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The Riders of Rohan

Dusk deepened Mist lay behind theins of the Anduin, but the sky was clear Stars ca in the West, and the shadows of the rocks were black They had come to the feet of stony hills, and their pace was slower, for the trail was no longer easy to follow Here the highlands of the Ees The western side of each ridge was steep and difficult, but the eastward slopes were gentler, furroith ht the three co to the crest of the first and tallest ridge, and down again into the darkness of a deep winding valley on the other side

There in the still cool hour before dawn they rested for a brief space The littered above theht of day had not yet coorn was at a loss: the orc-trail had descended into the valley, but there it had vanished

&039;Which ould they turn, do you think?&039; said Legolas &039;Northward to take a straighter road to Isengard, or Fangorn, if that is their aiuess? Or southward to strike the Entwash?&039;

&039;They will not orn &039;And unless there is reatly increased; they will take the shortest way that they can find over the fields of the Rohirrim Let us search northwards!&039;

The dale ran like a stony trough between the ridged hills, and a trickling strea the boulders at the bottorey slopes, diht They went on for a , bent towards the ground, ae Legolas was soave a cry and the others ca towards him

&039;We have already overtaken so,&039; he said &039;Look!&039; He pointed, and they saw that what they had at first taken to be boulders lying at the foot of the slope were huddled bodies Five dead Orcs lay there They had been heith round ith their dark blood

&039;Here is another riddle!&039; said Giht of day and for that we cannot wait&039;

&039;Yet however you read it, it seeolas &039;Enemies of the Orcs are likely to be our friends Do any folk dwell in these hills?&039;

&039;No,&039; said Aragorn &039;The Rohirriht be that so here for reasons that we do not know Yet I think not&039;

&039;What do you think?&039; said Giht his own eneorn &039;These are Northern Orcs froreat Orcs with the strange badges There was a quarrel, I guess: it is no unco with these foul folk Maybe there was some dispute about the road&039;

&039;Or about the captives,&039; said Gimli &039;Let us hope that they, too, did not round in a wide circle, but no other traces of the fight could be found They went on Already the eastward sky was turning pale; the stars were fading, and a grey light was slowly growing A little further north they ca, had cut a stony path down into the valley In it sorass upon its sides

&039;At last!&039; said Aragorn &039;Here are the tracks that we seek! Up this water-channel: this is the way that the Orcs went after their debate&039;

Swiftly now the pursuers turned and followed the new path As if fresh fro frorey hill, and a sudden breeze blew in their hair and stirred their cloaks: the chill wind of dawn

Turning back they saw across the River the far hills kindled Day leaped into the sky The red rim of the sun rose over the shoulders of the dark land Before therey; but even as they looked, the shadows of night reen flowed over the wide meads of Rohan; the white mists shiues orinto peaks of jet, tipped with gli

&039;Gondor! Gondor!&039; cried Aragorn &039;Would that I looked on you again in happier hour! Not yet does ht streams

Gondor! Gondor, between the Mountains and the Sea!

West Wind blew there; the light upon the Silver Tree

Fell like bright rain in gardens of the Kings of old

O proud walls! White towers! O winged crown and throne of gold!

O Gondor, Gondor! Shall Men behold the Silver Tree,

Or West Wind blow again between the Mountains and the Sea?

&039;Now let us go!&039; he said, drawing his eyes away fro out west and north to the way that he e upon which the companions stood went down steeply before their feet Below it twenty fathoed shelf which ended suddenly in the brink of a sheer cliff: the East Wall of Rohan So ended the Ereen plains of the Rohirriht

&039;Look!&039; cried Legolas, pointing up into the pale sky above theh He see noay, froreat speed Look!&039;

&039;No, not even orn &039;He must be far aloft indeed I wonder what is his errand, if he is the sa nearer at hand andover the plain!&039;

&039;Many things,&039; said Legolas &039;It is a great company on foot; but I cannot say more, nor see what kind of folk they uess; but the flatness of the plain is hard to measure&039;

&039;I think, nonetheless, that we no longer need any trail to tell us which way to go,&039; said Gimli &039;Let us find a path down to the fields as quick as may be&039;

&039;I doubt if you will find a path quicker than the one that the Orcs chose,&039; said Aragorn

They followed their eneht of day It seemed that the Orcs had pressed on with all possible speed Every now and again the pursuers found things that had been dropped or cast away: food-bags, the rinds and crusts of hard grey bread, a torn black cloak, a heavy iron-nailed shoe broken on the stones The trail led theth they came to a deep cleft carved in the rock by a streah path descended like a steep stair into the plain

At the bottorass of Rohan It swelled like a green sea up to the very foot of the Erowth of cresses and water-plants, and they could hear it tinkling away in green tunnels, down long gentle slopes towards the fens of Entwash Vale far away They see to the hills behind Here the air was softer and war and the sap was flowing again in herb and leaf Legolas took a deep breath, like one that drinks a great draught after long thirst in barren places

&039;Ah! the green smell!&039; he said &039;It is better than ht feet orn &039;More swiftly, maybe, than iron-shod Orcs Noe have a chance to lessen their lead!&039;

They went in single file, running like hounds on a strong scent, and an eager light was in their eyes Nearly due west the broad swath of the rass of Rohan had been bruised and blackened as they passed Presently Aragorn gave a cry and turned aside &039;Stay!&039; he shouted &039;Do not follow ht, away from the main trail; for he had seen footprints that went that way, branching off from the others, the o far before they were crossed by orc-prints, also co out from the main trail behind and in front, and then they curved sharply back again and were lost in the traorn stooped and picked up sorass; then he ran back

&039;Yes,&039; he said, &039;they are quite plain: a hobbit&039;s footprints Pippin&039;s I think He is s that glittered in the sunlight It looked like the new-opened leaf of a beech-tree, fair and strange in that treeless plain

&039;The brooch of an elven-cloak!&039; cried Legolas and Giether

&039;Not idly do the leaves of Lorien fall,&039; said Aragorn &039;This did not drop by chance: it was cast away as a token to any that ht follow I think Pippin ran away from the trail for that purpose&039;

&039;Then he at least was alive,&039; said Gis too That is heartening We do not pursue in vain&039;

&039;Let us hope that he did not pay too dearly for his boldness,&039; said Legolas &039;Co folk driven like cattle burns my heart&039;

The sun cliht clouds came up out of the sea in the distant South and were bloay upon the breeze The sun sank Shadows rose behind and reached out long arms from the East Still the hunters held on One day now had passed since Boroer could any sight of thehtshade was closing about theorn halted Only twice in the day&039;s ues now lay between them and the eastern here they had stood at dawn

&039;We have come at last to a hard choice,&039; he said &039;Shall we rest by night, or shall we go on while our will and strength hold?&039;

&039;Unless our enemies rest also, they will leave us far behind, if we stay to sleep&039; said Legolas

&039;Surely even Orcs must pause on the march?&039; said Gimli

&039;Seldom will Orcs journey in the open under the sun, yet these have done so,&039; said Legolas &039;Certainly they will not rest by night&039;

&039;But if alk by night, we cannot follow their trail,&039; said Giht, and turns neither right nor left, as far as olas

&039;Maybe, I could lead you at guess in the darkness and hold to the line,&039; said Aragorn, &039;but if we strayed, or they turned aside, then when light caain&039;

&039;And there is this also,&039; said Gimli, &039;only by day can we see if any tracks lead away If a prisoner should escape, or if one should be carried off, eastward, say, to the Great River, towards Mordor, we ns and never know it&039;

&039;That is true,&039; said Aragorn &039;But if I read the signs back yonder rightly, the Orcs of the White Hand prevailed, and the whole coard Their present course bears me out&039;

&039;Yet it would be rash to be sure of their counsels,&039; said Gimli &039;And what of escape? In the dark we should have passed the signs that led you to the brooch&039;

&039;The Orcs will be doubly on their guard since then, and the prisoners even wearier,&039; said Legolas &039;There will be no escape again, if we do not contrive it How that is to be done cannot be guessed, but first we must overtake them&039;

&039;And yet even I, Dwarf of many journeys, and not the least hardy of ard without any pause,&039; said Gimli &039;My heart burns me too, and I would have started sooner but now I must rest a little to run the better And if we rest, then the blind night is the time to do so&039;

&039;I said that it was a hard choice,&039; said Aragorn &039;How shall we end this debate?&039;

&039;You are our guide,&039; said Gimli, &039;and you are skilled in the chase You shall choose&039;

&039;My heart bids ether I will follow your counsel&039;

&039;You give the choice to an ill chooser,&039; said Aragorn &039;Since we passed through the Argonathnorth and west into the gathering night for a long while

&039;We will not walk in the dark,&039; he said at length &039;The peril ofseeht, ould use it, but alas! he sets early and is yet young and pale&039;

&039;And tonight he is shrouded anyway,&039; Giht, such a gift as she gave to Frodo!&039;

&039;It will be orn &039;With hireat deeds of this ti, maybe, which no choice of mine can mar or mend Well, I have chosen So let us use the tiround and fell at once into sleep, for he had not slept since their night under the shadow of Tol Brandir Before daas in the sky he woke and rose Giazing northwards into the darkness, thoughtful and silent as a young tree in a windless night

&039;They are far far away,&039; he said sadly, turning to Aragorn &039;I know in le could overtake them now&039;

&039;Nonetheless ill still folloehe roused the Dwarf &039;Co cold&039;

&039;But it is still dark,&039; said Giolas on a hill-top could not see them till the Sun is up&039;

&039;I fear they have passed beyond olas

&039;Where sight fails the earth roan under their hated feet&039; He stretched hiainst the turf He lay therea tiain Dawn carew about them At last he rose, and now his friends could see his face: it was pale and drawn, and his look was troubled

&039;The rumour of the earth is di walks upon it for many miles about us Faint and far are the feet of our enemies But loud are the hoofs of the horses It coround in sleep, and they troubledin the West But now they are drawing ever further fro in this land!&039;

&039;Let us go!&039; said Legolas

So the third day of their pursuit began During all its long hours of cloud and fitful sun they hardly paused, now striding, now running, as if no weariness could quench the fire that burned them They seldom spoke Over the wide solitude they passed and their elven-cloaks faded against the background of the grey-green fields; even in the cool sunlight of mid-day few but elvish eyes would have marked them, until they were close at hand Often in their hearts they thanked the Lady of Lorien for the gift of leth even as they ran

All day the track of their ene north-ithout a break or turn As once again the day wore to its end they ca up towards a line of low hurew fainter as it bent north towards therass shorter Far away to the left the river Entound, a silver thread in a green floor No orn wondered that they saw no sign of beast or s of the Rohirriues away to the South, under the wooded eaves of the White Mountains, now hidden in mist and cloud; yet the Horse-lords had formerly kept ion of their real in camp and tent, even in winter-time But now all the land was empty, and there was silence that did not seem to be the quiet of peace

At dusk they halted again Noice twelve leagues they had passed over the plains of Rohan and the wall of the E ht, and the stars were veiled

&039;Now do I e a tiolas &039;The Orcs have run before us, as if the very whips of Sauron were behind them I fear they have already reached the forest and the dark hills, and even now are passing into the shadows of the trees&039;

Giround his teeth &039;This is a bitter end to our hope and to all our toil!&039; he said

&039;To hope, orn &039;We shall not turn back here Yet I a the way that they had co in the East &039;There is soe at work in this land I distrust the silence I distrust even the pale Moon The stars are faint; and I aer should be with a clear trail to follow There is some will that lends speed to our foes and sets an unseen barrier before us: a weariness that is in the heart more than in the liolas &039;That I have known since first we came down from the Emyn Muil For the will is not behind us but before us&039; He pointed away over the land of Rohan into the darkling West under the sickle orn &039;But he shall not turn us back! Halt we athering cloud But north lies our road between down and fen when day returns&039;

As before Legolas was first afoot, if indeed he had ever slept &039;Awake! Awake!&039; he cried &039;It is a red dawn Strange things await us by the eaves of the forest Good or evil, I do not know; but we are called Awake!&039;

The others sprang up, and alain Slowly the downs drew near It was still an hour before noon when they reached thees that ran in a line straight towards the North At their feet the ground was dry and the turf short, but a long strip of sunken land, so deep in dim thickets of reed and rush Just to the West of the southern, where the turf had been torn and beaten by ain, turning north along the dry skirts of the hills Aragorn halted and examined the tracks closely

&039;They rested here a while,&039; he said, &039;but even the outward trail is already old I fear that your heart spoke truly, Legolas: it is thrice twelve hours, I guess, since the Orcs stood wherestand If they held to their pace, then at sundown yesterday they would reach the borders of Fangorn&039;

&039;I can see nothing away north or west but grass dwindling into mist,&039; said Gimli &039;Could we see the forest, if we climbed the hills?&039;

&039;It is still far away,&039; said Aragorn &039;If I reues orof the Entwash there lies still a wide land, another fifteen leagues it o on,&039; said Giet the , if my heart were less heavy&039;

The sun was sinking when at last they drew near to the end of the line of downs Forslowly now, and Gimli&039;s back was bent Stone-hard are the Dwarves in labour or journey, but this endless chase began to tell on hiorn walked behind hiain to scan soolas still stepped as lightly as ever, his feet hardly see no footprints as he passed; but in the waybread of the Elves he found all the sustenance that he needed, and he could sleep, if sleep it could be called by Men, resting his e paths of elvish dreaht of this world

&039;Let us go up on to this green hill!&039; he said Wearily they followed hi slope, until they came out upon the top It was a round hill s by itself, the most northerly of the downs The sun sank and the shadows of evening fell like a curtain They were alone in a grey formless world without mark or measure Only far away north-west there was a deeper darkness against the dying light: the Mountains of Mist and the forest at their feet

&039;Nothing can we see to guide us here,&039; said Giht away It is growing cold!&039;

&039;The wind is north froorn

&039;And ere olas &039;But rest if you must Yet do not cast all hope away To of the Sun&039;

&039;Three suns already have risen on our chase and brought no counsel,&039; said Giorn and Giolas standing beside the softly to hi the white stars opened in the hard black vault above So the night passed Together they watched the dawn groly in the sky, now bare and cloudless, until at last the sunrise came It was pale and clear The as in the East and all the mists had rolled aide lands lay bleak about theht

Ahead and eastward they saw the windy uplands of the Wold of Rohan that they had already glio from the Great River North-ard stalked the dark forest of Fangorn; still ten leagues away stood its shadowy eaves, and its further slopes faded into the distant blue Beyond there glirey cloud, the white head of tall Methedras, the last peak of the Misty Mountains Out of the forest the Entwash flowed to meet them, its stream noift and narrow, and its banks deep-cloven The orc-trail turned fro with his keen eyes the trail to the river, and then the river back towards the forest, Aragorn saw a shadow on the distant green, a dark swift-ain intently But Legolas stood beside hi slender hand, and he saw not a shadow, nor a blur, but the slint ofon the tips of their spears was like the twinkle of ht Far behind the threads

There was a silence in the erass

&039;Riders!&039; cried Aragorn, springing to his feet &039;Many riders on swift steeds are coolas, &039;there are one hundred and five Yellow is their hair, and bright are their spears Their leader is very tall&039;

Aragorn smiled &039;Keen are the eyes of the Elves,&039; he said

&039;Nay! The riders are little olas

&039;Five leagues or one,&039; said Gimli; &039;we cannot escape theo on our way?&039;

&039;We ait,&039; said Aragorn &039;I am weary, and our hunt has failed Or at least others were before us; for these horseet news from them&039;

&039;Or spears,&039; said Gimli

&039;There are three eolas

&039;I did not say that we should hear good news,&039; said Aragorn &039;But evil or good ill await it here&039;

The three coht be an easy ainst the pale sky, and they walked slowly down the northward slope A little above the hill&039;s foot they halted, and wrapping their cloaks about therass The ti Gimli was uneasy

&039;What do you know of these horse for sudden death?&039;

&039;I have been aorn &039;They are proud and wilful, but they are true-hearted, generous in thought and deed; bold but not cruel; wise but unlearned, writing no books but singing s, after the manner of the children of Men before the Dark Years But I do not knohat has happened here of late, nor in what mind the Rohirrim may now be between the traitor Saru been the friends of the people of Gondor, though they are not akin to the brought them out of the North, and their kinship is rather with the Bardings of Dale, and with the Beornings of the Wood, a whom may still be seen many men tall and fair, as are the Riders of Rohan At least they will not love the Orcs&039;

&039;But Gandalf spoke of a rumour that they pay tribute to Mordor,&039; said Gimli

&039;I believe it no orn

&039;You will soon learn the truth,&039; said Legolas &039;Already they approach&039;

At length even Gi hoofs The horse the trail, had turned fro like the wind

Now the cries of clear strong voices ca over the fields Suddenly they swept up with a noise like thunder, and the fore by the foot of the hill, and leading the host back southward along the western skirts of the downs After hi, fell and fair to look upon

Their horses were of great stature, strong and clean-li tails flowed in the wind, their manes were braided on their proud necks The Men that rode the-liht hel braids behind them; their faces were stern and keen In their hands were tall spears of ash, painted shields were slung at their backs, long swords were at their belts, their burnished skirts of alloped by, and though every now and then one rose in his stirrups and gazed ahead and to either side, they appeared not to perceive the three strangers sitting silently and watching theorn stood up, and called in a loud voice:

&039;What news from the North, Riders of Rohan?&039;

With astonishing speed and skill they checked their steeds, wheeled, and ca round Soon the three co in a running circle, up the hill-slope behind the ever inwards Aragorn stood silent, and the other two sat without s would turn

Without a word or cry, suddenly, the Riders halted A thicket of spears were pointed towards the strangers; and some of the horsemen had bows in hand, and their arroere already fitted to the string Then one rode forward, a tall man, taller than all the rest; from his helm as a crest a white horsetail flowed He advanced until the point of his spear ithin a foot of Aragorn&039;s breast Aragorn did not stir

&039;Who are you, and what are you doing in this land?&039; said the Rider, using the Common Speech of the West, in manner and tone like to the speech of Boromir, Man of Gondor