Arda, Middle-Earth, The Shire, The Dragon's Keep Playhouse: T.A. 2990, S.R. 1388; February 15th

The Burglar's Players, as they were known throughout the Shire, had staged many a play. Often of their own composition, but never before had they had an actual stage of their own to play it on. Their past plays had been staged out in the open, on the grassy banks of houses or in the local pub. To be fair, the Green Dragon did put out a wonderful spread for the actors and their audience, before that bar-fight and they had to stop mid-play to run for cover. But all that was to change.

When Mayor Taft had approached Bilbo about building them an actual stage, the well-to-do hobbit had had to restrain himself from laughing right in the old boy's face. It had been almost inconceivable that a structure of this magnitude would be built on Shire soil in his lifetime. Let alone by a lazy slug of a hobbit like Hilbert Taft, but Bilbo supposed anyone could change their ways in the middle of the play, if the fancy took them.

The players: Colon KettleBum, Parsley Overhill, Dollo Bottlenose, Radish Underhill, Heather Proudfoot, their leading lady Rubella Took and of course Bilbo himself, who funded as well as wrote most of their productions… stared at the massive structure. Just from the outside Bilbo could already guess the cost of the thing must have been astronomical … Bilbo was not entirely sure how even he was ever going to be able to pay old Taft back for this.

At nearly forty feet tall the 'Dragon's Keep' was by far the largest and most ornate structure that now, or had ever, stood on Shire soil. It had taken almost six months to properly lay the foundations and a full five years to complete the rest of the structure. At last though, all the many workmen and craftsmen that had laboured tirelessly to complete this splendour…were finally finished.

Rubella Took, ever the one for dramatics, swept through the newly furnished pews that would one day hold her captive audience as if they already did. She flounced onto the stage that still held several carpenters, and turned with a twirl, to the rest of the company. She swept her arms up in an elegant, sweeping gesture and her voice rang out to every corner of that mighty theatre.

'My fellows no longer are we the houseless minstrels of yester-year… for now we are home.' As Rubella bowed to the applause of the others, Bilbo had to stand there in stunned silence…he had never known her to give such a short and to the point speech before. Rubella was family, and more to the point a dear friend …but Bilbo would be a liar if he said she didn't love the sound of her own voice.

Around them the carpenters and seamstresses had paused at their work to add their hands to the applause. Before long the stage shook with the sound and Bilbo had to cover his ears lest he go deaf from the very volume of it. It was as if the very theatre itself were giving its leading lady a grand standing ovation, it practically shook with excitement and all Bilbo could think of was that it was a pity Gandalf had had to cut his stay so very short. The wizard would have loved this.

A boom from somewhere outside the theatre echoed through the open doors, and suddenly all were silent.

Bag-End Gardens

From atop the Garden wall of Bag-End, May Gamgee heard the explosion far clearer than Mister Bilbo down in his grand play-house, heard it so clearly that it made her ears bleed. She saw it right enough too, down below her hobbits still ran from the blast, and debris flew through the air smashing into hobbit holes and houses alike. No one was safe, no one…not even up here on the hill.

Another boom, this one far louder than the last, sent May hurtling backwards off that wall, and the blast-wave that followed tossed her down the garden, till she landed face first into Mister Bilbo's potato patch. Her father and brother, who had been bent over the patch, now picked themselves up from similar positions on the ground.

'Da?' May managed to get out just before the second blast-wave hit and threw them against the Smial. Hamfast Gamgee struggled to his knees and hissed at his children to get inside and hide themselves in Mister Bilbo's larder…and to not make a sound while they did so. May barely had time to grab Samwise and haul him in past that grand green door, before the third blast hit and trapped them inside.

Hamfast struggled down Bagshot Road, the tremors through the ground making his stride more of a stumble. Around him dust and ash had begun to gather and swirl like fog, making it difficult to see…well…anything. From the corner of his eye he saw a flash of colour, bright yellow like the daisies in his garden, that…that might have been his home, but he couldn't be sure unless…unless he got closer. He turned and made his way to the quickly fading colour in the near distance, something wacked him on the shoulder as it moved past, and he toppled over onto what had been a fence.

'Bell!' The hobbit screamed his voice hoarse and choked under the weight of the ash. He screamed again and again until there was barely any air left in him. Then from amidst the ash clouding his failing vision someone emerged: a hobbit lass…dressed all in white she was. Her long yellow hair, yellow as daisies, curled and twisted into a braid down her back. Her face was round and kind, not made to be a pretty decoration for some gentlefolk up where it was fine, she was sturdy stock. She looked more like a farm girl from up in Tightfield, like his sisters…but sadder.

The Ganyman reached out to her, but she passed through him like nothing more than a gust of air…yet with that gust of air he found his strength again. He pushed himself up and forward, until he now stood where seconds ago, she had: in the doorway of Number 3 Bagshot row.

Bilbo had been the first one out of the door after the boom, if the others had followed him, he didn't know. But quite frankly he didn't care…there were other things…other people … more important than that, now.

He ignored the screaming around him, he ignored the hobbits that tried to throw him to the side in their desperation to get away…his entire being was drawn to the hobbit-hole on top of the hill. So, intent was he on reaching that hobbit-hole, that he didn't even notice when he himself shoved a hobbit out of the way, or who that hobbit was.

Finally, he reached Bag-End, but there was no one in the garden, which, considering the damage that had been done was probably a good thing. His feet had taken him to the door before he could fully get his bearings on just how much had been destroyed. He grabbed for the door-handle and tried to wrench the blasted thing open. But no matter how hard he pulled the thing just wouldn't budge. Finally, in desperation Bilbo rammed his fist against the wood of the door and waited for any sign that there was someone inside. At the first knock, all that answered him was silence, at the second there was a small scuffling sound like the noise of someone small scrambling to the door, and at the third knock, there was a voice.

'Da?'

Bilbo's hand stilled upon the door, and he could hear his heart-beat in his ears. Memories of long buried nights of kissing games, of Daisy yellow hair, of missed cycles, aborted ceremonies, and of bastard babies hidden with kin, flooded the gentlehobbit's mind and he felt quite faint.

'Da? Is that you?'

The voice tried again, and Bilbo gathered his courage and finally answered.

'No Samwise it's not Da…its Mister Bilbo…I…I need to find your Da…do you know where he is? Or could…could you open the door for me?'

Bilbo's voice shook more now than it had ever done before, and he could barely breathe as he waited for the reply…though that could have been the ash in the air. At last a voice answered him, all though it wasn't Samwise's voice, but May's.

'He went to go find Ma and the others…please Mister Bilbo the door jammed behind us after the last shock…we…we can't get it open. Please sir…we're trapped.'

Bilbo's teeth sank into his bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, he felt torn and guilty at that. On the one hand, the desire to see Hamfast safe and whole was more over-powering now than it had ever been before. Even when the boy was a boy, and Bilbo could only watch from a distance. But he couldn't leave Hamfast's children…not even if it meant losing everything else…he'd never be able to live with himself afterwards. So, squaring his shoulders, Bilbo decided.

'Alright I'm going to try and pry the door open… okay? Now I want you children to push as hard as you can from your side of the door…you got that?' There were two small noises of understanding from behind the green wood.

Steadying his foot against the doorframe Bilbo gripped the door-handle tight in his left hand and pulled as hard as his tired arm would let him. With his right, he scraped his fingers up the door and wedged them just barely between the wood and its frame. He could feel the pressure from the other side and his arm was nearly yanked out of its socket when the thing burst open. He was most certainly crushed under the weight and flailing limbs of the two children that fell upon him…but he didn't care. Crushing them to his chest he let out a sob of relief…he hadn't failed in this, at least.

Nearly crushing her to his chest Hamfast let out a sob of relief, he hadn't failed in this, at least. Cradling his wife in his arms the gardener pressed a kiss to the top of her head and lifted her up into the air.

'Daddy!'

Hamfast whipped round and beheld his small daughter Marigold picking her way across the ash filled mess that had once been the Gamgee kitchen.

'Don't leave me behind, Daddy.' She toppled over mid walk and Ham nearly dropped Bell making a grab for the wee girl.

'Easy there, lass…now, where are the others?' Marigold sniffed, and half buried her face in her father's shoulder. A thick layer of dust coated her golden curls and her chubby round face, she looked like she could barely breathe, but she answered her father anyway.

'I don't know! Daisy went out to the market and Ham went out looking for Hal…because…because he'd wondered off to go….to go see the Halffoot…the Halffoot trial. But…Mrs. KettleBum said that's gonna be in…in Michel Delving. So, I don't know where any of them are now.'

Tears were rolling down her cheeks by the end and her breath was coming in low and shaky. Hamfast held her closer and attempted to rock her back and forth, but all that ended up doing was jostling his wife.

'Easy there now my girl…I'll sort everything, we'll just get you up to Bag-End now won't we. Sam and May are hidden up there, you'll be safe, while I go looking for those siblings of yours.'

February 15th of the 1390th year in Shire Reckoning, would be forever remembered as a tragedy of such magnitude that few could put words to it. The first set of explosions had taken out almost half of Michel Delving. The second had been smaller and situated closer to Hobbiton, so it was mostly just the farmers round those parts that suffered casualties from those. But however great the loss most minds in the Shire, certainly all in Hobbiton and what was left of Michel Delving, turned to one thought, and one thought only: someone had to be held accountable…someone had to be punished for this.

Then from out of the mists of this despair emerged a saviour…the hobbit who, in the hearts of many, would make all that had gone wrong right again. And more importantly would punish all those found to be at fault for this. And that marvellous hobbit's name was… Faldo Proudfoot.