[Child of the 7th Age]

Josh stood beside Brass, his arm looped around the Shirriff's shoulders as they watched Niluial and Dury pull the ropes tighter and tie several sturdy knots to be sure the last of the captured men would not escape.

Several times, the Man muttered a string of curses under his breath, ruing the day that he had ever made his way into the Shire, and vowing to find a way to get revenge. Hob glared back at him impatiently, "Close your mouth. Just be glad you're alive. We could slit your throat ear-to-ear."

The other man, the first one captured, stared back belligerently, "So what are you gonna do to us if you're not gonna slit our throats?"

Josh turned casually back to the Men and grinned, "Well, this for a start..." signalling with his hand.

Within an instant, Hob had sprinted over from behind and deftly clubbed each of them on the back of the head with just enough force to knock them cold.

"That should keep 'em out for a good while and give 'em a nice headache when they awake. With their other wounds, I can't see them doing too much damage to any hobbits they meet."

"My thoughts exactly!" Josh responded. "Now, where'd those horses go?"

Cami came up leading one of the tall mounts. "This is the only one we could find. The other hightailed it out of here towards the northeast before we could put a rope on him."

Hob nodded approvingly, "One horse should do very nicely."

With that the hobbits worked diligently to hoist both the Men onto the horse. They heaved their bodies up so that they sprawled sideways across the animal's midsection and rump. Then they carefully checked them for weapons and removed anything that looked suspicious. Niluial had found a handful of feathers and soft down left over from a bird's nest; these were stuffed loosely into their mouths. Then Josh plopped bags over the Men's heads, and bound these at the neck so that neither of them would be able to wriggle free. More ropes were added to secure the two bodies to each other and finally to lash them onto the horse.

Meanwhile, Cami was tying a small pouch conspicuously on to the front pommel of the saddle. Inside was a note:

To any hobbits who should chance upon this,

These be evil men working for Ferny who tried to murder the Tooks! Fortunately, they did not succeed. They are unarmed and wounded, and should not pose a threat. Just give their mount a whack on the rear to send them on to the east, out of the Shire.

And if any of the Chief's men read this.....next time, we won't be so gentle. Stay out of the Shire and leave us alone.

Josh and the Resistence Band


Soft-hearted Cami looked over at Hob. "Are you sure it's alright to do this?"

Hob turned back to Cami and grinned, "It'll be fine. They can't hurt anyone."

Cami shook her head, "That's not what I meant. Are they going to be alright, the Men, I mean?"

Hob shook his head and laughed, a laugh that had a hard edge to it. "Cami, I've seen these and the other Men do horrible things to folk. They deserve every bad thing that's coming to them. If times were settled, we'd turn them over to the Shirriffs for an inquiry and a punishment. But we don't have that luxury. And we certainly can't spare any of the hobbits. Short of killing them outright, this is the best we can do."

"Anyways," he continued, "the horses will naturally head east, where they come from. I imagine they'll end up on the other side of the Brandywine far to the north and outside the Shire. That's where they belong."

With that, Josh gave the horse a good hard thump on the rear. The beast and his ungainly burden went trundling off across the meadow towards the Shirebourne River as the hobbits stood and watched. Once the distant figure had dwindled to a mere speck, Josh turned and spoke to the rest of the crew. "Let's get going. Load up the weed again. Our job is done. All I want to do is get home as fast as we can." With that, the band once again headed out in a northwesterly direction.