[piosenniel]

Pio's post - Andreth sends Ban

Andreth woke Ban from his cot in the stable and instructed him to run to the Mayor’s house. ‘Tell him to come quickly,’ she told the wide-eyed young man. ‘He’ll want to know what’s happened. ‘Once you’ve gotten him, then run to Mausi Honeysuckle’s house. Berilac is staying there. Tell him what I’ve told you, and that we will wait for him to come.’
_____________________________________________

Chathol-linn's post - The Mayor sends Minastan a message, but is it too late?

Earlier that day . . .

“Farewell for now,” said Harald to his impromptu counselors Berilac and Telien. “If you get news, I will be at Dantha’s, and then I will take some rest.” He left them to discuss which four archers Telien could spare for the Hobbits and quickly came to Dantha’s house where she lived with her well-off aunt.

“Can you do it, sweeting?” he asked her. “Get the gammers and gaffers together first thing in the morning and get them to make rope netting.” He quickly explained the plan to lure bandits inside the town. “Here is the key to the Town Hall. Set them at tables, and give them my thanks for their help.”

Dantha smiled. “They don’t call Old Gammer ‘Netta’ for nothing,” she said. “She was the matriarch of a river family – before their freehold got raided. She’ll help and get the others to help too.”

“Ask them to be quick. Get as many hands as you can. Have you seen Willofain?”

“She is in the barn as usual. Wild one! Do you know, she reminds me of someone ….” But Harald was gone round the back and calling for the child.

“What is it?” said the girl, tousled with straw and needing a wash.

She needs a home more than a wash, thought Harald. Aloud he said, “Can you find Minastan’s wolfhound about?”

“He is here,” said Willofain. “What do you want with him?”

“I may not tell you that. You must run away now. What if some spy were to overhear?” He smiled and Willofain giggled as she skipped off, but Harald was only half in jest. From his pocket he produced a square of thick paper, very rare and belonging originally to Dantha’s well-off aunt. He had written the following message:

May the Powers That Be help us if this falls into bandit hands! Be warned that the Hedge is not as sound from the inside as it looks from the outside. Next to the North gate, that rent where Farroweed crashed the cart is still gaping. So is the conjunction of hill and hedge on that side. Should the bandits get wind of this by tomorrow night they could take the town, as we will lack vantage points for archers to loose their arrows.

Dantha laughed. “But Minastan knows the town layout better than anyone. No vantage points! He will think you have finally lost your mind!”

“No, he is smarter than that,” replied Harald, laughing also. “He will take my meaning, and no doubt think me the prince of mayors.”

“How will he know the message is from you?”

“I will wrap it in my red kerchief and tie it around the hound’s neck. Only Breelanders know it is mine.”

“And how will the hound know to look for Minastan?”

“By this!” With a flourish Harald produced a crumpled cap from his pocket. “Minastan was in such a hurry to go, he dropped his cap. When I called him back he did not answer! So I will save it for his return. Meanwhile, let us take the hound to where Minastan set off, let him get the scent from the cap, and send him on his way.”

They did this, and Dantha spoke to her aunt shortly after. By sundown, the aunt had coaxed some twenty of her older friends, including Netta, to gather at dawn’s light for tea, rope-making, and town saving. Harald headed home to catch some much-needed rest, thinking that Dantha’s company would have been better than the sweetest slumber.

*********************************************

Later that night . . .

In the middle of the night Harald lay sleeping with no other companion than the Seeress of Dreams. And what a good dream he got from her – Breeland was burgeoning with a great harvest, there was no such thing as bandits, and Dantha was at the door, asking him to –

“Open up, Mayor!” roared a voice. A fist hammered on his door.
_____________________________________________

Pio's post - Berilac

The Mayor was well on his way to the Inn when Ban arrived breathless at the Honeysuckle’s door. He pounded with all his might, yelling ‘Open up! Open up!’ Berilac, surprised from sleep by the harsh voice and the pounding jumped up from the rocker where he had been dozing by the small fire. Mausi and her children had come down from their rooms, their faces pale and filled with dread. ‘Stand well behind me,’ he ordered them, as he advanced toward the door, blade in the ready position. Mausi pushed her children back behind one of the stuffed chairs in the room and stood ready with her stout hickory-handled broom.

Berilac threw the door open and stepped to one side as a tall figure stumbled and tripped as the door gave way. ‘Don’t kill me, Master Berilac!’ squeaked Ban throwing his hands over his head as he lay sprawled on the floor. He felt the cold, sharp point of Beril’s blade withdraw slightly from the back of his neck, and felt the prodding of Miz Mausi’s broom on his shoulder. ‘It’s Ban,’ cried little Kali, who had sneaked up behind his mami’s skirts despite the pleas of his siblings.

At the sound of his name, Ban sat up on the floor, shaking his head to try and get his wits about him. ‘’What brings you in such haste?’ asked the Ranger, helping the pasty-faced young man to his feet and to a nearby chair. Ella ran to get him a cup of water as Mondy and Kali crowded up to him, plying him with questions.

‘Stand back, children,’ said Mausi, herding them a little ways away. ‘Give the poor lad room to breathe.’ Berilac watched Ban grip the cup of water hard as if it were an anchor for him in a mad world. Once the boy had drunk his share, he asked him once again why he had come.

Out poured the story of Farmer Thistle arriving at the Inn with the Farroweeds, minus Big Tom. And the story of the bandits and what they had done to the farm and what they had threatened. ‘Mistresss Andreth says you are to come right away, sir,’ he said to Berilac. ‘I’ve already wakened the Mayor and he is also bound for the Inn.’

Berilac pulled on his boots hastily and threw on his cloak. It was decided that Ban would stay with the Honeysuckles until the Ranger returned. He was tired and shaking from his mission, but Berilac told him he must stand in for him should there be an attack on the town. He was to keep the Honeysuckles safe. Ban nodded his head silently at this charge, and bade the Ranger fare well.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a quarter of an hour later when Berilac knocked on the door of the Inn and was ushered inside. The Mayor and Telien were already there, along with Andreth and Letty Farroweed. The children had been put to bed, or so he was told, though he could hear certain creaks on the stairs, and the rustle of night-clothes as stealthy steps drew near to listen.

‘So, I have heard from Ban that the bandits have attacked and pillaged a farm.’ Letty nodded numbly at this bare assessment of the terror that had come on her family just a few short hours ago. ‘Once they start this, their pattern has been to escalate their raids on the outlying parts of a settlement. Or so it has been in the little towns they have overrun on their way here.’

He looked at the Harald and Telien and nodded at Farmer Thistle and his son, who had been asked to stay for the meeting. ‘We will need to move more quickly now. The Men and Hobbits and their families will need to come into the safety of the city, or they will pick them off, one by one. And we need to push the repairs to the hedge and dike at a faster pace.’

‘How do you want to divide up who of us will do what?’

[ 1:04 AM December 01, 2003: Message edited by: piosenniel ]