[piosenniel]

Chathol-linn's post

Willofain never knew what made her follow Minastan’s wolfhound into the Chetwood. She thought it was a wonderful spy game, just as the Mayor had hinted. When Minastan took the note from Huan Vu’s red neckerchief and replaced it with one of his own, Willofain thought it was part of the fun. A secret!

She watched Huan Vu speed away from Minastan. Willofain followed as best she could, all the way back from the Chetwood to the Hedge. There she heard voices. It was dark but she could see from their silhouettes that they were four Big Folk. Willofain had never seen any of them before. They were each leading a horse. She heard the biggest one say, “Be careful what you do and say. Listen to the conversations around you on the streets; do not be afraid to talk to others. Find out everything you can, but be careful to hide your true identity.”

Willofain wondered, Why are you hiding who you are? She could not make it out what they meant to do. She decided to find Mayor Harald and tell him, and she slipped through the gap in the Hedge.

Now other voices came to her ears. This time the owners of the voices were both Big Folk and Little, and Willofain knew some of them from school.

"What are you doing?” she asked.

Kari explained, “We are helping Edmund save the bunnies from the stewpot. We brought them here and now we must get them some food and water.”

“Oh, I can help!” said Willofain, forgetting all about her message to the mayor. “Water, you say? Well, I can fetch that for them. Where shall I bring it?”

“Do you know the cave near the gap in the hedge?” said Edmund. “We’ve put them in there.”

“I’ll follow you straight away,” said Willofain. She made off to get her water skins filled.


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Pio's post

In the pale grey half light of pre-dawn, the children made their way out to a small meadow to cut the long, tender grass and edible plants for their ‘guests’ in the cave. Little Lily worked with a will, though she was very tired from staying up so late. Her nimble little fingers plucked off handfuls of succulent greens for the coneys which she stowed in Kari’s pack, as did several of the other children. Rollo and Randy had big pockets in their tunics and they put them to good use. Kali and Edmund crouched down by the small stream, gathering the crisp watercress that grew there. Nearby, Fippi snapped off the tender shoots of the new conifer trees, figuring that if the deer liked them, as his dad had told him, then surely the bunnies would.

‘We should get back,’ said Kari to Willofain, as she dumped some small edible roots she and the other girl had dug up from the clearing. ‘My Da will be getting up soon to see the mill. He’ll have my hide if he finds I’ve been out all night! And outside the hedge!’ Willofain nodded. She was staying at the Inn, under the watchful eye of Miz Andreth. She knew Edmund and she would be hard put to sneak past the serving girls or cook, one or more of whom was sure to be up already.

Fippi hoped his dad was not worrying about him and that he would still cover for him from his mother. Kali was envious when Fippi spoke to him. ‘My goose is cooked,’ Kali told the other boy. ‘Cooked and quartered and served up on a platter . . .’ He sighed, as he said the old familiar phrase his mami had taught him. ‘Why’s that?’ asked Fippi. ‘My sister and brother will notice that I’ve gone. They both get up really early. They’ll wake up mami and tell her, and then she’ll send Berilac out to find me. I’ll be one sorry little Hobbit.’ He stood up and squared his shoulders back and thrust out his chin a determined manner. It had been worth it! he thought to himself. He’d helped his friend Edmund save the coneys.

Kari whistled low and catching the attention of the others motioned for them to gather round her. ‘Let’s go,’ she said leading them back toward the hill, ‘We’ve got enough to last them a couple of days – we can check on them again day after tomorrow.’ Willofain signaled for them to go on; she had brought several waterskins and was just going to fill them at the creek. It wouldn’t take long – she would catch up. Kari led the others toward the cave.

They had just come out from under the shadows of the trees, when Fippi, catching a whiff of something odd, scanned in the direction the smell came from.

Smoke it was! And there coming down from the side of the hill was a small line of crackling flame. ‘The coneys!’ he yelled, pointing frantically at the flames drawing near the entrance to the cave. ‘We’ve got to save them . . .’

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 2:58 AM January 11, 2004: Message edited by: piosenniel ]