The Fellowship Of The Ring - Chapter 15 - The Ring Goes South

Later that day the hobbits held a meeting of their own in Bilbo's room.
Merry and Pippin were indignant when they heard that Sam had crept into the
Council, and had been chosen as Frodo's companion.
`It's most unfair,' said Pippin. `Instead of throwing him out, and
clapping him in chains, Elrond goes and rewards him for his cheek!'
`Rewards!' said Frodo. 'I can't imagine a more severe punishment. You
are not thinking what you are saying: condemned to go on this hopeless
journey, a reward? Yesterday I dreamed that my task was done, and I could
rest here, a long while, perhaps for good.'
'I don't wonder,' said Merry, 'and I wish you could. But we are envying
Sam, not you. If you have to go, then it will be a punishment for any of us
to be left behind, even in Rivendell. We have come a long way with you and
been through some stiff times. We want to go on.'
`That's what I meant,' said Pippin. `We hobbits ought to stick
together, and we will. I shall go, unless they chain me up. There must be
someone with intelligence in the party.'
'Then you certainly will not be chosen, Peregrin Took!' said Gandalf,
looking in through the window, which was near the ground. `But you are all
worrying yourselves unnecessarily. Nothing is decided yet.'
`Nothing decided!' cried Pippin. 'Then what were you all doing? You
were shut up for hours.'
"Talking,' said Bilbo. `There was a deal of talk, and everyone had an
eye-opener. Even old Gandalf. I think Legolas's bit of news about Gollum
caught even him on the hop, though he passed it off.'
`You were wrong,' said Gandalf. 'You were inattentive. I had already
heard of it from Gwaihir. If you want to know, the only real eye-openers, as
you put it, were you and Frodo; and I was the only one that was not
surprised.'
`Well, anyway,' said Bilbo, 'nothing was decided beyond choosing poor
Frodo and Sam. I was afraid all the time that it might come to that, if I
was let off. But if you ask me, Elrond will send out a fair number, when the
reports come in. Have they started yet, Gandalf?'
'Yes,' said the wizard. `Some of the scouts have been sent out already.
More will go tomorrow. Elrond is sending Elves, and they will get in touch
with the Rangers, and maybe with Thranduil's folk in Mirkwood. And
Aragorn
has gone with Elrond's sons. We shall have to scour the lands all round for
many long leagues before any move is made. So cheer up, Frodo! You will
probably make quite a long stay here.'
'Ah!' said Sam gloomily. 'We'll just wait long enough for winter to
come.'
'That can't be helped,' said Bilbo. 'It's your fault partly, Frodo my
lad: insisting on waiting for my birthday. A funny way of honouring it, I
can't help thinking. Not the day I should have chosen for letting the S.-B.s
into Bag End. But there it is: you can't wait now fill spring; and you can't
go till the reports come back.
When winter first begins to bite
and stones crack in the frosty night,
when pools are black and trees are bare,
'tis evil in the Wild to fare.
But that I am afraid will be just your luck.'
'I am afraid it will,' said Gandalf. 'We can't start until we have
found out about the Riders.'
`I thought they were all destroyed in the flood,' said Merry.
'You cannot destroy Ringwraiths like that,' said Gandalf. `The power of
their master is in them, and they stand or fall by him. We hope that they
were all unhorsed and unmasked, and so made for a while less dangerous; but
we must find out for certain. In the meantime you should try and forget your
troubles, Frodo. I do not know if I can do anything to help you; but I will
whisper this in your ears. Someone said that intelligence would be needed in
the party. He was right. I think I shall come with you.'
So great was Frodo's delight at this announcement that Gandalf left the
window-sill, where he had been sitting, and took off his hat and bowed. 'I
only said I think I shall come. Do not count on anything yet. In this matter
Elrond will have much to say, and your friend the Strider. Which reminds me,
I want to see Elrond. I must be off.'
`How long do you think I shall have here?' said Frodo to Bilbo when
Gandalf had gone.
`Oh, I don't know. I can't count days in Rivendell,' said Bilbo. 'But
quite long, I should think. We can have many a good talk. What about helping
me with my book, and making a start on the next? Have you thought of an
ending?'
'Yes, several, and all are dark and unpleasant,' said Frodo.
'Oh, that won't do!' said Bilbo. `Books ought to have good endings. How
would this do: and they all settled down and lived together happily ever
after?'
`It will do well, if it ever comes to that,' said Frodo.
'Ah!' said Sam. 'And where will they live? That's what I often wonder.'
For a while the hobbits continued to talk and think of the past journey
and of the perils that lay ahead; but such was the virtue of the land of
Rivendell that soon all fear and anxiety was lifted from their minds. The
future, good or ill, was not forgotten, but ceased to have any power over
the present. Health and hope grew strong in them, and they were content with
each good day as it came, taking pleasure in every meal, and in every word
and song.
So the days slipped away, as each morning dawned bright and fair, and
each evening followed cool and clear. But autumn was waning fast; slowly the
golden light faded to pale silver, and the lingering leaves fell from the
naked trees. A wind began to blow chill from the Misty Mountains to the
east. The Hunter's Moon waxed round in the night sky, and put to flight all
the lesser stars. But low in the South one star shone red. Every night, as
the Moon waned again, it shone brighter and brighter. Frodo could see it
from his window, deep in the heavens burning like a watchful eye that glared
above the trees on the brink of the valley.
The hobbits had been nearly two months in the House of Elrond, and
November had gone by with the last shreds of autumn, and December was
passing, when the scouts began to return. Some had gone north beyond the
springs of the Hoarwell into the Ettenmoors; and others had gone west, and
with the help of Aragorn and the Rangers had searched the lands far down the
Greyflood, as far as Tharbad, where the old North Road crossed the river by
a ruined town. Many had gone east and south; and some of these had crossed
the Mountains and entered Mirkwood, while others had climbed the pass at the
source of the Gladden River, and had come down into Wilderland and over the
Gladden Fields and so at length had reached the old home of Radagast at
Rhosgobel. Radagast was not there; and they had returned over the high pass
that was called the Dimrill Stair. The sons of Elrond, Elladan and Elrohir,
were the last to return; they had made a great journey, passing down the
Silverlode into a strange country, but of their errand they would not speak
to any save to Elrond.
In no region had the messengers discovered any signs or tidings of the
Riders or other servants of the Enemy. Even from the Eagles of the Misty
Mountains they had learned no fresh news. Nothing had been seen or heard of
Gollum; but the wild wolves were still gathering, and were hunting again far
up the Great River. Three of the black horses had been found at once drowned
in the flooded Ford. On the rocks of the rapids below it searchers
discovered the bodies of five more, and also a long black cloak, slashed and
tattered. Of the Black Riders no other trace was to be seen, and nowhere was
their presence to be felt. It seemed that they had vanished from the North.
'Eight out of the Nine are accounted for at least,' said Gandalf. 'It
is rash to be too sure, yet I think that we may hope now that the
Ringwraiths were scattered, and have been obliged to return as best they
could to their Master in Mordor, empty and shapeless.
`If that is so, it will be some time before they can begin the hunt
again. Of course the Enemy has other servants, but they will have to journey
all the way to the borders of Rivendell before they can pick up our trail.
And if we are careful that will be hard to find. But we must delay no
longer.'
Elrond summoned the hobbits to him. He looked gravely at Frodo. 'The
time has come,' he said. `If the Ring is to set out, it must go soon. But
those who go with it must not count on their errand being aided by war or
force. They must pass into the domain of the Enemy far from aid. Do you
still hold to your word, Frodo, that you will be the Ring-bearer?'
'I do,' said Frodo. `I will go with Sam.'
`Then I cannot help you much, not even with counsel,' said Elrond. `I
can foresee very little of your road; and how your task is to be achieved I
do not know. The Shadow has crept now to the feet of the Mountains, and
draws nigh even to the borders of Greyflood; and under the Shadow all is
dark to me. You will meet many foes, some open, and some disguised; and
you
may find friends upon your way when you least look for it. I will send out
messages, such as I can contrive, to those whom I know in the wide world;
but so perilous are the lands now become that some may well miscarry, or
come no quicker than you yourself.
`And I will choose you companions to go with you, as far as they will
or fortune allows. The number must be few, since your hope is in speed and
secrecy. Had I a host of Elves in armour of the Elder Days, it would avail
little, save to arouse the power of Mordor.
`The Company of the Ring shall be Nine; and the Nine Walkers shall be
set against the Nine Riders that are evil. With you and your faithful
servant, Gandalf will go; for this shall be his great task, and maybe the
end of his labours.
`For the rest, they shall represent the other Free Peoples of the
World: Elves, Dwarves, and Men. Legolas shall be for the Elves; and Gimli
son of Gluin for the Dwarves. They are willing to go at least to the passes
of the Mountains, and maybe beyond. For men you shall have Aragorn son of
Arathorn, for the Ring of Isildur concerns him closely.'
`Strider!' said Frodo.
'Yes,' he said with a smile. `I ask leave once again to be your
companion, Frodo.'
`I would have begged you to come,' said Frodo, 'only I thought you were
going to Minas Tirith with Boromir.'
`I am,' said Aragorn. `And the Sword-that-was-Broken shall be reforged
ere I set out to war. But your road and our road lie together for many
hundreds of miles. Therefore Boromir will also be in the Company. He is a
valiant man.'
'There remain two more to be found,' said Elrond. "These I will
consider. Of my household I may find some that it seems good to me to send.'
`But that will leave no place for us!' cried Pippin in dismay. `We
don't want to be left behind. We want to go with Frodo.'
`That is because you do not understand and cannot imagine what lies
ahead,' said Elrond.
`Neither does Frodo,' said Gandalf, unexpectedly supporting Pippin.
'Nor do any of us see clearly. It is true that if these hobbits understood
the danger, they would not dare to go. But they would still wish to go, or
wish that they dared, and be shamed and unhappy. I think, Elrond, that in
this matter it would be well to trust rather to their friendship than to
great wisdom. Even if you chose for us an elf-lord, such as Glorfindel, he
could not storm the Dark Tower, nor open the road to the Fire by the power
that is in him.'
`You speak gravely,' said Elrond, `but I am in doubt. The Shire, I
forebode, is not free now from peril; and these two I had thought to send
back there as messengers, to do what they could, according to the fashion of
their country, to warn the people of their danger. In any case, I judge that
the younger of these two, Peregrin Took, should remain. My heart is against
his going.'
`Then, Master Elrond, you will have to lock me in prison, or send me
home tied in a sack,' said Pippin. `For otherwise I shall follow the
Company.'
`Let it be so then. You shall go,' said Elrond, and he sighed. 'Now the
tale of Nine is filled. In seven days the Company must depart.'
The Sword of Elendil was forged anew by Elvish smiths, and on its blade
was traced a device of seven stars set between the crescent Moon and the
rayed Sun, and about them was written many runes; for Aragorn son of
Arathorn was going to war upon the marches of Mordor. Very bright was that
sword when it was made whole again; the light of the sun shone redly in it,
and the light of the moon shone cold, and its edge was hard and keen. And
Aragorn gave it a new name and called it And®ril, Flame of the West.
Aragorn and Gandalf walked together or sat speaking of their road and
the perils they would meet; and they pondered the storied and figured maps
and books of lore that were in the house of Elrond. Sometimes Frodo was with
them; but he was content to lean on their guidance, and he spent as much
time as he could with Bilbo.
In those last days the hobbits sat together in the evening in the Hall
of Fire, and there among many tales they heard told in full the lay of Beren
and L®thien and the winning of the Great Jewel; but in the day, while Merry
and Pippin were out and about, Frodo and Sam were to be found with Bilbo in
his own small room. Then Bilbo would read passages from his book (which
still seemed very incomplete). or scraps of his verses, or would take notes
of Frodo's adventures.
On the morning of the last day Frodo was alone with Bilbo, and the old
hobbit pulled out from under his bed a wooden box. He lifted the lid and
fumbled inside.
'Here is your sword,' he said. 'But it was broken, you know. I took it
to keep it safe but I've forgotten to ask if the smiths could mend it. No
time now.. So I thought, perhaps, you would care to have this, don't you
know?'
He took from the box a small sword in an old shabby leathern scabbard.
Then he drew it, and its polished and well-tended blade glittered suddenly,
cold and bright. 'This is Sting,' he said, and thrust it with little effort
deep into a wooden beam. `Take it, if you like. I shan't want it again, I
expect.'
Frodo accepted it gratefully.
'Also there is this!' said Bilbo, bringing out a parcel which seemed to
be rather heavy for its size. He unwound several folds of old cloth, and
held up a small shirt of mail. It was close-woven of many rings, as supple
almost as linen, cold as ice, and harder than steel. It shone like moonlit
silver, and was studded with white gems. With it was a belt of pearl and
crystal.
'It's a pretty thing, isn't it?' said Bilbo, moving it in the light.
`And useful. It is my dwarf-mail that Thorin gave me. I got it back from
Michel Delving before I started, and packed it with my luggage: I brought
all the mementoes of my Journey away with me, except the Ring. But I did not
expect to use this, and I don't need it now, except to look at sometimes.
You hardly feel any weight when you put it on.'
`I should look -- well, I don't think I should look right in it,' said
Frodo.
`Just what I said myself,' said Bilbo. 'But never mind about looks. You
can wear it under your outer clothes. Come on! You must share this secret
with me. Don't tell anybody else! But I should feel happier if I knew you
were wearing it. I have a fancy it would turn even the knives of the Black
Riders,' he ended in a low voice.
`Very well, I will take it,' said Frodo. Bilbo put it on him, and
fastened Sting upon the glittering belt; and then Frodo put over the top his
old weather-stained breeches, tunic, and jacket.
'Just a plain hobbit you look,' said Bilbo. 'But there is more about
you now than appears on the surface. Good luck to you!' He turned away and
looked out of the window, trying to hum a tune.
'I cannot thank you as I should, Bilbo, for this, and for all our past
kindnesses,' said Frodo.
'Don't try!' said the old hobbit, turning round and slapping him on the
back. `Ow!' he cried. `You are too hard now to slap! But there you are:
Hobbits must stick together, and especially Bagginses. All I ask in return
is: take as much care of yourself as you can. and bring back all the news
you can, and any old songs and tales you can come by. I'll do my best to
finish my book before you return. I should like to write the second book, if
I am spared.' He broke off and turned to the window again, singing softly.
I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.
For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.
It was a cold grey day near the end of December. The East Wind was
streaming through the bare branches of the trees, and seething in the dark
pines on the hills. Ragged clouds were hurrying overhead, dark and low. As
the cheerless shadows of the early evening began to fall the Company made
ready to set out. They were to start at dusk, for Elrond counselled them to
journey under cover of night as often as they could, until they were far
from Rivendell.
`You should fear the many eyes of the servants of Sauron,' he said. 'I
do not doubt that news of the discomfiture of the Riders has already reached
him, and he will be filled with wrath. Soon now his spies on foot and wing
will be abroad in the northern lands. Even of the sky above you must beware
as you go on your way.'
The Company took little gear of war, for their hope was in secrecy not
in battle. Aragorn had And®ril but no other weapon, and he went forth clad
only in rusty green and brown. as a Ranger of the wilderness. Boromir had a
long sword, in fashion like And®ril but of less lineage and he bore also a
shield and his war-horn.
'Loud and clear it sounds in the valleys of the hills,' he said, `and
then let all the foes of Gondor flee!' Putting it to his lips he blew a
blast, and the echoes leapt from rock to rock, and all that heard that voice
in Rivendell sprang to their feet.
Slow should you be to wind that horn again, Boromir, said Elrond.
'until you stand once more on the borders of your land, and dire need is on
you.'
`Maybe,' said Boromir. 'But always I have let my horn cry at setting
forth, and though thereafter we may walk in the shadows, I will not go forth
as a thief in the night.'
Gimli the dwarf alone wore openly a short shirt of steel-rings, for
dwarves make light of burdens; and in his belt was a broad-bladed axe.
Legolas had a bow and a quiver, and at his belt a long white knife. The
younger hobbits wore the swords that they had taken from the barrow; but
Frodo took only Sting; and his mail-coat, as Bilbo wished, remained hidden.
Gandalf bore his staff, but girt at his side was the elven-sword Glamdring,
the mate of Orcrist that lay now upon the breast of Thorin under the Lonely
Mountain.
All were well furnished by Elrond with thick warm clothes, and they had
jackets and cloaks lined with fur. Spare food and clothes and blankets and
other needs were laden on a pony, none other than the poor beast that they
had brought from Bree.
?he stay in Rivendell had worked a great wonder of change on him: he
was glossy and seemed to have the vigour of youth. It was Sam who had
insisted on choosing him, declaring that Bill (as he called him) would pine,
if he did not come.
`That animal can nearly talk,' he said, `and would talk, if he stayed
here much longer. He gave me a look as plain as Mr. Pippin could speak it:
if you don't let me go with you, Sam, I'll follow on my own.' So Bill was
going as the beast of burden, yet he was the only member of the Company that
did not seem depressed.
Their farewells had been said in the great hall by the fire, and they
were only waiting now for Gandalf, who had not yet come out of the house. A
gleam of firelight came from the open doors, and soft lights were glowing in
many windows. Bilbo huddled in a cloak stood silent on the doorstep beside
Frodo. Aragorn sat with his head bowed to his knees; only Elrond knew fully
what this hour meant to him. The others could be seen as grey shapes in the
darkness.
Sam was standing by the pony, sucking his teeth, and staring moodily
into the gloom where the river roared stonily below; his desire for
adventure was at its lowest ebb.
`Bill, my lad,' he said, `you oughtn't to have took up with us. You
could have stayed here and et the best hay till the new grass comes.' Bill
swished his tail and said nothing.
Sam eased the pack on his shoulders, and went over anxiously in his
mind all the things that he had stowed in it, wondering if he had forgotten
anything: his chief treasure, his cooking gear; and the little box of salt
that he always carried and refilled when he could; a good supply of
pipe-weed (but not near enough, I'll warrant); flint and tinder; woollen
hose: linen; various small belongings of his master's that Frodo had
forgotten and Sam had stowed to bring them out in triumph when they were
called for. He went through them all.
'Rope!' he muttered. `No rope! And only last night you said to
yourself: "Sam, what about a bit of rope? You'll want it, if you haven't got
it:" Well, I'll want it. I can't get it now.'
At that moment Elrond came out with Gandalf, and he called the Company
to him. 'This is my last word,' he said in a low voice. 'The Ring-bearer is
setting out on the Quest of Mount Doom. On him alone is any charge laid:
neither to cast away the Ring, nor to deliver it to any servant of the Enemy
nor indeed to let any handle it, save members of the Company and the
Council, and only then in gravest need. The others go with him as free
companions, to help him on his way. You may tarry, or come back, or turn
aside into other paths, as chance allows. The further you go, the less easy
will it be to withdraw; yet no oath or bond is laid on you to go further
than you will. For you do not yet know the strength of your hearts, and you
cannot foresee what each may meet upon the road.'
`Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens,' said Gimli.
'Maybe,' said Elrond, `but let him not vow to walk in the dark, who has
not seen the nightfall.'
'Yet sworn word may strengthen quaking heart,' said Gimli.
`Or break it,' said Elrond. `Look not too far ahead! But go now with
good hearts! Farewell, and may the blessing of Elves and Men and all Free
Folk go with you. May the stars shine upon your faces!'
'Good . . . good luck!' cried Bilbo, stuttering with the cold. 'I don't
suppose you will be able to keep a diary, Frodo my lad, but I shall expect a
full account when you get back. And don't be too long! Farewell!'
Many others of Elrond's household stood in the shadows and watched them
go, bidding them farewell with soft voices. There was no laughter, and no
song or music. At last they turned away and faded silently into the dusk.
They crossed the bridge and wound slowly up the long steep paths that
led out of the cloven vale of Rivendell; and they came at length to the high
moor where the wind hissed through the heather. Then with one glance at the
Last Homely House twinkling below them they strode away far into the night.
At the Ford of Bruinen they left the Road and turning southwards went
on by narrow paths among the folded lands. Their purpose was to hold this
course west of the Mountains for many miles and days. The country was
much
rougher and more barren than in the green vale of the Great River in
Wilderland on the other side of the range, and their going would be slow;
but they hoped in this way to escape the notice of unfriendly eyes. The
spies of Sauron had hitherto seldom been seen in this empty country, and the
paths were little known except to the people of Rivendell.
Gandalf walked in front, and with him went Aragorn, who knew this land
even in the dark. The others were in file behind, and Legolas whose eyes
were keen was the rearguard. The first part of their journey was hard and
dreary, and Frodo remembered little of it, save the wind. For many sunless
days an icy blast came from the Mountains in the east, and no garment seemed
able to keep out its searching fingers. Though the Company was well clad,
they seldom felt warm, either moving or at rest. They slept uneasily during
the middle of the day, in some hollow of the land, or hidden under the
tangled thorn-bushes that grew in thickets in many places. In the late
afternoon they were roused by the watch, and took their chief meal: cold and
cheerless as a rule, for they could seldom risk the lighting of a fire. In
the evening they went on again, always as nearly southward as they could
find a way.
At first it seemed to the hobbits that although they walked and
stumbled until they were weary, they were creeping forward like snails, and
getting nowhere. Each day the land looked much the same as it had the day
before. Yet steadily the mountains were drawing nearer. South of Rivendell
they rose ever higher, and bent westwards; and about the feet of the main
range there was tumbled an ever wider land of bleak hills, and deep valleys
filled with turbulent waters. Paths were few and winding, and led them often
only to the edge of some sheer fall, or down into treacherous swamps.
They had been a fortnight on the way when the weather changed. The wind
suddenly fell and then veered round to the south. The swift-flowing clouds
lifted and melted away, and the sun came out, pale and bright. There came a
cold clear dawn at the end of a long stumbling night-march. The travellers
reached a low ridge crowned with ancient holly-trees whose grey-green trunks
seemed to have been built out of the very stone of the hills. Their dark
leaves shone and their berries glowed red in the light of the rising sun.
Away in the south Frodo could see the dim shapes of lofty mountains
that seemed now to stand across the path that the Company was taking. At the
left of this high range rose three peaks; the tallest and nearest stood up
like a tooth tipped with snow; its great, bare, northern precipice was still
largely in the shadow, but where the sunlight slanted upon it, it glowed
red.
Gandalf stood at Frodo's side and looked out under his hand. `We have
done well,' he said. `We have reached the borders of the country that Men
call Hollin; many Elves lived here in happier days, when Eregion was its
name. Five-and-forty leagues as the crow flies we have come, though many
long miles further our feet have walked. The land and the weather will be
milder now, but perhaps all the more dangerous.'
`Dangerous or not, a real sunrise is mighty welcome,' said Frodo,
throwing back his hood and letting the morning light fall on his face.
'But the mountains are ahead of us,' said Pippin. `We must have turned
eastwards in the night.'
'No,' said Gandalf. 'But you see further ahead in the clear light.
Beyond those peaks the range bends round south-west. There are many maps
in
Elrond's house, but I suppose you never thought to look at them?'
`Yes I did, sometimes,' said Pippin, `but I don't remember them. Frodo
has a better head for that sort of thing.'
`I need no map,' said Gimli, who had come up with Legolas, and was
gazing out before him with a strange light in his deep eyes. `There is the
land where our fathers worked of old, and we have wrought the image of those
mountains into many works of metal and of stone, and into many songs and
tales. They stand tall in our dreams: Baraz, Zirak, Shathyr.
`Only once before have I seen them from afar in waking life, but I know
them and their names, for under them lies Khazad-dym, the Dwarrowdelf, that
is now called the Black Pit, Moria in the Elvish tongue. Yonder stands
Barazinbar, the Redhorn, cruel Caradhras; and beyond him are Silvertine and
Cloudyhead: Celebdil the White, and Fanuidhol the Grey, that we call
Zirak-zigil and Bundushathyr.
`There the Misty Mountains divide, and between their arms lies the
deep-shadowed valley which we cannot forget: Azanulbizar, the Dimrill Dale,
which the Elves call Nanduhirion.'
`It is for the Dimrill Dale that we are making,' said Gandalf. `If we
climb the pass that is called the Redhorn Gate, under the far side of
Caradhras, we shall come down by the Dimrill Stair into the deep vale of the
Dwarves. There lies the Mirrormere, and there the River Silverlode rises in
its icy springs.'
`Dark is the water of Kheled-zvram,' said Gimli, `and cold are the
springs of Kibil-nvla. My heart trembles at the thought that I may see them
soon.'
`May you have joy of the sight, my good dwarf l' said Gandalf. 'But
whatever you may do, we at least cannot stay in that valley. We must go down
the Silverlode into the secret woods, and so to the Great River, and then
--'
He paused.
'Yes, and where then?' asked Merry.
'To the end of the journey -- in the end,' said Gandalf. 'We cannot
look too far ahead. Let us be glad that the first stage is safely over. I
think we will rest here, not only today but tonight as well. There is a
wholesome air about Hollin. Much evil must befall a country before it wholly
forgets the Elves, if once they dwelt there.'
'That is true,' said Legolas. `But the Elves of this land were of a
race strange to us of the silvan folk, and the trees and the grass do not
now remember them: Only I hear the stones lament them: deep they delved us,
fair they wrought us, high they builded us; but they are gone. They are
gone. They sought the Havens long ago.'
That morning they lit a fire in a deep hollow shrouded by great bushes
of holly, and their supper-breakfast was merrier than it had been since they
set out. They did not hurry to bed afterwards, for they expected to have all
the night to sleep in, and they did not mean to go on again until the
evening of the next day. Only Aragorn was silent and restless. After a while
he left the Company and wandered on to the ridge; there he stood in the
shadow of a tree, looking out southwards and westwards, with his head posed
as if he was listening. Then he returned to the brink of the dell and looked
down at the others laughing and talking.
`What is the matter, Strider?' Merry called up. 'What are you looking
for? Do you miss the East Wind?'
'No indeed,' he answered. `But I miss something. I have been in the
country of Hollin in many seasons. No folk dwell here now, but many other
creatures live here at all times, especially birds. Yet now all things but
you are silent. I can feel it. There is no sound for miles about us, and
your voices seem to make the ground echo. I do not understand it.'
Gandalf looked up with sudden interest. `But what do you guess is the
reason?' he asked. `Is there more in it than surprise at seeing four
hobbits, not to mention the rest of us, where people are so seldom seen or
heard?'
`I hope that is it,' answered Aragorn. `But I have a sense of
watchfulness, and of fear, that I have never had here before.'
"Then we must be more careful,' said Gandalf. 'If you bring a Ranger
with you, it is well to pay attention to him, especially if the Ranger is
Aragorn. We must stop talking aloud, rest quietly, and set the watch.'
It was Sam's turn that day to take the first watch, but Aragorn joined
him. The others fell asleep. Then the silence grew until even Sam felt it.
The breathing of the sleepers could be plainly heard. The swish of the
pony's tail and the occasional movements of his feet became loud noises. Sam
could hear his own joints creaking, if he stirred. Dead silence was around
him, and over all hung a clear blue sky, as the Sun rode up from the East.
Away in the South a dark patch appeared, and grew, and drove north like
flying smoke in the wind.
`What's that, Strider? It don't look like a cloud,' said Sam in a
whisper to Aragorn. He made no answer, he was gazing intently at the sky;
but before long Sam could see for himself what was approaching. Flocks of
birds, flying at great speed, were wheeling and circling, and traversing all
the land as if they were searching for something; and they were steadily
drawing nearer.
`Lie flat and still!' hissed Aragorn, pulling Sam down into the shade
of a holly-bush; for a whole regiment of birds had broken away suddenly from
the main host, and came, flying low, straight towards the ridge. Sam thought
they were a kind of crow of large size. As they passed overhead, in so dense
a throng that their shadow followed them darkly over the ground below, one
harsh croak was heard.
Not until they had dwindled into the distance, north and west, and the
sky was again clear would Aragorn rise. Then he sprang up and went and
wakened Gandalf.
`Regiments of black crows are flying over all the land between the
Mountains and the Greyflood,' he said, `and they have passed over Hollin.
They are not natives here; they are crebain out of Fangorn and Dunland. I do
not know what they are about: possibly there is some trouble away south from
which they are fleeing; but I think they are spying out the land. I have
also glimpsed many hawks flying high up in the sky. I think we ought to move
again this evening. Hollin is no longer wholesome for us: it is being
watched.'
`And in that case so is the Redhorn Gate,' said Gandalf; `and how we
can get over that without being seen, I cannot imagine. But we will think of
that when we must. As for moving as soon as it is dark, I am afraid that you
are right.'
`Luckily our fire made little smoke, and had burned low before the
crebain came,' said Aragorn. `It must be put out and not lit again.'
`Well if that isn't a plague and a nuisance!' said Pippin. The news: no
fire, and a move again by night, had been broken to him, as soon as he woke
in the late afternoon. 'All because of a pack of crows! I had looked forward
to a real good meal tonight: something hot.'
`Well, you can go on looking forward,' said Gandalf. `There may be many
unexpected feasts ahead for you. For myself I should like a pipe to smoke in
comfort, and warmer feet. However, we are certain of one thing at any rate:
it will get warmer as we get south.'
'Too warm, I shouldn't wonder,' muttered Sam to Frodo. 'But I'm
beginning to think it's time we got a sight of that Fiery Mountain and saw
the end of the Road, so to speak. I thought at first that this here Redhorn,
or whatever its name is, might be it, till Gimli spoke his piece. A fair
jaw-cracker dwarf-language must be!' Maps conveyed nothing to Sam's mind,
and all distances in these strange lands seemed so vast that he was quite
out of his reckoning.
All that day the Company remained in hiding. The dark birds passed over
now and again; but as the westering Sun grew red they disappeared
southwards. At dusk the Company set out, and turning now half east they
steered their course towards Caradhras, which far away still glowed faintly
red in the last light of the vanished Sun. One by one white stars sprang
forth as the sky faded.
Guided by Aragorn they struck a good path. It looked to Frodo like the
remains of an ancient road, that had once been broad and well planned, from
Hollin to the mountain-pass. The Moon, now at the full, rose over the
mountains, and cast a pale light in which the shadows of stones were black.
Many of them looked to have been worked by hands, though now they lay
tumbled and ruinous in a bleak, barren land.
It was the cold chill hour before the first stir of dawn, and the moon
was low. Frodo looked up at the sky. Suddenly he saw or felt a shadow pass
over the high stars, as if for a moment they faded and then flashed out
again. He shivered.
`Did you see anything pass over?' he whispered to Gandalf, who was just
ahead.
`No, but I felt it, whatever it was,' he answered. `It may be nothing,
only a wisp of thin cloud.'
`It was moving fast then,' muttered Aragorn, `and not with the wind.'
Nothing further happened that night. The next morning dawned even
brighter than before. But the air was chill again; already the wind was
turning back towards the east. For two more nights they marched on, climbing
steadily but ever more slowly as their road wound up into the hills, and the
mountains towered up, nearer and nearer. On the third morning Caradhras rose
before them, a mighty peak, tipped with snow like silver, but with sheer
naked sides, dull red as if stained with blood.
There was a black look in the sky, and the sun was wan. The wind had
gone now round to the north-east. Gandalf snuffed the air and looked back.
`Winter deepens behind us,' he said quietly to Aragorn. 'The heights
away north are whiter than they were; snow is lying far down their
shoulders. Tonight we shall be on our way high up towards the Redhorn Gate.
We may well be seen by watchers on that narrow path, and waylaid by some
evil; but the weather may prove a more deadly enemy than any. What do you
think of your course now, Aragorn?'
Frodo overheard these words, and understood that Gandalf and Aragorn
were continuing some debate that had begun long before. He listened
anxiously.
'I think no good of our course from beginning to end, as you know well,
Gandalf,' answered Aragorn. `And perils known and unknown will grow as we
go
on. But we must go on; and it is no good our delaying the passage of the
mountains. Further south there are no passes, till one comes to the Gap of
Rohan. I do not trust that way since your news of Saruman. Who knows
which
side now the marshals of the Horse-lords serve?'
'Who knows indeed!' said Gandalf. `But there is another way, and not by
the pass of Caradhras: the dark and secret way that we have spoken of.'
'But let us not speak of it again! Not yet. Say nothing to the others I
beg, not until it is plain that there is no other way.'
'We must decide before we go further,' answered Gandalf.
'Then let us weigh the matter in our minds, while the others rest and
sleep,' said Aragorn.
In the late afternoon, while the others were finishing their breakfast,
Gandalf and Aragorn went aside together and stood looking at Caradhras. Its
sides were now dark and sullen, and its head was in grey cloud. Frodo
watched them, wondering which way the debate would go. When they returned
to
the Company Gandalf spoke, and then he knew that it had been decided to face
the weather and the high pass. He was relieved. He could not guess what was
the other dark and secret way, but the very mention of it had seemed to fill
Aragorn with dismay, and Frodo was glad that it had been abandoned.
`From signs that we have seen lately,' said Gandalf, 'I fear that the
Redhorn Gate may be watched; and also I have doubts of the weather that is
coming up behind. Snow may come. We must go with all the speed that we
can.
Even so it will take us more than two marches before we reach the top of the
pass. Dark will come early this evening. We must leave as soon as you can
get ready.'
'I will add a word of advice, if I may,' said Boromir. 'I was born
under the shadow of the White Mountains and know something of journeys
in
the high places. We shall meet bitter cold, if no worse, before we come down
on the other side. It will not help us to keep so secret that we are frozen
to death. When we leave here, where there are still a few trees and bushes,
each of us should carry a faggot of wood, as large as he can bear.'
'And Bill could take a bit more, couldn't you lad?' said Sam. The pony
looked at him mournfully.
'Very well,' said Gandalf. `But we must not use the wood -- not unless
it is a choice between fire and death.'
The Company set out again with good speed at first; but soon their way
became steep and difficult. The twisting and climbing road had in many
places almost disappeared, and was blocked with many fallen stones. The
night grew deadly dark under great clouds. A bitter wind swirled among the
rocks. By midnight they had climbed to the knees of the great mountains. The
narrow path now wound under a sheer wall of cliffs to the left, above which
the grim flanks of Caradhras towered up invisible in the gloom; on the right
was a gulf of darkness where the land fell suddenly into a deep ravine.
Laboriously they climbed a sharp slope and halted for a moment at the
top. Frodo felt a soft touch on his face. He put out his arm and saw the dim
white flakes of snow settling on his sleeve.
They went on. But before long the snow was falling fast, filling all
the air, and swirling into Frodo's eyes. The dark bent shapes of Gandalf and
Aragorn only a pace or two ahead could hardly be seen.
'I don't like this at all,' panted Sam just behind. 'Snow's all right
on a fine morning, but I like to be in bed while it's falling. I wish this
lot would go off to Hobbiton! Folk might welcome it there.' Except on the
high moors of the Northfarthing a heavy fall was rare in the Shire, and was
regarded as a pleasant event and a chance for fun. No living hobbit (save
Bilbo) could remember the Fell Winter of 1311, when the white wolves
invaded
the Shire over the frozen Brandywine.
Gandalf halted. Snow was thick on his hood and shoulders; it was
already ankle-deep about his boots.
"This is what I feared,' he said. `What do you say now, Aragorn?'
'That I feared it too,' Aragorn answered, `but less than other things.
I knew the risk of snow, though it seldom falls heavily so far south, save
high up in the mountains. But we are not high yet; we are still far down,
where the paths are usually open all the winter.'
'I wonder if this is a contrivance of the Enemy,' said Boromir. "They
say in my land that he can govern the storms in the Mountains of Shadow that
stand upon the borders of Mordor. He has strange powers and many allies.'
'His arm has grown long indeed,' said Gimli, `if he can draw snow down
from the North to trouble us here three hundred leagues away.'
'His arm has grown long,' said Gandalf.
While they were halted, the wind died down, and the snow slackened
until it almost ceased. They tramped on again. But they had not gone more
than a furlong when the storm returned with fresh fury. The wind whistled
and the snow became a blinding blizzard. Soon even Boromir found it hard to
keep going. The hobbits, bent nearly double, toiled along behind the taller
folk, but it was plain that they could not go much further, if the snow
continued. Frodo's feet felt like lead. Pippin was dragging behind. Even
Gimli, as stout as any dwarf could be, was grumbling as he trudged.
The Company halted suddenly, as if they had come to an agreement
without any words being spoken. They heard eerie noises in the darkness
round them. It may have been only a trick of the wind in the cracks and
gullies of the rocky wall, but the sounds were those of shrill cries, and
wild howls of laughter. Stones began to fall from the mountain-side,
whistling over their heads, or crashing on the path beside them. Every now
and again they heard a dull rumble, as a great boulder rolled down from
hidden heights above.
`We cannot go further tonight,' said Boromir. `Let those call it the
wind who will; there are fell voices on the air; and these stones are aimed
at us.'
`I do call it the wind,' said Aragorn. `But that does not make what you
say untrue. There are many evil and unfriendly things in the world that have
little love for those that go on two legs, and yet are not in league with
Sauron, but have purposes of their own. Some have been in this world longer
than he.'
'Caradhras was called the Cruel, and had an ill name, said Gimli, `long
years ago, when rumour of Sauron had not been heard in these lands.'
`It matters little who is the enemy, if we cannot beat off his attack;
said Gandalf.
'But what can we do?' cried Pippin miserably. He was leaning on Merry
and Frodo, and he was shivering.
`Either stop where we are, or go back,' said Gandalf. 'It is no good
going on. Only a little higher, if I remember rightly, this path leaves the
cliff and runs into a wide shallow trough at the bottom of a long hard
slope. We should have no shelter there from snow, or stones -- or anything
else.'
`And it is no good going back while the storm holds,' said Aragorn. `We
have passed no place on the way up that offered more shelter than this
cliff-wall we are under now.'
`Shelter!' muttered Sam. `If this is shelter, then one wall and no roof
make a house.'
The Company now gathered together as close to the cliff as they could.
It faced southwards, and near the bottom it leaned out a little, so that
they hoped it would give them some protection from the northerly wind and
from the falling stones. But eddying blasts swirled round them from every
side, and the snow flowed down in ever denser clouds.
They huddled together with their backs to the wall. Bill the pony stood
patiently but dejectedly in front of the hobbits, and screened them a
little; but before long the drifting snow was above his hocks, and it went
on mounting. If they had had no larger companions the hobbits would soon
have been entirely buried.
A great sleepiness came over Frodo; he felt himself sinking fast into a
warm and hazy dream. He thought a fire was heating his toes, and out of the
shadows on the other side of the hearth he heard Bilbo's voice speaking. I
don't think much of your diary, he said. Snowstorms on January the twelfth:
there was no need to come back to report that!
But I wanted rest and sleep, Bilbo, Frodo answered with an effort, when
he felt himself shaken, and he came back painfully to wakefulness. Boromir
had lifted him off the ground out of a nest of snow.
`This will be the death of the halflings, Gandalf,' said Boromir. `It
is useless to sit here until the snow goes over our heads. We must do
something to save ourselves.'
`Give them this,' said Gandalf, searching in his pack and drawing out a
leathern flask. `Just a mouthful each -- for all of us. It is very precious.
It is miruvor, the cordial of Imladris. Elrond gave it to me at our parting.
Pass it round!'
As soon as Frodo had swallowed a little of the warm and fragrant liquor
he felt a new strength of heart, and the heavy drowsiness left his limbs.
The others also revived and found fresh hope and vigour. But the snow did
not relent. It whirled about them thicker than ever, and the wind blew
louder.
'What do you say to fire?' asked Boromir suddenly. 'The choice seems
near now between fire and death, Gandalf. Doubtless we shall be hidden from
all unfriendly eyes when the snow has covered us, but that will not help
us.'
'You may make a fire, if you can,' answered Gandalf. 'If there are any
watchers that can endure this storm, then they can see us, fire or no.' But
though they had brought wood and kindlings by the advice of Boromir, it
passed the skill of Elf or even Dwarf to strike a flame that would hold amid
the swirling wind or catch in the wet fuel. At last reluctantly Gandalf
himself took a hand. Picking up a faggot he held it aloft for a moment, and
then with a word of command, naur an edraith ammen! he thrust the end of his
staff into the midst of it. At once a great spout of green and blue flame
sprang out, and the wood flared and sputtered.
`If there are any to see, then I at least am revealed to them,' he
said. 'I have written Gandalf is here in signs that all can read from
Rivendell to the mouths of Anduin.'
But the Company cared no longer for watchers or unfriendly eyes. Their
hearts were rejoiced to see the light of the fire. The wood burned merrily;
and though all round it the snow hissed, and pools of slush crept under
their feet, they warmed their hands gladly at the blaze. There they stood,
stooping in a circle round the little dancing and blowing flames. A red
light was on their tired and anxious faces; behind them the night was like a
black wall.
But the wood was burning fast, and the snow still fell.
The fire burned low. and the last faggot was thrown on.
The night is getting old,' said Aragorn. "The dawn is not far off.'
`If any dawn can pierce these clouds,' said Gimli.
Boromir stepped out of the circle and stared up into the blackness.
'The snow is growing less,' he said, `and the wind is quieter.'
Frodo gazed wearily at the flakes still falling out of the dark to be
revealed white for a moment in the light of the dying fire; but for a long
time he could see no sign of their slackening. Then suddenly, as sleep was
beginning to creep over him again, he was aware that the wind had indeed
fallen, and the flakes were becoming larger and fewer. Very slowly a dim
light began to grow. At last the snow stopped altogether.
As the light grew stronger it showed a silent shrouded world. Below
their refuge were white humps and domes and shapeless deeps beneath which
the path that they had trodden was altogether lost; but the heights above
were hidden in great clouds still heavy with the threat of snow.
Gimli looked up and shook his head. `Caradhras has not forgiven us.' he
said. `He has more snow yet to fling at us, if we go on. The sooner we go
back and down the better.'
To this all agreed, but their retreat was now difficult. It might well
prove impossible. Only a few paces from the ashes of their fire the snow lay
many feet deep, higher than the heads of the hobbits; in places it had been
scooped and piled by the wind into great drifts against the cliff.
`If Gandalf would go before us with a bright flame, he might melt a
path for you,' said Legolas. The storm had troubled him little, and he alone
of the Company remained still light of heart.
`If Elves could fly over mountains, they might fetch the Sun to save
us,' answered Gandalf. `But I must have something to work on. I cannot burn
snow.'
`Well,' said Boromir, `when heads are at a loss bodies must serve, as
we say in my country. The strongest of us must seek a way. See! Though all
is now snow-clad, our path, as we came up, turned about that shoulder of
rock down yonder. It was there that the snow first began to burden us. If we
could reach that point, maybe it would prove easier beyond. It is no more
than a furlong off, I guess.'
`Then let us force a path thither, you and I!' said Aragorn.
Aragorn was the tallest of the Company, but Boromir, little less in
height, was broader and heavier in build. He led the way, and Aragorn
followed him. Slowly they moved off, and were soon toiling heavily. In
places the snow was breast-high, and often Boromir seemed to bc swimming
or
burrowing with his great arms rather than walking.
Legolas watched them for a while with a smile upon his lips, and then
he turned to the others. `The strongest must seek a way, say you? But I say:
let a ploughman plough, but choose an otter for swimming, and for running
light over grass and leaf or over snow-an Elf.'
With that he sprang forth nimbly, and then Frodo noticed as if for the
first time, though he had long known it, that the Elf had no boots, but wore
only light shoes, as he always did, and his feet made little imprint in the
snow.
'Farewell!' he said to Gandalf. `I go to find the Sun!' Then swift as a
runner over firm sand he shot away, and quickly overtaking the toiling men,
with a wave of his hand he passed them, and sped into the distance, and
vanished round the rocky turn.
The others waited huddled together, watching until Boromir and Aragorn
dwindled into black specks in the whiteness. At length they too passed from
sight. The time dragged on. The clouds lowered, and now a few flakes of snow
came curling down again.
An hour, maybe, went by, though it seemed far longer, and then at last
they saw Legolas coming back. At the same time Boromir and Aragorn
reappeared round the bend far behind him and came labouring up the slope.
`Well,' cried Legolas as he ran up, `I have not brought the Sun. She is
walking in the blue fields of the South, and a little wreath of snow on this
Redhorn hillock troubles her not at all. But I have brought back a gleam of
good hope for those who are doomed to go on feet. There is the greatest
wind-drift of all just beyond the turn, and there our Strong Men were almost
buried. They despaired, until I returned and told them that the drift was
little wider than a wall. And on the other side the snow suddenly grows
less, while further down it is no more than a white coverlet to cool a
hobbit's toes.'
`Ah, it is as I said,' growled Gimli. 'It was no ordinary storm. It is
the ill will of Caradhras. He does not love Elves and Dwarves, and that
drift was laid to cut off our escape.'
'But happily your Caradhras has forgotten that you have Men with you,'
said Boromir, who came up at that moment. `And doughty Men too, if I may
say
it; though lesser men with spades might have served you better. Still, we
have thrust a lane through the drift; and for that all here may be grateful
who cannot run as light as Elves.'
`But how are we to get down there, even if you have cut through the
drift?' said Pippin, voicing the thought of all the hobbits.
'Have hope!' said Boromir. 'I am weary, but I still have some strength
left, and Aragorn too. We will bear the little folk. The others no doubt
will make shift to tread the path behind us. Come, Master Peregrin! I will
begin with you.'
He lifted up the hobbit. 'Cling to my back! I shall need my arms' he
said and strode forward. Aragorn with Merry came behind. Pippin marvelled at
his strength, seeing the passage that he had already forced with no other
tool than his great limbs. Even now, burdened as he was, he was widening the
track for those who followed, thrusting the snow aside as he went.
They came at length to the great drift. It was flung across the
mountain-path like a sheer and sudden wall, and its crest, sharp as if
shaped with knives, reared up more than twice the height of Boromir; but
through the middle a passage had been beaten, rising and falling like a
bridge. On the far side Merry and Pippin were set down, and there they
waited with Legolas for the rest of the Company to arrive.
After a while Boromir returned carrying Sam. Behind in the narrow but
now well-trodden track came Gandalf, leading Bill with Gimli perched among
the baggage. Last came Aragorn carrying Frodo. They passed through the lane;
but hardly had Frodo touched the ground when with a deep rumble there rolled
down a fall of stones and slithering snow. The spray of it half blinded the
Company as they crouched against the cliff, and when the air cleared again
they saw that the path was blocked behind them.
`Enough, enough!' cried Gimli. 'We are departing as quickly as we may!'
And indeed with that last stroke the malice of the mountain seemed to be
expended, as if Caradhras was satisfied that the invaders had been beaten
off and would not dare to return. The threat of snow lifted; the clouds
began to break and the light grew broader.
As Legolas had reported, they found that the snow became steadily more
shallow as they went down, so that even the hobbits could trudge along. Soon
they all stood once more on the flat shelf at the head of the steep slope
where they had felt the first flakes of snow the night before.
The morning was now far advanced. From the high place they looked back
westwards over the lower lands. Far away in the tumble of country that lay
at the foot of the mountain was the dell from which they had started to
climb the pass.
Frodo's legs ached. He was chilled to the bone and hungry; and his head
was dizzy as he thought of the long and painful march downhill. Black specks
swam before his eyes. He rubbed them, but the black specks remained. In the
distance below him, but still high above the lower foothills, dark dots were
circling in the air.
`The birds again!' said Aragorn, pointing down.
'That cannot be helped now,' said Gandalf. `Whether they are good or
evil, or have nothing to do with us at all, we must go down at once. Not
even on the knees of Caradhras will we wait for another night-fall!'
A cold wind flowed down behind them, as they turned their backs on the
Redhorn Gate, and stumbled wearily down the slope. Caradhras had defeated
them.