[Nurumaiel]

"I'm hungry," Fosco grumbled. "Give me some food, you old meanie." They had untied him for the present because he had complained much too loudly for their taste about how annoying the ropes were getting, but they were still keeping a careful eye on him. Ferny unconsciously reached down and rubbed his knee.

"You won't have no food for awhile," he grumbled back. "You've already eaten half the food we've got in just this day. You sit back and shut your mouth. You're getting really annoying."

"Not as annoying as you are," Fosco shot back. "I bet you're really fat and you're just hiding it. I bet you sneak in the middle of the night to eat up half the food. I haven't eaten hardly anything, and I bet - "

Ferny raised a hand, threatening to slap the boy, but Fosco looked evenly up at him and kept on making accusations. Bill retreated to a separate corner of the room where Stoatie was laughing and jeering. He limped still, and as he got closer to Stoatie he told him with the look on his face that if he didn't stop making fun he'd go and deal with him, sore leg or no.

The door was pushed open and another of Bill's henchmen came in, a strange smile on his face, suggesting both wicked glee and some doubt. Casting a wary eye at Fosco, who had given him a piece of his mind earlier as a result of an angry scolding, he rushed across the room to Ferny, panting and out of breath. "I've just been spying about," he said, "and I'm got myself a valuable piece of information."

"You've got me some, you mean," said Ferny with a snort. "Come on, what is it? And what do you think you were doing spying without permission from me?"

"I thought it would be a good idea and I wanted to get away from that brat," the man muttered. "But that Elf that the brat told you about… she's had her twins, you see, and I thought you might be interested in that." He looked smugly at Ferny.

"Stoatie, come 'ere a minute," said Ferny, a strange expression coming onto his face. "What do you think would happen if those twins were to… disappear?"

A wicked look came to Stoat's face, and he grinned. "A lot of panic for the parents, I'd say."

"No, no, don't be so daft," Ferny cried. Grasping Stoatie's shoulder, he looked straight into the other's eyes. "Listen here, Old Stoat. I'm not here to capture a bunch of brats and make their parents cry. I'm here for one purpose: To get Frodo Baggins. I want you to tell me what he would think of the business."

"Wouldn't like it too much, I suppose," he said uncertainly.

"Would it affect him personally?"

"Well, it would be a blow to the parents, and in that case it would hurt maybe the brat's mother, and then it would hurt Bilbo Baggins, and then it would hurt Frodo." He stopped and looked up at Ferny. "I think Baggins would be affected by it."

"Do you know what I want you to do?" Ferny asked. Unbeknownst to him Fosco had crept through the shadows and was now standing behind the two.

"Kidnap the twins?"

"And bring them back here as fast as you can."

"Now?"

"No, wait. We have to do some more spying and make sure we do this right." He made a significant pause, then said sternly, "This is important."

"Don't worry, Ferny," Stoat said wickedly. "Those two kids can say goodbye to their parents."

"Don't touch those babies!" came the bloodcurdling scream, and Ferny and Stoat suddenly felt that they were saying goodbye to their legs, which were being kicked, bitten, and hurt in every other way possible.

"Get him!" Ferny gasped. "Get the brat. Tie him up! QUICK!!!" But the rest never got up enough courage to stop Fosco before Ferny and Stoat were both covered with bruises and the little hobbit decided they'd be extremely stupid to go after the babies after the lesson he'd given them. Retreating to his side of the room, he shouted to them he'd do it again if they ever mentioned kidnapping the babies, and that they weren't smart enough too, anyway. Ferny lay on the ground, his legs too bruised to stand up, and he muttered in Stoatie's direction, "I'm going to get those babies if it's the last thing I do… just to prove to that brat that he's wrong."

[ May 13, 2003: Message edited by: Nurumaiel ]