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The Tower of Cirith Ungol

Saround For a moment he wondered where he was, and then all the misery and despair returned to hiate of the orcs&039; stronghold; its brazen doors were shut He ainst the he had lain there he did not know Then he had been on fire, desperate and furious; noas shivering and cold He crept to the doors and pressed his ears against them

Far within he could hear faintly the voices of ores cla, and all was still His head ached and his eyes saw phantoled to steady himself and think It was clear at any rate that he had no hope of getting into the orc-hold by that gate; he ht wait there for days before it was opened, and he could not wait: tier had any doubt about his duty: he must rescue his master or perish in the atte is ri and turned froroped his way back in the dark along the tunnel, not daring to use the elven-light; and as he went he tried to fit together the events since Frodo and he had left the Cross-roads He wondered what the time was Somewhere between one day and the next, he supposed; but even of the days he had quite lost count He was in a land of darkness where the days of the world seeotten too

&039;I wonder if they think of us at all,&039; he said, &039;and what is happening to theuely in the air before hi southwards, as he came back to Shelob&039;s tunnel, not west Out ard in the world it was drawing to noon upon the fourteenth day of March in the Shire-reckoning And even now Aragorn was leading the black fleet fro with the Rohirrim down the Stonewain Valley, while in Minas Tirith fla in the eyes of Denethor Yet ahts of their friends turned constantly to Frodo and Saotten But they were far beyond aid, and no thought could yet bring any help to Samwise Hamfast&039;s son; he was utterly alone

He cae, and still unable to discover the catch or bolt that held it, he scraround Then he made his way stealthily to the outlet of Shelob&039;s tunnel, where the rags of her great ere still blowing and swaying in the cold airs For cold they seemed to Sam after the noisome darkness behind; but the breath of them revived him He crept cautiously out

All was oht was no more than that of dusk at a dark day&039;s end The vast vapours that arose in Mordor and went streareat welter of cloud and slow of red

Sam looked up towards the orc-tower, and suddenly frohts stared out like snal His fear of the orcs, forgotten for a while in his wrath and desperation, now returned As far as he could see, there was only one possible course for hio on and try to find the main entrance to the dreadful tower; but his knees felt weak, and he found that he was tre his eyes down from the tower and the horns of the Cleft before hi feet to obey hi into the dense shadows of the rocks beside the way, he retraced his steps, past the place where Frodo fell, and still the stench of Shelob lingered, and then on and up, until he stood again in the very cleft where he had put on the Ring and seen Shagrat&039;s coo by

There he halted and sat down For the moment he could drive himself no further He felt that if once he went beyond the crown of the pass and took one step veritably down into the land of Mordor, that step would be irrevocable He could never co and put it on again Iht, and felt afresh, but now ent than ever, theto pierce the shadows that it had made for its own defence, but which now hindered it in its unquiet and doubt

As before, Saht the things of this world seeue The rocky walls of the path were pale, as if seen through aof Shelob in her misery: and harsh and clear, and very close it see to his feet, and pressed hilad of the Ring, for here was yet another coht Then suddenly he realized that it was not so, his hearing had deceived him: the orc-cries caht above him, on the left hand of the Cleft

Sam shuddered and tried to force hi on Perhaps in spite of all orders the cruelty of the orcs had ely hacking hileam of hope ca in the tower, the orcshad coht hiht be just a chance His love for Frodo rose above all other thoughts, and forgetting his peril he cried aloud: &039;I&039;, Mr Frodo!&039;

He ran forward to the cli path, and over it At once the road turned left and plunged steeply down Sa, h to hiht only that he wished to see more clearly &039;Better have a look at the worst,&039; he !&039;

Hard and cruel and bitter was the land that e of the Ephel Duath fell steeply in great cliffs down into a dark trough, on the further side of which there rose another ridge, s that stood out black against the red light behind the of the fences of the land Far beyond it, but alht ahead, across a wide lake of darkness dotted with tiny fires, there was a great burning glow; and fro sed into the billowing canopy that roofed in all the accursed land

Sa at Orodruin, the Mountain of Fire Ever and anon the furnaces far below its ashen cone would grow hot and with a great surging and throbbing pour forth rivers oftowards Barad-dur down great channels; some would wind their way into the stony plain, until they cooled and lay like twisted dragon-shapes vomited from the tormented earth In such an hour of labour Sah screen of the Ephel Duath froainst the stark rock faces, so that they seemed to be drenched with blood

In that dreadful light Sa to his left, he could see the Tower of Cirith Ungol in all its strength The horn that he had seen from the other side was only its topreat tiers froreat cliff behind, from which it jutted out in pointed bastions, one above the other, di masonry that looked north-east and south-east About the lowest tier, two hundred feet belohere Sa a narrow court Its gate, upon the near south-eastern side, opened on a broad road, the outer parapet of which ran upon the brink of a precipice, until it turned southward and inding down into the darkness to join the road that caed rift in the Morgai out into the valley of Gorgoroth and away to Barad-dur The narrow upper way on which Sam stood leapt swiftly down by stair and steep path towalls close to the Tower-gate

As he gazed at it suddenly Sahold had been built not to keep enemies out of Mordor, but to keep theo, an eastern outpost of the defences of Ithilien, made when, after the Last Alliance, Men of Westernesse kept watch on the evil land of Sauron where his creatures still lurked But as with Narchost and Carchost, the Towers of the Teeth, so here too the vigilance had failed, and treachery had yielded up the Tower to the Lord of the Ringwraiths, and now for long years it had been held by evil things Since his return to Mordor, Sauron had found it useful; for he had few servants but many slaves of fear, and still its chief purpose as of old was to prevent escape froh if an enemy were so rash as to try to enter that land secretly, then it was also a last unsleeping guard against any that ul and of Shelob

Only too clearly Sam sa hopeless it would be for him to creep down under those ate And even if he did so, he could not go far on the guarded road beyond: not even the black shadows, lying deep where the red glow could not reach, would shield hiht-eyed orcs But desperate as that road ate and escape, but to enter it, alone

His thought turned to the Ring, but there was no coer No sooner had he co far away, than he are of a change in his burden As it drew near the great furnaces where, in the deeps of tirew, and it becahty will As Sa by its chain about his neck, he felt hie distorted shadow of himself, a vast and ominous threat halted upon the walls of Mordor He felt that he had froh it would tore the Power that sat in its dark hold beyond the valley of shadows Already the Ring te at his will and reason Wild fantasies arose in hiswith a fla to his call as he marched to the overthrow of Barad-dur And then all the clouds rolled away, and the white sun shone, and at his coarden of flowers and trees and brought forth fruit He had only to put on the Ring and claim it for his own, and all this could be

In that hour of trial it was the love of his master that helped most to hold him firm; but also deep down in him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden, even if such visions were not a ardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command

&039;And anyway all these notions are only a trick,&039; he said to himself &039;He&039;d spot me and cow me, before I could so much as shout out He&039;d spoton now, in Mordor Well, all I can say is: things look as hopeless as a frost in spring Just when being invisible would be really useful, I can&039;t use the Ring! And if ever I get any further, it&039;s going to be nothing but a drag and a burden every step So what&039;s to be done?&039;

He was not really in any doubt He knew that heof his shoulders, as if to shake off the shadow and disan slowly to descend With each step he seeain to a very s under the very walls of the Tower, and the cries and sounds of fighting could be heard with his unaided ears At thefrom the court behind the outer wall

Saateway into the red glow there ca They did not turn towards hi for the main road; but even as they ran they sturound and lay still Sauessed that the orcs had been shot down by others on the battle the wall on his left One look upward had shown hi it The stone-work rose thirty feet, without a crack or ledge, to overhanging courses like inverted steps The gate was the only way

He crept on; and as he went he wondered howhad, and what they were quarrelling about, if that as happening Shagrat&039;s co&039;s rat&039;s patrol had only been a part of his garrison Al about Frodo, and the spoil For a second Sas seemed clear to him, almost as if he had seen them with his eyes Theit, and they would find it And fro would covet it But the orders of the Dark Toere at present Frodo&039;s only protection, and if they were set aside, Frodo ht be killed out of hand at any ard!&039; Sa and ran towards the open gate But just as he was about to pass under its great arch he felt a shock: as if he had run into some web like Shelob&039;s, only invisible He could see no obstacle, but so for his will to overcome barred the way He looked about, and then within the shadow of the gate he saw the Two Watchers

They were like great figures seated upon thrones Each had three joined bodies, and three heads facing outward, and inward, and across the gateway The heads had vulture-faces, and on their great knees were laid clawlike hands They seee blocks of stone, immovable, and yet they were aware: soilance abode in them They knew an enemy Visible or invisible none could pass unheeded They would forbid his entry, or his escape

Hardening his will Saering as if fro, because he could think of nothing else to do, answering a sudden thought that came to him, he drely out the phial of Galadriel and held it up Its white light quickened swiftly, and the shadows under the dark arch fled The monstrous Watchers sat there cold and still, revealed in all their hideous shape For a litter in the black stones of their eyes, the very malice of which made him quail; but slowly he felt their aver and cru past the the phial back into his bosom, he are, as plainly as if a bar of steel had snapped to behind hiilance was renewed And froh shrill cry that echoed in the towering walls before hied a single stroke

&039;That&039;s done it!&039; said Sa the front-door bell! Well, corat that the great Elf-warrior has called, with his elf-sword too!&039;

There was no answer Salittered blue in his hand The courtyard lay in deep shadow, but he could see that the paveht at his feet were two orc-archers with knives sticking in their backs Beyond lay ly as they had been hen or shot; others in pairs, still grappling one another, dead in the very throes of stabbing, throttling, biting The stones were slippery with dark blood

Two liveries Sam noticed, one hastly face of death; but he did not stop to look reat door at the foot of the Tower stood half open, and a red light cae orc lay dead upon the threshold Sa over the body and went in; and then he peered about at a loss

A wide and echoing passage led back from the door towards thein brackets on the walls, but its distant end was lost in gloos could be seen on this side and that; but it was e on the floor From what he had heard of the captains&039; talk Sam knew that, dead or alive, Frodo would h up in the turret far above; but he ht search for a day before he found the way

&039;It&039;ll be near the back, I guess,&039; Sam muttered &039;The whole Tower climbs backwards-like And anyway I&039;d better follow these lights&039;

He advanced down the passage, but slowly now, each step ain There was no sound save the rap of his feet, which seereat hands upon the stones The dead bodies; the eht see in doorway or shadow; and behind all his ate: it was almost more than he could screw hiht - with not toouncertainty He forced hi bound or in pain or dead somewhere in this dreadful place He went on

He had passed beyond the torchlight, ale, the inner side of the under gate, as he rightly guessed, when there ca shriek He stopped short Then he heard feet co stairway overhead

His as too weak and slow to restrain his hand It dragged at the chain and clutched the Ring But Sam did not put it on; for even as he clasped it to his breast, an orc caht, it ran towards hi its head, it saw hilare in its bloodshot eyes It stopped short aghast For what it saas not a s to hold a steady sword: it saw a great silent shape, cloaked in a grey shadow, looht behind; in one hand it held a sword, the very light of which was a bitter pain, the other was clutched at its breast, but held concealed some nameless menace of power and doom

For a moment the orc crouched, and then with a hideous yelp of fear it turned and fled back as it had co more heartened when its eneht With a shout he gave chase

&039;Yes! The Elf-warrior is loose!&039; he cried &039;I&039; Just you show me the way up, or I&039;ll skin you!&039;

But the orc was in its own haunts, niry and weary The stairs were high and steep and winding Saasps The orc had soon passed out of sight, and now only faintly could be heard the slapping of its feet as it went on and up Every now and again it gave a yell, and the echo ran along the walls But slowly all sound of it died away

Saht road, and his spirits had risen a good deal He thrust the Ring away and tightened his belt &039;Well, well!&039; he said &039;If only they all take such a dislike to , this may turn out better than I hoped And anyway it looks as if Shagrat, Gorbag, and company have done nearly all htened rat, I do believe there&039;s nobody left alive in the place!&039;

And with that he stopped, brought up hard, as if he had hit his head against the stone wall The fullof what he had said struck him like a blow Nobody left alive! Whose had been that horrible dying shriek? &039;Frodo, Frodo! Master!&039; he cried half sobbing &039;If they&039;ve killed you, what shall I do? Well, I&039;ht to the top, to see what I must&039;

Up, up he went It was dark save for an occasional torch flaring at a turn, or beside soher levels of the Tower Sam tried to count the steps, but after two hundred he lost his reckoning He was ht that he could hear the sound of voices talking, still some way above More than one rat remained alive, it seemed

All at once, when he felt that he could puain, the stair ended He stood still The voices were now loud and near Saht to the flat roof of the third and highest tier of the Tower: an open space, about twenty yards across, with a low parapet There the stair was covered by a small do east and west Eastward Sam could see the plain of Mordor vast and dark below, and the burningin its deep wells, and the rivers of fire blazed so fiercely that even at this distance of lare Westward the vieas blocked by the base of the great turret that stood at the back of this upper court and reared its horn high above the crest of the encircling hills Light gleamed in a -slit Its door was not ten yards from where Sam stood It was open but dark, and from just within its shadow the voices came

At first Sam did not listen; he took a pace out of the eastward door and looked about At once he saw that up here the fighting had been fiercest All the court was choked with dead orcs or their severed and scattered heads and limbs The place stank of death A snarl followed by a blow and a cry sent hier, and he knew it again at once, harsh, brutal, cold It was Shagrat speaking, Captain of the Tower

&039;You won&039;t go again, you say? Curse you, Snaga, you little ed that it&039;s safe to flout me, you&039;re mistaken Come here, and I&039;ll squeeze your eyes out, like I did to Radbug just now And when some new lads come, I&039;ll deal with you: I&039;ll send you to Shelob&039;

&039;They won&039;t coa surlily &039;I&039;ve told you twice that Gorbag&039;s swine got to the gate first, and none of ours got out Lagduf and Muzgash ran through, but they were shot I saw it from a , I tell you And they were the last&039;

&039;Then you o I must stay here anyway But I&039;!&039; Shagrat&039;s voice trailed off into a string of foul naot, but he knifed o, or I&039;ll eat you News burz, or we&039;ll both be for the Black Pits Yes, you too You won&039;t escape by skulking here&039;

&039;I&039;a, &039;be you captain or no Nar! Keep your hands off your knife, or I&039;ll put an arrow in your guts You won&039;t be a captain long when they hear about all these goings-on I&039;ve fought for the Tower against those stinking Morgul-rats, but a niceover the swag&039;

&039;That&039;s enough frorat &039;I hadto pinch that pretty shirt&039;

&039;Well, you put his back up, being so high and hty And he had more sense than you anyway He told you erous of these spies was still loose, and you wouldn&039;t listen And you won&039;t listen now Gorbag was right, I tell you There&039;s a great fighter about, one of those bloody-handed Elves, or one of the filthy tarks1 He&039;s coot past the Watchers, and that&039;s tark&039;s work He&039;s on the stairs And until he&039;s off theûl, I wouldn&039;t&039;

&039;So that&039;s it, is it?&039; yelled Shagrat &039;You&039;ll do this, and you&039;ll not do that? And when he does come, you&039;ll bolt and leave ot-holes in your belly first&039;

Out of the turret-door the se orc with long arround But one are black bundle In the red glare Salimpse of his evil face as it passed: it was scored as if by rending claws and ss; the mouth snarled like an ania round the roof, until ducking and eluding him the smaller orc with a yelp darted back into the turret and disappeared Then Shagrat halted Out of the eastward door Sa, his left claw clenching and unclenching feebly He put the bundle on the floor and with his right cla out a long red knife and spat on it Going to the parapet he leaned over, looking down into the outer court far beloice he shouted but no answer carat was stooped over the battlement, his back to the roof-top, Sa bodies wasIt put out a claw and clutched the bundle It staggered up In its other hand it held a broad-headed spear with a short broken haft It was poised for a stabbing thrust But at that very asp of pain or hate Quick as a snake Shagrat slipped aside, twisted round, and drove his knife into his ene!&039; he cried &039;Not quite dead, eh? Well, I&039;ll finishon to the fallen body, and staain to stab and slash it with his knife Satisfied at last, he threw back his head and let out a horrible gurgling yell of triumph Then he licked his knife, and put it between his teeth, and catching up the bundle he ca towards the near door of the stairs

Saht have slipped out of the other door, but hardly without being seen; and he could not have played hide-and-seek with this hideous orc for long He did as probably the best thing he could have done He sprang out to , but it was there, a hidden power, a cowing , and its light slitter of cruel stars in the terrible elf-countries, the drearat could not both fight and keep hold of his treasure He stopped, growling, baring his fangs Then onceat hi the heavy bundle as both shield and weapon, he thrust it hard into his eneered, and before he could recover, Shagrat darted past and down the stairs

Sao far Soon the thought of Frodo returned to hione back into the turret Here was another dreadful choice, and he had no tiet help and coht do sorat or be killed by hi again, I expect,&039; he sighed &039;But it&039;s ht up to the top first, whatever happens afterwards&039;

Away below Shagrat went leaping down the stairs and out over the court and through the gate, bearing his precious burden If Sarief that his escape would bring, he e of his search He came cautiously to the turret-door and stepped inside It opened into darkness But soon his staring eyes were aware of a di that led to another stairway, dark and narrow: it appeared to go winding up the turret along the inside of its round outer wall A torch was glian to cli torch, fixed above a door on his left that faced a -slit looking out ard: one of the red eyes that he and Frodo had seen from down below by the tunnel&039;s mouth Quickly Sam passed the door and hurried on to the second storey, dreading at any ers seize his throat fro east and another torch above the door to a passage through the e dark save for the gli through the -slit But here the stair stopped and clie On either side there was a low door; both were closed and locked There was no sound at all

&039;A dead end,&039; muttered Sam; &039;and after all my climb! This can&039;t be the top of the tower But what can I do now?&039;

He ran back to the lower storey and tried the door It would not an to trickle down his face He felt that even minutes were precious, but one by one they escaped; and he could do nothing He cared no longer for Shagrat or Snaga or any other orc that was ever spawned He longed only for his ht of his face or one touch of his hand

At last, weary and feeling finally defeated, he sat on a step below the level of the passage-floor and bowed his head into his hands It was quiet, horribly quiet The torch, that was already burning lohen he arrived, sputtered and went out; and he felt the darkness cover him like a tide And then softly, to his own surprise, there at the vain end of his long journey and his grief, an to sing

His voice sounded thin and quavering in the cold dark tower: the voice of a forlorn and weary hobbit that no listening orc could possiblyof an Elven-lord He murmured old childish tunes out of the Shire, and snatches of Mr Bilbo&039;s rhylith rose in hi out, while words of his own came unbidden to fit the simple tune

In western lands beneath the Sun

the flowers ,

the trees

Or therebeeches bear

the Elven-stars as jehite