Warning that this chapter talks about abuse and violence. Nothing graphic but its there and I believe in giving fair warning.
Pippin stopped to grab his cloak and mask. Faramir's orders had been specific. No one goes in without being disguised. He then grabbed some food and arranged it on a tray. He knew the guard wouldn't stop him, since everyone was use to the fact that Pippin never let anyone go hungry. When he reached the area where the prisoner was held, he took a deep breath and prepared himself for what he must do next. When ready, he pushed his way past the curtain and into the room.
Boromir was lying rather uncomfortably on the cot. He had been tied up for hours now and his shoulders ached from the strain. He looked up when he saw the curtain move and was surprised to see the small figure of a hobbit walk into the room. He was even more surprised to realize he was bringing him food. He had begun to think that the outlaws intended to starve him as a means of breaking him and so the arrival of food – so soon after the fight with their leader – was unexpected.
Pippin set the tray down out of reach of Boromir and stood looking at him. Because of the cloak and hood, all that could be seen was the green of his eyes. He looked the somewhat bedraggled soldier up and down and saw the discomfort the man was trying to hide. He weighed his options and finally said "There is a guard not five feet from here. Beyond him is a whole host of men, none of whom like you in the slightest. Now, knowing all of this, I suggest that you show some intelligence and give me your word that you will behave yourself while I'm here. If you do, I'll untie you and let you feed yourself. Refuse and I'll have the guard come and hold you down while I feed you like a child. Which will it be?"
Boromir glared at the hobbit defiantly, but knew that what the hobbit said was true. There was no way he could escape, even if he were to overpower the hobbit. His ankle would never take his weight and his arms and shoulders were far too stiff from being tied up. He grudgingly nodded and said "I give you my word that I won't try to harm you while you are here. Now untie me. I can barely feel my hands."
Pippin stared at him a bit longer and said "Not the most gracious of concessions but then I shouldn't expect any better from you. You are far too used to being admired and adored aren't you?" He untied Boromir's hands and stepped back.
Boromir glared at the hobbit while he rubbed the circulation back into his hands and said "And why shouldn't I be admired? I'm the Captain-General of Gondor. That entitles me to respect and admiration. Not that I could expect someone like you to understand." He looked away from Pippin in dismissal.
Pippin felt his temper stir at the arrogant dismissal. Since being forced to come to Gondor, he had endured behavior ranging from rudeness to abuse and all because he was a "rat from the Shire." Until he met Faramir, he had believed that all men were brutes and bullies who saw hobbits as lesser creatures to be used as they saw fit. This Boromir was even worse because he didn't even bother to see any value in Pippin. Even his former masters saw the value of the work they could force from Pippin.
Pippin squared his shoulders and moved a pace closer to Boromir. "Someone like me. What do you know of someone like me? Tell me Boromir, what do you know?" His tone was fierce enough to get Boromir's attention and Pippin stared into Boromir's eyes in challenge.
Boromir was surprised by the aggressive behavior of this little hobbit. While he had little contact with hobbits, the ones he had seen around the Citadel were quiet and submissive. But this one looked ready to attack.
Boromir shifted on the cot and said "You and your fellow hobbits are here as hostages to insure the cooperation of the Shire. By having you here, your people are prevented from attacking our territories in Hollin"
Pippin snorted angrily and said "Prevented from attacking your territories in Hollin? Since when has the Shire ever shown any indications of attacking anyone, let alone the territories of Hollin?" He moved so he was standing directly in front of Boromir. Anger bristled in his every line.
"My people have always been peaceful. Even when we heard about Gondor invading the lands of Hollin, we didn't think much about it. Wars and empires have no interest to the Hobbits of the Shire. We have no armies. We've never needed to. We are farmers and tradesmen. "
Pippin began to pace angrily as the dam burst on emotions that he had kept in check for far too long. "We are not even wealthy – least not in the kinds of things that men would deem valuable. Our wealth lies in our lands and in what they produce. We are not like you men who must take all that they can lay their hands on to feel they have some value on this earth. We live in peace and we allow others to live in peace as well. Or we did until your father the Steward sent soldiers to take what he wanted."
"We were never a threat. Even if you gathered ever hobbit in the Shire we could never have been a threat to Gondor. No, what we were was another source of wealth your father could claim. They told the elders of our ruling families that the children who were taken would be treated well. That we would be educated and raised as befitted a noble child of Gondor. That as long as they cooperated and sent us children along as ordered, that no harm would come to us or the Shire."
"But it was all lies! There was never any intention of treating us as citizens of Gondor. We were always destined to serve as unpaid slaves to the nobles of your lands. If we could have at least been servants, we would have some redress for wrongs done to us but as slaves, we have no choice but to take whatever is done to us. We are beaten, starved and even forced to serve as pleasure slaves at our master's whims. My former master once "gave" me to a guest who thought it amusing to see how much he could make me scream. When I tried to defend myself, I was taken outside and whipped until I could no longer stand. When I could walk again, I was forced to work in the fields until I dropped. It was there that the Fox found me. If he hadn't stopped the foreman from beating me, I would have died."
Pippin rounded on Boromir and leaned in close. He spit out "This is how Gondor is seeing that its borders remain safe. Tell me Boromir – do you sleep better at night?" He turned sharply and moved away to the far side of the room. He closed his eyes and tried to pull himself back under control.
Boromir looked at the shaking hobbit and felt nauseous. The hobbit was so small, so defenseless. No larger then a boy. But the things he described…
He had never given much thought about the Shire. He had not been a part of the company that had taken the Shire having been dealing with unrest in Rohan. He had always accepted the ruling that said the hostages were necessary to keep the hobbits from uprising. With all the trouble they had been having in Rohan, it had seemed plausible enough. And while the hobbits he had encountered in Gondor had seemed harmless enough, he had dismissed it as having been trained well since they arrived.
But now looking at this small hobbit, he realized that the taking of hostages was nothing more then an excuse to make slaves of people who no one would object to. They weren't men so therefore it was acceptable. They had could be neglected and brutalized and it was barely even noticed. Who looked at the hobbits who served in the noble houses? They were always so quiet, so unobtrusive. And now he knew why. To draw attention to themselves was to bring pain and suffering down on them. When he thought about what this young hobbit had suffered, it made him ill. He was a defender of his people – how could he have missed the suffering of ones so small? They paid with their lives for his father's greed and he had turned a blind eye to it because he was tired of dealing with his father's constant demands. He groaned in guilt as the depths of his culpability sunk in.
His groan drew Pippin's attention back from the dark place it had traveled. He turned and looked at Boromir and saw the shame and guilt that filled his face. So, perhaps Boromir wasn't so hardened to things as he seemed. That was a curious thing. Pippin moved forward a few paces and said softly.
"I am here because one I love still remains a slave in Minas Tirith. I have not seen him in 3 years, but I know in my heart he still lives. I would do anything to find him, to bring him here where he can be safe. Tell me, Boromir, Captain-General of Gondor, is there one that you love? Can you understand what I suffer? Why I am here? Why I serve the Fox?" His eyes looked deep into Boromir's trying to see into the heart of someone he would have thought had no heart at all.
Boromir wanted to look away from those sharp green eyes. They felt like they were looking right through him and he knew that the hobbit could see his guilt and shame. He swallowed hard and forced himself to speak. "I… I did not know what the hobbits suffered. I thought only that you were servants. I never saw the abuse. I am sorry for what you have suffered."
Pippin continued to look deeply into Boromir. "And if you had?"
Boromir finally looked away. He could not bear to face that he had no clear answer for that. Had he known of individual incidents he would have likely stopped them but would he have defended the hobbits as a whole? Would he have gone to his father and demanded better for these little people who had no one to stand for them? The shame deepened as he realized that the answer was likely only if it would not cost him too much.
Pippin watched the emotions chase across Boromir's face and realized that this man had never truly faced the damage that his father inflicted on people. He lived with his soldiers and kept himself apart from it all and this allowed him to sleep at night. But now a crack had begun to form in that carefully crafted shield and Pippin was determined to widen it.
"Your father's greed has spread wider then just the Shire. We are here because someone must fight for those who cannot. You are a soldier – surely you can understand that, for is that not the true purpose of an army? You wish to see us all hang from the walls of your great White City but now that you know me for what I truly am, would you still drag me off to die at the end of a rope?"
Boromir shook his head and said "No. You have been much betrayed. None should blame you for the path that you have taken."
Pippin held Boromir's gaze while he said "And do you think that the same does not apply for each man out there? " Doubt chased across Boromir's face and Pippin drove home the final point. "Not one man here has not suffered unjustly at the rule of your father. They have lost love ones and everything they held dear. They could have become bitter and evil but instead each has committed himself to fight for others so that they do not suffer the same fate. Tell me Boromir of Gondor – do you still see us as lawless outlaws?"
Boromir looked away. He was feeling lost and confused. The world that he had seen so clearly only a day ago was slipping away from him leaving him in a place that he couldn't not find his way in. He had always been so confident in his own behavior. His father was grasping and power-mad but Boromir was better than that. But now a little hobbit had shaken his convictions and now he was adrift. He refused to look at Pippin anymore, unable to bear those too knowing eyes seeing his confusion.
Pippin could see that Boromir needed time to accept all that he had heard and so he stepped back. "I'll be back to take the tray and rebind your hands. However, I think we can make it a bit more comfortable for you. We're not completely uncivilized even if we do live in a cave." Pippin turned and exited the room. Boromir made his way gingerly to the tray and hobbled back to the cot. He wasn't very hungry after all he had heard, but he knew he needed to keep up his strength.
Still Pippin's words kept ringing through his head and finally he put down the spoon and set the food aside. It had all been so simple and clear before. He was here to capture a common outlaw known as the Fox. Only instead of capturing the Fox, the Fox captured him. And now the simple world he lived in had become so much more complex. Thinking about the Fox made him think of their encounter earlier
You dare speak to ME of honor when you show none of your own? Your soldiers bully those who are weaker than them and you do nothing to stop it. You should be protecting the poor and instead you sneer at them and treat them badly. A man in your position should lead by example but you have allowed your men to believe that it is right to take from those who cannot defend themselves.
Pippin said that no man here had not lost someone or something to Denethor's ambitions. What was it that The Fox had lost? What drove him out into the wilderness to live as he did? That he was a good tactician was clear. His raids were swift and efficient and his ability to evade pursuit amazing. Were he a soldier, Boromir would have made him a Captain and put him in charge of his most important company. But instead he was an outlaw. The enemy of all Boromir was supposed to defend. But was he really the enemy?
Boromir rubbed his eyes wearily. This was getting him nowhere. He was just too tired to sort it all out. He laid back down on the cot and shut his eyes. He had almost drifted to sleep when Pippin returned.
Pippin quietly cleared his throat and said "I'll need to bind your hands again but we'll tie them in front so at least you'll be able to sleep." Boromir wordlessly held out his hands and allowed himself to be tied up. Pippin looked at the man for a moment but refrained from saying anything. Silently he turned and left the room.
Boromir settled back down and closed his eyes. As sleep came to claim him, he found himself remembering the Fox's eyes. Blue like the sky on crisp fall day…