There were virtually no hobbits living in Combe. The Bree-hobbits who didn’t feel comfortable in the hustle and bustle of Bree had mostly settled in Staddle only a short distance south of Combe, leaving Combe entirely for the ’big folk’. A small village of Archet about four miles north of Combe was also inhabited mostly by the big folk, but a handful of unsociable hobbit individuals had taken up residence there, including the reclusive Willie Banks, a distant cousin to Pippin’s mother, Eglantine. Paladin’s original plan had been to travel from Staddle to Archet, where they would spend a few days as Willie’s guests before embarking on a journey back home to the Shire. The attempted murder and robbery had left Paladin shaken and deeply disturbed, but he had stubbornly denied it from his family and refused to make changes to their original travel plan. After all, the remote Archet was bound to be less dangerous village than Staddle, which was directly connected to Bree, where all kinds of shady characters roamed.
The distance between Staddle and Archet was only a few miles and they could have traveled straight through Combe and arrive in Archet that same evening, but in Combe they had managed to stumble upon the only hobbit resident there, Constable Porto Underhill, who had invited the Took family to spend the night in his house. It would have been rude to refuse, and Paladin had to admit feeling somewhat safer under the roof of Porto, who was one of the few Bree-hobbits who had made it into the ranks of the Bree Watch and the only one who had achieved the rank of Constable there. Porto was now in charge of the security of the whole district of Combe, and that fact alone said a lot about the strength and talent of this unusual hobbit. Porto was very interested in the assault in Staddle and had asked Paladin lots of questions about the incident throughout luncheon, afternoon tea and dinner.
That evening, between dinner and supper, Peregrin ’Pippin’ Took was standing by the window of the small guest room, watching the stars. He had to stand on a stool to be able to rest his elbows on the windowsill. Constable Underhill didn’t live in a hobbit-hole, but had instead taken residence in the courthouse of Combe, where he could keep an eye on everything that happened in and around the town square. Porto seemed to take his job very seriously.
Pippin’s two older sisters, Pimpernel and Pervinca, were also present in the room, quarreling over stupid things as usual.
”Mom gave me her favorite ring for my birthday”, Pervinca pointed out. ”Clearly she loves me more than you.”
”Dad basically told me I’m his favorite when you were born”, claimed Pimpernel.
Usually Pippin would have gotten annoyed by his sisters’ antics, but this time he was so lost in his thoughts that the argument barely registered in his mind. When dad had made his announcement last summer about his planned trip to Bree-land, Pippin had not been too enthusiastic about it. Pearl had refused to come along, claiming to be ’too old’ for family trips, but Pimpernel, Pervinca and Pippin had had no say in the matter, as Pimpernel and Pervinca were still in their tweens and Pippin hadn’t even turned twenty yet. Paladin had tried to sell the journey to his children as a ’grand adventure’, but Pippin had had his reservations. Pippin had nothing against adventures, but in his experience ’touring’ with family to see distant relatives usually meant having to listen adults’ long-winded and boring conversations about crops and pipe-weed and Pimpernel and Pervinca arguing over who gets to sleep in which bed. Pippin could find much better adventures in the Shire with his friends Merri, Frodo and Sam. Real adventures, such as stealing farmer Maggot’s mushrooms. Pippin was missing his friends already, especially Merri. The only silver lining was that Pippin would get to see places none of the other lads had ever seen, not even Frodo – and tell them about it afterwards.
Frodo was the unofficial leader of their merry gang of rascals. He was looked up to by the others for many reasons, the most obvious being that he was by far the eldest. Frodo had celebrated his 33th birthday years ago and was now a strapping young hobbit in his early forties, while the others were still in their tweens or – as was the case with young Pippin – not even twenty yet. But Frodo also possessed an aura of mystery about him none of the others could even dream of achieving. Frodo hailed originally from Buckland, that odd frontier land with it’s peculiar people. Orphaned at a young age, he had been adopted by old Bilbo Baggins, a creature of odd habits and shady past with countless rumors circulating about him. It was only natural for young and reckless adolescents to be drawn to the company of such mysterious folk, though none of their parents liked it very much and thought Bilbo and Frodo a bad influence upon their children.
The boring trip to visit distant relatives had gotten an exciting turn this morning, though, when an actual Bree-bandit of the big folk variety had attacked and tried to rob Pippin’s father! Luckily he had escaped the incident without injuries, but suddenly Staddle had been swarming with big folk of the Bree Watch, who had been questioning Pippin’s father while the children were locked up in the bedroom with their mother to spare their delicate ears from the gruesome details of the attack. Eglantine had been even more shaken by the event than Paladin and wanted them to return home immediately, but Paladin had stubbornly declined to cut their holiday short, considering the assault an isolated incident that was not going to happen again. But not even Paladin had wanted to remain in Staddle a moment longer, so the family had decided to continue towards Archet as soon as the watchmen had allowed them.
What an adventure it was turning out to be after all! Merri would be so jealous. Heck, even Frodo would be jealous when Pippin told about it to them! And it wasn’t over yet – perhaps something even more exciting would happen in Archet, or right here at Combe?
Pippin was still very young and he had always been a restless and somewhat reckless child. It was all just a grand adventure to him, and it never even occurred to him that anything actually bad could happen to him, his parents or his sisters. Later tonight he would try and eavesdrop the discussions between dad and Constable Underhill, to find out more details about the attack. How had it happened, and where exactly? Had dad fought bravely against the bandit? What had happened to the bandit?
Pippin stared at the thickening darkness through the window, and for a short moment he thought he saw something moving there in the woods. A tall, dark silhouette, moving strenuously, as if limping? Pippin stared into the darkness until his eyes hurt, but didn’t see it again. Probably just wind swaying the trees, he sighed, disappointed.
”Pimpernel! Pervinca! Peregrin! Supper’s ready!” Eglantine’s voice yelled from the kitchen.
