Civ 2
What did I tell you. Somethings happening. cried Sam. The wars going well, said Shagrat; but Gorbag he wasnt so sure. And he was right there too. Things are looking up, Mr. Frodo. Havent you got some hope now. Well no, not much, Sam, Frodo sighed. Thats away beyond the mountains. Were going east not west. And Im so tired. And the Ring is so heavy, Sam. And I begin to see it in my mind all the time, like a great wheel of fire. Sams quick spirits sank again at once. He looked at his master anxiously, and he took his hand. Come, Mr. Frodo. he said. Ive got one thing I wanted: a bit of light. Enough to help us, and yet I guess its dangerous too. Try a bit further, and then well lie close and have a rest. But take a morsel to eat now, a bit of the Elves food; it may hearten you. 920 T HE L ORD O F THE R INGS Sharing a wafer of please click for source, and munching it continue reading best they could with their parched mouths, Frodo and Sam plodded on. The light, though no more than a grey dusk, was now enough for them to see that they were deep in the valley between the mountains. It sloped up gently northward, and at its bottom went the bed of a now dry and withered stream. Beyond its stony course they saw a beaten path that wound its way under the feet of the westward cliffs. Had they known, they could have reached it quicker, for it was a track that left the main Morgul-road at the western bridge-end and went down by a long stair cut in the rock to the valleys bottom. It was used by patrols or by messengers going swiftly to lesser posts and strongholds north-away, between Cirith Ungol and the narrows of Isenmouthe, the iron jaws of Carach Angren. It was perilous for the hobbits to use such a path, but they needed speed, and Frodo felt that he could not face the toil of scrambling among the boulders or in the trackless glens of the Morgai. And he judged that northward was, maybe, the way that their hunters would least expect them to take. The road east to the plain, or the pass back westward, those they would first search most thoroughly. Only when he was well north of the Tower did he mean to turn and seek for some way to take him east, east on the last desperate stage Civ 2 his journey. So now they crossed the stony bed and took to the orc-path, and click here some time they marched along it. The cliffs at their left were overhung, and they could not be seen from above; but the path made many bends, and at each bend they gripped their sword-hilts and went forward cautiously. The light grew no stronger, for Orodruin was still belching forth a great fume that, beaten upwards by the opposing airs, mounted higher and higher, until it reached a region above the wind and spread in an immeasurable roof, whose central pillar rose out of the shadows beyond their view. They had trudged for more than an hour when they heard a sound that brought them to a halt. Unbelievable, but unmistakable. Water trickling. Out of a gully on the left, so sharp and narrow that it looked as if the black cliff had been cloven by some huge axe, water came dripping down: the last remains, maybe, of some sweet rain gathered from sunlit seas, but ill-fated to fall at last upon the walls of the Black Land and wander fruitless down into the dust. Here it came out of the rock in a little falling streamlet, and flowed across the path, and turning south ran away swiftly to be lost among the dead stones. Sam sprang towards it. If ever I see the Lady again, I will tell her. he cried. Light and now water. Then he stopped. Let me drink first, Mr. Frodo, he said. All right, but theres room enough for two. T HE LAND O F SHAD OW 921 I didnt mean that, said Sam. I mean: if its poisonous, or something that will show its badness quick, well, better Civ 2 than you, master, if you understand me. I do. But I think well trust our luck together, Sam; or our blessing. Still, be careful now, if its very cold. The water was cool but not icy, and it had an unpleasant taste, at once bitter and oily, or so they would have said at home. Here it seemed beyond all praise, and beyond fear or prudence. They drank their fill, and Sam replenished his water-bottle. After that Frodo felt easier, and they went on for several miles, until the broadening of the road and the beginnings of a rough wall along its edge warned them that they were drawing near to another orc-hold. This is where we turn aside, Sam, said Frodo. And we must turn east. He sighed as he looked at the gloomy ridges across the valley. I have just about enough strength left to find some hole away up there. And then I must 12 best base a little. The river-bed was now some way below the path. They scrambled down to it, and began to cross it. To their surprise they came upon dark pools fed by threads of water trickling down from some source higher up the valley. Upon its outer marges under the westward mountains Mordor was a dying land, but it was not yet dead. And here things still grew, harsh, twisted, bitter, struggling for life. In the glens of the Morgai on the other side of the valley low scrubby trees lurked and clung, coarse grey grass-tussocks fought with the stones, and withered mosses crawled on them; and everywhere great writhing, tangled brambles sprawled. Some had long stabbing thorns, some hooked barbs that rent like knives. The sullen shrivelled leaves of a past year hung on them, grating and rattling in the sad airs, but their maggot-ridden buds were only just opening. Flies, dun or grey, or black, marked like orcs with a red eye-shaped blotch, buzzed and stung; and above the briar-thickets clouds of hungry midges danced and reeled. Orc-gears no good, said Sam waving his arms. I wish Id got an orcs hide. At last Frodo could go no further. They had climbed up a narrow shelving ravine, but they still had a long way to go before they could even come in sight of the last craggy ridge. I must rest now, Sam, and sleep if I can, said Frodo. He looked about, but there seemed nowhere even for an animal to crawl into in this dismal country. At length, tired out, they slunk under a curtain of brambles that hung down like a mat over a low rock-face. There they sat and made such a meal as they could. Keeping back the precious lembas for the evil days ahead, they ate the half of what 922 T HE L ORD O F THE R INGS remained in Sams bag of Faramirs provision: some dried fruit, and a small slip of cured meat; and they sipped some water. They had drunk again from the pools in the valley, but they were very thirsty again. There was a bitter tang in the air of Mordor that dried the mouth. When Sam thought of water even his hopeful spirit quailed. Beyond the Morgai there was the dreadful plain of Gorgoroth to cross. Now you go to sleep first, Mr. Frodo, he said. Its getting dark again. I reckon this day is nearly over. Frodo sighed and was asleep almost before the words were spoken. Sam struggled with his own weariness, and he took Frodos hand; and there he sat silent till deep night fell. Then at last, to keep himself awake, he crawled from the hiding-place and looked out. The land seemed full of creaking and cracking and sly noises, but there was no sound of voice or of foot. Far above the Ephel Du´ ath in the West the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. Porter 5 forces like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach. His song in the Tower had been defiance rather than hope; for then he was thinking of himself. Now, for a moment, his own fate, and even his masters, ceased to trouble him. He crawled back into the brambles and laid himself by Frodos side, and putting away all fear he cast himself into a deep untroubled sleep. They woke together, hand in hand. Sam was almost fresh, ready check this out another day; but Frodo sighed. His sleep had been uneasy, full of dreams of fire, and waking brought him no comfort. Still his sleep had not been without all healing virtue: he was stronger, more able to bear his burden one stage further. They did not know the time, nor how long they had slept; but after a morsel of food and a sip of water they went on up the ravine, until it ended in a sharp slope of screes and sliding stones. There the last living things gave up their struggle; the tops of the Morgai were grassless, bare, jagged, barren as a slate. After much wandering and search they found a way that they could climb, and with a last hundred feet of clawing scramble they were up. They came to a cleft between two dark crags, and passing through found themselves on the very edge of the last fence of Mordor. Below them, at the bottom of a fall of some fifteen hundred feet, lay the inner plain stretching away into a formless gloom beyond their sight. T HE LAND O F SHAD OW 923 The wind of the world blew now from the West, and the great clouds were lifted high, floating away eastward; but still only a grey light came to the dreary fields of Gorgoroth. There smokes trailed on the ground and lurked in hollows, and fumes leaked from fissures in the earth. Still far away, forty miles at least, they saw Mount Doom, its feet founded in ashen ruin, its huge cone rising to a great height, where its reeking head was swathed in cloud. Its fires were now dimmed, and it stood in smouldering slumber, as threatening and dangerous as a sleeping beast. Behind it there hung a vast shadow, ominous as a thunder-cloud, the veils of Barad-duˆr that was reared far away upon a long spur of the Ashen Mountains thrust down from the North. The Dark Power was deep in thought, and the Eye turned inward, pondering tidings of doubt and danger: a bright sword, and a stern and kingly face it saw, and for a while it gave little thought to other things; and all its great stronghold, gate on gate, and tower on tower, was wrapped in a brooding gloom. Frodo and Sam gazed out in mingled loathing and wonder on this hateful land. Between them and the smoking mountain, and about it north and south, all seemed ruinous and dead, a desert burned and choked. They wondered how the Lord of this realm maintained and fed his slaves and his armies. Yet armies he had. As far as their eyes could reach, along the skirts of the Morgai and away southward, there were camps, some of tents, some ordered like small towns. One of the largest of these was right below them. Barely a mile out into the plain it clustered like some huge nest of insects, with straight dreary streets of huts and long low drab buildings. About it the ground was busy with folk going to and fro; a wide road ran from it south-east to join the Morgul-way, and along it many lines of small black shapes were hurrying. I dont like the look of things at all, said Sam. Pretty hopeless, I call it saving that where theres such a lot of folk there must be wells or water, not to mention food. And these are Men not Orcs, or share total war medieval 2 remastered apologise eyes are all wrong. Neither he nor Frodo knew anything of the great slave-worked fields away south in this wide realm, beyond the fumes of the Mountain by the dark sad waters of Lake Nu´rnen; nor of the great roads that ran away east and south to tributary lands, from which the soldiers of the Tower brought long waggon-trains of goods and booty and fresh slaves. Here in the northward regions were the mines and forges, and the musterings of long-planned war; and here the Dark Power, moving its armies like pieces on the board, was gathering them together. Its first moves, the first feelers of its strength, had been checked upon its western line, southward and northward. For 924 T HE L ORD O F THE R INGS the moment it withdrew them, and brought up new forces, massing them about Cirith Gorgor for an avenging stroke. And if it had also been its purpose to defend the Mountain against all approach, it could scarcely have done more. Well. Sam went on. Whatever they have to eat and drink, we cant get it. Theres no way down that I can see. And we spider man miles morales android download cross all that open country crawling with enemies, even if we did get down. Still we shall have to try, said Frodo. Its no worse than I expected. I never hoped to get across. I cant see any hope of it now. But Ive still got to do the best I can. At present that is to avoid being captured as long as possible. So we must still go northwards, I think, and see what it is like where the open plain is narrower. I guess what itll be like, said Sam. Where its narrower the Orcs and Men will just be packed closer. Youll see, Mr. Frodo. I dare say I shall, if we ever get so far, said Frodo and turned away. They soon found that it was impossible to make their way along the crest of the Morgai, or anywhere along its higher levels, pathless as they were and scored with deep ghylls. In the end they were forced to go back down the ravine that they had climbed and seek for a way along the valley. It was rough going, for they dared not cross over to the path on the westward side. After a mile or more they saw, huddled in a hollow at the cliffs foot, the orc-hold that they had guessed was near at hand: a wall and a cluster of stone huts set about the dark mouth of a cave. There was no movement to be seen, but the hobbits crept by cautiously, keeping as much as they could to the thorn-brakes that grew thickly at this point along both sides of the old water-course. They went two or three miles further, and the orc-hold was hidden from sight behind them; but they had hardly begun to breathe more freely again when harsh and loud they heard orc-voices. Quickly they slunk out of sight behind a brown and stunted bush. The voices drew nearer. Presently two orcs came into view. One was clad in ragged brown and was armed with a bow of horn; it was of a small breed, black-skinned, with wide and snuffling nostrils: evidently a tracker of some kind. The other was a big fighting-orc, like those of Shagrats company, bearing the token of the Eye. He also had a bow at his back and carried a short broad-headed spear. As usual they were quarrelling, and being of different breeds they used the Common Speech after their fashion. Hardly twenty paces from where the hobbits lurked the small orc stopped. Nar. it snarled. Im going home. It pointed across the valley to the orc-hold. No good wearing my nose out on stones any T HE LAND O F SHAD OW 925 more. Theres not a trace left, I say. Ive lost the scent through giving way to you. It went up into the hills, not along the valley, I tell you. Not much use are you, you little snufflers. said the big orc. I reckon eyes are better than your snotty noses. Then what have you seen with them. snarled the other. Garn. You dont even know what youre looking for. Whose blames that. said the soldier. Not mine. That comes from Higher Up. First they say its a great Elf in bright armour, then its a sort of small dwarf-man, then it must be a pack of rebel Urukhai; or maybe its all the lot together. said the tracker. Theyve lost their heads, thats what it is. And some of the bosses are going to lose their skins too, I guess, if what I hear is true: Tower raided and all, and hundreds of your lads done in, and prisoner got away. If thats the way you fighters go on, small wonder theres bad news from the battles. Who says theres bad news. shouted the soldier. Who says there isnt. Thats cursed rebel-talk, and Ill stick you, if you dont shut it down, see. All right, all right. said the tracker. Ill say no more and go on thinking. But whats the black sneak got to do with it all. That gobbler with the flapping hands. I dont know. Nothing, maybe. But hes up to no good, nosing around, Ill wager. Curse him. No sooner had he slipped us and run off than word came hes wanted alive, wanted quick. Well, I hope they get him and put him through it, growled the tracker. He messed up the scent back there, pinching that cast-off mail-shirt that he found, and paddling all round the place before I could get there. It saved his life anyhow, said the soldier. Why, before I knew he was wanted I shot him, as neat as neat, at fifty paces right in the back; but he ran on. Garn. You missed him, said the tracker. First you shoot wild, then you run too slow, and then you send for sphere leifthrasir odin poor trackers. Ive had enough of you. He loped off. You come back, shouted the soldier, or Ill report you. Who to. Not to your precious Shagrat. He wont be captain any more. Ill give your name and number to the Nazguˆl, said the soldier lowering his voice to a hiss. One of thems in charge at the Tower now. The other halted, and his voice was full of fear and rage. You cursed peaching sneakthief. he yelled. You cant do your job, and you cant even stick by your own folk. Go to your filthy Shriekers, 926 T HE L ORD O F THE R INGS and may they freeze the flesh off you. If the enemy doesnt get them first. Theyve done in Number One, Ive heard, and I hope its true. The big orc, spear in hand, leapt after him. But the tracker, springing behind a stone, put an arrow in his eye as he ran up, and he fell with a crash. The other ran off across the valley and disappeared. For a while the hobbits sat in silence. At length Sam stirred. Well, I call that neat as neat, he said. If this nice friendliness would spread about in Mordor, half our trouble would be over. Quietly, Sam, Frodo whispered. There may be others about. We have evidently had a very narrow escape, and the hunt was hotter on our tracks than we guessed. But that is the spirit of Mordor, Sam; and it has spread to every corner of it. Orcs have always behaved like that, or so all tales say, when they are on their own. But you cant get much hope out of it. They hate us far more, altogether and all the time. If those two had seen us, they would have dropped all their quarrel until we were dead. There was another long silence. Sam broke it again, but with a whisper this time. Did you hear what they said about that gobbler, Mr. Frodo. I told you Gollum wasnt dead yet, didnt I. Yes, I remember. And I wondered how you knew, said Frodo. Well, come now. I think we had better not move out from here again, until it has gone quite dark. So you shall tell me how you know, and all about what happened. If you can do it quietly. Ill try, said Sam, but when I think of that Stinker I get so hot I could shout. There the hobbits sat under the cover of the thorny bush, while the drear light of Mordor faded slowly into a deep and starless night; and Sam spoke into Frodos ear all that he could find words for of Gollums treacherous attack, the horror of Shelob, and his own adventures with the orcs. When he had finished, Frodo said nothing but took Sams hand and pressed it. At length he stirred. Well, I suppose we must be going steam jame again, he said. I wonder how long it will be before we really are caught and all the toiling and the slinking will be over, and in vain. He stood up. Its dark, and we cannot use the Ladys glass. Keep it safe for me, Sam. I have nowhere to keep it now, except in my hand, and I shall need both hands in the blind night. But Sting I give to you. I have got an orc-blade, but I do not think it will be my part to strike any blow again. It was difficult and dangerous moving in the night in the pathless land; but slowly and with much stumbling the two hobbits toiled on hour by hour northward along the eastern edge of the stony valley. T HE LAND O F SHAD OW 927 When a grey light crept back over the western heights, long after day had opened in the lands beyond, they went into visit web page again and slept a little, turn by turn. In his times of waking Sam was busy with thoughts of food. At last when Frodo roused himself and spoke of eating and making ready for yet another effort, he asked the question that was troubling him most. Begging your pardon, Mr. Frodo, he said, but have you any notion how far there is still to go. No, not any clear notion, Sam, Frodo answered. In Rivendell before I set out I was shown a map of Mordor that was made read article the Enemy came back here; but I only remember it vaguely. I remember clearest that there was a place in the north where the western range and the northern range send out spurs that nearly meet.
Indeed, he looked as though he was xiege enjoying himself. Fudge appeared angry. But Snape was beside himself. OUT WITH IT, POTTER. he bellowed. Are ww3 steam congratulate DID YOU DO. Samurai siege Snape. shrieked Madam Pomfrey. Control yourself. See here, Snape, be reasonable, said Fudge. This doors been locked, we just saw - THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT. Snape howled, pointing slege Harry and Hermione. His face was twisted; spit was flying from his Smaurai. Calm down, man. Fudge barked. Youre talking nonsense. YOU DONT KNOW POTTER. shrieked Snape. HE DID IT, Samurai siege KNOW HE DID IT Sammurai That will do, Severus, said Dumbledore quietly. Think about what you are saying. This door has been locked since I left the ward ten minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey, have these students left their beds. Of course not. said Madam Pomfrey, bristling. I would have heard them. Well, there you have it, Severus, said Dumbledore calmly. Unless you are suggesting that Harry and Hermione are able to be in two places at once, Im afraid I dont Samurai siege any point in troubling them further. Snape stood there, seething, staring from Fudge, who looked thoroughly shocked at his behavior, to Dumbledore, whose eyes were twinkling behind his glasses. Snape whirled about, robes swishing behind him, and stormed Samurai siege of the ward. Fellow seems quite unbalanced, said Fudge, staring after him. Id watch out for him if I were you, Dumbledore. Oh, hes not unbalanced, said General online quietly. Hes just suffered a severe disappointment. Hes not the only one. puffed Fudge. The Daily Prophets going to have a field day. We had Black cornered and he slipped through our siegr yet again. All it needs now is for the story of that hippogriffs escape to get out, Sajurai Ill be a laughingstock. Well. Id better go and notify the Ministry.
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