[piosenniel]

Berilac at the night meeting

‘Well, now,’ came the soft, slow voice of Farmer Thistle. ‘I don’t think those Men will attacking us any too soon.’ He opened the window near him just an inch, letting the sound of the down-pouring rain thunder into the room. ‘Mayhap we should slow just a little. I can get the Hobbits in the outlying farms to come in, but it will take a few days, three or four at least.’ He rubbed his chin while he thought, then looked at the Mayor. ‘Best you get one of the Men to get the other Men in. Oh, and one other thing – we’ll need a place to bring in our livestock – a few of us have Sheep, and there’ll be some pigs, and the hens of course.’

Berilac nodded his head as Farmer Thistle spoke. ‘My brothers-in-law, Griffo and Tomlin, will help you get word to the other Hobbits. And as I recall Griffo knows some of the Men farmers near him – he said he’d get them rallied.’ The Ranger turned to Harald. ‘The Hedge, I’m afraid, is not that far along. I know we were going to leave the north end open – but there is one more section that needs to be done before that. Give us two days and we can see it done.’

He spoke to Andreth next. ‘I think it will be enough to have the Hobbit men work the rest of the Hedge. If I remember correctly you had things that the children needed to be doing here – getting the supplies in order and inventoried. And to be honest, I don’t want to see them out in the damp and cold. We don’t need sick children on top of or other worries.’

‘I’m not so sure the bandits won’t strike again,’ Berilac went on, thinking more on what Farmer Thistle had said. ‘They’re getting desperate, I think. Let’s bring the folk in as quickly as we can from the outlying areas along with their valuables and their foodstuffs and stock. That will be another prompt for the bandits to want to make the attempt on Bree itself.’

Telien made the suggestion of an armed patrol or two in the countryside at night. ‘We should think on it,’ he said. He also spoke up about the staves in the ditch being a good idea, and Berilac seconded it. ‘It will be easy to set them deep into the ground thanks to the rain.’ Telien agreed, saying, that as Berilac’s hedge menders brought in boughs for the holes, perhaps they could bring in more than needed – if a light layer were put down over the staves in the ditch, the bandits would be unaware and some might be stopped that way.

Harald spoke up again saying he would see to getting the net done and have Telien scout for places for the archers. He would also see to the places they could allot to keep the livestock in.

‘Send messengers out about the town, too,’ suggested Berilac. ‘To let the folk know what will be happening in the next few days.’ He pulled his cloak back around him, preparing to leave.

Dawn was not far off, and there was much to get done that day. Farmer Thistle went to Mausi’s with Berilac and the others returned to their own beds for what little rest they could glean from the short night.