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Hel as they rode fro all the rolling fields of Rohan to a golden haze There was a beaten way, north-ard along the foot-hills of the White Mountains, and this they followed, up and down in a green country, crossing sht the Misty Mountains loorew as thecame behind

The host rode on Need drove the to co seldo were the steeds of Rohan, but there were ues and more it was, as a bird flies, from Edoras to the fords of the Isen, where they hoped to find the king&039;s ht closed about them At last they halted to make their camp They had ridden for some five hours and were far out upon the western plain, yet reat circle, under the starry sky and the waxing moon, they now made their bivouac They lit no fires, for they were uncertain of events; but they set a ring of uards about the like shadows in the folds of the land The slow night passed without tidings or alarm At dawn the horns sounded, and within an hour they took the road again

There were no clouds overhead yet, but a heaviness was in the air; it was hot for the season of the year The rising sun was hazy, and behind it, following it slowly up the sky, there was a growing darkness, as of a great stor out of the East And away in the North-west there see about the feet of the Misty Mountains, a shadow that crept down slowly from the Wizard&039;s Vale

Gandalf dropped back to where Legolas rode beside Eoolas,&039; he said, &039;and they can tell a sparrow fro away yonder towards Isengard?&039;

&039;Manythither and shading his eyes with his long hand &039;I can see a darkness There are shapes reat shapes far away upon the bank of the river; but what they are I cannot tell It is notshadow that some power lays upon the land, and it ht under endless trees were flowing doards from the hills&039;

&039;And behind us comes a very storht&039;

As the second day of their riding drew on, the heaviness in the air increased In the afternoon the dark clouds began to overtake thees flecked with dazzling light The sun went down, blood-red in a s haze The spears of the Riders were tipped with fire as the last shafts of light kindled the steep faces of the peaks of Thrihyrne: now very near they stood on the northern at the sunset In the last red glowback towards the him

He came, a weary man with dinted helm and cloven shield Slowly he clith he spoke &039;Is Eomer here?&039; he asked &039;You cos have gone evilly since Theodred fell We were driven back yesterday over the Isen with great loss; ht fresh forces caard must be emptied; and Saruman has armed the wild hillmen and herd-folk of Dunland beyond the rivers, and these also he loosed upon us We were overmastered The shield-as broken Erkenbrand of Westfold has drawn off those ather towards his fastness in Helm&039;s Deep The rest are scattered

&039;Where is Eomer? Tell him there is no hope ahead He should return to Edoras before the wolves of Isengard come there&039; Theoden had sat silent, hidden froed his horse forward &039;Come, stand before me, Ceorl!&039; he said &039;I aas has ridden forth It will not return without battle&039;

The htened with joy and wonder He drew hi his notched sword to the king &039;Coht�C&039;

&039;You thought I remained in Meduseld bent like an old tree under winter snow So it hen you rode to war But a ind has shaken the boughs,&039; said Theoden &039;Give this man a fresh horse! Let us ride to the help of Erkenbrand!&039;

While Theoden was speaking, Gandalf rode a short way ahead, and he sat there alone, gazing north to Isengard and west to the setting sun Now he came back

&039;Ride, Theoden!&039; he said &039;Ride to Helm&039;s Deep! Go not to the Fords of Isen, and do not tarry in the plain! I must leave you for a while Shadowfax orn and Eo&039;s household, he cried: &039;Keep well the Lord of the Mark, till I return Await me at Helm&039;s Gate! Farewell!&039;

He spoke a word to Shadowfax, and like an arrow fro away Even as they looked he was gone: a flash of silver in the sunset, a wind over the grass, a shadow that fled and passed froer to follow; but only a swift bird on the wing could have overtaken him

&039;What does that uard to Hama

&039;That Gandalf Greyhaoes and coue, were he here, would not find it hard to explain,&039; said the other

&039;True enough,&039; said Haain&039;

&039;Maybe you ait long,&039; said the other

The host turned away now from the road to the Fords of Isen and bent their course southward Night fell, and still they rode on The hills drew near, but the tall peaks of Thrihyrne were already di sky Still soreen cooe opened in the hills Men of that land called it Hele there Ever steeper and narrower it wound inward from the north under the shadow of the Thrihyrne, till the crow-haunted cliffs rose like ht

At Helm&039;s Gate, before the mouth of the Deep, there was a heel of rock thrust outward by the northern cliff There upon its spur stood high walls of ancient stone, and within them was a lofty tower Men said that in the far-off days of the glory of Gondor the sea-kings had built here this fastness with the hands of giants The Hornburg it was called, for a trumpet sounded upon the tower echoed in the Deep behind, as if ar to war from caves beneath the hills A wall, too, theto the southern cliff, barring the entrance to the gorge Beneath it by a wide culvert the Deeping-stream passed out About the feet of the Hornrock it wound, and flowed then in a gully through the ently down from Helm&039;s Gate to Hel-coo at Helm&039;s Gate Erkenbrand, master of Westfold on the borders of the Mark, noelt As the days darkened with threat of war, being wise, he had repaired the wall and

The Riders were still in the low valley before the mouth of the Coomb, when cries and hornblasts were heard from their scouts that went in front Out of the darkness arrohistled Swiftly a scout rode back and reported that wolf-riders were abroad in the valley, and that a host of Orcs and wildsouthward fro for Helm&039;s Deep

&039;We have foundslain as they fled thither,&039; said the scout &039;And we havethis way and that, leaderless What has become of Erkenbrand none seem to know It is likely that he will be overtaken ere he can reach Helm&039;s Gate, if he has not already perished&039;

&039;Has aught been seen of Gandalf?&039; asked Theoden

&039;Yes, lord Many have seen an oldhither and thither over the plains like wind in the grass Soht he was Saruard So northith a coo ill with Worue, if Gandalf comes upon him said Theoden &039;Nonetheless I miss now both my counsellors, the old and the new But in this need we have no better choice than to go on, as Gandalf said, to Helm&039;s Gate, whether Erkenbrand be there or no Is it kno great is the host that coreat,&039; said the scout &039;He that flies counts every foeman twice, yet I have spoken to stouthearted th of the enereat as all that we have here&039;

&039;Then let us be swift,&039; said Eoh such foes as are already between us and the fastness There are caves in Helm&039;s Deep where hundreds may lie hid; and secret ways lead thence up on to the hills

&039;Trust not to secret ways,&039; said the king &039;Saru spied out this land Still in that place our defence olas went noith Eoht they rode, ever slower as the darkness deepened and their way cliher into the dim folds about the mountains&039; feet They found few of the ene bands of Orcs; but they fled ere the Riders could take or slay the I fear,&039; said Eo&039;s host will be known to the leader of our enemies, Saruman or whatever captain he has sent forth&039;

The rurew behind them Now they could hear, borne over the dark, the sound of harsh singing They had cli-coomb when they looked back Then they saw torches: countless points of fiery light upon the black fields behind, scattered like red flowers, or winding up froer blaze leapt up

&039;It is a great host and follows us hard,&039; said Aragorn

&039;They bring fire,&039; said Theoden, &039;and they are burning as they come, rick, cot, and tree This was a rich vale and had many homesteads Alas for my folk!&039;

&039;Would that day was here and we ht ride down upon theorn &039;It grieves me to fly before them&039;

&039;We need not fly much further,&039; said Eomer &039;Not far ahead now lies Helm&039;s Dike, an ancient trench and ras below Helive battle&039;

&039;Nay, we are too few to defend the Dike,&039; said Theoden &039;It is aor more, and the breach in it is wide&039;

&039;At the breach our rearguard must stand, if we are pressed,&039; said Eomer

There was neither star nor moon when the Riders came to the breach in the Dike, where the stream from above passed out, and the road beside it ran down froh shadow beyond a dark pit As they rode up a sentinel challenged them

&039;The Lord of the Mark rides to Helm&039;s Gate,&039; Eomer answered &039;I, Eoood tidings beyond hope,&039; said the sentinel &039;Hasten! The eneh the breach and halted on the sloping sward above They now learned to their joy that Erkenbrand had left many men to hold Helm&039;s Gate, and more had since escaped thither

&039;Maybe, we have a thousand fit to fight on foot,&039; said Ga, an old man, the leader of those that watched the Dike &039;But most of them have seen too many winters, as I have, or too few, as my son&039;s son here What news of Erkenbrand? Word ca hither with all that is left of the best Riders of Westfold But he has not come&039;

&039;I fear that he will not coained no news of him, and the enemy fills all the valley behind us&039;

&039;I would that he had escaped,&039; said Theoden &039;He was a ain the valour of Helm the Hammerhand But we cannot await him here We must draw all our forces now behind the walls Are you well stored? We bring little provision, for we rode forth to open battle, not to a siege&039;

&039;Behind us in the caves of the Deep are three parts of the folk of Westfold, old and young, children and woreat store of food, and athered there&039;

&039;That is well,&039; said Eo all that is left in the vale&039;

&039;If they cooods at Hel

The king and his Riders passed on Before the causeway that crossed the strea file they led their horses up the ra There they elcoain with joy and renewed hope; for now there wereand the barrier wall

Quickly Eo and the , and there also wereWall and its tower, and behind it, Eoth that he had, for here the defence seereat force The horses were led far up the Deep under such guard as could be spared

The Deeping Wall enty feet high, and so thick that fourthe top, sheltered by a parapet over which only a tall h which men could shoot This battle down frohts of steps led also up on to the wall froreat stones of it were set with such skill that no foothold could be found at their joints, and at the top they hung over like a sea-delved cliff

Giolas sat above on the parapet, fingering his bow, and peering out into the gloo,&039; said the dwarf, sta on the stones &039;Ever ood rock here This country has tough bones I felt them in my feet as we came up from the dike Give me a year and a hundred of my kin and I would make this a place that armies would break upon like water&039;

&039;I do not doubt it,&039; said Legolas &039;But you are a dwarf, and dwarves are strange folk I do not like this place, and I shall like it no ht of day But you coh with your stout legs and your hard axe I wish there were ive for a hundred good archers of Mirkwood We shall need theood bowmen after their fashion, but there are too few here, too few&039;

&039;It is dark for archery,&039; said Gimli &039;Indeed it is tiht any dwarf could Riding is tiring work Yet my axe is restless inand all weariness will fall from me!&039;

A slow time passed Far down in the valley scattered fires still burned The hosts of Isengard were advancing in silence now Their torches could be seen winding up the coomb in many lines

Suddenly from the Dike yells and screa brands appeared over the brink and clustered thickly at the breach Then they scattered and vanished Men caate of the Hornburg The rearguard of the Westfolders had been driven in

&039;The enemy is at hand!&039; they said &039;We loosed every arrow that we had, and filled the Dike with Orcs But it will not halt the the bank at ht them not to carry torches&039;

It was now past ht The sky was utterly dark, and the stillness of the heavy air foreboded stor flash Branched lightning s moment the watchers on the walls saw all the space between the and crawling with black shapes, soh hel over the Dike and through the breach The dark tide flowed up to the walls from cliff to cliff Thunder rolled in the valley Rain ca down

Arrows thick as the rain calancing on the stones Soun, but no sound or challenge was heard within; no answering arrows ca hosts halted, foiled by the silenttore aside the darkness Then the Orcs screa a cloud of arrows at any that stood revealed upon the battlements; and the men of the Mark areat field of dark corn, tossed by a teht

Brazen truainst the Deeping Wall, other towards the causeway and the raest Orcs were mustered, and the wild men of the Dunland fells Aflashed, and blazoned upon every helard was seen They reached the suates

Then at last an answer came: a storm of arrows met them, and a hail of stones They wavered, broke, and fled back; and then charged again, broke and charged again; and each tiain tru reat shields above them like a roof, while in their hty trees Behind theainst the bow by strong ar boo froain the great raether on the Deeping Wall They heard the roar of voices and the thudding of the raht they beheld the peril of the gates

&039;Coorn &039;This is the hour e draords together!&039;

Running like fire, they sped along the wall, and up the steps, and passed into the outer court upon the Rock As they ran they gathered a handful of stout swordsle of the burg-wall on the west, where the cliff stretched out to reat gate, between the wall and the sheer brink of the Rock Together Eoh the door, their men close behind The swords flashed from the sheath as one

&039;Guthwine!&039; cried Eomer &039;Guthwine for the Mark!&039;

&039;Anduril!&039; cried Aragorn &039;Anduril for the Dunedain!&039;

Charging from the side, they hurled the hite fire A shout went up frooes to war The Blade that was Broken shines again!&039;

Disht; but the wall of their shields was broken as by a lightning-stroke, and they were swept away, hen, or cast over the Rock into the stony stream below The orc-archers shot wildly and then fled

For a ates The thunder was ru flickered still, far off a fro, and stars peeped out; and above the hills of the Coo yellow in the storm-wrack

&039;We did not coreat hinges and iron bars renched and bent; many of their timbers were cracked

&039;Yet we cannot stay here beyond the walls to defend them,&039; said Eoreat press of Orcs and Men were gathering again beyond the stream Arrohined, and skipped on the stones about theet back and see e can do to pile stone and beaates within Come now!&039;

They turned and ran At thatthe slain leaped to their feet, and caround at Eomer&039;s heels, tripped him, and in a ure that none had observed sprang out of the shadows and gave a hoarse shout: Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai- and swept back Two Orcs fell headless The rest fled

Eoorn ran back to his aid

The postern was closed again, the iron door was barred and piled inside with stones When all were safe within, Eomer turned: &039;I thank you, Gimli son of Gloin!&039; he said &039;I did not know that you ith us in the sortie But oft the unbidden guest proves the best company How came you there?&039;

&039;I followed you to shake off sleep,&039; said Gimli, &039;but I looked on the hille for me, so I sat beside a stone to see your sword-play&039;