[Child of the 7th Age]

Cami had spent several hours riding about the countryside searching for any sign of Hob and his two companions. It was now mid-afternoon, and she was extremely tired, her muscles aching from too much time spent on the back of a horse. Her stomach growled in protest, as she had missed both lunch and first tea and had neglected to bring along anything to eat, relying only on a few berries and nuts that she'd found along the trail.

Her search had turned up nothing. She'd scrutinized the roads from one end of Tukborough to the other as well as many of the wooded groves and open fields on the outskirts of town. She'd run into any number of hobbits who'd tried to help her, but no one had seen Hob or a group of travellers dressed in Shirriff's garb.

A couple of these folk had expressed concern that she was out on her own scouring the countryside without a companion or a real weapon to defend herself. They had urged her to return to the safety of the town or at least to take other precautions, since there were too many bad 'uns out these days to let down one's guard completely, even here in Tookland, although the place was admittedly safer than many others in the Shire. Cami promised to heed their warnings but then went blithely forward on her errand, certain that these hobbits were being overly alarmist.

Coming to a lovely clearing just under a hill with an inviting stream running through it, she'd thrown off her pack and let her pony graze on the tall grasses growing nearby. After taking a long drink and filling her bottle with water, she sauntered up the hill to have a look at the spring that was the source of the water bubbling down into the clearing. Following along for a short distance, she came to a stand of tall pines at the very top of the hill. She stopped to sprawl out on the forest floor, intending to rest for only a moment. But the ground, which was blanketed with soft pine needles, reminded her of a fine feather bed. Having ridden the whole night before without any rest, she curled up on her side, drawing her knees close to her body, and soon fell asleep.

Several hours had passed when Cami finally awoke. The sun had dipped lower in the sky and, although it was difficult to be sure with all the trees obscuring her view of the horizon, she judged it to be late afternoon. Cami groggily sat up and was about to go hunting for Dandelion when she heard the sound of voices coming from the clearing just below. Thinking that she'd finally stumbled upon Hob and his friends, she almost ran down the hill to welcome her new neighbors, but something inside whispered a word of warning. Instead, she crept up to the edge of the clearing and peered out cautiously surveying the entire camp.

There were three Big Folk engaged in conversation. Just from their looks and bearing, Cami did not feel too safe. And what they were discussing caused her to draw back in real fright.....confusing words about going to steal 'treasures' from the Tooks and how the 'little rats' needed to be taken care of. Cami doubted the Tooks had any treasures that would interest the Big Folk, but, from the sound of their voices, the members of this small band meant serious business.

Her first impulse was to find her pony and gallop down the hill and straight across the fields to warn the Thain. But that was impossible. Her pony was nowhere in sight, probably running back to the Great Smials himself since he'd been there many times before and knew that he could get a comfortable stall with a load of hay to eat.

Cami's next impulse was to crawl up to the grove of pines and head down the back of the hill on foot, taking the long way around the men's encampment. But that looked awfully risky. The far side of the hill was much steeper and rockier that she expected, plunging downward in a sheer cliff for a number of feet. She was no expert at rock climbing and would likely end up with a broken head if she tried anything that daring.

She considered creeping carefully to the far side of the camp through the undergrowth and bracken, escaping under the very noses of the three men. But the sun was still bright overhead and the look of the one fellow who was sharpening his knife made her extremely reluctant to try that. The man named Assiram had stationed a guard on the perimeter of camp and, with the way her luck was running, she would most certainly get caught.

Cami frantically looked around, noticing several large boulders that had tumbled halfway down the hill along with the remains of a fallen tree. Acting out of instinct, she did what any hobbit might have done in similar circumstances. She dug in and stayed. Crouching down behind the rocks, she began to claw frantically both with her hands and a nearby tree branch enlarging the hole underneath the tangled limbs. Within a few moments, she was able to slip her body adroitly inside the makeshift burrow, settling in to wait. Once darkness had fallen, it should be safe for her to creep to the other side of camp and return to the Great Smials as speedily as she could.

[ October 03, 2003: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]