! Merry, see to it that there is a fire in his room."

Merry stood there for a moment staring at the lump of a form that was his friend, then Paladin's words sank in "Oh, yes sir!" Merry sprinted down the hall to his cousin's room and immediately started a huge fire in the hearth.

I can't let them see him like this, they will all think he's dead! Paladin thought tucking Pippin further underneath his own cloak, then turning to face the rest of them.

"Where is the healer?" He asked impatiently this time.

"I don't know" stammered Pearl, trying to get a look at her younger brother.

"Well??" Said Paladin

"Oh, we'll go look for him, come on you two!" Pearl said, turning to her sisters then all three of them running out of the room in different directions, yelling for the healer.

"How is he?" Eglantine said, trying to look at her son.

"He's bad Tina, really bad. Rangel and I found him lying soaked next to the pond under a layer of snow, in just his pants and shirt" He lifted up his cloak so that his wife could see her son.

"Oh my!!" Tina nearly fainted again, but luckily fell into the waiting arms of a chair. "But he's definitely alive, right?" she said willing herself not to throw up after seeing her son in such a state.

"Yes, he's alive, but only just, he really needs that healer." He turned around and started walking towards Pippins room, Tina following in his wake. "We can't let the girls or Merry see him like this, they won't understand, you felt what it did to you, let alone four young children, they would think he was the living dead."