There was an intense clarity in the air, rare for early winter in Buckland. The moon was fine and full and delightful. The light of the moon was clear and quavering above the countryside. The silence was intense. In the white, ghostly silence of the moon, the light cast giant shadows in the half-darkness as four watchmen escorted a hobbit towards the Brandy Hill.
Calamint paced in front of the group, and even in the darkness he could see what the landscape would look like in the morning. Paladin Took walked behind him, Constable Parsnip followed the hobbit and the watchmen Liverleaf and Tuftweed walked on either side of him.
Paladin was talking, telling the watchmen that the Brandy Hall was a pleasant place that had just recently fallen under the Mastership of Saradoc Brandybuck after the death of his father Rorimac, who was somehow related to Paladin by being his grandfather’s sister’s something of a cousin or a small cousin of a small cousin – Calamint got a headache just listening to Paladin talking about all the familial relationships of hobbits and trying to make sense of it all, so he had given up trying to make any sense of it. All he could understand was that all hobbits were evidently somehow related to each other, and that they all loved keeping an almost perverse track of it too.
Paladin kept talking as the group approached the gate to the lane that led to the Brandy Hall, lecturing about the Hall and the Great Smials in Tuckborough, the Great Place of the Tooks. In Paladin’s opinion Brandy Hall paled in comparison to his family home, but he implored the watchmen not to mention – under any circumstances! – to Saradoc that he had said so. Saradoc had, Paladin explained, married into his family by getting hitched to his sister Esmeralda, and Esmeralda especially took great offense if he caught Paladin ”badmouthing” Buckland or the Brandy Hall.
Calamint puffed his pipe and allowed his mind to wander as they walked up to the Hall. He was considering the possibilities, trying to find flaws in the train of his thoughts.
There had been no attack against them on the Great East Road. Could the brigands be so bold as to attack them here, in Buckland?
Calamint found it very hard to believe. But why had there been no attack yesterday, or the night before? Could it be so simple that the presence of the watchmen guarding Paladin Took had discouraged the ruffians, forcing them to abandon their kidnapping scheme entirely?
It was a perfectly logical assumption to make, but it was not enough to soothe Calamint’s nerves. After all that had happened it felt too easy, almost anticlimactic. Still, what else could they do? Or had he overlooked something? Why this gnawing feeling of restlessness, a hunch that something was not quite right?
They were nearly at the entrance to the Hall when the round main door in the middle opened and a stern-looking blond-haired hobbit stepped outside to greet them. He examined Paladin’s companions with a wary eye.
”Paladin!” the hobbit said. ”I was expecting you… but where have you put your wife and children? And who are your new… friends?”
”It’s a long story, Saradoc”, Paladin explained. ”I will tell you all about it in the morning. It’s late, and I’m tired. It’s been a long couple of days. Do you have room to house us all?”
”Of course”, Saradoc said, still leering the heavily armed watchmen suspiciously. ”I expect it to be quite a story, and I hope you haven’t brought any unruly trouble from Bree here in Buckland with you. I’ve never seen so many Big Folk coming into Bucklebury in one day.”
”Has there been more than us four?” Calamint interjected.
”Two so far”, said Saradoc. ”The first one came this morning. He’s been nice and quiet though, kept to himself mostly. But he got a visitor not long ago. The two chatted something here in my yard. The visitor didn’t stay. Seems very suspicious to me.”
”Could you describe them?”
Saradoc described the men. The first one did not ring any bells to Calamint, but the second one sounded it could have been Delioron. What was the Gondorian spy doing in Buckland, if it was him? Was he expecting trouble too?
”And the other man is still here, is he? Do you mind if I ask him a few questions?”
”You mean right now?” said Saradoc. ”I’m afraid I do. I don’t want my guests to be disturbed by people stomping on the halls and banging the doors at this hour. This house has a reputation to maintain. There’s nothing so urgent that can’t wait until morning.”
Calamint opened his mouth to protest, but changed his mind and closed it again. He had to remind himself that he had no authority in Buckland.
”All right”, Calamint smiled. ”I will talk to him tomorrow morning then.”
