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and escape or run back in madness to meet the following fear. 
     Suddenly he  heard the  tinkle of water, a sound hard and  clear  as  a  
stone falling into a dream of dark shadow. Light  grew, and lo! the  company 
passed  through another  gateway, high-arched and broad, and a rill  ran out 
beside  them;  and  beyond, going  steeply  down, was  a road between  sheer 
cliffs, knife-edged against the sky  far above.  So deep and narrow was that 
chasm  that  the sky was  dark, and in it small stars  glinted. Yet as Gimli 
after learned it was still two hours ere sunset of the day on which they had 
set out from Dunharrow; though for all that he could then tell it might have 
been twilight in some later year, or in some other world. 
     The Company now mounted again, and Gimli returned to Legolas. They 
rode 
in  file, and evening came on and a  deep blue  dusk; and still fear pursued 
them. Legolas turning to speak to Gimli looked back and the Dwarf saw before


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####-about, and what the king means to do. For I must go where he goes now.' 
     In the midst of these  gloomy  thoughts  he suddenly remembered that he 
was very hungry, and he got  up to go and see if anyone else in this strange 
camp felt the  same.  But at  that very moment a trumpet sounded, and  a man 
came summoning him, the king's esquire, to wait at the king's board. 
     In the inner part of the pavilion was a small space, curtained off with 
broidered  hangings, and strewn  with skins:  and there at a small table sat 
Thjoden with Jomer and Jowyn, and D®nhere,  lord of  Harrowdale. Merry 
stood 
beside the king's stool and waited on him till presently the old man, coming 
out of deep thought, turned to him and smiled. 
     'Come, Master Meriadoc!'  he said. 'You shall  not stand. You shall sit 
beside me, as long  as I remain  in my own lands, and lighten my heart  with 
tales.' 
     Room was made for the hobbit at the king's left hand, but no one called


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gladden  our  hearts.  But  he  brought also  word from you  to  hasten  the 
gathering of the Riders. And then came the winged Shadow.' 
     'The winged Shadow?' said Thjoden. 'We saw it also, but that was in the 
dead of night before Gandalf left us.' 
     'Maybe, lord,' said D®nhere. 'Yet the same, or  another like to  it,  a  
flying darkness in  the shape of a  monstrous bird, passed  over Edoras that 
morning, and all men were  shaken with fear. For it  stooped  upon Meduseld, 
and  as it came low, almost to the gable,  there came a cry that stopped our 
hearts.  Then  it was that  Gandalf  counselled  us  not to  assemble in the 
fields, but to meet you here in the valley under the mounta ins. And  he bade 
us to kindle no more lights or fires than  barest need asked. So it has been 
done. Gandalf spoke with great authority. We trust that it is as  you  would 
wish. Naught has been seen in Harrowdale of these evil things.'


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no  more, until they  came to the king's pavilion.  There  Merry  found that 
everything  was made ready, and that he himself was not forgotten. A  little 
tent had been pitched for  him beside the king's  lodging; and there he  sat 
alone,  while men passed to and fro, going in to the king and taking counsel 
with him. Night came on, and the half-seen heads of  the mountains  westward 
were  crowned  with  stars, but the East was dark  and  blank.  The marching 
stones  faded slowly  from sight,  but still beyond them,  blacker than  the 
gloom, brooded the vast crouching shadow of the Dwimorberg. 
     'The  Paths  of the Dead,'  he muttered to himself. 'The  Paths  of the 
Dead? What does all this mean? They have all left me now. They have all gone 
to some doom:  Gandalf and Pippin to  war in the East; and  Sam and Frodo to 
Mordor; and  Strider and  Legolas and Gimli to the Paths of the Dead. But my 
turn will come  soon enough, I suppose. I  wonder what they are all  talking


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rode 
in  file, and evening came on and a  deep blue  dusk; and still fear pursued 
them. Legolas turning to speak to Gimli looked back and the Dwarf saw before 
his face  the glitter in the Elf's  bright  eyes. Behind them rode  Elladan, 
last of the Company, but not the last of those that took the downward road. 
     'The  Dead are following,'  said Legolas. 'I  see shapes  of Men and of 
horses,  and  pale  banners  like   shreds   of   cloud,  and   spears  like 
winter -thickets on a misty night. The Dead are following.' 
     'Yes, the Dead ride behind. They have been summoned,' said Elladan. 
     The Company  came at last out of the ravine, as suddenly as it they had 
issued  from  a crack in a wall; and there  lay the uplands  of a great vale 
before them,  and the stream  beside them went down with a  cold  voice over 
many falls.  
     'Where  in Middle-earth are we?' said Gimli; and Elladan answered:  'We


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beside me, as long  as I remain  in my own lands, and lighten my heart  with 
tales.' 
     Room was made for the hobbit at the king's left hand, but no one called 
for any tale. There was indeed little speech, and they ate and drank for the 
most  part in silence, until at last, plucking up courage,  Merry  asked the 
question that was tormenting him. 
     'Twice  now, lord, I have heard  of the  Paths of the  Dead,'  he  said. 
'What are  they? And where has Strider, I mean the Lord Aragorn where has he 
gone?' 
     The king sighed, but no one answered, until at last Jomer spoke. 'We do 
not know, and our hearts are heavy,' he  said. 'But as  for the Paths of the 
Dead, you have yourself walked on their  first steps. Nay. I speak no  words 
of  ill  omen! The road that  we have  climbed is  the approach to the Door, 
yonder in the Dimholt. But what lies beyond no man knows.' 
     'No man knows,' said  Thjoden:  'yet ancient legend, now seldom spoken,


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miles away, if they are still alive.' He shivered. 
     'Harrowdale at  last!' said Jomer. 'Our journey  is almost at  an end.' 
They halted. The paths out of the narrow gorge fell steeply. Only a glimpse,  
as  through a tall window, could be seen of the great valley in the gloaming 
below. A single small light could be seen twinkling by the river. 
     'This journey is over, maybe,' said Thjoden, 'but I have far yet to go. 
Last night the  moon was full, and in the morning I shall ride to Edoras  to 
the gathering of the Mark.' 
     'But if you would take my  counsel,'  said  Jomer  in a low voice, 'you  
would then return hither, until the war is over, lost or won.' 
     Thjoden smiled.  'Nay,  my son, for  so I will call you, speak  not the 
soft words of Wormtongue in my old ears!' He drew himself up and looked 
back 
at the long line of his men fading into the dusk behind. 'Long years  in the 
space of days it seems since I rode west;  but never  will I lean on a staff


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####-winding  line of Riders crossing the ford and filing along the  road towards 
the camp prepared for  them. Only the king  and his guard were going up into 
the Hold. 
     At last the king's company came to a sharp brink, and the climbing road 
passed into a cutting between walls of rock, and  so went  up a  short slope 
and  out  on  to a  wide  upland.  The  Firienfeld  men called it,  a  green 
mountain-field of grass and heath, high above the deep -delved courses of the 
Snowbourn,  laid upon the lap of the great mountains  behind:  the Starkhorn 
southwards, and northwards the saw-toothed mass of  Irensaga, between  which 
there faced the riders, the  grim black wall  of the Dwimorberg, the Haunted 
Mountain rising out of  steep slopes of  sombre  pines. Dividing the  upland 
into  two  there  marched  a double  line of unshaped standing  stones  that 
dwindled into the dusk and vanished in the  trees. Those who dared to follow


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####-Yet maybe at last the time foretold has come, and Aragorn may pass.' 
     'But how  shall a man discover whether that time be come or no, save by 
daring the Door?' said  Jomer. 'And that way  I would not go  though all the 
hosts of Mordor stood before me, and  I were alone and had no other  refuge. 
Alas that a fey mood should  fall  on a  man so greathearted in this hour of 
need! Are there not evil things enough abroad without seeking them under the 
earth? War is at hand.' 
     He  paused, for at that moment there was a noise outside, a man's voice 
crying the name of Thjoden, and the challenge of the guard. 
     Presently the captain of the Guard thrust aside the curtain. 'A  man is 
here, lord,' he  said, 'an errand-rider of Gondor. He wishes to come  before 
you at once.' 
     'Let him come!' said Thjoden. 
     A tall man entered, and Merry choked back a cry; for a moment it seemed 
to him that Boromir was alive  again and  had returned. Then he saw  that it


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done. Gandalf spoke with great authority. We trust that it is as  you  would 
wish. Naught has been seen in Harrowdale of these evil things.' 
     'It is well,' said Thjoden. 'I  will ride  now  to  the Hold, and there


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####-suffer no living man to come to their  hidden halls;  but at whiles they may 
themselves  be seen passing out of the door  like shadows and down  the stony 
road. Then the people of Harrowdale  shut fast  their doors and shroud their 
windows and are afraid. But the Dead come seldom forth and only  at times of 
great unquiet and coming death.' 
     'Yet it is said in Harrowdale,' said Jowyn in a low voice. 'that in the 
moonless nights but little  while ago  a great host in  strange array passed 
by. Whence they came none knew, but they went up the stony road and 
vanished 
into the hill, as if they went to keep a tryst.' 
     'Then why  has Aragorn  gone that  way?'  asked Merry. 'Don't you  know 
anything that would explain it?' 
     'Unless  he has  spoken  words  to  you as his friend that we  have not 
heard,'  said  Jomer,  'none now  in  the land of the  living  can tell  his 
purpose.' 
     'Greatly  changed he seemed to  me since I saw him first  in the king's


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yonder in the Dimholt. But what lies beyond no man knows.' 
     'No man knows,' said  Thjoden:  'yet ancient legend, now seldom spoken,  
has  somewhat to  report. If these old  tales speak true that have come down 
from father to son in the House  of  Eorl, then  the  Door  under Dwimorberg 
leads to a  secret way that goes beneath the mountain to some forgotten end.  
But none  have ever  ventured in to search its secrets, since Baldor, son of 
Brego, passed the  Door  and was  never seen among men again. A rash  vow 
he 
spoke,  as he drained  the  horn  at that feast which  Brego made  to hallow 
new-built Meduseld,  and he came never to the  high seat of which he was the 
heir. 
     'Folk say that Dead Men  out of the Dark Years guard  the way  and will


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####-have descended  from the uprising of the Morthond, the long chill river that 
flows at last to the sea that washes the  walls of Dol Amroth. You  will not 
need to ask hereafter how comes its name: Blackroot men call it.' 
     The  Morthond Vale made a  great  bay that beat up  against  the  sheer  
southern faces of the  mountains. Its steep slopes were grass-grown; but all 
was grey in that  hour, for the  sun had gone, and  far below lights twinkled 
in the homes of Men. The vale was rich and many folk dwelt there. 
     Then without  turning  Aragorn  cried aloud so  that  all  could  hear: 
'Friends, forget your weariness! Ride now, ride!  We  must come to the Stone 
of Erech ere this day passes, and long still is the way.' So without looking 
back they rode  the mountain-fields, until they came to  a  bridge over  the 
growing torrent and found a road that went down into the land. 
     Lights went out in house  and hamlet as they came, and doors  were shut,


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####-the gathering of our Riders.  Is it not true, Hirgon, that the Lord of Minas 
Tirith knows more than he sets in his message? For we are already at war, as 
you may have seen, and you do not find us all  unprepared. Gandalf the  Grey 
has been among us, and even now we are mustering for battle in the Ea st.' 
     'What  the Lord Denethor may know or guess of all these things I cannot  
say,' answered Hirgon. 'But indeed our  case is desperate. My  lord does not  
issue any command  to  you, he begs  you only to remember old friendship and 
oaths  long spoken, and  for your  own  good to do  all that you may. It  is 
reported to us that many kings have ridden in from the  East  to the service 
of Mordor. From the  North to  the field  of Dagorlad there is skirmish  and 
rumour of war. In the  South the Haradrim are moving, and fear has fallen on 
all our  coastlands, so that little help will come to us thence. Make haste!


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into  two  there  marched  a double  line of unshaped standing  stones  that 
dwindled into the dusk and vanished in the  trees. Those who dared to follow 
that road came soon to the black Dimholt under Dwimorberg, and the menace 
of 
the pillar of stone, and the yawning shadow of the forbidden door. 
     Such was the dark Dunharrow, the work of long -forgotten men. Their name 
was lost and no song or legend remembered it. For what purpose they had 
made 
this place,  as a town  or secret temple or a tomb of kings, none could say. 
Here they laboured in the Dark Years, before ever a ship came to the western 
shores, or Gondor of the D®nedain was built; and now  they had vanished, and 
only the old P®kel -men were left, still sitting at the turnings of the road. 
     Merry stared at the lines of marching stones: they were worn and black; 
some  were  leaning, some were  fallen,  some cracked or broken; they looked


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heard,'  said  Jomer,  'none now  in  the land of the  living  can tell  his 
purpose.' 
     'Greatly  changed he seemed to  me since I saw him first  in the king's 
house,' said Jowyn: 'grimmer, older.  Fey I thought  him, and  like one whom 
the Dead call.' 
     'Maybe  he was called,' said  Thjoden;  'and my  heart  tells me that I 
shall  not see him again.  Yet he is a kingly man of high  destiny. And take 
comfort in this,  daughter, since comfort you seem to need in your grief for  
this guest.  It is said  that  when the Eorlingas  came out of the North and 
passed  at length up the  Snowbourn, seeking strong places of refuge in time 
of need, Brego and his son Baldor climbed the Stair of the  Hold and so came 
before  the Door.  On  the threshold sat an  old man, aged beyond  guess  of 
years; tall and kingly he had been, but now he was withered as an old stone.  
Indeed for stone they took him, for he moved not, and he said no word, until


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####-     'At the least we will do that,' said Thjoden. 'But I myself am new-come 
from  battle and long  journey, and I will  now go to rest. Tarry here  this 
night. Then you shall  look on the muster of Rohan and ride away the gladder 
for  the sight, and the swifter for the  rest.  In the morning counsels  are 
best, and night changes many thoughts.  
     With  that the king stood up, and they all rose.  'Go  now each to your 
rest.'  he said, 'and  sleep well. And you, Master Meriadoc, I  need no more 
tonight. But be ready to my call as soon as the Sun is risen.' 
     'I will be ready,' said Merry, 'even if you bid me ride with you on the 
Paths of the Dead.' 
     'Speak not words  of omen!' said the k ing. 'For there may be more roads 
than one that could  bear  that name. But I did not say that I would bid you  
ride with me on any road. Good night!' 
     'I won't be left behind,  to be called for on return!'  said  Merry. 'I


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rumour of war. In the  South the Haradrim are moving, and fear has fallen on 
all our  coastlands, so that little help will come to us thence. Make haste! 
For it is before the walls of Minas Tirith that the doom of our time will be 
decided,  and if the tide be not stemmed there, then  it will flow  over all 
the fair fields of Rohan, and even in this Hold among the hills  there shall 
be no refuge.' 
     'Dark  tidings,'  said Thjoden,  'yet  not  all  unguessed. But say  to 
Denethor that even if Rohan itself felt no peril, still we would come to his 
aid. But we have suffered much loss in our battles with Saruman the traitor, 
and we must  still  think of our frontier to the  north and east, as his own 
tidings make  clear.  So great a power as the  Dark Lord seems  now to wield 
might well  contain us in  battle before the City and yet  strike with great 
force across the River away beyond the Gate of Kings.


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growing torrent and found a road that went down into the land. 
     Lights went out in house  and hamlet as they came, and doors  were shut, 
and folk that were  afield cried in terror and ran  wild  like  hunted deer. 
Ever there rose the same cry in the gathering  night: 'The King of the Dead!  
The King of the Dead is come upon us!' 
     Bells  wer e ringing far  below, and all men  fled  before  the face  of 
Aragorn; but the Grey  Company in their haste rode like hunters, until their 
horses were stumbling  with weariness. And thus, just ere midnight, and in a  
darkness  as black as the caverns in the  mountains, they came at last to the 
Hill of Erech. 
     Long had the terror of  the Dead lain upon that hill and upon the empty 
fields about it. For upon  the  top stood  a  black stone, round  as a great 
globe,  the  height  of a man, though its  half  was buried  in the  ground. 
Unearthly it looked, as though it had fallen from the sky, as some believed;


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Merry stared at the lines of marching stones: they were worn and black; 
some  were  leaning, some were  fallen,  some cracked or broken; they looked 
like  rows  of old  and hungry teeth. He wondered what they could be, and he 
hoped  that the king was not going to follow  them into the darkness beyond.  
Then  he saw that there were  clusters of tents and booths on either side of 
the stony way; but these were not set near the  trees, and seemed rather  to 
huddle  away  from them towards the  brink of the  cliff. The greater number  
were on the right, where the Firienfeld was wider; and on the left there was 
a smaller camp, in the midst of which stood a  tall pavilion. From this side 
a rider now came out to meet them, and they turned from the road. 
     As  they drew near  Merry  saw  that  the rider was a  woman  with long 
braided hair gleaming  in the twilight,  yet she wore a helm and was clad to 
the waist like a warrior and girded with a sword.


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years; tall and kingly he had been, but now he was withered as an old stone.  
Indeed for stone they took him, for he moved not, and he said no word, until 
they sought to pass him  by and enter. And then a  voice came out of him, as 
it were out  of  the ground,  and  to  their amaze  it spoke in  the western 
tongue: The way is shut. 
     'Then they halted and looked at him and saw that he lived still; but he 
did not  look at them.  The way is shut, his voice said again It was made by 
those who  are Dead,  and the Dead keep it, until the time comes. The way is  
shut. 
     'And  when  will that time be? said Baldor. But  no answer  did he ever  
get. For the old man died in that hour  and fell upon his face; and no other  
tidings of the ancient dwellers in the mountains have our folk ever learned.


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might well  contain us in  battle before the City and yet  strike with great 
force across the River away beyond the Gate of Kings. 
     'But  we  will  speak no longer counsels of prudence. We will come. The 
weapontake was set for the morrow.  When all is ordered we will set out. Ten 
thousand spears I might  have sent  riding over  the plain to the dismay  of 
your foes. It will be less  now, I fear; for I will not leave my strongholds 
all unguarded. Yet six thousands at the  least shall ride behind me. For say 
to Denethor that in this hour the King of the Mark himself will come down to 
the land  of Gondor, though  maybe  he will not ride back. But it is a  long 
road, and man and beast must reach the end with strength to fight. A week it 
may be from tomorrow's morn  ere you hear the cry of the Sons of Eorl coming 
from the North. 
     'A week!' said Hirgon. 'If it must be so, it must. But you are like  to


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than one that could  bear  that name. But I did not say that I would bid you  
ride with me on any road. Good night!' 
     'I won't be left behind,  to be called for on return!'  said  Merry. 'I  
won't be  left, I won't.' And repeating this over and  over again to himself 
he fell asleep at last in his tent. 
     He  was  wakened by  a  man  shaking him.  'Wake up,  wake  up.  Master 
Holbytla!' he cried; and at length Merry came out of  deep dreams and sat up 
with a start. It still seemed very dark, he thought. 
     'What is the matter?' he asked. 
     'The king calls for you.' 
     'But the Sun has not risen, yet,' said Merry. 
     'No, and will not rise  today,  Master Holbytla. Nor  ever  again,  one 
would think under this cloud. But time  does not stand still, though the Sun 
be lost. Make haste!' 
     Flinging on some clothes, Merry looked outside. The world was darkling. 
The very air seemed brown, and  all things  about were  black  and grey  and


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####-the gear that  I have  prepared  fur  you.' They  went out  together.  'This 
request only did  Aragorn make to me,' said Jowyn, as  they passed among the 
tents, 'that you should be armed for battle. I have  granted it, as I could. 
For my heart tells me that you will need such gear ere the end.' 
     Now she led Merry to a booth among the lodges of the king's  guard  and 
there an armourer brought out to her a  small  helm, and a round shield, and 
other gear. 
     'No mail have we to fit you,' said Jowyn, 'nor any time for the forging 
of such a hauberk; but here is also a stout jerkin of leather, a belt, and a  
knife. A sword you have.' 
     Merry bowed,  and  the lady showed  him  the shield, which was like the 
shield that had  been given  to Gimli, and  it bore on  it the device of the 
white horse. 'Take  all  these things,' she  said, 'and  bear  them  to good 
fortune! Farewell now, Master  Meriadoc! Yet maybe we  shall meet again, you  
and I.'


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'Let him come!' said Thjoden. 
     A tall man entered, and Merry choked back a cry; for a moment it seemed 
to him that Boromir was alive  again and  had returned. Then he saw  that it 
was not so; the man was a stranger, though as like  to Boromir as if he were 
one of his kin, tall and grey-eyed  and proud. He was clad as a rider with a  
cloak of  dark  green over a coat of fine mail; on the front of his helm was 
wrought  a  small  silver  star.  In  his  hand  he  bore  a  single  arrow, 
black-feathered and barbed with steel, but the point was painted red. 
     He sank on one knee and  presented the  arrow to Thjoden. 'Hail Lord of 
the  Rohirrim, friend  of Gondor!' he said.  'Hirgon I  am,  errand-rider of 
Denethor,  who bring you this token  of  war. Gondor is in great need. Often 
the Rohirrim have  aided us,  but now the  Lord  Denethor asks for  all your 
strength and all your speed; lest Gondor fall at last.'


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braided hair gleaming  in the twilight,  yet she wore a helm and was clad to 
the waist like a warrior and girded with a sword. 
     'Hail,  Lord of  the  Mark!'  she  cried. 'My  heart  is  glad  at your


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####-     'It comes from Mordor,  lord,' he said. 'It began last night at sunset. 
From the hills in the Eastfold of your realm I saw it rise  and creep across 
the sky, and all night as I rode it came behind eating up the stars. Now the 
great cloud hangs  over all  the  land between  here  and  the Mountains  of 
Shadow; and it is deepening. War has a lready begun.' 
     For a while the king sat silent. At last he spoke. 'So we come to it in 
the end,' he said: 'the great battle of our time, in which many things shall 
pass away. But at least there is no longer need for hiding. We will ride the 
straight  way  and  the  open road and with all our  speed. The muster shall 
begin  at once, and wait for none that tarry. Have  you good  store in Minas 
Tirith? For if we must ride now in all haste, then we must  ride light, with 
but meal and water enough to last u s into battle.' 
     'We have very great store long prepared,' answered  Hirgon. Ride now as


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####-returned the glance, less in height and girth than most. He caught the glint 
of clear grey eyes; and then he  shivered, for  it came suddenly to him that 
it was the face of one without hope who goes in search of death. 
     On  down  the grey road they went beside  the  Snowbourn rushing on its 
stones; through the hamlets of Underharrow and Upbourn, where many sad 
faces 
of women looked out from dark doors; and so without horn or harp or music of 
men's voices the great  ride into the East  began with  which  the songs  of 
Rohan were busy for many long lives of men thereafter. 
     From dark Dunharrow in the dim morning 
     with thane and captain rode Thengel's son: 
     to Edoras he came, the ancient halls 
     of the Mark-wardens mist-enshrouded; 
     golden timbers were in gloom mantled. 
     Farewell he bade to his free people, 
     hearth and high-seat, and the hallowed places, 
     where long he had feasted ere the light faded.


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be lost. Make haste!' 
     Flinging on some clothes, Merry looked outside. The world was darkling. 
The very air seemed brown, and  all things  about were  black  and grey  and 
shadowless; there was  a great stillness. No shape  of cloud could be  seen, 
unless it were far away  westward, where the furthest groping fingers of the 
great gloom  still crawled  onwards  and a little light leaked through them. 
Overhead there hung a heavy  roof, sombre and  featureless, and light seemed 
rather to be failing than growing. 
     Merry saw many folk standing, looking up and muttering: all their faces 
were grey and sad, and some  were afraid. With a sinking heart  he made  his 
way to the king. Hirgon the rider of Gondor  was there before him, and beside 
him  stood now another man, like  him and  dressed alike,  but  shorter  and 
broader. As Merry entered he was speaking to the king.


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white horse. 'Take  all  these things,' she  said, 'and  bear  them  to good 
fortune! Farewell now, Master  Meriadoc! Yet maybe we  shall meet again, you  
and I.' 
     So  it was that amid a  gathering gloom the King of the Mark made ready 
to lead  all  his  Riders on  the eastward road. Hearts were heavy  and  many 
quailed  in the shadow. But they were  a stern people, loyal to  their lord, 
and  little weeping or  murmuring was heard, even in  the  camp in  the Hold 
where the exiles from Edoras  were housed, women and children  and old  men. 
Doom hung over  them, but they faced it silently. 
     Two  swift hours passed, and now the king  sat  upon  his  white horse, 
glimmering in the half light. Proud and tall he seemed, though the hair that 
flowed beneath his high helm was  like  snow; and  many marvelled a t him and 
took heart to see him unbent and unafraid. 
     There on the wide  flats beside the noisy river were marshalled in many


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but meal and water enough to last u s into battle.' 
     'We have very great store long prepared,' answered  Hirgon. Ride now as 
light and as swift as you may!' 
     'Then call  the  heralds,  Jomer,' said  Thjoden. 'Let  the  Riders  be 
marshalled!' 
     Jomer  went out, and presently  the trumpets rang  in the Hold and were 
answered by many others from below; but their voices no longer sounded clear 
and brave as they had seemed to Merry the night before. Dull they seemed and 
harsh in the heavy air, braying ominously. 
     The  king  turned to Merry. 'I am going  to  war,  Master Meriadoc,' he 
said.  'In  a  little while I shall take  the  road.  I release you from  my 
service, but not from my friendship.  You shall abide here, and if you will, 
you shall serve the Lady Jowyn, who will govern the folk in my stead.' 
     'But, but, lord,' Merry  stammered, 'I offered you my sword.  I do  not 
want  to be parted  from you like this, Thjoden King. And as all my  friends


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may be from tomorrow's morn  ere you hear the cry of the Sons of Eorl coming 
from the North. 
     'A week!' said Hirgon. 'If it must be so, it must. But you are like  to 
find  only  ruined  walls  in  seven  days  from  now,   unless  other  help 
unlooked-for comes. Still, you may at the least disturb the Orcs and Swarthy 
Men from their feasting in the White Tower.'


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globe,  the  height  of a man, though its  half  was buried  in the  ground. 
Unearthly it looked, as though it had fallen from the sky, as some believed; 
but those who remembered still the lore of Westernesse told that it had been 
brought out of the ruin of N®menor and there  set by Isildur at his landing . 
None of the people of the valley dared to approach it, nor would  they dwell  
near;  for  they said  that it was a trysting-place  of  the Shadow-men, and 
there  they would  gather in  times  of fear, thronging round  the Stone and 
whispering. 
     To tha t Stone  the Company came and halted in the  dead  of night. Then  
Elrohir gave to Aragorn a silver horn, and he blew upon it and  it seemed to 
those that stood near  that they heard a sound of answering  horns, as if it 
was  an echo in deep caves far away. No other sound they heard, and yet they 
were aware of a great host gathered  all about the hill on which they stood;


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golden timbers were in gloom mantled. 
     Farewell he bade to his free people, 
     hearth and high-seat, and the hallowed places, 
     where long he had feasted ere the light faded. 
     Forth rode the king, fear behind him, 
     fate before him. Fealty kept he; 
     oaths he had taken, all fulfilled them. 
     Forth rode Thjoden. Five nights and days 
     east and onward rode the Eorlingas 
     through Folde and Fenmarch and the Firienwood, 
     six thousand spears to Sunlending, 
     Mundburg the mighty under Mindolluin, 
     Sea-kings' city in the South -kingdom 
     foe-beleaguered, fire-encircled. 
     Doom drove them on. Darkness took them, 
     Horse and horseman; hoofbeats afar 
     sank into silence: so the songs tell us. 
     It was indeed in deepening gloom that the king came to Edoras, although 
it  was then but noon by the  hour. There  he halted only  a short while and 
strengthened his host by some three  score  of Riders that  came late to the


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the Rohirrim have  aided us,  but now the  Lord  Denethor asks for  all your 
strength and all your speed; lest Gondor fall at last.' 
     'The  Red  Arrow!' said  Thjoden, holding  it, as  one  who receives  a  
summons  long expected and  yet  dreadful  when it comes. His hand trembled. 
'The Red  Arrow has not been seen in the Mark in all my years! Has it indeed 
come  to that? And what does the Lord Denethor reckon that  all  my strength 
and all my speed may be?' 
     'That is best known  to yourself,  lord,' said Hirgon. 'But ere long it 
may  well come to pass that Minas Tirith is surrounded,  and unless you have 
the strength to  break a siege of many powers, the Lord Denethor bids me say 
that he judges that the  strong arms of the Rohirrim would  be better within 
his walls than without.' 
     'But he knows that we are a people  who fight rather upon horseback and 
in  the open, and that we are also a scattered people and time is needed for


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####-said  Thjoden.  'And  in such a battle as we think to  make on the fields of 
Gondor what  would  you do, Master   Meriadoc, sword-thain though you be, 
and 
greater of heart than of stature?' 
     'As  for that,  who can tell?' answered Merry. 'But why, lord,  did you  
receive me as sword-thain, if not to stay by your side? And I would not have 
it said of me in song only that I was always left behind!' 
     'I  received you for your safe-keeping,' answered Thjoden; 'and also to 
do  as I might bid. None of my Riders can  bear you as burden. If the battle 
were before my gates, maybe your deeds would be remembered by the 
minstrels; 
but it  is a  hundred leagues and two to Mundburg  where Denethor is lord. I  
will say no more.' 
     Merry  bowed and  went  away  unhappily,  and  stared  at the lines  of 
horsemen. Already the companies were preparing to start: men were tightening 
girths, looking  to saddles, caressing their horses; some gazed uneasily  at


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took heart to see him unbent and unafraid. 
     There on the wide  flats beside the noisy river were marshalled in many 
companies well nigh five and fifty  hundreds of Riders fully armed, and many 
hundreds of other men  with spare  horses lightly burdened. A single trumpet 
sounded. The king raised his  hand, and then silently  the host  of the Mark 
began to  move. Foremost went twelve of the king's household-men,  Riders of 
renown. Then the king followed with Jomer on his right. He had said farewell 
to Jowyn above in  the Hold, and the  memory was grievous; but now he turned 
his mind to the  road that lay ahead. Behind him Merry  rode  on Stybba with 
the errand riders of Gondor, and behind them again twelve more of the king's 
household. They passed  down  the long ranks of  waiting  men with stern  and 
unmoved faces.  But when they had  come  almost  to the end of  the line one 
looked up  glancing  keenly at the hobbit. A young man,  Merry thought as he


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was  an echo in deep caves far away. No other sound they heard, and yet they 
were aware of a great host gathered  all about the hill on which they stood; 
and a chill wind like the breath of ghosts came down from the mountains. But


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horsemen. Already the companies were preparing to start: men were tightening 
girths, looking  to saddles, caressing their horses; some gazed uneasily  at 
the lowering sky. Unnoticed a Rider came up and spoke softly in the hobbit's 
ear. 
     'Where will wants not, a way opens, so we say,' he whispered; 'and so I 
have found myself.' Merry looked up and saw that it was the young Rider 
whom 
he had  noticed in the morning. 'You wish to go whither the Lord of the Mark 
goes: I see it in your face.' 
     'I do,' said Merry. 
     'Then you  shall go with me,'  said the Rider. 'I will bear  you before 
me, under my cloak until we are far afield, and this darkness is yet darker. 
Such good will should not be denied. Say no more to any man, but come!' 
     'Thank you indeed!' said Merry. 'Thank you, sir, though I  do not  know 
your name.' 
     'Do you not?' said the Rider softly. 'Then call me Dernhelm.' 
     Thus it  came to pass that  when the  king set out, before Dernhelm sat


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'But, but, lord,' Merry  stammered, 'I offered you my sword.  I do  not 
want  to be parted  from you like this, Thjoden King. And as all my  friends 
have gone to the battle' I should be ashamed to stay behind.' 
     'But we ride on horses tall and swift,' said Thjoden; 'and great though 
your heart be, you cannot ride on such beasts.' 
     'Then tie me on  to the back of one,  or let me hang  on a  stirrup, or  
something,' said Merry. 'It  is a long way to  run; but  run  I shall, if  I 
cannot ride, even if I wear my feet off and arrive weeks too late.' 
     Thjoden smiled.  'Rather  than  that  I  would  bear  you  with  me  on 
Snowmane,'  he said. 'But at the least you shall ride with me to  Edoras and 
look on Meduseld;  for that way I  shall go. So far Stybba can bear you: the 
great race will not begin till we reach the plains.' 
     Then Jowyn rose  up. 'Come now,  Meriadoc!' she said. 'I will show  you


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####-place for a while. You shall wait  on me, bear errands,  and talk to me,  if 
war and council leave me any leisure. Can you sing?' 
     'Yes,' said Pippin.  'Well, yes, well enough for my  own people. But we 
have no songs  fit for  great halls and evil times, lord. We seldom  sing of 
anything more terrible  than wind  or rain. And most  of  my songs are about 
things that make us laugh; or about food and drink, of course.' 
     'And why should such songs be unfit for my halls, or for such  hours as 
these? We who have lived long under the  Shadow may surely listen to  echoes 
from  a land  untroubled  by  it? Then we may  feel that our  vigil was  not 
fruitless, though it may have been thank less.' 
     Pippin's heart sank. He did not  relish the idea of singing any song of 
the Shire to the Lord of Minas Tirith, certainly not the comic  ones that he 
knew best; they were too, well, rustic for such an  occasion. He was however


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your name.' 
     'Do you not?' said the Rider softly. 'Then call me Dernhelm.' 
     Thus it  came to pass that  when the  king set out, before Dernhelm sat 
Meriadoc the hobbit, and the great  grey steed  Windfola  made little of the 
burden; for Dernhelm  was  less in  weight than many men, though  lithe  and 
well-knit in frame. 
     On  into the shadow they  rode. In  the willow-thickets where Snowbourn 
flowed into Entwash, twelve leagues east of Edoras,  they camped that night. 
And  then on  again  through the Folde; and through  the  Fenmarch, where to


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####-as if all the Vale of Anduin waited for the onset of a ruinous storm. 
     About  the eleventh hour, released  at  last for  a while from service. 
Pippin came  out and  went  in search  of food and  drink to cheer his heavy 
heart  and make his task of waiting more  supportable. In  the messes he met 
Beregond again, who  had just  come from an errand over the Pelennor  out to 
the Guard-towers upon the Causeway. Together they strolled out to the walls;  
for  Pippin felt imprisoned indoors, and stifled even in the  lofty citadel. 
Now  they sat  side by side again  in the embrasure  looking eastward, where 
they had eaten and talked the day before. 
     It was the sunset-hour, but  the great pall had  now stretched far into 
the  West, and  only  as it sank at last into the Sea did the Sun escape  to 
send  out a brief farewell  gleam before  the night, even as Frodo saw it a t 
the Cross-roads touching the head of the fallen king. But  to  the fields of


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Pippin was  roused by Gandalf. Candles  were lit in their chamber,  for  
only  a dim  twilight came  through the  windows; the air  was  heavy as with 
approaching thunder. 
     'What is the time?' said Pippin yawning. 
     'Past the second hour,' said Gandalf. 'Time to get up and make yourself 
presentable.  You  are summoned to  the Lord  of the City to learn your  new 
duties.' 
     'And will he provide breakfast?' 
     'No! I have provided  it: all that you will get till noon. Food  is now 
doled out by order.' 
     Pippin  looked  ruefully  at  the  small  loaf  and  (he  thought) very 
inadequate  pat of   butter which was set out for him,  beside  a cup of thin 
milk.  'Why did you bring me here?' he said. 
     'You know quite well,' said Gandalf. 'To keep you out  of mischief; and 
if you do  not  like being here, you can remember  that  you  brought it  on 
yourself.' Pippin said no more.


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####-     'Nay,'  said  Beregond, 'this is no weather of the world. This  is some 
device  of his  malice; some broil of fume from the Mountain of Fire that he 
sends  to darken hearts and counsel. And so it doth indeed. I wish the  Lord 
Faramir would  return. He  would not be dismayed. But now,  who  knows if he 
will ever come back across the River out of the Darkness?' 
     'Yes,' said Pippin, 'Gandalf, too, is anxious.  He was disappointed.  I 
think, not  to  find Faramir here. And where has he  got to himself? He left 
the  Lord's council before the noon -meal,  and  in  no good  mood either,  I 
thought. Perhaps he has some foreboding of bad news.' 
     Suddenly as they talked  they were  stricken dumb, frozen as it were to 
listening  stones. Pippin cowered down  with his hands pressed to his  ears;  
but Beregond, who  had been  looking out from the battlement  as he spoke of 
Faramir, remained  there, stiffened, staring  out with starting eyes. Pippin


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and piled spears bristling like  thickets of new-planted trees. Now  all the 
great assembly was falling into shadow, and yet, though the night -chill blew 
cold  from  the heights  no  lanterns  glowed, no fires  were  lit. Watchmen 
heavily cloaked paced to and fro. 
     Merry wondered  how many Riders there  were. He  could  not guess their 
number in the gathering gloom, but it  looked to him like a great army, many 
thousands strong. While  he was  peering from side  to side the king's party 
came up under the looming cliff on the eastern side of the valley; and there 
suddenly the path began to climb, and Merry looked up in  amazement.  He 
was 
on a road the like of which he had never seen before,  a great work of men's 
hands in years beyond the  reach of  song. Upwards it wound, coiling  like a  
snake, boring its way across the  sheer slope of rock.  Steep as a stair, it 
looped  backwards and forwards as it  climbed. Up it horses  could walk, and


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####-their  right great  oakwoods climbed on the skirts of the  hills  under  the 
shades of dark Halifirien by the borders of Gondor; but  away  to their left  
the mists lay on the marshes fed by the mouths of Entwash. And as they  rode 
rumour came of war in the North. Lone men, riding wild, brought word of foes 
assailing their east -borders, of orc-hosts marching in the Wold of Rohan. 
     'Ride on! Ride on!'  cried Jomer. 'Too late now to turn aside. The fens 
of Entwash must guard our flank. Haste now we need. Ride on!' 
     And  so King Thjoden departed from his own realm, and mile  by mile the 
long  road  wound  away,  and  the  beacon  hills  marched  past:  Calenhad, 
Min-Rimmon, Erelas, Nardol. But  their fires  were  quenched. All  the lands 
were grey and still;  and  ever the shadow  deepened before them,  and  hope  
waned in every heart. 
 

####- 

Chapter 4. The Siege of Gondor


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the Shire to the Lord of Minas Tirith, certainly not the comic  ones that he 
knew best; they were too, well, rustic for such an  occasion. He was however 
spared the ordeal  for  the present. He  was not commanded  to sing. Denethor 
turned to Gandalf, asking questions about  the Rohirrim and  their policies,  
and the position of Jomer, the king's nephew. Pippin marvelled at the amount 
that the Lord seemed to  know about a people that  lived far away, though it  
must, he thought, be many years since Denethor himself had ridden abroad. 
     Presently Denethor waved to Pippin and dismissed him again for a while. 
'Go to the armouries of the Citadel,' he said, 'and get you there the livery 
and gear of the  Tower. It will be ready. It was commanded yesterday. Return 
when you are clad!' 
     It was  as he said; and Pippin soon  found himself  arrayed in  strange 
garments, all of black and silver. He  had a small hauberk, its rings forged


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it  was then but noon by the  hour. There  he halted only  a short while and 
strengthened his host by some three  score  of Riders that  came late to the 
weapontake. Now having eaten he made ready to set out  again, and  he wished 
his esquire  a kindly farewell. But Merry begged for the last time not to be 
parted from him. 
     'This is no journey for  such steeds  as  Stybba,  as I have told you '


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####-horses are running mad. Look! the men are thrown; they are running  on foot. 
No,  one is  still  up, but he  rides  back to the others. That will be  the 
Captain: he can master both beasts and men. Ah! there one of the foul things 
is stooping on him. Help! help! Will no one go out to him? Faramir!' 
     With  that Beregond sprang  away  and ran off into the gloom. Ashamed of 
his terror, while Beregond of the Guard thought first of the captain whom he 
loved,  Pippin got up and peered out.  At that  moment he caught  a flash of 
white and silver coming from the  North, like a small star down on the dusky 
fields. It moved with the speed of an arrow and grew as it came,  converging  
swiftly with  the flight of  the four men  towards the  Gate.  It seemed  to 
Pippin that a  pale light was spread about it and the heavy shadows gave way 
before it; and then as  it drew near he thought that he heard, like  an echo 
in the walls, a great voice calling.


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'You know quite well,' said Gandalf. 'To keep you out  of mischief; and 
if you do  not  like being here, you can remember  that  you  brought it  on 
yourself.' Pippin said no more. 
     Before  long  he was  walking  with  Gandalf  once  more down  the cold  
corridor to the  door of the Tower Hall. There Denethor sat in a grey gloom,  
like an old patient spider, Pippin  thought: he  did not seem  to have moved 
since the day before. He beckoned Gandalf to a seat, but Pippin was left for  
a while standing unheeded. Presently the old man turned to him: 
     'Well, Master Peregrin,  I hope that you used yesterday to your profit, 
and to your liking? Though  I fear that the board is barer in this city than 
you could wish.' 
     Pippin had  an uncomfortable feeling that most  of what he had said  or  
done was somehow known to the Lord of the City, and much was guessed of 
what 
he thought as well. He did not answer. 
     'What would you do in my service?'


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send  out a brief farewell  gleam before  the night, even as Frodo saw it a t 
the Cross-roads touching the head of the fallen king. But  to  the fields of 
the Pelennor, under the shadow of Mindolluin, there came no gleam: they were 
brown and drear. 
     Already it  seemed years to  Pippin  since he had sat  there before, in 
some half-forgotten time when he had still  been a hobbit,  a  light-hearted 
wanderer touched little by the perils he had passed through. Now  he was one 
small soldier in a city preparing for a great assault, clad in the proud but 
sombre manner of the Tower of Guard. 
     In some  other time and place Pippin  might have been pleased with  his 
new array,  but he knew  now  that he was taking part in no  play; he was in 
deadly  earnest the servant of  a grim  master  in the  greatest  peril. The 
hauberk was burdensome, and the helm weighed upon his head. His cloak he 
had 
cast aside  upon the seat. He turned his tired  gaze away from  the darkling


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but Beregond, who  had been  looking out from the battlement  as he spoke of 
Faramir, remained  there, stiffened, staring  out with starting eyes. Pippin 
knew the shuddering cry that he had heard: it was the same that he had heard 
long  ago  in  the Marish  of the Shire, but now it was grown  in  power and 
hatred, piercing the heart with a poisonous despair . 
     At last Beregond spoke with an effort. 'They have come!' he said. 'Take 
courage and look! There are fell things below.' 
     Reluctantly Pippin climbed on to the seat and looked out over the wall. 
The Pelennor lay dim  beneath him, fading away to the scarce guessed line of 
the  Great  River. But  now  wheeling  swiftly across  it,  like  shadows of 
untimely  night, he  saw in  the middle airs  below him five birdlike forms, 
horrible as carrion-fowl  yet greater than  eagles, cruel as death. Now they 
swooped near, venturing almost within bowshot of the walls, now they circled 
away.


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snake, boring its way across the  sheer slope of rock.  Steep as a stair, it 
looped  backwards and forwards as it  climbed. Up it horses  could walk, and 
wains  could be slowly hauled; but no  enemy could come that way, except out 
of the air,  if it was defended from above. At each turn  of the road  there 
were great standing stones that had been carved in the likeness of men, huge 
and clumsy-limbed, squatting cross-legged  with  their stumpy arms folded on 
fat bellies. Some in the wearing of the years had lost all features save the 
dark  holes of  their eyes that  still stared  sadly  at the passers-by. The 
Riders hardly glanced at them.  The  P®kel-men they  called them, and heeded 
them little:  no power or terror was left in them; but  Merry  gazed at them 
with wonder  and a feeling almost of pity,  as they loomed up  mournfully in 
the dusk. 
     After a while he looked back and found that he had already climbed some


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Pippin that a  pale light was spread about it and the heavy shadows gave way 
before it; and then as  it drew near he thought that he heard, like  an echo 
in the walls, a great voice calling. 
     'Gandalf!' he  cried. 'Gandalf!  He always  turns  up  when things  are 
darkest.  Go on!  Go on,  White Rider! Gandalf, Gandalf!' he shouted wildly, 
like  an  onlooker  at  a  great race urging on a runner who is  far  beyond 
encouragement. 
     But now  the dark  swooping shadows  were  aware  of  the newcomer. One 
wheeled towards  him; but it seemed to Pippin that he raised  his hand,  and 
from  it a  shaft of  white light  stabbed upwards.  The Nazgyl  gave a long 
wailing  cry  and swerved away; and with  that the  four others wavered, and 
then rising in swift spirals they  passed away  eastward  vanishing into the 
lowering cloud  above; and down  on the Pelennor it seemed for a  while less 
dark. 
     Pippin watched,  and he  saw the  horseman and the White Rider meet and


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done was somehow known to the Lord of the City, and much was guessed of 
what 
he thought as well. He did not answer. 
     'What would you do in my service?' 
     'I thought, sir, that you would tell me my duties.' 
     'I will, when I learn what you are fit for,' said Denethor. 'But that I 
shall learn soonest,  maybe,  if  I  keep you beside  me. The esquire of  my 
chamber  has begged leave to  go to the out-garrison, so  you shall take his


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hauberk was burdensome, and the helm weighed upon his head. His cloak he 
had 
cast aside  upon the seat. He turned his tired  gaze away from  the darkling 
fields below and yawned, and then he sighed. 
     'You are weary of this day?' said Beregond. 
     'Yes,'  said Pippin,  'very: tired out with idleness and waiting. I have 
kicked my  heels  at the door of my master's  chamber  for many  slow hours, 
while  he  has  debated with Gandalf and the Prince and other great persons.  
And I'm not  used,  Master Beregond, to waiting hungry on others while  they 
eat. It is a sore trial for a hobbit, that. No doubt you will think I should 
feel the honour more  deeply. But  what is the good  of such honour?  Indeed 
what is the  good even of  food  and  drink under this creeping shadow? What 
does it  mean?  The very air seems thick and brown! Do  you often  have such 
glooms when the wind is in the East?'


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####-Shadowfax and the  other  horse,  they walked forward to the sentinel at the 
gate: Gandalf  steadily,  his  grey  cloak  flung  back,  and  a fire  still 
smouldering in his eyes; the  other,  clad all in green, slowly,  swaying  a  
little as a weary or a wounded man. 
     Pippin pressed  forward  as  they passed  under the  lamp  beneath  the 
gate-arch, and when he saw the pale face of Faramir he caught his breath. It  
was the face  of one who has been assailed by a great fear  or anguish,  but 
has  mastered it and now is quiet. Proud and grave he stood for  a moment as 
he spoke to the guard, and Pippin gazing at him saw how closely he resembled 
his brother  Boromir - whom Pippin had liked from  the  first,  admiring the 
great man's lordly but kindly manner. Yet suddenly for Faramir his heart was 
strangely moved with a feeling that  he had  not known before. Here was  one 
with  an  air of high nobility such as  Aragorn at times revealed, less high


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when you are clad!' 
     It was  as he said; and Pippin soon  found himself  arrayed in  strange 
garments, all of black and silver. He  had a small hauberk, its rings forged 
of steel,  maybe,  yet black  as  jet; and a high-crowned  helm  with  small 
raven-wings on  either  side, set with  a  silver star in the centre of  the 
circlet.  Above the mail was a short surcoat  of black, but broidered on the 
breast in silver with the token of the Tree. His old clothes were folded and 
put away, but he was permitted to  keep the grey cloak of Lurien, though not  
to wear it  when  on duty.  He looked now, had he  known it, verily Ernil  i 
Pheriannath , the Prince of  the Halflings, that folk had  called him; but he 
felt uncomfortable. And the gloom began to weigh on his spirits.  
     It  was  dark and dim all day. From the sunless dawn until evening  the 
heavy shadow  had deepened,  and all hearts in the City were oppressed.  Far


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####-asleep. For at the beginning Faramir spoke only of the errand  upon which he 
had been sent out ten days before, and he brought tidings of Ithilien and of 
movements of the Enemy and his allies; and he told of the  fight on the road 
when  the  men of Harad  and their  great beast were overthrown:  a  captain 
reporting  to his master  such matters as had often been heard before, small 
things of  border -war that  now seemed useless  and  petty,  shorn of  their 
renown. 
     Then suddenly  Faramir looked at Pippin. 'But now  we  come  to strange  
matters,' he said.  'For this  is not the first  halfling that  I  have seen 
walking out of northern legends into the Southlands.' 
     At that Gandalf sat up and gripped the arms of his chair;  but  he said 
nothing, and  with a look stopped the exclamation on Pippin's lips. Denethor  
looked at their faces  and  nodded his head, as though  in sign  that he had


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horrible as carrion-fowl  yet greater than  eagles, cruel as death. Now they 
swooped near, venturing almost within bowshot of the walls, now they circled 
away. 
     'Black Riders!'  muttered Pippin.  'Black  Riders  of the air! But see, 
Beregond!' he cried. 'They are  looking for something, surely? See  how they 
wheel and swoop,  always down to that  point over  there!  And  can  you see 
something moving on the ground? Dark little things. Yes, men on horses: four 
or five. Ah! I cannot stand it! Gandalf! Gandalf save us!' 
     Another  long screech rose and fell,  and  he threw  himself back again 
from the  wall, panting like  a  hunted  animal.  Faint and seemingly remote 
through that shuddering cry he  heard  winding  up from below the sound of a 
trumpet ending on a long high note. 
     'Faramir!  The  Lord Faramir! It is  his call!' cried  Beregond. 'Brave 
heart! But how can he win to the  Gate, if these  foul hell-hawks have other


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strangely moved with a feeling that  he had  not known before. Here was  one 
with  an  air of high nobility such as  Aragorn at times revealed, less high 
perhaps, yet also less incalculable and remote: one of the Kings of Men born 
into a  later time,  but touched with the  wisdom  and sadness of  the Elder  
Race. He knew  now  why Beregond spoke his name with love. He was a  
captain 
that  men would follow, that he would follow, even under  the shadow  of the 
black wings. 
     'Faramir!'  he  cried aloud  with the others.  'Faramir!'  And  Faramir 
catching his strange voice among the clamour  of the men of the City, turned  
and looked down at him and was amazed. 
     'Whence  come  you?'  he said. 'A halfling,  and in the  livery  of the 
Tower! Whence...? ' 
     But  with that Gandalf stepped  to his side and spoke. 'He came with me 
from  the land of the Halflings,' he said. 'He came with  me. But let us not


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lowering cloud  above; and down  on the Pelennor it seemed for a  while less 
dark. 
     Pippin watched,  and he  saw the  horseman and the White Rider meet and 
halt, waiting for those on foot. Men now hurried out to them from the  City;  
and soon they all passed from sight under the  outer walls, and he knew that 
they were  entering the Gate. Guessing  that they would  come at once to the 
Tower and the Steward, he  hurried to the entrance of the citadel.  There he 
was  joined by  many others who had watched the race and the rescue from the 
high walls.  
     It was not long before a clamour  was heard  in the streets leading  up 
from the outer circles, and there was much cheering and crying of  the names 
of Faramir  and Mithrandir. Presently Pippin saw torches, and followed by  a 
press of people two horsemen riding slowly:  one was in white but shining no 
longer, pale in the twilight as if his  fire was spent  or veiled; the other


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####-to remember why it was that I,  not he, was in Ithilien. On  one occasion at 
least your counsel has prevailed, not long ago. It  was the Lord of the City 
that gave the errand to him.' 
     'Stir not the  bitterness in  the cup that  I mixed  for myself,'  said 
Denethor.  'Have I  not tasted it now  many nights upon my tongue foreboding 
that worse yet lay in the dregs? As now indeed I find. Would it were not so!  
Would that this thing had come to me!' 
     'Comfort yourself!'  said Gandalf.  'In  no  case  would  Boromir  have 
brought it to you. He is dead, and died well; may he sleep in peace! Yet you  
deceive yourself. He would have stretched out  his hand to this  thing,  and 
taking it he would have fallen. He would have kept it  for his own, and when  
he returned you would not have known your son.' 
     The face of Denethor set  hard and cold. 'You found Boromir less apt to 
your hand, did you not?' he said softly.  'But I who  was his father say that


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It  was  dark and dim all day. From the sunless dawn until evening  the 
heavy shadow  had deepened,  and all hearts in the City were oppressed.  Far 
above  a great cloud streamed slowly westward from the Black Land, 
devouring 
light, borne upon a wind of war; but below the air was still and breathless,


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nothing, and  with a look stopped the exclamation on Pippin's lips. Denethor  
looked at their faces  and  nodded his head, as though  in sign  that he had 
read much  there before it  was spoken. Slowly, while the  others sat silent 
and  still,  Faramir  told  his tale, with  his  eyes  for the most part  on 
Gandalf, though now and again his glance strayed to Pippin, as if to refresh 
his memory of others that he had seen. 
     As his story was unfolded of his meeting with Frodo and his servant and 
of  the events  at Henneth  Annyn, Pippin became aware that  Gandalf's hands 
were  trembling as they clutched the carven wood. White they seemed now  
and 
very old,  and as  he looked at them,  suddenly with a thrill of fear Pippin 
knew  that Gandalf, Gandalf himself, was troubled, even afraid.  The  air of 
the room was close and still. At last when Faramir spoke of his parting with  
the travellers, and of their resolve to go to Cirith Ungol,  his voice fell,


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trumpet ending on a long high note. 
     'Faramir!  The  Lord Faramir! It is  his call!' cried  Beregond. 'Brave 
heart! But how can he win to the  Gate, if these  foul hell-hawks have other  
weapons than fear? But look! They hold on. They will make the Gate.  No! the


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####-     Gandalf paced the floor. 'The  morning  of two days ago,  nigh on three 
days of journey! How far is the place where you parted?' 
     'Some  twenty-five leagues as a  bird flies,' answered  Faramir. 'But I 
could not  come more swiftly.  Yestereve I lay at Cair Andros, the long isle 
in the River  northward which we hold in defence; and horses are kept on the 
hither bank. As the dark drew on I  knew that  haste was  needed,  so I rode 
thence with three others that could also be horsed. The rest of my company I  
sent south to strengthen the garrison at the fords of Osgiliath. I hope that 
I have not done ill?' He looked at his father. 
     'Ill?' cried Denethor,  and his eyes flashed suddenly. 'Why do you ask? 
The men were under your command. Or do you ask for my  judgement on all 
your 
deeds? Your bearing is lowly in my presence,  yet it is long  now  since you  
turned from your own way at my counsel. See, you have  spoken  skilfully, as


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Tower! Whence...? ' 
     But  with that Gandalf stepped  to his side and spoke. 'He came with me 
from  the land of the Halflings,' he said. 'He came with  me. But let us not 
tarry here. There is much to say and to do, and you are weary. He shall come 
with  us. Indeed  he  must,  for if he  does not forget his new  duties more 
easily than I do, he must attend on his  lord  again within this hour. Come, 
Pippin, follow us!' 
     So at length they came to the private chamber of the Lord of the  City. 
There deep seats were set about a brazier of charcoal; and wine was brought; 
and there Pippin,  hardly noticed, stood behind  the  chair of Denethor  and 
felt his weariness little, so eagerly did he listen to all that was said. 
     When Faramir had  taken white bread and drunk a draught of wine, he sat 
upon a low chair  at his father's left hand. Removed a little upon the other  
side sat Gandalf in a  chair of  carven  wood; and he seemed  at first to be


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with wonder  and a feeling almost of pity,  as they loomed up  mournfully in 
the dusk. 
     After a while he looked back and found that he had already climbed some 
hundreds of feet  above the valley, but still far below he could dimly see a


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####-test, you do not know me yet.' 
     'Nonetheless I do not trust you,' said Gandalf. 'Had I done so, I could 
have sent this thing hither to  your keeping  and  spared myself and  others 
much  anguish.  And now hearing  you speak  I trust you  less, no  more than 
Boromir. Nay, stay your wrath! I do  not trust myself in this, and I refused 
this thing, even as  a  freely given gift. You  are strong and can still  in 
some matters govern  yourself, Denethor; yet if you had received this thing,  
it  would  have  overthrown  you.  Were  it  buried  beneath  the  roots  of 
Mindolluin, still it would burn  your mind away, as the darkness grows,  and 
the yet worse things follow that soon shall come upon us.' 
     For a moment the eyes of Denethor glowed again as he faced Gandalf, and 
Pippin felt  once  more the  strain between  their wills;  but now almost it 
seemed  as if their glances were like blades  from eye to eye, flickering as


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your 
deeds? Your bearing is lowly in my presence,  yet it is long  now  since you  
turned from your own way at my counsel. See, you have  spoken  skilfully, as 
ever; but  I, have I not seen your  eye fixed on Mithrandir, seeking whether  
you said well or too much? He has long had your heart in his keeping. 
     'My son, your  father is old but not yet dotard. I can see and hear, as 
was  my wont; and  little of what you have half said  or left unsaid  is now 
hidden from me. I know the answer to many riddles. Alas, alas for Boromir!' 
     'If what I have done  displeases you, my father,' said Faramir quietly, 
'I wish I had known your counsel before the burden of so weighty a judgement 
was thrust on me.' 
     'Would that have availed to change your judgement?' said Denethor. 'You 
would still have done just so, I deem.  I k now you well. Ever your desire is 
to  appear lordly and generous as  a king of old, gracious, gentle. That may


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The face of Denethor set  hard and cold. 'You found Boromir less apt to 
your hand, did you not?' he said softly.  'But I who  was his father say that 
he would have  brought it to me.  You are wise,  maybe, Mithrandir, yet with 
all your subtleties you have not all wisdom.  Counsels may be found that are 
neither the  webs  of wizards  nor the haste of fools. I have in this matter 
more lore and wisdom than you deem. ' 
     'What then is your wisdom?' said Gandalf. 
     'Enough to  perceive  that there are two follies to avoid. To  use this 
thing is  perilous. At  this  hour, to send it  in  the hands  of a  witless 
halfling into the land of the Enemy himself, as you  have done, and this son 
of mine, that is madness.' 
     'And the Lord Denethor what would he have done?' 
     'Neither. But most surely  not  for any argument would he have set this 
thing at a hazard beyond all bu t a  fool's hope, risking our utter ruin,  if


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the room was close and still. At last when Faramir spoke of his parting with  
the travellers, and of their resolve to go to Cirith Ungol,  his voice fell, 
and he shook his head and sighed. Then Gandalf sprang up. 
     'Cirith Ungol?  Morgul Vale?'  he said. 'The  time,  Faramir, the time?  
When did you part with them? When would they reach that accursed valley?' 
     'I parted with them in  the morning two days ago,' said Faramir. 'It is 
fifteen leagues thence to the vale  of the Morgulduin, if they went straight 
south; and then they would  be  still five leagu es westward of  the accursed 
Tower.  At  swiftest they could not come  there before today, and maybe they 
have not come there yet. Indeed I see what you fear. But the darkness is not 
due to their venture.  It began yestereve, and all Ithilien was under sha dow 
last night.  It is clear to me that the Enemy has long planned an assault on 
us, and its hour had already been determined before ever the travellers left


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####-Gandalf's hand. 
     'Tell me,' he  said, 'is there any hope? For Frodo, I mean; or at least 
mostly for Frodo.' 
     Gandalf put his hand on Pippin's head. 'There never was much  hope,' he 
answered.  'Just a  fool's hope,  as  I have  been told. And when I heard of 
Cirith Ungol------' He broke  off and  strode to  the window as if his  eyes 
could pierce the night  in the East. 'Cirith Ungol!' he  muttered. 'Why that 
way, I wonder?' He turned.  'Just now, Pippin,  my heart almost  failed  me, 
hearing that name.  And yet  in truth  I believe that  the news that Faramir 
brings has some hope in it. For it seems clear that our Enemy has opened his 
war at last and made the first  move while Frodo was still free. So  now for  
many days  he will have his eye turned this way and that, away  from his own 
land. And yet, Pippin, I  feel from afar his haste and  fear.  He  has begun 
sooner than he would. Something has happened to stir him.'


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press of people two horsemen riding slowly:  one was in white but shining no 
longer, pale in the twilight as if his  fire was spent  or veiled; the other  
was dark  and his  head  was  bowed.  They  dismounted, and  as  grooms took


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would still have done just so, I deem.  I k now you well. Ever your desire is 
to  appear lordly and generous as  a king of old, gracious, gentle. That may 
well befit one of high race, if he sits in power and peace. But in desperate 
hours gentleness may be repaid with death.' 
     'So be it,' said Faramir. 
     'So  be  it!' cried  Denethor.  'But  not  with your  death  only, Lord 
Faramir: with the death also of your father, and of all your people, whom it 
is your part to protect now that Boromir is gone.' 
     'Do you wish then,' said Faramir, 'that our places had been exchanged?' 
     'Yes,  I wish that indeed,' said Denethor. 'For Boromir was loyal to me 
and no wizard's pupil. He would have remembered his father's need, and would 
not  have squandered what  fortune gave.  He would have brought me  a  mighty 
gift.' 
     For a moment Faramir's restraint gave way. 'I would ask you, my father,


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####-men, lifted for a while by the return of Faramir, sank low again. The winged 
Shadows were  not  seen again  that day,  yet  ever and anon, high above the 
city, a faint cry would come,  and  many who heard  it  would stand stricken 
with a passing dread, while the less stout-hearted quailed and wept. 
     And now Faramir was gone again. 'They give him no rest,' some murmured. 
'The Lord drives his son too hard, and  now he must do the duty of  two, for  
himself  and  for  the  one that  will  not return.'  And  ever  men  looked 
northward, asking: 'Where are the Riders of Rohan?' 
     In truth Faramir did not  go  by  his own choosing. But the Lord of the 
City  was master of his  Council,  and he was in no mood that day  to bow to 
others. Early in the morning the  Council had been summoned.  There  all the 
captains judged that because of the threat in the South their force  was too 
weak  to  make any stroke of  war on  their own part,  unless perchance  the


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####-     Then all were silent, but at length Faramir said: 'I do not oppose your 
will, sire. Since you are robbed of Boromir, I will go and do what  I can in 
his stead  - if you command it.' 
     'I do so,' said Denethor. 
     'Then farewell!' said Faramir. 'But if I should return, think better of 
me!' 
     'That depends on the manner of your return,' said Denethor. 
     Gandalf it was that  last spoke  to Faramir ere he  rode east. 'Do  not 
throw your live away rashly or in bitterness,' he said. 'You  will be needed 
here,  for other things  than war. Your  father loves you, Faramir, and will 
remember it ere the end. Farewell!' 
     So now the Lord Faramir had gone  forth again, and had taken  with  him 
such strength of men as were willing to go  or could be spared. On the walls 
some gazed through the gloom towards the ruined city, and they wondered 
what 
chanced there, for nothing could be seen.  And others, as ever, looked north


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last night.  It is clear to me that the Enemy has long planned an assault on 
us, and its hour had already been determined before ever the travellers left 
my keeping.'


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####-     'If he wins back at all across the Pelennor, his enemies will be on his 
heels,' said  the messenger. 'They have paid dear for the  crossing but less 
dearly than we  hoped.  The plan has been well laid. It is now  seen that in 
secret  they have long been building  floats and barges in great numbers  in 
East  Osgiliath.  They  swarmed across  like  beetles.  But  it is the Black  
Captain  that  defeats us. Few  will stand and abide even the  rumour of his 
coming.  His own folk quail at him,  and they would  slay themselves  at his 
bidding.' 
     'Then I am needed  there more than here,' said Gandalf, and rode off at 
once,  and the glimmer  of him  faded soon  from  sight. And  all that night 
Pippin alone and sleepless stood upon the wall and gazed eastward. 
     The bells  of  day had  scarcely  rung  out again,  a  mockery  in  the 
unlightened dark, when  far  away he saw  fires spring up, across in the dim


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land. And yet, Pippin, I  feel from afar his haste and  fear.  He  has begun 
sooner than he would. Something has happened to stir him.' 
     Gandalf  stood for a moment in thought.  'Maybe,'  he  muttered.  'Maybe 
even your foolishness helped,  my lad. Let me see: some five days ago now he 
would discover that  we had thrown  down  Saruman and had  taken the  Stone. 
Still  what of that?  We could  not use it to much  purpose, or without  his 
knowing. Ah! I wonder. Aragorn? His time  draws  near. And he  is strong and 
stern underneath, Pippin; bold, determined, able to take his own counsel and 
dare great risks  at  need. That may be it. He may have used  the  Stone and 
shown  himself  to the  Enemy,  challenging  him, for  this very purpose.  I 
wonder. Well, we shall not know the answer till the Riders of Rohan come, if 
they do not come  too  late.  There are evil days ahead.  To sleep  while we 
may!' 
     'But,' said Pippin.


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'Neither. But most surely  not  for any argument would he have set this 
thing at a hazard beyond all bu t a  fool's hope, risking our utter ruin,  if 
the  Enemy  should  recover what he lost. Nay, it  should  have  been  kept, 
hidden, hidden  dark and deep. Not used, I say, unless  at the uttermost end 
of need, but set beyond his grasp, save by a victory so  final that what then 
befell would not trouble us, being dead.' 
     'You  think,  as  is your wont, my lord, of Gondor only,' said Gandalf. 
'Yet there are other men and other lives, and time still to be.  And for me, 
I pity even his slaves.' 
     'And wher e  will other  men look for help, if  Gondor  falls?' answered 
Denethor. 'If I had this thing  now in  the deep  vaults of this citadel, we 
should not then  shake with  dread  under this gloom, fearing the worst, and 
our counsels would  be  undisturbed. If you do not trust  me  to endure  the


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some gazed through the gloom towards the ruined city, and they wondered 
what 
chanced there, for nothing could be seen.  And others, as ever, looked north 
and counted the leagues to Thjoden in Rohan. 'Will he come? Will he 
remember  
our old alliance?' they said. 
     'Yes, he will  come,'  said  Gandalf, 'even  if  he comes too late. But 
think! At best the Red Arrow cannot have reached him more than two days 
ago, 
and the miles are long from Edoras.' 
     It was night again ere news came. A  man rode in  haste from the fords, 
saying that a host had issued from Minas Morgul and was already drawing nigh 
to Osgiliath; and it had been joined  by regiments from the South, Haradrim, 
cruel and tall. 'And we have learned ' said the messenger, 'that  the  Black  
Captain  leads  them once again,  and the fear of him  has passed before him 
over the River.' 
     With those ill-boding words the third day closed since  Pippin came  to


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Pippin felt  once  more the  strain between  their wills;  but now almost it 
seemed  as if their glances were like blades  from eye to eye, flickering as 
they  fenced. Pippin trembled fearing  some  dreadful  stroke.  But suddenly  
Denethor relaxed and grew cold again. He shrugged his shoulders.  
     'If I had! If you had!' he said. 'Such words and ifs are  vain.  It has 
gone into the Shadow, and only time will show  what  doom awaits it  and us.  
The time will not  be long. In what is left, let all who fight  the Enemy in 
their fashion be at one, and keep hope while they may, and after hope  still 
the hardihood to die  free.' He turned to  Faramir.  'What think  you of the 
garrison at Osgiliath?' 
     'It is not strong,'  said Faramir. 'I have sent the company of Ithilien 
to strengthen it, as I have said.' 
     'Not enough, I deem,' said Denethor. 'It is  there that the first  blow 
will fall. They will have need of some stout captain there.'


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####-nightfall yesterday. As for the sortie,  I had already given thought to  it. 
Let us go down.' 
     Time  passed. At length watchers on the walls could  see the retreat of 
the  out-companies. Small bands of weary  and  often wounded  men came first  
with  little  order; some  were running wildly  as if  pursued. Away to  the 
ea stward the distant fires flickered; and  now it seemed that here and there 
they crept across the plain. Houses and barns were burning.  Then from  many 
points little  rivers of red flame  came  hurrying on,  winding through  the 
gloom,  converging  towards   the line of  the broad  road that  led from the 
City-gate to Osgiliath. 
     'The enemy,' men  murmured. 'The  dike is  down. Here they come pouring 
through the  breaches! And they carry  torches,  it seems. Where are our own 
folk?' 
     It drew now to evening by the hour, and  the light was so dim that even 
far-sighted men upon the  Citadel could  discern little clearly out upon the


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The bells  of  day had  scarcely  rung  out again,  a  mockery  in  the 
unlightened dark, when  far  away he saw  fires spring up, across in the dim 
spaces where the walls of the Pelennor stood. The  watchmen cried aloud, and 
all men in the City stood to arms. Now ever and anon there was a  red flash,  
and slowly through the heavy air dull rumbles could be heard. 
     'They have taken the wall!' men cried. 'They are blasting  breaches  in 
it. They are coming!' 
     'Where  is Faramir?'  cried  Beregond in dismay.  'Say not  that he has 
fallen!' 
     It was  Gandalf that  brought the  first  tidings.  With  a  handful of 
horsemen he came in the middle morning, riding as escort to a line of wains.  
They were filled with wounded men, all that could be sa ved from the wreck of 
the Causeway Forts. At  once he went  to Denethor.  The Lord of the City sat 
now in a high chamber above the Hall of the White Tower  with Pippin  at his


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wonder. Well, we shall not know the answer till the Riders of Rohan come, if 
they do not come  too  late.  There are evil days ahead.  To sleep  while we 
may!' 
     'But,' said Pippin. 
     'But what?' said Gandalf. 'Only one but will I allow tonight.' 
     'Gollum,' said  Pippin. 'How  on  earth could they  be going about with 
him, even following him? And I could see that Faramir did not like the place  
he was taking them to any more than you do. What is wrong?' 
     'I cannot answer  that now,' said Gandalf. 'Yet  my heart guessed  that 
Frodo and Gollum  would  meet  before the end. For good, or for evil. But of 
Cirith  Ungol  I  will  not speak  tonight.  Treachery,  treachery  I  fear; 
treachery  of  that  miserable creature. But so it must be. Let us  remember  
that a traitor may betray himself and  do good that he does not  intend.  It 
can be so, sometimes. Good night! ' 
     The next day came with a morning like  a brown  dusk, and the hearts of


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####-up; for foremost on the field rode the swan-knights of Dol Amroth with their  
Prince and his blue banner at their head. 
     'Amroth for Gondor!' they cried. 'Amroth to Faramir!' 
     Like thunder they broke  upon the enemy on either flank of the retreat; 
but  one rider outran  them  all, swift as the  wind in the grass: Shadowfax 
bore him, shining,  unveiled  once  more, a light starting from his upraised 
hand. 
     The Nazgyl screeched and swept away, for their Captain was not yet come 
to challenge the  white fire of his foe. The hosts of Morgul intent on their 
prey,  taken at  unawares in wild career, broke, scattering like sparks in a  
gale. The out-companies with a great cheer turned and smote their  pursuers.  
Hunters  became the hunted. The retreat  became  an onslaught. The field was 
strewn with stricken orcs and  men, and a  reek arose of torches cast  away, 
sputtering ou t in swirling smoke. The cavalry rode on.


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####-     Denethor laughed bitterly. 'Nay, not  yet, Master Peregrin! He will not 
come save  only to triumph over me when all is  won. He uses  others as  his 
weapons. So do  all great lords, if they  are wise,  Master Halfling. Or why 
should I sit here in  my tower and think, and watch, and wait, spending even 
my sons? For I can still wield a brand.' 
     He stood up and cast open his long black cloak, and behold! he was clad 
in mail beneath,  and girt  with a  long sword, great-hilted in a sheath  of 
black and silver. 'Thus have I walked, and thus  now  for many years  have I  
slept,' he said, 'lest with age the body should grow soft and timid.' 
     'Yet now under the Lord of Barad-dyr the most  fell of all his captains 
is already master of your outer  walls,'  said Gandalf. 'King of Angmar long 
ago, Sorcerer, Ringwraith, Lord of the Nazgyl, a spear of terror in the hand 
of Sauron, shadow of despair.'


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Captain  leads  them once again,  and the fear of him  has passed before him 
over the River.' 
     With those ill-boding words the third day closed since  Pippin came  to 
Minas Tirith. Few went to rest, for small hope had any now that even Faramir 
could hold the fords for long. 
     The next day,  though the darkness  had reached  its  full and grew  no 
deeper, it weighed heavier  on men's  hearts, and a great dread was on them.  
Ill  news came soon  again.  The  passage of  Anduin was won  by  the Enemy. 
Faramir was retreating to the wall of  the Pelennor, rallying his men to the 
Causeway Forts; but he was ten times outnumbered.


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folk?' 
     It drew now to evening by the hour, and  the light was so dim that even 
far-sighted men upon the  Citadel could  discern little clearly out upon the 
fields, save only the  burnings that ever multiplied, and the lines  of fire 
that grew in length and speed.  At last, less than a mile  from  the City, a  
more ordered mass of men came into view, marching not running, still holding 
together. 
     The watchers held their breath. 'Faramir must be there,' they said. 'He 
can govern man and beast. He will make it yet.' 
     Now  the  main retreat  was scarcely  two furlongs distant. Out of  the 
gloom behind a small company of horsemen galloped, all that was  left of the 
rearguard. Once again they turned at bay, facing the oncoming lines of fire. 
Then  suddenly  there was a tumult of   fierce cries. Horsemen of  the  enemy  
swept up. The lines of fire became flowing torrents,  file upon file of Orcs


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the Causeway Forts. At  once he went  to Denethor.  The Lord of the City sat 
now in a high chamber above the Hall of the White Tower  with Pippin  at his 
side;  and through  the dim windows, north and  south and east,  he bent his 
dark eyes, as if to pierce the shadows of doom that  ringed him  round. Most  
to the north  he looked, and would  pause at whiles to listen as  if by some 
ancient art his ears might hear the thunder of hoofs on the plains far away. 
     'Is Faramir come?' he a sked. 
     'No,' said Gandalf.  'But he still  lived when I  left him. Yet  he  is 
resolved  to stay  with the rearguard,  lest  the retreat over  the Pelennor  
become a rout.  He may,  perhaps, hold  his men  together long enough, but I  
doubt it.  He  is  pitted against a foe too great.  For one has come  that I 
feared.' 
     'Not -  the  Dark  Lord?'  cried Pippin, forgetting  his place  in  his 
terror.


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strewn with stricken orcs and  men, and a  reek arose of torches cast  away, 
sputtering ou t in swirling smoke. The cavalry rode on. 
     But  Denethor  did not  permit them to  go  far.  Though the enemy  was 
checked, and for the moment driven back, great forces  were flowing  in from 
the East.  Again  the  trumpet rang,  sounding the retreat.  The cavalry  of 
Gondor halted. Behind their screen the out-companies re-formed. Now steadily 
they  came marching  back. They  reached the  Gate  of the City and entered,  
stepping  proudly:  and  proudly the people of the  City looked  on them and 
cried their praise, and  yet they were troubled in heart. For the  companies 
were grievously reduced. Faramir had lost a third of his men. And  where was 
he? 
     Last of all he came. His men passed in. The  mounted knights  returned, 
and at their rear  the banner  of Dol Amroth, and the Prince. And in his arms 
before him on  his  horse  he bore  the body of his kinsman, Faramir  son of


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####-seen. But Denethor rose  and looked on the face  of his  son and was silent. 
Then he  bade  them make a bed  in the  chamber and lay Faramir  upon it and 
depart. But  he himself went up alone into the  secret room under the summit 
of the Tower; and many who looked  up thither  at that time saw a pale light  
that gleamed and  flickered from the  narrow  windows for a while,  and then 
flashed and  went  out. And when Denethor descended again he went to 
Faramir 
and sat beside him withou t speaking, but the face of the Lord was grey, more 
deathlike than his son's.  
     So now at last the  City was besieged, enclosed in a ring  of foes. The 
Rammas  was broken, and all the Pelennor  abandoned  to the Enemy.  The last  
word  to  come  from outside the  walls  was  brought by men flying down the 
northward road ere the  Gate was  shut. They were the remnant of  the  guard 
that was kept  at that point where the way from Anurien and  Rohan  ran into


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is already master of your outer  walls,'  said Gandalf. 'King of Angmar long 
ago, Sorcerer, Ringwraith, Lord of the Nazgyl, a spear of terror in the hand 
of Sauron, shadow of despair.' 
     'Then, Mithrandir, you  had a  foe to  match you,'  said Denethor. 'For  
myself, I  have long known who is the chief captain of the hosts of the Dark 
Tower. Is this all that you have returned to say? Or can it be that you have 
withdrawn because you are overmatched?' 
     Pippin  trembled, fearing  that Gandalf would be stung to sudden wrath, 
but his fear was needless.  'It  might be so,' Gandalf answered softly. 'But 
our trial of strength is not yet come. And if words  spoken  of old be true, 
not by the hand of man  shall he fall, and hidden from the Wise  is the doom 
that awaits him.  However that may be, the Captain of Despair does not press 
forward,  yet.  He rules rather according to  the  wisdom that you have just 
spoken, from the rear, driving his slaves in madness on before.


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####-made each was filled with fire, though how it was  kindled or fed, by art or  
devilry, none could see.  All day the labour  went forward, while the men of 
Minas Tirith  looked  on, unable to hinder it. And as each  length of trench 
was  completed,  they  could see great wains approaching; and soon yet  more 
companies of the enemy were swiftly setting up, each behind  the cover of  a  
trench, great engines for the casting of missiles. There were  none upon the 
City walls large enough to reach so far or to stay the work. 
     At  first  men laughed and did   not greatly fear  such devices. For the 
main  wall of  the City was of great height and  marvellous thickness, built 
ere the power and craft of N®menor waned in exile; and its outward  face was 
like  to the Tower  of  Orthanc,  hard and dark and smooth, unconquerable by 
steel or  fire, unbreakable except  by some  convulsion that would rend  the 
very earth on which it stood.


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to strengthen it, as I have said.' 
     'Not enough, I deem,' said Denethor. 'It is  there that the first  blow 
will fall. They will have need of some stout captain there.' 
     'There  and  elsewhere  in many places,' said Faramir, and sighed. 'Alas 
for my brother, whom I too loved!' He rose. 'May I have your leave, father?' 
And then he swayed and leaned upon his father's chair. 
     'You are weary, I see,' said Denethor.  'You  have ridden  fast and far, 
and under shadows of evil in the air, I am told.' 
     'Let us not speak of that!' said Faramir. 
     'Then  we  will  not,'  said  Denethor. 'Go  now and  rest as you  may. 
Tomorrow's need will be sterner.' 
     All now took leave of the Lor d of the City and went to rest  while they 
still could.  Outside there  was a starless blackness as Gandalf with Pippin 
beside  him bearing a small torch, made  his way to their  lodging. They did  
not speak until they were behind closed  doors. Then  at  last  Pippin  took


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Then  suddenly  there was a tumult of   fierce cries. Horsemen of  the  enemy  
swept up. The lines of fire became flowing torrents,  file upon file of Orcs 
bearing flames, and wild Southron men with red banners, shouting with  harsh 
tongues, surging up, overtaking the retreat. And with a  piercing cry out of 
the dim sky fell the winged shadows, the Nazgyl stooping to the kill. 
     The retreat became a rout. Already men were breaking away, flying  wild  
and witless here and there, flinging away their weapons, crying out in fear, 
falling to the ground. 
     And then a trumpet rang from the Citadel, and Denethor at last released 
the sortie. Drawn up  within  the shadow of the  Gate and under the  looming 
walls outside they had waited for his signal: all the  mounted men that were 
left in the City.  Now they  sprang forward, formed, quickened to  a gallop, 
and charged with a great shout. And  from the walls an answering  shout went


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captains judged that because of the threat in the South their force  was too 
weak  to  make any stroke of  war on  their own part,  unless perchance  the 
Riders of Rohan yet should come. Meanwhile they must man the walls and 
wait. 
     'Yet,'  said  Denethor,  'we  should  not  lightly  abandon  the  outer  
defences,  the Rammas made with so  great  a  labour. And the Enemy must 
pay 
dearly for the crossing of the River. That he cannot do, in  force to assail 
the City, either north of Cair Andros because of  the marshes, or southwards 
towards Lebennin because of the breadth of the River, that needs many boats.  
It  is at  Osgiliath that he  will  put his weight, as before  when  Boromir 
denied him the passage.' 
     'That was but a trial,' said Faramir. 'Today we may make  the Enemy pay 
ten times our  loss at  the passage and yet  rue  the  exchange.  For he can 
afford  to lose a host better  than we to lose a company. And the retreat of


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####-the fields, or ridden in upon a holiday from the green vales in the hills.  
     In vain men shook  their fists at the pitiless foes that swarmed before 
the Gate. Curses they heeded not, nor understood the tongues of western men; 
crying with harsh voices like beasts and  carrion-birds. But soon there were 
few left in Minas Tirith who had the heart to stand up and defy the hosts of 
Mordor.  For yet another weapon, swifter than hunger,  the Lord of the  Dark 
Tower had: dread and despair. 
     The Nazgyl came again, and  as  their  Dark Lord now grew and put forth  
his strength, so their voices, which uttered only his  will and  his malice, 
were filled with  evil and  horror. Ever they circled  above the  City, like 
vultures that expect their fill of doomed men's flesh. Out of sight and shot 
they  flew, and yet were ever present, and their deadly voices rent the air. 
More unbearable they became, not  less, at each new cry.  At length even the


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northward road ere the  Gate was  shut. They were the remnant of  the  guard 
that was kept  at that point where the way from Anurien and  Rohan  ran into 
the townlands: Ingold led them, the same who had admitted Gandalf and Pippin 
less than five days before,  while the sun still rose and there was hope  in 
the morning. 
     'There is no  news of the Rohirrim,' he said. 'Rohan will not come now.  
Or if they come, it will not avail us. The new host that we had  tidings  of 
has come first, from over  the River by way of Andros, it is said.  They are 
strong: battalions of Orcs of the Eye, and  countless companies of Men of  a  
new sort that  we have not met before. Not tall, but broad and grim, bearded 
like dwarves, wielding great axes. Out of some savage land in the  wide East  
they come, we  deem. They hold  the northward road; and  many have passed 
on 
into Anurien. The Rohirrim cannot come.' 
     The Gate was shut. All night watchmen on the  walls heard the rumour of


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and at their rear  the banner  of Dol Amroth, and the Prince. And in his arms 
before him on  his  horse  he bore  the body of his kinsman, Faramir  son of 
Denethor, found upon the stricken field. 
     'Faramir! Faramir!' men cried, weeping in the  streets.  But he did not 
answer, and they  bore him away up the winding  road to the Citadel  and his 
father. Even  as the Nazgyl had swerved aside  from the  onset of  the White 
Rider,  there came flying a deadly dart, and Faramir,  as he  held at bay  a  
mounted champion of Harad, had  fallen to the earth.  Only the charge of Dol 
Amroth had saved him from the red southland swords that would have hewed 
him 
as he lay. 
     The Prince Imrahil brought  Faramir to  the White Tower, and  he  said: 
Your son has returned, lord, after  great deeds, and he told all that he had


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####-Mean  folk shall rule  the last remnant of the Kings of Men, lurking in  the 
hills until all are hounded out.' 
     Men came to the  door crying for the Lord of the City. 'Nay, I will not 
come down,' he said. 'I must stay beside my son. He might still speak before 
the end. But that is near. Follow whom you will,  even the Grey Fool, though 
his hope has failed. Here I stay.' 
     So it was that Gandalf took command of the last defence of the City  of 
Gondor.  Wherever he came  men's  hearts would  lift  again,  and the winged 
shadows pass from memory. Tirelessly he strode  from Citadel to  Gate,  from 
north to south about the wall; and with him went the Prince of Dol Amroth in 
his shining mail. For he and his knights still held themselves like lords in 
whom the race  of N®menor  ran   true. Men that  saw them  whispered  saying: 
'Belike the old tales speak well; there is Elvish blood in the veins of that


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ten times our  loss at  the passage and yet  rue  the  exchange.  For he can 
afford  to lose a host better  than we to lose a company. And the retreat of 
those  that we  put out  far afield  will  be per ilous, if he wins across in 
force.' 
     'And what of Cair Andros?' said the Prince. 'That, too, must  be  held, 
if Osgiliath  is defended.  Let  us  not forget  the danger on our left. The 
Rohirrim may  come,  and  they may not. But  Faramir  has  told us  of great 
strength drawing ever  to the Black Gate. More than  one host may issue from 
it, and strike for more than one passage.' 
     'Much must be risked in war,' said Denethor. 'Cair Andros is manned and  
no more  can be sent so far. But I will not yield the River and the Pelennor  
unfought  - not if there  is a captain  here who has still the courage to do 
his lord's will.'


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they come, we  deem. They hold  the northward road; and  many have passed 
on 
into Anurien. The Rohirrim cannot come.' 
     The Gate was shut. All night watchmen on the  walls heard the rumour of 
the enemy that roamed outside,  burning field  and tree, and  hewing any man 
that they found abroad, living or  dead. The numbers that had already passed  
over the River  could not be guessed  in the darkness, but when  morning, or  
its  dim shadow,  stole over the plain, it was seen that  even fear by night 
had  scarcely over -counted them.  The plain was  dark  with  their  marching 
companies, and as far as eyes could strain in the  mirk there sprouted, like 
a  foul fungus-growth, all about the beleaguered  city great camps of tents, 
black or sombre red. 
     Busy as ants hurrying orcs were digging, digging lines of deep trenches 
in a huge ring, just out of bowshot from the walls; and as the trenches were


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forward,  yet.  He rules rather according to  the  wisdom that you have just 
spoken, from the rear, driving his slaves in madness on before. 
     'Nay, I came  rather to guard the hurt men that can yet be  healed; for 
the Rammas is  breached far and wide, and soon the host of Morgul will enter  
in at many points. And I came chiefly to say this. Soon there will be battle 
on  the  fields. A sortie must be made  ready.  Let it be of mounted men. In 
them lies our  brief hope, for in one thing only is  the enemy  still poorly 
provided: he has few horsemen.' 
     'And we also have few. Now  would the coming of Rohan be in the nick of 
time,' said Denethor. 
     'We are likely to see other newcomers first,' said  Gandalf. 'Fugitives 
from Cair Andros have  already reached us. The isle has fallen. Another army 
is come from the Black Gate, crossing from the north-east.' 
     'Some have accused  you, Mithrandir,  of  delighting to bear ill news,'


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whom the race  of N®menor  ran   true. Men that  saw them  whispered  saying: 
'Belike the old tales speak well; there is Elvish blood in the veins of that 
folk, for the people of Nimrodel dwelt in that land once long ago.' And then 
one would sing amid the gloom  some staves of the Lay of Nimrodel, or  other  
songs of the Vale of Anduin out of vanished years.  
     And  yet  - when they had  gone, the shadows closed  on  men  again, and  
their hearts  went cold, and the valour of Gondor  withered into ash. And so 
slowly  they passed out of  a  dim  day  of  fears  into  the darkness of  a  
desperate night. Fires  now raged unchecked in the first circle of the City, 
and the garrison upon the outer wall was already in many places cut off from 
retreat.  But the  faithful who remained there at their  posts were few; most  
had fled beyond the second gate. 
     Far behind the  battle the  River had been swiftly bridged, and all day


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they  flew, and yet were ever present, and their deadly voices rent the air. 
More unbearable they became, not  less, at each new cry.  At length even the 
stout-hearted would  fling  themselves to the  ground as the  hidden  menace 
passed  over  them,  or they would  stand, letting  their  weapons fall from 
nerveless hands while into their minds a blackness came, and they thought no 
more of war, but only of hiding and of crawling, and of death. 
     During all this black day Faramir  lay  upon his bed  in the chamber of 
the White Tower, wandering  in  a  desperate fever; dying someone  said, and 
soon  'dying' all men were saying upon  the walls and in the streets. And by 
him his father sat, and said nothing, but watched, and gave  no  longer  any 
heed to the defence. 
     No  hours  so dark had  Pippin known, not  even in the clutches  of the 
Uruk-hai. It was  his duty to wait upon the Lord, and wait he did, forgotten


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####-halted beside the Withered Tree. 
     All was silent, save for the rumour of war in the City down  below, and 
they heard the  water  dripping sadly  from  the dead branches into the  dark 
pool. Then they went on through the Citadel gate, where the  sentinel stared  
at  them in wonder and dismay as they passed by.  Turning westward they came 
at length to  a door in the rearward wall of the sixth circle. Fen Hollen it 
was called, for it was kept ever shut save at times of funeral, and only the 
Lord of  the  City might use that  way, or those who  bore the token of  the 
tombs and tended the houses of the  dead. Beyond it went a winding road that 
descended in  many curves down  to the  narrow  land  under  the  shadow  of 
Mindolluin's  precipice  where stood the mansions of the dead Kings  and  of 
their Stewards.  
     A porter  sat in a  little house beside  the way,  and with fear in his 
eyes he came  forth bearing  a lantern in his hand. At the Lord's command he


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####-spare for dying men or madmen.' 
     At the door he turned to one  of the servants who had remained on guard 
there.  'Your master is not himself,' he  said. 'Go slow! Bring  no fire  to 
this place while Faramir lives! Do nothing until Gandalf comes!' 
     'Who is  the  master  of  Minas  Tirith?' the  man  answered. 'The Lord 
Denethor or the Grey Wanderer?' 
     'The Grey Wanderer or no one, it would seem,' said Pippin, and he  sped 
back and up the winding way as swiftly as his feet would carry him, past the 
astonished porter, out through  the door, and on, till he came near the gate 
of the Citadel. The sentinel hailed him as he went by, and he recognized the 
voice of Beregond. 
     'Whither do you run, Master Peregrin?' he cried. 
     'To find Mithrandir,' Pippin answered. 
     'The Lord's errands are urgent and should not be hindered by me,'  said 
Beregond;  'but tell  me quickly, if you may:  what goes forward? Whither has


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####-     'The first circle of  the City is burning, lord,'  they said. 'What are 
your  commands?  You are  still  the  Lord and Steward.  Not all will follow 
Mithrandir. Men are flying from the walls and leaving them unmanned.' 
     'Why? Why do the fools fly?' said Denethor. 'Better to burn sooner than 
late, for burn we must. Go back to your bonfire! And I? I will go now to  my  
pyre. To my  pyre! No tomb for Denethor  and Faramir. No tomb! No  long 
slow 
sleep of death embalmed. We wil l burn like heathen kings before  ever a ship 
sailed hither from the West. The West has failed. Go back and burn!' 
     The messengers without bow or answer turned and fled. 
     Now Denethor  stood up and released the fevered hand of Faramir that he 
had held. 'He is burning, already burning,' he said sadly. 'The house of his 
spirit crumbles.' Then stepping softly towards Pippin he looked down at him. 
     'Farewell!' he said. 'Farewell, Peregrin  son of Paladin!  Your service


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####-dreadful cry a nd a great shock,  and a deep echoing boom. Forcing himself on 
against a gust of fear and horror that shook him almost to his knees. Pippin 
turned a  corner opening on the wide place behind  the City Gate. He stopped 
dead. He had found Gandalf; but he shrank back, cowering into a shadow.  
     Ever since the middle  night the  great assault had gone  on. The drums 
rolled. To the  north and to the  south company upon company  of  the  enemy 
pressed to the walls. There came great beasts, like moving houses in the red  
and fitful light, the mymakil  of  the Harad dragging through the lanes  amid 
the fires huge towers and engines. Yet their Captain cared not  greatly what 
they  did or how many might be slain:  their purpose was  only to  test  the 
strength of the defence and to  keep the men  of Gondor busy in many places.  
It was against the Gate that he would throw his heaviest weight. Very strong


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heed to the defence. 
     No  hours  so dark had  Pippin known, not  even in the clutches  of the 
Uruk-hai. It was  his duty to wait upon the Lord, and wait he did, forgotten 
it seemed, standing by  the  door of the unlit  chamber, mastering  his  own 
fears as best he could. And as  he  watched, it seemed to him that  Denethor  
grew old before his eyes, as if something had snapped in his proud will, and 
his stern mind was  overthrown. Grief maybe had wrought it, and  remorse. He 
saw tears on that once tearless face, more unbearable than wrath. 
     'Do not weep, lord,' he stammered. 'Perhaps he will get well. Have  you  
asked Gandalf?' 
     'Comfort me  not  with wizards!' said Denethor.  'The  fool's  hope has 
failed.  The Enemy has  found it, and now his power waxes; he sees  our very 
thoughts, and all we do is ruinous. 
     'I sent my  son forth,  unthanked, unblessed, out  into needless peril,


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is come from the Black Gate, crossing from the north-east.' 
     'Some have accused  you, Mithrandir,  of  delighting to bear ill news,' 
said Denethor, 'but to  me  this is  no longer news: it  was known to mw ere


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their Stewards.  
     A porter  sat in a  little house beside  the way,  and with fear in his 
eyes he came  forth bearing  a lantern in his hand. At the Lord's command he 
unlocked the door, and  silently it  swung  back; and  they passed  through, 
taking  the lantern from his  hand. It was dark on the climbing road between 
ancient  walls  and   many -pillared   balusters   looming  in  the   swaying 
lantern-beam. Their  slow feet echoed as  they walked down,  down, until  at 
last they came to  the Silent Street,  Rath  Dnnen, between  pale  domes and 
empty halls and images of men long dead;  and they entered into the House of 
the Stewards and set down their burden. 
     There  Pippin,  staring uneasily about  him, saw that he was in  a wide 
vaulted chamber,  draped as it  were with the great shadows that  the little 
lantern threw upon its shrouded  walls. And dimly to  be seen were many rows 
of tables, carved of marble;  and upon each table lay a sleeping form, hands


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strength of the defence and to  keep the men  of Gondor busy in many places.  
It was against the Gate that he would throw his heaviest weight. Very strong 
it might be, wrought of steel and iron, and guarded with towers and bastions 
of indomitable stone, yet it was the key, the weakest point in all that high 
and impenetrable wall. 
     The drums  rolled louder. Fires leaped up. Great engines crawled across 
the field; and in the midst was a huge ram, great as a forest -tree a hundred 
feet in length,  swinging on mighty chains. Long had  it been forging in the 
dark smithies  of Mordor, and  its hideous head, founded of black steel, was 
shaped in  the likeness of a ravening wolf; on it spells of  ruin lay. Grond 
they named it,  in memory of  the Hammer of the  Underworld  of  old.  Great 
beasts drew it,  Orcs surrounded  it, and  behind  walked mountain-trolls to 
wield it. 
     But about the Gate resistance still was stout, and there the knights of


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spirit crumbles.' Then stepping softly towards Pippin he looked down at him. 
     'Farewell!' he said. 'Farewell, Peregrin  son of Paladin!  Your service 
has  been short,  and now  it is drawing to an end.  I release you from  the 
little that remains. Go now, and die in what way seems best to you. And with 
whom you will, even that friend whose  folly brought you to this death. Send 
for my servants and then go. Farewell!' 
     'I will  not say  farewell, my  lord,' said  Pippin kneeling.  And then 
suddenly  hobbit-like  once more, he stood up  and looked the old man in the  
eyes. 'I will  take your leave, sir,' he said;  'for  I want to  see Gandalf 
very much indeed. But he is no fool; and I will  not think of dying until he 
despairs of life.  But  from my word  and your service I do  not  wish to be 
released while you live. And if they come at last to the Citadel,  I hope to 
be here and stand beside you and earn  perhaps the arms that you have  given 
me.'


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beasts drew it,  Orcs surrounded  it, and  behind  walked mountain-trolls to 
wield it. 
     But about the Gate resistance still was stout, and there the knights of 
Dol Amroth and the hardiest of the garrison stood at bay. Shot and dart fell 
thick; siege-towers crashed or blazed  suddenly like torches. All before the 
walls on either side of the Gate the  ground was choked  with wreck and with 
bodies of the slain; yet still driven as by a madness more and more came up.  
     Grond crawled on. Upon  its housing no fire would catch; and though now 
and again some great beast that  hauled it would go  mad and spread stamping 
ruin among  the  orcs  innumerable  that guarded  it, their bodies were cast  
aside from its path and others took their place. 
     Grond crawled on. The drums  rolled wildly. Over the  hills of slain  a  
hideous shape appeared: a horseman, tall,  hooded, cloaked in black. Slowly, 
trampling the fallen,  he rode forth, heeding no  longer any dart. He halted


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####-bow sang. For a moment all was still. 
     The drums rolled and rattled. With a vast rush Grond was hurled forward 
by  huge hands. It reached the Gate. It  swung. A  deep boom rumbled through 
the City like thunder running in the clouds. But the doors of iron and posts 
of steel withstood the stroke. 
     Then  the  Black Captain rose  in  his  stirrups and  cried  aloud in a  
dreadful voice, speaking in some forgotten tongue words of power and  terror 
to rend both heart and stone. 
     Thrice he cried.  Thrice  the great ram boomed.  And suddenly  upon the 
last  stroke the Gate of Gondor broke. As if stricken by some blasting spell 
it burst asunder:  there  was  a flash of searing  lightning, and the  doors 
tumbled in riven fragments to the ground. 
     In rode the Lord  of the Nazgyl. A great black  shape against the fires 
beyond he loomed up, grown  to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of


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released while you live. And if they come at last to the Citadel,  I hope to 
be here and stand beside you and earn  perhaps the arms that you have  given 
me.' 
     'Do as  you  will,  Master  Halfling,' said Denethor.  'But  my life is 
broken. Send for my servants!' He turned back to Faramir. 
     Pippin left him and called for the servants, and they came: six  men of 
the household, strong and fair; yet they trembled  at the summons. But in  a  
quiet voice  Denethor bade them lay warm coverlets on Faramir's bed and take 
it up. And they  did  so, and  lifting  up the  bed  they  bore it from  the 
chamber. Slowly they paced to trouble the fevered man as little as might be,  
and Denethor, now bending on a staff, followed them; and last came Pippin.  
     Out from the White Tower they walked, as if to a funeral,  out into the 
darkness,  where the overhanging cloud was lit beneath with flickers of dull


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lantern threw upon its shrouded  walls. And dimly to  be seen were many rows 
of tables, carved of marble;  and upon each table lay a sleeping form, hands 
folded, head pillowed upon stone. But one table near at hand stood broad and 
bare. Upon it at a sign from Denethor they laid Faramir  and his father side 
by side, and covered them with one covering, and stood then with bowed heads 
as mourners beside a bed of death. Then Denethor spoke in a low voice. 
     'Here we will wait,' he said. 'But send not for the embalmers. Bring us 
wood quick to  burn, and lay it all about us, and beneath; and pour oil upon 
it. And when I bid you thrust in  a torch. Do this and speak no more to  me. 
Farewell!' 
     'By your leave, lord!' said Pippin and turned and fled  in terror  from 
the  deathly house. 'Poor Faramir!' he thought.  'I must find Gandalf.  Poor 
Faramir!  Quite likely he needs medicine  more than  tears.  Oh, where can I


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tumbled in riven fragments to the ground. 
     In rode the Lord  of the Nazgyl. A great black  shape against the fires 
beyond he loomed up, grown  to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of 
the Nazgyl, under  the  archway that no  enemy ever yet had  passed, and all  
fled before his face. 
     All save one. There waiting,  silent and still in the  space before the 
Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone  among the free 
horses 
of  the earth endured the terror, unmoving,  steadfast as  a graven image in 
Rath Dnnen. 
     'You  cannot enter here,' said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. 'Go 
back to the abyss prepared  for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that 
awaits you and your Master. Go!' 
     The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown;  
and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires  shone between it and 
the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly 
laughter.


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the  deathly house. 'Poor Faramir!' he thought.  'I must find Gandalf.  Poor 
Faramir!  Quite likely he needs medicine  more than  tears.  Oh, where can I  
find Gandalf? In the thick of things, I suppose; and he will have no time to


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hideous shape appeared: a horseman, tall,  hooded, cloaked in black. Slowly, 
trampling the fallen,  he rode forth, heeding no  longer any dart. He halted 
and held up  a long pale sword. And as he did so a great  fear  fell on all, 
defender  and foe alike; and the hands of men drooped to their sides, and no


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like  to the Tower  of  Orthanc,  hard and dark and smooth, unconquerable by 
steel or  fire, unbreakable except  by some  convulsion that would rend  the 
very earth on which it stood. 
     'Nay,'  they said,  'not if  the Nameless One himself should come,  not 
even he could enter here while  we yet live.'  But some answered: 'While  we 
yet live? How long? He has  a weapon that has brought low many strong places 
since the world began. Hunger. The roads are cut. Rohan will not come.' 
     But the engines did not waste shot upon the indomitable wall. It was no 
brigand or orc-chieftain that ordered the assault upon the Lord  of Mordor's 
greatest  foe. A  power and mind of malice guided  it. As soon as  the great 
catapults were set, with many yells and the creaking of rope and winch, they 
began to throw  missiles marvellou sly high, so that they passed  right above 
the  battlement and fell thudding  within the first circle of  the City; and


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Out from the White Tower they walked, as if to a funeral,  out into the 
darkness,  where the overhanging cloud was lit beneath with flickers of dull  
red.  Softly they paced the  great  courtyard,  and  at a word from Denethor


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and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires  shone between it and 
the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly 
laughter. 
     'Old fool!' he  said. 'Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death 
when you see it? Die  now and curse in vain!' And  with that he lifted  high 
his sword and flames ran down the blade. 
     Gandalf did  not move.  And in that  very moment,  away  behind in some 
courtyard  of the City, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear  he crowed,  recking 
nothing of wizardry or war, welcoming  only  the morning that in the sky far  
above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn. 
     And  as  if in  answer there  came from far away  another note.  Horns,  
horns, horns. In dark Mindolluin's sides  they dimly  echoed. Great horns of


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####-the North wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last. 

####- 
 

Chapter 5. The Ride of the Rohirrim


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began to throw  missiles marvellou sly high, so that they passed  right above 
the  battlement and fell thudding  within the first circle of  the City; and 
many of them by some secret art burst into flame as they came toppling down. 
     Soon there  was great peril of fire behind the wall,  and all who could 
be spared  were busy quelling the flames that sprang up in many places. Then 
among the greater casts  there  fell  another hail, less  ruinous  but  more 
horrible. All about the streets and lanes behind the Gate  it tumbled  down, 
small round shot that did not burn. But when men ran  to learn what it might  
be, they cried aloud or wept.  For the enemy was flinging into  the City all 
the heads of  those who had  fallen fighting at Osgiliath, or on the Rammas,  
or  in the fields. They were grim to look on; for though some  were  crushed 
and shapeless, and some had  been cruelly hewn, yet  many had  features that


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####-from a bough and cast  a  pale circle of  light below. There sat Thjoden and 
Jomer, and before  them  on the ground sat a strange  squat shape of a  man,  
gnarled as an old  stone, and the hairs of his scanty beard straggled on his 
lumpy chin like  dry  moss.  He was  short-legged and fat-armed,  thick  and 
stumpy, and  clad only  with grass about his waist. Merry  felt  that he  had 
seen  him  before  somewhere, and suddenly  he remembered  the  P®kel-men 
of 
Dunharrow. Here  was one of those old  images  brought to life, or  maybe  a 
creature descended  in true line through endless years from the models  used 
by the forgotten craftsmen long ago. 
     There was  a silence as Merry crept nearer, and then the Wild Man began 
to speak, in answer to some  question, it  seemed.  His  voice  was deep and 
guttural,  yet to Merry's  surprise he spoke  the Common Speech, though in a 
halting fashion, and uncouth words were mingled with it.


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It was dark and Merry could see  nothing as he lay on the ground rolled 
in a blanket; yet  though the night was airless and windless, all  about him 
hidden  trees were sighing  softly. He lifted  his  head.  Then he heard  it 
again: a  sound like faint drums in the wooded hills and mountain-steps. The 
throb would cease suddenly and then be taken up again  at some other  point, 
now nearer, now further off. He wondered if the watchmen had heard it. 
     He  could not see  them,  but he  knew  that  all  round  him were  the 
companies of the Rohirrim. He could smell the horses in  the dark, and could 
hear their shiftings  and their soft stamping on  the needle-covered ground. 
The host  was bivouacked in  the  pine-woods that  clustered about  Eilenach  
Beacon, a tall  hill standing up from  the long ridges of the Dr®adan Forest  
that lay beside the great road in East Anurien. 
     Tired as he was Merry could not sleep. He had ridden now  for four days


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or  in the fields. They were grim to look on; for though some  were  crushed 
and shapeless, and some had  been cruelly hewn, yet  many had  features that 
could be told,  and  it  seemed that  they  had  died in pain;  and all were 
branded with  the foul token of the Lidless Eye. But marred  and dishonoured 
as  they were, it often chanced  that thus a man would see again the face of 
someone  that he had known, who had  walked proudly once in arms,  or tilled


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'The Lord's errands are urgent and should not be hindered by me,'  said 
Beregond;  'but tell  me quickly, if you may:  what goes forward? Whither has 
my  Lord gone? I have just come on duty, but I  heard that he passed towards 
the Closed Door, and men were bearing Faramir before him.' 
     'Yes,' said Pippin, 'to the Silent Street.' 
     Beregond bowed his  head  to  hide his tears.  'They said that  he  was 
dying,' he sighed, 'and now he is dead.' 
     'No,' said Pippin, 'not yet. And even now his death might be prevented, 
I think. But the Lord of  the City, Beregond,  has fallen before his city is 
taken. He is fey and dangerous.' Quickly he told of Denethor's strange words 
and deeds. 'I must find Gandalf at once.' 
     'Then you must go down to the battle.' 
     'I  know. The Lord has given me  leave. But,  Beregond, if you can,  do 
someth ing to stop any dreadful thing happening.' 
     'The Lord  does not permit those who wear the black and silver to leave


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guttural,  yet to Merry's  surprise he spoke  the Common Speech, though in a 
halting fashion, and uncouth words were mingled with it. 
     'No, father of  Horse-men,' he  said,  'we fight not. Hunt  only.  Kill 
gorgyn  in woods, hate orc-folk. You hate gorgyn too. We help as we can. Wild 
Men have long ears and long eyes; know all  paths. Wild Men live here before 
Stone-houses; before Tall Men come up out of Water.' 
     'But our need is for aid in battle,' said Jomer. 'How will you and your 
folk help us?' 
     'Bring news,' said  the Wild Man. 'We look out from hills. We climb big 
mountain  and look down.  Stone-city is shut. Fire burns there  outside; now 
inside too. You  wish to come there? Then you must be  quick. But gorgyn and 
men out  of  far-away,'  he waved a  short gnarled  arm  eastward,  'sit  on 
horse-road. Very many, mor e than Horse-men.' 
     'How do you know that?' said Jomer. 
     The old man's flat face and dark eyes showed nothing, but his voice was


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####-only increased his  restlessness. Poor Pippin, shut up in the great city  of 
stone,  lonely and  afraid. Merry wished he was a tall Rider  like Jomer and 
could  blow  a horn or something and go galloping to his rescue.  He sat up, 
listening  to the  drums  that  were  beating again,  now  nearer  at  hand. 
Presently  he  heard  voices  speaking  low, and  he  saw  dim half-shrouded  
lanterns passing  through the trees. Men nearby began to move uncertainly in 
the dark. 
     A tall figure loomed up and stumbled over  him, cu rsing the tree-roots.  
He recognized the voice of the Marshal, Elfhelm. 
     'I am not a tree-root, Sir,' he said, 'nor a bag, but a bruised hobbit. 
The least you can do in amends is to tell me what is afoot.' 
     'Anything that  can keep so  in this  devi l's mirk,' answered  Elfhelm. 
'But my lord sends word that we must  set ourselves in readiness: orders may 
come for a sudden move.'


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####-knows. He will lead you by road where no pits are, no gorgyn walk, only Wild 
Men  and  beasts. Many paths were  made  when Stonehouse-folk were 
stronger. 
They carved  hills as  hunters carve beast -flesh.  Wild  Men  think they ate 
stone for food. They  went through Dr®adan  to Rimmon with great wains. 
They 
go  no longer. Road is forgotten, but not by Wild  Men. Over hill and behind 
hill it  lies still  under grass and tree, there behind Rimmon  and down  to 
Don, and back at the  end to  Horse -men's road. Wild Men will show  you that 
road. Then you will kill gorgyn  and drive away bad dark  with  bright iron, 
and Wild Men can go back to sleep in the wild woods.' 
     Jomer  and  the king  spoke  together  in their  own  tongue. At length 
Thjoden turned to the Wild Man.   'We will receive your offer,' he said.  'For  
though we leave a host of foes behind, what matter? If the Stone-city falls,


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horse-road. Very many, mor e than Horse-men.' 
     'How do you know that?' said Jomer. 
     The old man's flat face and dark eyes showed nothing, but his voice was 
sullen  with displeasure.  'Wild  men are wild, free, but not  children,' he 
answered. 'I am great headman, Ghvn-buri-Ghvn. I count many things: stars in 
sky, leaves  on trees, men in  the dark. You have a score of scores  counted 
ten  times and five. They  have more.  Big fight, and who will win? And many 
more walk round walls of Stone-houses.' 
     'Alas! he speaks all too shrewdly,' said  Thjoden. 'And our scouts  say 
that they have  cast trenches  and  stakes across the road.  We cannot sweep 
them away in sudden onset.' 
     'And yet we need great haste,' said Jomer. 'Mundburg is on fire!' 
     'Let Ghvn-buri-Ghvn finish!' said the Wild Man. 'More than one road  he


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someth ing to stop any dreadful thing happening.' 
     'The Lord  does not permit those who wear the black and silver to leave 
their post for any cause, save at his own command.' 
     'Well,  you  must  choose between orders and the life of Faramir,' said 
Pippin.   'And as for orders,  I think you  have a madman to deal with, not a  
lord. I must run. I will return if I can.' 
     He ran on,  down, down towards the outer city. Men flying back from the 
burning passed him, and some  seeing his livery turned  and shouted, but  he 
paid no heed. At last he was through  the Second Gate,  beyond  which  great 
fires  leaped up between the walls. Yet it seemed strangely silent. No noise 
or shouts of battle or din of arms could be heard. Then suddenly there was a


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####-East -mountains. It is the opening of day in the sky-fields.' 
     'Then  we must  set  out  as soon as may be,' said Jomer.  'Even so  we 
cannot hope to come to Gondor's aid today.' 
     Merry waited to  hear  no  more, but slipped away to get ready for  the 
summons to the march. This was  the last stage before the battle. It did not 
seem  likely to him  that  many of them would survive it. But he thought  of 
Pippin and the flames in Minas Tirith and thrust down his own dread. 
     All  went well that day, and no sight  or sound had  they  of the enemy 
waiting to waylay them. The Wild Men had put  out a screen  of wary hunters,  
so that no orc or roving spy should learn of the movements in the hills. The 
light was more dim  than ever as they drew nearer to  the  beleaguered city, 
and the Riders  passed  in long files like dark shadows  of men and  hor ses. 
Each  company  was guided by  a wild woodman; but old Ghvn walked beside 
the


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failed.  The Enemy has  found it, and now his power waxes; he sees  our very 
thoughts, and all we do is ruinous. 
     'I sent my  son forth,  unthanked, unblessed, out  into needless peril, 
and here he lies with poison in his veins. Nay, nay, whatever may now betide 
in war, my line too is  ending, even the House  of the Stewards  has failed.


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Thjoden turned to the Wild Man.   'We will receive your offer,' he said.  'For  
though we leave a host of foes behind, what matter? If the Stone-city falls, 
then we shall  have  no returning. If it  is saved, then the orc-host itself 
will be cut off. If you are faithful, Ghvn-buri-Ghvn, then we will  give you  
rich reward, and you shall have the friendship of the Mark for ever.' 
     'Dead  men are not friends to living men, and give them no gifts,' said 
the Wild Man.  'But if you live after the Darkness, then leave Wild Men alone 
in the woods and do  not hunt them like beasts any more. Ghvn-buri-Ghvn will 
not lead  you into trap. He will go himself with father of Horse-men, and if 
he leads you wrong, you will kill him.' 
     'So be it!' said Thjoden. 
     'How long will it take to pass by the enemy and come back to the road?' 
asked Jomer. 'We must go at foot-pace, if you guide us; and  I doubt not the 
way is narrow.'


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####-     Presently Ghvn turned to the king. 'Wild Men say many things ' he said. 
'First, be wary! Still many  men in camp beyond Don, an hour's walk yonder,' 
he waved  his arm west  towards the black beacon. 'But  none  to see between 
here and Stone-folk's new walls. Many busy  there. Walls stand up no longer: 
gorgyn  knock them down with earth -thunder and with clubs of black iron. They 
are unwary and do not  look about  them. They think  their friends watch all  
roads!' At that old  Ghvn made a curious gurgling noise, and it seemed  that 
he was laughing. 
     'Good tidings!' cried Jomer. 'Even in this gloom hope gleams again. Our 
Enemy's devices  oft serve us in his  despite.  The accursed darkness itself 
has been a cloak to us. And now, lusting to destroy Gondor and throw it down 
stone from stone, his  orcs have  taken away  my greatest fear. The out-wall 
could have been held long against us. Now we  can sweep through - if once we 
win so far.'


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that lay beside the great road in East Anurien. 
     Tired as he was Merry could not sleep. He had ridden now  for four days 
on end,  and the ever -deepening gloom had slowly  weighed down his heart. He 
began to wonder   why he had been so  eager to come,  when he had  been given 
every excuse, even his lord's command, to  stay behind. He wondered, too, if 
the  old  King knew  that he had been disobeyed and  was angry. Perhaps not. 
There seemed  to be  some understanding   between Dernhelm  and Elfhelm,  
the 
Marshal  who commanded  the  jored in which they were riding. He and all  his 
men ignored Merry and  pretended not to hear if he spoke. He might have been 
just  another bag that  Dernhelm was  carrying. Dernhelm was  no comfort: he 
never spoke to anyone. Merry felt small, unwanted, and  lonely. Now the time 
was anxious, and  the host was in peril.  They were less than a  day's  ride 
from the out-walls of Minas Tirith  that encircled the townlands. Scouts had


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retreat.  But the  faithful who remained there at their  posts were few; most  
had fled beyond the second gate. 
     Far behind the  battle the  River had been swiftly bridged, and all day 
more  force  and  gear of  war had poured across. Now at last  in the middle 
night  the  assault was loosed. The vanguard  passed through the trenches of 
fire by many devious paths that had been  left between  them. On  they came, 
reckless of their loss as they  approached, still bunched and herded, within 
the  range of  bowmen on the  wall. But indeed  there were too few  now  left  
there to do them great damage, though the  light of the fires showed up many 
a mark for archers of such skill as Gondor once had boasted. Then perceiving 
that the valour of the City was already beaten down, the  hidden Captain put 
forth his strength. Slowly the great siege-towers  built in Osgiliath rolled 
forward through the dark.


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and the Riders  passed  in long files like dark shadows  of men and  hor ses. 
Each  company  was guided by  a wild woodman; but old Ghvn walked beside 
the 
king. The  start had been slower than was  hoped, for it had  taken time for  
the Riders, walking and leading their horses, to find paths over the thickly 
wooded ridges behind   their camp  and down into the hidden Stonewain Valley. 
It was  late in the afternoon  when the leaders came  to wide  grey thickets 
stretching beyond the eastward side of  Amon Don, and masking a great gap in 
the line of hills that from Nardol to Don ran east and west. Through the gap 
the forgotten wain-road long ago had run down,  back into the main horse -way 
from the City  through Anurien; but now for many lives of men  trees had had 
their way with  it, and it had vanished, broken and buried under  the leaves 
of uncounted years. But  the  thickets offered to the Riders their last hope


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####-of the South;  there  is a sea -tang in it, faint  though it be.  The morning 
will bring new things.  Above  the reek  it will  be dawn  when you pass the 
wall.' 
     'If  you speak truly, Wndfara, then  may  you live beyond  this day  in 
years of blessedness!' said Thjoden.  He turned to the  men of his household 
who were  near, and he spoke now  in a clear voice  so that many also of the 
riders of the first jored heard him: 
     'Now is the hour come, Riders of the Mark, sons  of Eorl! Foes and fire 
are before you,  and your homes far  behind.  Yet, though you fight upon  an 
alien field, the glory that you reap there shall be your own for ever. Oaths 
ye  have  taken:  now fulfil them  all,  to  lord  and  land  and league  of 
friendship!' 
     Men clashed spear upon shield. 
     'Jomer, my son! You  lead the first jored,' said Thjoden; 'and it shall 
go behind the king's banner in the centre. Elfhelm, lead your company to the


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'How long will it take to pass by the enemy and come back to the road?' 
asked Jomer. 'We must go at foot-pace, if you guide us; and  I doubt not the 
way is narrow.' 
     'Wild Men go quick on feet,' said Ghvn. 'Way is wide for four horses in 
Stonewain  Valley  yonder,'  he waved his hand southwards;  'but  narrow  at 
beginning and at end.  Wild  Man could walk from here to Don between sunrise 
and noon.' 
     'Then we must allow at least seven hours for the leaders,' said  Jomer; 
'but  we must reckon rather on some ten hours for all. Things unforeseen may 
hinder us, and if our host is all strung out, it will be long  ere it can be 
set in order when we issue from the hills. What is the hour now?' 
     'Who knows?' said Thjoden. 'All is night now.' 
     'It is all dark, but  it is not all night.' said Ghvn.  'When Sun comes 
we   feel   her,  even  when  she   is  hidden.   Already  she  climbs  over


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'Anything that  can keep so  in this  devi l's mirk,' answered  Elfhelm. 
'But my lord sends word that we must  set ourselves in readiness: orders may 
come for a sudden move.' 
     'Is  the enemy coming then?' asked Merry  anxiously.  'Are those  their 
drums? I began to think I was  imagining them, as no one else seemed to take 
any notice of them.' 
     'Nay, nay,' said  Elfhelm, 'the enemy  is on the road not in the hills.  
You hear the Woses, the Wild Men of the Woods: thus they talk together  from 
afar. They still haunt Dr®adan Forest, it is said. Remnants of an older time 
they be, living few and  secretly, wild and wary as the beasts. They go  not 
to war with Gondor or  the Mark; but  now they  are troubled by the darkness 
and the  coming of the orcs:  they fear lest the Dark Years be returning, as 
seems  likely enough.  Let us be thankful that they are  not hunting us: for  
they use poisoned  arrows,  it is  said,  and  they  are  woodcrafty  beyond


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that the valour of the City was already beaten down, the  hidden Captain put 
forth his strength. Slowly the great siege-towers  built in Osgiliath rolled 
forward through the dark. 
     Messengers came again to the chamber in the White Tower, and Pippin let 
them enter,  for  they were  urgent. Denethor  turned  his head slowly  from 
Faramir's face, and  looked at them silently.


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Men clashed spear upon shield. 
     'Jomer, my son! You  lead the first jored,' said Thjoden; 'and it shall 
go behind the king's banner in the centre. Elfhelm, lead your company to the 
right when we pass the wall.  And  Grimbold shall lead his towards the left. 
Let  the other companies behind follow these three that lead,  as  they have 
chance.  Strike wherever the  enemy gathers. Other plans we cannot make, for  
we know  not  yet  how things  stand upon the field.  Forth now, and fear no  
darkness!' 
     The leading company rode off as swiftly as they could, for it was still 
deep dark,  whatever change Wndfara  might forebode. Merry was riding 
behind 
Dernhelm,  clutching  with the  left hand  while  with the other he tried to 
loosen his sword in its sheath. He felt now  bitterly  the  truth of the old 
king's  words: in such  a battle what would you do Meriadoc?  Just this,' he 
thought: 'encumber a rider, and hope at best to stay in my  seat and  not be


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####-strength,' said Jomer,  'I  counsel that we  rest now, and set out hence  by 
night, and so  time our going that we come upon the fields  when tomorrow is 
as light as it will be, or when our lord gives the signal.' 
     To this the king  assented, and the captains departed. But soon Elfhelm 
returned.  'The scouts  have found naught  to  report beyond  the grey wood, 
lord,' he said, 'save two men only: two dead men and two dead horses.' 
     'Well?' said Jomer. 'What of it?' 
     'This, lord: they were errand-riders  of  Gondor; Hirgon was one maybe. 
At least his hand  still clasped  the Red Arrow, but his head was  hewn off. 
And this  also:  it would  seem by the signs that they were fleeing westward 
when they fell. As I read it, they found the enemy already on the  out-wall, 
or assailing it, when they  returned - and that would  be two nights ago, if 
they  used  fresh  horses  from the posts, as is their wont. They  could not 
reach the City and turned back.'


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was anxious, and  the host was in peril.  They were less than a  day's  ride 
from the out-walls of Minas Tirith  that encircled the townlands. Scouts had 
been sent ahead. Some  had not returned.  Others hastening back had reported 
that the  road was  held in  force against  them.  A  host  of the enemy was 
encamped upon it, three miles west of Amon Don, and some strength of men 
was 
already  thrusting along the road  and  was no more than three  leagues away.  
Orcs were roving in  the hills  and  woods along the  roadside. The king and  
Jomer held council in the watches of the night. 
     Merry  wanted somebody to  talk to, and he thought of Pippin.  But that


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####-     Merry peered from behind Dernhelm's  back. Far away, maybe ten miles or  
more, there was a great burning, but between it and the Riders lines of fire 
blazed in  a vast crescent, at the nearest point less than a league distant. 
He could make out little more on the dark plain,  and as yet he  neither saw 
any hope of morning, nor felt any wind, changed or unchanged. 
     Now silently the host of Rohan moved forward  into the field of Gondor,  
pouring in slowly but steadily, like the rising  tide through breaches in  a  
dike  that men  have  thought secure.  But  the  mind  and will of the Black  
Captain were bent wholly on the falling city, and   as yet no tidings came to 
him warning that his designs held any flaw. 
     After a while the  king led  his  men away somewhat  eastward, to  come 
between  the  fires  of  the siege  and the outer  fields. Still  they  were 
unchallenged,  and  still Thjoden gave  no signal. At last  he  halted  once


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their way with  it, and it had vanished, broken and buried under  the leaves 
of uncounted years. But  the  thickets offered to the Riders their last hope 
of cover before they went into open battle; for beyond them lay the road and 
the plains  of Anduin,  while east and southwards  the slopes  were bare and  
rocky,  as the writhen hills  gathered  themselves  together and climbed up, 
bastion upon bastion, into the great mass and shoulders of Mindolluin. 
     The leading company was halted, and as those behind filed up out of the 
trough of the Stonewain Valley they spread out  a nd passed to camping-places 
under the grey trees. The king  summoned the captains to council. Jomer sent 
out scouts to spy upon the road; but old Ghvn shook his head. 
     'No good to send Horse-men,' he said. 'Wild Men  have already  seen all 
that can be seen in the bad air. They will come soon and speak to me here.' 
     The  captains came;  and  then  out of  the  trees crept  warily  other


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seems  likely enough.  Let us be thankful that they are  not hunting us: for  
they use poisoned  arrows,  it is  said,  and  they  are  woodcrafty  beyond 
compare. But  they have offered their services to  Thjoden. Even now one  of 
their headmen is being taken to  the king. Yonder  go the lights.  So much I 
have heard but no more. And now I must busy myself with my  lord's 
commands. 
Pack yourself up, Master Bag!' He vanished into the shadows.  
     Merry did not like this talk of wild men  and poisoned darts, but quite 
apart from that a great weight of dread  was on him. Waiting was unbearable. 
He  longed to know  what was going to happen. He got up and soon was 
walking 
warily in pursuit of the last lantern before it disappeared among the trees.  
     Presently he came to an open  space  where a small tent had been set up 
for the king under a great tree. A large lantern, covered above, was hanging


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stone from stone, his  orcs have  taken away  my greatest fear. The out-wall 
could have been held long against us. Now we  can sweep through - if once we 
win so far.' 
     'Once again I thank you, Ghvn-buri-Ghvn of  the woods,'  said  Thjoden.  
'Good fortune go with you for tidings and for guidance!' 
     'Kill  gorgyn! Kill orc-folk! No other words please Wild Men ' answered  
Ghvn. 'Drive away bad air and darkness with bright iron!' 
     'To do these things we have ridden far,'  said the king,  'and we shall 
attempt them. But what we shall achieve only tomorrow will show.' 
     Ghvn-buri-Ghvn  squatted down and touched the earth with his horny brow 
in token of farewell. Then he got up as if to depart.  But suddenly he stood 
looking u p like some startled  woodland  animal snuffling  a  strange air. A 
light came in his eyes.  
     'Wind  is  changing!' he cried, and  with  that, in a  twinkling as  it


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between  the  fires  of  the siege  and the outer  fields. Still  they  were 
unchallenged,  and  still Thjoden gave  no signal. At last  he  halted  once 
again. The City was now nearer. A smell of burning was in the air and a very 
shadow  of  death.  The horses were uneasy. But the king sat upon  Snowmane, 
motionless, gazing upon the agony of Minas Tirith,  as i f  stricken suddenly 
by  anguish, or by  dread.  He  seemed to shrink  down, cowed by  age. Merry 
himself  felt as  if a great weight of horror and doubt had settled  on him. 
His  heart  beat slowly. Time  seemed poised in  uncertainty. They  were too 
late! Too late was worse  than never! Perhaps Thjoden would  quail,  bow his 
old head, turn, slink away to hide in the hills.  
     Then suddenly Merry felt  it at  last, beyond doubt: a change. Wind was 
in his face! Light was glimmering. Far, far  away, in  the  South the clouds 
could be dimly seen as remote grey shapes, rolling up, drifting: morning lay


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king's  words: in such  a battle what would you do Meriadoc?  Just this,' he 
thought: 'encumber a rider, and hope at best to stay in my  seat and  not be 
pounded to death by galloping hoofs!' 
     It was no  more than a  league  to where the out-walls had stood.  They 
soon reached them; too soon for  Merry. Wild cries broke out, and  there was 
some clash of arms, but it was brief. The orcs busy about the walls were few  
and amazed, and they were quickly  slain or driven off. Before the  ruin  of 
the north-gate  in the Rammas the king halted again. The first  jored drew up 
behind  him and about him on either side.  Dernhelm kept close to the  king,  
though Elfhelm's company was away on  the right. Grimbold's men turned 
aside 
and passed round to a great gap in the wall further eastward.


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####-shivered as he threw down  their chieftain.  Out  swept  his sword,  and  he 
spurred  to  the  standard,  hewed staff  and bearer;  and the black serpent 
foundered. Then all that was left unslain of  their cavalry  turned and fled 
far away. 
     But  lo! suddenly in  the  midst of the glory  of the  king his  golden 
shield was dimmed. The new morning was blotted from the sky. Dark fell 
about 
him. Horses reared and screamed. Men cast  from the saddle lay grovelling on 
the ground. 
     'To  me!  To me!' cried Thjoden. 'Up Eorlingas!  Fear no darkness!' But 
Snowmane wild with terror stood up  on high, fighting with the air, and then 
with a great scream he crashed upon his side: a black dart had pierced  him. 
The king fell beneath him. 
     The great shadow  descended like a falling cloud. And behold!  it was a  
winged  creature: if bird, then  greater than all  other  birds, and it  was 
naked, and neither quill nor  feather did it bear, and its vast pinions were


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that can be seen in the bad air. They will come soon and speak to me here.' 
     The  captains came;  and  then  out of  the  trees crept  warily  other  
p®kel-shapes so like old Ghvn that Merry  could hardly tell them apart. They 
spoke to Ghvn in a strange throaty language.


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But  it was  no  orc-chieftain or  brigand that led  the  assault  upon 
Gondor. The darkness was breaking too soon, before the date  that his Master 
had set for it:  fortune had betrayed him for  the moment, and the world had 
turned against him; victory was slipping from his grasp even as he stretched 
out his  hand  to seize it.  But  his arm was long. He was still  in command, 
wielding  great  powers. King, Ringwraith,  Lord of the Nazgyl, he  had many 
weapons. He left the Gate and vanished. 
     Thjoden  King of  the  Mark  had reached the road from the Gate to  the 
River, and he turned towards the City that was now less than a mile distant. 
He slackened his speed  a little, seeking new foes,  and  his  knights  came 
about him, and Dernhelm was with  them. Ahead nearer the walls Elfhelm's 
men 
were among the  siege-engines, hewing, slaying, driving their foes into  the 
fire-pits. Well nigh all the northern half of the Pelennor was overrun,  and


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or assailing it, when they  returned - and that would  be two nights ago, if 
they  used  fresh  horses  from the posts, as is their wont. They  could not 
reach the City and turned back.' 
     'Alas!' said  Thjoden. 'T hen  Denethor has heard  no news of our riding 
and will despair of our coming.' 
     'Need brooks no delay, yet late is better than never,' said Jomer. 'And 
mayhap in this time shall the old saw be proved truer than ever before since  
men spoke with mouth.' 
     It was night. On either side of the  road the  host of Rohan was moving 
silently.  Now  the  road  passing  about the skirts  of  Mindolluin  turned 
southward. Far away and almost straight ahead there was a red glow under the 
black sky and  the sides of the great mountain  loomed dark against it. They  
were drawing near the Rammas of the Pelennor; but the day was not yet come. 
     The  king rode in the  midst  of the leading company, his household-men


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####-plain. Merry crawled on all fours like a dazed beast, and  such a horror was 
on him that he was blind and sick. 
     'King's man! King's man!' his heart cried within him. 'You must stay by 
him. As a father you shall be to me, you said.' But his will made no answer, 
and his body shook. He dared not open his eyes or look up. 
     Then out of the blackness in his mind he thought that he heard Dernhelm 
speaking; yet now the voice seemed strange, recalling  some other voice  that 
he had known. 
     'Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!' 
     A cold voice answered: 'Come not between the Nazgyl and his prey! Or he 
will not slay thee  in thy turn. He  will  bear  thee away to the houses  of 
lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy 
shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.' 
     A sword rang as it was drawn. 'Do what you will; but  I will hinder it, 
if I may.'


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####-die alone, unaided. 
     The face of their enemy was not turned towards him, but still he hardly 
dared  to move,  dreading lest  the deadly eyes should fall  on him. Slowly, 
slowly he began to crawl aside; but the Black  Captain, in doubt  and malice 
intent upon the woman before him, heeded him no more than a worm in the 
mud. 
     Suddenly the great beast beat its hideous  wings, and the  wind of them 
was foul.  Again it  leaped into the  air, and then  swiftly fell  down upon 
Jowyn, shrieking, striking with beak and claw.  
     Still  she  did  not blench:  maiden of  the Rohirrim, child of  kings,  
slender but as a steel -blade, fair but terrible.  A  swift stroke she dealt, 
skilled and deadly.  The outstretched neck she clove asunder,  and the  hewn 
head fell like a stone.  Backward she sprang  as the huge  shape  crashed to 
ruin, vast wings outspread,  crumpled on the  earth; and with  its fall  the


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in his face! Light was glimmering. Far, far  away, in  the  South the clouds 
could be dimly seen as remote grey shapes, rolling up, drifting: morning lay 
beyond them. 
     But at that same moment  there was a flash, as if lightning  had sprung 
from the earth beneath the City. For a searing second it stood dazzling  far 
off in black and white, its topmost tower like a glittering needle: and then 
as the darkness closed  again  there came rolling over  the fields  a  great 
boom. 
     At that sound  the bent shape  of the king sprang suddenly  erect. Tall 
and  proud he seemed again; and  rising in his  stirrups he  cried in a loud 
voice, more clear than any there had ever heard a mortal man achieve before: 
     Arise, arise, Riders of Thjoden! 
     Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter! 
     spear shall be shaken, shie ld be splintered, 
     a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!


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winged  creature: if bird, then  greater than all  other  birds, and it  was 
naked, and neither quill nor  feather did it bear, and its vast pinions were 
as webs of hide between horned fingers; and it stank. A creature of an older  
world maybe it  was,  whose  kind,  fingering  in  forgotten mountains  cold 
beneath the Moon,  outstayed their day,  and in hideous eyrie bred this last 
untimely brood, apt to evil. And the Dark  Lord took it, and nursed it  with 
fell meats, until  it grew beyond the measure of all  other things that fly; 
and he gave it to his servant to be his steed. Down, down it came, and then, 
folding its fingered webs, it gave a croaking cry, and settled upon the body 
of Snowmane, digging in its claws, stooping its long naked neck. 
     Upon it  sat a shape, black -mantled , huge and threatening. A  crown  of 
steel he bore, but between rim and robe naught was there to see, save only a


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####-     Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor! 
     With that he seized a great horn from Guthlbf his banner -bearer, and he 
blew such a blast  upon it  that it burst asunder. And  straightway all  the 
horns in the host were lifted up in music, and the  blowing  of the horns of 
Rohan  in that  hour was like a  storm  upon the plain and  a thunder in the 
mountains.  
     Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor! 
     Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the  horse sprang away.  Behind 
him his banner  blew in the wind,  white horse upon a field of green, but he 
outpaced it. After  him thundered the knights of his house,  but he was ever  
before them.  Jomer rode there, the white horsetail on his  helm floating in 
his speed, and the front of the first jored roared like a breaker foaming to 
the shore, but Thjoden  could  not  be overtaken.  Fey  he  seemed,  or  the 
battle-fury of his fathers ran  like new tire in his veins, and he was borne


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were drawing near the Rammas of the Pelennor; but the day was not yet come. 
     The  king rode in the  midst  of the leading company, his household-men 
about him. Elfhelm's  jored came  next; and now Merry noticed  that  Dernhelm 
had left his place and in the darkness was moving steadily forward, until at 
last he was riding  just  in rear of the  king's guard. There came  a check. 
Merry  heard voices  in front speaking softly.  Out-riders had come back who 
had ventured forward almost to the wall. They came to the king. 
     'There are great  fires, lord,'  said one. 'The City is  all set  about 
with flame, and the field  is full of foes.  But all seem drawn off  to  the 
assault. As well as we could guess, there  are  few left  upon the out-wall, 
and they are heedless, busy in destruction.' 
     'Do you remember the  Wild Man's words,  lord?' said another.  'I  live 
upon the open Wold in days of peace;  Wndfara is my name, and to me also the


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looking u p like some startled  woodland  animal snuffling  a  strange air. A 
light came in his eyes.  
     'Wind  is  changing!' he cried, and  with  that, in a  twinkling as  it 
seemed, he and his fellows had vanished into the glooms, never to be seen by 
any Rider of Rohan again. Not long after far away  eastward  the faint drums 
throbbed again. Yet  to no heart in all the host came any fear that the Wild 
Men were unfaithful, strange and unlovely though they might appear. 
     'We need  no further  guidance,' said E lfhelm; 'for there are riders in 
the host who have ridden down to Mundburg in days of peace. I for  one. When 
we come to  the road it will veer south, and there will lie before  us still 
seven leagues ere we reach the wall of the townlands. Along most of that way 
there  is  much  grass  on  either side  of  the road. On that  stretch  the 
errand-riders of  Gondor reckoned to  make their greatest speed. We may ride 
it swiftly and without great rumour.'


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head fell like a stone.  Backward she sprang  as the huge  shape  crashed to 
ruin, vast wings outspread,  crumpled on the  earth; and with  its fall  the 
shadow passed  away. A light  fell about her,  and  her  hair  shone  in the 
sunrise. 
     Out of the  wreck rose the Black  Rider, tall and threatening, towering 
above her. With  a cry of hatred that stung the very ears  like venom he let 
fall  his mace. Her  shield was  shivered  in  many pieces, and her  arm was 
broken; she stumbled to her knees. He bent  over  her like  a cloud, and his 
eyes glittered; he raised his mace to kill. 
     But suddenly he too stumbled forward with a cry of bitter pain, and his 
stroke went  wide,  driving into the ground.  Merry's  sword had stabbed him 
from behind, shearing  through  the black mantle, and passing up beneath the 
hauberk had pierced the sinew behind his mighty knee. 
     'Jowyn! Jowyn!'  cried  Merry.  Then tottering, struggling up, with her


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shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.' 
     A sword rang as it was drawn. 'Do what you will; but  I will hinder it, 
if I may.' 
     'Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!' 
     Then  Merry heard of all sounds in that  hour the  strangest. It seemed 
that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the  ring of steel. 'But 
no living man am I! You look upon a  woman.  Jowyn I am, Jomund's  
daughter. 
You  stand  between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless!  
For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.' 
     The winged creature screamed at her, but the Ringwraith made no answer, 
and was silent, as if in sudden doubt. Very amazement for a moment conquered 
Merry's fear. He  opened his  eyes  and the  blackness was lifted from them. 
There some paces from him sat the great beast, and all seemed dark about it, 
and above  it loomed the  Nazgyl Lord like a shadow of despa ir.  A little to


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there  is  much  grass  on  either side  of  the road. On that  stretch  the 
errand-riders of  Gondor reckoned to  make their greatest speed. We may ride 
it swiftly and without great rumour.' 
     'Then  since we  must  look  for  fell deeds and  the  need  of all our


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the shore, but Thjoden  could  not  be overtaken.  Fey  he  seemed,  or  the 
battle-fury of his fathers ran  like new tire in his veins, and he was borne 
up on Snowmane lik e a god of old, even as Oroml the  Great in the battle  of 
the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo!  
it shone like an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the 
white feet of his steed. For morning came, morning and a  wind from the sea; 
and  the darkness was  removed, and the hosts  of Mordor wailed,  and terror  
took them, and they fled,  and died, and the hoofs of  wrath rode over them. 
And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang  as they slew,  
for the  joy of battle was on  them, and the sound of their singing that was 
fair and terrible came even to the City.


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hauberk had pierced the sinew behind his mighty knee. 
     'Jowyn! Jowyn!'  cried  Merry.  Then tottering, struggling up, with her  
last strength she drove her sword between  crown and  mantle, as  the  great 
shoulders bowed before her. The sword broke sparkling into many shards.  The 
crown rolled away with  a clang. Jowyn fell forward upon her fallen foe. But 
lo! the mantle and hauberk were empty. Shapeless they lay now on the ground, 
torn and tumbled; and a cry went up into the shuddering air, and faded  to a  
shrill wailing, passing with  the wind, a voice bodiless and thin that died,  
and was swallowed up, and was never heard again in that age of this world. 
     And there stood Meriadoc the hobbit in the midst of the slain, blinking 
like an owl in  the daylight, for  tears blinded him; and through  a mist he 
looked on Jowyn's fair head, as  she lay and did not move; and  he looked on 
the face of the king, fallen in the midst  of his glory, For Snowmane in his


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####-agony had rolled away from him again; yet he was the bane of his master. 
     Then  Merry stooped and  lifted his hand to kiss  it,  and  lo! Thjoden 
opened  his eyes, and they were clear, and he spoke in a quiet voice  though  
laboured. 
     'Farewell, Master Holbytla!'  he said. 'My body  is broken. I go to  my 
fathers.  And  even  in their mighty  company  I shall not now be ashamed. I  
felled the black serpent. A grim morn, and a glad day, and a golden sunset!' 
     Merry could  not speak, bu t wept anew. 'Forgive me,  lord,' he  said at 
last, 'if  I broke  your command, and  yet have done no more in your service 
than to weep at our parting.' 
     The old king smiled. 'Grieve not! It is forgiven. Great  heart will not 
be denied. Live now  in blessedness; and when  you  sit  in peace with  your  
pipe, think  of  me! For  never now shall I  sit with you in Meduseld,  as I 
promised, or listen to your herb-lore.' He closed his eyes, and Merry  bowed


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'Do you remember the  Wild Man's words,  lord?' said another.  'I  live 
upon the open Wold in days of peace;  Wndfara is my name, and to me also the 
air brings messages. Already the  wind  is turning. There comes a breath out


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Upon it  sat a shape, black -mantled , huge and threatening. A  crown  of 
steel he bore, but between rim and robe naught was there to see, save only a  
deadly  gleam of eyes: the Lord  of the  Nazgyl. To the air he had returned, 
summoning  his  steed ere the darkness failed,  and now he was  come  again, 
bringing ruin,  turning hope to despair, and victory to death. A great black  
mace he wielded. 
     But Thjoden  was  not utterly forsaken. The  knights of  his house  lay 
slain about him, or else mastered by the madness of  their steeds were borne 
far away. Yet one stood  there still:  Dernhelm  the  young, faithful beyond 
fear; and he wept, for he had  loved his lord as a father. Right through the 
charge Merry had  been borne unharmed behind him, until the Shadow came; 
and 
then  Windfola  had thrown  them in his terror, and now  ran  wild upon  the


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men 
were among the  siege-engines, hewing, slaying, driving their foes into  the 
fire-pits. Well nigh all the northern half of the Pelennor was overrun,  and 
there camps were  blazing, orcs were  flying towards  the  River like  herds 
before the hunters; and the Rohirrim went hither  and thither at their will. 
But they had not yet overthrown the siege, nor won the Gate. Many foes stood 
before  it, and on the  further  half of the  plain were  other hosts  still 
unfought. Southward beyond the road lay  the main force of the Haradrim, and 
there  their  horsemen were gathered about the standard of  their chieftain. 
And he looked  out, and in the growing light he saw the banner of  the king,  
and that  it was far  ahead of the battle with few men about it. Then he was 
filled with a  red wrath  and shouted aloud, and  displaying  his  standard, 
black serpent upon  scarlet, he  came against the white  horse and the green


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There some paces from him sat the great beast, and all seemed dark about it, 
and above  it loomed the  Nazgyl Lord like a shadow of despa ir.  A little to 
the left facing them stood she whom he had called Dernhelm. But the  helm of 
her  secrecy,  had fallen from  her, and her bright  hair, released from its 
bonds, gleamed with pale gold upon  her shoulders. Her eyes  grey as the sea 
were  hard  and fell, and yet tears were  on  her cheek. A sword was in  her  
hand, and she raised her shield against the horror of her enemy's eyes.  
     Jowyn  it  was,  and  Dernhelm  also. For into Merry's mind flashed the 
memory of the face that he saw at the riding from Dunharrow: the face of one 
that goes seeking death, having no  hope. Pity  filled his heart  and  great 
wonder, and suddenly the slow-kindled courage of his race awoke. He clenched 
his hand. She should not die, so fair, so desperate At  least she should not


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####-household that still lived and had now mastered their horses. They looked in 
wonder  at  the carcase of the fell  beast that lay there:  and their steeds 
would  not go near. But Jomer leaped from the  saddle, and  grief and dismay 
fell upon him as he came to the king's side and stood there in silence. 
     Then one of the knights took the king's banner from the hand of Guthlbf 
the banner -bearer who  lay  dead, and he lifted it up. Slowly Thjoden opened 
his eyes. Seeing the banner he made a sign that it should be given to Jomer. 
     'Hail, King of  the Mark!' he said.  'Ride now  to  victory!  Bid Jowyn 
farewell!' And so he died,  and knew  not that Jowyn lay near him. And those 
who stood by wept, crying: 'Thjoden King! Thjoden King!' 
     But Jomer said to them: 
     Mourn not overmuch! Mighty was the fallen, 
     meet was his ending. When his mound is raised, 
     women then shall weep. War now calls us!


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pipe, think  of  me! For  never now shall I  sit with you in Meduseld,  as I 
promised, or listen to your herb-lore.' He closed his eyes, and Merry  bowed  
beside him. Presently  he spoke again. 'Where is  Jomer? For my eyes darken, 
and I would see him ere I go.  He must be  king after  me. And  I would send  
word to Jowyn. She, she would not have me leave her, and now I shall not see 
her again, dearer than daughter.' 
     'Lord,  lord,' began Merry brokenly, 'she  is--';  but  at that  moment 
there  was  a  great clamour, and all  about  them horns and  trumpets  were 
blowing. Merry looked round:  he had forgotten  the war, and  all  the world 
beside, and many hours it  seemed since the king rode to his fall, though in 
truth it was only a little while. But now he saw that they were in danger of 
being caught  in  the  very midst  of the great  battle that would  soon  be 
joined. 
     New forces of the enemy were hastening up the road from the River;  and


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####-     Then the prince went from his horse, and knelt by the bier in honour of 
the  king and  his  great onset; and  he wept. And  rising he looked then on 
Jowyn and  was amazed. 'Surely,  here  is a  woman?' he said. 'Have even the 
women of the Rohirrim come to war in our need?' 
     'Nay!  One only,'  they  answered.  'The Lady Jowyn is  she, sister  of 
Jomer; and we knew naught of her riding  until this hour, and greatly we rue 
it.' 
     Then the prince seeing her beauty, though her face  was pale  and cold, 
touched her hand as he bent to look more  closely on her. 'Men of Rohan!' he 
cried. 'Are there no leeches among you? She is hurt to the death  maybe, but 
I deem that  she yet lives.' And  he held the bright-burnished vambrace that 
was upon his arm before her cold tips, and behold! a little mist was laid on 
it hardly to be seen. 
     'Haste now is needed,'  he said, and he sent one riding back swiftly to


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####-of  Morgul had flung them into the fray; Easterlings  with axes, and Variags 
of  Khand. Southrons  in  scarlet, and  out  of  Far  Harad  black  men  like 
half-trolls with white eyes and red tongues. Some now hastened up behind the 
Rohirrim, others  held westward to hold off the forces of Gondor and prevent 
their joining with Rohan. 
     It was even as the day thus began to turn against Gondor and their hope 
wavered that a new cry went up in the City, it being  then midmorning, and a 
great wind blowing,  and the rain flying north, and the sun shining. In that 
clear air watchmen on the walls saw afar a new sight of fear, and their last 
hope left them. 
     For Anduin, from the bend at  the Harlond, so flowed that from the City 
men  could look down it lengthwise for  some leagues,  and  the  far-sighted  
could  see  any  ships  that  approached. And looking thither they cried  in  
dismay; for black against the glittering stream they beheld a fleet borne up


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####-he slung it at his back.  Then he looked for his sword that he had let fall; 
for even as he struck his blow his arm was numbed, and now he could only use 
his left hand. And behold! there  lay his weapon, but the blade  was smoking  
like a dry branch that has been thrust in  a fire; and as  he watched it, it 
writhed and withered and was consumed. 
     So passed the sword  of the Barrow-downs, work of Westernesse. But glad 
would  he have been  to know its fate who wrought  it slowly long ago in the  
North-kingdom when the D®nedain were young,  and chief among  their foes 
was 
the dread realm of Angmar and its sorcerer king. No other blade, not  though 
mightier hands had wielded it, would have dealt that foe a wound  so bitter, 
cleaving the undead flesh, breaking the spell that knit his unseen sinews to 
his will. 
     Men now raised the  king, and laying cloaks upon  spear -truncheons they 
made shift to bear him away towards the City; and others lifted Jowyn gently


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####-to  a green hillock and  there  set  his banner,  and  the  White Horse  ran 
rippling in the wind. 
     Out of doubt, out of dark to the day's rising 
     I came singing in the sun, sword unsheathing. 
     To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking: 
     Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall! 
     These staves  he spoke, yet he laughed as  he  said them. For once more 
lust of battle was on him; and he was still unscathed, and he was young, and 
he was king:  the  lord  of a  fell  people. And lo! even  as he  laughed at 
despair he looked  out  again on the black ships, and he lifted up his sword 
to defy them. 
     And then wonder took him, and a great joy; and he cast  his sword up in 
the sunlight  and sang as he caught it. And all eyes followed his gaze,  and 
behold!  upon  the  foremost  ship  a great  standard  broke,  and the  wind 
displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond. There flowered a White Tree,


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filled with a  red wrath  and shouted aloud, and  displaying  his  standard, 
black serpent upon  scarlet, he  came against the white  horse and the green 
with great press of men; and  the  drawing of the scimitars of the Southrons 
was like a glitter of stars.  
     Then Thjoden was  aware of  him, and  would not wait for his onset, but 
crying to Snowmane he  charged headlong to greet him. Great was the clash of 
their  meeting. But the white fury  of the Northmen burned the  hotter,  and 
more skilled  was  their knighthood with long spears  and bitter. Fewer were 
they  but they  clove through the Southrons  like a fire-bolt  in  a forest. 
Right  through the press  drove  Thjoden Thengel's son,  and  his  spear was


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####-kindled, Narsil  re-forged  as deadly as of old: and upon his  brow  was the 
Star of Elendil. 
     And so at length Jomer and Aragorn met in  the midst of the battle, and 
they leaned on their swords and looked on one another and were glad. 
     'Thus we  meet again, though  all the hosts of Mordor lay between  us,' 
said Aragorn. 'Did I not say so at the Hornburg?' 
     'So you spoke,' said Jomer, 'but hope oft deceives, and I knew not then 
that you were a man foresighted. Yet twice blessed is help unlooked for, and  
never was a meeting of friends more joyful.' And they  clasped hand in hand. 
'Nor  indeed more timely,'  said Jomer. 'You come none too soon,  my friend. 
Much loss and sorrow has befallen us.' 
     'Then let us avenge it, ere  we speak  of it!'  said Aragorn,  and they 
rode back to battle together. 
     Hard  fighting and long  labour they had  still; for the Southrons were 
bold  men and grim, and fierce in despair; and  the Easterlings  were strong


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But Jomer said to them: 
     Mourn not overmuch! Mighty was the fallen, 
     meet was his ending. When his mound is raised, 
     women then shall weep. War now calls us! 
     Yet  he himself wept  as he spoke.  'Let  his knights remain  here,' he 
said; 'and bear his body in honour from the field, lest the battle ride over  
it! Yea, and all these other of the king's men that lie here.' And he looked 
at  the  slain,  recalling their  names. Then suddenly he beheld  his sister  
Jowyn as she lay, and he knew her. He stood a moment as a man who is 
pierced 
in the midst of a cry by  an arrow through the heart;  and then his face went 
deathly white;  and a cold  fury rose in him, so that  all speech failed him 
for a while. A fey mood took him. 
     'Jowyn,  Jowyn!'  he  cried at last:  'Jowyn,  how come you  here? What 
madness or devilry is this? Death, death, death! Death take us all!' 
     Then without taking  counsel or waiting for the approach of  the men of


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could  see  any  ships  that  approached. And looking thither they cried  in  
dismay; for black against the glittering stream they beheld a fleet borne up 
on the wind: dromunds, and  ships  of great draught with many oars, and with 
black sails bellying in the breeze. 
     'The Corsairs of Umbar!' men shouted. 'The Corsairs of Umbar! Look! The 
Corsairs of Umbar  are  coming!  So  Belfalas is  taken, and the  Ethir, and 
Lebennin is gone. The Corsairs are upon us! It is the last stroke of doom!' 
     And some without order, for none could he found to command them  in the 
City,  ran to  the bells and tolled the alarm;  and  some blew the  trumpets 
sounding the retreat. 'Back to the walls!' they  cried. 'Back to the  walls!  
Come back to the City before all are overwhelmed!' But the  wind  that  sped 
the ships blew all their clamour away. 
     The Rohirrim indeed had no  need  of news or  alarm.  All too well they


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being caught  in  the  very midst  of the great  battle that would  soon  be 
joined. 
     New forces of the enemy were hastening up the road from the River;  and  
from  u nder the walls came  the  legions of Morgul; and  from  the southward 
fields came footmen of Harad with horsemen before them, and behind them 
rose 
the huge backs of the mymakil with war-towers  upon them. But  northward the 
white crest of Jomer led the great front of  the Rohirrim which he had again 
gathered and marshalled;  and out of the City  came all the  strength of men 
that  was in  it, and  the silver swan of Dol Amroth was borne  in  the van, 
driving the enemy from the Gate. 
     For  a  moment  the thought flitted through  Merry's  mind:  'Where  is 
Gandalf? Is he not here? Could he not  have saved the  king and Jowyn?'  But 
thereupon Jomer rode  up  in haste, and with him  came the  knights  of  the


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his will. 
     Men now raised the  king, and laying cloaks upon  spear -truncheons they 
made shift to bear him away towards the City; and others lifted Jowyn gently 
up and bore her after him.  But  the  men of the king's household they could 
not yet bring from  the  field; for seven of the king's knights  had  fallen 
there, and Djorwine their chief was among them. So they laid them apart from 
their foes and the fell beast and set spears about them. And afterwards when 
all was over men returned  and  made a fire there  and burned the carcase of 
the beast; but for Snowmane  they dug a grave and set up a stone  upon which 
was carved in the tongues of Gondor and the Mark: 
     Faithful servant yet master's bane 
     Lightfoot's foal, swift Snowmane. 
     Green and long  grew the grass  on  Snowmane's Howe, but ever black and 
bare was the ground where the beast was burned. 
     Now slowly and sadly Merry  walked beside the bearers,  and he gave  no


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behold!  upon  the  foremost  ship  a great  standard  broke,  and the  wind 
displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond. There flowered a White Tree, 
and that  was for Gondor; but Seven Stars were  about it,  and  a high crown 
above it,  the  signs of  Elendil  that no lord had  borne  for years beyond 
count. And the  stars flamed in the  sunlight, for they were wrought of gems 
by Arwen daughter of Elrond; and the crown was bright in the morning, for it 
was wrought of mithril and gold. 
     Thus came Aragorn son of Arathorn, Elessar, Isildur's heir, out  of the 
Paths of the Dead, borne upon a wind from the Sea to the  kingdom of Gondor; 
and the mirth  of the Rohirrim was a  torrent  of laughter and a flashing of 
swords, and the  joy and wonder of the  City  was a music of trumpets and  a  
ringing of bells. But the hosts of Mordor wer e seized with bewilderment, and 
a  great  wizardry  it seemed to  them that their own ships should be filled


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rode back to battle together. 
     Hard  fighting and long  labour they had  still; for the Southrons were 
bold  men and grim, and fierce in despair; and  the Easterlings  were strong 
and war-hardened and asked for no quarter. And so in this place and that, by 
burned  homestead or  barn,  upon hillock or mound, under wa ll or on  field,  
still they gathered and rallied and fought until the day wore away. 
     Then the Sun went at last behind Mindolluin and filled all the sky with 
a great  burning, so  that  the hills and the mountains were  dyed  as  with 
blood; fire  glowed in  the  River, and the grass of the Pelennor lay red in 
the nightfall. And in that hour the great Battle of  the field of Gondor was 
over; and not one living foe was left within  the circuit of the Rammas. All 
were slain  save those who fled  to die, or to drown  in the red foam of the 
River. Few ever came  eastward to Morgul or Mordor; and  to the land of  the


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madness or devilry is this? Death, death, death! Death take us all!' 
     Then without taking  counsel or waiting for the approach of  the men of 
the City, he spurred headlong back  to the front of the great host, and blew 
a horn, and cried  aloud for  the onset. Over the field rang his clear voice 
calling: 'Death! Ride, ride to ruin and the world's ending!' 
     And with that the host  began to move. But the Rohirrim sang  no  more. 
Death  they cried with one voice loud and terrible, and gathering speed  like 
a  great tide their battle swept about their fallen king and passed, roaring 
away southwards.  
     And still  Meriadoc  the hobbit stood there blinking through  his tears 
and no one spoke to him, indeed none seemed to heed him. He brushed away 
the 
tears, and stooped to pick up the green shield that Jowyn had given him; and


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Come back to the City before all are overwhelmed!' But the  wind  that  sped 
the ships blew all their clamour away. 
     The Rohirrim indeed had no  need  of news or  alarm.  All too well they 
could  see for themselves the black sails. For Jomer was now scarcely a mile  
from the Harlond, and a great press of  his first  foes was between  him and 
the haven  there, while new  foes came swirling behind, cutting him off from 
the Prince. Now he looked to the River,  and hope died in his heart, and the 
wind  that he had blessed  he  now  called accursed. But the hosts of Mordor  
were enheartened, and filled  with a new lust  and fury they came yelling to 
the onset. 
     Stern now  was Jomer's mood, and  his mind clear again. He let blow the 
horns to rally all men to his banner that could come thither; for he thought 
to make a great shield-wall at the last, and stand, and  fight there on foot 
till all fell, and do deeds of song on the fields of Pelennor, though no man


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####-     Then  having made up  his mind he acted swiftly; and catching up Pippin 
and setting him before him, he turned Shadowfax with a word. Up the climbing 
streets of Minas  Tirith they clattered, while the noise of  war rose behind 
them. Everywhere men were rising from their despair and dread, seizing their 
weapons, crying  one to another: 'Rohan  has come!'  Captains were shouting, 
companies were mustering; many already were marching down to the Gate. 
     They  met  the Prince Imrahil,  and  he called  to them: 'Whither  now, 
Mithrandir?  The Rohirrim are  fighting  on  the  fields  of Gondor! We must  
gather all the strength that we can find.' 
     'You will need every man and more,' said  Gandalf.  'Make  all haste. I 
will come when I can. But I  have  an errand to the  Lord Denethor that will 
not wait. Take command in the Lord's absence!' 
     They passed on; and  as they climbed and drew near to the Citadel  they


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bare was the ground where the beast was burned. 
     Now slowly and sadly Merry  walked beside the bearers,  and he gave  no 
more  heed to  the battle.  He was weary and  full  of  pain, and  his limbs 
trembled as  with  a chill. A great  rain came out of the Sea, and it seemed 
that all things wept for Thjoden and  Jowyn, quenching the fires in the City 
with grey tears.  It was through a mist that presently he saw the van of the 
men of Gondor  approaching. Imrahil,  Prince of Dol Amroth, rode up and 
drew 
rein before them. 
     'What burden do you bear, Men of Rohan?' he cried. 
     'Thjoden King,' they answered. 'He is dead. But Jomer King now rides in  
the battle: he with the white crest in the wind.'


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ringing of bells. But the hosts of Mordor wer e seized with bewilderment, and 
a  great  wizardry  it seemed to  them that their own ships should be filled 
with their foes; and a black dread  fell on them, knowing  that the tides of 
fate had turned against them and their doom was at hand. 
     East rode the  knights of  Dol Amroth driving the  enemy  before  them: 
troll-men and Variags  and orcs that hated  the sunlight. South strode Jomer  
and men fled  before his face, and  they were caught between the  hammer and 
the anvil. For now men leaped from the ships to the quays of the Harlond and 
swept north like  a storm. There  came Legolas, and  Gimli wielding his axe, 
and Halbarad with the standard, and Elladan  and Elrohir with stars on their 
brow,  and the  dour-handed D®nedain, Rangers of the North,  leading a great 
valour of the folk of Lebennin  and Lamedon and  the fiefs of the South. But 
before all went Aragorn with the Flame of the West, And®ril  like a new fire


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were slain  save those who fled  to die, or to drown  in the red foam of the 
River. Few ever came  eastward to Morgul or Mordor; and  to the land of  the 
Haradrim came only a tale from far off: a rumour of  the wrath and terror of 
Gondor. 
     Aragorn and  Jomer and Imrahil rode back towards  the Gate of the City,  
and they  were now weary beyond joy  or sorrow. These three were  unscathed, 
for such was their  fortune and the skill  and might of their  arms, and few 
indeed had dared  to abide them or  look on their faces in the hour of their 
wrath. But many others were hurt or  maimed or dead upon the field. The axes 
hewed Forlong  as he fought  alone and unhorsed; and both Duilin of Morthond 
and his  brother  were  trampled  to death  when they assailed the  mymakil, 
leading  their  bowmen  close  to shoot at the eyes of the monsters. Neither 
Hirluin the  fair would return to Pinnath Gelin, nor Grimbold  to Grimslade,


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####-renowned or nameless, captain or  soldier; for it was a great battle and the 
full count of it  no tale has told. So long afterward a maker in Rohan  said 
in his song of the Mounds of Mundburg: 
     We heard of the horns in the hills ringing, 
     the swords shining in the South -kingdom. 
     Steeds went striding to the Stoningland 
     as wind in the morning. War was kindled. 
     There Thjoden fell, Thengling mighty, 
     to his golden halls and green pastures 
     in the Northern fields never returning, 
     high lord of the host. Harding and Guthlbf 
     D®nhere and Djorwine, doughty Grimbold, 
     Herefara and Herubrand, Horn and Fastred, 
     fought and fell there in a far country: 
     in the Mounds of Mundburg under mould they lie  
     with their league-fellows, lords of Gondor. 
     Neither Hirluin the Fair to the hills by the sea, 
     nor Forlong the old to the flowering vales 
     ever, to Arnach, to his own country


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not wait. Take command in the Lord's absence!' 
     They passed on; and  as they climbed and drew near to the Citadel  they 
felt the wind blowing in their faces, and they caught the glimmer of morning  
far away, a light growing in the southern sky. But it brought little hope to 
them, not knowing what evil lay before them, fearing to come too late. 
     'Darkness is passing,' said Gandalf, 'but it still lies heavy  on  this 
City.' 
     At the  gate  of the  Citadel they found no guard.  'Then Beregond  has 
gone,' said  Pippin  more hopefully. They turned away and hastened along the 
road to  the Closed Door. It stood wide open,  and the porter lay before it. 
He was slain and his key had been taken. 
     'Work of the Enemy!' said Gandalf. 'Such  deeds he loves: friend at war 
with friend; loyalty divided in  confusion of hearts.' Now he dismounted and 
bade  Shadowfax return to his stable. 'For, my friend,' he said, 'you and  I


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####-     For there were  the servants of  Denethor with  swords and  torches  in 
their hands; but  alone in the  porch upon  the topmost step stood Beregond, 
clad in the black and silver of  the  Guard;  and he held  the door  against 
them. Two of them had already fallen to his sword, staining the hallows with 
their blood;  and the others cursed  him, calling him outlaw and  traitor to 
his master. 
     Even  as Gandalf and  Pippin  ran forward,  they heard from  within the 
house of the dead  the voice of Denethor crying: 'Haste, haste! Do as I have 
bidden!  Slay me this renegade! Or must I do so myself?' Thereupon  the door  
which Beregond held  shut  with  his left  hand was wrenched open, and there 
behind him stood the Lord of the City, tall and fell; a light like flame was 
in his eyes, a nd he held a drawn sword. 
     But Gandalf sprang up  the steps, and  the men fell  back from  him and 
covered their eyes; for his  coming  was like the incoming of a  white light


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to make a great shield-wall at the last, and stand, and  fight there on foot 
till all fell, and do deeds of song on the fields of Pelennor, though no man 
should be left in the West to remember the last King of the Mark. So he rode


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####-him; even as the light of  his  power was hidden u nder his  grey mantle.  He 
leaped up on to the faggots, and raising the sick man lightly he sprang down 
again, and bore him towards the door. But as he did  so  Faramir moaned  and 
called on his father in his dream. 
     Denethor started as one waking from a trance, and the flame died in his 
eyes,  and he wept; and he said: 'Do not take my son from me!  He calls  for  
me.' 
     'He calls,' said Gandalf, 'but you cannot come to him yet.  For he must  
seek healing on the threshold of death, and maybe find it no t. Whereas  your  
part is to go out to  the battle of your City, where maybe death awaits you. 
This you know in your heart.' 
     'He will not wake again,' said Denethor. 'Battle is vain. Why should we 
wish to live longer? Why should we not go to death side by side?' 
     'Authority is not given to you, Steward of Gondor, to order the hour of


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####-But against the Power that now arises there is no victory. To this City only 
the first finger of its hand has yet been stretched. All the East is moving. 
And even now the  wind of thy  hope cheats thee and wafts up Anduin a  fleet 
with black  sails. The West has failed. It is  time for all  to  depart  who 
would not be slaves.' 
     'Such  counsels  will make the  Enemy's victory  certain  indeed,' said 
Gandalf. 
     'Hope on then!' laughed Denethor. 'Do  I not know thee, Mithrandir? Thy  
hope is to rule in my stead, to stand behind every throne,  north, south, or  
west. I  have read  thy  mind  and  its  policies.  Do I  not  know that you  
commanded this halfling here to keep silence? That you brought him hither to 
be a spy  within  my  very  chamber?  And yet  in our speech together I have 
learned  the names and purpose of all thy companions. So! With the left hand 
thou wouldst use me  for a little while as a shield against Mordor, and with


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with their league-fellows, lords of Gondor. 
     Neither Hirluin the Fair to the hills by the sea, 
     nor Forlong the old to the flowering vales 
     ever, to Arnach, to his own country 
     returned in triumph; nor the tall bowmen, 
     Derufin and Duilin, to their dark waters, 
     meres of Morthond under mountain -shadows. 
     Death in the morning and at day's ending  
     lords took and lowly. Long now they sleep 
     under grass in Gondor by the Great River. 
     Grey now as tears, gleaming silver, 
     red then it rolled, roaring water: 
     foam dyed with blood flamed a t sunset; 
     as beacons mountains burned at evening; 
     red fell the dew in Rammas Echor.


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leading  their  bowmen  close  to shoot at the eyes of the monsters. Neither 
Hirluin the  fair would return to Pinnath Gelin, nor Grimbold  to Grimslade,  
nor Halbarad  to  the Northlands,  dour -handed  Ranger.  No few  had fallen,


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with friend; loyalty divided in  confusion of hearts.' Now he dismounted and 
bade  Shadowfax return to his stable. 'For, my friend,' he said, 'you and  I 
should have ridden to  the fields long  ago, but other matters delay me. Yet 
come swiftly if I call!' 
     They passed the Door  and walked on down the steep winding  road. Light 
was  growing, and the tall columns and carven  figures beside the  way  went 
slowly by like grey ghosts.  
     Suddenly the silence was broken,  and  they  heard below them cries and  
the ringing of swords: such  sounds as had not been  heard in  the  hallowed 
places since the building of  the City. At  last they came to Rath Dnnen and 
hastened towards the  House of the Stewards,  looming in the  twilight under  
its great dome. 
     'Stay!  Stay!'  cried Gandalf,  springing  forward  to the stone  stair 
before the door. 'Stay this madness!'


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was upon his arm before her cold tips, and behold! a little mist was laid on 
it hardly to be seen. 
     'Haste now is needed,'  he said, and he sent one riding back swiftly to 
the City to bring aid. But he bowing low to the fallen, bade  them farewell, 
and mounting rode away into battle. 
     And now  the  fighting waxed furious on the fields of the Pelennor; and 
the din of arms rose upon  high, with  the crying of men and the neighing of 
horses. Horns were blown  and trumpets  were  braying, and  the mymakil were 
bellowing as they  were goaded to war. Under the south walls of the City the  
footmen of Gondor now  drove against the legions  of Morgul that were  still  
gathered there in strength. But the horsemen rode eastward to the succour of 
Jomer:  H®rin the Tall Warden of  the Keys, and the Lord of  Lossarnach, and 
Hirluin of the Green Hills, and Prince Imrahil the fair with his knights all 
about him.


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in his eyes, a nd he held a drawn sword. 
     But Gandalf sprang up  the steps, and  the men fell  back from  him and 
covered their eyes; for his  coming  was like the incoming of a  white light 
into  a dark place, and he came with great anger. He lifted up his hand, and 
in  the very stroke, the sword of Denethor flew  up and left  his  grasp and 
fell  behind him in the shadows of the house; and  Denethor stepped backward 
before Gandalf as one amazed. 
     'What is this, my lord?' said the wizard. 'The houses  of the  dead are 
no  places for the living.  And why  do men  fight here in the  Hallows when 
there  is  war enough before  the  Gate? Or has our  Enemy come even to Rath 
Dnnen?' 
     'Since  when  has  the Lord  of  Gondor been answerable to thee?'  said 
Denethor.  'Or may I not command my own servants?' 
     'You may,' said Gandalf.  'But others may contest your will, when it is 
turned to madness and evil. Where is your son, Faramir?'


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wish to live longer? Why should we not go to death side by side?' 
     'Authority is not given to you, Steward of Gondor, to order the hour of 
your  death,'  answered  Gandalf.  'And only the  heathen  kings, under  the 
domination of the Dark Power, did  thus,  slaying  themselves  in pride  and 
despair, murdering their kin to ease their  own death.' Then passing through 
the door he took  Faramir from the deadly house and laid him  on the bier on  
which he had been brought, and which had now been set in the porch. Denethor  
followed him, and  stood trembling,  looking with longing on the face of his 
son. And for a moment, while all were silent and still, watching the Lord in 
his throes, he wavered. 
     'Come!' said  Gandalf.  'We  are needed. There is much that you can yet 
do.' 
     Then suddenly Denethor laughed . He stood up  tall  and proud again, and 
stepping swiftly back to the table he lifted from it the pillow on which his


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learned  the names and purpose of all thy companions. So! With the left hand 
thou wouldst use me  for a little while as a shield against Mordor, and with 
the right bring up this Ranger of the North to supplant me. 
     'But  I say to thee, Gandalf Mithrandir, I will not  be  thy tool! I am 
Steward of the  House  of Anbrion.  I will not step  down  to be  the dotard 
chamberlain of an upstart. Even  were his claim proved to me, still he comes 
but of the line of Isildur. I will not bow to such a  one, last of  a ragged 
house long bereft of lordship and dignity.' 
     'What then would  you have,' said Gandalf, 'if your will could have its 
way?' 
     'I would have things as they were in all the days of my life,' answered 
Denethor,  'and in the days of  my  longfathers before me: to be the Lord of 
this City in peace,  and leave my chair to  a son after me, who would be his 
own master and no wizard's pupil. But if doom denies this to me, then I will


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####-     'Come  hither!'  he cried  to his servants. 'Come,  if you are  not all 
recreant!'  Then two of them ran up the steps to  him. Swiftly he snatched a  
torch from the hand of  one  and  sprang back into the house. Before Gandalf 
could hinder him he  thrust the brand amid the fuel, and at once it crackled 
and roared into flame. 
     Then Denethor  leaped upon  the  table, and  standing there wreathed in 
fire and smoke he took up the staff  of his stewardship that lay at his feet 
and broke  it on his  knee.  Casting the pieces into  the blaze he bowed and 
laid himself  on  the table, clasping the palantnr with both hands upon  his 
breast. And  it was said that ever after, if  any man  looked in that Stone, 
unless he had a great strength of will to  turn it to other purpose, he  saw 
only two aged hands withering in flame. 
     Gandalf in grief and horror turned his face away  and closed the  door.


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####-     At length they came back  to  the Steward's Door,  and  Beregond looked  
with grief  at  the porter. 'This deed I  shall  ever rue,'  he said; 'but a  
madness of haste was on  me, and he would not listen, but drew sword against  
me.' Then  taking  the key that he had  wr ested from the slain man he closed 
the door and locked it.  'This should now be given to the Lord  Faramir,' he 
said. 
     'The Prince  of Dol Amroth is in  command in the absence of  the Lord,' 
said Gandalf; 'but since he is not here,  I must take this on  myself. I bid 
you keep the key and guard it, until the City is set in order again.' 
     Now  at last they passed  into the high circles of the City, and in the 
light of morning  they went their way towards  the  Houses  of Healing;  and 
these were  fair houses set apart, for the care of those who were grievously 
sick, but now  they were prepared  for the tending of men  hurt in battle or


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####-be glad? Beyond hope the Captain  of  our foes has been  destroyed,  and you 
have heard the echo of his last despair. But he has not gone without woe and 
bitter loss. And that I might have averted but for the madness of  Denethor. 
So long  has the reach of our Enemy become! Alas! but now I perceive how his 
will was able to enter into the very heart of the City. 
     'Though  the  Stewards  deemed  that  it  was  a secret  kept  only   by 
themselves, long ago I guessed that here in the White Tower, one at least of 
the Seven Seeing  Stones was preserved. In  the days of his  wisdom Denethor  
did not presume to  use it,  nor to  challenge Sauron, knowing the limits of 
his own strength. But his wisdom failed; and I fear that as the peril of his 
realm grew he looked in the Stone and was deceived: far too often, I  guess,  
since Boromir departed.  He was too great to  be subdued  to the will of the 
Dark Power, he saw nonetheless only those things which  that Power permitted


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Jomer:  H®rin the Tall Warden of  the Keys, and the Lord of  Lossarnach, and 
Hirluin of the Green Hills, and Prince Imrahil the fair with his knights all 
about him. 
     Not too  soon came  their  aid to  the Rohirrim; for fortune had turned 
against Jomer,  and his fury had betrayed him.  The great wrath of his onset 
had  utterly  overthrown the front of  his enemies, and  great wedges of his 
Riders had passed clear through  the ranks of  the   Southrons,  discomfiting 
their  horsemen and riding their footmen to ruin.  But  wherever the mymakil 
came  there the horses would not go, but  blenched and swerved away; and the 
great  monsters were  unfought, and  stood  like towers of defence,  and the 
Haradrim rallied about them. And if the Rohirrim at  their onset were thrice 
outnumbered by  the Haradrim alone,  soon their case  became  worse; for new 
strength came  now streaming to the field  out of  Osgiliath. There they had


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this City in peace,  and leave my chair to  a son after me, who would be his 
own master and no wizard's pupil. But if doom denies this to me, then I will 
have naught: neither life diminished, nor love halved, nor honour abated.' 
     'To me it would  not seem that a Steward who  faithfully surrenders his 
charge is diminished in love  or in honour,' said Gandalf. 'And at the least 
you shall not rob your son of his choice while his death is still in doubt.' 
     At those words Denethor's eyes flamed again, and taking the Stone under  
his arm  he drew a knife and  strode towards the  bier. But  Beregond sprang 
forward and set himself before Faramir. 
     'So!' cried Denethor. 'Thou hadst  already  stolen  half my son's love. 
Now thou stealest the hearts of  my knights also, so that they rob me wholly  
of my son at the last. But in this at least thou shalt not defy  my will: to 
rule my own end.'


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When the dark shadow at the Gate withdrew Gandalf still sat motionless.  
But Pippin rose to his  feet, as if a great weight had been lifted from him; 
and  he stood listening to  the horns, and it seemed to  him that they would 
break his  heart  with joy. And  never in after years could  he  hear a horn 
blown in the distance  without tears starting in  his eyes. But now suddenly 
his errand  returned  to  his memory,  and  he  ran forward.  At that moment 
Gandalf stirred and spoke to Shadowfax, and was  about to  ride through  the 
Gate. 
     'Gandalf, Gandalf! ' cried Pippin, and Shadowfax halted. 
     'What are you  doing here?'  said Gandalf. 'Is it not a law in the City 
that  those who  wear the black and  silver must stay in the Citadel, unless 
their lord gives them leave?' 
     'He has,' said Pippin. 'He sent me away. But I am frightened. Something 
terrible may happen up  there. The  Lord is  out of his  mind, I think. I am


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these were  fair houses set apart, for the care of those who were grievously 
sick, but now  they were prepared  for the tending of men  hurt in battle or  
dying. They stood not far from  the  Citadel-gate, in the sixth circle, nigh 
to  its southward  wall, and about  them was a  garden and a greensward with 
trees,  the only such place in the City. There dwelt the few women  that had 
been permitted to remain in Minas Tirith, since they were skilled in healing 
or in the service of the healers.  
     But even  as Gandalf and his companions came  carrying the bier  to the 
main door of the  Houses, they heard a great cry that went up from the field 
before the Gate and rising shrill and piercing into the sky passed, and died 
away on the wind. So terrible was the cry that for a moment all stood still, 
and  yet when it  had passed, suddenly their hearts were lifted up in such a  
hope as they had not known  since the darkness came  out of the East; and it


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Denethor.  'Or may I not command my own servants?' 
     'You may,' said Gandalf.  'But others may contest your will, when it is 
turned to madness and evil. Where is your son, Faramir?' 
     'He lies  within,' said Denethor, 'burning, already burning. They  have 
set a fire in his flesh. But soon all shall be burned. The  West has failed. 
It shall  all  go up in a  great fire, and all shall be  ended. Ash! Ash and 
smoke blown away on the wind!' 
     Then  Gandalf  seeing the madness  that was on  him feared that he  had 
already done some evil deed, and he thrust forward, with Beregond and Pippin 
behind him, while Denethor gave back until he stood beside the table within. 
But  there they found Faramir,  still dreaming in  his fever, lying upon the 
table. Wood was piled under it, and high all about it, and all  was drenched 
with oil, even the garments of Faramir and the coverlets; but as yet no fire 
had been set to the fuel. Then Gandalf revealed the strength that lay hid in


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outnumbered by  the Haradrim alone,  soon their case  became  worse; for new 
strength came  now streaming to the field  out of  Osgiliath. There they had 
been mustered for the sack of  the City and the rape of Gondor,  waiting  on  
the call of their Captain. He  now was destroyed; but Gothmog the lieutenant


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since Boromir departed.  He was too great to  be subdued  to the will of the 
Dark Power, he saw nonetheless only those things which  that Power permitted 
him to see. The knowledge which he obtained was, doubtless, often of service 
to  him; yet the vision of the great might  of Mordor that was  shown to him 
fed the despair of his heart until it overthrew his mind.' 
     'Now I understand what seemed so strange to me!' said Pippin shuddering 
at his memories as he spoke. 'The Lord went away from the room where 
Faramir 
lay; and it was only when  he  returned that I first thought he was changed, 
old and broken.' 
     'It was  in the very hour  that  Faramir was brought to the Tower  that 
many of us saw  a strange light in the topmost chamber,' said Beregond. 'But 
we have  seen that light before, and it has  long been rumoured in the City, 
that the Lord would at times wrestle in thought with his Enemy.'


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their lord gives them leave?' 
     'He has,' said Pippin. 'He sent me away. But I am frightened. Something 
terrible may happen up  there. The  Lord is  out of his  mind, I think. I am 
afraid he will kill himself, and kill Faramir too. Can't you do something?' 
     Gandalf looked through the  gaping  Gate, and already  on the fields he 
heard the gathering sound of  battle. He clenched his  hand. 'I must go ' he 
said. 'The Black Rider is abroad, and he will yet  bring ruin on  us. I have 
no time.' 
     'But Faramir!' cried Pippin.  'He is  not dead, and they will  burn him 
alive, if someone does not stop them.' 
     'Burn him alive?' said Gandalf. 'What is this tale? Be quick!' 
     'Denethor  has gone  to  the  Tombs,'  said Pippin, 'and  he has  taken 
Faramir, and  he says we are all to burn, and he will not wait, and they are 
to make a pyre and  burn him on it, and Faramir as well. And he has sent men


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unless he had a great strength of will to  turn it to other purpose, he  saw 
only two aged hands withering in flame. 
     Gandalf in grief and horror turned his face away  and closed the  door. 
For  a  while  he stood in thought,  silent  upon the threshold, while those 
outside heard the greedy roaring of  the fire within. And then Denethor gave 
a great cry, and afterwards spoke no more, nor was ever again seen by mortal 
men. 
     'So passes Denethor, son of Ecthelion,' said Gandalf: Then he turned to 
Beregond and the Lord's servants that stood there aghast.  'And so pass also 
the days of Gondor that you have known; for good or evil they are ended. Ill 
deeds  have been done here; but let now  all enmity that lies between you be 
put away, for  it  was contrived by the Enemy and works  his  will. You have 
been  caught  in a net of warring duties that  you did not weave. But think, 
you servants of the Lord, blind in your obedience, that but  for the treason


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####-should have  been  borne in  honour  into this  city,' he said.  'He has well 
repaid my trust; for  if Elrond had  not yielded to me, neither of you would 
have  set  out; and then far more grievous would the  evils of this day have 
been.' He sighed. 'And yet here is another charge on my hands, while all the 
time the battle hangs in the balance.' 
     So at last  Faramir and  Jowyn and Meriadoc  were laid  in  beds in the 
Houses of  Healing; and there they were tended well. For though all lore was 
in  these latter days fallen  from its  fullness  of old, the  leechcraft of 
Gondor was still wise, and skilled in the healing of wound and hurt, and all 
such  sickness as east of  the Sea mortal men  were subject to. Save old age 
only. For that  they had  found no  cure; and indeed the span of their lives 
had now waned to little more than that of  other men, and those  among  them 
who passed the tale of  five score years with vigour were grown few, save in


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####-bother you with any talk. But tell me, are you hurt, or wounded?' 
     'No,' said Merry. 'Well, no, I don't think so. But I can't use my right 
arm, Pippin, not since I stabbed  him.  And my  sword burned all away like a 
piece of wood.' 
     Pippin's face was anxious. 'Well, you had better come with me  as quick  
as you can,' he said. 'I wish I could carry you. You aren't fit to walk  any 
further. They shouldn't have let you walk at all; but you must forgive them. 
So  many dreadful things have  happened  in the  City, Merry, that  one poor  
hobbit coming in from the battle is easily overlooked.' 
     'It's not  always  a misfortune being overlooked,' said Merry.  'I  was 
overlooked just now by  - no, no, I can't speak of it.  Help me, Pippin! It's 
all going dark again, and my arm is so cold.' 
     'Lean on me, Merry lad!' said Pippin. 'Come now! Foot by foot. It's not 
far.' 
     'Are you going to bury me?' said Merry.


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we have  seen that light before, and it has  long been rumoured in the City, 
that the Lord would at times wrestle in thought with his Enemy.' 
     'Alas!  then I  have guessed rightly,' said Gandalf. 'Thus  the will of 
Sauron entered into Minas  Tirith; and thus  I  have  been delayed here. And 
here I shall still be forced to remain, for I shall soon have other charges,  
not Faramir only. 
     'Now I must go down to meet those  who come. I have seen  a  sight upon 
the field that is very grievous to my heart, and greater sorrow may yet come 
to  pass.  Come  with me, Pippin! But you,  Beregond,  should  return to the 
Citadel and tell the chief of the Guard there what has befallen. It  will be 
his duty, I fear, to withdraw you from the Guard; but  say to him that, if I 
may give him counsel, you should be sent to the Houses of Healing, to be the 
guard and servant of your captain, and to be at his side when he awakes  - if


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A mist was in Merry's eyes of tears  and weariness when they  drew near  
the  ruined  Gate of  Minas Tirith. He gave  little  heed to the  wreck  and 
slaughter that lay about all. Fire and smoke and  stench was in the air; for  
many engines  had been burned  or cast into  the fire-pits, and many  of the 
slain also, while here  and there lay  many  carcases of the great  Southron 
monsters, half-burned, or broken by stone-cast, or shot through  the eyes by 
the  valiant archers of Morthond. The flying rain had ceased for a time, and 
the sun  gleamed  up above;  but all the lower city  was still  wrapped in a  
smouldering reek. 
     Already men were labouring to clear a way through the jetsam of battle; 
and now out from the Gate came some bearing litters. Gently  they laid Jowyn 
upon soft pillows; but the king's body  they covered  with a great  cloth of 
gold,  and  they bore  torches about  him, and  their flames,  pale  in  the


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been  caught  in a net of warring duties that  you did not weave. But think, 
you servants of the Lord, blind in your obedience, that but  for the treason 
of Beregond Faramir, Captain of the White Tower, would now also be burned. 
     'Bear away  from this unhappy place your comrades who  have fallen. And 
we  will bear  Faramir, Steward of Gondor, to  a place where he can sleep in 
peace, or die if that be his doom.' 
     Then Gandalf and Beregond taking  up the bier bore  it away towards the 
Houses of  Hea ling,  while behind them walked Pippin with downcast head. 
But 
the servants of the Lord  stood gazing as stricken  men  at the house of the 
dead; and even  as Gandalf  came to the end of Rath Dnnen there was a  great 
noise. Looking back  they  saw the  dome of the house crack and smokes issue 
forth; and then with a rush and rumble of stone it fell in a flurry of fire; 
but still unabated the flames danced and  flickered among the ruins. Then in


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and  yet when it  had passed, suddenly their hearts were lifted up in such a  
hope as they had not known  since the darkness came  out of the East; and it  
seemed  to them that  the  light grew  clear and the sun  broke  through the 
clouds. 
     But Gandalf's  face was  grave and sad, and bidding Beregond and Pippin 
to take  Faramir into the Houses  of Healing, he  went  up on  to  the walls 
nearby; and there like a figure carven in white he stood  in the new sun and 
looked out. And he beheld with the sight that was given to him all that  had 
befallen; and when Jomer rode out from the forefront of his battle and stood 
beside those who lay upon the field, he sighed, and he cast  his cloak about 
him again,  and went  from  the  walls.  And Beregond  and  Pippin found him 
standing in thought before the door of the Houses when they came out. 
     They looked at him, and for  a  while he was  silent. At last he spoke.


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may give him counsel, you should be sent to the Houses of Healing, to be the 
guard and servant of your captain, and to be at his side when he awakes  - if 
that shall ever be again. For by you  he  was saved from the fire. Go now! I


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all going dark again, and my arm is so cold.' 
     'Lean on me, Merry lad!' said Pippin. 'Come now! Foot by foot. It's not 
far.' 
     'Are you going to bury me?' said Merry. 
     'No, indeed!' said Pippin, trying  to sound cheerful, though  his heart 
was wrung with fear and pity. 'No, we are going to the Houses of Healing.' 
     They turned out of the lane that ran  between tall houses and the outer  
wall of the fourth circle, and they  regained the main street climbing up to 
the Citadel. Step by step they  went, while Merry swayed and murmured as one 
in sleep. 
     'I'll never  get him there,' thought  Pippin. 'Is there  no one to help 
me? I can't leave him here.' Just then to his surprise a boy came running up 
behind, and as he passed he recognized Bergil Beregond's son. 
     'Hullo,  Bergil!' he  called.  'Where  are you going?  Glad to  see you  
again, and still alive!' 
     'I am running errands for the Healers,' said Bergil.  'I cannot stay.'


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forth; and then with a rush and rumble of stone it fell in a flurry of fire; 
but still unabated the flames danced and  flickered among the ruins. Then in 
terror the servants fled and followed Gandalf.


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upon soft pillows; but the king's body  they covered  with a great  cloth of 
gold,  and  they bore  torches about  him, and  their flames,  pale  in  the 
sunlight, were fluttered by the wind. 
     So Thjoden and Jowyn came  to  the City of Gondor, and all who saw them 
bared their heads and bowed; and they passed through the ash and fume of the 
burned circle, and went on and up  along the  streets of stone. To Merry the 
ascent seemed  agelong,  a  meaningless journey in a hateful dream, going on 
and on to some dim ending that memory cannot seize. 
     Slowly the  lights of  the torches in front of  him flickered  and went 
out,  and he was walking in  a darkness; and he  thought: 'This  is a tunnel 
leading to a tomb; there we shall stay forever.' But suddenly into his dream 
there fell a living voice. 
     'Well, Merry! Thank goodness I have found you!' 
     He looked up  and the mist before his eyes  cleared a little. There was


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####-shall return soon.' 
     With  that  he  turned away and went with Pippin down towards the lower 
city. And even as they  hastened on their way the wind brought  a grey rain,  
and all the fires sank, and there arose a great smoke before them. 
 

####- 

Chapter 8. The Houses of Healing


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'Hullo,  Bergil!' he  called.  'Where  are you going?  Glad to  see you  
again, and still alive!' 
     'I am running errands for the Healers,' said Bergil.  'I cannot stay.' 
     'Don't!'  said  Pippin.  'But  tell  them up  there that I have a  sick  
hobbit, a perian  mind you, come from the battle-field. I don't think he can 
walk so far. If Mithrandir is there, he will be glad of the message.' Bergil 
ran on. 
     'I'd better wait here,'  thought  Pippin. So he let Merry  sink  gently 
down on to the pavement in a patch of sunlight,  and then he sat down beside 
him, laying Merry's head  in his lap. He felt his body and limbs gently, and 
took his friend's hands in his own. The right hand felt icy to the touch. 
     It was  not long  before Gandalf himself  came  in  search  of them. He 
stooped over Merry and caressed  his brow; then he lifted him carefully. 'He


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####-king could ever be known.' 
     And Gandalf,  who  stood by, said:  'Men  may long remember your words,  
Ioreth! For  there  is hope  in them. Maybe a king has  indeed  returned  to 
Gondor; or  have  you not  heard the strange tidings that  have come to  the 
City?' 
     'I  have been  too busy with this and that  to  heed all the crying and 
shouting,' she answered. 'All  I hope is that those murdering devils  do not 
come to this House and trouble the sick.' 
     Then Gandalf went  out in haste, and already  the fire  in  the sky was 
burning out, and the smouldering  hills were  fading, while ash-grey evening 
crept over the fields.  
     Now  as  the sun went down  Aragorn and Jomer and Imrahil drew near the 
City  with their captains and knights; and  when they came  before the  Gate 
Aragorn said: 
     'Behold the  Sun setting in  a  great fire! It is a sign of the end and 
fall of many things, and a change in the tides of  the world.  But this City


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there fell a living voice. 
     'Well, Merry! Thank goodness I have found you!' 
     He looked up  and the mist before his eyes  cleared a little. There was 
Pippin! They were face  to face in a narrow lane,  and but for themselves it 
was empty. He rubbed his eyes.  
     'Where is the  king?' he said.  'And Jowyn?' Then he stumbled  and  sat 
down on a doorstep and began to weep again. 
     'They have gone up  into the Citadel,'  said  Pippin. 'I think you must  
have fallen  asleep on your  feet and taken the wrong turning. When we found 
that you were  not  with them,  Gandalf sent me to  look  for you.  Poor old 
Merry! How glad  I am to see you again!  But  you are worn out, and  I won't


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Faramir, and  he says we are all to burn, and he will not wait, and they are 
to make a pyre and  burn him on it, and Faramir as well. And he has sent men 
to fetch  wood and  oil.  And I have told Beregond, but I'm afraid  he won't  
dare  to  leave his post: he is on  guard. And what can  he  do  anyway?' So 
Pippin poured out  his tale, reaching up  and  touching  Gandalf's knee with 
trembling hands. 'Can't you save Faramir?' 
     'Maybe I can,' said Gandalf;  'but  if  I do, then  others will die,  I 
fear. Well, I must come, since no  other  help can  reach  him. But evil and 
sorrow will come of this. Even in the heart of our stronghold the Enemy  has 
power to strike us: for his will it is that is at work.'


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####-wrapped in the grey cloak  of  Lurien above his mail, and bearing  no  other 
token  than the green stone of Galadriel. 'I  have come because Gandalf begs 
me  to do so,'  he  said. 'But for the present I am but the  Captain  of the 
D®nedain of Arnor;  and the Lord  of  Dol Amroth  shall rule the City  until  
Faramir awakes. But it is my counsel that Gandalf should rule us  all in the 
days  that follow and in our  dealings with the Enemy.' And they agreed upon 
that. 
     Then Gandalf  said:  'Let us not  stay  at the door,  for the  time  is 
urgent. Let us enter! For  it is only in the coming of Aragorn that any hope 
remains for the sick that lie in the House. Thus spake Ioreth, wise-woman of  
Gondor: The hands of the  king are  the hands of a healer, and  so shall the 
rightful king be known .' 
     Then  Aragorn entered first and the  others followed. And there  at the 
door were two guards in the  livery of the  Cita del: one tall, but the other


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####-he said.  'Would that Elrond were here, for he is the eldest of all our race, 
and has the greater power.' 
     And Jomer seeing  that he was sorrowful and weary said: 'First you must  
rest, surely, and at the least eat a little?' 
     But Aragorn answered: 'Nay, for these  three, and most soon for Faramir,  
time is running out. All speed is needed.' 
     Then he called to Ioreth and he said: 'You have store  in this House of 
the herbs of healing?' 
     'Yes, lord,' she answered; 'but not enough, I reckon, for all that will 
need  them. But I am sure I  do  not know  where we shall find more; for all 
things are amiss in these dreadful days, what with  fires and  burnings, and 
the lads that run errands so few, and all the roads blocked. Why, it is days 
out of count since ever a carrier came in from Lossarnach to the market! But 
we do our best in this  House with what we have, as  I am sure your lordship 
will know.'


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Aragorn said: 
     'Behold the  Sun setting in  a  great fire! It is a sign of the end and 
fall of many things, and a change in the tides of  the world.  But this City 
and realm has rested in the charge of the  Stewards for many long years, and 
I  fear that if I enter it unbidden, then doubt and debate may  arise, which 
should not be while this war is  fought.  I will not enter in, nor  make any 
claim, until  it be seen whether we or Mordor shall prevail. Men shall pitch 
my tents upon  the field,  and here  I will await the welcome of the Lord of 
the City.' 
     But Jomer  said: 'Already you have raised the banner  of the Kings  and 
displayed  the  tokens  of  Elendil's  House.  Will you suffer  these to  be 
challenged?' 
     'No,' said Aragorn. 'But I deem the time unripe; and I have no mind for 
strife except with our Enemy and his servants. ' 
     And the Prince  Imrahil said. Your words, lord, are wise, if one who is


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####-the City and the tumult of the people,  and mounted to the Citadel; and they 
came to the Hall of the Tower, seeking the Steward. But they found his chair 
empty, and before the dais lay Thjoden King of the Mark upon a bed of state; 
and twelve torches stood about it, and twelve  guards, knights both of Rohan 
and Gondor. And the hangings  of  the bed were of  green and white, but upon 
the king  was laid the great cloth  of gold up  to his breast, and upon that 
his  unsheathed sword, and at his  feet his shield, The light of the torches 
shimmered in  his  white hair like  sun in the spray of a fountain,  but his 
face  was fair  and young, save that  a peace lay on it beyond the reach  of 
youth; and it seemed that he slept. 
     When they had stood silent  for a time  beside  the king, Imrahil said: 
'Where is the Steward? And where also is Mithrandir?' 
     And one of the guards answered: 'The Steward of Gondor is in the Houses 
of Healing.'


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####-sign, and seemed hardly to breathe. 
     'He is nearly spent,' said Aragorn turning to Gandalf. 'But  this comes 
not from  the wound. See! that  is healing. Had he been smitten by some dart  
of the Nazgyl,  as you thought, he would have died that night. This hurt was 
given  by  some  Southron arrow,  I  would guess.  Who drew it forth? Was it 
kept?' 
     'I drew it forth,'  said  Imrahil, 'and staunched the wound. But I  did 
not keep the arrow, for we had much to  do. It was, as I remember, just such 
a  dart as the Southrons use. Yet I  believed  that it came from the Shadows 
above, for else his fever and sickness were not  to be understood; since the 
wound was not deep or vital. How then do you read the matter?' 
     'Weariness,  grief for his father's  mood,  a  wound,  and over all the 
Black Breath,' said  Aragorn.  'He is a man of  staunch will, for already he 
had  come close  under  the Shadow  before  ever  he  rode to battle on  the


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strife except with our Enemy and his servants. ' 
     And the Prince  Imrahil said. Your words, lord, are wise, if one who is 
a kinsman of  the  Lord Denethor  may counsel  you  in  this  matter. He  is 
strong-willed  and proud, but old; and  his mood has been strange  since his 
son was stricken down. Yet I would not have  you remain like a beggar at the 
door.' 
     'Not  a beggar,' said Aragorn. 'Say a captain  of the Rangers, who  are 
unused to  cities and  houses of  stone.' And he commanded  that  his banner  
should be furled;  and he did off the Star of the  North Kingdom and gave it 
to the keeping of the sons of Elrond. 
     Then the Prince Imrahil and Jomer of Rohan left him and passed  through


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out of count since ever a carrier came in from Lossarnach to the market! But 
we do our best in this  House with what we have, as  I am sure your lordship 
will know.' 
     'I will judge that when I see,' said Aragorn.  'One thing also is short 
time for speech. Have you athelas?' 
     'I do not know,  I am  sure, lord,' she answered, 'at least not by that 
name. I will go and ask of the herb-master; he knows all the old names.' 
     'It is also called kingsfoil,' said Aragorn; 'and maybe you  know it by 
that name, for so the country-folk call it in these latter days.' 'Oh that!' 
said Ioreth. 'Well, if your lordship had named it at first I could have told 
you. No, we have none of it, I am sure. Why, I have  never heard that it had 
any great virtue;  and indeed I  have often said to  my sisters when we came 
upon it growing in the woods: "kingsfoil" I said, " 'tis a strange name, and 
I  wonder why 'tis called so; for if I were a king, I would have plants more


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Black Breath,' said  Aragorn.  'He is a man of  staunch will, for already he 
had  come close  under  the Shadow  before  ever  he  rode to battle on  the 
out-walls.  Slowly the dark must have crept  on  him,  even as he fought and 
strove to hold his outpost. Would that I could have been here sooner!' 
     Thereupon the herb-master enter ed.  'Your lordship asked for kingsfoil, 
as the rustics name it, he said; or athelas in the noble tongue, or to those 
who know somewhat of the Valinorean. . .' 
     'I  do  so,'  said Aragorn, 'and I care  not  whether you say  now asla  
aranion or kingsfoil, so long as you have some.' 
     'Your  pardon lord!' said the  man. 'I see  you  are a lore-master, not 
merely  a captain of  war. But alas! sir, we do not keep  this  thing in the 
Houses of Healing, where  only the  gravely hurt or sick  are tended. For it 
has no virtue that we know of, save perhaps  to sweeten a fouled air, or  to


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####-     'Then in the name of the  king, go  and find some old man  of less lore 
and more wisdom who keeps some in his house!' cried Gandalf.  
     Now  Aragorn knelt beside Faramir,  and held a hand  upon his brow. And 
those that watched felt that some great struggle was going on. For Aragorn's 
face  grew grey  with weariness; and ever and anon  he  called the  name  of 
Faramir, but each time more fa intly to their hearing, as  if Aragorn himself 
was removed from them, and walked afar  in some dark vale,  calling  for one 
that was lost. 
     And at last Bergil came running in, and he bore six  leaves in a cloth. 
'It is kingsfoil,  Sir,' he  said; 'but not fresh, I fear. It must have been 
culled two weeks ago at the least. I hope it will  serve, Sir?' Then looking 
at Faramir he burst into tears. 
     But Aragorn smiled. 'It  will serve,' he said. 'The worst is  now over. 
Stay and be comforted!'  Then taking two leaves,  he  laid them on his hands


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upon it growing in the woods: "kingsfoil" I said, " 'tis a strange name, and 
I  wonder why 'tis called so; for if I were a king, I would have plants more 
bright in  my garden". Still it smells sweet  when bruised,  does it not? If 
sweet is the right word: wholesome, maybe, is nearer.' 
     'Wholesome verily,' said Aragorn. 'And now,  dame, if you love the Lord 
Faramir, run  as quick as your  tongue and get me kingsfoil, if  there  is a  
leaf in the City.' 
     'And if  not,' said Gandalf,  'I  will  ride  to Lossarnach with  Ioreth 
behind me, and she  shall take me to the woods, but not  to her sisters. And 
Shadowfax shall show her the meaning of haste.' 
     When Ioreth was  gone, Aragorn bade the other  women to make water hot. 
Then he took  Faramir's hand in  his, and laid the other hand  upon the sick  
man's brow. It was drenched with sweat; but Faramir did not move or make any


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Houses of Healing, where  only the  gravely hurt or sick  are tended. For it 
has no virtue that we know of, save perhaps  to sweeten a fouled air, or  to 
drive away  some passing  heaviness.  Unless,  of  course, you  give heed to 
rhymes of old days which women such as our good Ioreth still repeat  without 
understanding. 
     When the black breath blows  
     and death's shadow grows  
     and all lights pass, 
     come athelas! come athelas! 
     Life to the dying 
     In the king's hand lying! 
     It is but  a doggrel, I fear, garbled  in the  memory of old wives. Its 
meaning I leave to your judgement, if indeed it has any. But  old folk still 
use an infusion of the herb for headaches.'


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'Where is the Steward? And where also is Mithrandir?' 
     And one of the guards answered: 'The Steward of Gondor is in the Houses 
of Healing.' 
     But  Jomer said: 'Where is the  Lady Jowyn,  my sister; for surely  she 
should be lying beside the  king, and  in no  less  honour? Where  have they 
bestowed her?' 
     And Imrahil said: 'But the Lady Jowyn was yet living when they bore her  
hither. Did you not know?' 
     Then hope unlooked-for came so  suddenly to Jomer's  heart, and with it 
the bite of care and fear renewed, that he said no more, but turned and went 
swiftly from the hall; and the Prince followed him. And when they came forth 
evening had fallen and many stars were in the sky. And there came Gandalf on 
foot and with him one cloaked in grey; and they met before the doors of  the 
Houses of Healing. And they greeted Gandalf and said: 'We  seek the Steward, 
and men say that  he is in  this House.  Has any hurt befallen him? And  the 
Lady Jowyn, where is she?'


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rightful king be known .' 
     Then  Aragorn entered first and the  others followed. And there  at the 
door were two guards in the  livery of the  Cita del: one tall, but the other  
scarce the height of a boy; and when he saw them he cried  aloud in surprise 
and joy. 
     'Strider! How splendid! Do you know, I guessed  it was you in the black  
ships. But  they were all  shouting  corsairs and wouldn't listen to me. How 
did you do it?' 
     Aragorn laughed, and took the hobbit by the hand. 'Well met indeed!' he 
said. 'But there is not time yet for travellers' tales.' 
     But Imrahil said to Jomer: 'Is it  thus that we speak to our kings? Yet 
maybe he will wear his crown in some other name!' 
     And Aragorn hearing  him,  turned and  said: 'Verily, for  in the  high 
tongue of old I am Elessar, the Elfstone, and  Envinyatar, the Renewer': and  
he lifted from his breast the green stone that lay there. 'But Strider shall


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at Faramir he burst into tears. 
     But Aragorn smiled. 'It  will serve,' he said. 'The worst is  now over. 
Stay and be comforted!'  Then taking two leaves,  he  laid them on his hands 
and breathed on them,  and then  he crushed them, and straightway  a  living 
freshness filled the room, as if the air itself awoke and tingled, sparkling 
with joy. And then he cast the leaves into the bowls  of steaming water that 
were brought  to  him,  and  at  once all hearts  were  lightened.  For  the 
fragrance that came to each was like a memory of dewy mornings of 
unshadowed 
sun in some land of which the fair world in Spring is itself but  a fleeting 
memory.  But  Aragorn  stood  up as one refreshed, and his eyes smiled as he 
held a bowl before Faramir's dreaming face. 
     'Well now!  Who would have believed  it?'  said Ioreth to  a woman that 
stood beside her. 'The weed is  better than I thought. It reminds me  of the


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Houses of Healing. And they greeted Gandalf and said: 'We  seek the Steward, 
and men say that  he is in  this House.  Has any hurt befallen him? And  the 
Lady Jowyn, where is she?' 
     And Gandalf answered: 'She lies  within and is not  dead, but  is  near 
death. But the Lord Faramir was wounded by an evil dart,  as you have heard, 
and he  is  now the Steward; for Denethor has departed, and his house is  in 
ashes.' And they were filled with grief and wonder at the tale that he told. 
     But Imrahil  said: 'So victory is shorn of gladness,  and  it is bitter  
bought, if both Gondor and Rohan are in one day bereft of their lords. Jomer  
rules the Rohirrim. Who shall rule the City meanwhile? Shall we not send now 
for the Lord Aragorn?' 
     And the cloaked man spoke and said:  'He is  come.' And they saw  as he 
stepped  into the  light of  the lantern  by the  door that  it was Aragorn,


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####-those words before? Saruman spoke them, the teacher of Wormtongue. Though  
I 
do  not doubt that Wormtongue at home  wrapped their  meaning in terms  
more 
cunning. My lord,  if your sister's love for you, and her will still bent to 
her duty, had not restrained her lips; you might have heard even such things 
as these  escape them. But who knows what she spoke to  the darkness, alone, 
in the bitter watches of the night, when all her  life seemed shrinking, and 
the walls of her bower closing in  about her,  a hutch  to trammel some wild  
thing in? ' 
     Then Jomer was  silent, and looked on  his sister, as if pondering anew 
all the days of their past life together. But Aragorn said: 'I saw also what 
you saw,  Jomer. Few other  griefs amid the  ill  chances of this world have 
more  bitterness and shame for a man's heart than  to  behold the  love of a  
lady so fair and brave that cannot be returned Sorrow and pity have followed


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do.' 
     Then suddenly Denethor laughed . He stood up  tall  and proud again, and 
stepping swiftly back to the table he lifted from it the pillow on which his 
head  had lain.  Then coming to the  doorway he drew aside the covering, and 
lo! he had between his hands  a palantnr. And as he held it up, it seemed to 
those that  looked on that the  globe began to  glow with an inner flame, so 
that the lean face of the Lord was lit as with a red fire, and it seemed cut 
out of hard stone, sharp with black shadows, noble, proud, and terrible. His 
eyes glittered. 
     'Pride and despair!' he cried.  'Didst thou  think that the eyes of the 
White  Tower were blind? Nay, I have seen more than thou knowest, Grey 
Fool. 
For  thy hope is  but ignorance. Go then and labour in healing! Go forth and  
fight! Vanity. For a little space you may triumph  on the field, for a  day.


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####-and shut the door Pippin heard Ioreth exclaim: 
     'King! Did you hear  that? What  did I say? The  hands  of  a healer, I 
said.'  And  soon the word had  gone  out  from the House  that the king was 
indeed  come among  them, and after war he brought healing; and the news ran 
through the City. 
     But Aragorn came to Jowyn, and he said: 'Here there is a  grievous hurt 
and a  heavy blow. The arm that  was broken  has been tended with due skill, 
and it will  mend in time, if she  ha s  the  strength  to live:  It  is  the 
shield-arm  that is maimed; but the chief evil comes through the  sword-arm.  
In that there now seems no life, although it is unbroken. 
     'Alas! For she was pitted against a foe beyond the strength of her mind 
or body. And those who  will take a weapon to such an enemy must  be sterner 
than  steel,  if the very shock shall  not destroy them. It was an evil doom 
that set her in his path. For she is a fair maiden, fairest  lady of a house


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'Well now!  Who would have believed  it?'  said Ioreth to  a woman that 
stood beside her. 'The weed is  better than I thought. It reminds me  of the 
roses of Imloth Melui when I was a lass, and no king could ask for better.' 
     Suddenly Faramir  stirred, and he  opened  his eyes,  and he looked  on 
Aragorn who  bent over him; and a light of knowledge and love was kindled in 
his  eyes, and he spoke softly.  'My  lord, you called  me. I come. What does 
the king command?' 
     'Walk no more in the shadows, but awake!' said Aragorn. 'You are weary. 
Rest a while, and take food, and be ready when I return.' 
     'I will, lord,' said Faramir. 'For who would lie idle when the king has 
returned?' 
     'Farewell then  for a while!' said Aragorn.  'I must go  to  others who 
need me.' And he left the chamber with Gandalf and Imrahil; but Beregond and 
his son remained behind, unable to contain their joy. As he followed Gandalf


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more  bitterness and shame for a man's heart than  to  behold the  love of a  
lady so fair and brave that cannot be returned Sorrow and pity have followed 
me ever since I left her desperate in Dunharrow and rode to the Paths of the 
Dead;  and no  fear upon  that way was so present as the fear for what might  
befall her. And yet, Jomer, I  say to you that she loves you more truly than 
me; for you she loves and knows; but  in me  she loves  only a shadow and  a 
thought: a hope of glory and  great deeds, and lands far from  the fields of 
Rohan. 
     'I have, maybe, the power to heal her body, and to recall  her from the 
dark valley. But to what she will awake: hope, or forgetfulness, or despair, 
I do  not know. And if to despair, then  she will die, unless  other healing 
comes  which  I cannot bring. Alas!  for  her  deeds have  set her among  the 
queens of great renown.' 
     Then Aragorn stooped and looked in her face, and it was indeed white as


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####-the sweet influence of the herb  stole about the chamber it seemed to  those 
who stood by that a keen wind blew through the window, and it bore no scent, 
but was an air wholly fresh  and  clean  and young, as if it had not  before 
been  breathed  by any  living thing and came  new-made from snowy 
mountains 
high beneath a  dome of stars,  or from shores of silver far away  washed by 
seas of foam. 
     'Awake, Jowyn, Lady of  Rohan!'  said  Aragor n again,  and he  took her 
right hand in his and  felt it  warm with life returning. 'Awake! The shadow 
is gone and all darkness is washed  clean!' Then he laid her hand in Jomer's 
and  stepped  away. 'Call  her!' he said, and  he passed  silently  from the 
chamber. 
     'Jowyn, Jowyn!' cried Jomer amid his tears. But she opened her eyes and  
said: 'Jomer! What  joy is this? For they said that you were slain. Nay, but 
that was only the dark voices in my dream. How long have I been dreaming?'


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####-a fear seized Pippin that Merry would die. 
     'Do not be afraid,'  said Aragorn. 'I came in  time, and  I have called 
him back. He  is weary now, and grieved, and  he has taken a hurt  like  the 
Lady Jowyn, daring  to  smite  that deadly  thing. But  these  evils can  be 
amended, so strong and gay a sp irit is in him. His grief he will not forget; 
but it will not darken his heart, it will teach him wisdom.' 
     Then Aragorn laid his hand on Merry's head, and passing his hand gently  
through the brown curls, he touched the eyelids, and called him by name. And 
when  the fragrance  of athelas stole through the room, like  the  scent  of 
orchards, and of heather in the sunshine full of bees, suddenly Merry awoke,  
and he said: 
     'I am hungry. What is the time?' 
     'Past supper -time  now,' said Pippin; 'though I daresay  I could  bring 
you something, if they will let me.' 
     'They will indeed,' said Gandalf. 'And anything else that this Rider of


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tongue of old I am Elessar, the Elfstone, and  Envinyatar, the Renewer': and  
he lifted from his breast the green stone that lay there. 'But Strider shall 
be the name of my house, if that be ever established.  In the high tongue it 
will not  sound  so ill,  and  Telcontar I will be and all  the heirs  of my 
body.' 
     And with that they passed into the House; and as  they went towards the 
rooms  where the  sick were tended  Gandalf told of the deeds  of  Jowyn and 
Meriadoc. 'For,' he said, 'long have I stood by them and at first they spoke 
much in their dreaming, before they sank into  the deadly darkness. Also  it 
is given to me to see many things  far off.' 
     Aragorn  went first to Faramir, and then to the Lady Jowyn, and last to 
Merry. When  he had looked on the faces of the sick  and seen their hurts he 
sighed. 'Here I must  put forth all such power and skill as is given to me,'


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than  steel,  if the very shock shall  not destroy them. It was an evil doom 
that set her in his path. For she is a fair maiden, fairest  lady of a house 
of queens. And yet I know not how I should speak of her. When I first looked 
on her  and  perceived  her unhappiness, it seemed to me that I saw a  white 
flower standing straight and proud, shapely as a lily, and yet knew  that it 
was  hard, as if  wrought by elf-wrights out of steel. Or  was  it, maybe, a  
frost that had turned  its sap to ice, and  so it stood, bitter-sweet, still 
fair to see, but stricken, soon  to fall and die? Her malady begins far back  
before this day, does it not, Jomer?' 
     'I marvel that you should  ask me,  lord,' he answered. 'For I hold you  
blameless  in  this  matter, as in  all else; yet  I knew not that Jowyn, my 
sister, was touched by any  frost, until  she first looked on you.  Care and 
dread she had,  and shared with me, in the days of Wormtongue and the king's


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comes  which  I cannot bring. Alas!  for  her  deeds have  set her among  the 
queens of great renown.' 
     Then Aragorn stooped and looked in her face, and it was indeed white as 
a lily, cold as frost, and hard as graven stone.  But he bent and kissed her  
on the brow, and called her softly, saying: 
     'Jowyn Jomund's daughter, awake! For your enemy has passed away!' 
     She did not stir,  but now she began again  to  breathe deeply, so that 
her breast rose  and  fell  beneath the white linen of  the sheet. Once more 
Aragorn bruised two leaves of athelas and cast them into steaming water; and 
he laved her brow with it, and her right arm lying cold and nerveless on the 
coverlet. 
     Then,  whether Aragorn had indeed some forgotten  power of Westernesse, 
or whether it was but his words  of the Lady Jowyn that  wrought on them, as


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####-House. And he will tell you that he  did  not know that the herb  you desire 
had  any  virtues, but  that it is  called westmansweed by  the vulgar,  and 
galenas by the  noble,  and  other names  in other tongues more learned, and 
after adding  a few half-forgotten  rhymes that he  does not understand,  he 
will regretfully inform  you  that there is none in the  House, and  he will 
leave you  to reflect  on  the history of tongues.  And so now must I. For I 
have not slept in such a bed as this, since I rode from Dunharrow, nor eaten 
since the dark before dawn.' 
     Merry seized his hand and kissed it. 'I am frightfully sorry,' he said. 
'Go at once!  Ever since that night at Bree we have been  a nuisance to you. 
But it is the way of my people to use light words at such times and say less 
than they mean. We fear to say too much. It robs us of the  right words when  
a jest is out of place.' 
     'I  know that well, or I would not deal with you in the same way ' said


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said: 'Jomer! What  joy is this? For they said that you were slain. Nay, but 
that was only the dark voices in my dream. How long have I been dreaming?' 
     'Not long, my sister,' said Jomer. 'But think no more on it!' 
     ' I am  strangely weary,' she said. 'I must rest a little. But tell me, 
what of the Lord of the Mark? Alas! Do not tell me that that was a dream for  
I know that it was not. He is dead as he foresaw.' 
     'He is dead,' said Jomer, 'but he bade me say farewell to  Jowyn dearer  
than daughter. He lies now in great honour in the Citadel of Gondor.' 
     'That is grievous,' she said. 'And yet  it  is  good beyond all  that I 
dared hope in the dark  days, when it seemed that the House of Eorl was sunk 
in honour less than  any shepherd's cot. And what of the king's esquire, the 
Halfling? Jomer, you shall make him a knight  of  the Riddermark, for he  is 
valiant!' 
     'He lies nearby  in this  House,  and I will go  to him,' said Gandalf.


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'Past supper -time  now,' said Pippin; 'though I daresay  I could  bring 
you something, if they will let me.' 
     'They will indeed,' said Gandalf. 'And anything else that this Rider of 
Rohan  may desire, if it can be found in Minas Tirith, where  his name is in 
honour.' 
     'Good!' said Merry.  'Then I  would  like supper first, and after that a  
pipe.' At that his face clouded. 'No, not a pipe.  I don't think I'll  smoke 
again.' 
     'Why not?' said Pippin. 
     'Well,' answered Merry slowly. 'He is dead. It  has brought it all back  
to me.  He said he was sorry he  had never had a chance of talking herb-lore 
with me. Almost the last thing he ever said. I shan't ever be able to  smoke 
again without  thinking of  him, and  that day, Pippin, when he  rode up  to 
Isengard and was so polite.' 
     'Smoke then, and  think of  him!' said  Aragorn.  'For he  was a gentle 
heart and a great king and kept his oaths; and he rose out of the shadows to


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had now waned to little more than that of  other men, and those  among  them 
who passed the tale of  five score years with vigour were grown few, save in  
some houses of purer blood.  But now their art and  knowledge were  baffled; 
for there  were  many sick of a  malady that  would not  be healed; and  they 
called it the Black Shadow, for it came from the Nazgyl.  And those who were 
stricken with it fell slowly into an ever deeper  dream, and  then passed to 
silence and a deadly cold, and so died. And it seemed to  the tenders  of the 
sick that on the Halfling and  on the Lady of Rohan this malady lay heavily.  
Still  at whiles as  the  morning wore away  they would speak,  murmuring in 
their  dreams; and  the  watchers  listened  to all that  they said,  hoping 
perhaps  to learn something that  would help them to understand their hurts.  
But  soon they  began to fall down into the darkness, and as the sun  turned


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than they mean. We fear to say too much. It robs us of the  right words when  
a jest is out of place.' 
     'I  know that well, or I would not deal with you in the same way ' said 
Aragorn. 'May the Shire live for ever unwithered!' And kissing Merry he went 
out, and Gandalf went with him.  
     Pippin  remained behind. 'Was  there  ever any one like him?'  he said. 
'Except Gandalf, of course. I think they  must be related. My dear ass, your 
pack is lying by your bed, and you  had  it on your back when I  met you. He 
saw it all the time, of course. And anyway I have some stuff of my own. Come 
on now! Longbottom Leaf it is.  Fill up while I run and see about some food. 
And  then let's be  easy for  a bit. Dear me!  We Tooks  and Brandybucks, we 
can't live long on the heights.' 
     'No,' said Merry. 'I can't. Not yet, at any rate. But at least, Pippin, 
we can now see them, and honour them. It is best to  love first what you are


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Halfling? Jomer, you shall make him a knight  of  the Riddermark, for he  is 
valiant!' 
     'He lies nearby  in this  House,  and I will go  to him,' said Gandalf.  
'Jomer  shall stay here for a while. But do  not  speak  yet of  war or woe, 
until you are made whole  again. Great gladness  it is to see you wake again  
to health and hope, so valiant a lady!' 
     'To health?' said  Jowyn. 'It  may  be so. At  least  while there is an 
empty saddle of some  fallen Rider that I can  fill, and there  are deeds to 
do. But to hope? I do not know.' 
     Gandalf and Pippin came to Merry's room, and there  they found  Aragorn 
standing by  the  bed.   'Poor  old Merry!' cried Pippin, and  he ran to  the 
bedside, for it seemed to  him that  his friend looked worse, and a greyness 
was in his face, as if a weight of years of sorrow  lay on him; and suddenly


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sister, was touched by any  frost, until  she first looked on you.  Care and 
dread she had,  and shared with me, in the days of Wormtongue and the king's 
bewitchment; and she tended the king in growing fear. But that did not bring  
her to this pass!' 
     'My friend,' said Gandalf,  'you had horses, and deeds of arms, and the 
free fields; but she, born  in the body of a maid, had  a spirit and courage 
at least the match of yours.  Yet  she  was doomed to wait  upon an old man, 
whom she  loved as a father, and watch him falling  into a  mean dishonoured 
dotage; and her part seemed to her more ignoble  than that  of the  staff he 
leaned on. 
     'Think you that Wormtongue  had poison only for Thjoden's ears? Dotard! 
What is the  house of Eorl but a thatched barn where brigands  drink  in the 
reek, and their brats roll on the floor among their dogs? Have you not heard


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The morning came after  the  day of battle, and it was fair with  light 
clouds and the wind turning  westward. Legolas and  Gimli were early abroad, 
and  they  begged leave to go up  into the City; for  they were eager to see 
Merry and Pippin. 
     'It is good to learn that they are still alive,' said Gimli;  'for they 
cost us great pains in our march over Rohan, and I would not have such pains 
all wasted.' 
     Together the  Elf and the Dwarf entered Minas Tirith, and folk that saw 
them  pass  marvelled to see such companions; for Legolas was fair  of  face 
beyond the measure of Men, and  he sang an elven-song in a clear voice as he 
walked in the morning; but Gimli stalked  beside him, stroking his beard and 
staring about him. 
     'There is  some  good  stone-work here,'  he said as he  looked  a t the 
walls;  'but also  some that is  less good, and  the streets could be better  
contrived. When Aragorn comes into his own, I shall offer him the service of


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####-thither,' said Imrahil. 
     'It will be  enough if you send one to guide  us,  lord,' said Legolas.  
'For Aragorn sends this message to you. He does not wish  to  enter the City 
again at this  time. Yet there is need  for the captains to hold  council at 
once, and he prays that you and Jomer of  Rohan will come down to his tents,  
as soon as may be. Mithrandir is already there.' 
     'We will come,' said Imrahil; and they parted with courteous words. 
     'That  is  a  fair lord and a great captain of men,'  said Legolas. 'If 
Gondor has such men still in these  days of fading, great must have been its 
glory in the days of its rising.' 
     'And doubtless the good stone-work is the older and  was wrought in the 
first building,' said  Gimli. 'It is ever so with the things that Men begin: 
there  is a frost  in Spring, or a blight in Summer, and they  fail of their 
promise.' 
     'Yet seldom do they fail of their seed,' said  Legolas. 'And that  will


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can't live long on the heights.' 
     'No,' said Merry. 'I can't. Not yet, at any rate. But at least, Pippin, 
we can now see them, and honour them. It is best to  love first what you are 
fitted to love, I suppose: you must start somewhere and have some roots, and 
the soil of the Shire is deep. Still there are things deeper and higher; and 
not a gaffer could tend his garden  in  what he calls  peace  but  for them, 
whether  he knows about them or not.  I am  glad that   I know about them,  a  
little. But I don't know why I am talking like this. Where is that leaf? And 
get my pipe out of my pack, if it isn't broken.' 
     Aragorn and  Gandalf went now to the  Warden of the  Houses of Healing, 
and they counselled him that Faramir and Jowyn should remain there and still 
be tended with care for many days. 
     'The Lady Jowyn,' said Aragorn, 'will wish soon to rise and depart; but 
she should not be  permitted to do so,  if you  can in any way restrain her,


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standing in thought before the door of the Houses when they came out. 
     They looked at him, and for  a  while he was  silent. At last he spoke. 
'My friends,' he  said, 'and all you people of this city and of the  Western 
lands! Things of great sorrow and renown have come to pass. Shall we weep or


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perhaps  to learn something that  would help them to understand their hurts.  
But  soon they  began to fall down into the darkness, and as the sun  turned 
west a  grey shadow crept over  their faces. But Faramir burned with a fever  
that would not abate. 
     Gandalf  went  from one to the other full of care, and he was told  all 
that the watchers could hear. And so  the day passed, while the great battle 
outside went on with shifting  hopes and strange  tidings; and still Gandalf 
waited and watched and did not  go forth; till at last the red sunset filled 
all the sky, and the light through the windows fell on the grey faces of the  
sick.  Then  it seemed to those  who  stood by that  in the glow  the  faces 
flushed softly as with health returning, but it was only a mockery of hope. 
     Then an old  wife, Ioreth, the eldest  of the women who  served in that 
house, looking on the fair  face  of Faramir, wept, for all the people loved


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walls;  'but also  some that is  less good, and  the streets could be better  
contrived. When Aragorn comes into his own, I shall offer him the service of 
stonewrights of the Mountain, and we will make this a town to be proud of.' 
     'They need more gardens,' said Legolas. 'The houses are dead, and there 
is too little  here that grows and is glad.  If Aragorn comes into his  own, 
the people of the Wood shall bring him birds that sing and trees that do not 
die.' 
     At  length they came to the Prince  Imrahil, and  Legolas  looked at him 
and bowed  low; for he  saw that here  indeed was one who had elven-blood in 
his veins. 'Hail, lord!' he said.  'It is long since the people  of Nimrodel 
left the woodlands of Lurien, and yet still one may see that  no t all sailed 
from Amroth's haven west over water.' 
     'So it is said in the lore of my land,' said the Prince; 'yet never has 
one of the fair folk been seen there for years beyond count. And I marvel to


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be tended with care for many days. 
     'The Lady Jowyn,' said Aragorn, 'will wish soon to rise and depart; but 
she should not be  permitted to do so,  if you  can in any way restrain her, 
until at least ten days be passed.'


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Then an old  wife, Ioreth, the eldest  of the women who  served in that 
house, looking on the fair  face  of Faramir, wept, for all the people loved 
him. And  she said: 'Alas! if he should die. Would that there  were kings in 
Gondor , as there were once  upon a time,  they  say! For  it is said in  old 
lore: The hands of the king  are  the hands of a healer. And so the rightful


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####-last  Legolas  said:  'I will tell you enough for your peace;  for I felt not 
the  horror, and I feared not the shadows of  Men, powerless and frail  as I 
deemed them.' 
     Swiftly then he told of  the haunted  road under the mountains, and the 
dark tryst at Erech, and the gr eat ride thence, ninety leagues and three, to 
Pelargir on Anduin. 'Four days and nights, and on into a fifth, we rode from 
the Black Stone,' he said.  'And lo! in the darkness of Mordor my hope rose;  
for in that  gloom the Shadow Host seemed to grow stronger and more terrible 
to look upon. Some I saw riding, some striding, yet all moving with the same 
great speed. Silent they were, but there was a gleam in  their eyes. In  the 
uplands of Lamedon they overtook our horses, and  swept round us, and  would 
have passed us by, if Aragorn had not forbidden them. 
     'At his command they fell back. "Even the shades of Men are obedient to 
his will," I thought. "They may serve his needs yet! "


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there  is a frost  in Spring, or a blight in Summer, and they  fail of their 
promise.' 
     'Yet seldom do they fail of their seed,' said  Legolas. 'And that  will 
lie in the dust and rot to spring up again in times and places unlooked-for. 
The deeds of Men will outlast us, Gimli.' 
     'And yet come to naught in the end but might-have-beens, I guess,' said 
the Dwarf. 
     'To that the Elves know not the answer,' said Legolas.  
     With that the servant of the  Prince came and led them to the Houses of 
Healing; and there they found their friends in the garden, and their meeting 
was a merry one.  For a while  they walked and talked, rejoicing for a brief 
space in peace  and rest under  the morning high up in the windy  circles of 
the City. Then when Merry became weary, they went and sat upon the wall 
with 
the  greensward of  the  Houses of Healing behind them; and  away  southward 
before  them was the Anduin glittering in the sun, as it flowed away, out of


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from Amroth's haven west over water.' 
     'So it is said in the lore of my land,' said the Prince; 'yet never has 
one of the fair folk been seen there for years beyond count. And I marvel to 
see one here now in the midst of sorrow and war. What do you seek?' 
     'I  am  one of the Nine  Companions  who  set  out with Mithrandir from 
Imladris, said Legolas and with  this Dwarf, my friend, I came with the Lord 
Aragorn. But now we wish to see  our friends. Meriadoc and Peregrin, who are 
in your keeping, we are told.' 
     'You  will  find them  in  the Houses of Healing, and  I will  lead you


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####-for their wailing  voices spoke to me of the Sea. The Sea!  Alas! I have not 
yet  beheld  it.  But  deep  in  the  hearts  of  a ll  my  kindred lies  the 
sea -longing,  which it is perilous  to stir. Alas! for the  gulls. No  peace 
shall I have again under beech or under elm.' 
     'Say not so!' said Gimli. 'There are  countless things still to see  in 
Middle-earth, and great works  to  do. But if  all  the fair folk take to the 
Havens, it will be a duller world for those who are doomed to stay.' 
     'Dull and dreary indeed!' said Merry: 'You must  not go to the  Havens, 
Legolas. There will always  be some folk, big or little, and even a few wise 
dwarves like Gimli, who need you. At least I  hope so. Though I feel somehow 
that the worst of this war is still to come. How I wish it was all over, and 
well over!' 
     'Don't  be  so gloomy!' cried Pippin.  'The Sun is shining, and here we 
are  together  for a day or two at least. I want to hear more about you all.


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Isengard and was so polite.' 
     'Smoke then, and  think of  him!' said  Aragorn.  'For he  was a gentle 
heart and a great king and kept his oaths; and he rose out of the shadows to 
a last fair  morning.  Though your  service to him was brief, it should be a  
memory glad and honourable to the end of your days.' 
     Merry  smiled. 'Well then,' he said, 'if  Strider will  provide what is 
needed, I will smoke and think. I had some of Saruman's best in my pack, but 
what became of it in the battle, I am sure I don't know.' 
     'Master  Meriadoc,'  said  Aragorn,  'if  you  think that  I have passed 
through the  mountains and the realm of Gondor with  fire and sword to bring 
herbs to a  careless soldier who throws away his gear,  you are mistaken. If 
your pack has not been found, then you must send for the herb-master of this


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####-     'Green are those  fields in the songs of my people; but  they were dark 
then,  grey  wastes  in  the blackness  before  us. And over  the wide land, 
trampling unheeded the grass and  the flowers, we hunted our foes through  a 
day and a night, until we came at the bitter end to the Great River at last. 
     'Then I thought in my heart that we drew near to the  Sea; for wide was 
the  water in the darkness, and sea -birds innumerable cried on its,  shores.  
Alas  for  the wailing of the  gulls! Did  not the Lady tell me to beware of 
them? And now I cannot forget them.' 
     'For my part  I heeded them not,' said Gimli; 'for we came then at last  
upon battle in earnest. There at Pelargir lay the main fleet of Umbar, fifty 
great ships and smaller  vessels beyond count. Many of those that we pursued 
had reached the havens before us, and brought their fear with them; and some 
of  the ships had put off, seeking to escape down the River  or to reach  the


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####-thought how  great and terrible a Lord he might have become in the  strength 
of his  will, had he taken the Ring to  himself.  Not for naught does Mordor  
fear him. But nobler is his spirit than  the understanding of Sauron; for is 
he not of  the children of  L®thien? Never shall that  line fail, though the 
years may lengthen beyond count.' 
     'Beyond  the eyes of the Dwarves are  such  foretellings,'  said Gimli. 
'But mighty indeed was  Aragorn that day. Lo! all the black fleet was in his 
hands; and he chose the greatest ship to be his own, and he went up into it. 
Then he  let sound a great concourse  of trumpets taken  from the enemy; and 
the Shadow Host withdrew to the shore. There they stood silent, hardly to be  
seen, save for a red gleam in their eyes that caught the glare of the  ships 
that were  burning.  And Aragorn  spoke  in a  loud voice  to  the Dead Men, 
crying: 
     ' "Hear  now the words of the Heir of Isildur!  Your oath is fulfilled.


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with 
the  greensward of  the  Houses of Healing behind them; and  away  southward 
before  them was the Anduin glittering in the sun, as it flowed away, out of 
the  sight even  of Legolas, into the wide  flats and green haze of Lebennin 
and South Ithilien. 
     And now Legolas fell silent, while the others talked, and he looked out 
against the sun,  and as  he  gazed he  saw white sea -birds  beating  up the 
River. 
     'Look!' he cried. 'Gulls! They are flying far inland. A wonder they are 
to me and a trouble to my heart. Never in  all my life had I met them, until 
we came to  Pelargir, and  there I heard them crying in the air as we rode to 
the battle of the ships. Then I stood still, forgetting war in Middle-earth;


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####-though that is not swift down in  the South,  we had no help  of wind. Heavy 
would my heart have been, for all our victory at the  havens, if Legolas had 
not laughed suddenly. 
     ' "Up  with your beard, Durin's son! " he said. "For thus is it spoken: 
Oft hope is  born, when  all is forlorn." But what hope  he saw from afar he 
would  not tell. When  night came it  did  but deepen  the darkness, and our 
hearts were  hot, for away in  the North we saw a red glow under the  cloud,  
and Aragorn said: "Minas Tirith is burning." 
     'But at midnight hope was indeed born anew. Sea -crafty men of the Ethir  
gazing southward spoke  of a change coming  with a fresh  wind from the Sea. 
Long  ere day the masted ships  hoisted sail; and our speed grew, until dawn 
whitened the foam at our prows. And so it was, as  you know, that we came in 
the third  hour of the morning with a fair wind and the Sun unveiled, and we


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well over!' 
     'Don't  be  so gloomy!' cried Pippin.  'The Sun is shining, and here we 
are  together  for a day or two at least. I want to hear more about you all. 
Come, Gimli!  You  and  Legolas have mentioned  your  strange  journey  with 
Strider about a dozen times  already  this  morning. But you haven't told me 
anything about it.' 
     'The Sun may  shine here,' said Gimli, 'but  there are memories of that 
road  that I do not wish to recall out of the darkness. Had I known what was 
before me, I think  that not for any friendship would I have taken the Paths 
of the Dead.' 
     'The Paths of the Dead?' said Pippin.  'I heard Aragorn say  that and I 
wondered what he could mean. Won't you tell us some more?' 
     'Not willingly,' said Gimli.  'For upon that road  I  was put to shame: 
Gimli Gluin's son, who had deemed  himself  more tough than Men, and 
hardier 
under  earth than  any Elf. But neither did  I prove;  and I was held to the


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that were  burning.  And Aragorn  spoke  in a  loud voice  to  the Dead Men, 
crying: 
     ' "Hear  now the words of the Heir of Isildur!  Your oath is fulfilled. 
Go back and trouble not the valleys ever again! Depart and be at rest! " 
     'And thereupon the King of the Dead stood out before the host and broke 
his spear and cast it down. Then he bowed low and  turned away; and  swiftly 
the whole grey host drew off and vanished like a mist that is driven back by  
a sudden wind; and it seemed to me that I awoke from a dream. 
     'That  night  we  rested  while  others  laboured.  For there were many 
captives set  free,  and many slaves released who  had  been folk  of Gondor  
taken in raids; and  soon also  there  was  a great gathering  of men out of 
Lebennin and the  Ethir, and Angbor of Lamedon came u p with all the 
horsemen 
that he could muster. Now that the fear of the Dead was removed they came to


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####-to rule. 
     'Now Sauron knows all this, and he knows that this precious thing which 
he lost has been found again; but he does not yet know where it is, or so we 
hope. And therefore he is now  in great doubt. For  if we  have  found  this 
thing, there are some among us with strength enough to wield it. That too he 
knows. For do I not guess rightly, Aragorn, that you have shown  yourself to 
him in the Stone of Orthanc?' 
     'I did so  ere I rode from the Hornburg,' answered  Aragorn. 'I  deemed 
that the time was ripe, and that the  Stone had  come to me  for just such a  
purpose. It was  then ten  days since the Ring-bearer went east from Rauros,  
and the Eye of Sauron, I thought, should be drawn out from his own land. Too 
seldom has he been challenged since he  returned to his  Tower. Though if  I 
had foreseen how swift would be his onset in answer, maybe I should not have 
dared to show myself. Bare time was given me to come to your aid.'


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have passed us by, if Aragorn had not forbidden them. 
     'At his command they fell back. "Even the shades of Men are obedient to 
his will," I thought. "They may serve his needs yet! " 
     'One day of light  we  rode, and then  came the  day  without dawn, a nd 
still we rode on, and  Ciril and Ringlu we crossed; and on  the third day we 
came to  Linhir above  the mouth  of  Gilrain.  And  there  men  of  Lamedon 
contested the fords with fell folk  of Umbar and Harad who had sailed up the 
river. But  defenders   and  foes alike gave up  the battle and fled  when we 
came,  crying out that the King of the Dead was upon them. Only Angbor, Lord 
of Lamedon, had the heart to abide us; and Aragorn bade  him gather his folk 
and come behind, if they dared, when the Grey Host had passed. 
     ' "At Pelargir the Heir of Isildur will have need of you," he said. 
     'Thus we crossed  over Gilrain,  driving the allies  of  Mordor in rout


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had reached the havens before us, and brought their fear with them; and some 
of  the ships had put off, seeking to escape down the River  or to reach  the 
far shore; and many of  the  smaller  craft were  ablaze.  But the Haradrim, 
being  now  driven  to the brink, turned at  bay,  and they were  fierce  in 
despair; and they laughed when they looked on us, for they were a great army 
still. 
     'But Aragorn  halted and cried with a great voice:  "Now  come!  By the 
Black Stone I call you! " And suddenly the Shadow Host that had hung back at 
the last  came up like a grey tide, sweeping all away before it. Faint cries 
I heard, and  dim horns b lowing, and a murmur as of countless far voices: it  
was like the echo of  some forgotten battle in the Dark Years long ago. Pale  
swords were drawn; but I know not whether their blades would still bite, for  
the Dead needed no longer any weapon but fear. None would withstand them.


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Gimli Gluin's son, who had deemed  himself  more tough than Men, and 
hardier 
under  earth than  any Elf. But neither did  I prove;  and I was held to the 
road only by the will of Aragorn.' 
     'And by the love of him also,' said Legolas. 'For all those who come to 
know him come to love him after his own fashion,  even the cold maiden of the 
Rohirrim. It was at early morn of the day ere you came there, Merry, that we 
left Dunharrow, and such a fear was  on all the folk that none would look on 
our going,  save the Lady Jowyn, who lies now hurt in the House below. There 
was grief at that parting, and I was grieved to behold it.' 
     'Alas! I had heart only for myself,' said Gimli. 'Nay! I will not speak 
of that journey.' 
     He fell silent;  but Pippin and  Merry were  so eager for news that  at


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####-     'The  Stones of Seeing do  not lie, and not even  the Lord of Barad-dyr 
can make  them do so. He can, maybe, by his will choose what things shall be 
seen by weaker minds, or cause them to mistake the meaning of what they see. 
Nonetheless it cannot be doubted that when Denethor saw great forces arrayed 
against him  in Mordor,  and more  still being gathered, he  saw  that which 
truly is. 
     'Hardly has our strength sufficed to beat off the first  grea t assault. 
The next will be greater.  This war  then is without final hope, as Denethor  
perceived. Victory  cannot be  achieved by  arms, whether  you sit  here  to 
endure siege after siege, or  march  out to be overwhelmed beyond the River. 
You  have  only a  choice  of  evils;  and prudence  would  counsel  you  to 
strengthen such strong places as you have, and there await the onset; for so 
shall the time before your end be made a little longer.'


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Lebennin and the  Ethir, and Angbor of Lamedon came u p with all the 
horsemen 
that he could muster. Now that the fear of the Dead was removed they came to 
aid us and to look on  the Heir of Isildur; for the  rumour of that name had 
run like fire in the dark. 
     'And  that  is near the end  of our tale.  For  during  that evening and 
night many ships were  made ready and  manned; and in the morning the  fleet 
set forth. Long  past it now seems,  yet it was but the morn of  the day ere 
yesterday, the  sixth  since  we rode  from Dunharrow. But still Aragorn was 
driven by fear that time was too short. 
     '  "It is forty leagues and  two from Pelargir to  the  landings at the 
Harlond,"  he  said.  "Yet to  the  Harlond we must  come tomorrow  or  fail  
utterly." 
     'The oars were now wielded by free men, and manfully they laboured; yet 
slowly we passed up  the Great River, for  we strove against its stream, and


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had foreseen how swift would be his onset in answer, maybe I should not have 
dared to show myself. Bare time was given me to come to your aid.' 
     'But how is  this?' asked Jomer. 'All is  vain, you say,  if he has the 
Ring. Why should he think it not vain to assail us, if we have it?' 
     'He is not yet sure,' said Gandalf, 'and  he has not built up his power 
by waiting until his enemies are secure,  as we have done. Also we could not  
learn how to wield the  full  power all in a day. Indeed it can be used only 
by one master alone, not by many; and he will look for a time of strife, ere 
one  of the great among us makes himself master and puts down the others. In 
that time the Ring might aid him, if he were sudden. 
     'He  is  watching. He sees  much and hears much.  His Nazgyl  are still 
abroad. They passed over this field ere the sunrise, though few of the  weary 
and sleeping were aware of them. He studies the signs: the Sword that robbed


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whitened the foam at our prows. And so it was, as  you know, that we came in 
the third  hour of the morning with a fair wind and the Sun unveiled, and we 
unfurled the great standard in battle. It was a great  day and a great hour, 
whatever may come after.' 
     'Follow what may, great deeds are not lessened in worth,' said Legolas.  
'Great  deed was the riding of  the Paths  of the Dead, and great  it  shall 
remain, though none be left  in Gondor to sing of it in the days that are to 
come.' 
     'And  that may well befall,' said Gimli.  'For the faces of Aragorn and 
Gandalf are grave. Much I  wonder what counsels they are taking in the tents 
there below. For my part, like Merry, I wish that with our victory  the  war 
was now over.  Yet whatever is still to do, I hope to have a part in it, for  
the honour of the folk of the Lonely Mountain.' 
     'And I for the folk of the Great Wood,' said Legolas, 'and for the love 
of the Lord of the White Tree.'


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' "At Pelargir the Heir of Isildur will have need of you," he said. 
     'Thus we crossed  over Gilrain,  driving the allies  of  Mordor in rout 
before us; and then we rested a while. But soon Aragorn  arose, saying: "Lo!  
already  Mina s Tirith is assailed. I  fear that it  will fall ere we come to 
its aid." So  we mounted again before  night had passed and went on with all  
the speed that our horses could endure over the plains of Lebennin.' 
     Legolas paused  and  sighed,  and turning his eyes southward softly  he 
sang: 
     Silver flow the streams from Celos to Erui 
     In the green fields of Lebennin! 
     Tall grows the grass there. In the wind from the Sea 
     The white lilies sway, 
     And the golden bells are shaken of mallos and alfirin  
     In the green fields of Lebennin, 
     In the wind from the Sea!


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####-challenge battle. And it must move soon.  Therefore I ask the Captains: what 
force could we muster and lead out in two days' time at the latest? And they 
must be hardy men that go willingly, knowing their peril.' 
     'All are weary,  and very  many have  wounds  light  or grievous,' said 
Jomer,  'and  we have suffered  much loss of our horses, and that  is ill to 
bear. If we must ride soon, then I cannot  hope to  lead even two thousands, 
and yet leave as ma ny for the defence of the City.' 
     'We have not only to reckon with those who fought  on this field ' said 
Aragorn.  'New strength is on the way from the southern fiefs, now  that the 
coasts have been  rid. Four thousands I sent marching from Pelargir  through  
Lossarnach two days  ago; and  Angbor the fearless rides  before them. If we 
set out in two days  more,  they will draw nigh ere we depart. Moreover many 
were bidden to  follow me up the River  in  any craft they could gather; and


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####-land. We must march out to meet him at  once.  We  must  make ourselves  the 
bait, though his jaws  should close  on us. He will take that bait,  in hope 
and in  greed, for he will think that in  such rashness he sees the pride of 
the new Ringlord: and he will say: "So!  he pushes out his neck too soon and 
too far. Let him come on, and behold I will have him in a trap from which he 
cannot escape.  There  I  will  crush  him, and  what he  has taken  in  his 
insolence shall be mine again for ever." 
     'We must walk open-eyed into that  trap, with courage,  but small  hope 
for ourselves.  For, my  lords,  it may  well prove  that we ourselves shall 
perish utterly in  a black battle far from the living lands; so that even if 
Barad-dyr  be thrown down, we shall not live to  see a new age.  But this, I 
deem, is our  duty. And better so than  to perish nonetheless - as we surely 
shall, if we sit here  - and know as we die that no new age shall be.'


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abroad. They passed over this field ere the sunrise, though few of the  weary 
and sleeping were aware of them. He studies the signs: the Sword that robbed 
him of his treasure re-made; the winds of fortune turning in our favour, and 
the defeat unlooked-for of his first assault the fall of his great Captain. 
     'His doubt will  be  growing, even  as we  speak here. His  Eye is  now 
straining towards us,  blind  almost to all  else that is moving. So we must 
keep it. Therein  lies all our hope. This, then, is my  counsel. We have not 
the Ring. In wisdom or  great folly it has been sent away  to be  destroyed, 
lest it destroy  us. Without it we  cannot by force defeat his force. But we 
must  at all  costs  keep his Eye  from his true  peril. We  cannot  achieve 
victory  by  arms, but by arms we can give the Ring-bearer his  only chance, 
frail though it be. 
     'As Aragorn has begun, so  we must go  on. We must push  Sauron  to his


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swords were drawn; but I know not whether their blades would still bite, for  
the Dead needed no longer any weapon but fear. None would withstand them. 
     'To every  ship they came that was drawn up, and then  they passed over  
the water to those that were anchored; and all the mariners were filled with 
a madness  of  terror and leaped  overboard, save the  slaves chained to the 
oars. Reckless  we rode among  our fleeing foes,  driving them  like leaves,  
until  we  came to  the  shore. And then to each  of  the  great  ships that 
remained Aragorn sent one of the D®nedain,  and  they comforted the captives 
that were aboard, and bade  them put aside fear and be free. 
     'Ere  that dark day ended none of the  enemy were left to resist us all 
were drowned, or were flying  south in the hope to find their own lands upon 
foot.  Strange and wonderful I thought it that  the designs of Mordor should 
be overthrown by such wraiths of fear and darkness. With its own weapons was


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####-once swift riders were sent out to gather  what news they could  northwards;  
and eastwards from Osgiliath and the road to Minas Morgul. 
     And when they  had reck oned up all their strength and taken thought for  
the  journeys  they should  make  and the  roads they should choose, Imrahil  
suddenly laughed aloud. 
     'Surely,' he cried, 'this is  the greatest jest  in  all the history of 
Gondor:  that  we should  ride with seven thousands,  scarce  as many as the 
vanguard of its army in  the days of its power, to assail the mountains  and 
the impenetrable  gate  of the  Black Land!  So  might  a  child  threaten a  
mail-clad knight with a bow of string and green  willow! If  the  Dark  Lord 
knows so  much as you say, Mithrandir,  will  he not rather smile than fear, 
and with his little finger crush us like a fly that tries to sting him?' 
     'No, he  will try to  trap  the fly  and take the sting,' said Gandalf.


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deem, is our  duty. And better so than  to perish nonetheless - as we surely 
shall, if we sit here  - and know as we die that no new age shall be.' 
     They were  silent for a while.  At  length Aragorn  spoke.  'As  I have 
begun, so I  will go on.  We  come  now  to the  very brink, where hope  and 
despair are akin. To waver is to fall.  Let none  now reject the counsels of 
Gandalf,  whose long labours against  Sauron come at last to their test. But 
for him all would long ago have been lost. Nonetheless I do not yet claim to  
command any man. Let others choose as they will.' 
     Then said Elrohir: 'From the North we came with this purpose,  and from 
Elrond our father we brought this very counsel. We will not turn back.' 
     'As for  myself,'  said Jomer, 'I have little knowledge of  these  deep 
matters; but I need it not. This I know, and it is enough, that as my friend 
Aragorn succoured  me and my people, so I will aid him when he calls. I will 
go.'


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set out in two days  more,  they will draw nigh ere we depart. Moreover many 
were bidden to  follow me up the River  in  any craft they could gather; and 
with this wind they  will soon be at hand, indeed several ships have already 
come to the Harlond. I judge that we could lead out seven thousands of horse 
and foot, and yet  leave the City  in better defence  than it  was  when the 
assault began.' 
     'The Gate  is destroyed,' said Imrahil, 'and where now is the skill  to 
rebuild it and set it up anew?' 
     'In Erebor  in  the Kingdom of Dbin there is such skill,' said Aragorn; 
'and  if all our hopes do not perish, then in time I will send Gimli Gluin's 
son to ask for wrights of  the Mountain. But  men are better than gates, and 
no gate will endure against our Enemy if men desert it.' 
     This then was the end of the debate  of the lords: that they should set 
forth on the  second  morning from that day with  seven thousands, if  these


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victory  by  arms, but by arms we can give the Ring-bearer his  only chance, 
frail though it be. 
     'As Aragorn has begun, so  we must go  on. We must push  Sauron  to his 
last throw. We must call out his hidden strength, so that he shall empty his


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the honour of the folk of the Lonely Mountain.' 
     'And I for the folk of the Great Wood,' said Legolas, 'and for the love 
of the Lord of the White Tree.' 
     Then the companions fell silent, but a while they sat there in the high 
place, each busy with his own thoughts, while the Captains debated. 
     When the Prince Imrahil had parted  from Legolas and Gimli, at once  he 
sent  for Jomer; and he went down with him  from the  City, and they came to 
the tents  of Aragorn that were set up on the field not  far  from the place 
where King Thjoden had  fallen.  And there they took  counsel together  with 
Gandalf and Aragorn and the sons of Elrond. 
     'My lords,' said Gandalf, 'listen to the words of the Steward of Gondor  
before he died: You may triumph on the fields of the Pelennor for a day, but 
against the Power that has  now arisen there is no victory. I do not bid you  
despair, as he did, but to ponder the truth in these words.


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foot.  Strange and wonderful I thought it that  the designs of Mordor should 
be overthrown by such wraiths of fear and darkness. With its own weapons was 
it worsted!' 
     'Strange indeed,' said Legolas. 'In that  hour I  looked on Aragorn and


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matters; but I need it not. This I know, and it is enough, that as my friend 
Aragorn succoured  me and my people, so I will aid him when he calls. I will 
go.' 
     'As  for  me,'  said  Imrahil,  'the  Lord  Aragorn  I  hold to  be  my 
liege-lord, whether he  claim it or no. His wish  is to me a command. I will 
go also. Yet for a  while I stand in the place of the Steward of Gondor, and 
it is mine to think first of its people. To prudence some heed must still be 
given. For we must prepare against  all chances, good as well as  evil. Now,  
it may be that we shall triumph, and while there is any hope of this, Gondor  
must be protected.  I  would not have us return  with victory  to a City  in 
ruins and a land ravaged behind us. And yet we learn from the  Rohirrim that 
there is an army still unfought upon our northern flank.' 
     'That is true,' said Gandalf. 'I  do not  counsel you to leave the City


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and with his little finger crush us like a fly that tries to sting him?' 
     'No, he  will try to  trap  the fly  and take the sting,' said Gandalf. 
'And there are names among us that are worth more than a thousand  mail -clad 
knights apiece. No, he will not smile.' 
     'Neither  shall  we,'  said Aragorn. 'If this be  jest, then it is  too 
bitter for laughter.  Nay, it is the last  move in a great jeopardy, and for 
one  side or  the other  it  will bring the end of the game.' Then  he  drew 
And®ril and  held it up glittering  in the sun. 'You shall  not  be sheathed 
again until the last battle is fought;' he said.


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This then was the end of the debate  of the lords: that they should set 
forth on the  second  morning from that day with  seven thousands, if  these 
might  be found; and the great part of this force should be on foot, because 
of the  evil lands  into which they would go. Aragorn  should  find some two 
thousands  of those that he  had  gathered to him  in the South; but Imrahil 
should find  three  and  a half thousands;  and Jomer  five  hundreds  of the 
Rohirrim who  were unhorsed but themselves warworthy, and he himself  
should 
lead five hundreds of his  best Riders on horse; and another company of five 
hundred horse there  should be,  among which should ride the sons  of Elrond 
with  the D®nedain and the knights of Dol Amroth: all told six thousand foot 
and a thousand horse. But the main strength  of the  Rohirrim  that remained 
horsed and able to  fight, some three thousand under the command of Elfhelm,


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there is an army still unfought upon our northern flank.' 
     'That is true,' said Gandalf. 'I  do not  counsel you to leave the City 
all unmanned.  Indeed  the force that  we lead east need not be great enough 
for any  assault in earnest   upon Mordor, so  long as it be great enough  to


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####-the  end of the second day of their  march  from  the Cross-roads  that they 
first met any offer  of battle.  For a strong force  of Orcs and Easterlings 
attempted to  take their leading companies in an ambush; and that was in the 
very place where Faramir  had waylaid the men of Harad, and the road went in 
a deep cutting through an out-thrust of the eastward hills. But the Captains 
of the West were well warned by their scouts, skilled men from Henneth 
Annyn 
led by Mablung; and so the ambush was itself trapped. For horsemen went 
wide 
about westward and  came  up on the flank of  the enemy and from behind, and 
they were destroyed or driven east into the hills. 
     But  the victory did  little to  enhearten the captains.  'It  is but a  
feint,' said Aragorn; 'and its chief purpose, I  deem, was  rather to draw us 
on by a false guess of our Enemy's weakness than to  do us much hurt,  yet.' 
And from that evening onward the Nazgyl came and followed every move  of 
the


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strengthen such strong places as you have, and there await the onset; for so 
shall the time before your end be made a little longer.' 
     'Then you would have  us retreat to Minas Tirith, or Dol  Amroth, or to 
Dunharrow, and  there sit  like children on  sand-castles when  the tide  is 
flowing?' said Imrahil. 
     'That would  be no new  counsel,' said Gandalf. 'Have you not done this 
and  little more in all the  days of Denethor?  But no! I sa id this would be 
prudent. I do not counsel prudence. I said  victory could not be achieved by 
arms. I still hope for victory, but not by arms.  For into the midst  of all 
these policies comes the Ring of Power, the foundation of Barad-dyr, and the 
hope of Sauron. 
     'Concerning  this  thing,  my  lords, you now  all know enough for  the 
understanding of our plight, and of  Sauron's. If he regains it, your valour 
is  vain, and his victory will be swift and complete: so  complete that none


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####-enemies, as I think, then re-take it, if you can; and hold it to the last in 
defence of Gondor and Rohan!' 
     Then some being shamed by  his mercy  overcame their fear and  went on, 
and the others took new hope, hearing of a manful  deed within their measure 
that  they  could turn to, and they  departed.  And so,  since many men  had 
already  been left  at the Cross-roads,  it was with less than six thousands 
that the Captains of the West came at last  to challenge the  Black Gate and 
the might of Mordor. 
     They advanced  now slowly, expecting at every hour some answer to their 
challenge, and they drew together, since it was but waste of men to send out 
scouts or small parties from the main host. At nightfall of the fifth day of 
the march from Morgul Vale they made their last camp, and set fires about it  
of such dead wood and  heath as they  could find. They  passed the hours  of 
night  in  wakefulness  and they were aware  of many things  half-seen  that


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Two days later the army of the West was all assembled on the  Pelennor.  
The host of Orcs and Easterlings had turned back out of Anurien, but harried 
and scattered by the Rohirrim they had  broken and fled with little fighting 
towards Cair  Andros;  and with  that  threat  destroyed  and  new  strength 
arriving out of the South the City  was as well  manned  as might be. Scouts 
reported  that  no  enemies remained  upon the  roads  east  as  far  as the 
Cross-roads of the Fallen King. All now was ready for the last throw.  
     Legolas and Gimli were to ride again together in the company of Aragorn 
and Gandalf, who went in the  van with the D®nedain  and the sons of Elrond. 
But Merry to his shame was not to go with them. 
     'You are  not fit for  such a  journey,' said  Aragorn. 'But  do not be 
ashamed.  If  you do no  more  in  this  war, you have already earned  great 
honour. Peregrin shall go and represent the Shirefolk; and do not grudge him


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####-gate.' 
     But against this Gandalf had spoken urgently, because of  the evil that 
dwelt in the valley, where the minds of living men would turn to madness and 
horror, and because also of the  news  that Faramir had brought.  For if the 
Ring-bearer had indeed attempted that  way,  then above  all they should not 
draw the Eye of Mordor thither.  So the next day when the main host came up, 
they set a strong guard upon the Cross-roads to make some defence, if Mordor  
should send a force  over the Morgul Pass, or should bring  more men up from 
the South. For that guard  they chose mostly archers  who knew  the ways  of 
Ithilien and would lie hid in the woods and slopes about the meeting  of the 
ways. But Gandalf and Aragorn rode with the  vanguard  to  the  entrance  of 
Morgul Vale and looked on the evil city. 
     It was dark and  lifeless; for the Orcs and lesser creatures of  Mordor  
that  had  dwelt  there had been destroyed in  battle,  and the  Nazgyl were


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and a thousand horse. But the main strength  of the  Rohirrim  that remained 
horsed and able to  fight, some three thousand under the command of Elfhelm, 
should waylay the West Road against  the enemy that was in  Anurien. And  at


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on by a false guess of our Enemy's weakness than to  do us much hurt,  yet.' 
And from that evening onward the Nazgyl came and followed every move  of 
the 
army. They still  flew  high and out  of sight of all  save Legolas, and  yet 
their presence could  be felt, as a deepening of shadow and a dimming of the  
sun; and though the Ringwraiths did not  yet stoop low upon  their foes  and  
were silent, uttering no cry, the dread of them could not be shaken off. 
     So time and  the hopeless  journey wore away. Upon the fourth day  from  
the Cross-roads and the sixth from Minas Tirith they came at last to the end 
of  the living lands,  and began to pass into the desolation that lay before 
the gates of the Pass of Cirith Gorgor; and  they could  descry the  marshes 
and the desert that  stretched north and west to  the Emyn Muil. So desolate 
were those places and so  deep  the horror that lay on them that some of the


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####-rocks  about  the Morannon  were filled with hidden  foes, and  the  shadowy 
defile beyond was bored and tunnelled  by teeming broods of evil things. And 
as they stood they saw all the Nazgyl gathered together, hovering  above the 
Towers of the Teeth like vultures; and they knew that they were watched. But 
still the Enemy made no sign. 
     No  choice was left them but to play their part  to  its end. Therefore 
Aragorn now set the host in such array as could  best be contrived; and they  
were drawn up on two great  hills of blasted stone and earth  that orcs  had 
piled in years of labour. Before them towards Mordor lay like a moat a great 
mire  of  reeking  mud and foul-smelling  pools. When all  was  ordered, the 
Captains rode  forth towards the Black Gate with  a great  guard of horsemen 
and  the  banner and heralds  and  trumpeters.  There  was Gandalf as  chief 
herald,  and  Aragorn  with  the sons of Elrond,  and  Jomer  of Rohan,  and


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ashamed.  If  you do no  more  in  this  war, you have already earned  great 
honour. Peregrin shall go and represent the Shirefolk; and do not grudge him 
his chance of peril, for  though  he has done as well as his fortune allowed 
him, he has yet to match your deed. But in truth all now are in like danger. 
Though it may be our part to  find bitter end before the  Gate of Mordor, if 
we do so,  then you will come also to a last  stand, either here or wherever  
the black tide overtakes you. Farewell!' 
     And  so  despondently Merry now  stood and watched the mustering of the 
army. Bergil was with him, and  he  also was downcast; for his father was to 
march leading a company of the  Men  of the City:  he could not  rejoin  the 
Guard until his case was judged. In that same company Pippin was also to go, 
as a soldier of Gondor. Merry could see him not far off, a small but upright 
figure among the tall men of Minas Tirith.


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Morgul Vale and looked on the evil city. 
     It was dark and  lifeless; for the Orcs and lesser creatures of  Mordor  
that  had  dwelt  there had been destroyed in  battle,  and the  Nazgyl were 
abroad. Yet the air of the valley was heavy  with fear and enmity. Then they 
broke the evil bridge and set red flames in the noisome fields and departed. 
     The  day  after, being the  third day  since they  set  out  from Minas 
Tirith, the army  began its  northward  march along  the  road.  It was some 
hundred  miles by that  way  from the  Cross-roads to the Morannon, and what 
might befall  them before they  came so  far  none knew They went openly but 
heedfully, with mounted scouts before them  on the road, and others on  foot 
upon either  side, especially  on  the  eastward flank;  for there lay  dark 
thickets, and  a tumbled  land of rocky ghylls  and crags,  behind which the 
long  grim slopes of the Ephel D®ath clambered up. The weather of  the world


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####-     'As for Faramir,' said Gandalf, 'he must soon  learn that his father is 
dead. But the full  tale of the  madness  of Denethor should  not be told to 
him, until  he is quite  healed and has duties to do. See  that Beregond and 
the perian who were present do not speak to him of these things yet!' 
     And the other perian Meriadoc who is  under my care, what of him?' said 
the Warden. 
     'It  is likely that  he will  be  fit  to arise tomorrow, for  a  short 
while,' said Aragorn.  'Let him do so, if he  wishes. He may walk a little in 
the care of his friends.' 
     'They are a remarkable race,' said the Warden, nodding his head.  'Very 
tough in the fibre, I deem.' 
     At the  doors of the Houses many were already gathered to  see Aragorn,  
and they  followed  after him; and when at last he  had supped, men came and 
prayed that he would heal their kinsmen or their friends whose lives were in 
peril through hurt or wound, or who lay under the Black  Shadow. And


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of such dead wood and  heath as they  could find. They  passed the hours  of 
night  in  wakefulness  and they were aware  of many things  half-seen  that 
walked and prowled all about them, and they heard the howling of wolves. The 
wind had  died  and all  the air  seemed still. They  could see  little, for  
though it was cloudless and the waxing moon was four nights  old, there were 
smokes  and  fumes  that rose  out of the earth and  the white  crescent was 
shrouded in the mists of Mordor. 
     It grew cold. As morning came the wind bega n to stir again,  but now it 
came from  the North,  and  soon it  freshened to a  rising breeze. All  the 
night-walkers were gone, and the land seemed empty. North amid their 
noisome 
pits lay the first of the great heaps and hills of slag and broken  rock and 
blasted earth,  the vomit of the maggot-folk of Mordor;  but south  and  now 
near loomed the great rampart of Cirith Gorgor, and the Black Gate amidmost,


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and the desert that  stretched north and west to  the Emyn Muil. So desolate 
were those places and so  deep  the horror that lay on them that some of the 
host were unmanned, and they could neither walk nor ride further north. 
     Aragorn looked  at them,  and there was pity  in his  eyes  rather than 
wrath;  for  these were young men from Rohan,  from Westfold  far  away,  or  
husbandmen  from  Lossarnach, and to them Mordor had been  from childhood  
a 
name  of evil,  and yet  unreal, a  legend that had no part in  their simple 
life; and now  they walked like men in a  hideous dream made true,  and they 
understood not this war nor why fate should lead them to such a pass.  
     'Go!' said Aragorn. 'But  keep what honour you may, and do not run! And 
there is a task which you may attempt and so be not wholly shamed. Take your 
way  south-west till you come to Cair Andros, and  if that is still  held by


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Guard until his case was judged. In that same company Pippin was also to go, 
as a soldier of Gondor. Merry could see him not far off, a small but upright 
figure among the tall men of Minas Tirith. 
     At last the  trumpets  rang and the army began to move. Troop by troop, 
and company by company,  they wheeled and went off  eastward. And long 
after 
they had passed away out of sight down the great road to the Causeway, Merry 
stood there. The  last glint of the morning sun  on  spear and helm twinkled 
and was lost, and still he remained with bowed head and heavy heart, feeling 
friendless  and  alone. Everyone  that  he cared for had  gone away into the 
gloom  that  hung over the distant eastern sky;  and little  hope at all was 
left in his heart that he wou ld ever see any of them again.


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thickets, and  a tumbled  land of rocky ghylls  and crags,  behind which the 
long  grim slopes of the Ephel D®ath clambered up. The weather of  the world 
remained fair and the wind held in the west, but nothing could waft away the 
glooms  and the sad  mists  that clung  about  the Mountains of  Shadow; and 
behind them at whiles great smokes would arise and hover in the upper winds.  
     Ever and anon Gandalf let blow the trumpets, and the heralds would cry:  
"The  Lords of Gondor are come! Let  all leave this land  or yield them up!' 
But Imrahil said: 'Say not  The Lords of Gondor.  Say The King Elessar.  For 
that is true, even though he has  not yet  sat  upon the throne; and it will 
give the Enemy more thought, if  the  heralds use that name.' And thereafter  
thrice a day the heralds proclaimed the coming of the King Elessar. But none 
answered the challenge. 
     Nonetheless, though they marched in seeming  peace,  the hearts  of all


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and  the  banner and heralds  and  trumpeters.  There  was Gandalf as  chief 
herald,  and  Aragorn  with  the sons of Elrond,  and  Jomer  of Rohan,  and 
Imrahil; and Legolas and Gimli and Peregrin were bidden to  go also, so that 
all the enemies of Mordor should have a witness. 
     They came within cry of the Morannon, and unfurled the banner, and blew 
upon their trumpets; and the heralds stood out and sent their voices up over  
the battlement of Mordor. 
     'Come forth!'  they cried. 'Let the Lord of the Black   Land come forth!  
Justice shall be done upon  him. For wrongfully he  has made war upon Gondor  
and  wrested its lands. Therefore the King  of Gondor demands that he should 
atone for his evils, and depart then for ever. Come forth!' 
     There was  a long  silence, and from wall and gate no cry or sound  was 
heard in  answer. But Sauron had already laid his plans,  and he had a  mind


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There was  a long  silence, and from wall and gate no cry or sound  was 
heard in  answer. But Sauron had already laid his plans,  and he had a  mind  
first to play these mice cruelly before he struck to kill.  So  it was that, 
even  as  the  Captains were about to  turn  away, the  silence  was  broken 
suddenly.  There came  a  long rolling  of great  drums like thunder in  the 
mountains,  and  then  a  braying  of horns that  shook the very  stones and 
stunned men's ears.  And thereupon the  middle  door  of the Black Gate  was 
thrown open with a great clang, and out of it there came an embassy from the 
Dark Tower. 
     At its  head there rode a  tall  and evil  shape, mounted  upon a black  
horse, if  horse it was;  for it was huge  and hideous,  and its face was  a  
frightful mask, more like a skull than a living head,  and in the sockets of 
its eyes and in its nostrils there burned a flame. The  rider was robed  all


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prayed that he would heal their kinsmen or their friends whose lives were in 
peril through hurt or wound, or who lay under the Black  Shadow. And 
Aragorn 
arose and went out, and he sent for  the sons of  Elrond,  and together they 
laboured  far into the  night. And word went through the City: 'The  King is 
come again indeed.' And they named  him Elfstone, because of the green stone 
that  he wore, and so  the name  which it was for etold at his  birth that he 
should bear was chosen for him by his own people. 
     And when he  could labour no  more,  he cast his  cloak  about him, and 
slipped out of the City, and went to his tent just ere dawn and  slept for a  
little. And in the morning the banner of  Dol Amroth, a  white ship  like  a  
swan upon blue water, floated from the Tower, and men looked up and 
wondered 
if the coming of the King had been but a dream.


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####-remembered  in no  tale; for he himself had forgotten it, and he said: 'I am 
the Mouth of Sauron.' But it is told that he was a renegade, who came of the 
race of those  that are named the Black  N®menureans;  for   they established 
their dwellings in Middle-earth during the years of Sauron's domination, and 
they worshipped him, being enamoured  of evil knowledge.  And he entered the 
service of the  Dark Tower when it  first rose again,  and  because  of  his 
cunning  he grew  ever  higher  in the Lord's favour;  and  he learned  great 
sorcery, and knew much of the mind of Sauron; and he was more cruel than 
any 
orc. 
     He it was that now rode out, and with him came only a small company  of 
black-harnessed soldiery, a nd a  single  banner, black but  bearing on it in 
red the Evil Eye. Now halting a few paces before the Captains of the West he 
looked them up and down and laughed. 
     'Is  there  anyone in this rout  with authority to treat  with me?'  he


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frightful mask, more like a skull than a living head,  and in the sockets of 
its eyes and in its nostrils there burned a flame. The  rider was robed  all 
in  black, and black was his lofty helm;  yet this  was  no Ringwraith but a  
living man. The Lieutenant of the Tower of Barad-dyr he was, and his name is


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####-     As if recalled by his mood of despair,  the  pain in his arm  returned, 
and he felt weak and old, and the sunlight seemed thin. He was roused by the 
touch of Bergil's hand. 
     'Come, Master Perian!' said the lad. 'You are still  in pain, I see.  I 
will help you back to the Healers. But do not fear! They will come back. The 
Men  of  Minas Tirith  will never be overcome. And  now they  have the  Lord 
Elfstone, and Beregond of the Guard too.' 
     Ere  noon the army  came  to  Osgiliath.  There  all  the  workers  and 
craftsmen  that  could  be  spared were  busy. Some were  strengthening  the 
ferries and boat-bridges that the  enemy had made and in part destroyed when 
they fled; some  gathered  stores and booty; and others  on the eastern side 
across the River were throwing up hasty works of defence. 
     The vanguard passed on through the ruins  of  Old Gondor, and  over the 
wide River, and  on up the long straight road that in the high days had been


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thrice a day the heralds proclaimed the coming of the King Elessar. But none 
answered the challenge. 
     Nonetheless, though they marched in seeming  peace,  the hearts  of all 
the army, from the highest to the lowest, were downcast, and with every mile 
that they went  north foreboding  of evil grew heavier  on them. It was near


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####-all the Captains he held up first the short sword that Sam had carried,  and 
next a grey  cloak with  an elven-brooch,  and last the coat of mithril-mail 
that  Frodo  had  worn  wrapped  in  his tattered garments. A blackness came  
before their eyes,  and it seemed  to  them in a moment of  silence that the 
world  stood  still,  but their  hearts were dead and their last  hope gone. 
Pippin who stood behind Prince Imrahil sprang forward with a cry of grief.  
     'Silence!' said Gandalf sternly, thrusting him back;  but the Messenger  
laughed aloud. 
     'So you  have yet another of these imps  with you!' he cried. 'What use 
you  find in them I cannot guess; but to send them as  spies into Mordor  is 
beyond even your  accustomed folly. Still, I thank him, for it is plain that 
this brat  at  least has seen these tokens  before, and it would be vain for 
you to deny them now.' 
     'I do not wish to  deny  them,' said Gandalf. 'Indeed, I know them  all


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red the Evil Eye. Now halting a few paces before the Captains of the West he 
looked them up and down and laughed. 
     'Is  there  anyone in this rout  with authority to treat  with me?'  he 
asked. 'Or indeed with wit to  understand me? Not thou at least!' he mocked, 
turning to Aragorn with scorn. 'It needs more to make a king than a piece of 
elvish glass, or a rabble  such as this. Why, any brigand  of the  hills can 
show as good a following!' 
     Aragorn said naught in answer, but he took the other's eye and held it, 
and for a moment they strove thus; but soon, though Aragorn did not stir nor  
move hand to weapon, the other  quailed and  gave back as if menaced with  a  
blow. 'I am a herald and ambassador, a nd may not be assailed!' he cried. 
     'Where such  laws hold,'  said  Gandalf, 'it is  also  the  custom  for  
ambassadors to use less insolence. But  no one  has threatened you. You have


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####-upon his  steed, and with his company galloped madly back to  Cirith Gorgor. 
But  as they went his soldiers blew their horns in signal long arranged; and 
even before they came to the gate Sauron sprang his trap. 
     Drums rolled and fires leaped up.  The  great doors  of the  Black Gate 
swung  back wide. Out  of  it streamed a great host  as  swiftly as swirling 
waters when a sluice is lifted. 
     The Captains mounted  again  and rode back, and from the host of Mordor 
there went up a jeering yell. Dust  rose smothering the air,  as from nearby 
there marched up an army of Easterlings  that  had  waited for the signal in 
the shadows of Ered Lithui beyond the further Tower.  Down from the hills on 
either side of  the  Morannon poured Orcs innumerable. The men of  the  West  
were  trapped, and soon. all about  the grey mounds where they stood, forces 
ten times and more than ten times  their  match  would ring them in a sea of


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The vanguard passed on through the ruins  of  Old Gondor, and  over the 
wide River, and  on up the long straight road that in the high days had been 
made to run  from the fair  Tower of the Sun to the tall  Tower of the Moon,  
which now was Minas Morgul in its accursed vale. Five miles beyond Osgiliath 
they halted, ending their first day's march. 
     But  the  horsemen  pressed  on  and  ere  evening  they  came  to  the 
Cross-roads and the great ring of trees, and all was silent. No sign of  any 
enemy  had they seen, no cry or  call had been heard, no shaft had sped from 
rock or  thicket by the  way, yet  ever as they went  forward  they felt the 
watchfulness  of  the land  increase. Tree and stone,  blade  and leaf  were 
listening. The darkness had been dispelled, and far away westward sunset was 
on the  Vale of  Anduin, and the white peaks of the mountains blushed in the  
blue air; but a shadow and a gloom brooded upon the Ephel D®ath.


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####-assault. 'Well, well, now at  any rate  I understand  poor Denethor a little 
better. We might die together, Merry and  I, and since die we must, why not? 
Well, as he is not  here, I hope he'll find an easier end. But now I must do 
my best.' 
     He drew  his sword and looked at it, and the intertwining shapes of red 
and gold; and  the flowing characters of N®menor glinted like fire upon  the 
blade. 'This was made for just  such an hour,' he thought. 'If only  I could 
smite that foul Messenger with  it, then almost I should draw level with old 
Merry.  Well, I'll smite some of this beastly brood before the end. I wish I 
could see cool sunlight and green grass again!' 
     Then  even  as he thought  these things the  first assault crashed into 
them.  The orcs hindered by the  mires that  lay before the hills halted and 
poured their arrows into the defending ranks.  But through them  there  came 
striding  up,  roaring  like beasts, a  great company of  hill-trolls out of


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this brat  at  least has seen these tokens  before, and it would be vain for 
you to deny them now.' 
     'I do not wish to  deny  them,' said Gandalf. 'Indeed, I know them  all 
and all  their history,  and despite your scorn,  foul Mouth of  Sauron, you  
cannot say as much. But why do you bring them here?' 
     'Dwarf-coat,  elf-cloak, blade of the downfallen West, and spy from the 
little rat-land  of the Shire-nay; do not  start! We know it well - here are 
the marks  of a  conspiracy. Now,  maybe  he that bore  these  things was  a  
creature that you would not grieve to lose, and maybe otherwise: one dear to  
you, perhaps? If so, take swift counsel with what little wit is left to you. 
For  Sauron does not love  spies, and what his fate  shall be depends now on 
your choice.' 
     No one answered him;  but he  saw their faces  grey with  fear and  the 
horror  in their eyes, and he laughed again, for it  seemed to him  that his


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####-Great  in arms, open or  secret. All lands east of Anduin  shall be Sauron's 
for  ever, solely. West of the Anduin as  far as the Misty Mountains and the 
Gap of Rohan  shall  be tributary to  Mordor,  and men  there  shall bear no 
weapons, but shall  have leave to govern  their own affairs. But  they shall 
help  to rebuild Isengard which they have wantonly destroyed, and that shall 
be Sauron's, and there his lieutenant shall dwell: not Saruman, but one more 
worthy of trust.' 
     Looking in  the Messenger's  eyes they read his thought.  He was to  be  
that lieutenant, and gather all that remained of the West under his sway; he 
would be their tyrant and they his slaves.  
     But Gandalf said:  'This is much  to demand for  the  delivery  of  one 
servant: that your Master should receive in exchange what he must else fight  
many a war to gain! Or has the field of Gondor destroyed his hope in war, so


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'Where such  laws hold,'  said  Gandalf, 'it is  also  the  custom  for  
ambassadors to use less insolence. But  no one  has threatened you. You have 
naught to fear  from us,  until your errand is done. But unless  your master  
has  come  to new  wisdom, then with all  his servants  you will be in great 
peril.' 
     'So!' said the  Messenger. 'Then thou art the spokesman, old greybeard?  
Have we not  heard of  thee at whiles, and  of thy wanderings, ever hatching 
plots a nd mischief at a safe distance? But this time thou hast stuck out thy 
nose too far, Master Gandalf; and thou shalt see what comes to him  who sets 
his foolish webs before  the feet of Sauron the Great. I have  tokens that I 
was bidden  to show to thee -  to thee in especial, if thou shouldst dare to 
come.' He signed to  one of his guards, and he came forward bearing a bundle 
swathed in black cloths.  
     The Messenger put  these  aside, and there to the wonder and  dismay of


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were  trapped, and soon. all about  the grey mounds where they stood, forces 
ten times and more than ten times  their  match  would ring them in a sea of 
enemies. Sauron had taken the proffered bait in jaws of steel. 
     Little  time was left to Aragorn for the ordering  of  his battle. Upon 
the one hill he  stood with Gandalf, and there fair and desperate was raised 
the  ba nner of  the  Tree and  Stars.  Upon the other hill hard by stood the 
banners of Rohan and Dol Amroth, White Horse and Silver Swan. And about 
each 
hill a ring was made facing all ways, bristling with spear and sword. But in 
the front  towards Mordor  where the  first bitter  assault would come there 
stood the sons of Elrond on  the left with the D®nedain  about them,  and on 
the right  the  Prince Imrahil with the men of Dol Amroth tall and fair, and 
picked men of the Tower of Guard. 
     The  wind blew, and the trumpets sang, and  arrows whined; but the  sun


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your choice.' 
     No one answered him;  but he  saw their faces  grey with  fear and  the 
horror  in their eyes, and he laughed again, for it  seemed to him  that his 
sport went well. 'Good, good!' he  said. 'He was dear to you, I see. Or else 
his  errand was one that you did not wish to fail? It  has. And now he shall 
endure the slow torment of years, as long and  slow as our arts in the Great 
Tower can contrive, and never  be released,  unless maybe when he is changed 
and  broken,  so  that  he may come  to you, and you  shall see what you have  
done. This shall surely be-unless you accept my Lord's terms.' 
     'Name  the  terms,'  said Gandalf steadily,  but  those nearby  saw the 
anguish in  his  face,  and now he  seemed an  old and wizened man, crushed, 
defeated at la st. They did not doubt that he would accept. 
     'These are the terms,' said the  Messenger, and smiled as he eyed  them 
one by one. 'The rabble of  Gondor and  its deluded allies shall withdraw at


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poured their arrows into the defending ranks.  But through them  there  came 
striding  up,  roaring  like beasts, a  great company of  hill-trolls out of 
Gorgoroth. Taller and broader than Men they were, and they were clad only in 
close-fitting mesh of  horny  scales, or maybe  that was their hideous hide; 
but they bore round  bucklers  huge and black and wielded heavy  hammers  in 
their  knotted hands.  Reckless they sprang into the pools and waded across,  
bellowing as they came. Like a  storm they broke upon the line of the men of 
Gondor, and beat upon helm and head, and arm and shield as smiths hewing the 
hot bending iron. At Pippin's  side Beregond was stunned  and overborne, and 
he fell;  and the great  troll-chief that  smote  him  down  bent over  him, 
reaching out  a  clutching  claw; for  these  fell creatures would bite  the 
throats of those that they threw down. 
     Then  Pippin  stabbed  upwards, and  the  written blade of  Westernesse


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blasted earth,  the vomit of the maggot-folk of Mordor;  but south  and  now 
near loomed the great rampart of Cirith Gorgor, and the Black Gate amidmost, 
and the two Towers of the Teeth tall and dark upon either side. For in their 
last march  the Capta ins had turned away from the old road as it  bent east,  
and avoided the peril of the lurking hills, and so now they were approaching 
the Morannon from the north-west, even as Frodo had done. 
     The two  vast iron doors of the Black Gate under its frowning arch were 
fast closed. Upon the battlement nothing could be seen. All was  silent  but 
watchful. They  were come to the last end of their folly, and stood  forlorn 
and chill in the grey light of early day before towers and walls which their 
army could not assault with hope, not even if it had brought thither engines 
of great power, and  the Enemy had no more force than would suffice  for the 
manning of  the gate  and wall alone. Yet  they  knew that all the hills and


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servant: that your Master should receive in exchange what he must else fight  
many a war to gain! Or has the field of Gondor destroyed his hope in war, so 
that  he falls to haggling? And  if indeed we rated this  prisoner  so high, 
what  surety have we that Sauron the Base Master of Treachery, will keep his 
part? Where  is this prisoner?  Let him be brought forth and yielded to  us,  
and then we will consider these demands.' 
     It  seemed then to Gandalf,  intent, watching  him as a  man engaged in 
fencing with a deadly foe, that for the taking of a breath the Messenger was 
at a loss; yet swiftly he laughed again. 
     'Do  not bandy words in  your  insolence with  the Mouth of Sauron!' he 
cried. 'Surety you crave! Sauron gives none. If you sue for his clemency you  
must first do his bidding. These are his terms. Take them or leave them!' 
     'These  we will take!' said Gandalf suddenly. He cast  aside  his cloak


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on the  Vale of  Anduin, and the white peaks of the mountains blushed in the  
blue air; but a shadow and a gloom brooded upon the Ephel D®ath. 
     Then Aragorn set trumpeters at each of the four roads that ran into the 
ring  of trees,  and they blew a great fanfare, and the heralds cried aloud: 
'The Lords  of Gondor have returned  and all this  land  that is theirs they 
take back.'  The  hideous orc-head that  was  set upon the carven figure was 
cast down and  broken in pieces, and the old king's head was raised  and set 
in its place once more, still crowned with white and golden flowers: and men 
laboured  to wash and pare away all the foul scrawls that orcs  had put upon  
the stone. 
     Now in their debate  some had counselled that Minas Morgul should first  
be assailed, and if  they  might take  it,  it should  be utterly destroyed. 
'And, maybe,'  said Imrahil, 'the road that leads thence to  the pass  above


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must first do his bidding. These are his terms. Take them or leave them!' 
     'These  we will take!' said Gandalf suddenly. He cast  aside  his cloak 
and a white  light shone forth like a sword in that black  place. Before his 
upraised hand   the  foul Messenger recoiled, and  Gandalf  coming seized and 
took from him  the tokens: coat,  cloak, and sword. 'These we  will take  in 
memory of our friend,' he cried.  'But  as for your  terms, we  reject  them 
utterly. Get you gone, for your embassy is over and death is near to you. We 
did not  come here  to waste words in treating  with Sauron,  faithless  and 
accursed; still less with one of his slaves. Begone!' 
     Then the Messenger of Mordor laughed no more. His face was twisted with 
amazement and anger to the  likeness of some wild beast that, as it crouches 
on  its  prey, is smitten on the muzzle with a stinging rod. Rage filled him 
and his mouth  slavered, and shapeless  sounds of fury came  strangling from


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'These are the terms,' said the  Messenger, and smiled as he eyed  them 
one by one. 'The rabble of  Gondor and  its deluded allies shall withdraw at 
once beyond the Anduin, first taking oaths never  again to assail Sauron the


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####-Rohirrim down the Stonewain Valley, while in Minas Tirith flames were rising 
and Pippin watched the madness growing in the eyes of Denethor. Yet amid all 
their cares and  fear  the thoughts of  their friends  turned  constantly to 
Frodo and Sam. They were not forgotten. But they were far beyond aid, and no 
thought could yet  bring any help to Samwise  Hamfast's son; he was  utterly 
alone. 
 
     He came back at last to the  stone door of the  orc-passage, and  still 
unable to  discover the catch  or bolt that held it,  he scrambled  over  as 
before and dropped softly to  the ground. Then he made his way stealthily to 
the  outlet of Shelob's tunnel, where the rags  of  her great web were still 
blowing and swaying in the  cold airs. For cold they seemed to Sam after the  
noisome darkness behind;  but the  breath of  them  revived  him.  He  crept 
cautiously out. 
     All was ominously quiet.  The light was no more than that of dusk  at a


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the right  the  Prince Imrahil with the men of Dol Amroth tall and fair, and 
picked men of the Tower of Guard. 
     The  wind blew, and the trumpets sang, and  arrows whined; but the  sun 
now  climbing  towards  the South was  veiled  in the reeks  of Mordor,  and 
through a threatening haze it  gleamed, remote, a  sullen red, as if it were 
the ending of the day, or the  end maybe of all the world of  light. And out 
of the gathering  mirk the Nazgyl came with. their  cold voices crying words 
of death; and then all hope was quenched. 
     Pippin had bowed crushed with horror when  he  heard Gandalf reject the  
terms and  doom Frodo  to the torment  of  the  Tower;  but  he had mastered  
himself, and now he  stood beside Beregond in the front  rank of Gondor with 
Imrahil's men. For  it seemed best to him to die  soon and  leave the bitter  
story of his life, since all was in ruin. 
     'I wish Merry  was here,' he  heard himself saying, and quick  thoughts


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Sam roused himself painfully from the ground. For a  moment he wondered 
where he was, and then all the misery and despair returned to him. He was in 
the deep dark outside the  under -gate of the orcs'  stronghold;  its  brazen 
doors were shut. He must have fallen  stunned when he hurled himself against  
them; but  how  long he had lain there he did not know. Then he  had been on 
fire, desperate and furious;  now he was shivering and cold. He crept to the 
doors and pressed his ears against them. 
     Far  within  he  could hear  faintly the voices of ores clamouring, but 
soon they stopped or  passed out of hearing,  and  all was still.  His  head 
ached and his eyes saw phantom lights in  the  darkness, but he struggled to 
steady  himself and  think. It  was clear at any rate that he had no hope of 
getting into the orc-hold by that gate; he might wait  there for days before 
it was opened, and he could  not wait: time  was  desperately precious. He no


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####-malice of the Eye of Mordor, searching, trying to pierce the shadows that it 
had made for its own defence, but which now  hindered it in its  unquiet and 
doubt. 
     As before, Sam found  that his  hearing was sharpened, but  that to his 
sight the things of this world seemed thin and vague. The rocky walls of the 
path were pale , as if seen through  a mist, but still at a distance he heard 
the bubbling of Shelob in her misery: and harsh and clear, and very close it 
seemed, he  heard cries  and the clash of metal. He sprang to his  feet, and 
pressed himself against the wall beside  the road. He was glad of the  Ring, 
for here was  yet another company of orcs on  the  march. Or so  at first he 
thought.  Then suddenly  he realized that  it  was not so,  his  hearing had 
deceived him: the orc-cries came from the tower, whose topmost  horn was 
now 
right above him, on the left hand of the Cleft. 
     Sam shuddered and tried  to force  himself to  move.  There was plainly


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reaching out  a  clutching  claw; for  these  fell creatures would bite  the 
throats of those that they threw down. 
     Then  Pippin  stabbed  upwards, and  the  written blade of  Westernesse 
pierced through the hide and went deep into the vitals of the troll, and his 
black blood came gushing out. He toppled forward and came crashing down 
like 
a falling rock, burying those beneath him. Blackness and stench and crushing 
pain came upon Pippin, and his mind fell away into a great darkness. 
     'So  it ends  as I  guessed  it  would,' his  thought said,  even as it 
fluttered away; and  it laughed a little within him ere it fled, almost  gay 
it seemed to  be  casting off at last all doubt and care and  fear. And then 
even as  it  winged away into forgetfulness it heard voices, and they seemed 
to be crying in some forgotten world far above: 
     'The Eagles are coming! The Eagles are coming!' 
     For one moment more Pippin's thought hovered.  'Bilbo!'  it  said. 'But


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on  its  prey, is smitten on the muzzle with a stinging rod. Rage filled him 
and his mouth  slavered, and shapeless  sounds of fury came  strangling from 
his throat. But he looked at the fell faces of the Captains and their deadly 
eyes, and fear overcame his wrath. He  gave a great cry, and  turned, leaped


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be assailed, and if  they  might take  it,  it should  be utterly destroyed. 
'And, maybe,'  said Imrahil, 'the road that leads thence to  the pass  above 
will prove  an easier way of  assault upon the Dark Lord  than  his northern


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noisome darkness behind;  but the  breath of  them  revived  him.  He  crept 
cautiously out. 
     All was ominously quiet.  The light was no more than that of dusk  at a  
dark day's end. The vast vapours that  arose in  Mordor and  went  streaming 
westward passed  low overhead,  a  great  welter of cloud and smoke now  lit 
again beneath with a sullen glow of red. 
     Sam  looked up  towards the orc-tower, and  suddenly  from  its  narrow 
windows lights stared out like small red eyes. He wondered if they were some 
signal.  His fear  of  the orcs,  forgot ten  for  a  while  in his wrath and 
desperation,  now returned. As  far  as he  could  see, there  was only  one 
possible course  for him to take: he  must go on  and try to find  the  main 
entrance to  the dreadful tower; but his knees  felt weak, and he  found that 
he was trembling. Drawing his eyes  down from the tower and the horns of the 
Cleft  before  him, he forced  his unwilling  feet  to obey him, and slowly,


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getting into the orc-hold by that gate; he might wait  there for days before 
it was opened, and he could  not wait: time  was  desperately precious. He no 
longer had any doubt about his duty: he must rescue  his master or perish in 
the attempt. 
     'The  perishing is more  likely, and will be a lot  easier  anyway,' he 
said grimly to  himself,  as  he sheathed Sting and turned  from  the brazen 
doors. Slowly  he  groped his  way back in  the dark along  the  tunnel, not 
daring to  use the elven -light; and as  he went he tried to fit together the 
events since Frodo and he  had left  the  Cross-roads. He  wondered what the 
time  was. Somewhere between one day and the next, he supposed;  but even of 
the days he had  quite lost count. He  was in a  land  of darkness where the 
days of the world seemed forgotten, and where all who entered were forgotten 
too. 
     'I wonder if they  think of us at all,' he said, 'and what is happening


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Imrahil's men. For  it seemed best to him to die  soon and  leave the bitter  
story of his life, since all was in ruin. 
     'I wish Merry  was here,' he  heard himself saying, and quick  thoughts 
raced  through his mind, even as he watched  the enemy  come charging to the


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now 
right above him, on the left hand of the Cleft. 
     Sam shuddered and tried  to force  himself to  move.  There was plainly 
some devilry going on. Perhaps in spite of all  orders  the  cruelty of  the 
orcs  had mastered them, and  they were tormenting Frodo,  or  even savagely 
hacking  him  to pieces. He listened; and as he did  a gleam of hope came to  
him. There could  not  be much  doubt: there was fighting in  the tower, the 
orcs  must be at war among themselves, Shagrat and Gorbag had come to 
blows. 
Faint as was the  hope that his  guess brought him, it  was enough to  rouse 
him.  There might be just a  chance. His love for Frodo rose above all other  
thoughts, and forgetting his peril he cried aloud: 'I'm coming, Mr. Frodo!' 
     He ran  forward to  the  climbing path, and  over it.  At once the road 
turned left and plunged steeply down. Sam had crossed into Mordor. 
 
     He took off  the  Ring, moved  it may be  by some  deep premonition  of


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####-no! That came in his tale, long long  ago. This is my  tale, and it is ended 
now. Good-bye!' And his thought fled far away and his eyes saw no more. 
 
 

####- 

 
 

 * BOOK VI *  

Chapter 1. The Tower of Cirith Ungol


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####-across a wide  lake  of darkness dotted  with  tiny fires, there was a great 
burning glow; and from it rose  in huge columns a swirling smoke,  dusty red 
at the  roots, black above  where it merged into the  billowing canopy  that 
roofed in all the accursed land. 
     Sam was looking  at Orodruin,  the Mountain of  Fire. Ever and anon the  
furnaces far  below  its ashen  cone would grow hot and with a great surging 
and  throbbing pour  forth rivers of  molten rock from chasms  in its sides.  
Some would  flow blazing towards  Barad-dyr down  great channels; some 
would 
wind their way into the  stony plain, until they cooled and lay like twisted 
dragon-shapes vomited from  the tormented earth .  In such an hour of  labour 
Sam beheld  Mount Doom, and the light  of it, cut off by the high  screen of 
the Ephel D®ath from those who climbed up the path from the West, now 
glared 
against the stark rock faces, so that they seemed to be drenched with blood.


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he was trembling. Drawing his eyes  down from the tower and the horns of the 
Cleft  before  him, he forced  his unwilling  feet  to obey him, and slowly, 
listening  with all  his  ears, peering into the dense shadows of  the rocks 
beside the way, he  retraced his steps, past the place where Frodo fell, and 
still the  stench of Shelob lingered,  and  then  on  and up, until he stood 
again in the very  cleft where  he had  put  on the Ring  and seen Shagrat's 
company go by. 
     There he halted and sat down. For the moment he could drive himself  no 
further. He  felt that if once he went beyond the crown of the pass and took  
one  step  veritably  down  into the land  of  Mordor, that  step  would  be 
irrevocable. He could never come back. Without a ny clear purpose he drew out 
the  Ring  and put it  on again. Immediately he felt the great burden of its 
weight, and  felt afresh,  but  now more  strong  and urgent than ever,  the


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####-to bear such a burden, even  if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray 
him. The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a  
garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to  use, not the hands of others to 
command. 
     'And  anyway all these notions  are only a trick,' he said  to himself. 
'He'd spot me and cow me, before I could so much as shou t out. He'd spot me, 
pretty  quick, if I put the Ring  on now, in Mordor. Well, all I can say is:  
things look  as hopeless  as  a frost in spring.  Just when being  invisible 
would be really useful, I can't use the Ring! And if ever I get any further, 
it's going to be nothing but a drag and a burden every step. So what's to be 
done?' 
     He was not  really  in any doubt. He knew  that he must go  down to the 
gate and not linger any more. With a shrug of his shoulders,  as if to shake 
off the shadow and dismiss  the phantoms, he began  slowly  to descend. With


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days of the world seemed forgotten, and where all who entered were forgotten 
too. 
     'I wonder if they  think of us at all,' he said, 'and what is happening 
to them all away there.' He  waved his  hand vaguely  in the air before him; 
but  he  was  in fact now facing southwards,  as  he  came back to  Shelob's 
tunnel, not  west. Out westward in the world it was drawing to noon upon the 
fourteenth day of  March in the  Shire-reckoning. And  even now  Aragorn was 
leading  the  black  fleet  from  Pelargir,  and  Merry was riding with  the


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####-eyes. The mithril coat! Of course, Frodo was wearing it, and they would find 
it. And from what Sam had heard Gorbag would covet it. But the orders of the 
Dark  Tower  were at present Frodo's  only  protection, and if they were set 
aside, Frodo might be killed out of hand at any moment. 
     'Come on, you miserable sluggard!' Sam cried to  himself. `Now for it!' 
He drew Sting and ran towards the  open gate. But  just as he was  about  to 
pass under its great arch he felt a  shock: as if  he had run into some  web 
like Shelob's, only invisible. He could see no obstacle,  but  something too 
strong for his will to  overcome barred  the way. He  looked about, and then  
within the shadow of the gate he saw the Two Watchers. 
     They were like great figures seated upon thrones. Each had three joined 
bodies,  and three heads facing outward, and inward, and across the gateway. 
The  heads had vulture-faces, and on  their  great knees were  laid clawlike


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turned left and plunged steeply down. Sam had crossed into Mordor. 
 
     He took off  the  Ring, moved  it may be  by some  deep premonition  of 
danger,  though  to  himself he  thought  only that  he wished  to see  more 
clearly. `Better have a look at the worst,' he muttered. `No good blundering 
about in a fog!' 
     Hard and cruel and bitter  was the land  that met his gaze.  Before his 
feet the highest ridge  of the Ephel D®ath fell steeply in great cliffs down 
into a  dark trough, on the further side  of which there rose another ridge, 
much lower, its edge notched and jagged with crags like fangs that stood out 
black  against the red light  behind them: it was the grim Morgai, the inner  
ring of the fences  of  the land. Far  beyond it, but almost straight ahead,


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the Ephel D®ath from those who climbed up the path from the West, now 
glared 
against the stark rock faces, so that they seemed to be drenched with blood. 
     In that dreadful light Sam stood aghast, for now, looking to his  left, 
he could see the Tower of Cirith Ungol in all its strength. The horn that he 
had  seen from the other side was only its topmost turret. Its  eastern face 
stood up  in three great tiers from a shelf in the mountain-wall far  below; 
its back was to a  great  cliff behind, from which it  jutted out in pointed 
bastions, one above the other, diminishing as they rose, with sheer sides of 
cunning  masonry  that looked north-east  and   south-east. About the  lowest  
tier, two hundred feet below where Sam now  stood, there was a  battlemented 
wall  enclosing a narrow court.  Its gate, upon the near south-eastern side, 
opened  on a broad road,  the outer parapet of which ran upon the brink of a


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understanding of our plight, and of  Sauron's. If he regains it, your valour 
is  vain, and his victory will be swift and complete: so  complete that none 
can foresee the  end of it while this world lasts. If it is destroyed,  then 
he will fall; and his  fall will be so low that none can foresee his arising 
ever again. For he will lose the best part of the  strength  that was native 
to him in his beginning, and all that was made or begun with that power will  
crumble, and he will  be maimed  for ever, becoming a mere  spirit of malice 
that  gnaws itself in the shadows, but cannot again grow  or take shape. And 
so a great evil of this world will be removed. 
     'Other evils there are  that may come;  for  Sauron  is  himself  but a  
servant or emissary.  Yet it is  not our part to master all the tides of the 
world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are 
set, uprooting the  evil in the fields that we know, so  that those who live


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####-hand. The courtyard lay in  deep shadow, but he could see that  the pavement 
was strewn with bodies. Right at his feet were  two  orc-archers with knives 
sticking  in their backs. Beyond lay many  more shapes;  some singly as they 
had been hewn  down or shot;  others in pairs, still  grappling one another, 
dead  in  the very  throes  of stabbing, throttling, biting. The stones were 
slippery with dark blood. 
     Two liveries Sam noticed, one  marked  by the  Red  Eye, the other by a  
Moon disfigured with a ghastly  face of death;  but he did not  stop to look  
more closely.  Across the court a  great door at the foot of the Tower stood 
half  open,  and a red light came through; a large  orc  lay dead  upon  the 
threshold. Sam sprang over the body and went in; and then he peered about at 
a loss. 
     A  wide  and  echoing  passage led  back  from  the  door  towards  the 
mountain-side. It  was  dimly  lit with torches flaring  in  brackets on the


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####-down an echoing stairway overhead. 
     His  will was too weak and slow to restrain his hand. It dragged at the 
chain and  clutched  the Ring. But Sam did  not put  it  on; for even as  he 
clasped it to his breast, an orc came clattering down. Leaping out of a dark 
opening at the right, it ran towards him. It was no more than six paces from 
him  when,  lifting its head, it  saw him;  and  Sam  could hear its gasping 
breath and see the glare in its bloodshot eyes. It stopped short aghast. For  
what it saw was not a small frightened hobbit trying to hold a steady sword:  
it saw a great silent shape, cloaked in  a grey shadow, looming against  the 
wavering light behind; in one hand it held a sword, the very  light of which 
was a bitter pain, the other was clutched  at its breast, but held concealed 
some nameless menace of power and doom. 
     For a moment the orc crouched, and then with a hideous yelp  of fear it


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gate and not linger any more. With a shrug of his shoulders,  as if to shake 
off the shadow and dismiss  the phantoms, he began  slowly  to descend. With 
each  step he seemed to  diminish. He had not gone far  before he had shrunk 
again to a  very small and  frightened hobbit. He was now  passing under the  
very walls of the Tower, and the cries and sounds of fighting could be heard 
with his unaided ears. At the moment the  noise seemed to be coming from the 
court behind the outer wall. 
 
     Sam was about half way down the path when out of the dark gateway  into 
the red  glow there  came two orcs running . They  did not turn towards  him. 
They were  making for the main road; but  even as they ran they stumbled and 
fell  to the ground  and lay still.  Sam had seen no  arrows, but he guessed 
that the orcs had  been shot down by others on  the battlements or hidden in 
the shadow of the gate. He  went on, hugging  the wall on his left. One look


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wall  enclosing a narrow court.  Its gate, upon the near south-eastern side, 
opened  on a broad road,  the outer parapet of which ran upon the brink of a  
precipice, until it turned southward and went winding down into the darkness 
to  join the road that came  over the Morgul Pass. Then on it went through a  
jagged  rift in the  Morgai  out  into the  valley of Gorgoroth  and away to 
Barad-dyr.  The  narrow upper way on which  Sam stood leapt  swiftly down 
by 
stair and steep path to meet the main road under the frowning walls close to  
the Tower -gate. 
     As he gazed at it  suddenly Sam understood, almost  with a shock,  that 
this stronghold had been  built  not to  keep enemies out of  Mordor, but to 
keep them in. It was indeed one  of the works of Gondor long ago, an eastern 
outpost of the defences of Ithilien, made when, after the Last Alliance, Men  
of  Westernesse kept  watch on  the evil land of  Sauron where his creatures


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bodies,  and three heads facing outward, and inward, and across the gateway. 
The  heads had vulture-faces, and on  their  great knees were  laid clawlike 
hands. They seemed to be carved out of huge blocks  of stone, immovable, and 
yet they were aware: some dreadful  spirit of evil vigilance  abode in them. 
They knew  an  enemy.  Visible or  invisible none  could pass unheeded. They 
would forbid his entry, or his escape. 
     Hardening his  will  Sam thrust forward once again, and  halted  with a  
jerk, staggering  as if from a blow  upon his  breast and head. Then greatly 
daring, because he could  think  of nothing  else to do, answering  a sudden 
thought that came to him, he drew slowly out the phial of Galadriel and held 
it up.  Its white light quickened swiftly, and  the shadows under  the  dark 
arch fled. The monstrous Watchers sat there cold and still, revealed  in all 
their hideous shape. For a moment  Sam caught a  glitter in  the black stones


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world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are 
set, uprooting the  evil in the fields that we know, so  that those who live 
after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours


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a loss. 
     A  wide  and  echoing  passage led  back  from  the  door  towards  the 
mountain-side. It  was  dimly  lit with torches flaring  in  brackets on the 
walls, but its distant end was lost in gloom. Many doors  and openings could 
be seen on this  side and  that; but it was empty save for two or three more 
bodies sprawling on the  floor. From what he had heard of the captains' talk  
Sam knew that, dead  or alive, Frodo would most likely be found in a chamber  
high up  in the turret far above; but he  might search for  a day  before he 
found the way. 
     'It'll  be near  the back, I  guess,' Sam  muttered.  `The  whole Tower  
climbs backwards-like. And anyway I'd better follow these lights.' 
     He advanced down the passage, but slowly now, each step more reluctant. 
Terror  was beginning to grip him again. There was no sound save the  rap of 
his feet, which seemed to  grow to  an echoing noise,  like  the slapping of


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####-still lurked. But as with Narchost and Carchost, the Towers of the Teeth, so 
here too the vigilance had failed, and treachery had yielded up the Tower to  
the Lord of the Ringwraiths, and now for long years it had been held by evil  
things. Since his return to Mordor, Sauron had found  it useful; for he  had 
few servants but many slaves of fear, and still its chief  purpose as of old 
was to prevent escape from Mordor. Though if an enemy were so rash as to try 
to  enter that  land  secretly, then it  was also  a  last  unsleeping guard 
against any that might pass the vigilance of Morgul and of Shelob. 
     Only too clearly Sam saw how hopeless it would be for him to creep down 
under those many-eyed  walls and pass the watchful gate. And  even  if he did 
so, he  could not go  far  on  the guarded road beyond:  not even  the black  
shadows,  lying  deep where  the red glow could not reach, would shield  him


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was a bitter pain, the other was clutched  at its breast, but held concealed 
some nameless menace of power and doom. 
     For a moment the orc crouched, and then with a hideous yelp  of fear it 
turned and fled back as it had come. Never  was  any dog more heartened when 
its  enemy turned  tail  than Sam at this unexpected flight. With a shout he 
gave chase. 
     `Yes! The Elf-warrior is loose!'  he  cried. 'I'm coming. Just you show 
me the way up, or I'll skin you! ' 
     But  the orc  was  in its own haunts,  nimble  and  well -fed. Sam was a  
stranger, hungry and weary.  The stairs  were  high  and  steep and winding.  
Sam's breath began to come in gasps. The orc had soon passed  out  of sight,  
and now only faintly   could be  heard the slapping of its feet as it went on 
and  up. Every now  and again it gave  a yell, and  the  echo  ran along the 
walls. But slowly all sound of it died away. 
     Sam plodded on.  He felt that he was on the right road, and his spirits


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arch fled. The monstrous Watchers sat there cold and still, revealed  in all 
their hideous shape. For a moment  Sam caught a  glitter in  the black stones  
of their  eyes, the very malice of which made  him quail; but slowly he felt 
their will waver and crumble into fear. 
     He sprang past them; but even as he  did so, thrusting the  phial  back  
into his bosom, he was aware, as plainly as if a bar of steel had snapped to 
behind  him,  that their vigilance was  renewed. And  from  those evil heads 
there came  a high shrill cry that echoed  in the towering walls before him. 
Far up above,  like  an answering signal,  a  harsh bell  clanged  a  single 
stroke. 
 
     'That's done it!'  said Sam. `Now I've rung  the front-door bell! Well, 
come   on  somebody!'  he  cried.  `Tell  Captain  Shagrat  that  the  great 
Elf-warrior has called, with his elf-sword too!' 
     There  was no answer. Sam  strode forward. Sting glittered  blue in his


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####-answer came. 
     Suddenly,  as Shagrat was stooped over the battlement, his back to  the 
roof-top, Sam to  his amazement  saw  that one  of the  sprawling bodies was 
moving. It  was  crawling. It  put out  a  claw and clutched the  bundle. It 
staggered up. In its  other hand it  held a broad-headed spear  with a short 
broken haft. It was poised for a stabbing thrust. But at that  very moment a  
hiss  escaped  its teeth, a gasp of  pain or hate. Quick as a snake  Shagrat 
slipped aside, twisted round, and drove his knife into his enemy 's throat. 
     `Got you, Gorbag!' he cried. 'Not quite dead, eh? Well, I'll finish  my 
job now.' He sprang on to the  fallen  body, and stamped and trampled it  in 
his  fury, stooping  now and  again to  stab and  slash  it with his  knife. 
Satisfied  at last, he threw back  his head and let out a  horrible gurgling 
yell of triumph. Then he licked his knife, and put it between his teeth, and


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that the orcs had  been shot down by others on  the battlements or hidden in 
the shadow of the gate. He  went on, hugging  the wall on his left. One look  
upward had  shown him that there was no hope of  climbing it. The stone-work 
rose  thirty  feet, without  a crack  or ledge, to  overhanging courses like 
inverted steps. The gate was the only way. 
     He crept on;  and  as he went  he wondered how many  orcs lived  in the 
Tower with Shagrat, and how many Gorbag had, and what they  were 
quarrelling 
about, if  that was  what was  happening. Shagrat's company had seemed to be 
about forty, and  Gorbag's more than twice as large; but of course Shagrat's 
patrol  had  only been a part of his  garrison. Almost  certainly  they were 
quarrelling  about  Frodo,  and the  spoil.  For  a second  Sam  halted, for 
suddenly things seemed clear to him, almost as if he had seen them with  his


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so, he  could not go  far  on  the guarded road beyond:  not even  the black  
shadows,  lying  deep where  the red glow could not reach, would shield  him 
long from the night-eyed orcs. But desperate as that road might be, his task  
was now  far worse: not to avoid the gate and escape, but to enter it, alone. 
 
     His  thought turned to the Ring, but there was  no  comfort there, only 
dread and danger. No  sooner had he come in sight of Mount Doom, burning 
far 
away, than he was aware of a cha nge in his burden. As it drew near the great 
furnaces  where,  in the deeps of time, it had been shaped  and forged,  the 
Ring's power grew, and  it became more fell, untameable  save by some mighty 
will. As Sam stood there, even though the Ring was not on  him but hanging by 
its chain about his neck, he felt himself enlarged, as if he were robed in a  
huge distorted shadow of  himself, a vast and ominous threat halted upon the


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####-him and known the grief that  his escape would bring, he might have quailed. 
But now his mind was set on the last stage of his search. He came cautiously  
to the turret-door and stepped inside. It opened into darkness. But soon his 
staring  eyes were aware of a dim light at  his right hand. It came  from an 
opening that led  to another stairway,  dark  and narrow: it appeared  to go 
winding up the turret along the inside of its round outer wall. A  torch was 
glimmering from somewhere up above. 
     Softly Sam began to climb. He came  to the guttering torch, fixed above 
a door on his left that faced a window-slit looking out westward: one of the 
red eyes that he and Frodo  had  seen from down below by the tunnel's mouth. 
Quickly Sam passed the door and hurried on to the second storey, dreading at 
any  moment to he  attacked and to feel throttling fingers seize  his throat 
from behind. He came  next to a window looking east and another torch  above


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####-Pits take  that filthy  rebel  Gorbag!' Shagrat's  voice trailed off into  a  
string of foul  names and curses. `I  gave  him  better  than  I got, but he 
knifed me, the dung,  before I throttled him. You must go, or  I'll eat you. 
News must  get through to Lugb®rz, or we'll both be for the Black Pits. Yes, 
you too. You won't escape by skulking here.' 
     `I'm not going down those stairs again,' growled Snaga, `be you captain 
or no. Nar! Keep your hands off your knife,  or I'll  put  an arrow  in your 
guts. You won't be a captain  long when They hear about all these goings-on. 
I've  fought for the  Tower against those  stinking Morgul-rats,  but a nice 
mess you two precious captains have made of things, fighting over the swag.' 
     'That's enough  from you,'  snarled  Shagrat. `I had my orders. It  was 
Gorbag started it, trying to pinch that pretty shirt.' 
     `Well, you put  his back up, being so high and mighty. And he had  more


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its chain about his neck, he felt himself enlarged, as if he were robed in a  
huge distorted shadow of  himself, a vast and ominous threat halted upon the 
walls of  Mordor. He  felt  that he had  from now on  only two  choices:  to 
forbear the Ring, though it would torment him; or to claim it, and challenge 
the Power that sat in  its dark hold beyond the valley  of  shadows. Already 
the Ring tempted him, gnawing at his will and  reason.  Wild fantasies arose 
in his mind; and he saw Samwise the Strong, Hero of the Age, striding with a 
flaming sword across the darkened land, and armies flocking  to  his call as 
he  marched to the  overthrow of  Barad-dyr. And then all the  clouds rolled 
away,  and the white sun  shone, and  at his command the  vale of  Gorgoroth 
became a garden of flowers and trees and brought forth fruit. He had only to 
put on the Ring and claim it for his own, and all this could be.


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Satisfied  at last, he threw back  his head and let out a  horrible gurgling 
yell of triumph. Then he licked his knife, and put it between his teeth, and 
catching up the bundle he came loping towards the near door of the stairs.  
     Sam had no time  to think. He might have slipped out of the other door, 
but  hardly without  being seen;  and he could not have played hide-and-seek 
with this  hideous  orc for long. He did what was probably the best thing he 
could have  done.  He sprang  out to  meet  Shagrat with a shout. He was  no 
longer holding the Ring, but it was there, a hidden power, a  cowing  menace 
to the slaves of Mordor; and in his hand was Sting, and its  light smote the 
eyes  of  the   orc  like  the  glitter  of  cruel  stars  in  the  terrible 
elf-countries,  the  dream  of which was a  cold fear to all  his  kind.  And 
Shagrat could not  both fight and  keep hold  of his treasure.  He  stopped,


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Terror  was beginning to grip him again. There was no sound save the  rap of 
his feet, which seemed to  grow to  an echoing noise,  like  the slapping of 
great hands upon  the stones. The dead bodies: the emptiness; the dank black 
walls  that in the torchlight seemed to drip with blood; the  fear of sudden 
death lurking in doorway or  shadow;  and behind all  his mind  the  waiting  
watchful malice at the gate: it  was almost more than he could  screw himself 
to  face. He would have welcomed a fight-with not too many enemies at a time 
- rather than this hideous brooding uncertainty. He forced himself to  think  
of Frodo,  lying bound or  in pain or dead somewhere in this dreadful place.  
He went on. 
     He had passed  beyond  the torchlight, almost to a great arched door at 
the end  of  the passage, the inner side of  the under gate, as  he  rightly 
guessed,  when  there  came  from high above a dreadful  choking shriek.  He


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walls. But slowly all sound of it died away. 
     Sam plodded on.  He felt that he was on the right road, and his spirits 
had risen a  good  deal.  He thrust  the Ring away  and tightened his  belt. 
`Well, well!'  he said. `If only  they all take such a  dislike to me and my 
Sting, this  may  turn out  better than  I hoped. And anyway it looks  as if 
Shagrat, Gorbag, and company  have done nearly all my job for me. Except for  
that little frightened rat, I do believe  there's  nobody left alive  in the 
place!' 
     And with  that  he stopped, brought up  hard, as if he had hit his head 
against the stone wall. The full meaning of what he had said struck him like 
a  blow. Nobody  left alive!  Whose had  been that  horrible  dying  shriek? 
`Frodo, Frodo! Master!' he cried half sobbing. 'If they've killed you,  what 
shall I do? Well, I'm coming at last, right to the top, to see what I must.'


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####-     Up, up he went. It was dark save  for an occasional torch  flaring at a  
turn, or beside some opening  that  led into the higher levels of the Tower. 
Sam tried to count the  steps, but  after two hundred he lost his reckoning. 
He  was moving quietly  now: for  he thought that he could hear the sound of 
voices talking, still  some way above. More than  one rat remained alive, it 
seemed. 
     All  at  once, when he felt that he could pump out no more  breath, nor  
force  his knees to bend again, the stair ended. He stood still. The  voices 
were  now loud and near. Sam  peered about. He had climbed right to the flat 
roof of the third and highest tier of the Tower: an open space, about twenty 
yards across, with  a low parapet. There the  stair was covered by  a  small 
domed chamber in the midst of the roof, with low doors facing east and west. 
Eastward Sam  could  see the plain  of Mordor vast  and  dark below, and the


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any  moment to he  attacked and to feel throttling fingers seize  his throat 
from behind. He came  next to a window looking east and another torch  above 
the door to a passage through the middle  of the turret. The door  was open, 
the passage  dark  save for the glimmer of  the torch and the red glare from 
outside filtering through  the window-slit.  But here  the stair stopped and 
climbed  no further. Sam crept into the passage.  On either side there was a  
low door; both were closed and locked. There was no sound at all. 
     `A dead end,'  muttered Sam; `and after all my climb! This can't be the  
top of the tower. But what can I do now?' 
     He ran back to the lower  storey and tried the door. It would not move. 
He ran up again, and sweat began to trickle down his face. He felt that even 
minutes were precious, but one by one they escaped; and he could do nothing. 
He  cared  no  longer for Shagrat or Snaga  or any  other orc that  was ever


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became a garden of flowers and trees and brought forth fruit. He had only to 
put on the Ring and claim it for his own, and all this could be. 
     In that hour of trial it was the love of his master that helped most to 
hold  him firm; but also deep  down in him lived still unconquered his plain 
hobbit-sense: he  knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough


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Gorbag started it, trying to pinch that pretty shirt.' 
     `Well, you put  his back up, being so high and mighty. And he had  more 
sense than you anyway. He told you more than once that the most dangerous of 
these spies was still loose, and you wouldn't  listen. And you  won't listen 
now. Gorbag  was right, I tell you. There's  a great fighter  about,  one of 
those bloody-handed  Elves, or one of the filthy tarks.1 He's coming here, I 
tell you. You heard the bell.  He's got past the Watchers, and that's tark's 
work.  He's on the stairs. And until he's off them, I'm not going  down. Not 
if you were a Nazgyl, I wouldn't.' 
     `So  that's it, is it?' yelled Shagrat. 'You'll do this, and you'll not 
do  that? And  when he does come, you'll bolt  and leave me? No, you  won't! 
I'll put red maggot-holes in your belly first.' 
     Out of the turret-door the  smaller  orc came flying.  Behind  him came 
Shagrat, a large orc with long  arms that,  as  he ran crouching, reached to


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####-clambered  out  of  sight. Sam heard  a bolt drawn back.  Then he  heard the 
hideous voice speaking again. 
     `You  lie quiet, or  you'll pay for it! You've not got long to live  in 
peace, I guess; but if you don't want the fun to begin right now, keep  your 
trap shut, see? There's a reminder  for you!'  There was  a sound  like  the 
crack of a whip. 
     At that rage blazed in Sam's heart to a sudden fury. He sprang up, ran, 
and went up  the ladder  like a cat. His head came out in the middle of  the 
floor of a large  round chamber. A red lamp hung from its roof; the westward 
window-slit was high and dark. Something  was lying on the floor by the wall 
under the window,  but over it a black  orc-shape was straddled. It raised a  
whip a second time, but the blow never fell. 
     With a cry Sam  leapt across  the floor, Sting in hand. The orc wheeled 
round, but before it could make a move Sam slashed  its  whip-hand  from its


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elf-countries,  the  dream  of which was a  cold fear to all  his  kind.  And 
Shagrat could not  both fight and  keep hold  of his treasure.  He  stopped, 
growling, baring his fangs. Then once more, orc-fashion, he leapt aside, and 
as Sam  sprang at  him, using the heavy bundle as both shield and weapon, he 
thrust it  hard into his  enemy's face. Sam staggered, and before  he  could 
recover, Shagrat darted past and down the stairs.  
     Sam ran after him, cursing, but he did not go far.  Soon the thought of 
Frodo returned  to him, and he remembered that the other  orc  had gone back 
into the turret. Here was another  dreadful  choice, and he  had  no time to 
ponder it. If Shagrat got away, he would soon get help and come back. But if 
Sam  pursued him,  the  other orc might  do some horrible deed up there. And 
anyway Sam might miss Shagrat or be killed by him. He turned quickly and ran 
back up the  stairs. `Wrong again, I expect,' he sighed. `But it's my job to


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domed chamber in the midst of the roof, with low doors facing east and west. 
Eastward Sam  could  see the plain  of Mordor vast  and  dark below, and the 
burning mountain  far away. A  fresh turmoil was surging in its  deep wells,  
and the rivers of fire blazed so fiercely that even at this distance of many 
miles the light  of them  lit the tower -top with a red glare.  Westward  the 
view was blocked  by the base of the great turret that stood at the  back of 
this upper court and reared its  horn high above the crest of the encircling 
hills. Light gleamed in a window-slit. Its door was not ten yards from where 
Sam stood. It  was open but dark, and from just within its shadow the voices 
came. 
     At first Sam did not listen; he took a pace  out  of the  eastward door  
and  looked  about.  At  once he saw  that up  here the  fighting  had  been 
fiercest. All the  court was  choked with  dead orcs  or their  severed  and


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####-fleeting glimpses of the country of his home. And then suddenly new strength 
rose in him, and his voice rang out, while words of his own came unbidden to 
fit the simple tune. 
     In western lands beneath the Sun  
     the flowers may rise in Spring, 
     the trees may bud, the wa ters run, 
     the merry finches sing. 
     Or there maybe 'tis cloudless night 
     and swaying beeches bear 
     the Elven-stars as jewels white  
     amid their branching hair. 
 
     Though here at journey's end I lie  
     in darkness buried deep, 
     beyond all towers strong and high, 
     beyond all mountains steep, 
     above all shadows rides the Sun 
     and Stars for ever dwell: 
     I will not say the Day is done, 
     nor bid the Stars farewell. 
     `Beyond  all towers strong  and high,'  he began  again,  and  then  he 
stopped short. He thought that he had heard a faint voice answering him. But


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minutes were precious, but one by one they escaped; and he could do nothing. 
He  cared  no  longer for Shagrat or Snaga  or any  other orc that  was ever 
spawned. He longed  only for his master,  for one  sight of his face  or one 
touch of his hand. 
     At last, weary and feeling finally defeated, he sat on a step below the 
level of the passage-floor and bowed his head into his hands. It  was quiet, 
horribly quiet.  The torch,  that was already burning  low  when he arrived, 
sputtered and went out; and he felt the darkness cover him like a tide.  And 
then softly, to his own  surprise, there at the vain end of his long journey 
and his  grief, moved by what thought in his  heart he could  not  tell, Sam 
began to sing. 
     His voice sounded thin and  quavering in the cold dark tower: the voice 
of a forlorn and  weary hobbit  that no listening orc could possibly mistake 
for the  clear song of an Elven-lord. He murmured  old childish tunes out of


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Out of the turret-door the  smaller  orc came flying.  Behind  him came 
Shagrat, a large orc with long  arms that,  as  he ran crouching, reached to 
the  ground. But one  arm hung  limp and seemed to be  bleeding;  the  other  
hugged  a  large black bundle.  In the red  glare  Sam, cowering behind  the 
stair-door, caught a glimpse of his evil face as it passed: it was scored as 
if  by  rending  claws and  smeared  with blood;  slaver  dripped  from  its 
protruding fangs; the mouth snarled like an animal. 
     As far as Sam could see, Shagrat  hunted  Snaga round  the roof,  until 
ducking and eluding  him the  smaller  orc with a yelp darted back  into the 
turret  and  disappeared. Then  Shagrat halted. Out of the eastward door Sam 
could see  him now  by the parapet, panting,  his  left claw  clenching  and 
unclenching feebly. He put  the bundle on the floor and with  his right claw 
drew out a long red knife and spat on it.  Going to  the  parapet he  leaned


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####-gentle arms,  closing his eyes, like  a child at rest  when night-fears  are 
driven away by some loved voice or hand. 
     Sam  felt that he  could sit like that in endless happiness; but it was 
not allowed. It was not  enough for him to find his master, he  had still to 
try and save him. He kissed Frodo's forehead. `Come!  Wake up Mr. Frodo!' he 
said, trying to sound as cheerful  as he had when  he drew back the curtains 
at Bag End on a summer's morning. 
     Frodo sighed and sat up. `Where are we? How did I get here?' he asked. 
     'There's no time for tales till we get somewhere else, Mr. Frodo,' said 
Sam. `But you're in the top of that tower you and me saw from away  down  by 
the tunnel before the orcs got you. How long ago that wa s I don't know. More 
than a day, I guess.' 
     `Only that?' said  Frodo. `It seems weeks. You  must  tell me all about 
it,  if  we get  a  chance. Something  hit me, didn't  it?  And I fell  into


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With a cry Sam  leapt across  the floor, Sting in hand. The orc wheeled 
round, but before it could make a move Sam slashed  its  whip-hand  from its 
arm.  Howling with pain and fear but desperate the orc charged head-down  at 
him.  Sam's  next  blow  went wide,  and  thrown  off  his balance  he  fell 
backwards, clutching at  the  orc as it  stumbled over him.  Before he could 
scramble up he heard a cry and a thud. The orc in its wild haste had tripped 
on the ladder -head  and  fallen through the open trap-door. Sam gave no more 
thought to it. He ran to the figure huddled on the floor. It was Frodo. 
 
     He was  naked, lying as if in a swoon on a heap of filthy rags: his arm 
was  flung up,  shielding his head,  and  across his side there ran an  ugly 
whip-weal. 
     `Frodo! Mr. Frodo,  my dear!'  cried Sam,  tears  almost  blinding him. 
`It's Sam, I've come!' He  half  lifted  his  master and hugged  him to  his 
breast. Frodo opened his eyes.


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nor bid the Stars farewell. 
     `Beyond  all towers strong  and high,'  he began  again,  and  then  he 
stopped short. He thought that he had heard a faint voice answering him. But 
now he could  hear nothing. Yes, he  could hear something,  but not a voice.  
Footsteps were  approaching.  Now  a  door was being opened  quietly in  the 
passage above; the hinges  creaked. Sam crouched  down  listening.  The door  
closed with a dull thud; and then a snarling orc-voice rang out. 
     'Ho la! You up  there, you dunghill rat! Stop your  squeaking,  or I'll 
come and deal with you. D'you hear?' 
     There was no answer. 
     'All right,' growled Snaga.  `But I'll come and  have a look at you all 
the same, and see what you're up to.' 
     The hinges creaked again, and Sam, now  peering over  the corner of the 
passage-threshold, saw a flicker  of light in an open doorway, and  the  dim 
shape of an orc  coming out. He seemed to be carrying a ladder. Suddenly the


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and  looked  about.  At  once he saw  that up  here the  fighting  had  been 
fiercest. All the  court was  choked with  dead orcs  or their  severed  and 
scattered heads  and limbs. The place stank of death. A snarl  followed by  a 
blow  and  a  cry  sent him darting back into hiding. An  orc-voice rose  in 
anger,  and he knew  it again  at once, harsh, brutal, cold. It was  Shagrat 
speaking, Captain of the Tower. 
     `You won't  go again,  you say? Curse you, Snaga, you little maggot! If 
you think  I'm so damaged  that it's safe  to flout me, you're mistaken Come 
here, and I'll  squeeze  your  eyes out, like I did to Radbug just now.  And 
when some new lads come, I'll deal with you: I'll send you to Shelob.' 
     `They  won't  come,  not before  you're dead  anyway,'  answered  Snaga  
surlily. 'I've told you twice that Gorbag's swine got to the gate first, and 
none of ours  got out. Lagduf and Muzgash ran through, but they were shot. I


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the end  of  the passage, the inner side of  the under gate, as  he  rightly 
guessed,  when  there  came  from high above a dreadful  choking shriek.  He 
stopped short. Then he heard feet coming. Someone was running in great haste


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anyway Sam might miss Shagrat or be killed by him. He turned quickly and ran 
back up the  stairs. `Wrong again, I expect,' he sighed. `But it's my job to 
go right up to the top first, whatever happens afterwards.' 
     Away below Shagrat went leaping  down the stairs and out over the court 
and  through the gate,  bearing his precious burden. If Sam could have  seen


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of a forlorn and  weary hobbit  that no listening orc could possibly mistake 
for the  clear song of an Elven-lord. He murmured  old childish tunes out of 
the Shire, and snatches of Mr.  Bilbo's  rhymes that came into his mind like


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surlily. 'I've told you twice that Gorbag's swine got to the gate first, and 
none of ours  got out. Lagduf and Muzgash ran through, but they were shot. I 
saw it from a window, I tell you. And they wer e the last.' 
     'Then you  must go. I must stay here anyway. But  I'm  hurt.  The Black


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passage-threshold, saw a flicker  of light in an open doorway, and  the  dim 
shape of an orc  coming out. He seemed to be carrying a ladder. Suddenly the 
answer dawned on Sam: the topmost chamber was reached  by a trap-door in 
the 
roof of the passage. Snaga thrust the ladder  upwards, steadied it, and then


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whip-weal. 
     `Frodo! Mr. Frodo,  my dear!'  cried Sam,  tears  almost  blinding him. 
`It's Sam, I've come!' He  half  lifted  his  master and hugged  him to  his 
breast. Frodo opened his eyes. 
     `Am  I  still  dreaming?'  he  muttered.  `But  the other  dreams  were 
horrible.' 
     `You're not dreaming at all, Master,'  said  Sam. `It's real. It's  me. 
I've come.' 
     `I can hardly believe it,' said Frodo, clutching him. `There was an orc 
with a whip, and then  it  turns into Sam! Then I wasn't  dreaming after all 
when I heard that singing down below, and I tried to answer? Was it you?' 
     'It was indeed, Mr.  Frodo. I'd given up  hope, almost. I couldn't find 
you. 
     Well, you have now, Sam, dear Sam, said Frodo, and he la back  in Sam's


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####-out of  here. Now what's to be done? You can't go walking  in the Black Land 
in naught but your skin, Mr. Frodo.' 
     `They've  taken everything, Sam,' said Frodo. `Everything I had. Do you  
understand?  Everything!'  He cowered on the floor again with bowed head, as 
his own words brought home to  him the fullness of the disaster, and despair  
overwhelmed him.  'The quest  has failed Sam. Even if we get out of here, we 
can't escape. Only  Elves  can escape. Away,  away out  of Middle-earth, far  
away over the Sea. If even that is wide enough to keep the Shadow out.' 
     `No,  not everything, Mr. Frodo. And it  hasn't failed, not yet. I took  
it, Mr. Frodo, begging your pardon.  And I've kept  it safe.  It's round  my 
neck  now, and a terrible  burden it is, too.'  Sam fumbled for the Ring and 
its chain. `But I suppose you must take it back.' Now it had come to it, Sam 
felt reluctant to give up the Ring and burden his master with it again.


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than a day, I guess.' 
     `Only that?' said  Frodo. `It seems weeks. You  must  tell me all about 
it,  if  we get  a  chance. Something  hit me, didn't  it?  And I fell  into 
darkness and foul dreams,  and  woke and found that  waking was worse.  Orcs 
were all round me. I think they had just been  pouring some horrible burning  
drink  down my throat. My head grew clear, but I was  aching and weary. They 
stripped me of everything; and then two great brutes came and questioned me, 
questioned  me until I thought I should go mad, standing  over me, gloating,  
fingering their knives. I'll never forget their claws and eyes.' 
     `You won't,  if you talk about them, Mr.  Frodo,' said Sam.  'And if we 
don't want to see them  again, the sooner we   get going  the better. Can you  
walk?' 
     `Yes,  I can walk,' said Frodo, getting up slowly. 'I am not hurt  Sam. 
Only  I feel very tired, and I've a pain here.' He put  his hand to the back


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####-no more. That's  not going to be enough for two, nohow. Don't ores eat,  and 
don't they drink? Or do they just live on foul air and poison?' 
     `No, they eat and drink, Sam. The Shadow that  bred them can only mock, 
it cannot make:  not real new things of its own. I  don't think it gave life 
to the ores, it only  ruined them and twisted them; and if they are  to live 
at all, they have to live like  other living creatures. Foul waters and foul 
meats  they'll  take, if they can get no better, but not poison. They've fed 
me, and so I'm better off than you. There must be food and  water  somewhere 
in this place.' `But there's no time to look for them,' said Sam. 
     `Well, things are a bit better than you think,' said Frodo. 'I have had 
a bit of luck while you were away. Indeed they did not take everything. I've 
found my food-bag among some  rags  on  the  floor.  They've rummaged it, of 
course. But I  guess  they disliked  the very look and smell of  the lembas,


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####-eyes. `I understand. But I can still help, can't I? I've got to get  you out 
of  here. At  once, see! But first you want  some clothes  and gear and then 
some food.  The clothes will be the  easiest part. As we're in Mordor, we'd, 
best  dress up Mordor -fashion;  and anyway there isn't no choice. It'll have 
to  be orc-stuff  for you, Mr.  Frodo,  I'm afraid. And for me too. If we go 
together, we'd best match. Now put this round you!' 
     Sam unclasped his grey cloak and cast it about Frodo's  shoulders. Then 
unslinging his pack he laid  it on the floor. He drew Sting from its sheath. 
Hardly a flicker was to be seen upon  its blade. `I was forgetting this, Mr. 
Frodo,' he said.  `No, they didn't get everything! You lent me Sting, if you  
remember, and the Lady's glass. I've  got them both still. But  lend them to 
me a little longer, Mr. Frodo. I must go  and see what  I can find. You stay 
here. Walk about a bit and ease your legs. I shan't be long.  I shan't  have


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####-to me as  if  one of those foul flying Riders was about, up in the blackness 
where he can't be seen.' 
     He opened  the  bundle. Frodo  looked in  disgust at  the contents, but 
there was nothing for it: he had to put the  things on, or go  naked.  There 
were  long hairy breeches of some unclean beast -fell,  and a  tunic of dirty 
leather. He  drew them on. Over the  tunic  went a coat  of stout ring-mail, 
short for  a  full-sized  orc,  too long for  Frodo  and heavy. About it  he 
clasped  a belt, at which there hung a  short  sheath holding a broad-bladed 
stabbing-sword.  Sam  had brought  several  orc-helmets. One of  them fitted  
Frodo well enough, a black  cap with iron rim, and  iron  hoops covered with 
leather  upon  which  the  evil  Eye was  painted  in red above the beaklike 
nose-guard. 
     `The Morgul-stuff,  Gorbag's gear,  was  a better fit and better made,' 
said Sam;  `but it  wouldn't do,  I  guess, to go  carrying his  tokens into


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####-of Mordor dimly showed. As they threaded their way among the hideous  
bodies 
of the  ores each step became more  difficult. Before they  even reached the 
archway they were brought to a stand. To move an inch further was a pain and 
weariness to will and limb. 
     Frodo  had no  strength  for such a  battle. He sank  to the ground. `I  
can't go  on, Sam,' he  murmured. `I'm  going  to faint. I don't know what's 
come over me.' 
     `I  do, Mr.  Frodo. Hold up  now! It's  the gate.  There's some devilry 
there. But  I got  through,  and  I'm going to  get  out.  It can't be  more 
dangerous than before. Now for it!' 
     Sam drew  out the elven-glass of Galadriel again. As if to do honour to 
his hardihood, and to grace with  splendour  his faithful  brown hobbit-hand  
that had done such  deeds, the  phial blazed forth suddenly, so that all the 
shadowy  court  was  lit with  a  dazzling  radiance  like lightning; but it 
remained steady and did not pass.


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unclenching feebly. He put  the bundle on the floor and with  his right claw 
drew out a long red knife and spat on it.  Going to  the  parapet he  leaned 
over, looking down into  the outer court far below.  Twice he shouted but no


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found my food-bag among some  rags  on  the  floor.  They've rummaged it, of 
course. But I  guess  they disliked  the very look and smell of  the lembas, 
worse than Gollum did. It's scattered about  and some  of it is trampled and 
broken,  but I've gathered  it  together. It's not far short of  what you've 
got.   But  they've   taken  Faramir's  food,  and  they've  slashed  up  my 
water -bottle.' 
     `Well,  there's no more  to  be said,' said  Sam. `We've got enough  to 
start  on.  But the water's going to be a  bad business. But come Mr. Frodo!  
Off we go, or a whole lake of it won't do us any good!' 
     'Not  till you've  had  a mouthful,  Sam,' said Frodo. `I won't  budge. 
Here, take this elven-cake, and  drink that last drop in  your  bottle!  The 
whole thing is quite hopeless, so it's no good worrying  about  tomorrow. It 
probably won't come.' 
 
     At last they started. Down the ladder  they climbed, and then Sam  took


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me a little longer, Mr. Frodo. I must go  and see what  I can find. You stay 
here. Walk about a bit and ease your legs. I shan't be long.  I shan't  have 
to go far.' 
     `Take  care,  Sam!'  said Frodo. `And be quick! There may be orcs still 
alive, lurking in wait.' 
     'I've  got to chance  it,' said  Sam. He  stepped to the  trap-door and 
slipped down the ladder. In a  minute  his head reappeared. He threw  a long 
knife on the floor. 
     `There's something that might be  useful,' he said. 'He's dead: the one 
that  whipped  you. Broke his neck, it seems, in his hurry. Now you draw  up 
the ladder, if  you can, Mr. Frodo;  and don't you let it down till you hear 
me call the password. Elbereth   I'll call. What  the Elves say. No orc would 
say that.' 
 
     Frodo sat  for a while and shivered, dreadful fears chasing one another 
through his mind. Then he  got up, drew the grey elven-cloak about him,  and


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that had done such  deeds, the  phial blazed forth suddenly, so that all the 
shadowy  court  was  lit with  a  dazzling  radiance  like lightning; but it 
remained steady and did not pass.  
     'Gilthoniel, A  Elbereth!' Sam  cried. For, why he  did  not know,  his 
thought sprang back suddenly to  the Elves in the Shire,  and the song  that 
drove away the Black Rider in the trees.  
     'Aiya elenion ancalima!' cried Frodo once again behind him. 
     The will of the Watchers was broken with a suddenness like the snapping  
of a cord, and Frodo and Sam stumbled  forward. Then they  ran.  Through the 
gate and past the great seated figures with their glittering eyes. There was 
a crack.  The keystone of the  arch  crashed almost on  their heels, and the 
wall  above crumbled, and fell in ruin. Only  by a  hair did  they escape. A 
bell clanged; and from the Watchers there went up  a high and dreadful wail.


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Sam had just wits enough left to thrust the phial back into his breast. 
'Run, Mr. Frodo!' he cried.  'No, not that way! There's a sheer drop over the 
wall. Follow me!' 
     Down the  road from the  gate they  fled. In fifty paces, with a  swift  
bend  round  a jutting bastion  of the cliff, it took them out of sight from 
the Tower.  They had escaped for the moment. Cowering back  against the rock  
they drew breath, and then they clutched at their  hearts.  Perching  now on 
the wall  beside the ruined  gate the Nazgyl sent out its  deadly cries. All 
the cliffs echoed. 
     In terror they  stumbled  on. Soon the road bent sharply eastward again 
and exposed them  for  a dreadful  moment  to view from  the Tower. As  they 
flitted  across they  glanced  back  and saw the  great black shape upon the 
battlement; then they plunged down between high rock -walls in a cu tting that 
fell steeply to join  the  Morgul-road. They came to  the way-meeting. There


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its chain. `But I suppose you must take it back.' Now it had come to it, Sam 
felt reluctant to give up the Ring and burden his master with it again. 
     `You've  got it?' gasped  Frodo. `You've  got  it  here? Sam, you're  a  
marvel!'  Then quickly and strangely his tone changed. `Give it to  me!'  he 
cried, standing up, holding out  a trembling hand. `Give it  me at once! You  
can't have it!' 
     'All right, Mr. Frodo,' said Sam, rather startled. 'Here it is!' Slowly 
he drew the Ring out and passed the chain over his head.  `But you're in the 
land of Mordor now, sir; and when you get out, you'll see the Fiery Mountain 
and all. You'll find the Ring very dangerous now, and very hard to bear.  If 
it's too hard a job, I could share it with you, maybe?' 
     `No, no!'  cried Frodo, snatching the  Ring and chain from Sam's hands.  
`No you won't,  you thief!'  He panted, staring at Sam  with eyes wide  with


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walk?' 
     `Yes,  I can walk,' said Frodo, getting up slowly. 'I am not hurt  Sam. 
Only  I feel very tired, and I've a pain here.' He put  his hand to the back  
of his neck above his left shoulder. He stood up, and it looked to Sam as if 
he was clothed in flame: his naked skin was scarlet in the light of the lamp 
above. Twice he paced across the floor. 
     `That's better!' he said,  his spirits rising a  little. `I didn't dare 
to move when I was left alone, or  one of the guards came. Until the yelling 
and fighting began. The two big  brutes:  they quarrelled, I think. Over  me 
and my  things. I lay  here  terrified. And then all  went deadly quiet, and 
that was worse.' 
     `Yes, they  quarrelled, seemingly,'  said Sam. (There must  have been a  
couple  of  hundred of the dirty creatures  in  this place.  A bit of a tall 
order for Sam Gamgee, as  you might say. But they've done all the killing of


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####-Frodo  and  Sam  could not see ahead, but  already  they heard the  tramp of 
iron-shod feet, and upon the road there rang the swift clatter of hoofs. 
     'Quick, Sam!  Over we  go!'  cried Frodo. They scrambled  on to  the low 
parapet of the  bridge. Fortunately there  was no  longer any dreadful  drop 
into the  gulf, for the slopes of the Morgai had already risen almost to the 
level of the road;  but it was too dark for them to  guess  the depth of the 
fall. 
     'Well, here goes, Mr. Frodo,' said Sam. 'Good-bye!' 
     He let go. Frodo followed. And even as they fell they heard the rush of 
horsemen sweeping over  the bridge  and  the rattle  of orc-feet  running up 
behind. But Sam would have laughed, if he had dared. Half fearing a breaking 
plunge down on to unseen rocks the hobbits landed, in a drop of no more than 
a dozen feet, with a thud  and  a crunch  into the last  thing that they had


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nose-guard. 
     `The Morgul-stuff,  Gorbag's gear,  was  a better fit and better made,' 
said Sam;  `but it  wouldn't do,  I  guess, to go  carrying his  tokens into 
Mordor,  not  after  this  business here. Well,  there you are, Mr. Frodo. A 
perfect little orc, if I may make so bold-at least you would be, if we could 
cover your face with a mask,  give you longer arms, and make you bow-legged. 
This  will  hide some of the tell-tales.' He put a large  black cloak  round 
Frodo's shoulders. `Now you're ready! You can pick up a shield as we go.' 
     'What about you, Sam?' said Frodo. `Aren't we going to match?' 
     `Well, Mr. Frodo, I've been  thinking,' said Sam. 'I'd best  not  leave 
any of my stuff behind, and we can't destroy it.  And  I can't wear orc-mail 
over all my clothes, can I? I'll just have to cover up.' 
     He knelt  down  and  carefully  folded his elven-cloak. It went  into a  
surprisingly small roll. This  he  put into his pack  that lay on the floor.


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say that.' 
 
     Frodo sat  for a while and shivered, dreadful fears chasing one another 
through his mind. Then he  got up, drew the grey elven-cloak about him,  and 
to keep his mind occupied, began to walk to and fro, prying and peering into 
every corner of his prison. 
     It was not very long, though fear made it seem an hour at least, before 
he  heard Sam's voice calling softly from  below:  Elbereth, Elbereth . Frodo 
let  down the light ladder. Up  came Sam, puffing, heaving a great bundle on  
his head. He let it fall with a thud. 
     `Quick now. Mr.  Frodo!' he said. `I've had a  bit of  a search to find 
anything  small enough for the likes of us.  We'll have  to make do.  But we 
must hurry. I've met nothing alive, and  I've seen nothing but I'm not easy. 
I think this place is being watched. I can't explain it, but well: it  feels


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whole thing is quite hopeless, so it's no good worrying  about  tomorrow. It 
probably won't come.' 
 
     At last they started. Down the ladder  they climbed, and then Sam  took  
it and laid it in the passage beside the huddled body of the fallen orc. The 
stair was dark, but on the roof-top the glare of the Mountain could still be 
seen, though it  was dying down  now to  a  sullen red.  They  picked up two 
shields to complete their disguise and then went on. 
     Down  the great stairway they plodded. The  high chamber of the  turret 
behind, where they had met again, seemed almost homely: they were out in the 
open again  now,  and terror ran along  the walls. All might be  dead in the 
Tower of Cirith Ungol, but it was steeped in fear and evil still. 
     At length they came to the door upon the outer court, and they  halted. 
Even  from where they stood they felt the malice  of the Watchers beating on


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plunge down on to unseen rocks the hobbits landed, in a drop of no more than 
a dozen feet, with a thud  and  a crunch  into the last  thing that they had 
expected: a tangle of thorny bushes.  There Sam  lay still, softly sucking a  
scratched hand. 
     When  the sound of  hoof  and foot  had passed  he ventured a  whisper. 
'Bless me, Mr. Frodo, but I didn't know as anything grew in Mordor! But if I 
had a'known, this is just what I'd have  looked  for. These thorns must be a  
foot long by the feel of them; they've stuck through everything I've got on. 
Wish I'd a'put that mail -shirt on!' 
     'Orc-mail  doesn't keep  these thorns out,'  said Frodo.  'Not  even  a  
leather jerkin is any good.' 
     They had a  struggle  to get out of the thicket. The thorns  and briars 
were as tough as wire and as  clinging as  claws. Their cloaks were rent and 
tattered before they broke free at last. 
     'Now down we  go, Sam,' Frodo whispered. 'Down into  the  valley quick ,


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`No, no!'  cried Frodo, snatching the  Ring and chain from Sam's hands.  
`No you won't,  you thief!'  He panted, staring at Sam  with eyes wide  with 
fear and enmity. Then  suddenly, clasping the Ring in one clenched  fist, he 
stood aghast. A mist seemed  to  clear from his eyes, and  he passed a  hand 
over  his  aching brow. The hideous vision had  seemed so real to  him, half 
bemused as he was still with wound and fear. Sam had changed before his very 
eyes  into an orc again, leering and pawing  at his  treasure, a foul little 
creature with  greedy  eyes  and  slobbering  mouth. But  now the vision had 
passed.  There was Sam kneeling before him, his face wrung with pain,  as if 
he had been stabbed in the heart; tears welled from his eyes. 
     'O Sam!' cried Frodo. `What have I said? What have I done? Forgive  me! 
After all you have done. It is the horrible power of the Ring. I wish it had 
never, never, been found. But don't mind me, Sam. I must carry the burden to


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wall  above crumbled, and fell in ruin. Only  by a  hair did  they escape. A 
bell clanged; and from the Watchers there went up  a high and dreadful wail.  
Far  up above in  the darkness it was answered . Out of the  black  sky there 
came dropping like a bolt a winged shape, rending the clouds with  a ghastly  
shriek.


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couple  of  hundred of the dirty creatures  in  this place.  A bit of a tall 
order for Sam Gamgee, as  you might say. But they've done all the killing of 
themselves. That's lucky, but it's too long to make a song about, till we're


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battlement; then they plunged down between high rock -walls in a cu tting that 
fell steeply to join  the  Morgul-road. They came to  the way-meeting. There 
was still  no sign of orcs, nor  of  an answer to the cry of the Nazgyl; but 
they  knew that the silence would not last  long. At any moment now the hunt 
would begin. 
     'This won't do, Sam,' said Frodo. 'If we were real orcs, we ought to be 
dashing back  to the  Tower, not running away. The  first enemy we meet will 
know us. We must get off this road somehow.' 
     'But we can't,' said Sam, 'not without wings.' 
     The eastern faces of the Ephel D®ath  were  sheer, falling in cliff and 
precipice to the black trough that lay between  them  and the inner ridge. A 
short way beyond the  way-meeting,  after another  steep  incline,  a flying 
bridge  of stone  leapt over the chasm  and  bore  the road  across into the 
tumbled slopes and glens of the Morgai. With a desperate spurt Frodo and Sam


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####-water, I'd shake his hand,' said Sam. 
     'Don't say such things!' said Frodo. 'It only makes it  worse.' Then he 
stretched himself out, dizzy and weary, and he spoke no more for a while. At 
last with a struggle he got up again. To his amazement he found that Sam was 
asleep.  'Wake  up,  Sam!'  he  said. 'Come on! It's time  we  made  another 
effort.' 
     Sam scrambled  to  his feet.  'Well I  never!' he  said.  'I  must have 
dropped off. It's a long time, Mr. Frodo, since I had a proper sleep, and my 
eyes just closed down on their own.' 
     Frodo now led the way, northward as near as he could  guess,  among the 
stones  and boulders lying thick at  the bottom of  the  great  ravine.  But 
presently he stopped again. 
     'It's no good, Sam,' he said. 'I  can't  manage  it. This mail-shirt, I 
mean. Not in my present state. Even my mithril-coat seemed heavy when I  was 
tired. This is far heavier. And what's the use of it? We shan't win  through 
by fighting.'


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were as tough as wire and as  clinging as  claws. Their cloaks were rent and 
tattered before they broke free at last. 
     'Now down we  go, Sam,' Frodo whispered. 'Down into  the  valley quick , 
and then turn northward, as soon as ever we can.' 
     Day was coming again in the world outside, and far beyond the glooms of 
Mordor the Sun  was climbing over the eastern  rim of Middle-earth; but here 
all was still dark as night. The Mountain smoulder ed and its fires went out. 
The glare  faded from the cliffs.  The easterly wind that  had  been blowing 
ever since  they  left  Ithilien now seemed dead.  Slowly and painfully they 
clambered down, groping, stumbling, scrambling among rock and briar and 
dead 
wood in the blind shadows, down and down until they could go no further. 
     At  length they stopped, and sat  side  by  side, their backs against a  
boulder. Both were sweating.  'If Shagrat himself was to offer me a glass of


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bridge  of stone  leapt over the chasm  and  bore  the road  across into the 
tumbled slopes and glens of the Morgai. With a desperate spurt Frodo and Sam 
dashed along the bridge;  but  they had  hardly reached its further end when 
they  heard  the hue and cry begin. Away  behind them, now high above on the 
mountain-side, loomed  the  Tower of Cirith Ungol, its stones glowing dully. 
Suddenly its harsh bell clanged  again, and  then broke  into  a  shattering 
peal.  Horns sounded.  And now  from beyond  the  bridge-end came  
answering 
cries. Down in the dark trough,  cut off from the dying  glare of  Orodruin,


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After all you have done. It is the horrible power of the Ring. I wish it had 
never, never, been found. But don't mind me, Sam. I must carry the burden to 
the end. It can't be altered. You can't come between me and this doom.' 
     'That's all right, Mr. Frodo,' said Sam, rubbing  his sleeve across his


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mean. Not in my present state. Even my mithril-coat seemed heavy when I  was 
tired. This is far heavier. And what's the use of it? We shan't win  through 
by fighting.' 
     'But we may  have some to do,' said  Sam. 'And there's knives and stray 
arrows. That  Gollum isn't dead, for one thing. I don't like to think of you  
with naught but a bit of leather between you and a stab in the dark.' 
     'Look here, Sam dear lad,' said Frodo: 'I am tired, weary,  I haven't a  
hope left.  But I have to go on trying to get  to the Mountain, as long as I 
can move. The  Ring is enough. This extra  weight is killing me. It must go. 
But don't think  I'm ungrateful. I hate  to think of the foul work  you must  
have had among the bodies to find it for me.' 
     'Don't talk about it, Mr. Frodo. Bless you! I'd  carry you  on my back, 
if I could. Let it go then!' 
     Frodo laid aside his cloak and took off the orc-mail and flung it away.


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####-getting into my  heart.  As I lay in  prison,  Sam. I tried to  remember the 
Brandywine, and  Woody  End,  and  The  Water  running  through  the mill at 
Hobbiton. But I can't see them now.' 
     'There  now, Mr.  Frodo, it's you  that's  talking of water this time!' 
said Sam. 'If only the  Lady could see us or hear us, I'd say to  her: (Your 
Ladyship,  all  we  want is  light  and  water:  just clean water and  plain 
daylight, better than any jewels,  begging your pardon.( But it's a long way 
to Lurien.' Sam sighed and waved his  hand towards the heights of the  Ephel 
D®ath, now only to be guessed as a deeper blackness against the black sky. 
 
     They  started  off again. They  had not gone  far  when  Frodo  paused.  
'There's a Black Rider over us,' he said. 'I can feel it. We had better keep 
still for a while.' 
     Crouched under  a great  boulder they sat facing back  westward and did 
not speak  for some  time. Then  Frodo  breathed  a  sigh of  relief.  'It's


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He knelt  down  and  carefully  folded his elven-cloak. It went  into a  
surprisingly small roll. This  he  put into his pack  that lay on the floor. 
Standing up, he slung  it behind his back,  put an orc-helm on  his head, and 
cast another  black cloak about  his  shoulders. `There!' he  said. `Now  we 
match, near enough. And now we must be off!' 
     'I can't go all the way at a run, Sam,' said Frodo with a wry smile. 'I  
hope you've made inquiries about inns along the road? Or  have you forgotten 
about food and drink?' 
     `Save me,  but so  I had!' said Sam.  He whistled in dismay. 'Bless me, 
Mr. Frodo, but you've gone and made me that hungry and thirsty! I don't know 
when   drop or  morsel last passed my lips. I'd forgotten it,  trying to find 
you.  But let  me  think!  Last time I looked  I'd got about enough of  that 
waybread, and of  what Captain Faramir gave us, to keep  me on my legs for a


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####-Upon its  outer marges under the westward mountains Mordor was a dying 
land, 
but it was not yet dead. And here things still grew, harsh, twisted, bitter, 
struggling  for life. In  the glens of the Morgai on the other  side  of the 
valley low scrubby trees lurked and clung, coarse grey grass-tussocks fought  
with the stones,  and withered mosses crawled on them; and  everywhere great 
writhing, tangled brambles sprawled. Some  had  long stabbing  thorns,  some 
hooked barbs that rent like knives. The sullen shrivelled leaves of  a  past  
year  hung on  them,  grating  and  rattling  in  the  sad airs,  but  their 
maggot-ridden buds were  only  just  opening. Flies,  dun or grey, or black, 
marked like ores with a red  eye-shaped blotch, buzzed and stung;  and above 
the briar-thickets clouds of hungry midges danced and reeled. 
     'Orc-gear's no  good,' said Sam, waving his  arms. 'I  wish I'd  got  an 
orc's hide!'


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'Don't talk about it, Mr. Frodo. Bless you! I'd  carry you  on my back, 
if I could. Let it go then!' 
     Frodo laid aside his cloak and took off the orc-mail and flung it away. 
He shivered a little. 'What I really need is something warm,' he said. 'It's 
gone cold, or else I've caught a chill.' 
     'You can have my cloak,  Mr. Frodo,' said Sam. He unslung his  pack and  
took out the elven-cloak. 'How's  this, Mr.  Frodo?' he said. 'You wrap that 
orc-rag close round you, and  put the belt outside it. Then this can go over 
all.  It  don't  look quite orc-fashion, but it'll  keep you  warmer; and  I 
daresay it'll  keep you from harm better than any other gear. It was made by 
the Lady.' 
     Frodo took the cloak and fastened the brooch. 'That's better!' he said. 
'I feel much lighter. I  can go  on now.  But this  blind dark  seems to  be


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####-     The  light grew no stronger,  for  Orodruin was still belching forth  a  
great  fume that, beaten  upwards by  the  opposing airs, mounted higher and  
higher,  until it  reached  a  region  above  the  wind  and  spread  in  an 
immeasurable roof, whose central pillar rose out of the shadows beyond their 
view. They had  trudged for more than an hour  when they heard a sound  that 
brought them to a halt. Unbelievable, but unmistakable. Water trickling. Out 
of a gully on the left, so sharp  and narrow  that it look ed as if the black  
cliff had been cloven by some  huge  axe, water came dripping down: the last 
remains, maybe, of some sweet rain gathered  from sunlit seas, but ill-fated 
to  fall at last upon the walls of  the Black Land and wander fruitless down 
into  the dust. Here it came out of  the rock in a little falling streamlet, 
and  flowed  across the path, and turning south  ran away swiftly to be lost  
among the dead stones.


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####-There,  peeping among the cloud-wrack  above  a  dark  tor high  up  in  the 
mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for  a while. The beauty of it smote  
his heart, as he looked  up  out  of the forsaken land, and hope returned to 
him. For like  a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced  him that in the 
end the Shadow was  only a small and passing thing: there was light and high 
beauty for ever beyond  its reach. His song in  the Tower had been  defiance 
rather  than hope;  for  then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment,  
his own fate,  and even his masters, ceased to trouble him. He crawled  back  
into the  brambles and  laid  himself by Frodo's side ,  and putting away all 
fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep. 
     They woke  together, hand in  hand.  Sam was  almost fresh,  ready  for  
another day; but Frodo sighed.  His sleep had been uneasy, full of dreams of 
fire, and  waking  brought  him no comfort.  Still  his sleep  had not  been


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you.  But let  me  think!  Last time I looked  I'd got about enough of  that 
waybread, and of  what Captain Faramir gave us, to keep  me on my legs for a  
couple of weeks at a pinch. But if there's a drop left in my bottle, there's


