Lyrd Of The Ryngs - The Homies

[Grey_Wolf]

Leading the motorcade there came a hummer, and in it sat a man of wide shoulders and huge girth, but old and grey-bearded, yet bodyarmoured and kevlar-helmeted and carryring a long sniperrifle. Behind him marched proudly a dusty line of men, well-armed and bearing great Stoner combi-combat rifles; grim-faced they were, and shorter and somewhat swarthier than any men that Pippin had yet seen in Gondor.
"Forlong!" men shouted. "True heart, true friend! Forlong!" But when the men of Lossarnach had passed they muttered: "So few! Two hundreds, what are they? We hoped for ten times the number. That will be the new tidings of the black navy. They are sparing only a tithe of their strength. Still every little is a gain."

And so the companies came and were hailed and cheered and passed through the Gate, men of the Outlands driving and marching to defend the City of Gondor in a dark hour; but always too few, always less than hope looked for or need asked. The home defence men of Ringló Vale behind the son of their lord, Dervorin striding on foot: three hundreds. From the uplands of Morthond, the great Blackroot Vale, tall Duinhir with his sons, Duilin and Derufin, and five hundred mortarmen. From the Anfalas, the Langstrand far away, a long line of men of many sorts, rangers and commandos and men of little villages, scantily equipped save for the household of Golasgil their lord. From Lamedon, a few grim hillmen without a captain. Marines of the Ethir, some hundred or more spared from the ships. Hirluin the Fair of the Green Hills from Pinnath Gelin with three hundreds of gallant green-clad commandos. And last and proudest, Imrahil, Prince of Dol Amroth, kinsman of the Lord, with gilded banners bearing his token of the Ship and the Silver Swan, and a company of silvercoloured bodyarmoured soldiers driving hummers, APC's and Yamaha dirtbikes; and behind them seven hundreds of infantry troopers, tall as lords, grey-eyed, dark-haired, singing as they came.

[Grey_Wolf]

And that was all, less than three thousands full told. No more would come. The sound of the motors and the tramp of troopers passed into the City and died away. The onlookers stood silent for a while. Dust hung in the air, for the wind had died and the evening was heavy. Already the closing hour was drawing nigh, and the red sun had gone behind Mindolluin. Shadow came down on the City.

Pippin looked up, and it seemed to him that the sky had grown ashen-grey, as if a vast dust and smoke hung above them, and light came dully through it. But in the West the dying sun had set all the fume on fire, and now Mindolluin stood black against a burning smoulder flecked with embers. "So ends a fair day in wrath!" he said forgetful of the lad at his side.
"So it will, if I have not returned before the sundown-bells," said Bergil. "Come! There goes the siren for the closing of the Gate."

[Acalewia]

ooc: does Aragorn carry a powersaw or a powerdrill?

[Grey_Wolf]

Hand in hand they went back into the City, the last to pass the Gate before it was shut; and as they reached the Electrician's Street all the bells in the towers tolled solemnly. Lights sprang in many windows, and from the houses and wards of the troopers along the walls there came the sound of song.
"Farewell for this time," said Bergil. "Take my greetings to my :father, and thank him for the company that he sent. Come again soon, I beg. Almost I wish now that there was no war, for we might have had some merry times. We might have journeyed to Lossarnach, to my grandsire's house; it is good to be there in Spring, the woods and fields are full of flowers. But maybe we will go thither together yet. They will never overcome our Lord, and my father is very valiant. Farewell and return!"

They parted and Pippin hurried back towards the citadel. It seemed a long way, and he grew hot and very hungry; and night closed down swift and dark. Not a star pricked the sky. He was late for the daymeal in the mess, and Beregond greeted him gladly, and sat him at his side to hear news of his son. After the meal Pippin stayed a while, and then took his leave, for a strange gloom was on him, and now he desired very much to see Gandalf again.
"Can you find your way?" said Beregond at the door of the small hall, on the north side of the citadel, where they had sat. "It is a black night, and all the blacker since orders came that lights are to be dimmed within the City, and none are to shine out from the walls. And I can give you news of another order: you will be summoned to the Lord Denethor early tomorrow. I fear you will not be for the C Company. Still we may hope to meet again. Farewell and sleep in peace!"

The lodging was dark, save for a little lantern set on the table. Gandalf was not there. Gloom settled still more heavily on Pippin. He climbed on the bench and tried to peer out of a window, but it was like looking into a pool of ink. He got down and closed the shutter and went to bed. For a while he lay and listened for sounds of Gandalf's return, and then he fell into an uneasy sleep.

In the night he was wakened by a light, and he saw that Gandalf had come and was pacing to and fro in the room beyond the curtain of the alcove. There were candles on the table and rolls of parchment. He heard the wizard sigh, and mutter: "When will Faramir return?"
"Hullo!" said Pippin, poking his head round the curtain. "I thought you had forgotten all about me. I am glad to see you back. It has been a long day."
"But the night will be too short," said Gandalf. "I have come back here, for I must have a little peace, alone. You should sleep, in a bed while you still may. At the sunrise I shall take you to the CA Denethor again. No, when the summons comes, not at sunrise. The Darkness has begun.
There will be no dawn."

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V
Book 5.2: The Passing of the Grey Company

[Butterbeer]

"no dawn..." pippin thought looking curiously at gandalf ...

[Acalewia]

Gandalf was gone, and the roaring engine of Shadowfax was lost in the night, when Merry came back to Aragorn. He had only a liht bundle, for he had lost his pack at Parth Galen, and all he had were a few useful things he had picke up from the wreakage of Isengard. Hasufel was ready. Legolas and Gimli stood beside their Kawaski.
"So four of the Homies still reamain," said Aragorn. "We will ride together. But we shall not go alone, as I thought. The king is now determined to set out at once. Since the coming of the Cessia, he desires to return to the hills under the cover of night"
"And then where?" said Legolas.
""I cannot yet say," Aragorn answered. "As for the king, he will go to the muster that he commanded at Endoras. And there, I think, he will hear tidings of war, and the Bikers of Rohan will go down to Minas Tirith. But for myself, and any that will go with me..."
"I for one!" cried Legolas. "And Gimli with him!" said the Dwarf.

[Butterbeer]

"I for one!" cried Legolas. "And Gimli with him!" said the Dwarf.

Legless and Gimli linked arms and started a merry little jig ... "oh, you take the high road and we'll take the low road, and we'll be in Gondor afore' ye' ..."
they began to sing...

... this was too much for Theoden, best biker Morris dancer five years on the trot (a few years ago mind), leaping off his bike and whipping out with a flash his bells and tassles ... he started to join the troupe.

The elite biker guards flanked him, five on the left, five on the right, in a step now, back a step...



"But for myself ... " Aragron trailed off - a stunned look on his face.

Sometimes he thought the Homies just weren't quite always focused on the job at hand ...

besides Arargorn was a terrible Morris dancer ... he had tried it when he was younger....

A faint wind picked up and seemed in the odd moonlight to make the wierd and rather oddly shaped grass sway as if in rythym....

[Grey_Wolf]

"Guys, guys, let's be serious shall we for, a minute." said Aragorn."Well, for myself," said Aragorn, "it is dark before me. I must go down also to Minas Tirith, but I do not yet see the road. An hour long prepared approaches."

"Don't leave me behind!" said Merry. "I have not been of much use yet; but I don't want to be laid aside, like baggage to be called for when all is over. I don't think the Bikers will want to be bothered with me now. Though, of course, the king did say that I was to sit by him when he came to his house and tell him all about the Shire."
"Yes," said Aragorn, "and your road lies with him, I think, Merry. But do not look for mirth at the ending. It will be long, I fear, ere Théoden sits at ease again in Meduseld. Many hopes will wither in this bitter Spring."

Soon all were ready to depart: twenty-four bikes, with Gimli behind Legolas, and Merry in front of Aragorn. Presently they were driving swiftly through the night. They had not long passed the mounds at the Fords of Isen, when a Biker drove up from the rear of their line.
"My lord," he said to the king, "there are vehicles behind us. As we crossed the fords I thought that I heard them. Now we are sure. They are overtaking us, driving hard."

[Grey_Wolf]

Théoden at once called a halt. The bikers turned about and unslung their rifles. Aragorn got off his bike and set Merry on the ground, and drawing his golden powersaw he stood by the king's bike. Éomer and his esquire drove back to the rear. Merry felt more like unneeded baggage than ever, and he wondered, if there was a fight, what he should do. Supposing the king's small escort was trapped and overcome, but he escaped into the darkness - alone in the wild fields of Rohan with no idea of where he was in all the endless miles? "No good!" he thought. He drew his Bowie knife and tightened his belt.

The sinking moon was obscured by a great sailing cloud, but suddenly it rode out clear again. Then they all heard the sound of engines, and at the same moment they saw dark shapes coming swiftly on the path from the fords. The moonlight glinted here and there on the polished metal surfaces. The number of the pursuers could not be told, but they seemed no fewer than the king's escort, at the least.

When they were some fifty paces off, Éomer cried in a loud voice: "Halt! Halt! Who drives in Rohan?"

[Grey_Wolf]

The pursuers brought their vehicles to a sudden stopp. A silence followed: and then in the moonlight, a biker could be seen getting off his bike and walking slowly forward. His hand showed white as he held it up, palm outward, in token of peace; but the king's men gripped their weapons. At ten paces the man stopped. He was tall, a dark standing shadow. Then his clear voice rang out.
"Rohan? Rohan did you say? That is a glad word. We seek that land in haste from long afar."
"You have found it," said Éomer. "When you crossed the fords yonder you entered it. But it is the realm of General Théoden. None drives here save by his leave. Who are you? And what is your haste?"
"Halbarad Dúnadan, Ranger of the North I am," cried the man. "We seek one Aragorn son of Arathorn, and we heard that he was in Rohan."
"And you have found him also!" cried Aragorn. Leaving Merry by his bike, he ran forward and embraced the newcomer. "Halbarad!" he said. "Of all joys this is the least expected!"

Merry breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought that this was some last trick of Saruman's, to waylay the king while he had only a few men about him; but it seemed that there would be no need to die in Théoden's defence, not yet at any rate. He sheathed his sword.
"All is well," said Aragorn, turning back. "Here are some of my own kin from the far land where I dwelt. But why they come, and how many they be, Halbarad shall tell us."
"I have thirty with me," said Halbarad. "That is all of our kindred that could be gathered in haste; but the brethren Elladan and Elrohir have driven with us, desiring to go to the war. We rode as swiftly as we might when your summons came."
"But I did not summon you," said Aragorn, "save only in wish. My thoughts have often turned to you, and seldom more than tonight; yet I have sent no word. But come! All such matters must wait. You find us driving in haste and danger. Drive with us now, if the king will give his leave."

Théoden was indeed glad of the news. "It is well!" he said. "If these kinsmen be in any way like to yourself, my lord Aragorn, thirty such knights will be a strength that cannot be counted by heads."

[Grey_Wolf]

Then the Bikers set out again, and Aragorn for a while drove with the Dúnedain; and when they had spoken of tidings in the North and in the South, Elrohir said to him:
"I bring word to you from my father: The days are short. If thou art in haste, remember the Paths of the Dead."
"Always my days have seemed to me too short to achieve my desire," answered Aragorn. "But great indeed will be my haste ere I take that road."
"That will soon be seen," said Elrohir. "But let us speak no more of these things upon the open road!"

And Aragorn said to Halbarad: "What is that that you bear, kinsman?" For he saw that instead of a spear he bore a tall staff, as it were a standard, but it was close-furled in a black cloth bound about with many thongs.
"It is a gift that I bring you from the Lady of Rivendell," answered Halbarad. "She wrought it in secret, and long was the making. But she also sends word to you: The days now are short. Either our hope cometh, or all hopes end. Therefore I send thee what I have made for thee. Fare well, Elfstone!'

And Aragorn said: "Now I know what you bear. Bear it still for me a while!" And he turned and looked away to the North under the great stars, and then he fell silent and spoke no more while the night's journey lasted.

The night was old and the East grey when they drove up at last from Deeping-coomb and came back to the Hornburg. There they were to lie and rest for a brief while and take counsel.

[Grey_Wolf]

Merry slept until he was roused by Legolas and Gimli. "The Sun is high," said Legolas. "All others are up and doing. Come, Master Sluggard, and look at this place while you may!"
"There was a battle here three nights ago," said Gimli, "and here Legolas and I played a game that I won only by a single orc. Come and see how it was! And there are caves, Merry, caves of wonder! Shall we visit them, Legolas, do you think?"
"Nay! There is no time," said the Elf. "Do not spoil the wonder with haste! I have given you my word to return hither with you, if a day of peace and freedom comes again. But it is now near to noon, and at that hour we eat, and then set out again, I hear."

Merry got up and yawned. His few hours' sleep had not been nearly enough; he was tired and rather dismal. He missed Pippin, and felt that he was only a burden, while everybody was making plans for speed in a business that he did not fully understand. "Where is Aragorn?" he asked.
"In a high chamber of the Burg," said Legolas. "He has neither rested nor slept, I think. He went thither some hours ago, saying that he must take thought, and only his kinsman, Halbarad, went with him; but some dark doubt or care sits on him."
"They are a strange company, these newcomers," said Gimli. "Stout men and lordly they are, and the Bikers of Rohan look almost as boys beside them; for they are grim men of face, worn like weathered rocks for the most part, even as Aragorn himself; and they are silent."
"But even as Aragorn they are courteous, if they break their silence." said Legolas. "And have you marked the brethren Elladan and Elrohir? Less sombre is their gear than the others', and they are fair and gallant as Elven-lords; and that is not to be wondered at in the sons of Elrond of Rivendell."
"Why have they come? Have you heard?" asked Merry. He had now dressed, and he flung his grey cloak about his shoulders; and the three passed out together towards the ruined gate of the Burg.
"They answered a summons, as you heard," said Gimli. "Word came to Rivendell, they say: Aragorn has need of his kindred. Let the Dúnedain Drive to him in Rohan! But whence this message came they are now in doubt. Gandalf sent it, I would guess."
"Nay, Galadriel," said Legolas. "Did she not speak through Gandalf of the Drive of the Grey Motorcade from the North?"
"Yes, you have it," said Gimli. "The Lady of the Wood! She read many hearts and desires. Now why did not we wish for some of our own kinsfolk, Legolas?"

Legolas stood before the gate and turned his bright eyes away north and east, and his fair face was troubled. "I do not think that any would come," he answered. "They have no need to ride to war; war already marches on their own lands."

For a while the three companions walked together, speaking of this and that turn of the battle, and they went down from the broken gate, and passed the mounds of the fallen on the greensward beside the road, until they stood on Helm's Dike and looked into the Coomb. The Death Down already stood there, black and tall and stony, and the great trampling and scoring of the grass by the Huorns could be plainly seen. The Dunlendings and many men of the garrison of the Burg were at work on the Dike or in the fields and about the battered walls behind; yet all seemed strangely quiet: a weary valley resting after a great storm. Soon they turned back and went to the midday meal in the hall of the Burg.

[Grey_Wolf]

The General was already there, and as soon as they entered he called for Merry and had a seat set for him at his side. "It is not as I would have it," said Théoden; "for this is little like my fair house in Edoras. And your friend is gone, who should also be here. But it may be long ere we sit, you and I, at the high table in Meduseld; there will be no time for feasting when I return thither. But come now! Eat and drink, and let us speak together while we may. And then you shall ride with me."
"May I?" said Merry, surprised and delighted. "That would be splendid!" He had never felt more grateful for any kindness in words. "I am afraid I am only in everybody's way," he stammered; "but I should like to do anything I could, you know."
"I doubt it not," said the king. "I have had a good dirtbike made ready for you. He will bear you as swift as any motorbike by the roads that we shall take. For I will drive from the Burg by mountain paths, not by the plain, and so come to Edoras by way of Dunharrow where the Lady Éowyn awaits me. You shall be my esquire, if you will. Is there gear of war in this place, Éomer, that my rifle-thain could use?"
"There are no great weapon-hoards here, lord." answered Éomer. "Maybe a light kevlarhelmet might be found to fit him; but we have no bodyarmour or rifle for one of his stature."
"I have a Bowie knife," said Merry, climbing from his seat, and drawing from its black sheath his small bright blade. Filled suddenly with love for this old man, he knelt on one knee, and took his hand and kissed it. "May I lay the knife of Meriadoc of the Shire on your lap Théoden King?" he cried. "Receive my service, if you will!"
"Gladly will I take it," said the king; and laying his long old hands upon the brown hair of the hobbit; he blessed him. "Rise now, Meriadoc, esquire of Rohan of the household of Meduseld!" he said. "Take your knife and bear it unto good fortune!"
"As a father you shall be to me," said Merry.
"For a little while," said Théoden.

[Grey_Wolf]

They talked then together as they ate, until presently Éomer spoke. "It is near the hour that we set for our going, lord," he said. "Shall I bid men send out sms's? But where is Aragorn? His place is empty and he has not eaten."
"We will make ready to ride," said Théoden; "but let word be sent to the Lord Aragorn that the hour is nigh."

The Gemeral with his guard and Merry at his side passed down from the gate of the Burg to where the Bikers were assembling on the green. Many were already mounted. It would be a great company; for the General was leaving only a small garrison in the Burg, and all who could be spared were riding to the weapontake at Edoras. A thousand rifles had indeed already drivgen away at night; but still there would be some five hundred more to go with the king, for the most part men from the fields and dales of Westfold.

A little apart the Rangers vehicles were parked in an ordered company, armed with their rifles, mortars and Karl Gustav Desposable Missile Launchers. They were clad in camouflage combat gear of dark grey, and their jacket's hoods were cast now over their kevlarhelmets. Their bikes stood some distance away and one of them had no driver. It was Aragorn's own kawasaki bike that they had brought from the North; Roheryn was his name. There was no gleam of stone or gold, nor any fair thing in all their gear and harness: nor did their bikers bear any badge or token, save only that each jackets was pinned upon the left shoulder by a brooch of silver shaped like a rayed star.

[Grey_Wolf]

The king mounted his bike, Snowmane, and Merry sat beside him on his dirtbike: Stybba was his name. Presently Éomer came out from the gate, and with him was Aragorn, and Halbarad bearing the great staff close-furled in black, and two tall men, neither young nor old So much alike were they, the sons of Elrond, that few could tell them apart: dark-haired, grey-eyed, and their faces elven-fair, clad alike in bright mail beneath cloaks of silver-grey.

Behind them walked Legolas and Gimli. But Merry had eyes only for Aragorn, so startling was the change that he saw in him, as if in one night many years had fallen on his head. Grim was his face, grey-hued and weary.
"I am troubled in mind, lord," he said, standing by the general's bike. "I have heard strange words, and I see new perils far off. I have laboured long in thought, and now I fear that I must change my purpose. Tell me, Théoden, you drive now to Dunharrow, how long will it be ere you come there?"
"It is now a full hour past noon," said Éomer. "Before the night of the third day from now we should come to the Hold. The Moon will then be one night past his full, and the muster that the General has commanded will be held the day after. More speed we cannot make, if the strength of Rohan is to be gathered."

Aragorn was silent for a moment. "Three days," he murmured, "and the muster of Rohan will only be begun. But I see that it cannot now be hastened." He looked up, and it seemed that he had made some decision; his face was less troubled. Then, by our leave, lord, I must take new counsel for myself and my kindred. We must drive our own road, and no longer in secret. For me the time of stealth has passed. I will drive east by the swiftest way, and I will take the Paths of the Dead."
"The Paths of the Dead!" said Théoden, and trembled. "Why do you speak of them?" Éomer turned and gazed at Aragorn, and it seemed to Merry that the faces of the Bikers that sat within hearing turned pale at the words. "If there be in truth such paths," said Théoden, "their gate is in Dunharrow; but no living man may pass it."
"Alas! Aragorn my friend!" said Éomer. "I had hoped that we should drive to war together; but if you seek the Paths of the Dead, then our parting is come, and it is little likely that we shall ever meet again under the Sun."
"That road I will take, nonetheless," said Aragorn. "But I say to you, Éomer, that in battle we may yet meet again, though all the hosts of Mordor should stand between."
"You will do as you will, my lord Aragorn," said Théoden. "It is your doom, maybe, to tread strange paths that others dare not. This parting grieves me, and my strength is lessened by it; but now I must take the mountain-roads and delay no longer. Farewell!"
"Farewell, lord!" said Aragorn. "Drive unto great renown! Farewell, Merry! I leave you in good hands, better than we hoped when we hunted the orcs to Fangorn. Legolas and Gimli will still hunt with me, I hope; but we shall not forget you."
"Good-bye!" said Merry. He could find no more to say. He felt very small, and he was puzzled and depressed by all these gloomy words. More than ever he missed the unquenchable cheerfulness of Pippin. The Bikers were ready, and their bikes ticking over; he wished they would get going.

[Acalewia]

Now Theoden spoke to Eomer, and he lifted up his hand and cried aloud, and with that word the Bikers set fourth. They rode over the Dike and down the Coomb, and then turning swiftly eastwards, they took a path that skirted the foothills for a mile or so, until bending south it passed back among the hills and disappeared from view. Aragorn rode to the Dike and watched till the king's men were far down the Coomb. Then he turned to Halbarad.
"There go three that I love, and the smallest not the least" he said. "He knows not to what end he rides; yet if he knew, he still would go on"
"A little people, but of great worth are the Shire-folk" said Halbarad. "Little do they know of our long labour for the safekeeping of their borders, and yet I grudge it not"

[Grey_Wolf]

"And now our fates are woven together," said Aragorn. "And yet, alas! here we must part. Well, I must eat a little, and then we also must hasten away. Come, Legolas and Gimli! I must speak with you as I eat."

Together they went back into the Burg; yet for some time Aragorn sat silent at the table in the hall, and the others waited for him to speak. "Come!" said Legolas at last. "Speak and be comforted, and shake off the shadow! What has happened since we came back to this grim place in the grey morning?"
"A struggle somewhat grimmer for my part than the battle of the Hornburg," answered Aragorn. "I have looked in the Phone of Orthanc, my friends."
"You have looked in that accursed thing of wizardry!" exclaimed Gimli with fear and astonishment in his face. "Did you say aught to - him? Even Gandalf feared that encounter."
"You forget to whom you speak," said Aragorn sternly, and his eyes glinted. "Did I not openly proclaim my title before the doors of Edoras? What do you fear that I should say to him? Nay, Gimli," he said in a softer voice, and the grimness left his face, and he looked like one who has laboured in sleepless pain for many nights. "Nay, my friends, I and the lawful master of the Phone, and I had both the right and the strength to use it, or so I judged. The right cannot be doubted. The strength was enough - barely."

He drew a deep breath. "It was a bitter struggle, and the weariness is slow to pass. I spoke no word to him, and in the end I wrenched the Phone to my own will. That alone he will find hard to endure. And he beheld me. Yes, Master Gimli, he saw me, but in other guise than you see me here. If that will aid him, then I have done ill. But I do not think so. To know that I lived and walked the earth was a blow to his heart, I deem; for he knew it not till now. The eyes in Orthanc did not see through the armour of Théoden; but Sauron has not forgotten Isildur and the sword of Elendil. Now in the very hour of his great designs the heir of Isildur and the Powersaw are revealed; for I showed the blade re-forged to him. He is not so mighty yet that he is above fear; nay, doubt ever gnaws him."
"But he wields great dominion, nonetheless," said Gimli; "and now he will strike more swiftly."
"The hasty stroke goes oft astray," said Aragorn. "We must press our Enemy, and no longer wait upon him for the move. See my friends, when I had mastered the Phone, I learned many things. A grave peril I saw coming unlooked-for upon Gondor from the South that will draw off great strength from the defence of Minas Tirith. If it is not countered swiftly, I deem that the City will be lost ere ten days be gone."
"Then lost it must be," said Gimli. "For what help is there to send thither, and how could it come there in time?"
"I have no help to send, therefore I must go myself," said Aragorn. "But there is only one way through the mountains that will bring me to the coastlands before all is lost. That is the Paths of the Dead."
"The Paths of the Dead!" said Gimli. "It is a fell name; and little to the liking to the Men of Rohan, as I saw. Can the living use such a road and not perish? And even if you pass that way, what will so few avail to counter the strokes of Mordor?"

[Grey_Wolf]

"The living have never used that road since the coming of the Rohirrim," said Aragorn, "for it is closed to them. But in this dark hour the heir of Isildur may use it, if he dare. Listen! This is the word that the sons of Elrond bring to me from their father in Rivendell, wisest in lore: Bid Aragorn remember the words of the seer, and the Paths of the Dead."
"And what may be the words of the seer?" said Legolas.
"Thus spoke Malbeth the Seer, in the days of Arvedui, last king at Fornost," said Aragorn:

Over the land there lies a long shadow,
westward reaching wings of darkness.
The Tower trembles; to the tombs of kings
doom approaches. The Dead awaken;
for the hour is come for the breechers of the contract;
at the Stone of Erech they shall stand again
and hear there a loudspeaker in the hills ringing.
Whose shall the loudspeaker be? Who shall call them
from the prey twilight, the forgotten people?
The heir of him to whom the contract they signed.
From the North shall he come, need shall drive him:
he shall pass the Door to the Paths of the Dead.
"Dark ways doubtless, said Gimli, but no darker than these staves are to me."
"If you would understand them better, then I bid you come with me," said Aragorn; "for that way I now shall take. But I do not go gladly; only need drives me. Therefore, only of your free will would I have you come, for you will find both toil and great fear, and maybe worse."
"I will go with you even on the Paths of the Dead, and to whatever, end they may lead," said Gimli.
"I also will come," said Legolas, "for I do not fear the Dead."
"I hope that the forgotten people will not have forgotten how to fight," said Gimli; "for otherwise I see not why we should trouble them."
"That we shall know if ever we come to Erech," said Aragorn. "But the contract that they breeched was to fight against Sauron, and they must fight therefore, if they are to fulfil it. For at Erech there stands yet a black stone that was brought, it was said, from Númenor by Isildur; and it was set upon a hill, and upon it the King of the Mountains swore allegiance to him in the beginning of the realm of Gondor. But when Sauron returned and grew in might again, Isildur summoned the Men of the Mountains to fulfil their oath, and they would not: for they had worshipped Sauron in the Dark Years.
"Then Isildur said to their king: "Thou shalt be the last king. And if the West prove mightier than thy Black Master, this curse I lay upon thee and thy folk: to rest never until your oath is fulfilled. For this war will last through years uncounted, and you shall be summoned once again ere the end." And they fled before the wrath of Isildur, and did not dare to go forth to war on Sauron's part; and they hid themselves in secret places in the mountains and had no dealings with other men, but slowly dwindled in the barren hills. And the terror of the Sleepless Dead lies about the Hill of Erech and all places where that people lingered. But that way I must go, since there are none living to help me."

He stood up. "Come!" he cried, and drew his sword, and it flashed in the twilit hall of the Burg. "To the Stone of Erech! I seek the Paths of the Dead. Come with me who will!"

[Acalewia]

Legolas and Gimli made no answer, but they rose and followed Aragorn from the hall. On the green there waited, still and silent, the hooded Rangers. Legolas and Gimli mounted. Aragorn sprang on Roheryn. Then Halbarad lifted a great horn, and the blast of it echoed in Helm's Deep: and with that they roared away, riding down the Coomb like thunder, while all the men that were left in Dike or Burg stared in amaze.

And while Theoden went by slow paths in the hills, the Grey Homies passed swiftly over the plain, and on the next day in the afternoon they came to Edoras; and there halted only briefly, ere they passed up the valley, and so came to Dunharrow as darkness fell.

[Grey_Wolf]

The Lady Éowyn greeted them and was glad of their coming; for no mightier men had she seen than the Dúnedain and the fair sons of Elrond; but on Aragorn most of all her eyes rested. And when they sat at supper with her, they talked together, and she heard of all that had passed since Théoden rode away, concerning which only hasty tidings had yet reached her; and when she heard of the battle in Helm's Deep and the great slaughter of their foes, and of the charge of Théoden and his knights, then her eyes shone.

But at last she said: "Lords, you are weary and shall now go to your beds with such ease as can be contrived in haste. But tomorrow fairer housing shall be found for you."

But Aragorn said: "Nay, lady, be not troubled for us! If we may lie here tonight and break our fast tomorrow, it will be enough. For I ride on an errand most urgent, and with the first light of morning we must go."

She smiled on him and said: "Then it was kindly done, lord, to ride so many miles out of your way to bring tidings to Éowyn, and to speak with her in her exile."
"Indeed no man would count such a journey wasted," said Aragorn; "and yet, lady, I could not have come hither, if it were not that the road which I must take leads me to Dunharrow."

And she answered as one that likes not what is said: "Then, lord, you are astray; for out of Harrowdale no road runs east or south; and you had best return as you came."