Chapter Eighteen: Kidnapped (Well, Sort Of)
A/N: I'm back for another round. Shout out to the reviewers-Aruraya (Sorry about the wait), Natta (Me, too), Chocolat Elf (*Blink* What?), and loveofthering (Hi, Mom!)
~*~
Three weeks passed slowly, drawling on in the quiet remains of February, slowly waiting for its chance to yield to a much longed-for March. Pippin hoped that it would soon. The Shire weather had quickly warmed as the time passed on through January and now February, allowing the snow to melt and the ground to once again appear.
Pippin sighed dreamily and waltzed about outside while Pervinca laughed and sat on a bench, watching him for a quiet moment in the light afternoon chill. "You know, Pippin," she began, standing and walking up to the younger Took, "I think you are happier now than ever."
"Of course," he stated as he stopped dancing and turned to look at Pervinca with a wistful expression. "It's the oddest thing. I guess you don't realize what you have until you lose it. Luckily, I've gained most of it back."
"Hopefully, Da will stop being such a grouch and let you start seeing Merry again. I know he won't listen to word of reason, but perhaps we can try to persuade him later. But for now, it has to be in secret. Though I don't see how it is going to work out. We'll think of a plan, though. Don't worry."
Pippin smiled at his sister and came closer to her. "I keep forgetting to thank you for the party. And don't pretend like you're an innocent; I know you had something to do with it... You don't know how much that meant to me."
"Though I have a good guess," she replied, a smile lighting her delicate face as well. "It makes me happy when you are happy. You don't need to thank me."
"Perhaps... But what did Pimpernel have to do with any of it?"
Pervinca raised her eyebrows, a confused expression lighting her delicate features. "Pimpernel? What? She didn't have anything to do with it. What are you talking about?"
"Well, she-" Pippin smirked. "She must have done it by herself. She must have known somehow. During the party, she chased away the girls that were stopping me and I think she must have seen the whole episode with Merry in the backyard."
"She's more than what she makes herself out to be."
"Indeed. But, I think it's best left alone. She has her own plans." He nodded his head towards the smials. "Let's go back inside. It's a bit chilly out here."
~*~
A figure clad in black sat outside of Pippin's window that night-watching, waiting. A small smile crept upon his face as he gently scratched his chin with a gloved hand and lightly rested the other hand on a small satchel beside him. He softly hummed as the light from the window dimmed and vanished, replaced by the shrouding darkness that engulfed everything in a mere second. Sitting amid the sharp thorns of the barren bushes, he waited ten minutes more before standing up and picking out all of the clinging thorns in his dark cloak. He breathed a short sigh, picking up his satchel, slinging it across his shoulder, and starting for the side door, his body quick and nimble as his feet softly pattered across the ground and his cloak sweeping out behind him to trail in the dirt. Crouching down, he quickly glanced left and right as he approached the back door and slowly twisted the knob until it made a soft click in the night silence. He inched open the door with a graceful ease, pausing and slowing the pace when it creaked from old hinges.
Once it was open far enough, he slipped inside. His eyes quickly adjusted to the inside darkness and he slunk to his left after closing the door, quietly following the hall until it reached another door on the right side of the hall. He peeked inside to make sure he had the right room and nodded to himself when he found that is was. Making a mental note of the area, he bypassed the room and melded into the darker shadows of the wide hallways as he pulled his cloak hood farther down to cover more of his face.
As he came up on other doors, he paused and peered into the rooms until he came upon the second room that he looked for: a bedroom. Quietly, he sneaked into the room and undid the fastenings on his satchels, pulling out five blood-red roses and setting them carefully onto the end table beside the bed. His gloved fingers gently pulled back, and he smiled as he looked upon the long, curly mass of honey brown hair that dangled from the pillow and the rosy cheeks and feminine eyes, closed in a pleasant sleep. He pressed his fingers to his lips and blew a kiss to her as he stood and retied the satchel fastenings and exited the room just as he had come.
"And now," he whispered to himself, once again walking down the hallway with careful ease. The third room would be a bit more difficult to find. He rounded a corner and checked more rooms: a bathroom, three bedrooms, the kitchen, the dining room, the sitting room, and another bathroom.
He sighed as he continued on his way, rounding corners and slinking down passageways until he came to the end of one. There was another door on his left, probably the last one that he had not checked. He quietly went towards it, turning the handle and opening the door, almost forgetting to go slow. He thrust his head into the room when the door allowed it and looked around. A smile came to his lips as he congratulated himself; he had found the right room. Stepping over to the desk, he crouched down and slid open the wooden drawers, fumbling around, looking for something. The first and second drawer had nothing of interest, and he opened the third drawer.
After fingering through some objects, his hands came to rest on a small bundle of envelopes wrapped with string in the far corner of the desk. Pausing for a moment, he decided it wouldn't hurt to look, and he carefully took them out and walked to the window, squinting in the darkness as he tried to read the print on them by moonlight. His eyebrows rose as he recognized the print and he quickly stuffed the bundle into his satchel.
With that done, he went back to the drawer and found a quill pen. He carefully set it onto the desk and pulled out a small sheet of paper with a note written on it, laying that down beside the pen, planning it so it seemed as though it looked like the note was written recently.
The figure smirked and grabbed his leather satchel, slipping the loose cords around his arm so that the bag lay carefully across his back. With a fleetingly look at the desk, he wandered back over to the door and stepped into the hall, closing the door behind him.
He began to follow the hall, bringing up a mental image of his destination, retracing his steps with a hesitant step or two. Bypassing the sitting room, he smiled and remembered which way to go: a bathroom, three bedrooms, the kitchen, the dining room, the sitting room, and another bathroom -only... backwards.
He nodded to himself as he passed the correct rooms, pleased with his nearly photographic memory. As he reached the last bathroom, he hurried forward and paused as he nearly unknowingly went by the first room he had seen. He stepped back and slowly pushed open the door until it let him in. Eyeing the room, he carefully stepped around a few objects on the ground and made his way across the small room until he stopped by the foot of a bed.
There lay Pippin, swaddled by several layers of blankets and two pillows. The figure smiled and quietly stepped around the bed until he stood next to Pippin. Slipping his cloak down farther over his head, he reached out and put his hand across Pippin's mouth, startling the hobbit from his sleep. Pippin blinked at the figure and then tried to sit up and yell for help, but the figure in his bedroom kept a firm grip on his mouth. His eyes widened as the figure bent closer to him.
"Keep quiet," he whispered, low yet audible. "Follow my directions and obey me. Don't speak." He loosed his grip on Pippin's mouth. "Stand and follow me. We're taking a little trip."
Pippin looked like he wanted to say something but kept quiet upon the figure's orders. He wondered if the figure had any weapon, but quickly dropped the thought. Pippin stood, paused, and glanced down at his pajamas, wondering something.
The figure evidently noticed Pippin's hesitation and glanced down as well. He sighed and nodded to Pippin's closet. "Grab something warm and let's go."
Pippin nodded and rushed over, fingering through his closet until he had found his blue jacket and scarf. He hurriedly put them on over his pajamas and followed the figure out into the hall and finally into the backyard.
~*~
Ten minutes later, Pippin and the figure were walking across the hilly countryside of Whitwell when Pippin spoke up. "Where are you taking me?"
"Somewhere."
Pippin frowned. "Well, I suppose that would be right. After all, somewhere is somewhere, but it could be anywhere. I'm pretty sure it isn't nowhere, if you get what I'm saying. So, I'll ask you again. Specifically, where are you taking me?"
The figure cast a precarious glance at Pippin. The young Took couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw an amused smile cross the stranger's lips. "You'll see when we get there. It isn't far now."
Pippin cocked his head at the stranger while they kept walking. "Have I met you somewhere before? You seem familiar."
"And so I am. You are familiar to me, too. And, yes, you have met me before."
"Well then, who are you?"
The figure kept his head turned towards the land in front of them as he replied. "Ah, another question which will be answered in time."
Pippin rolled his eyes dramatically, even though the stranger couldn't see. "Fine. I'll be patient."
An hour later, however, Pippin's patience had started to wear. He was cold, hungry, and tired, which didn't help in the least bit. "Are we there yet?" He had trouble seeing in the dark since the moon went down, but he still could luckily keep track of the figure walking beside him. His sense of direction had been lost a few miles back.
"Almost."
"Good." Pippin sighed as they began to ascend a hill, but when they paused at the top, he gasped and smiled. The small but cozy lights down at the bottom of the hill were familiar to him. "It's Brandy Hall!"
The figure smiled with Pippin and nodded. "Follow me."
Quietly and without much trouble, the two descended the hill and went around the front of Brandy Hall until they reached a back door and stepped inside. Pippin grinned to himself as he remembered the hall he now stood in, gently lit by small candles on the walls. He paused in the hallway and looked to the figure, who had removed his cloak and hung it on a lone chair. Pippin scrunched his face into a quizzical stare.
The figure turned out to be a hobbit who looked a little bit like Merry. A massive mob of tightly wound golden curls bundled together on the top of his head, and his green eyes sparkled, alight with mischief. Pippin recognized the familiar face in an instant, and he nearly jumped on the taller hobbit. "Berilac, you old fraud! How dare you kidnap me and drag me here to this most unbearable place?" He smiled mischievously, relieved to be in a familiar place with a person he knew quite well.
"Well, Peregrin Took, master of mischief, I was rather surprised you didn't figure it out sooner!"
Pippin clasped Berilac's hand and slowly turned his head as a thought appeared into his head. "Hey, Berilac. Where's Merry?"
~*~
Meriadoc grumbled as he sat up in bed, trying to stand and answering the light knocking that was coming from his door. "Whaaaattt?" he whined, more to himself than anyone. He stumbled out of bed and trundled to the door, pausing before opening it. He noticed that the time was 2 o'clock in the morning, and he grumbled even more.
He threw open the door before another set of annoying knocks could sound out. "What do you-"
His mouth continued to move, but no sound came out. Slightly shorter than he was, Pippin grinned happily up at him.
A/N: I'm back for another round. Shout out to the reviewers-Aruraya (Sorry about the wait), Natta (Me, too), Chocolat Elf (*Blink* What?), and loveofthering (Hi, Mom!)
~*~
Three weeks passed slowly, drawling on in the quiet remains of February, slowly waiting for its chance to yield to a much longed-for March. Pippin hoped that it would soon. The Shire weather had quickly warmed as the time passed on through January and now February, allowing the snow to melt and the ground to once again appear.
Pippin sighed dreamily and waltzed about outside while Pervinca laughed and sat on a bench, watching him for a quiet moment in the light afternoon chill. "You know, Pippin," she began, standing and walking up to the younger Took, "I think you are happier now than ever."
"Of course," he stated as he stopped dancing and turned to look at Pervinca with a wistful expression. "It's the oddest thing. I guess you don't realize what you have until you lose it. Luckily, I've gained most of it back."
"Hopefully, Da will stop being such a grouch and let you start seeing Merry again. I know he won't listen to word of reason, but perhaps we can try to persuade him later. But for now, it has to be in secret. Though I don't see how it is going to work out. We'll think of a plan, though. Don't worry."
Pippin smiled at his sister and came closer to her. "I keep forgetting to thank you for the party. And don't pretend like you're an innocent; I know you had something to do with it... You don't know how much that meant to me."
"Though I have a good guess," she replied, a smile lighting her delicate face as well. "It makes me happy when you are happy. You don't need to thank me."
"Perhaps... But what did Pimpernel have to do with any of it?"
Pervinca raised her eyebrows, a confused expression lighting her delicate features. "Pimpernel? What? She didn't have anything to do with it. What are you talking about?"
"Well, she-" Pippin smirked. "She must have done it by herself. She must have known somehow. During the party, she chased away the girls that were stopping me and I think she must have seen the whole episode with Merry in the backyard."
"She's more than what she makes herself out to be."
"Indeed. But, I think it's best left alone. She has her own plans." He nodded his head towards the smials. "Let's go back inside. It's a bit chilly out here."
~*~
A figure clad in black sat outside of Pippin's window that night-watching, waiting. A small smile crept upon his face as he gently scratched his chin with a gloved hand and lightly rested the other hand on a small satchel beside him. He softly hummed as the light from the window dimmed and vanished, replaced by the shrouding darkness that engulfed everything in a mere second. Sitting amid the sharp thorns of the barren bushes, he waited ten minutes more before standing up and picking out all of the clinging thorns in his dark cloak. He breathed a short sigh, picking up his satchel, slinging it across his shoulder, and starting for the side door, his body quick and nimble as his feet softly pattered across the ground and his cloak sweeping out behind him to trail in the dirt. Crouching down, he quickly glanced left and right as he approached the back door and slowly twisted the knob until it made a soft click in the night silence. He inched open the door with a graceful ease, pausing and slowing the pace when it creaked from old hinges.
Once it was open far enough, he slipped inside. His eyes quickly adjusted to the inside darkness and he slunk to his left after closing the door, quietly following the hall until it reached another door on the right side of the hall. He peeked inside to make sure he had the right room and nodded to himself when he found that is was. Making a mental note of the area, he bypassed the room and melded into the darker shadows of the wide hallways as he pulled his cloak hood farther down to cover more of his face.
As he came up on other doors, he paused and peered into the rooms until he came upon the second room that he looked for: a bedroom. Quietly, he sneaked into the room and undid the fastenings on his satchels, pulling out five blood-red roses and setting them carefully onto the end table beside the bed. His gloved fingers gently pulled back, and he smiled as he looked upon the long, curly mass of honey brown hair that dangled from the pillow and the rosy cheeks and feminine eyes, closed in a pleasant sleep. He pressed his fingers to his lips and blew a kiss to her as he stood and retied the satchel fastenings and exited the room just as he had come.
"And now," he whispered to himself, once again walking down the hallway with careful ease. The third room would be a bit more difficult to find. He rounded a corner and checked more rooms: a bathroom, three bedrooms, the kitchen, the dining room, the sitting room, and another bathroom.
He sighed as he continued on his way, rounding corners and slinking down passageways until he came to the end of one. There was another door on his left, probably the last one that he had not checked. He quietly went towards it, turning the handle and opening the door, almost forgetting to go slow. He thrust his head into the room when the door allowed it and looked around. A smile came to his lips as he congratulated himself; he had found the right room. Stepping over to the desk, he crouched down and slid open the wooden drawers, fumbling around, looking for something. The first and second drawer had nothing of interest, and he opened the third drawer.
After fingering through some objects, his hands came to rest on a small bundle of envelopes wrapped with string in the far corner of the desk. Pausing for a moment, he decided it wouldn't hurt to look, and he carefully took them out and walked to the window, squinting in the darkness as he tried to read the print on them by moonlight. His eyebrows rose as he recognized the print and he quickly stuffed the bundle into his satchel.
With that done, he went back to the drawer and found a quill pen. He carefully set it onto the desk and pulled out a small sheet of paper with a note written on it, laying that down beside the pen, planning it so it seemed as though it looked like the note was written recently.
The figure smirked and grabbed his leather satchel, slipping the loose cords around his arm so that the bag lay carefully across his back. With a fleetingly look at the desk, he wandered back over to the door and stepped into the hall, closing the door behind him.
He began to follow the hall, bringing up a mental image of his destination, retracing his steps with a hesitant step or two. Bypassing the sitting room, he smiled and remembered which way to go: a bathroom, three bedrooms, the kitchen, the dining room, the sitting room, and another bathroom -only... backwards.
He nodded to himself as he passed the correct rooms, pleased with his nearly photographic memory. As he reached the last bathroom, he hurried forward and paused as he nearly unknowingly went by the first room he had seen. He stepped back and slowly pushed open the door until it let him in. Eyeing the room, he carefully stepped around a few objects on the ground and made his way across the small room until he stopped by the foot of a bed.
There lay Pippin, swaddled by several layers of blankets and two pillows. The figure smiled and quietly stepped around the bed until he stood next to Pippin. Slipping his cloak down farther over his head, he reached out and put his hand across Pippin's mouth, startling the hobbit from his sleep. Pippin blinked at the figure and then tried to sit up and yell for help, but the figure in his bedroom kept a firm grip on his mouth. His eyes widened as the figure bent closer to him.
"Keep quiet," he whispered, low yet audible. "Follow my directions and obey me. Don't speak." He loosed his grip on Pippin's mouth. "Stand and follow me. We're taking a little trip."
Pippin looked like he wanted to say something but kept quiet upon the figure's orders. He wondered if the figure had any weapon, but quickly dropped the thought. Pippin stood, paused, and glanced down at his pajamas, wondering something.
The figure evidently noticed Pippin's hesitation and glanced down as well. He sighed and nodded to Pippin's closet. "Grab something warm and let's go."
Pippin nodded and rushed over, fingering through his closet until he had found his blue jacket and scarf. He hurriedly put them on over his pajamas and followed the figure out into the hall and finally into the backyard.
~*~
Ten minutes later, Pippin and the figure were walking across the hilly countryside of Whitwell when Pippin spoke up. "Where are you taking me?"
"Somewhere."
Pippin frowned. "Well, I suppose that would be right. After all, somewhere is somewhere, but it could be anywhere. I'm pretty sure it isn't nowhere, if you get what I'm saying. So, I'll ask you again. Specifically, where are you taking me?"
The figure cast a precarious glance at Pippin. The young Took couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw an amused smile cross the stranger's lips. "You'll see when we get there. It isn't far now."
Pippin cocked his head at the stranger while they kept walking. "Have I met you somewhere before? You seem familiar."
"And so I am. You are familiar to me, too. And, yes, you have met me before."
"Well then, who are you?"
The figure kept his head turned towards the land in front of them as he replied. "Ah, another question which will be answered in time."
Pippin rolled his eyes dramatically, even though the stranger couldn't see. "Fine. I'll be patient."
An hour later, however, Pippin's patience had started to wear. He was cold, hungry, and tired, which didn't help in the least bit. "Are we there yet?" He had trouble seeing in the dark since the moon went down, but he still could luckily keep track of the figure walking beside him. His sense of direction had been lost a few miles back.
"Almost."
"Good." Pippin sighed as they began to ascend a hill, but when they paused at the top, he gasped and smiled. The small but cozy lights down at the bottom of the hill were familiar to him. "It's Brandy Hall!"
The figure smiled with Pippin and nodded. "Follow me."
Quietly and without much trouble, the two descended the hill and went around the front of Brandy Hall until they reached a back door and stepped inside. Pippin grinned to himself as he remembered the hall he now stood in, gently lit by small candles on the walls. He paused in the hallway and looked to the figure, who had removed his cloak and hung it on a lone chair. Pippin scrunched his face into a quizzical stare.
The figure turned out to be a hobbit who looked a little bit like Merry. A massive mob of tightly wound golden curls bundled together on the top of his head, and his green eyes sparkled, alight with mischief. Pippin recognized the familiar face in an instant, and he nearly jumped on the taller hobbit. "Berilac, you old fraud! How dare you kidnap me and drag me here to this most unbearable place?" He smiled mischievously, relieved to be in a familiar place with a person he knew quite well.
"Well, Peregrin Took, master of mischief, I was rather surprised you didn't figure it out sooner!"
Pippin clasped Berilac's hand and slowly turned his head as a thought appeared into his head. "Hey, Berilac. Where's Merry?"
~*~
Meriadoc grumbled as he sat up in bed, trying to stand and answering the light knocking that was coming from his door. "Whaaaattt?" he whined, more to himself than anyone. He stumbled out of bed and trundled to the door, pausing before opening it. He noticed that the time was 2 o'clock in the morning, and he grumbled even more.
He threw open the door before another set of annoying knocks could sound out. "What do you-"
His mouth continued to move, but no sound came out. Slightly shorter than he was, Pippin grinned happily up at him.